Over the course of many years, Wood Personnel Services‘ objective has been to work with the best clients, best employees and best internal staff.  We bring these three elements of success together to complete a philosophical triad we refer to as

“Just good people.”

This simple business philosophy is at the heart of everything we do to serve Middle Tennessee’s employers and job seekers.  With over two decades of experience developing our local recruiting expertise, Wood has grown to become a staffing partner you can rely upon.  Here are just a few of the advantages we deliver:

Exclusive focus on the Middle Tennessee business community.  Since 1988, we have honed our skills in attracting and retaining the area’s best talent.  Because we’re locally owned and operated, Wood Personnel has a heightened commitment to ethical business practices and consistently superior service.

Faster decision making.  A flattened organizational structure helps us make decisions and customize solutions faster.  Our customers have the support and attention of our entire organization, and we work together to rapidly develop programs that solve each client’s unique challenges.

Lower turnover.  As a local company, our internal employee turnover is lower than the national average for staffing and recruiting firms.  Our staffing experts stay with us longer, understand our clients’ needs better and therefore serve customers more effectively.

Wood is built to last.  So are our people.  Contact us today and enjoy the benefits of working with staffing professionals you can trust.

According to the HR experts listed below, here are a few of the top recruiting and staffing trends that will impact Middle Tennessee employers this year – and ways your staffing service can help you take advantage of them:

Unemployment will remain high.  Dr. Ira Wolfe, author of The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, predicts that we will continue to experience relatively high unemployment for as much as 10 years.  While this may lead you to assume that you won’t need a staffing service to recruit top talent, that’s not necessarily the case.  Wolf says that despite high unemployment rates, employers are finding it increasingly difficult to find people with the mix of hard and soft skills they need.

• Staffing tip:  Beyond matching traditional skills, work with your provider to identify the soft skills (the ability to fit in, work collaboratively, etc.) needed for success in your available position.  Your staffing firm can leverage its network of specialized experts to pinpoint candidates with the skills, traits and experience to thrive in your environment – all while saving you time and money.

Rapid increase in mobile technology as a platform for recruiting.  Dr. John Sullivan, a highly respected thought leader in HR, says that if 2011 was the year of social media, 2012 will be “The Year of the Mobile Platform.”  By the end of this year, Sullivan predicts that mobile technology will have become the dominant communications and interaction platform in use by leading-edge companies.  As such, talent management leaders should invest in recruiting initiatives that leverage smartphone and tablet technology.

• Staffing tip:  Work with a staffing partner who already incorporates social media as part of its recruiting strategy (like Wood Personnel).  Staffing companies that keep pace with changes in technology will have a distinct recruiting advantage as mobile platforms take an even stronger hold.

Workers will continue to move away from long-term employment with one company.  Experts predict that contract, part-time and other non-traditional employment arrangements will increase, due to the recession and increased life span.  Gen X workers do not subscribe to the notion that you have to sit at a desk to work, so they’re much more receptive to contract and remote work.

• Staffing tip:  Work with your staffing partner to shift your thinking about how work gets done in your company.  With non-traditional employment arrangements becoming the norm, top talent is now more receptive than ever to shorter-term, project-based work.   Your staffing partner can show you the most cost-effective ways to use temporary and contract staffing to accomplish your goals.

Retention issues will increase dramatically.  Because most corporate retention programs have been so severely degraded, Sullivan predicts that turnover rates in high-demand occupations will increase by 25% this year.  In fact, retention could turn out to be the highest economic impact area in all of talent management.

• Staffing tip:  Work with a staffing provider that treats its employees well.  The better a staffing firm treats its employees, the better those employees will perform for you – and the more likely they’ll be to stay on through the assignment’s duration.  To reward and retain our employees, Wood Personnel provides its temporary and contract employees with benefits, value-added services and free online training resources.

Contact Wood Personnel to discuss how these staffing trends will impact your business.  As a leading staffing firm serving Middle Tennessee, we can help you develop a strategic, proactive workforce strategy that helps you capitalize on the changes in our industry.

