The Perks of Hiring People with No Experience

Hiring new talent can be an exciting and frustrating experience, especially if it’s your first time hiring employees. There are so many things to consider, like how much to pay, what benefits to offer and how to keep your new hires from leaving once you get them on board! But, how do you decide which candidate is right for your organization? Someone with years of experience, or someone with no experience? That greatly depends on which position you’re hiring for, but let’s explore the benefits of hiring someone who has no experience — this strategy can save you money and help you foster trust within your organization as you build your employee’s experience.

Finding the Right Fit

When you’re in need of someone to fill a position, be sure to think about what skills they will have that can be utilized at your company. There are many benefits to hiring people with no experience such as being able to train them and mold them into the perfect fit for your company. Plus, there is a lot less pressure on you when it comes time to make a decision because you don’t have any preconceived notions about who they are as an employee which can lead to better decisions. When considering hiring someone who has no experience, make sure they have skills that can be useful at your company and once hired, then take the time to train and coach them so they can grow into the perfect person for the position. 

These skills don’t have to come from direct experience in your industry; for example, if you run a marketing company, a potential candidate could put on their résumé that they have experience working with customers to persuade them to purchase a product from working the floor in retail — they just don’t have direct marketing experience. This is still a skill that can be put to good use at your company! In fact, in this example, this gives that job candidate a unique perspective into what consumers want that may have been previously missing at your business.

They Are an Investment

One of the biggest perks of hiring someone without experience is that they are an investment. A person without experience can be a great asset to a company because it takes time for them to learn and grow. When hiring people with no experience, you invest in them and their future because they become more valuable over time. Plus, there is less turnover when you hire people who have no experience because you build trust and loyalty by showing candidates you are willing to work with them and allow them to move up in your company.

They Are Eager to Learn

Hiring someone without any experience can be a risky move. There is always the chance that they will not be able to keep up, or worse, quit after a week. However, there are plenty of reasons why it might be worth the risk. For starters, you can find people who are eager to learn and will be happy to go above and beyond what is required in order to make themselves valuable. This can lead to your company having an influx of motivated employees who have the potential for growth and education. 

They Bring Fresh Ideas

Hiring people without experience can be intimidating because you don’t know what they’re capable of. But, it also offers many benefits that inexperienced managers might not think about. One major perk is fresh ideas. If you hire someone without experience, they’ll bring a new perspective to the company and help you find new ways to improve processes and increase your creativity. For example, if you have an employee who has been working for years on a particular project or product, they may not see other solutions that could help make the work process smoother and more efficient. In some cases, having an outsider’s perspective on things can be valuable because it’s likely they won’t be tainted by old habits or assumptions that others may be stuck in.

As mentioned before, hiring someone with experience versus no experience comes down to your company culture and the position you’re hiring for. There are benefits to both, but focusing specifically on those with no experience, they can be a great investment for your company! What has been your company’s experience hiring someone who has not worked in your industry? Let us know!

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The Person in the Mirror, NOT the Person on Social Media

Recently, I was working with a mompreneur on her business plan. Her business has been around for a couple of years, and she wanted to lay out better, comprehensive career goals. She confessed to me that she wasn’t sure where to start. Soon after that, she reconnected with an old friend from high school on social media, and just by doing that, she had been thrown for a loop. A mom to two small babies, she was amazed to see her old high school friend running a very successful working mommy blog with three angelic children prominently featured. Her friend appeared to have everything she wanted, but she had not taken the same path to get there. This lovely mom-preneur felt unsure of herself and unsure of how to set goals for her own business. After all, her journey didn’t look the same as that nicely polished blog.

You know the kind of blog, I’m sure. Everything is picture-perfect. The kids are always dressed in their best, looking clean, happy, and like they jumped straight out of a catalog. Every room in the house is spotless, decorated and arranged as though people don’t actually live in it. No one fights or cries or screams. No one is sleep deprived. Work, kids, family, and personal time are all perfectly balanced.

The mom-preneur I was chatting with expressed her dismay. Her life looked nothing like those photos! She actually read through her friend’s blog from start to finish in just a few, frantic hours. In the blog, this particular mom never encountered any troubles or problems. Her kids were always well-behaved, everything at work went according to plan and her family split tasks with her equally to give her free time.

Again, all of that was nothing like this mom-preneur’s life. She told me how horrible seeing all that made her feel. She felt like a failure. Her two small kids are loved and cared for, but both of them are under the age of three so there are tantrums, yelling, and more often than not they are running around the house, shedding their clothes — there are no “picture-perfect moments” there. She works more than the average 9-5 daily, and things do not always go according to plan. She has a wonderful, loving spouse, but he too has a job leaving them both trying to juggle schedules. Basically, nothing is perfect. So, how did her friend seem to have it all together?

