What to Look for When Working with a Recruiter

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Deciding to work with a recruiter is a big decision, and with the amount of recruiters out there it can be difficult to know which one to pick. We’ve worked with thousands of candidates across our collective 30+ years of recruiting experience, and we spend the time to ask what they want and need from a recruiter. Below, we’ve listed some of the most important things you should consider when deciding to work with a recruiter.

 

They are experts in your market

Recruiters come in all shapes and sizes, and all of them have their markets. Some are generalists and some are specialists who work in a niche. While it may seem obvious, we can’t stress how important it is to pick a recruiter who knows your market. If you pick a generalist or someone who is only vaguely familiar with your market, you run a high risk of them finding opportunities that aren’t in your best interest. When you pick a recruiter who knows your field inside and out, you can ensure that they will work their hardest to find the best fit for you.

They have a strong network and track record

They say to never trust a skinny chef. In the same vein, never trust a lonely recruiter. How can you expect someone to find you a great opportunity if they can’t connect with the companies offering those top tier positions? Pick a recruiter with a large network and has been proven to use it effectively.

They use their friends within companies

Riding in with having a good network, it’s important that companies view recruiters as more than just a recruiter, but rather as a valued partner and extension of their organization. Working with a recruiter on friendly terms with a company can give a lot more credibility to their candidates, including you. Having friends within companies can also mean that they can perhaps help improve the terms for a job offer.

 

When deciding to work with a recruiter, who you pick can make or break your experience. We hope we’ve helped give you the information you need to make a wise choice. If you’re looking in the environmental field, there’s no better choice than Rigsby Search Group! We have a combined total of 30+ years of experience in recruiting and have helped thousands in taking the next step in their career.

 

If you’d like to set up a call with us, please contact Sean Rigsby at:

Phone: 860-505-0013

Email: srigsby@rigsbysearch.com

To Schedule a call: https://lnkd.in/ebgDrcK

 

Follow us on social media:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2959871

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RigsbySearchGroup/

Our Website: https://rigsbysearch.com/

 

Navigating the Job Market During and After the Coronavirus

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The ongoing Coronavirus pandemic has swept across the United States and the world, leaving immeasurable damage in it’s wake. The job market especially has been hit hard, with rampant layoffs and sweeping changes across all industries. We understand that this can be overwhelming and confusing, so we’re working to clear the air. Below are some of the changes you can expect to see in the job market after the Coronavirus.

 

Slower Hiring

When the Coronavirus first hit the United States many companies put a pause all of their hiring. As time has passed companies have begun to hire again. While you may experience some companies hiring quickly, be aware that many other companies have slowed things down. Companies are still learning to navigate the new protective guidelines and as a result processes have slowed down. The average hiring period is now around 100 days, but the candidates we work with typically spend around 60-80 days in the hiring process. In short, while you can expect more companies to be open to hiring, be aware that the process could be longer than usual.

 

Longer Interview Periods

Part of the reason hiring is slower is because companies are spending more time interviewing candidates. One reason for this is a large shift towards virtual interviews. Companies are now using services such as Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Skype to conduct their interviews. While in the later stages of the interview process you can expect the usual in-person interviews, it’s best to prepare yourself to interview remotely.

 

Changes to In-Person Interviews

When you do get to the in-person interview stage, you can expect to see some changes to the usual processes. Social distancing protocols will be required. Items such as masks will also likely be mandatory for in-person interviews to help keep everyone safe.

 

Extended Start Dates

As companies are still learning how to work around the Coronavirus, some companies are asking if new hires if they’re open to delayed start dates.

 

These are just some of the changes you can expect to see in the job market post-coronavirus. This is a turbulent time and things are constantly changing. It’s important to be patient and able to adapt to these changes. Here at RSG, we’re happy to help you through these challenging times.

 

Our Links:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2959871

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RigsbySearchGroup/

Our Website: https://rigsbysearch.com/

The 3 Most Common Resume Mistakes We See

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Over our time in business, we have seen a lot of resumes. We’ve also seen a lot of mistakes. Here we hope to bring awareness to some of the most common issues we’ve seen with the resume’s that we’ve been sent.

Spelling and Grammar Mistakes

When trying to present yourself as a professional, spelling is key. Proper spelling not only conveys professionalism and intelligence, but also shows that you care about details. It’s a small effort that goes a long way towards making you look better, so take a few minutes to make sure everything is in order. This also applies to making sure you are using the correct form of a word (ex. To vs. Too). Poor grammar can be just as damaging as poor spelling.