Despite being a critical part of conveying a professional image, many job seekers overlook – or simply don’t know about – e-mail “rules of engagement.”  Unlike personal e-mails or texts, professional digital communications need to follow certain guidelines to be effective.  So if the follow-up e-mail you send to a potential employer is polished and – yes – mannerly, it can actually help you stand out from the crowd and increase your chances of getting the job.

Before you send your next work-related e-mail, make sure it presents you in a positive, professional light.  Use these important tips to develop flawless e-mail etiquette:

1. Fill in the “To:” e-mail address last. Wait until you are completely through proofing your e-mail to fill in the recipient’s address.  This will keep you from accidentally sending an e-mail prematurely – and save you from the potential embarrassment of typos or forgotten attachments.
2. Be professional. Skip abbreviations, texting lingo and emoticons.  Mind your manners and follow the basic rules of courtesy you learned while growing up – like using the words “Please” and “Thank you.”  Keep your tone professional at all times, striving to come across as respectful, friendly and approachable.
3. Create a descriptive subject line. Make it easy for your recipient to tell what your e-mail is about; otherwise, it may be overlooked or deleted.
4. Address the recipient by name in the body of the e-mail. It adds a personal and courteous touch to your communication.  Only address someone by his first name if he implies that it’s okay to do so.
5. Avoid the following: USING ALL CAPS (it’s the written equivalent of YELLING!); over-using punctuation!!!!!!; HTML (not everyone can view it); forwarding unsolicited e-mail (not everyone will think it’s cute or funny, and you may wind up offending or annoying someone).
6. Be concise, but thorough. Respect the recipient’s time by getting to the point of your e-mail as quickly as possible.  Additionally, make sure you include all relevant information the recipient needs, to avoid a string of unnecessary additional e-mails.
7. Use office e-mail exclusively for office communications. Work e-mail is official company property.  If you want to e-mail friends or family, use a separate Hotmail, Yahoo or Gmail account.  Remember, your IT administrator and/or boss has the right to open work account e-mails at any time.
8. Always use a signature line. Do not assume that the recipient knows who you are.
9. Use your spellchecker, but don’t rely on it. Spellcheckers have their value, but may not catch missed words, incorrect information, etc.  Always proof your e-mail yourself before sending.

A final note to job seekers:
When you are applying for a job via e-mail, follow the instructions given to the letter.  In general, you should copy and paste your cover letter into the body of the e-mail.  If the posting asks you to send your résumé as an attachment, send the file as a .doc (Microsoft Word document) or .pdf (Adobe Acrobat file).  Before sending the e-mail, send yourself a test message to make sure everything displays properly.

Looking for more great career advice?
Visit Wood Personnel’s Candidate Resource Center.  It’s filled with useful tips to help Middle Tennessee job seekers like you land a great job, manage your career, achieve a healthy work/life balance and more.  Have a specific question?  Contact Wood Personnel today.

According to the Harvard Business Review, this type of thinking is short-sighted.

In a recent HBR article entitled “The Case for Executive Assistants,” author Melba J. Duncan defends the true value an assistant can deliver.  She argues that the average company has actually gone too far in cutting back on administrative help, and that – beyond merely writing business letters and scheduling meetings – a skilled executive assistant can:

• boost productivity and free you to focus on your top priorities;
• assist in on-boarding new managers;
• provide reverse mentoring;
• and act as the air traffic controller of an office, particularly for managers who travel frequently.