I reminded her that she should not compare herself to others — especially on social media! We had a long heart-to-heart about how it can seem so easy to see those quick snap shots and feel inadequate, but we don’t actually know what’s going on in the entire picture of someone’s life; it’s easy to tell the internet everything is going great when in reality nothing is. In this conversation, I realized that I needed to share this quick reminder along with some tips on how to measure your own progress based on what you do, and not what others are doing.

 

Self-Compassion Matters

Take a moment to think about the times you’ve been hard on yourself. Maybe you didn’t get that promotion at work, or you had a fight with your partner. Maybe you’re struggling to lose weight, or you feel like you’re not doing enough for your kids. Whatever it is, we’ve all been there. And when we’re in those moments, it’s easy to compare ourselves to others and think that we’re falling short. But the truth is, we are all on our own journey. And comparing ourselves to others only leads to feelings of inadequacy and self-doubt. So instead of comparing yourself to others, focus on being compassionate with yourself. Treat yourself with kindness and understanding, and remember that everyone is doing the best they can.

Be Grateful

It’s easy to get caught up in what we don’t have, but if we take a moment to list out everything in our lives we are grateful for, we can begin to change our perspective. I am grateful for my health, my family, my friends, my job, and my home. I am also grateful for the air I breathe and the food I eat. When we focus on what we are grateful for, we begin to see how much we actually have.

Set Realistic Expectations

You’re not going to be able to do it all. You’re not going to be able to have a perfect house, a perfect body, a perfect job, and perfect kids. You’re going to make mistakes. You’re going to have days (or weeks) where you feel like you’re failing. And that’s okay! Because you’re human. And so is everyone else. So cut yourself some slack and give yourself a break. We all need it. It’s important to set realistic expectations and then appreciate what we’ve done rather than focusing on what we haven’t done yet. There will always be someone doing better than us or someone who has more money or a nicer car or whatever it may be. It doesn’t matter because they are just telling their story; yours might look different but that doesn’t mean either one of them is wrong. No one can compare with your story so don’t compare yourself to anyone else — take care of you and your family as best as you can by setting realistic expectations for yourself which includes being happy for other people too!

Mindfulness Leads to Progress

Moms are under a lot of pressure these days. With social media, we are constantly bombarded with images and messages about how we should be living our lives. It’s easy to get caught up in comparing ourselves to others and feeling like we’re falling short. But here’s the thing: we are each on our own journey. And comparing ourselves to others only leads to feelings of inadequacy and discouragement. So instead of comparing, let’s focus on being mindful of our own progress. When we take the time to notice how far we’ve come, it’s empowering and motivating. So the next time you find yourself comparing yourself to someone else on social media, remember: you are not them and they are not you.

 

 

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5 Ways to Get Your Team to Engage in Group Projects When Working Remotely

Working remotely on group projects can be challenging. There are fewer opportunities to connect with the rest of your team, so it can feel like you’re going it alone — which can make it harder to stay motivated and accountable to your goals. While working remotely doesn’t have to be lonely, there are ways to get your team to engage in group projects when working remotely — like these five tips!

1) Set up a collaborative platform

Before anything else, you need to set up a platform where your team can easily collaborate on projects. This could be something as simple as setting up a Google Doc or creating a Slack channel. Once you have a platform set up, make sure everyone knows how to use it and that they have access to it. To create an even more collaborative atmosphere, break up tasks so that different people are responsible for different parts of the project. If someone has questions about their part of the project, they should speak with the person who is assigned to their task instead of contacting someone who might not be working on their task at all. You may also want to designate some time for weekly meetings so people can discuss what’s been done since the last meeting and provide feedback if necessary.

2) Ask questions

Asking questions is a great way to get your team to engage in group projects. By doing this, you can get a better understanding of what your team members are thinking and feeling, and you can also get them to share their own ideas and thoughts. Additionally, connecting with your team in this way can help build rapport and trust within your team. As a leader, following up with your team will show that you are cultivating an open, accepting work space, and you can use it to find out where you can delegate tasks to make projects run smoother.

3) Create an easy way to share ideas

Brainstorming is a key part of any project, but it can be difficult to do when team members are working remotely. One way to make it easier is to create a shared document where everyone can contribute ideas. This could be a Google Doc, an online whiteboard, or even just a shared email thread. The point is that people can work on their own and then share what they’ve come up with with the rest of the group in a place where ideas are easy to reference.

