Looking for advice on how to shine during your next job interview?  We found an awesome video on Youtube by career strategist Linda Raynier who provides some valuable tips on how to answer the commonly asked question, “Tell me about yourself.”  

Main takeaways (including timestamps)

1. (1:35) Beginning with your first work experience, give a historic overview that includes the company name, job title, years within that role, and major responsibilities.
2. (2:52) Describe one major accomplishment you achieved within that role; i.e. a process you improved, an idea that saved money, or anything that resulted to a company benefit.
3. (4:12) Acknowledge what you understand about the role and what the company needs to fulfill their goals.
4. (5:22) Describe why you are the perfect fit for that role in a nutshell.

Paul Barnwell is a High School English teacher who wrote an article for The Atlantic titled, “My Students Don’t Know How To Hold a Conversation.”  Barnwell wrote about a class project testing his students’ ability to exchange ideas and hold conversations.  In the form of a podcast, students worked in small groups to study topics and discuss them in real time.  To Barnwell’s dismay, the students struggled to effectively carry out the task.

Even with plenty of practice, the task proved daunting to students. I watched trial runs of their podcasts frequently fall silent. Unless the student facilitator asked a question, most kids were unable to converse effectively. Instead of chiming in or following up on comments, they conducted rigid interviews. They shuffled papers and looked down at their hands. Some even reached for their phones—an automatic impulse and the last thing they should be doing.

Barnwell blames much of the students’ failure on addiction to technology and teachers overlooking an important fundamental:

…Conversational competence might be the single-most overlooked skill we fail to teach students.  Kids spend hours each day engaging with ideas and each other through screens – but rarely do they have an opportunity to hone their interpersonal communication skills.  Students’ reliance on screens for communication is detracting—and distracting—from their engagement in real-time talk.

Many students will exit high school and attend college while others will begin searching for jobs immediately.  If young people are rarely taught the importance of communication (in high school or university), how likely is it that they will be successful in job interviews?  Employers routinely ask questions to discover a candidate’s ability to address issues and handle difficult people.  They also pay close attention to nonverbal expressions, levels of confidence, articulation, and the candidate’s ability to listen.  These are qualities often built through practice and experience, yet if technology serves as a hindrance to learning these attributes, young people searching for a career are less likely to land the job they want and grow towards their true potential.  With instructors like Paul Barnwell highlighting the shift in how young people learn and think, teachers can begin focusing on exercises that strengthen communication, critical thinking, and interpersonal skills that are too often weakened by a tech-dominant society.

When students apply for colleges and jobs, they won’t conduct interviews through their smart phones. When they negotiate pay raises and discuss projects with employers, they should exude a thoughtful presence and demonstrate the ability to think on their feet (or at least without Google).

Read the full article here.

Pereless Systems has officially launched a new easy apply option. Candidates can apply right from the job description without creating an account or logging in.

The new apply process is completely customizable as far as required fields and prescreening questions. Candidates simply have to enter an email, fill out the form, and click submit all from one page in order to apply.

To see the new apply process in action, please visit our company career page.

Pereless Systems has partnered with Spark Hire to bring seamless video interviewing to our ATS. To date, Spark Hire has helped thousands of organizations from a wide range of industries simplify recruitment through video interviewing. In today’s global environment, it is easier than ever to reach candidates around the world. Bringing them into the office for an interview might not be the best first step, so a video interview is the perfect solution. Hiring managers can observe the body language of a candidate, examine poise and critical thinking all through timed recorded video answers.

Hiring Managers can set questions for the candidate and control certain aspects of the experience such as how many times a candidate can record and the amount of time they have to submit their answer. When the interview is completed by the candidate on their own time, it is then brought into the ATS so responses can be viewed directly from a candidate’s profile.

To enable the Spark Hire integration, please get your API key from Spark Hire and reach out to support@pereless.com Read more here.