 

Extra spaces

Riding on the coattails of poor grammar, we see plenty of people include extra spaces between words and sentences. We’re not exactly sure where this practice started, but it’s improper by modern standards. In addition to being poor grammar, it eats up valuable real estate on your resume. Please be sure you only include one space between words and sentences.

 

Too long

Many people send us very long resumes, sometimes hitting more than 10 pages. This is not only unnecessary but makes you appear to be trying to make yourself seem more qualified than you are. Your resume is supposed to serve as a summary of your experience, not an in-depth analysis. Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, has a one page resume. If he can be brief, so can you. Ideally you should try to keep your resume between 1-2 pages, but no more than 3.

 

So these are the 3 most common mistakes and issues that we notice. Have you made any of these? If you would like to see more articles like this be sure you follow us on social media.

 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/2959871

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RigsbySearchGroup/

Our Website: https://rigsbysearch.com/

How Well Do You Manage Your Time?

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Time flies. We’ve all heard the saying a million times.

Sure, there are those days when the hands of the clock seem to be moving at a snail’s pace, but they are few and far between. And when we look back, the weeks, months and years seem to pass faster than the one before.

Time is perhaps the one commodity everyone wishes they had more of, yet it is also the one thing in our lives that we will not ever be able to change. So we must make do with what we have been given.

When it comes to finding success in your work day, time management is more important than many realize. If we can’t add more hours to our day, it is important to tweak the way we work to make the most of the hours we’re given.

These time management tips will help you achieve productivity in your workday while still feeling calm and collected.

Find out where you’re wasting time.

Every day, we’re bombarded by distractions. Our smart phones, filled with endless texts, emails, social media outlets, news stories and games, are practically attached to our hands. If we’re not careful, we can find ourselves down the rabbit hole of our Facebook newsfeed or answering emails, and before we know it, an hour has passed.

Spend one day taking note of what each minute of your day looks like. How many times did reach for your phone? How often did you check your email? How much time did you spend perusing useless social media sites? You can’t come up with a solution when you don’t know the problem. Once you know where your time is being wasted, implement a solution.

Take breaks to keep your focus.

It might sound counterproductive, but the attention span of the human brain is not a long time. Especially these days when we are so used to immediate gratification, our brains work harder to stay on task. And just like us, they need a break to rest every now and again.

Download the tools Focus Booster on your computer. This will allow you to set a timer for 50 minutes (or whatever interval you decide is best for you). Once that 50-minute mark is up, take a 10-minute break away from your desk. Repeat this when you can throughout the day.

Put away your phone.

I’ll say it again. Our smart phones these days are practically attached to our hands, and we’ll usually find ourselves coming up with excuses for why we need to check our phones every five minutes, but in reality, they are one of our biggest time wasters.

Put your phone on silent in your desk drawer, and make it a rule that you can only check it when you take your hourly breaks away from your desk.

Set aside time for meals.

While most workdays only include lunch, making time for all meals is important. In the mornings, wake up 15 minutes earlier to give you time to sit down and eat a healthy breakfast. It doesn’t have to be a meal fit for a king, but even those extra few minutes to relax with a piece of toast, glass of orange juice and cup of coffee can get your day started off in a calm and collected manner.

At work, take a 30-minute lunch and don’t eat it at your desk. Whether you bring it outside, eat it in the cafeteria, or go out with a coworker, try to keep work out of the conversation to give your body and mind a chance to refuel.

With these time management tips, making it home in time for dinner with the family should be no problem.

Find a routine that works and stick to it.

Aristotle once said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Cultivating a daily practice is a necessary prerequisite to achieving your goals.

Remember your time belongs to you. Don’t let distractions take control of you. Take control of your time, your day and you will accomplish all that you set out to.

2nd Annual Strategic Day Away

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Last year, RSG partnered with our friends at Pascoe Workforce Solutions to host a Strategic Day Away, an all-day training conference complete with knowledgeable guest speakers, team-building exercises, and in-depth round-table discussions. It was such a successful day that we decided to make it an annual event, and so a few weeks back, we hosted our 2nd Annual Strategic Day Away.

It was a wonderful day of learning with new and old faces. One of our guest speakers was the dynamic Gail Audibert of Audibert Associates who took her morning off to offer her career expertise to us. We’d like to extend our warmest gratitude to her for sharing her time with us!

After a long but great day of learning, we ended with some friendly bowling and a delicious dinner. Thank you to all for coming! We are looking forward to next year!

                  

         

Celebrating Five Years

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What has been the most rewarding part of running Rigsby Search Group for the past five years?