4) Encourage honest feedback

One way to get your team to engage in group projects is by encouraging honest feedback. This way, team members will feel comfortable communicating with each other and won’t be afraid to voice their opinions. Furthermore, honest feedback will help the team identify areas that need improvement. For example, if someone on the team notices a teammate struggling with deadlines or something else related to work, they can offer assistance without feeling like they’re going out of their way. 

Once people are more confident in giving criticism, it will become easier for them to open up about things that are bothering them without being worried about seeming unhelpful or negative. After all, these things should be addressed so as not to have an impact on productivity!

5) Make it personal

Get to know your team on a personal level. What are their hobbies? What do they like to do for fun? Getting to know your team will help you find ways to encourage them to interact. Here at HireMyMom we have each of our team members fill out a fun survey so we can learn more about them; we ask them about their hobbies, favorite holidays, and even favorite foods!

What are ways you keep your remote team engaged? Contact us to let us know!

 

 

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5 Tips to Maintain a Work-Life Balance and Turn Screens Off After Work

If you’re like many of us, you’re probably using all the new technology to do more work in less time, while still trying to be present with your family and friends. The good news is that you can do both with the right mix of self-discipline and organization, as well as some good old-fashioned tech tools that keep you connected to the important people in your life without being distracted by the rest of the world. Here are 5 tips on how to maintain a work-life balance and turn screens off after work so you can spend quality time with your loved ones!

1) Respect Your Evening Routine

Some of us operate on an evening schedule, while others of us operate on an early schedule. One way or another, most people take time to wind down before bed and do things like meditate, journal, stretch, read or whatever else is important for them at that time. Don’t let your evening routine be replaced by stress or anxiety when you get home from work: stop looking at your phone after hours. If it’s not something urgent — and even if it is — give yourself some space so you can focus on other things. Nothing kills creativity faster than being constantly distracted. It’s best to turn off notifications completely during downtime; that way, there are no surprises when it comes time for bed.

2) Learn To Say No

Being overloaded at work can be stressful, but it is easy to avoid if you learn how to say no. As an entrepreneur, there will always be more work that needs doing. But if you learn how to stop saying yes when you should be saying no, your life will become much easier. Take time out for yourself after work and cut down on screen time before bed; your productivity will improve and you’ll sleep better! Getting enough sleep is vital for maintaining health so try setting alarms on your phone to limit screen time. If any tasks are left over from your day job then set these aside until the morning so that they don’t hold you back from getting enough rest at night. Take this and learn to delegate too! Don’t be afraid to ask for help and spread tasks around evenly instead of you taking all of them on by yourself.

3) Unplug From Technology During Dinner

It’s time to put down your phones and chat with each other. Even in your own home, it can be hard to completely unplug from technology. Many parents have reported that children are more attentive during meals when they aren’t on their devices. In fact, studies have shown that those who eat with their families five times or fewer per week are 1.4 times more likely to feel lonely than those who eat together six or seven times a week. It also increases happiness: A meal is one of life’s few activities where you get an instant boost just by doing it! Make family dinners as pleasurable as possible by making an effort to turn off technology at least once or twice each week during dinner.

4) Silence Your Phone at the Movies

Let’s face it, we all spend too much time staring at screens. The stress of worrying about our friends’ status updates or business emails is enough to interfere with our productivity. Next time you head out for dinner and a movie, try leaving your phone in your bag or purse. You’ll enjoy your time with family or friends more and you’ll also remember what life was like before we became so reliant on technology.

5) Have Dedicated Family Times

For many, a work-life balance is about having dedicated family times. You might find that your job interferes with time you want to spend with your spouse, kids or parents. If you have young children, it’s easy for them to feel like their needs are overlooked in favor of getting projects completed at work. To regain that healthy balance, reserve specific times during your week for quality time with your family —just as you would do if you had been out of town for business travel. Remember: If it doesn’t get scheduled on a calendar or planner, it won’t happen! You can even schedule these times onto your work calendar so people always know that time is reserved for your family.

How do you stay off your phone after hours? Let us know so we can share your tips with the HireMyMom family! In the meantime, check out some other suggestions on how to find that perfect work-life balance!

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10 Services You Can Offer As A Virtual Assistant

If you’re looking to become a virtual assistant, or if you’re just wondering what services you can offer companies, this list will help you out. A virtual assistant is an employee who works remotely and provides administrative, creative, and other types of support to clients on an as-needed basis. Being a virtual assistant lets you work from home, on your own schedule, but it does require considerable organization and self-motivation. Keep reading to learn what skills make a good virtual assistant and what services you can offer companies as a result!

