Have you ever hired someone who seemed like the right person on paper, convinced you in the interview that their skills were a great match for the job, then turned out to be a complete mismatch for your company?

Most positions you’re trying to fill require teamwork, or at least interaction with peers. Since applicants put their best personality forward in a job interview, you may not spot the loner who prefers to work on his own—but they’re the ones that can really be the fly in the ointment on an otherwise successful team.

So how can you weed out the non-team players?

1. First, trust your instincts. You get feelings about someone when you’re talking to them that go beyond what’s spoken. Even if you don’t notice any arrogant body language or poor eye contact, pay close attention to an interviewee’s words. Are you hearing “I, I, I” or “We”? Does she mention working with colleagues, or does she present herself as a superstar soloist? If you sense that this person is a lone wolf and not a team player, pay attention. If you hire the wrong person, your team will be getting the same feeling—and worse—40 hours a week.

2. If you’re still unsure, try personality testing. Personality profile tests can reveal a lot about a candidate that may get glossed over or miscommunicated in an interview.  Reliable tests are available online from many reputable companies and can be given to all applicants you’re seriously considering. By showing you which candidates aren’t likely to work well with others, you can save yourself time and money by crossing them off the hiring list.

3. Another way to protect against hiring the anti-social type is by thoroughly checking references. Go beyond the perfunctory questions. For example, ask a former employer to give you 5 words that describe the applicant and pay close attention to the responses.

• Good communicator, cooperative, flexible? Team player.
• Keeps to himself, gets along well with superiors, independent worker? Dig deeper.

Ask how the candidate gets along with peers. Does independent mean needs little supervision or demands to be left alone?

4. And, of course, you can always ask specific questions during the interview:

• Do you feel decisions are best made on your own or as part of a group process?
• Do you get along with your coworkers?
• Tell me about a time you had to handle conflict with another peer or supervisor.
• Do you prefer to work alone?
• Have you ever been a team leader?

This direct approach may be all you need to cull the lone wolves from the pack.

Anti-social employees can cost your company a great deal in lowered morale, poorly executed projects, wasted training dollars and unhappy customers. You can avoid these expensive mistakes by following these tips, or with some help from Clark Personnel. We pre-screen candidates for you and so much more! Contact us today to see how we can help!

Throughout the most recent employment drought, many professionals have been making ends meet through a variety of freelance gigs and part-time jobs. Some people enjoy the security of working two, three, four or more jobs—figuring if they lose one gig, they won’t lose all their income. Others find job juggling to be a hamster wheel: It’s hectic, and the work isn’t necessarily leading anywhere.

Whether you’re working multiple jobs by choice or necessity, here’s some advice for turning your part-time jobs into the career you want.

Maintain Your Long-Term Vision

It’s easy to lose sight of your target career when you’ve been taking any job to pay the bills. Make sure you have a 5-year plan in place. Then regularly reevaluate what you’re doing to make sure you’re making progress on that plan.

Build a Job Portfolio

Connect the dots between your vision and your jobs. How do all of your income sources relate to your overall career path? Then try to create a narrative that says you’re a professional with a wide range of useful experience. Good part-time jobs should give you some skill or opening that will help open other doors.

Make Time for a Job Search

Even if you need the income, don’t take on too many jobs if they keep you from pursuing your career. Some people think they can work 70 hours a week, earning as much as they can, then get around to their real career when their time frees up. But when is that going to happen? Keep up your job search!

Stay Current in Your Industry

Join industry associations and network at every opportunity. It’ll help your career to get additional training, to stay up on innovations and to show an employer you’ll be ready to go on Day 1 when you’re hired.

Click the link below to read about how the manufacturing and construction industries are growing.

Manufacturing and Construction Growing

Making a job offer is an art. It’s also a science. There are certain things you have to do beforehand to make sure that the process runs smoothly. Otherwise, you could lose that candidate you finally found!

Here are three tips for making an effective job offer:

Make the offer as soon as possible

The individual you’ve chosen has either gone on other job interviews, if they’re actively looking, or is going to need to be courted, if you’re luring them away from their current employer. So you want to make a move before anyone else does or try to influence them to come over to your team. By making an offer as quickly as possible, you increase the chances that you you’ll be able to hire the candidate you want.

