Are You Emotionally Intelligent?

Jill Rose's Upstate Women in Technology (UWIT) group met last week to discuss emotional IQ.  

Daniel Radovic, SHRM-SCP, CPC - Executive and Leadership Coach at Nexus Consulting Group, Inc.

Intelligence Quotient (IQ) vs Emotional Quotient (EQ) - What is more important to your success? We all recognize the value of a high IQ; it is often what will get you hired. Yet IQ alone is not a good predictor of a person’s career success. EQ, on the other hand IS a powerful predictor of success, especially when coupled with identifiable technical ability.

What is EQ?  How is it measured?  What can one do if they have “Low EQ”?
If you are not familiar with EQ, you will take away some new insight how EQ can play an important role in your personal success.  If you are familiar with EQ, we hope you will find new ideas to implement into your own personal development plan.

More information about UWIT is available at www.UWITSC.com. 

Dan Radovic with UWIT President Jill Rose

Funny, but Effective!

I can't help but giggle at this.  However, it is effective emphasizing the importance of finding the right fit for candidate AND client!

How does a recruiting firm deliver value? (Part 4 of a series)

There are 3 principles the PR team adheres to in order to be an effective recruiting partner to our clients:

     1.  Sweat the small stuff​

     2.  Sweat the small stuff​

     3.  Sweat the small stuff​

One of the many ways we sweat the small stuff is by thoroughly vetting candidates against stated requirements before presenting them to our client hiring managers.  It probably goes without saying, but imagine how much time (=$$$) we save our clients by doing this!

I conducted an unscientific survey with several clients recently.  The survey compared the number of hires over a 6 month period to the number of candidates my team submitted for consideration over the same period for the same list of job openings.  Yep, you guessed it - PR had (by far!) the highest ratio of hires to submitted candidates.

We'll keep sweating the small stuff so you don't have to!

What's the Latest in Banking Technologies?

​​The Upstate Women in Technology​​ (UWIT) group is hosting ​Kara Bradley next week to hear about the latest innovations in banking technology.  Technological innovations in banking are fundamentally changing the way that clients can interact with financial institutions, merchants, and even other individuals, while also increasing data security to minimize risk of fraud.

Want to learn more about this event?  Goto www.UWITSC.com 

How does a recruiting firm deliver value? (Part 3 of a series)

​We are a small team of seasoned recruitment and technology professionals.  We joined hands to provide more value than we could as individuals. Today we provide Recruitment and Staffing services to a variety of small to mid-sized firms in industries ranging from specialty packaging to financial services to cloud services.

As I've said (ad nauseum!) in my previous posts, not all recruiting firms are cut from the same cloth!  Our team uses some very unconventional methods of recruiting (apart from the conventional ones) and this gives us access to a talent pool that other recruiters usually don't tap into.  Our success is validated by the fact that a majority of candidates we speak with have never been contacted by competing recruiting agencies working on the same job.

One of the things that makes us different is that we are a dedicated passive search team and this helps ensure that 35% of the candidates we submit are candidates without resumes on Job Boards.  In addition, our extremely successful advertising techniques increase our reach to passive/active candidates (who do not have resumes on job boards) by upwards of 30%.  It also helps that our recruiters work on fewer positions empowering them to go wide and deep for every search. 

In short, we strive for "Outrageous Success" every day!

PR is Hiring our Heros!

​The PR team is pleased to announce our association with the US Chamber's program called "Hiring our Heros"!  Hiring Our Heroes is a nationwide initiative to help veterans, transitioning service members, and military spouses find meaningful employment opportunities.

Many of our clients favor retired military candidates do to their superior work ethic, attention to detail, enhanced sense of team, etc.  HOH will allow us to find the right matches for our clients more quickly and cost effectively.

Company Rules and the Employee

Rules and processes are put in place to create order and efficiency:
• Traffic laws are created to prevent chaos and accidents on roadways.
• Schools have rules to keep students safe and create an ordered environment where learning can take place.
• Parents make rules to keep their households running smoothly and to teach their children how to be good citizens.

However, some processes could be improved when rules are bent or broken. Businesses should watch for employees who are willing to break rules in order to help the company. Those employees, if encouraged rather than punished for bending the rules, might help the company achieve new levels of efficiency and customer service.

Look for these traits in employees to find those people who might increase growth or efficiency in a business by questioning, bending, and even breaking company rules:

Passionate. Employees who believe in the product they are selling and have faith in the company’s mission will look for ways to provide the best possible customer service to clients. Passionate employees are also more likely to give honest feedback that can help a company spot weaknesses in its processes and improve operations or customer service.

Hardworking. These employees make the most of their time at work. They are willing to put in extra hours when necessary to get the job done, though they need not be workaholics. Diligent employees usually know the ins-and-outs of the business really well so they have good insights about which rules work and which don’t.

Outspoken. Sometimes rule breakers and innovators are more difficult to work with than the average employee. Their desire to see the company prosper is personal to them, so they see the organization’s successes or failures as an extension of their own successes and failures. Thus, they may respond to these ups and downs in a more personal way than other employees. However, this also means they are deeply psychologically committed to making the company the best it can be.

Courage. Employees who are willing to break rules and speak out about how processes might be improved must, out of necessity, have the courage to speak up. It is much easier, and more common, for employees to follow the rules and not rock the boat than it is to stick their neck out and try to make changes.

Most employees are happy to follow management’s rules and do a good job within the structures the company has implemented. And some employees will break the rules for the sake of breaking them, much to the detriment of the company. But companies would be wise to keep their eyes peeled and their minds open for the subset of employees who have the passion and courage to try and improve their organization’s performance, even if it means bending or breaking a few rules.

Yes, PR is Certified Women Owned!