1) Customer Service/Support

Being a virtual assistant means that you are a vital part of any business! Whether it’s answering customer questions, setting up meetings, or making travel arrangements for your team, a VA’s customer service can either make or break a business. Being great at customer service is an essential part of being a successful VA, and you can put that to work for other companies by specifically handling customer inquiries.

2) Bookkeeping

One of the first things you can offer as a virtual assistant is bookkeeping services. This will allow businesses to outsource bookkeeping to you and save time and money. If your clients are small businesses, it’s likely they don’t have much of a budget for hiring a full-time employee to handle their books.

3) Website Work

Any business will likely have a website, and most websites need some sort of maintenance or improvement every now and then. If you’re comfortable with HTML and other web-building tools, you can offer your services to help fix up a site.

4) Writing & Proofreading

If you’re a writer, someone in your circle of friends is bound to ask you for a writing or proofreading job at some point. In fact, according to recent stats, employment of writers is going to grow by 9% over the next few years! That’s because everyone needs something written at some point — anything from a blog to an annual report. If you’re good with words and already have an idea of what’s involved in being a writer, then working as a virtual assistant will be a breeze!

5) Administrative Support

Administrators are in high demand. Most important for this type of VA is your ability to multitask and use your problem-solving skills to solve any problem that comes your way. As an admin support VA, you will schedule meetings, coordinate schedules, and more.

6) Digital Marketing

Marketers are turning to virtual assistants for tasks ranging from running pay-per-click campaigns and managing social media accounts to creating sales copy and performing keyword research.  If you have experience with SEO, PPC advertising, content marketing, or anything else digital marketers do, you can offer your services as a VA to local businesses or online companies. If you’re already working as a VA, why not add digital marketing to your skill set? The more services you offer clients, the higher your hourly rate will be — and you might even be able to charge by project instead of per hour if you offer enough value.

7) Event Planning

If you have an eye for detail and are willing to work with a flexible schedule, event planning might be a great service option for clients looking for help with conferences, trade shows, or even weddings. 

8) Advertising

If you have experience in social media, search engine optimization, or email marketing, then it might be a good idea to offer ad-related services as a virtual assistant. Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn all frequently hire freelancers to help them advertise their platform by posting updates, writing descriptions for ads and banner ads that appear on their social media pages, and writing copy for email campaigns. Virtual assistants are also often hired to help with SEM (search engine marketing) and SEO (search engine optimization) campaigns.

9) Market Research

When you’re a virtual assistant, your research could range from market research to competitor analysis, to social media and digital marketing analytics. You may conduct site audits or content audits for clients as part of your research. There are a number of tools available for conducting market research online, such as Google Analytics and Kissmetrics, that can help you with various aspects of doing market research as a VA.

10) Fundraising & Donation Management

Fundraising is an ongoing necessity for non-profit organizations. Being able to track donations, process receipts, and generate donor acknowledgements is key to any fundraising campaign’s success. Because of its importance in non-profit fundraising, using a virtual assistant who can take care of these processes effectively and efficiently will help an organization’s bottom line.

These, of course, are just a few of the services you can offer as a virtual assistant, and with lots of tools out there, you can offer more services than those listed here! Is there a service you offer that you want to share with the HireMyMom community? Reach out and tell us about it!

 

 

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Don’t Fall For This Scam

We’ve written several blogs on how to spot a fake hiring scam before, but we wanted to warn you of a new, very elaborate scam we’ve encountered recently. 

It started with an email.

A friend of mine named Carol was applying for jobs. She received a very official-looking email from someone offering her a job with a similar title to the one she was interviewing for with many other companies. The email detailed a marketing position, the title, the pay, and asked if Carol was interested in an interview. The problem? Carol never applied with this company. However, she kept good records of every place she did apply to, and there was one organization with a kind of similar name and a kind of similar job position. She wanted to make sure this was NOT that position.

The first thing Carol did was check the email address. It said something along the lines of jsmith@company.co — it matched the email signature which said something like Jay Smith with Company.co plus it provided a photo of Jay Smith. Carol then searched for Company.co online and easily found it. She looked at the Careers page on the site, and all it said was that they were actively hiring and encouraged anyone interested in their company to reach out.

Everything seemed fine. Carol was still a little unsure about it, but then she received a text message. She provided her cell phone on her résumé and in her applications, so it was not unusual for a company to have that. The text was from Jay Smith, asking Carol to verify that she received his email because he was worried it went to spam. Carol reassured him it did not and said she would be looking at it later. Jay thanked her and said he anxiously awaited her response.

She re-read the email. Searched the company again. Looked for them on social media and found they had an impressive following. The names all matched, the logos matched, everything really did seem above board, but something about the whole ordeal was bothering Carol.

