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Best Means of Getting Job References

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If you advance enough in the interview process, you may be asked for a list of job references. These references might be contacted to endorse your skills and qualifications.

As a result, you should carefully decide who you would like to serve as a reference. These professionals must attest to your work ethic, character, and abilities to increase your likelihood of receiving a job offer.

Follow these guidelines to secure the most effective job references.

Determine Who to Ask

Think of your past colleagues, coworkers, managers, and supervisors who would say positive things about you.

  • You made important contributions to the team.
  • You consistently completed projects on time.
  • You made the professional’s work easier.
  • The professional could count on you.

Reach Out

Call each professional to ask whether they would serve as a job reference.

  • Email typically takes too much time to create a thoughtful message.
  • You can cover the key points and quickly respond to questions over the phone.

Share Information

Let your former colleagues, coworkers, managers, and supervisors know relevant details about the job you want.

  • Share what you have been doing since you last spoke with the professional.
  • Discuss the job responsibilities and their impact on the organization.
  • Ask if the professional would serve as a job reference.
  • Respect the professional’s time by being brief but thorough.

Bring Up Talking Points

Ask these professionals to mention specific types of information when talking to your potential employer.

  • Your professional strengths and value
  • Your memorable contributions
  • Your attendance and work habits
  • Your ability to collaborate and make decisions
  • Your ability to self-start and self-manage
  • Your latest projects

Verify Contact Information

Ask former colleagues, coworkers, managers, and supervisors to update their information so your potential employer can contact them.

  • Job title
  • Company name
  • Work address
  • Phone number
  • Email address
  • Preferred method of communication

Thank Your References

Express appreciation for your job references’ time.

  • Share that you will keep them informed about your job search.
  • Offer to do something in return.

Want Help with Your Job Search?

Partner with RightStone to find your next IT job. Visit our job board today.

RightStone Recognized as Best Workplace in Dallas by the Dallas Business Journal for Second Consecutive Year

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RightStone is one of 101 winning companies named to the 2022 Dallas Business Journal’s Best Places to Work list in the Micro (10-24 employees) category. The annual workplace award recognizes companies for creating a work environment that employees value. This is the second consecutive year RightStone has made the list.

The Dallas Business Journal has been recognizing the top employers in North Texas for over two decades, distinguishing the top employee-centric companies operating in one of the leading cities in the nation for business and job creation. To earn a ranking, RightStone had to meet or exceed a national best practice score based on overall employee participation and performance for their category, as determined by Quantum Workplace who administered the survey. Winners will be recognized during an awards luncheon on October 20 where the rankings within each category will also be announced.

“We are honored to be recognized once again by the Dallas Business Journal for our positive and engaging work culture,” commented Jeff Koc, RightStone managing director. “I consider it a great achievement when your employees feel valued and accepted, and are appreciated for the contributions they make every day. I’m extremely proud of the culture we’ve created that provides a strong sense of belonging.”

 

About RightStone
Since 1996, RightStone has built long term relationships thanks to a solid foundational grasp of IT issues as well as an in-depth understanding of how to locate and attract the highly skilled talent needed to execute specific projects. The company provides turnkey service and specializes in all elements of IT staffing, including screening, onboarding, billing, legal, quality control, benchmarking, and immigration support. RightStone has received the Best of Staffing Client 5 Year Diamond Award for providing superior service to their clients for at least five (5) consecutive years, a distinction earned by less than 1% of all staffing agencies in the U.S. and Canada. RightStone was acquired by Cornerstone Staffing Solutions, among the largest staffing firms in America, in 2016 and operates as an independent division of Cornerstone. For more information, visit www.rightstone.com.

About Cornerstone Staffing Solutions, Inc
Cornerstone Staffing Solutions is an award-winning staffing firm with branches across the U.S. It has achieved
ClearlyRated’s Diamond Award for Best of Staffing® Client Satisfaction; the company has received the award every
consecutive year since 2016. Cornerstone was also one of 138 staffing firms recently named to Forbes inaugural list of
America’s Best Temporary Staffing Firms 2020. Since 2003, Cornerstone has grown from a neighborhood staffing provider to
a national firm that employs thousands of people at hundreds of companies from coast to coast including California,
Nevada, Illinois, Texas, Michigan, New Jersey, Maryland, and Florida. Along with RightStone, the Cornerstone family of
companies also includes Chicago, Illinois-based Arlington Resources, Inc. and Casey Accounting & Finance Resources. Providing candidate searching and job placement for administrative, professional, industrial, technical, sales and transportation positions, Cornerstone truly is where talent and jobs meet. Visit Cornerstone here.

6 Ways to Make Your Cover Letter Stand Out

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Your cover letter introduces you to a hiring manager. It helps the manager form an impression of you as a candidate.

Your cover letter also highlights why you are the best candidate for the position.  This impacts whether you are contacted for an interview.

As a result, you want your cover letter to be as effective as possible. The following suggestions can help.

Implement these six tips to help your cover letter stand out from all the rest.

1. Address the Hiring Manager

There are many ways to find the hiring manager’s name and include it in your greeting.

  • Check the job posting for the hiring manager’s name.
  • Use LinkedIn to determine the hiring manager.
  • Call the company to ask for the hiring manager’s name and title.

2. Promote Yourself

Share your enthusiasm for the position and company.

  • Relate your skills and experience to the job description and qualifications.
  • Demonstrate why you are best suited for the role.
  • Comment on the company mission or leadership to show you researched the organization.
  • Ask to follow up about the position.

