Blog
6.16.17
Easing the Transition from High School to Working Full-Time
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As we all know, high school is a world unto itself. Its definitions of success, expectations of behavior and tactics for achieving your goals are all quite a bit different from those of adult employment. Here are some things you should know to lessen the culture shock.
Be a self-starter.
You see this phrase a lot in help wanted ads, but what does it mean? It means that you will no longer have parents and teachers repeatedly reminding you to get your tasks done. Your boss certainly won't do it. It's all on you now.
What was uncool is now cool.
In high school, it was definitely not cool to be the eager beaver who was the first one in the classroom door and stayed late to ask questions. In the working world, it's the eager beaver who gets the pay raises and promotions.
Be flexible.
The words "it's not my job" should never come out of your mouth. As the rookie on the team, you're expected to do anything and everything that's asked of you — and do it with a...
1.09.17
How to Start Fresh on Your Job Search This New Year
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Maybe you've been looking for a while and have become discouraged. Or maybe you were distracted by holiday responsibilities and festivities. In any case, you're in dire need of some motivation.
Here are 5 ideas for re-energizing your job hunt and starting off 2017 with a bang.
1. Focus more on networking than job postings.
If there's nothing on the boards except the same old positions you've seen — and applied to — for months, it's time to look in a new direction. Consider everyone you talk with, from your neighborhood barista to old school buddies, as a potential link to an unadvertised job opening. Candidates who are personally referred have more credibility with hiring managers than unknown applicants from the job boards.
2. Widen your job target.
Think outside the box of your desired career path. Your strengths may be equally well suited to related fields where opportunities are more plentiful. What you consider a detour on your route to success just...
12.19.16
Your Secret Advantage: Job Hunt in December
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You've probably heard that nobody hires in December. So you might as well take the month off from your job hunting efforts and enjoy the holidays, right?
Wrong. The truth is that two out of three recruiters say they'll place as many candidates this month as any other month. In fact, it's much tougher to land a job in January than December.
Want some more reasons why December can be the most wonderful time of the year to job hunt? Check these out:
1. Beating out your competition.
Everyone else has heard that same thing about December being a slow hiring month as you have, and decided to slack off looking for work. So if you get your resume out there now, you'll be competing with fewer other candidates for the job. Plus, it puts recruiters under more pressure to fill the position so you're more likely to have an easier, quicker path from first introduction to job offer.
2. Easier access to hiring managers.
With many support staff away on holiday break...
12.12.16
Overcoming Daily Challenges on Your Integrity Assignment
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In every job, there will be things you find difficult to deal with — stressful deadlines, uncooperative co-workers, counter-productive processes, lack of recognition for your efforts, etc. Although some challenges may just be the nature of the job and there's nothing you can do about it, it's always worth considering if something CAN be done about it.
At Integrity Staffing, we want all our associates to feel empowered to take positive action towards resolving challenges, and unblock their road to career success. If you believe you're in a difficult situation, here are 5 steps you can take toward making your work life better.
1. Define the challenge.
Rather than focusing on how the challenge makes you feel, try to analyze why that challenge exists in the first place. For example, if a team member rubs you the wrong way, why is that happening? Is the person's family problems causing him/her to be short-tempered? Is he/she from another culture with different norms of...
12.05.16
How to Succeed on Your Assignment with Integrity Staffing
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Congratulations, you've been placed on assignment! To help you start off on the right foot, here are some great tips from our supervisors as well as associates like you.
Ask away.
There's no such thing as a stupid question. As a new team member, you will have a lot of information thrown at you very fast. Don't hesitate to speak up if you need something explained or repeated. Team members and leaders will be delighted to help, because when you succeed at your new tasks you make them look good too.
Aim to arrive early.
If you give yourself only the minimum amount of time to get to work, the least little thing that goes wrong will make you late. One associate we know goes by the clock on her kitchen wall which is set 10 minutes fast. She says this saves her from having to calculate extra time allowances.
Have a transportation backup plan ... or two.
Cars can refuse to start. Carpool buddies can let you down. Don't wait until you're in panic mode to come up...