Recruiting is such a rewarding career in general; we’re literally changing a person’s life. As far as running a business, the most rewarding part has been building it all from scratch and watching it become what it is today. Before I started RSG, I was an environmental recruiter for 19 years, and when I left my old company behind, I had to slowly build RSG from the ground up. Now, five years later, we’ve built a successful team, created this truly wonderful company, and we continue to help people day in and day out. Seeing it all come to fruition is the most rewarding part.

What has been the biggest obstacle that RSG has had to overcome?

Finding talented individuals to help us grow. I want our company to continue to expand and flourish, and I think finding talented individuals to help us grow has been the toughest part of running a company. I recently hired a business coach to help show me how to truly hit my full potential as a leader for my team.

What has been the best lesson that you’ve learned since starting RSG?

To learn from your mistakes. There’s always a lesson to be found. Everyone will make mistakes, but it’s important to take responsibility for them and move on.

What does your vision for the future of RSG look like?

I see us growing tremendously so that we can help more people. RSG will have a national team one day, I assure you. I know the only way to achieve this goal is to keep seeking out people that are smarter than me, bringing them on, and building a strong team. I think this is what leadership is all about. I want our brand to be synonymous with excellence. A few other plans I have for the future include starting a civil engineering group and a construction remediation group. Overall, I just want to continue to help people grow. I’m excited for what the future holds for RSG. I know it will be outstanding.

How To Make Better Hiring Decisions

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hiring-processHiring can be stressful. You may not be the one in the hot seat going on interview after interview, but there is just as much pressure that hiring authorities feel as the candidates they are interviewing.

We get it. Your company needs you to make the right decision in order for it to grow and continue to succeed. Your workers need you to make the right decision in order for them to be satisfied and happy in their work environment. If you make the wrong decision when it comes to hiring, it can affect many. A company is like a well-oiled machine. All parts need to be working properly, and each failure can have lasting effects.

We’re here to help. Over the years, we’ve learned some of the most important things to take into consideration when going through the hiring process.

  1. Consider your current team. Your people should always be a priority for you, and the hiring process is no different. They should be just as much a part of it as you are. Obviously, you want to make everyone happy, and while that is not always possible, be sure to take into consideration the company atmosphere and work ethic. If you are at all questioning whether or not a candidate will fit in, address that concern. If there are certain people that the candidate will be working with on a daily basis, make sure they get a chance to meet the candidate as well. It’s important that your current team feels like you thought of them through the process.
  2. Hire the most talented and accomplished person, not the best resume. It can be easy to judge a book by its cover, or, in this case, a candidate by their resume. Try not to get caught up in the details. When interviewing, ask about past accomplishments and achievements. Talk with the candidate about those experiences, learn about how they used their skills in real-life situations. A resume speaks volumes, but not as much as the candidate that it represents. The best people to hire are not necessarily the brilliant ones, but the ones who can get the work done well and have a proven track record of doing so.
  3. Follow a process. You create a job posting, advertise it, and the resumes start to flood in. It can get overwhelming trying to sift through all the potential candidates. This is where a third-party recruiting firm can come in to simplify the process for you. By letting a recruiter market the job and seek out qualified candidates, much of the pressure is taken off of your shoulders. Recruiters also have a wide network and they can find you rockstar candidates that may not necessarily be scouring job sites because, well, they have a job. This means they are good at what they do and would probably be a great person to have on your team. By following a process laid out by an experienced recruiter, the entire experience will be easier, organized, and stress-free.

Do you have any tried and true methods that you’ve followed in a successful hiring process? We’d love to know! Tweet us at @RigsbySearch.

The Best Piece of Professional Advice I Ever Received

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Real-world career advice holds tremendous value, no matter who it is coming from. There is no teacher like that of experience.

As firm believers in constant learning from the people around us, we asked our staff what the best piece of professional advice they ever received was. The answers include great tips for your career and maybe even real life, too.

“Always look for ways to improve.” Tiffany Schifley, Operations Manager

“If you notice something wrong with your work or if you’ve made a mistake, take a deep breath and try to solve the problem. Come up with 2 to 3 solutions to fix it before bringing it to the attention of others.”

“Be present.” Sean Rigsby, Managing Partner and Senior Executive Recruiter

“My old boss used to say ‘When you’re here, be here; when you’re not, don’t be here.’ It’s advice that has stuck with me and I’ve always tried to follow throughout my 20 + year career.”

“Be kind.” Michael Kaufman, Environmental Recruiter

“Treat everyone with kindness, and always be professional first. It can a long way.”