Our Greatest Asset

I recently came across this article by Blanton Phillips of Phillips Staffing and thought it worth repeating (reblogging?):​

Recently, several economists have weighed in on South Carolina's improving employment picture, and in particular the contributions — or perceived drawbacks — of the growth in temporary and contract staffing in the Palmetto State. While we are encouraged to see recognition of an industry that provides quality jobs to tens of thousands of South Carolinians every week, some of the coverage missed important points, painting only a partial picture of the staffing industry's impact.

Thousands of businesses across South Carolina use temporary staffing partners, including such acclaimed employers as BMW and Caterpillar, plus many small and mid-sized businesses. Nationally, more than 3 million Americans enjoy quality careers with competitive wages through the staffing industry, according to research organization Ibisworld. In South Carolina, the industry connects local people to businesses seeking qualified talent.

Recent reporting has asserted that businesses often use staffing services to evade certain HR regulations. As one of the Southeast's leading staffing firms, we strongly disagree with this. We know of no such arrangements, and would vigorously advise clients against any practice that could compromise compliance with ERISA or other employment law.

In fact, quite the opposite is true. Staffing is a core business strategy deployed by many top employers — including nearly 95 percent of the Fortune 500 — to improve ability to hire the right people, and to invest more capital, all while connecting people to good jobs.

Today's staffing industry maintains a thorough understanding of employment-related legal and regulatory issues. It offers expertise in issues related to pay, benefits, state and federal taxation, and other HR requirements, and often functions as a client's HR department. Our organization has gone to great lengths to ensure complete compliance with the Affordable Care Act's Employer Mandate, proudly offering fully compliant healthcare coverage to all eligible employees.

Staffing assignments are quality jobs. Each year, tens of thousands of South Carolinians transition into long-term employment as a result of companies like ours matching workers to positions based on skills, experience, company culture and fit. The opportunity for a "trial period" in a job is beneficial to both employer and employee — significantly reducing expensive and disruptive turnover.

In a broader context, our industry is working closely with the state of South Carolina to help fill the skills gap. Our firm utilizes WorkKeys and the National Career Readiness programs extensively with our clients and employees, and we are a proud partner in the WorkReady Communities effort.

We also are working with state officials to include staffing jobs in strategic initiatives aimed at growing the workforce, including tax credits for new jobs and expanding employment, as is accepted in most of our neighboring states. With temporary staffing as a core strategy to build and maintain workforce, the industry continues to be embraced for its contributions to job creation, growth, and sustained employment.

Staffing also is a critical part of the economic development process. Many companies are drawn to our region because of the deep and growing availability of flexible, talented, and efficient labor. Those organizations depend on our industry's expertise and services to find, hire, and deploy the people that they need to be successful.

Just as importantly, our employees rely on us to place them in good jobs, where they can utilize the skills they have, learn new skills, build experience, and enhance their career.

For all these reasons, temporary staffing is one of South Carolina's greatest economic drivers — and greatest assets.

Enough Said!

Learning a new skill could be Epic!

Just came across this worthwhile read on Dice...

Project managers, implementation specialists, systems administrators, software testers and quality assurance analysts skilled in Epic are getting snapped up as quickly as they go on the market.

Driving the demand are two things: the growing use of Epic Systems’ software at healthcare organizations, and the difficulty in getting Epic certified, says Caleb Potter, a principal recruiter for healthcare IT at the Seattle offices of recruiter Greythorn.

Click here to find jobs requiring an Epic certification.

Epic’s software dominates the work involved with electronic health records, or EHR, notes Potter. Thanks to federal mandates, hospitals and other healthcare organizations will continue to expand their implementation of EHR systems and need IT professionals who can help them do it – at least for the next few years.

However, becoming a recognized Epic expert isn’t easy. You’ll need to work at, and be sponsored by, a healthcare organization or work at Epic itself to pursue a certification related to clinical systems, records and billing. As Potter observes, Epic keeps a tight rein on the process. (The company wouldn’t comment for this story.)

The certification process requires on-site training at Epic’s headquarters in Verona, Wisc., and also that you undertake actual project work in a hospital setting. Inevitably, the process limits the number of people with the certifications. “I hear it all of the time, how do I get certified?” Potter says. “People are usually disappointed with the news.”

If you’re interested in pursuing a certification, Potter suggests checking out the local market for hospital IT jobs and paying close attention to organizations that are already Epic customers.

The payoff from your Epic credentials can come quickly: Many certified professionals jump from the hospital to the consulting world soon after receiving their certifications. A big reason is money. According to Potter, health system IT employees might make between $65,000 and $110,000 a year, depending on their position. Consultants can take home between $70 to $115 an hour.

But even if you’re not interested in consulting, it’s a good time to be looking for work if you’ve got Epic credentials, says Mike Smith, a vice president at Orem, Utah-based KLAS Research. “Epic has had some incredible growth, and they’ve had more net new wins in the hospital-over-200-bed space than any other core software vendor doing core clinical software work,” he explains. That accounts for much of the job growth at Epic itself, and is the reason smaller consultants are constantly cropping up.

Still, the best opportunities are likely to be found at some of the bigger consulting firms.Deloitte is one of the leaders in terms of sheer project size, says Smith, and Accenture and Encore Health Resources have growing Epic practices.

The only question regards how much longer this demand will continue. “Epic is continuing to have success in the marketplace, and we think there’s still a bit of runway there for implementing new systems,” says Smith. “Two or three years from now, the amount of work will have to scale back, so then it becomes a replacement market.”

This means you should get your certifications with your eyes open. Once the big implementation work goes away, Epic specialists will need to retool and shift their focus. “Hospitals are under a lot of pressure to reduce costs and improve care, and so we’re anticipating more work on the optimization and analytics side,” says Smith.