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Ensure you hire the Best Graduate

26/4/2018

Graduating from university is an exciting time for individuals, graduates are joining the world of work and most of them are eager to get started as soon as term ends. Companies find there is a sudden influx in graduate applications every year leading up to summer months, and so I have included some tips to ensure you hire the best graduates to join your company.

Contact Universities
Get in touch with career services within different universities, as this can be a huge help for finding talented graduates. Every career department in a university has various job boards, career and networking events and always welcome the help and support from their student’s potential employers. Once you have built up a good relationship with the university, they can help you find candidates best suited to your company.
Try to maintain a graduate hiring routine. Make sure to familiarise yourself with the academic calendars of universities, months such as January or February are common times to start the hiring process for graduates.

Increase your Social Media Presence
In a world full of digital natives, it’s important to make your presence known on social media. Facebook, Twitter and the professional networking site, LinkedIn, are all good ways to increase your publicity and post job advertisements. This will increase the number of candidates applying for the position, therefore giving you more choice to choose the most suitable candidate from. When someone grabs your interest, you can instantly get a feel for their work ethic through their online profiles.

Most graduates will be hungry for success and will have high expectations when starting a new job, with most looking for quick promotion opportunities. Advertising chances for promotion will attract the best candidates to your company.

Knowledge and skill are important characteristics in graduates, however you should also look for those that are energetic and determined, and for people who want to succeed and produce their best work for their employer. Interviews are just as important as the candidates’ classification as it helps you get an indication of how they will get on with your other employees which is important for a positive office environment. Don’t be swayed by an impressive contact or grade, but ensure the individual believes in your company’s vision and will contribute to helping you get there.

Offer Work Experience
It’s a good idea to offer internships to students during their summer off or a placement year while studying for their degree. This will give you an insight as to whether they are a good fit for your business, helping you to differentiate the candidates who are all talk from the ones who get the work done, at a high quality.

Make your Company Stand Out
Just like graduates compete to get the best job, businesses are in competition to hire the best graduates. Organising challenges for graduates where they have to solve a hypothetical problem or identify an industry trend and create a marketing proposal will give you a good insight into how they work under pressure and which person has the most creativity. It is also a good idea to have the candidates work in teams to see how well they work with other people.

Taking these steps will help you make the right choice when employing a graduate, ensuring that you are taking on an employee who, along with the rest of your team, will help make a positive difference to your company.

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The Benefits of Hiring A Freelancer

19/4/2018

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Society today has seen an improvement in the economy, businesses have started to see and increase in profit again, however most companies still have issues finding talented recruits. Professionals with the skills needed by employers can be limited and therefore companies sometimes find themselves competing with competitors to employ those who hold essential qualities needed for the job. In this day and age, most workers are also leaving the restrictive 9-5 office lifestyle for a more flexible lifestyle, the freelance role.

Flexibility
Contracting freelancers takes away the commitment that comes from full-time employees. When you’re under pressure with a project or at a full working capacity and need help with extra work, a freelancer provides skills for the necessary period of time. The flexibility of using a freelancer also allows you to check out how they work under pressure, meet deadlines and their overall working attitude, meaning if and when you need to hire a new recruit you can offer it to them, being fully aware of how they may fit into your workplace.

Reliability
Freelancers are usually reliable and work well with the time they are given to complete a project as they generally have to hit a goal before being paid, which in turn increases their motivation. The work they produce is generally of a very high quality as being given a task gives them the chance to showcase what they can do and why they should be hired again for future projects. You can track their working hours through different software programmes including Tracking Time and Trello which enables you to check how long they take on each task and whether they are allocating their time correctly to different parts of a project.
Things can change quickly in the world of business, particularly for smaller businesses. Unexpected things can happen, for example, a company can be signing up several clients with lots of business one month and the next month the work can slow down. Freelancers can be contacted for tasks when business is busy, however when work is slow and income is low there is no pressure.

Time-Efficient
Hiring a freelancer is not as long a process as hiring a full-time employee as it’s a matter of checking their skills and qualities, having a chat with them to specify the exact work you would like them to produce and getting a feel for them as a person and their working attitude. This means that once a suitable freelancer is hired, they can begin working on a project as soon as possible and the work will be produced much more quickly than if you had to go through the long candidate/interview process. Websites such as LinkedIn allow the employer to search for the exact freelancer they are looking for as you can list the exact skills required for the work.
A workforce will always benefit from full-time employees as they help build the company brand and through teamwork can produce high-quality work in a time-efficient manner. However, when you need an extra pair of hands for a certain project, don’t rule out hiring a freelancer. They are more useful in a company’s time of need than you may realise.

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Ensure Ageism isn’t a Problem in your Workplace

12/4/2018

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Ageism is a controversial subject that most industries are guilty of in some shape or form. Ageism can also be referred to as ‘age discrimination’ and involves a candidate or employee being treated unfairly because of their age. Recently there has been a negative buzz surrounding RTE,who have been ordered by The Workplace Relations Commission to pay 50,000 euro to their former employee, Valerie Cox, who says she was unfairly discriminated against due to her age.