Not every manager (particularly younger managers, who’ve grown up with technology that’s increased their self-sufficiency), however, knows how to make good use of an assistant.  So if and when you decide to add this valuable resource to your staff, remember these suggestions maximize his effectiveness:

• Develop a checklist of responsibilities. Consider tasks that could be shifted from higher level employees and add in new tasks that are important, but not currently being carried out.  If several people are sharing the resources of your new assistant, be sure to clearly establish how he should allocate work time, to whom he should report, etc.
• Properly introduce and orient your assistant. Let your colleagues know that your assistant speaks and acts for you (or your work team/department).
• Don’t be afraid to delegate. If you hire intelligently, you should trust your assistant to figure out how to do the things you need accomplished.
• Have your assistant attend important meetings.  This will facilitate his understanding of the issues facing your staff or department and help him to be viewed as an important contributor.
• Offer training. Technology and managerial training may help your assistant fill his changing role effectively – while making him a more valuable team member.
• Keep the lines of communication open. Make it easy for your assistant stay in touch with you, and let him know your preferred methods of communication.  When delegating and giving instructions, be sure they are clear and precise.  And since communication is a two-way street, listen to your assistant.  Because he plays such a central role, he may be privy to vital information that you don’t readily have access to.
• Show him your appreciation for a job well done. Your assistant’s job is to help you be more successful in yours.  Don’t forget to thank him when he’s made your job easier or helped you look good.

Find the Ideal Administrative or Executive Assistant with Wood Personnel

Surprisingly, hiring the ideal executive assistant can actually be more difficult than filling other management jobs.  As a locally owned, full-service staffing company serving Middle Tennessee since 1988, Wood Personnel can make your search quicker, easier and more cost-effective.  Contact us today, and we’ll help you find the perfect administrative or executive assistant.

Everything from a volatile global economy to proposed employment legislation changes make it more challenging than ever to predict what’s in store for the coming year (let alone the coming month).  Constantly changing workloads, talent availability and local economic conditions only complicate matters.  As a result, staffing strategies that worked for you in the past may not prove as effective this year.

This doesn’t mean you’re out of luck; it just means that you may need to re-examine your staffing strategy to thrive.  So start 2012 off right.  Consider these staffing best practices which have proven effective for corporate human resources executives across the country, courtesy of workforce.com:

• Make sure the staffing partner has an adequate balance sheet. Given the relatively low barriers to entry, it is too common to see staffing companies struggle financially.
• Be sure the staffing partner has sufficient size and financial resources to manage the contract. Sourcing 100 or more contract workers on an ongoing basis requires a very different type of staffing organization than providing two or three temps at a time.
• Visit the local office of the staffing company as part of the due-diligence process, especially for large projects, to make sure the operation meets expectations.
• Give your staffing partner feedback on all candidates that you review to help refine the recruiting strategy, and make it easier to find the best candidates.
• Be open-minded about “teachable” candidates, especially for hard-to-fill skill sets. Candidates who are a strong cultural fit and possess transferable skills are likely to succeed and thrive with some training and support.
• Provide enough training, rewards and feedback to keep temps engaged and motivated. One employer notes that small rewards—a free lunch for good performance, for example—go a long way toward winning the loyalty of temps.
• Beware of unfair negative stereotypes about the quality of temp workers. Temps can be—and often are—as qualified as full-time employees, and their skills can be equally useful.

Wood Personnel – Your Best Staffing Strategy for 2012

Comprised of highly trained human resource professionals with over 100 years of combined experience, Wood Personnel has grown to become a staffing industry leader in middle Tennessee.  Through the years, we’ve developed specialties in Professional Staffing, IT Placement & Contract Staffing and Executive Search.  Rest assured, we are a stable, successful partner you can trust with your all your workforce management needs – no matter how large or small.

Call Wood Personnel to schedule a 2012 workforce consultation. Together, we can identify your upcoming needs and develop a proactive, cost-effective staffing strategy that will deliver real bottom-line results.

“What was your last job like?”

“Why are you interested in the available position?”

“Why should we hire you?”

These are all standard questions designed to gain more information about your skills and experience.  But are you prepared to answer questions like:

“What is the most creative idea you’ve implemented to solve a problem?”

“Can you describe a time when you tried to persuade another person to do something that he was not very willing to do?”

“What is the most difficult project you’ve worked on – and how did it help you develop professionally?”