Still, Carol decided to reach out. She asked what the job position actually entailed as a list of duties had not been included in the original email. Jay responded saying they would give Carol details once she agreed to an interview. That was a big red flag. Carol pushed further for the exact job description, but Jay just kept saying she would receive it during the interview. While Carol debated over what to do next, Jay sent her another email with the ‘President’ of the company copied into it. The president’s name was something like Jack, and he said he looked forward to interviewing Carol for the position. He too had an email signature with a photo.

Before agreeing to an interview, Carol then asked how Jay discovered her. He said he used a recruitment company. Carol researched that company as well. They were very official with a large social media following and a nice website. However, the whole thing did not sit right with Carol. She never went through a recruitment agency; in fact, she wasn’t sure how an agency would even get her information. Plus, that particular agency specialized in the medical field, and Carol was looking for a job in marketing. The salary listed in the email bothered her because it was much higher than what others were offering. Finally, she knew something was very wrong since this Jay person would not give her the job description. Bonus: Jay — and now Jack — were sending her several emails, pressuring her for an interview.

She searched up Company.co again, but this time she looked at the URL. When she typed in company.co into her address bar, the URL was automatically changed to company.COM. Many companies have these sort of redirects automatically set up to help get customers to their site in case they make a typo. However, those redirects will not be included in email addresses. If someone emails you from a company, it will be from the MAIN url. Carol double checked the email address, and it said company.CO and not company.COM.

That confirmed that the email she received was fake. Next, she reverse Google image searched the man’s picture in the email signature for Jay. She immediately found him. Only, his name was not Jay. It was something like James. And James didn’t work for Company.com or Company.co, instead he worked for a completely different company altogether. She found his information on the company’s staff page. He had nothing to do with recruiting or HR. He was the vice president of the company. With this information, she backtracked to LinkedIn where she found his profile. It confirmed he never worked with any sort of Company.co.

She reached out to him and asked if he was the one emailing her. He was not. In fact, he was at a technology conference in Dubai at the time. She then did the same thing for Jack. He too was a real person that never worked for Company.co and he, in fact, never worked with the real James. His name was also actually John.

Carol went back to Company.com and reached out to them, asking if they were hiring in marketing. Company.com got back to her and confirmed they used a redirect so that if anyone typed in Company.co they would get to Company.com, and they also confirmed they were NOT hiring anyone in marketing.

It was a scam, and a good one at that. They knew the type of jobs Carol was searching for, and they used the real company’s logos. They chose names almost identical to real organizations, and they used real people’s photos they found online (although not their true names, but they got close using Jay instead of James and Jack instead of John — they did use the exact same last names as these fake people’s real counterparts). Finally, she searched up the cell phone number she received the text from and found it was a burner number purchased through an online service.

Carol was not one to be deterred. She replied back to the fake email, said she knew it was spam and that she had reported it to the correct company. 

She thought it was over.

It was not.

A few days later, Carol received a text message from a different phone number. It addressed her by name. It said it was from a company that discovered her information on a job site (yes, it was a site she used frequently). The text was from someone named something like Mary. This Mary person said she wanted to reach out quickly to see if Carol was interested, and if so she would set up an interview.

Carol felt this was a scam, but this time around they knew one of the job sites she was using, so maybe, just maybe, this was real. Plus, she quickly looked up the phone number, but this said it was unlisted so it had a bit more of a legitimate feel. She responded saying she was interested. Mary gave her a code and asked her to message that code to the company’s HR department through Skype so they could set up an interview time. When using Skype (for those not familiar), you sign up with an email address and send messages using that, so Carol saw no problem in moving onto the next step.

Carol followed instructions. HR responded, and then immediately tried to video call Carol, which she hung up on. She sent a message saying she wanted to schedule a time, not chat right at that moment. The HR person responded saying they understood. Then they said something strange: they were sitting around, waiting on Skype all day, so any time Carol wanted to call she could. She did not need to set up a specific time.

Carol then asked if they could provide more job details before she scheduled a time, and that’s when they said: you will get more information on the job description once in the interview. It was worded the exact same way as when it came from the Jay Smith person days before. It was the same people. Different tactic this time with texts, a different company name, different job title (though still in the same field), and a different interview situation through Skype. But, it was all the same wording. Throughout this entire time, the HR person was messaging Carol insistently through Skype, pushing for an interview.

Carol blocked them on Skype and reported them to the site where they claimed to have found her information. For the next two months, she received emails and text messages from different numbers and addresses, all offering slightly similar job positions from somewhat official looking accounts. Carol ignored them, and in time, they left her alone. She has not received one of those messages for six months now.

