Leaders and Managers: The two terms are often confused and used interchangeably by many, but they do not mean the same thing nor are they opposite of each other. 

Management in an organization is easily defined; it is a system of people within an organization with at least minimal decision-making abilities that use company resources to achieve organizational goals. Management is often task-oriented, and  the categories of employees that fall under management are staffing, controlling, planning, and organizing.  On the other hand, leadership is a term that is usually a lot less clearly defined. It can be argued that the definition of leadership is to ‘lead a group of people to achieve a common goal,’ and managers do that. It is no wonder the terms are so easily confused…

Within an organization, it is the leaders that create the common goal and the processes by which managers will ensure their employees achieve it. An organization starts with leadership and a vision. Take Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg for example; He is true leader whose multi-billion dollar corporation started from his vision. Now Facebook continues to expand and create world-changing updates to its system, because visionary Mark Zuckerberg strategically identifies leaders to manage the continued evolution of Facebook.

Is every leader a manager? No. Is every manager a leader? No … but the best managers are. The most successful organizations have a solid mixture of effective managers and effective leaders. Leaders generate new ideas, and managers execute them. Leaders create a system, and managers oversee the day to day operations within that system. Leaders are effective, and managers are efficient. Leaders inspire others to do great, and managers motivate others to achieve a goal. Leaders create change, and managers work to create stability & consistency. Leaders have followers, while managers have associates. Leaders make the rules (and sometimes break them,) and managers follow the rules. Leaders oversee, and managers supervise.  Every organization is different, but regardless of the overall vision for the company, it is important to understand that there is a difference between leadership and management. Often times, the definitions of both management and leadership are situational and according to the organizational structure. The best organizations understand and value both managers & leaders and encourage their managers to lead. 

Employers in every field often overlook the importance of conducting a thorough criminal background screening for every new employee. In any industry, the repercussions of hiring someone with a criminal background or poor professional history can be detrimental to an organization.Medical practices can be hit particularly hard by engaging in negligent hiring practices, even if they are unintentional. Poor hiring decisions could lead to patient harm and punitive damages. Practices may assume that credentialing includes criminal background checks, but this is not always the case. Not all state medical boards check criminal background history before licensing medical professionals.

Many organizations within the state of Florida only check local backgrounds, because the judicial system website makes it simple to screen anyone by county. It is important to remember that often times, potential candidates have lived outside of Florida or are not being completely honest on their application, and a national criminal background check (including sexual offender status and worker’s compensation claim history) is necessary for any new employee that you bring in to your organization.

Employers should always refer to the Fair Credit Reporting Act when conducting employee background screening and ensure that all practices are according to local, state, and federal law. Some companies find that the easiest, most-effective, and most certainly legal way to screen candidates is turning to a trusted, third-party source to conduct all screening, including both credentialing and complete criminal history checks. Ad-VANCE Talent Solutions is a one-stop human resource provider that offers a  variety of screening solutions for any business. Call Ad-VANCE today for more tips and information on our screening and hiring services!

Ad-VANCE is proud to have recently joined the national initiative, America Wants You,  to help military veterans get back to work! America Wants You was initiated by multiple large, private-sector organizations, including Waste Management & GE. With the unemployment rate of our military veterans recently climbing above 800,000; We have to work together to ensure we’re helping veterans find employment once they return from serving our country. In the months and years to come, more and more war-time troops will be separating from the military. When we called on these hundreds of thousands of men and women to fight for us, they were there. Now, let’s be there for them.

As a former military spouse who struggled with starting a career while serving, I believe it is important to also note the struggle that military families face when seeking employment. The government has launched the Military Spouse Employment Partnership, and now it is up to those of us in the private sector to follow suit!

You, too, can join the cause at:  http://americawantsyou.net/.  Beyond this initiative (and even if you don’t have any job opportunities to offer,) you can support our troops, just by being AWARE of the struggles that our veterans and their families face when seeking employment during and after their service to our country.

Here at Ad-VANCE, our staffing coordinators are hearing from and meeting with more and more candidates that already have a preconceived notion about how staffing companies operate. We’ve also heard from clients that initially expect a minimal level of service from us and are shocked to find out that we’re so much more than just “place fillers” or “head-hunters.” A lot of people don’t have a full understanding of what it really is that staffing companies/recruitment agencies do. I was the same way when I stepped into my first recruiter’s office years ago at (our fellow independent staffing company and TempNet member) The Lee Group Staffing Professionals in Newport News, Virginia. Just like Ad-VANCE, they very quickly made me feel comfortable and explained their process to me. While I went into their office clueless and terrified, I left with a solid understanding of their business …and a job at their front desk!

