Northwest Staffing Blog

Tight turnarounds. Tighter budgets. Doing more with less. As an experienced Seattle employment agency, we know this is the new normal in today’s economy. But it can also lead to overworked, highly stressed employees for your Seattle company. So, what can you do to ensure you don’t get burned by employee burnout? Here are some tips:

Celebrate successes.

Whether you completed a tough project ahead of schedule or simply survived the busy season, a mini-celebration will show your employees how much you appreciate their hard work. It will also give them a greater incentive for completing future tasks on time and on budget.

Train your employees to take on more.

If you’re asking your employees to take on more tasks, or do more with less, then provide them with the training they need to do so. For instance, bring in expert speakers on issues such as efficient time management, creating a work life balance, or using technology more effectively. Training in such topics can help your employees deal with the extra work load.

Communicate with employees.

Make sure your employees are completely aware of your expectations and be sure to address any concerns they may have. Open lines of communication will build trust and loyalty, while also creating a more positive workplace culture.

Be reasonable about your expectations.

While you may be expecting more from each employee, it’s important to be reasonable about your expectations. Unfair expectations, such as an impossibly short deadline, will set your employees up for failure.

Encourage time off.

Allow your employees to take vacation time in smaller increments (such as two or three days) rather than a full week. A day or two off can sometimes work wonders.

Hire top performers.

Making good hiring decisions is now more important than ever. New employees will need to get up to speed and begin making positive contributions almost immediately. At this point, a bad hire could cause critical damage to workplace morale.

If you need help hiring top performers, or training your existing ones, please contact Northwest Staffing. As a leading Seattle employment agency, we have the knowledge and skills to help you hire and retain the people you need in tight economic times.

Conducting reference checks can be a challenge.

First of all, many Seattle employers – and employers throughout the country – won’t allow any information to be given out other than to verify name, title, and dates of employment. That’s a good start. But you really need more to go on to make a good hiring decision.

Second, even when a reference will provide additional information, many times they put more emphasis on a candidate’s positive attributes and downplay the negative ones, providing artificially inflated information.

So how can you conduct an effective reference check that gives you the answers you need about a possible hire? Here are some tips:

Ask the basics.
Always ask these standard questions:

• How long did you and the candidate work together?
• What was his/her position?
• What were his/her job responsibilities?
• What was your relationship like when you worked together?

Ask some surprise questions.
A good way to get honest information is to ask unexpected questions, such as:

• Did the candidate ask for your permission to be used as a reference?
• How well did the candidate deal with stressful situations?
• What were the candidate’s strengths? Weaknesses?
• Would you rehire the candidate?
• Is there anything else you’d like to tell me about the candidate?

Ask the same set of questions.
In addition to asking the right questions, be sure to develop a set of questions and ask all references the same exact questions. That way, when it comes time to make a hiring decision, you are comparing apples to apples.

Ask only questions that are legal.
Generally speaking, any question that would be considered illegal during a job interview would likely also be illegal during a reference check. For instance, you can’t ask a candidate about their disabilities or religious affiliation; therefore, you are not allowed to ask references about such factors. If a reference starts to talk about out-of-bounds areas, bring the conversation back to job-related information.

If you need help conducting reference checks, contact the Seattle employment experts at Northwest Staffing. We have the experience and know-how to conduct more effective reference checks – helping you to make a better hiring decision.

Most people who land a great job in Seattle, heard about it through networking, not through reading the classified ads or surfing the web. So when you’re looking for an opportunity to get ahead, don’t overlook the power of networking. Here are some tips to follow:

Stay connected.
Social media tools like Linked In and Facebook make it easy to stay in touch with everyone – colleagues, former co-workers, people you used to volunteer with, college classmates, etc. Someone from within this network of friends and colleagues may know of a great job opportunity in Seattle.

Talk to people.
Whether you’re at a business function, on a plane, or at a wedding, talk to people wherever you go. You may meet someone who can help you land your next job interview.

Ask questions.
When chatting it up, ask lots of questions. Most people love to talk about themselves and will gladly oblige. Be sure to ask what they do for a living.

Be a better listener.
Don’t ask someone a question and then start looking around the room for someone else to talk with. Listen to their answer with interest.

Practice your elevator speech.
When someone asks, “what do you do?,” you should have a quick and clear answer. So create and practice a little 30-60 second overview of who you are and what you do for a living.

Keep lots of business cards on hand.
In today’s digital age, sometimes we forget that traditional approaches – like business cards – still work. Always have a supply on hand and get comfortable with handing them out.

Get involved.
Hate networking events and public speaking? Then take a class where you can hone your speaking skills. Also, you may want to consider joining an industry association or business club.

Follow up on every lead.
Even if they seem minor, make sure you follow up on every job lead. You never know what may come of it.

If you’re looking for a new job opportunity in Seattle, please contact Northwest Staffing. As an employment agency serving Seattle and the surrounding area, we know many of the leading employers and can give you access to a variety of opportunities that you won’t read about on the classified pages.

From drama queens to pragmatists, there are a whole host of different personalities at work. So how can you effectively manage each to create the most productive team possible? Here’s some information you may want to consider.

The Two Categories of Personalities – Introvert & Extrovert
Generally speaking, most people fall into either one of two personality categories – introvert or extrovert.

An introvert is someone who gets their energy from themselves, rather than from other people. Introverts tend to be a little quieter and more reserved. People that fall into this category are usually more drained by social situations, even if they have good social skills, and need time alone afterwards to re-energize. Introverts are typically detail-oriented and perfectionists. They excel at handling one task at a time, on their own terms, rather than as part of a larger group.

In contrast, an extrovert is energized by social situations. They get bored fast when they’re alone. If given a choice, an extrovert would much rather be surrounded by people. Extroverts tend to be at their best when interacting with others. They are typically assertive and risk takers; oftentimes, they show visible leadership capabilities.

Managing Introverts & Extroverts

While these two personality types seem like polar opposites, they actually complement each other quite nicely – if you manage them properly.

For instance, both personalities react differently to various work situations, such as meetings. An extrovert is typically energized by a meeting, seeing it as a forum for open discussion. An introvert, on the other hand, can become stressed and drained by meetings.

As a manager, you need to meet the needs of both types of personalities. Before a meeting, make sure to hand out a meeting agenda so that the introvert has time to prepare and is more comfortable coming to the table. Extroverts will also feel more energized by the contributions offered by the introverts – and the meeting will be more productive.

Here are some additional tips for managing introverts and extroverts:

• Since extroverts do well in social situations, be sure to put them in a role at your company that includes a lot of interaction.

• Extroverts tend to display a lot of confidence. But, since they’re not the most detail-oriented group of people, they’re not always right.

• Introverts, on the other hand, tend to be perfectionists. As a result, they will take more time to complete projects. Encourage them to not think about every single detail before moving forward with a task.

• Introverts like to perform tasks on their own. So hand off projects to them for which they can take full responsibility.

To be a successful manager, you must take different personalities into account. If you do so, and nurture the strengths of each, you’ll ultimately be able to build a stronger team and improve productivity.