So, what was the point? Carol did a lot of research on what scammers were after, but this scam doesn’t seem to be well documented online. In our expertise, we believe that they were hoping to lure Carol into an ‘interview’. Once there, they would tell her she received the job, and then they would ask for personal information — information such as bank numbers for a ‘direct deposit’ or even a social security number for ‘tax purposes.’

She was never sent a link to click or a file to download. Each time, they just really tried to pressure her into an interview to get more details.

We wanted to pass this story along to try and keep you all safe. Carol has no clue how these people received her information. Our best guess is one of the job listings she applied for was fake, but the scammers didn’t use the same company name on the ad as they did to contact Carol — scammers often do this because their listing gets removed by job sites the minute they are discovered as scams. Carol no longer uses the particular job site the scammers mentioned in their text.

If you EVER feel in your gut like something is a scam, trust yourself. Walk away and find something different. But, if you’re just not sure, here are a few things to look for:

  1. Check the end of the email address (the part that comes after the @) to see if it matches the exact company website — remember, .co and .com are two very different things.
  2. Reverse Google image search any photos of people you see.
  3. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people via LinkedIn or through the company’s website/phone number.
  4. Search for any phone numbers you are provided. If the person is using their personal cell phone, ask them to provide their official phone number with the company.
  5. If you do get into an interview that seems strange, don’t be afraid to leave it. 
  6. NEVER give out personal information in an interview such as a bank account routing number.

Carol is very familiar with job scams, and she was very careful when she interacted with these people. She told us that from the beginning she figured it was a scam, but she was curious to see what it was all about (and if it wasn’t a scam by some miracle, that would have been awesome). That is why she pursued this so far. She also ended up working closely with the real Company.COM and the two people that were impersonated during that first round of the scam to combat that and get it reported online; she said when she realized the email address didn’t match, that’s when she 100% knew, but she wanted to make sure no one else truly fell for their scam so she kept going with it.

Again, if you ever feel like something does not add up, please walk away from it!

Do you have any job scams you’ve encountered recently? Reach out and tell us about it so we can share it to keep everyone safe.

 

 

 

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How Often Should I Meet With My Remote Employees?

As a manager of remote employees, how often do you need to meet with your team? The answer isn’t always clear-cut and depends on the needs of your business and the success of your employees. Here are some guidelines to help you decide how often you should meet with your team and why it’s important to keep the lines of communication open.

When to Meet

There’s no right answer to how often remote employees should meet, but there are a few situations in which you should be holding virtual staff meetings such as when your company first starts hiring remote workers. Meeting regularly (at least weekly) is an excellent way to keep everyone on track with their work. Plus, when people who work together aren’t in each other’s physical presence, it can be hard to know if and when work gets done. That’s why a weekly check-in for new hires is important, but it can be every other week too.

If it’s your established remote staff that needs attention, you might only need to schedule meetings monthly or bi-monthly. While meeting less frequently can be seen as a sign of neglect, keep in mind that regular meetings aren’t always productive. In fact, having them too often can actually make people less productive. If virtual employees are meeting more than once per month and nothing is getting done, then it may be time to revisit how you’re holding them accountable for their work.

Having Effective, Not Just Frequent, Meetings

Yes, it’s tempting to invite remote workers into every meeting you have. But even though your remote employees might be able to check in at any time and ask questions, these meetings are still valuable opportunities for them to make contributions and feel connected to your team. Aim for meetings that are effective, not just frequent. For example, you can have a weekly meeting on Mondays that is strictly about workflow updates and project planning.

Also, ensure that remote employees are present and active in your meetings. In a recent survey (which is probably not a shock to our audience), 50% of moms said they enjoyed working from home and planned on continuing to work from home, so working to establish a good remote workforce is important! Consider creating a culture where regular check-ins can happen via phone or video chat to offer these opportunities, and look into other tools that can help keep everyone on the same page.

When Not To Hold a Meeting

Don’t have a meeting to just have a meeting. Holding meetings that don’t have an outcome or purpose can be frustrating and unproductive, especially when you’re working with remote employees who aren’t in-office. Take time before each meeting to think about what you want to get out of it and jot down topics, action items, and follow-up plans so everyone knows what they need to take care of after the meeting.

So, How Often Do We Need To Touch Base?

The magical number is…it depends. That’s probably not the answer you were hoping for, but it’s the best one we can give you. We do have some guidelines we recommend in general:

  1. Check-in often with new hires. This helps the onboarding process, ensures work is being completed, and establishes a good working relationship. We recommend a regular check-in maximum of once per week and a minimum of every other week. Find what works for you, but make sure you are 100% available to help new hires as needed.