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More about Spark Hire

Spark Hire is an easy-to-use video interviewing platform with 4,000+ customers conducting video interviews in over 100 countries. Since launching in 2012, Spark Hire has become the fastest-growing video interviewing platform. Organizations of all sizes are utilizing Spark Hire to make better hires faster than ever before. Learn more on sparkhire.com.

More about Pereless Systems

For almost 20 years, Pereless Systems has provided small to medium-sized businesses with an industry leading and cost efficient ATS. Through integrations, the ATS has expanded services through integrations to include payroll, background check and skill assessment. The module based system includes Portals like Onboarding, Reference Check, Candidate Texting, Agency Management and CRM.

At Pereless Systems, we don’t equate the size of a contract with the importance of a client. To prove this, all of our integrations are free and our pricing is the most competitive on the market.

Whether you have one user or 600 users, our support teams will not hesitate to assist from job posting to onboarding. Since the year 2000, we have not lost a deal due to price.

What’s included:

• FREE integrations with payroll and tax credit companies
• FREE skill and background assessment integrations
• FREE and sponsored job postings to hundreds of websites
• Onboarding, Agency Management, Reference Check, and Texting features
• Social Post, Employee Referral Portal, and much more
• Both client and job candidate support centers

Worried about transferring to a new system? You’ll be up and running in 5-7 days, including your data import from your current system. Request a demo today.

A successful business sets itself apart from the rest. In order for a business to show exponential growth, it must have defining features unlike those of competitors. Here are some tips for creative a unique business position.

Keep it catchy

A short and simple name or slogan is easier for people to remember and catch on to. This also includes an eye-catching logo for your company or a well-designed and easy to use website. Some of the biggest name brands share short and catchy names such as “Google”, “Spotify”, or “Twitter”. This is just one small feature to differentiate your company!

Social media

Having social media established for your company does not mean simply setting up a Facebook and Twitter page that you post on once a month. A unique company has exciting and engaging social media. Creating a viral social media campaign will excel your company.

Superior customer service

No one likes talking to an automated voice on the phone. Try your best to personally respond to your customers’ needs. This shows a certain level of care and dedication that many businesses lack.

Have the best offers

Research your competitors and see what they offer for their product or service. From there, think creatively about how to set yourself apart from what your competitors are selling or doing. Take the time to highlight features of your product or service that you feel are defining. This also means truly believing in your product or service.

Have a defined purpose

Having some sort of inspiration or backstory along with your business is the ultimate form of uniqueness. The most important question is: For what reason did you start your business? Not every backstory or purpose behind starting a company has to be emotional or comedic, but your intent and goals should still be clear.

Employees

You want employees that match the uniqueness of your company. Hiring the right people can be tricky, but not if you use social media and/or an ATS. Your employees represent your company, so using software to carefully sort through your applicants is essential.

Every successful business differentiates itself with these features. So how is your company unique?

New technology seems to come out every few months. It can be almost impossible for a professional to keep up with industry trends while also trying to balance their every day tasks. We put together a list of 5 key strategy changes to implement into your recruiting plan this year.

1.Prepare for AI

The next frontier in recruiting: Artificial Intelligence. Over the past 20 years, recruiting technology has been disrupted over and over again. Make sure your recruitment management system has a plan in place to implement the new technology. Many people fear that AI will take over their job when in reality, it will optimize their work. AI automation can save HR 14 hours a week by taking over tedious tasks, resume searches, and data entry.

AI automation will lower costs by 35% and increase candidate experience by 17%, according to Ideal.

2. Push and Pull

Recruiters are going to have to worker hard to stand out from the flood of job postings online. HR professionals are working closer with marketers to create campaigns to attract candidates. Automation will create more time for creating a personal connection with candidates. Recruiters can no longer just push out a job posting, they have to work to pull candidates in. With AI doing most of the tedious work, recruiters can shift their focus to the personalization of applications. Why would the candidate apply to your company over all of the others they are seeing?