Don’t let behavioral interview questions like these throw you into a tailspin.  If you’re new to the concept of behavioral interviewing, here is a quick 101 to bring you up to speed:

• Behavioral questions are designed to reveal more than just skills or experience.  They operate on the premise that understanding past behavior is the best way to predict future success.
• Questions may be casually inserted into a typical interview, or you may be formally required to answer a set list.  Be prepared for either scenario.
• Questions will require you to describe situations from your past, as well as your feelings and observations about them.  Depending upon your answers, the interviewer may have follow-up probing questions.
• The interviewer will look for evidence of desired behavioral traits in your responses, to assess your proficiency in certain job-related areas.

As with all interview questions, preparing for behavioral questions is essential to success.  While you cannot predict the specific questions you will be asked, you can use these tips to ace your next behavioral interview – not matter what type of job you’re seeking:

• Learn about the company.  Do your homework before the interview to learn about the company, its core values and the available position.  Use the job description to determine the most essential behaviors needed to succeed in the position, then research potential behavioral interview questions that are associated with these traits.
• Create your behavioral interview arsenal.  Create a list of key accomplishments that exemplify the traits necessary to succeed in the available position.  If you lack work experience, draw upon your school experiences (challenging courses/tests, group projects, research papers, etc.).  Select experiences that reflect well on you, even if the outcome of the situation itself was not favorable.  With a bit of work, you can develop a repertoire of a small number of workplace experiences that you can use to answer a wide range of behavioral questions.
• Flesh out each experience.  Make sure each of your examples has a beginning, middle and end.  Experts recommend using the STAR technique to communicate your ideas logically and concisely:  the beginning should describe a Situation you were in or the Task you needed to accomplish; the middle should recount the Action that you took; the end should review the measurable Results you achieved.
• Practice with a friend.  Behavioral interviews can be grueling.  Boost your confidence by rehearsing your workplace stories ahead of time with a friend or relative.  Aim for vivid, concise answers that are one to three minutes long.

Looking for more interview help?  Searching for jobs in Middle Tennessee?  Wood Personnel is here to help.  As Middle Tennessee’s leading employment services company, we can help you take the next step in your career.

This is not news, of course, but the concept occasionally bears repeating. If you’re just learning about workplace safety, or would like to refresh your knowledge, take a few minutes to read this brief but valuable post outlining tips to create a safer work environment.

1. Keep the work space as clean as possible.  Poor housekeeping can cause frequent workplace accidents.  As such, cleaning should be an ongoing effort by all employees.
2. Properly plan jobs.  When expectations, time schedules and equipment lists are clearly communicated, each team member knows what is required to complete a job safely and on time.  As part of your planning, identify potential safety hazards, so you can avoid them.  All too often, “rush” jobs lead to shortcuts, lack of/improper use of safety equipment, accidents and injuries.
3. Remind employees to:  lift with their legs and knees; never twist while lifting something heavy; take hourly breaks to stretch when required to sit for long periods; use the right tools for the job.  Post these reminders in areas where your employees will frequently see them.
4. Encourage staff to report dangerous conditions.  You can’t be everywhere at once, so train your employees to proactively identify situations which could be potentially dangerous.  Evenly a seemingly innocuous burned-out light bulb or beverage spill could lead to a slip, trip or fall.  Make sure everyone on your staff knows to whom dangers should be reported.
5. Properly train and require employees to wear OSHA mandated Personal Protective Equipment when necessary, including: goggles and face protection, hard hats, safety shoes, gloves, ear muffs and ear plugs.  Proper protective equipment is a critical part of preventing workplace injuries.
6. Establish and enforce formal workplace safety policies and procedures.  Your company’s management team should create and carry out an accident prevention program that encourages employees to take safety measures seriously and to report any dangerous situations.  Make resources available to your staff with contacts and phone numbers in case of an emergency.