11.28.16
How to De-Stress at Work in 5 Minutes
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During the holidays, many jobs get crazier than ever. Whether you work in retail, manufacturing, transportation, hospitality, marketing, health care, nonprofit or other industries that do most of their business in Q4, your physical and mental stress hit their highest levels of the year. It's also the season when obligations to friends and family are peaking, so the last thing you need is to be burned out from work.
Studies have shown that even a 5-minute break from the madness can help refresh your mind and body. Here are some proven techniques for getting de-stressed:
Just breathe.
Close your eyes and concentrate on taking slow, deep, regular breaths. Count to 4 while you breathe in, 4 while you breathe out. Breathing relaxes the body while counting frees your mind by blocking out all other thoughts.
Visualize your happy place.
Take a mental vacation to a beautiful peaceful scene, either a favorite memory of someplace you'd like to go in the future. If you...
5.23.16
Ways to Ensure That Your Team Learns from Every Success and Failure
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It's easy to celebrate when a project goes well, commiserate when it doesn't ... and then go back to business as usual. But if you want to repeat that success or avoid that failure next time, you need to make sure everyone involved understands what happened. Then you can apply those lessons to making next time even better.
1. Build a Wrap-Up Meeting into the Schedule.
In the pace of day-to-day activities, we often feel that there's no time to sit down and figure out why things turned out as they did. Establishing a final meeting as an essential part of the project gives the team that time.
2. Take It Out of the Office.
Team retreats involve a more significant time investment, but can more than pay for themselves in improved processes and productivity. Even an afternoon in a nearby hotel meeting room can help people gain a clearer perspective on the causes of the project's success or failure.
3. Include Analysis in Every Meeting.
If a wrap-up meeting or retreat...
4.04.16
How to Make the Most Out of a Boring Job
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Even the most exciting jobs in the world have their boring aspects. (Athletes have to run drills. Brain surgeons have to do paperwork. Etc.) But what if your job is totally boring every minute of every day?
The easy answer would be to quit and look for a more interesting job. But if that's not an option right now, here are some things you can do to make that job at least somewhat more bearable.
1. Imagine how this job will look on your resume.
At some point you will add this position to your resume. What skills or experience will you highlight that could help you take the next step toward your career goal? Whatever they are, whether it's customer service, productivity rate or team support, find ways to achieve recognition in those areas from your current employer.
Why does it work? Keeping your eye on the prize and setting goals for those resume-oriented achievements gives your workday a new interest and purpose. (And it never hurts to keep your resume up to...
3.28.16
3 Things I Wish I Knew Before My Interview
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You thought you were well prepared. But once you got in there, you (and the interviewer too, no doubt) realized that some of your comments — or silences — showed a few bases you failed to cover.
1. I wish I knew more about the company.
These days, you're expected to do some research on what the business does, who its customers and competitors are, and what sort of economic climate it's operating in at the moment. This will enable you to answer questions like, "How do you see yourself contributing to our company's success?" in a more relatable, solutions-oriented way. For example, you might highlight your experience with a technology you know the company has just implemented.
2. I wish I knew it was OK to ask questions.
Don't just prepare answers. The interview is a two-way street and you need to learn whether you want to work there as much as they need to learn whether they want you. You both will be better assured of a good fit if you get a realistic picture of...
3.21.16
Is Your Job Candidate Bluffing? 3 Ways to Find Out
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Some people will fill their resumes and interview responses with whatever they think you want to hear, regardless of whether it's 100% true. They think you won't know the difference, but here's how to prove them wrong.
1. Background checks.
We don't just mean criminal records. Also verify educational credentials and employment history; these are the two most common areas for "exaggerating," and even some of the nation's top executives have been guilty of it.
You can hire a service to do the checking for you. You can also do a little investigating on your own. See if a candidate's social media pages contain discrepancies: different schools, degrees or employment dates on different sites. Contact previous supervisors, not just the employer's HR department, for more honest reports of the individual's capabilities.
2. Real-world skills tests.
It's easy for candidates to tick boxes on a list of job requirements. It's not so easy to demonstrate that they can actually...