3. Utilize a Talent Network

Don’t miss candidates because the perfect position isn’t available when they reach your career page. Candidates who are specifically attracted to your company are more likely higher quality. Talent networks collect general information and automatically notify qualified candidates when a matching job opens. This provides an automatic list of candidates the moment there’s an opening.

4. Utilize Software

An Applicant Tracking System can provide one platform to help you with all of the tips mentioned. A centralized software will allow you to streamline your entire recruiting process. Integrations with payroll and background check companies through these systems will make your team more efficient.

75% of hiring and talent managers use either applicant tracking or recruiting software to improve their hiring process. 

5. Analyze

It can be very easy to get carried away trying to balance all of the recruiting channels. At least once a month, sit down and look at your analytics. Where are your most qualified candidates coming from? Are you spending time on things that aren’t bringing in results? The answers may surprise you as recruiting continues to evolve. Every company has a unique strategy so your analytics may show something different from the company down the street. You are the only one who knows that works for your hiring plans.

Social media recruiting is one of 2018’s newest and exciting recruiting trends, with companies shifting their focus on strategies that incorporate social media into their recruitment process.

80% of job seekers use social media to help them in the job search.  

It is important to get on board the social media recruiting train because it gives companies access to the most diverse candidate pool possible.

It is proven that jobseekers are more likely to apply for a position if the company is actively updating and managing their social media accounts. It is important to actively manage and post on your social media platforms because it shows jobseekers a good company culture and work environment.

The biggest platform that companies are using is LinkedIn; this is where companies are seeing the best results for hiring candidates.

It is apparent that using social media can really boost your applicant pool, giving you the most options when hiring a candidate.  In today’s day and age, everyone uses their phones and social media for just about everything.

Isn’t it time to bring your recruiting into the modern day?

Almost all successful companies plan to use social media for their recruiting and are investing serious money in their social recruiting.  Join the movement and use your social media accounts to make your hiring process the best it can be.  As candidates get younger, the more social media will play a factor in the recruitment process.

2018 will bring a new round of challenges for HR Managers. With technology and the workforce constantly changing, there are some key things to keep in mind when hiring in the new year. This year, Generation Z enters the workforce and companies need to adjust their hiring strategies. Technology has created a global reach which will allow your company to reach more qualified candidates this year.

1.Recruit Globally

Technology has globalized the workforce. You can now reach the most qualified candidates, no matter where they are in the world. Global resources are available to help you expand your search beyond geographical borders. There are more options for top talent so it will be harder to attract them specifically to your company.

2. Prepare for Generation Z

A new generation is entering the workforce. According to studies, Gen Z has different values than millennials when searching for employment. Therefore, recruiting strategies have to evolve with the market. Don’t let your company fall to the wayside by just reusing the same job postings from the past 5 years. Generation Z will be looking in different places for applications as well as for different content in the posting.

Due to the ease of online job postings, key candidates are being flooded with options. Why should they choose your company over the others? Adjust your job postings to answer these questions.

3. Adjust Job Descriptions

As mentioned above, job applicants are now faced with more options than ever before. This will give them the ability to be picky. Companies are going to have to shift the positioning of their job description. Applicants in 2018 will be more interested in what a job will give to them than the other way around. Discuss both the job and the company culture in the description – what makes your company different?

4. One Page is Key

It is common for applicants to apply to 150 jobs and only hear back from 5. For this reason, they’re filling out more applications than ever. Candidates have developed a quantity over quality attitude. Shifting to one page applications guarantee that a candidate will complete the entire thing before moving on to the next.

60% of job seekers quit in the middle of filling out online job applications because of their length or complexity.

5. Mobile Optimization

Passive recruiting reaches candidates not actively looking for a job. This means your job posting may reach them when they are casually scrolling through their social media. Following the one-page application model, it is also crucial that applications are mobile friendly. Without 100% mobile responsive jobs, you will lose an entire applicant stream to competition.

9 out of 10 job seekers say they’re likely to use a mobile device during their job search.