We always try to take this same approach at Ad-VANCE and initiate interviews by asking applicants about what they know about Ad-VANCE and what we have to offer. What we’ve found is that most candidates expect a certain outcome from coming to us, and often times, that outcome is negative. We’ve heard all kinds of stories from sub par interviews to the dreaded “They never called me for an interview.” They almost always expect that there are no benefits (holiday pay, health insurance, bonus incentives, etc.) Often times, clients expect that we only do temp placements or that we don’t ever show up on site to meet with them in person. This is no way means that other staffing companies give bad service or have bad practices, but these experiences were more than likely driven from a lack of understanding of each company’s services and procedures. At Ad-VANCE, we understand that it is imperative to make sure that clients and employees alike understand from Day 1: who we are, what we do, & how we do it.

It is very important for clients and employees to understand that every employment/recruiting agency is different. We’re different in the types of positions we specialize in recruiting for, the methodologies used to recruit, the level of service provided to our clients, and the treatment of our employees (from the time they enter our lobby to the time they become a permanent employee with a client.) Ad-VANCE strives to create unique HR partnerships with all clients & solid relationships with employees to best fit their needs. We are proud to offer health insurance, holiday & vacation pay, and bonus incentives to all employees. Because we are entirely locally owned & operated, we also offer unique staffing & recruiting approaches and a level of flexibility to all clients. It’s not just about recruiting bodies and fillings positions; It is about creating unique relationships with both employees and clients to ensure that every placement is the ideal fit.

Call Ad-VANCE today, and speak to any staff member for an explanation of our services! Employers can also view our Employer Information page: http://ad-vance.com/employers/ & Job Seekers/Employees can access more detailed information about Ad-VANCE’s procedures at our Job Seekers page: http://ad-vance.com/job-seekers/.

There are many reasons why employees leave a company, but what all of these reasons essentially boil down to are poor management, motivation, or organizational structure. As employers, we are often quick to ask “What is wrong with the employee to make them leave?” when we really should be taking a long, hard look at ourselves, our management, and our organizational vision.

Whether an employee from the top 1% or the lowest level of the company leaves, it is always important to perform an exit interview and gain a full understanding of their reasoning for leaving. What you’ll usually find is that the employee feels under-stimulated, underutilized, or unclear about the direction of the company. When you start to see your top performers leaving your organization, it is time to evaluate the direction of the company and the managers overseeing these exiting employees. More importantly, you must maintain a clear vision & direction and be sure it is communicated to employees at all times to avoid losing them. 

Check out the article “Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail to Keep Their Best Talent” by Forbes blogger Eric Jackson: http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericjackson/2011/12/14/top-ten-reasons-why-large-companies-fail-to-keep-their-best-talent/. With close to two million views, this article clearly resonates with many professionals. While it mostly pertains to larger organizations, Jackson’s message can easily be applied to smaller companies as well.

Have you ever left an organization voluntarily? What was your reasoning??? Ad-VANCE is interested to hear you feedback!

While you’re at www.review.net checking out the Gulf Coast Business Review’s Gulf Coast 500 list for 2011, take a look at this great article featuring our friend in HR, Lisa Krouse, about the cost of hiring today:

http://www.review.net/special-sections/detail/the-cost-of-hiring/

The cost of hiring today extends far beyond just wages. It includes unemployment expenses, worker’s compensation taxes, healthcare costs, employee training & development, employee benefits … and the list goes on. Taking all of these costs into consideration, remember that Ad-VANCE Talent Solutions is here to incur ALL of these costs while providing you with qualified & reliable employees and a long-term HR partnership!

Call Ad-VANCE today to discuss your hiring needs!!!

Here is a great article from one of our favorite tutorials, Inc. Magazine, about the things that bosses wish they could tell you, but can’t.

Employers: This article is a great one to send out to your employees to make them aware of all the hardships you most likely keep to yourself and the compliments & information that you want to give employees…but just can’t.

Employees: This article sheds a great light on some of the things that your boss probably thinks & experiences, but for obvious reasons, just can’t come out and say…

http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/10-things-bosses-never-tell-employees.html

Ad-VANCE’s friends and fellow TempNet members at Broad Waverly Staffing in Red Bank, NJ recently shared these encoruaging words with us, and we wanted to share them with all of you job seekers, employees, and employers:

 
“ABE’S STORY”

Failed in business at age 21.