“Go beyond your comfort zone.” Sarah Wheeler, Head of Marketing and Research

“At the edge of your comfort zone is where you’ll find success. Never be afraid to be wrong, and never be afraid to step outside the box. You’ll never regret it.”

What’s the best career advice you’ve ever received? Share it with us on social media by tagging Rigsby Search Group (on Facebook or Twitter). We’ll share it with our followers and help to begin a chain of helpful tips!

How to Clean Up Your Online Presence

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These days, everyone who is anyone is online. The big virtual space that we know as the World Wide Web is so deeply embedded into our daily culture and routine that nearly everything we do can somehow be related to the Internet. So it’s only natural that when it comes to career building and job seeking, your online presence will play a role. Chances are, if you discovered a job posting online and applied there, more than likely, when that hiring authority receives your resume, they will type your name into Google, Facebook or LinkedIn and do their own research. The last thing you want is for that to hurt your chances at landing a position you really wanted.

Cleaning up your online presence is something that should be done every so often. Here’s a few methods that may help streamline the process.

  • Make it a monthly goal. Pick a date, whether it be the first of the month or the very last day, and mark it in your calendar for the remainder of the calendar year.
  • Regulate every post. Always keep the thought in the back of your mind that your coworkers and potential future hiring managers may one day see what you are posting. Ask yourself how you would feel if you saw the same photograph or article on another coworker’s profile. What thoughts would immediately come to mind?
  • Enhance your privacy settings. Before sharing that photo on Facebook, choose the audience that you want to see it. During your monthly cleanup sessions, double check your account privacy settings for each of your social media accounts to make sure they are the way you want them to be.
  • Don’t be fooled. Privacy settings are great, but don’t let them fool you into thinking that you are safe to post anything. Proceed with caution knowing that what you post, can, in some way or another, be seen by anyone. Anything is possible in the incredibly interconnected world of social media.

Networking is important, don’t get us wrong! Who you know can sometimes be just as important as what you know. We are big believers in social media and the power that it holds to connect us all. We’re telling you to go for it, network like crazy, but monitoring your online presence and regulating the content which you are sharing with the world is very important in preserving your identity.

Tried & True Daily Habits to Get on the Path to Success

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In some way, shape or form, our daily lives are all a part of our path to success, no matter what that is defined as. Whether it be to meet a sales goal or to start a business, to buy a house or to travel the world, it’s human nature to set goals and want to achieve them.

Society today drives us harder than ever before. In our constantly connected world, it can be even more difficult to find the focus to achieve our goals. It takes discipline, passion, commitment and a burning desire to succeed.

If your view of success is anything like ours, these five tried and true daily habits will help you to stay on the path to reaching your goals.

Plan your day.

Take five minutes at the end of the day to create an action plan for tomorrow. Start by making two lists: one of your high priority projects and another of your meetings and other commitments. Next, combine the two to create a schedule. Sitting down to work the following morning will feel less dreadful when you have a plan already in place.

Shut down distractions.

We live in a very connected world, one in which it can be difficult to not constantly feel like we’re being pulled in five different directions. Make it a habit to put your phone on silent, only check emails once an hour at a designated time, and block social media sites during scheduled work hours (Cold Turkey is a great tool for this).

Though less obvious, but perhaps even more important, don’t get distracted by other people’s journeys. It is important to realize that your journey is unique. You cannot compare another’s success to yours.

Stay in the know.

Begin your mornings browsing through your industry news. Grab your cup of coffee and bookmark a few well-known websites that are relevant within your industry. It never hurts to stay on top of what is happening, and you never know when that knowledge can come in handy.

Network.

This makes for a nice midday break. Spend 15 minutes before or after lunch networking on LinkedIn or writing an email to an old colleague. Connections are so important; you always want to be maintaining old ones and building new ones. This goes for face-to-face networking as well. Attend a seminar, join a group, or grab coffee with a co-worker. Aim for once a week face-to-face networking, and you’ll never be happier you did.

Make health a priority.

Your health and well-being affect every area of your life. Make time for workouts, pack a healthy lunch, drink plenty of water throughout the day, and get enough sleep. A workaholic is far less productive than a smart worker. YOU are a priority, so be sure to prioritize YOU.

Success is a big deal, no matter what kind of success you are seeking. It’s important to remember that, without all the little days in between, you wouldn’t be able to achieve the big picture, so make the most of them.

What daily habits help keep you on track to reaching your goals? Tweet us @RigsbySearch!