Make the offer as attractive as possible

Put some thought into this. If the applicant initially reacts negatively to your proposal, chances are he or she will reject the job. The compensation package you offer should be competitive with those offered by other companies. It’s far too easy for candidates these days to know their value in the marketplace. They are unlikely to settle for less than they’re worth.

You may have only one opportunity to make your offer to a prospective employee. Therefore, make the offer in a friendly, upbeat manner. Indicate to the applicant that you will do everything possible to ensure that he or she will succeed on the job.

Be prepared to make a follow-up offer

Chances are that the job applicant will want to mull over your offer a day or two before giving you a final answer. There is nothing wrong with that; in fact, it shows that the applicant is a deliberate person who will not take things at face value.

If the candidate seems to hesitate, though, questions the details of your offer or even tells you he’s weighing your position against another, your follow-up offer should be attractive enough to really show the candidate that you want him or her. In fact, you should attempt, if possible, to offer the prospective employee top dollar. If you invest in high-quality personnel, you’ll find that it will really pay off for your business.

Kelly Johnson

Staff Writer and Social-Media Strategist – Sacramento Business Journal

The recession has touched everything, including the cost of workers’ compensation claims.

The faster growth of workers’ comp costs per claim in California after 2007 may be partly due to the recession, according to a new study.

The Workers Compensation Research Institute    Workers Compensation Research Institute Latest from The Business Journals Workers’ comp claim costs increased in Florida, study showsWorkers comp claims in Texas riseWorkers comp claims in Texas rise Follow this company , a nonprofit in Cambridge, Mass., reported this week that the economic woes contributed to indemnity costs per claim growing faster from 2007 to 2009 than in prior years.

Indemnity claims are payments for lost wages, loss of earning capacity and permanent impairment or disability.

Between 2002 and 2005, California’s indemnity costs per claim dropped nearly 30 percent as a result of systemwide reforms. But costs per claim rose at an annual rate of 7 percent between 2007 and 2009, the organization noted.

“This growth in indemnity costs per claim was faster than the average growth rate from 2005 to 2007, and indicated some impact of the recession in California,” a news release said.

The average weekly wage of California workers injured on the job didn’t change much between 2007 and 2009 as wage growth declined, the study found. In prior years, the growth rate was 4 percent.

Meanwhile, “the average duration of temporary disability benefits increased by nearly one week per year, likely indicating the slower return to work because there were fewer jobs available,” the news release said.

California also experienced a swift rise in medical payments per claim to injured workers after 2005, after previous large decreases. The amount after 2005 was 8 percent a year for claims in which workers lost more than seven days of work, the study found.

“Recent growth in medical payments per claim stemmed from multiple factors, including an increase in prices paid for office visits due to a fee schedule increase; growth in payments per service for facilities associated with surgical procedures; more complex office visits with higher prices billed more frequently; and moderate increases in services per visit for physical medicine,” the release said.

“Medical-related expenses per claim,” the release said, “also grew continuously over the study period, including the average medical cost containment expense per claim and the average medical-legal expense per claim.”

Kelly Johnson covers retail, sports, insurance, education, nonprofits, manufacturing, social media, international trade, distributors/wholesalers and disability access for the Sacramento Business Journal.

Social media, social media, social media! It’s a term that’s getting almost too much play, and you might be getting tired of all the talk with no substance. For example, you’ve probably heard that you should be using social media for job-hunting. But how, exactly, should you do that? Here are 6 smart strategies to network your way into a job using three popular online tools: Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.

Let people know you’re looking.

Whether on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter, let your connections, friends and followers know that you’re looking for a job—and what type of job you’re looking for. They may not know of any current openings, but put yourself on their radar for future opportunities.

You may think of Facebook as being for fun, but don’t make the mistake of overlooking your network there, especially if you already have hundreds of friends. Facebook can sometimes have an edge for job hunters over LinkedIn, because friends who know you personally have more of a stake in helping you.

You probably don’t want a potential employer browsing your personal updates, so make sure your every move on Facebook isn’t set for public view. Under Account, then Privacy Settings, choose “Friends Only.” That way, an employer who Googles you won’t be able to see the details of your profile, your photos or your personal status updates.

Before you submit your resume for a job, look up the hiring manager on LinkedIn and Twitter. LinkedIn profiles and Twitter feeds are gold mines of information on individuals. Knowing more about the person who’s hiring can help you tailor your cover letter to their needs and desires.