Defeated in legislative race at age 22.

Failed again in business at age 24.

Overcame the death of his sweetheart at age 26.

Had a nervous breakdown at age 27.

Lost a congressional race at age 36.

Lost a senatorial race at age 45.

Failed in an effort to become vice-president at age 47.

Lost a senatorial race at age 49.

Elected President of the United States at age 52.

“As you can see, Abraham Lincoln never quit! Therefore, regardless of our current business conditions . . . . Don’t Quit!!!!!”

Attention Employers and Job Seekers: Are you considering working with a temporary staffing or search agency?

According to Careerbuilder.com and Forbes magazine, 36% of companies will use a temporary staffing firm in 2012. Currently, more than one third of all American companies have less staff on payroll than they did before the recession, and a majority of them are turning to staffing companies for assistance in rebuilding their work team.  In today’s employment market, with a high amount of unemployed, qualified American workers, hiring on new staff can prove to be a different process than most employers remember 3 years ago… 

There are some obvious benefits of using a staffing company, and then there are numerous indicators of temporary staffing’s value (for both employers AND employees) that are not quite so obvious:

For Employers: The most obvious benefits include avoiding unemployment, worker’s compensation, state & federal taxes, health care coverage, other benefits including vacation & holiday pay, FMLA, employee termination, and in some cases you avoid commitment of any kind. In using a search & staffing firm, employers also save themselves the time, effort, & money involved in performing all testing & screening,  paying employees, and sorting through the thousands of qualified applicants that are out there in order to locate the right candidate who fill be the best fit in the job AND culturally within the organization (just to name a few.)

For Employees: You have another resource in your strenuous job search, a liaison with connections between you and numerous hiring organizations. You have opportunities for trying out different fields & organizations, adding new skills to you resume (or keeping up your existing ones,) avoiding the dreaded “gap in work history” on your resume, and building your professional network. To some people, the most important benefit of utilizing a staffing firm is receiving health care coverage & benefits and earning a paycheck! While we can’t guarantee that every temp assignment will be the favorite job you’ve ever had or turn into a permanent position … We cannot stress enough how many times these things DO happen!! Just last week, 2 “one week, temp” assignments through Ad-VANCE  turned into permanent careers that neither party (employer or employee) went in expecting but both were genuinely grateful for!  If you have a bad experience with an employer, you are not obligated to that employer and you can use the job as professional learning and growing experience.

 Ad-VANCE and other agencies are here to make the best employer/employee connections possible using a plethora of resources, and if you discount the opportunities that exist through us … who knows what opportunity or employee you just might be unknowingly passing up?! If you would like more convincing on why temporary staffing is worth it, you should check out this article from Forbes magazine where Kerry Hannon, a career expert, refers to temporary staffing as “the bees knees”  :

http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryhannon/2012/01/19/why-temporary-work-is-worth-it/

Performance reviews can be an outstanding way to provide specific feedback (both positive and negative), gain buy-in from your staff, improve morale, and drive performance. But, they only work if you have a good implementation and follow-up plan.

The bad news: many companies don’t have a good plan in place. In fact, a survey conducted earlier this year found that only 45% of employees felt their managers provided good, consistent feedback. Additionally, nearly half of respondents said their supervisors didn’t even complete their performance reviews on time-or even at all.

So, what can you do to improve reviews? You can start by following these key steps:

1. Don’t wait! Nothing is worse than pushing reviews off and off. Schedule them early and don’t postpone them. Also, performance reviews don’t have to be at the end of the year. Consider conducting them quarterly.

2. Be consistent. When evaluating employees that perform the same role, hold them to the same standards and don’t play favorites.

3. Prepare. Throughout the year keep a file for each employee. Make notes with specific examples that show successes and areas for improvement. Develop a specific game plan for each employee that helps them take advantage of their best strengths, and limit any weaknesses they may have.

4. Gather feedback. If you work in a collaborative environment, gather feedback from other supervisors. You may even want to speak with coworkers to get a better sense of actual job performance to ensure your observations are accurate.

5. Allow employees time to prepare. Effective evaluations occur when employees have time to reflect on their own performance. When given time and direction, employees will often develop their own plans for improving individual performance. Also, giving employees time to prepare will make them more comfortable during the review and allow for more open communication.

Looking for more help?

At Ad-VANCE, we help a variety of organizations screen, evaluate and recruit top talent. If you need additional help with year-end reviews or hiring throughout the year, we would be happy to assist. Contact us today!