At the hearing in March 2016, Valerie told the WRC adjudication that once her full-time contract was terminated when she turned 65, she was told that she would continue to be on the roster for a non-formal working contract. Valerie went abroad for several months and on return was informed that she was not allowed to return to work as her contract had ended. She argued with RTE that even though her full-time contract had ended in March 2016, she was still entitled to work on her irregular contract. RTE argued back, claiming that retirement age for Valerie was set out in the employee handbook and that the compulsory retirement age recognised the dignity and respect due to all employees and avoided disputes regarding capacity and underperformance.

After checking the employee handbook, the Adjudication Officer said it was clear that the staff handbook does provide for working beyond 65 years. Valerie still says that RTE had been a great employer for the many years she worked there but didn’t want to let the issue slide as she is concerned about the increasing problem of ageism in Ireland and she has a reason to be worried. There are ageist experiences coming from not only Ireland but from all sides of the world.

Age discrimination is prevalent for both young and older workers. Younger employees are sometimes looked upon as not having enough industry experience due to their age and some companies assume older employees will be more of a hindrance than a help. Ageism is illegal and will have serious implications to your company. This can include loss of productivity from other employees who may notice the discrimination happening, creating a hostile working environment.

Discriminating against employees because of their age will result in your company losing out on their expertise if they are asked to leave, while other staff members may feel so strongly about the discrimination that they may also decide to leave your company, resulting in a loss of talented employees. These are only some of the consequences of ageism in the workplace, and so here are some tips to help you ensure your company avoids ageism accusations.

You should show all employees that you value and respect them, encouraging them to reach their full potential in your company. This can be done by offering training to everyone in the workforce, with training opportunities being relevant for all ages and some of the development programs focusing on increased productivity and positive attitudes towards work. Have a separate program for managers who are known for being biased against workers. Make it clear that every worker should be given an opportunity to prove themselves and if you see any stereotyping going on then there will be serious consequences.

When hiring new recruits, ensure the job advertisement sent out has appropriate language and doesn’t imply that workers must be of a certain age, gender and so on. You must ensure that the best person for the job is hired, regardless of their age.

If your company needs to downsize, make sure that you do so fairly. Don’t just focus on younger workers because you think they may stay longer or may have more work productivity. The process should be carefully thought out and fair, and even though this process might take longer, it will be worth it to avoid the serious implications that come from age discrimination.

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Tips on Managing Employee Pregnancy in the Workplace

6/4/2018

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Pregnancy in the workplace can be a delicate topic, as it has been subject to employee discrimination in the past. However, it’s a workplace topic that shouldn’t be avoided and it’s important that you address it. Here are some ways to best manage a policies regarding a pregnant employee from the moment you are told the news to the day she returns to the company after maternity leave.

Be Aware
As soon as the employee informs you of her pregnancy, hold a meeting with her manager or supervisor to properly discuss the next steps and the best way to cover her role while she is on maternity leave. The sooner you get a ‘maternity cover’ job advertisement out there, the better. This can be done through social media posting, job agencies and recruitment websites. If you choose to delegate the employee’s work to existing employees instead of hiring cover, ensure that tasks are distributed evenly so that everyone doesn’t end up with too much of an increased workload, as this will cause disruption and could even demotivate staff.

It’s a clever idea to carry out a risk assessment for any pregnant employees, and you must do what is needed to prevent any potential risk that has been found as a result from the assessment. Try and complete this assessment a few times during the pregnancy as her needs may change throughout. This may include moving the employee in question to a different workstation or considering the opportunity of working from home.

Stick to your Policy
You must carry out all steps from your company policy beginning with holding a meeting with the pregnant employee and any managers she has. In the meeting discuss your workers rights and entitlements, ask her about her plans and talk through the maternity leave policy you have in place. Answer any queries she has, which might include when she starts her leave, how long she will be off and so on. This will help avoid confusion and helps you manage her leave smoothly. Double check that all managers and supervisors are fully aware of the obligations and rights of the business and pregnant individual, check their knowledge by asking them questions and answer anything they may be unsure of.

Keep up the Communication
A week or so before your employee is due to leave, have a casual meeting with her asking how much contact she would like to have whilst she is out of the workplace and her preference of method for keeping in contact. This will make her feel appreciated and very much still in the loop when returning from maternity leave. Keep in mind that you should let her know of any promotion opportunities as well as other company news during her leave and still send newsletters or social events. Even though she may not attend, it’s nice to make all staff feel included.

When your Employee Returns
Hold a welcome breakfast or lunch for the employee when she returns from her maternity leave to try and make her feel comfortable as she is likely to feel nervous returning to work after such a long leave of absence. It is important to inform her immediately of any changes to her role whilst she is on leave, so that she will be aware of what to do when returning to her job. It’s important to be aware that any sick days taken by an employee due to a pregnancy-related sickness must not be counted in her total sickness record. You must record each absence separately.

You must never treat a female employee in a negative way because of her maternity leave. Agree her return date before she leaves and don’t put pressure on her while she is away. Appropriate treatment will have her feeling ready and motivated to return and helps build your employee loyalty.

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Ensure you hire the Best Graduate

The Benefits of Hiring A Freelancer

Ensure Ageism isn’t a Problem in your Workplace

Tips on Managing Employee Pregnancy in the Workplace

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