It’s all about who you know. Figure out who you need to know to land a certain job—like the hiring manager—and make that connection, whether by getting them to follow you on Twitter by retweeting their tweets, or growing your LinkedIn network until they become a second- or third-degree connection. Twitter offers great opportunities to connect with professionals who might not otherwise give you the time of day.

Look for chats that revolve around your industry or the industry you want to work in. Joining online conversations helps you keep up-to-date on the industry, meet helpful contacts and showcase your expertise in your field. Or try networking with other job seekers through weekly conversations like #jobhuntchat or #careerchat.

By doing any or all of the above, not only will you reach many more people as part of your job search, but people will also see you as a person with expertise, not someone who is merely using social media to find a job.  Using social media is bound to lead to greater opportunities and attract more people who respect your knowledge.

Below is a link on how to become a more successful networker through linkedin.

5 tricks from a linkedin Jedi

How quickly do you discard a candidate when you decide he or she is overqualified? And what’s your reason? Are you afraid they’ll want too much money, get bored too quickly or be too eager to move on?

Let’s rethink this. There are equally compelling reasons to give “overqualified” applicants a fighting chance.

First, what do you mean when you say someone is ‘overqualified?’ You’re basically saying he or she is too skilled or too experienced. But candidates with well-developed skills, a lot of working world experience and the right attitude are exactly what you should want.

In fact, research shows that overqualified workers tend to stay longer and work harder than less qualified candidates—provided they’re empowered in their jobs.

Instead of immediately discarding someone who looks great on paper but seems to be overqualified, take the time to find out why the candidate applied for your job in the first place. Sure, maybe the person was just sending out resumes, hoping to get a hit, but maybe he or she has some great ideas of how to thrive and grow in the position?

And, even people who were downsized may have reasons for applying beyond getting any job. Maybe they were burned out on what they were doing anyway and want to jump-start a new career. Maybe they were in a higher level position but want to get back to something they enjoyed doing earlier in their career. Listen carefully when they are explaining their reasoning and motivations, to see if they truly have a passion for the job in question or whether they are simply after the first job that is offered.

It’s increasingly common to see a number of overqualified candidates apply for open positions. In previous job markets, such candidates often had a stigma attached to them, but now being laid off is kind of a rite of passage. In the current market, it’s standard practice for overqualified people to apply. It all comes down to attitude: basic skills and knowledge combined with a proper attitude and willingness to get the job done right are what it takes.

When you ignore candidates based on your own assumptions or perceptions about what you see on their resumes, you run the risk of missing out on great employees.

 Below you will find a link to the top 25 interview questions from 2011.  While a good percentage of them are relevant to the job position that they are interviewing for there are some that are very much so out in left field.  I assume that they are either tired of hearing the same question and answer or, they are trying to throw the candidate off.  Whatever the reason, these questions will challenge even the most skilled interviewer. 

Top 25 Old Ball Interview Questions

A new year means a new start and a new perspective. Have you considered revamping your job search tactics? What are the latest and greatest ways to go about getting a job?

U.S. employers are expecting to increase their hiring by 9 percent in the first quarter, according to the December Manpower Employment Outlook Survey-the most promising hiring Outlook survey since 2008. Take advantage of that upswing by following these  “Best-Kept Job Search Tips.”

1. Apply Early. If you’re using job postings, stay on top of them. A recent study revealed that 50% of company hires were applicants who applied within the first week. Approximately 75% of all hired candidates applied within three weeks of the job posting.

2. Keep up on Company News. After you’ve compiled your list of target companies, read up on their current news. The newspaper, their company website or their social media accounts can report their positive announcements – which can lead to more job opportunities posted by them. Plus, it gives you a way to prove to them that you’ve done your research, when you go for an interview.

3. Understand A Company’s Hiring Approach. Each company has a different way of recruiting and hiring candidates – for example, a company may solely hire on employee referrals. For the companies you’re interested in, learn what kinds of processes bring candidates to them so that you can adapt.

4. Join a Professional Organization. Join the local chapter of a professional organization. You can network and also keep up on recent developments in your field at meetings and presentations.

5. Network Through Social Media. Following a company’s Twitter account may not be enough, so engage with other users that work at that company. Research shows that 1 in 10 candidates whose resumes come through a referral are hired, compared to 1 in 100 general applicants.

And if you’re looking for more assistance in finding that perfect job? Contact us today!