 

  1. Schedule meetings around project kick off, mid-project check-ins, and after projects are completed to review how it went. Now, we aren’t talking about every little project that comes across your desk — we’re talking about the BIG projects that require your entire team to complete.

 

  1. Check-in with your regulars. There is no set rule for this. We have seen companies that hold company-wide meetings weekly. We prefer to check-in with our entire team once per month, but we meet individually more often. Find what works for you, and remember that everyone works differently so some folks need more meetings than others to feel connected and productive — but some fall on the other end of that spectrum!

The takeaway is to find what works for you and your team. Meetings with everyone can be difficult with schedules and time zones, so individual meetings are easier to arrange…which might lead to one too many meetings for individual team members. Just keep the lines of communication open and honest to find what works, and go from there!

How often does your team meet? Reach out to let us know!

 

 

 

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A Checklist for Your Team Before Someone Leaves for Vacation

Besides managing the normal workflow, it’s that time of year when people head to the beach, the mountains, or wherever they want on vacations! While your team members are recharging at their favorite relaxation spots, vacation time for those that are still working can be very stressful.

Is your team ready for one of them to go on vacation? Even if it’s you as a manager and business owner (yes, you deserve time off too!)? Below is a checklist that should help you answer those questions with a resounding YES after you’ve completed it!

#1 Get the 411

As vacation time nears, schedule a time to sit down with your team. Discuss who is going on vacation, what they are working on, and what the plan is to handle that workload. Now is a great time to delegate tasks so that projects don’t slow down while employees are able to relax.

The sooner you do this, the better. That way small tasks can be handed off bit-by-bit rather than all at once in a mad dash on the final day before someone leaves for vacation. This allows your team to ask questions, get acquainted with new pieces of projects, and not feel so stressed.

#2 Get some ICE

We aren’t talking about the cold kind of ice; we’re talking about In Case of Emergency. Create an emergency vacation coverage plan just in case something goes wrong. What if a website you’re building for a client breaks in the middle of the night? What if in the middle of running an accounting report, the numbers just aren’t adding up? Don’t let it scare you. Run through those crazy what if scenarios. Come up with solutions on what to do so that (hopefully) you don’t have to disturb anyone’s vacation.

Also, get key contacts. If the website does go down, who do you call? Or, what if you normally manage a team of remote workers, do your other employees know how to get in contact with everyone else if it’s you going on vacation? Write it all down where everyone can get access to it. If you are working at a physical location, make sure people that need keys get them. You don’t want to wake up and realize your keys are on their way to the beach!

#3 Get out of the office

Besides literally getting out of the office, ask your employees to set out of office notifications on their emails, instant messages, calendars, and even voicemails. This will make sure that clients know what’s going on if they call; make sure to include who to contact while that employee is out of the office in the meantime!

#4 Get out of your head

A vacation is all about relaxing. If an employee is taking a break, make sure they stick to it. Everyone needs time to recharge, so they shouldn’t be worrying about work. The same goes for you as a manager! Don’t worry about work the whole time. Rest. Relax. Recharge. Get out of your head for a bit! Resist the urge to send that vacation email to your team.

By following this short checklist, vacation time should be a little more relaxing for everyone involved, but if your team is already stretched to the max, you can always look at outsourcing some of the work as well.

Now we need to know, did we miss anything on this checklist? Reach out to tell us about your procedures for employees taking a vacation!

 

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Do I need to respond to every applicant that applies for a job?

Are you familiar with the term ghosting? This refers to when someone just leaves a situation with absolutely no explanation. You may have experienced this when someone left you hanging and possibly puzzled you as to why.

Have you, as an employer, ghosted job candidates?

Everyone here understands the struggles of being a business owner: there’s never enough time in the day, never enough help when you need it, or there are days where nothing goes right.

All of that plays into how you go about the hiring process. As a small business, sometimes you just don’t have the manpower to do it all. 

You’re probably asking, when is it considered ‘ghosting’ during the hiring process?

To be honest, there isn’t a clear cut line. What we can say is that the further someone makes it into the hiring process, the more they want to hear a response either way. Each company has its own steps to follow, but if you reach out to a candidate to express interest, it’s at this point that most job seekers start to experience ghosting.

77% of job applicants have been ghosted. That might be after an initial screening phone call, after one face-to-face interview, or after multiple interviews. In fact, some candidates have said they were ghosted by potential employers after a final job offer was submitted to them!