Creating a safe work environment should be a top priority for every employer.  Not only can a culture of safety reduce injuries and workers’ compensation claims; it can also improve morale and increase productivity.  So make workplace safety everyone’s responsibility.  Work with your staff in implementing these common-sense tips and everybody will benefit.

At Wood Personnel, we work diligently with our clients to ensure workplace safety.   We thoroughly orient and train our temporary workers, to make sure they stay productive and efficient on the job.

If your 2012 initiatives include adding to your direct headcount, the best way to ensure hiring success is by being prepared.  Failing to do so can lead to a host of interviewing problems, including biases, inconsistencies, costly inefficiencies – and ultimately, bad hires.

But by preparing ahead of time and using more effective interview methods, you dramatically increase your odds of hiring a top performer.  So before a single candidate arrives for an interview, use these tips to create a more structured, consistent process that ensures hiring decisions are based on relevant, sound information – and not merely first impressions:

1. Analyze the position to be filled. Assess what the ideal candidate will need in order to be successful in the position.  Consider:  skills, knowledge, type of experience, core competencies (e.g., decision making, customer responsiveness, problem solving, etc.), attitude, corporate culture fit and even interpersonal style.
2. Define the job. Develop a thorough job description, including the key roles and responsibilities.  Review performance evaluations of top performers in this role and ask existing team members what it would take for the new hire to succeed.
3. Develop standard interview questions. Use the requirements created in the previous steps to make a list of standard interview questions.  Ask these same questions of all applicants for the position.  Before interviews begin, determine ideal/acceptable responses for each question, to increase objectivity and improve the accuracy of your ratings.  The structure you create now will yield better quality judgments once the interviews are over.
4. Identify additional details needed to select the best candidate. Before interviewing, review additional information you will need to collect or verify, such as:  proof of certifications or licensures, records of educations, lists of references, etc.
5. Establish clear standards for non-verbal cues. Body language, eye contact, posture, appearance and other non-verbal cues all impact the first impression a job candidate makes.  But while these cues can be helpful in making a decision, they are also easy to manipulate and prone to subjective interviewer bias.  To avoid these biases and personal judgments (especially when multiple interviews are involved), establish clear standards for non-verbal cues which are appropriate for your corporate culture and employee/customer expectations.  Once you ascertain that a candidate meets your minimum standards, you can shift attention to the true substance of his responses.

These are just a few of the things you can do to improve your hiring process.  Look for future posts with more tips for hiring better.

Hire the Best with Wood Personnel

With two decades of recruiting experience in Middle Tennessee, Wood Personnel can quickly and cost-effectively deliver candidates with skills, expertise and behavioral traits to succeed in your organization.  We use professionally trained interviewers, skills-specific testing, thorough background checks and satisfaction guarantees to ensure the success of your next hire.

With each flip of the calendar year, many of us resolve to improve ourselves – to drop bad habits, to start good ones, or to find a way to make the world a better place.

While these intentions are certainly noble, they’re also likely doomed from the start.  So this year, resolve NOT to make a New Year’s resolution.  Instead, sit back and take a read through this list of the Top 10 Most Commonly Broken New Year’s Resolutions, courtesy of Time.com:

1. Lose Weight and Get Fit.  After a season of cookies, candies and holiday parties, it’s only natural to want to shed a few extra pounds and get into better shape.  But research shows that by February, 60% of gym memberships go unused.
2. Quit Smoking.  E-cigarettes, nicotine patches and chewing gum are all designed to help newly motivated smokers kick the habit.  But after just six months, only an estimated 15% of quitters are still cigarette-free.
3. Learn Something New.  If you’re thinking of taking up a musical instrument or learning to cook French cuisine, know that you’ll face an uphill battle.  Resolving to learn something new is exciting, but it’s also hard work.
4. Eat Healthier and Diet.  Many dieters are full of resolve on January 2nd.  Unfortunately, they force themselves into restricting diets they can’t possible keep.  Try using some common-sense moderation, instead, and you’re much more likely to succeed.
5. Get Out of Debt and Save Money.  After the budget-unfriendly month of December, many consumers try to halt their spending and manage their debt more effectively.  Rather than announcing sweeping changes and setting unattainable goals, however, financial planners advise making specific budget-friendly rules (like packing lunch, shopping for cheaper insurance/lower credit card interest rates, etc.) to improve your financial situation.
6. Spend More Time with Family.  The beginning of the year is an ideal time to reconnect with family whom you’ve not seen in awhile.  But work pressures, physical distance, strained relationships and even messy divorces make this resolution particularly hard to keep.
7. Travel to New Places.  The new year awakens within many of us a desire to travel.  The financial realities of the Great Recession, the headache of planning and the difficulty of finding help to tend to your home and pets can quickly put this desire to rest.
8. Be Less Stressed.  While it’s not a bad idea – less stress can make you healthier and happier – stressing less is likely to be the very first resolution you’ll break.  Case in point?  Just thinking about tackling any resolution will raise your stress level!
9. Volunteer.  This year, you may resolve to lend a helping hand to those less fortunate than you.  While this is certainly a noble gesture, even the most compassionate among us can fall back on commitments.  Finding time to give to a worthy cause is often harder than finding money.
10. Drink Less.  After a seemingly endless barrage of parties filled with beer, wine, champagne and cocktails, it’s not surprising that many of us vow to drink less.  But after a few days or week, why do we start drinking again?  The Greco-Roman ancients may have said it best when they proclaimed “In vino veritas” (in wine, there is truth).

From all of us at Wood Personnel, have a safe, happy, healthy and successful New Year!

Given our country’s current economic situation, many managers and HR professionals like you understandably struggle with training expenditures.  Should you cancel upcoming classes?  Postpone all your plans until a brighter tomorrow?  While these solutions may seem attractive to your bottom line, they are probably too drastic.  The fact is, you need to continually train staff to remain competitive.  Why?

• Training keeps you and your staff on the cutting edge of your industry.
• Training keeps your employees motivated, interested and innovative.
• Training increases efficiency levels, while minimizing errors and delays.
• Training boosts worker morale, confidence and collaboration.

So when it comes to your staff – especially knowledge workers – the question isn’t, “How can we afford to train employees?” it’s, “How can we afford not to?”  Try these ideas to creatively enrich your staff – without breaking the bank:

Cross train.  To keep workers from feeling isolated or stagnant when budgets are tight, consider rotating them through different tasks and/or projects.  Their new skills will make them more versatile assets to your organization, while encouraging collaboration among work groups.

Use inside trainers.  Does anyone within your organization already have the expertise you’re trying to teach other employees?  If so, consider developing that individual as an in-house trainer.  You can easily go online and access a “train the trainer” program, and then use your new inside trainer to educate other staff.

Leverage your training resources.  Building on the last point, your inside trainer can create a PowerPoint which covers the training material.  You can then use a software sharing program (such as NetMeeting or WebEx) to conduct the training with small groups at other locations – and save yourself the travel costs.

Bring in temporary experts.  If you lack internal knowledge or resources, consider hiring a trainer through a staffing service for a short-term contract.  Give him access to existing materials and the direct staff he’ll be training, so he can quickly and cost-effectively customize the training to your company’s culture, values and goals.  Once the training is complete, so are your additional expenses.

Barter training services with other companies.  Collaborate with other organizations to share your knowledge.  If a company is in the midst of a systems upgrade you’re considering, send a representative from your staff to observe, learn and share his findings with his colleagues.  Likewise, if your workers are well-versed in operating a specific type of new equipment, invite team members from another organization in for a training seminar.  Not surprisingly, collaborative efforts like these work best when participating companies are not in direct competition.

When you need highly trained and experienced workers immediately, give Wood Personnel a call.  Throughout Middle Tennessee, we rapidly deliver temporary, contract and direct staff to keep your business competitive.  Contact us today to learn more.