As an employer, ghosting comes down to a judgment call. There are lots of tools available to help you not leave job candidates out in the cold as to where their application stands. One thing we recommend is to write a generic template email saying thank you but no thank you. You can send this to all the candidates at once that aren’t moving to the next round, and that lets them know you aren’t ghosting them — which they will appreciate! You’ll appreciate it too because sometimes ghosting job seekers can lead to more of your time being eaten up when they reach out via phone and email to follow up on their application’s status.

But, what about the flip side?

What should you do as an employer if a candidate ghosts you?

In 2020, job seeker ghostings went up 18% from the previous year. The number one reason job seekers say they ghost employers is because they felt the job was not a good fit. Many applicants ghost early on in the process, but job seekers can wait until the last minute too. In fact, employers have reported that a quarter of new hires don’t show up for their first day on the job.

We’ve experienced this ourselves. We have even experienced new hires showing up for the first few days then ghosting with no explanation. In situations like this, what should employers do? Clearly communicate all expectations from day one. Do not close a job application (or, at least, do not stop the interview process) until a job seeker officially accepts a final offer from your company. Encourage applicants to ask questions. Once they are onboarded, schedule regular one-on-one meetings with them to continuously review expectations and allow them to voice how they are feeling. Be open, and they will follow your lead. If you’re looking for more tips, check out these 3 Mistakes to Avoid When Hiring.

We also suggest checking out these 10 Qualities to Look for When Hiring Team Members. Look for these qualities and their consistency through the interview process, and that will help you to not get ghosted once you’ve hired someone.

In a world of technology where we are all connected, we have never seemed further apart. Ghosting is happening on both sides of the aisle, but it’s for the same reason: either an applicant decided the job was not a good fit OR an employer decided the applicant was not a good fit. We suggest using tools available to send short notes to job candidates to let them know what is happening with their application, and be open and honest with your communication. 

Now we would love to know, do you send candidates something to inform them of your decision? How do you handle this process? Let us know!

 

 

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5 Tips for Applying to a Job Listing that Doesn’t Include the Pay Range

You find an interesting job listing…

The company sounds great…

Your experience matches the company’s required qualifications…

This job sounds great! There’s just one problem: the job doesn’t list the pay range. What does that mean? Should you apply, or should you find a different listing?

Why do companies not list the pay range?

There are several reasons as to why companies post listings without salaries. These reasons range from employers hoping to avoid potential questions from current employees to trying to avoid a wage war with competitors. However, the number one reason normally has to do with finding the most passionate job seekers: if a company does not list the pay range, they hope to attract job seekers that are more interested in the role itself than they are the money behind it.

This can be tricky for job seekers, though, as money is obviously a huge factor, and no one wants to waste their time going through the hiring process if salary expectations aren’t the same!

So, should I apply if a job listing doesn’t include the pay range?

In the end, it all comes down to your personal preference. If the job sounds like your dream job, then go for it (and use these tips to make sure your application stands out above the crowd). If the job doesn’t sound like an absolutely amazing fit and you’re on the fence about it, maybe see what else is out there. There’s no wrong answer here! But, if you do choose to apply to job listings without salaries…

Here are 5 tips for when you apply to a job that doesn’t mention wages:

#1. Research what other, similar positions are offering. The job title can help you figure out what the industry standard of pay is for that position. If it’s not quite what you’re hoping for, then figure out what job titles you should be searching for instead.

#2. Go ahead and apply! Take a chance and see what happens. This might just be the position of a lifetime! If not, it’s a great learning experience. Don’t let fear of the unknown hold you back from applying to a potentially great opportunity!

#3. Ask what the pay is! Communication is ALWAYS the key. Ask right away. Establish if this is a good fit for yourself and for the company.

#4. Plan to negotiate your salary. If no numbers are listed, this means the discussion about pay expectations is much more open than listings that include numbers.

#5. Be reasonable, but make sure this is a good fit for yourself. If you learn the pay range isn’t quite what you want, make sure to figure out if the position is truly a good fit beyond that. Consider time management, budget, experience, etc. Is this a position that will help you grow and achieve your career goals? If the answer is no, it’s probably time to apply to another listing.

As mentioned above, applying to a job with no pay range listed is completely a personal preference. We’ve worked with job seekers that did not like applying to those positions because they felt salary expectations were always less than they hoped for. On the other hand, we’ve worked with job seekers that have negotiated an amazing wage that they might not have received with a different job.

Money is a big factor when finding a job, but it’s not the only thing to think about! How does this job fit within your schedule? Does it give you the freedom to learn and grow? Does the company offer benefits that outweigh pay discrepancies? 

Make sure you look at the job as a whole and not just the pay — and let us know: do you apply to listings that do NOT include the pay range, or do you pass them over?

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