3. Be Concise

Limit your cover letter to three paragraphs focused on different parts of your resume.

  • Begin with an attention-grabbing introduction that shows your enthusiasm for the role and organization.
  • Mention the employee who referred you, if applicable.
  • Highlight your most important skills, experience, and accomplishments that relate to the position.
  • Explain why you are well-qualified for the role.
  • State how you would add value to the organization.
  • Thank the hiring manager for their consideration.
  • Request a call or interview to follow up.

4. Customize Your Cover Letter

Tailor your cover letter to the role and company.

  • Tie the most important parts of the position to your skills and experience.
  • Point out how your contributions would be unique.
  • Use numbers to emphasize your accomplishments relevant to the role.
  • Demonstrate your knowledge of the industry, company, and type of position.

5. Emphasize Your Accomplishments

Demonstrate how your achievements can benefit the company.

  • Share examples of the projects you worked on, the results you achieved, and how they impacted the organization.
  • Include the awards and recognition you received from previous employers.
  • Show you are a top performer who wants to grow along with the company.

6. Use Keywords

Pepper throughout your cover letter keywords and key phrases from the job description.

  • Keywords help your cover letter and resume pass an applicant tracking system (ATS).
  • The ATS scans for keywords to determine how closely a cover letter and resume match the skills and experience needed for the position.
  • The appropriate cover letters and resumes are sent to the hiring manager for review.
  • The hiring manager contacts the selected candidates for an interview.

Want Help with Your Job Search?

RightStone has IT positions that fit your goals and interests. Visit our job board today.

Reducing Bias in the Hiring Process

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Biases in your hiring process impact the diversity of your workforce. These conscious or unconscious beliefs cause certain candidates to be hired rather than others who may be more successful in a role.

Your employees’ diversity impacts their creativity, innovation, and productivity. This affects your company’s bottom line, reputation, and competitive edge.

As a result, taking steps to reduce biases in hiring is in your best interest. The following suggestions can help.

Implement these tips to minimize bias in your hiring process.

Educate Your Hiring Team

Train your hiring team on unconscious biases. This includes unfairly treating a candidate because of their race, skin color, or national origin. It also involves bringing aboard a candidate because their background, beliefs, and interests are similar to the decision-makers’.

  • Identifying unconscious biases helps your hiring team understand how their perspectives impact hiring decisions and workforce diversity.
  • Include what to look for and what to avoid during interviews.
  • Hold your hiring team accountable for minimizing bias in their hiring decisions.

Update Your Job Descriptions

Your job descriptions need to be as inclusive as possible to increase diversity in your candidate pools.

  • Include gender-neutral language.
  • Use a clear job title, such as “Application Developer” or “Data Analyst,” to attract the right candidates.
  • List only the three to five necessary qualifications to perform the work to increase the number of females and people of color who apply.
  • Mention any accommodations that can be made for candidates with wheelchairs or special needs.
  • Use HR software to uncover other biases involving race, age, physical ability, or other protected classes.

Require Skill Tests

Testing for the necessary IT skills lets you compare candidates based on their performance rather than personal characteristics. This indicates whether a candidate would be successful with your company.

Conduct Structured Interviews

Ask the same questions in the same order for the candidates interviewing for a role. This provides an objective foundation to evaluate candidates.

  • Use a rubric to score the answers from 1 to 5.
  • Encourage your hiring team to take notes on each candidate’s answers.
  • Discuss your team’s findings to make a hiring decision.

Get Help with Hiring

Let RightStone help add IT professionals to your team. Reach out to us today.

5 Ways to Help Keep Communication Channels Open

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Maintaining open communication with your employees encourages them to share their ideas to improve the organization. Open communication also notifies you of problems, conflicts, questions, and concerns that must be resolved.

Encouraging open communication with your team promotes engagement, productivity, and collaboration. It also elevates job satisfaction, employee morale, and retention.

Implement these five tips to maintain open communication with your team.

1. Focus on the End Goal

Maintaining open communication with your team lets you know about problems as they arise. This helps you resolve the issues and minimize their impact.

Open communication makes you aware of ideas to improve your team. This may include increasing efficiency in workflows.

Openly communicating with your team helps improve your leadership skills. You can learn your employees’ strengths, talents, motivations, and goals. Then, you can use this information to increase your team’s engagement, productivity, and collaboration. This elevates job satisfaction, team morale, and employee retention.

2. Be Present

Stay in the moment when communicating with your team. Actively listening to your employees encourages them to talk about their ideas, issues, questions, and concerns.

Look at the employee who is speaking with you. Show they have your complete attention.

Nod, gesture, and use facial expressions throughout the conversation. Include responses such as “yes” and “uh huh” to show you are listening. Ask follow-up questions to gather more information.

Paraphrase what you are hearing to ensure you understand it correctly. You may want to say, “What I am hearing is…” or “Am I correct in thinking…”.

Wait until your employee is done speaking. Then, respond appropriately.

3. Encourage Team and Individual Communication

Although communicating with your entire team is important, there may be times when your employees prefer to talk with you one-on-one. They may feel more comfortable privately discussing a personal matter than sharing the details with the team.

Encourage your team to request individual discussions when needed. They may want to share an opinion that differs from the team’s opinions on how to proceed with a project. Or, there may be a family issue that could affect your employee’s work performance.

Show empathy and support during these private discussions. Work with your employee to resolve the issue however you can.

4. Acknowledge Employee Accomplishments

Give your team credit for their work. This includes when an employee’s idea is successfully implemented or a finished project attains the desired results.

Openly acknowledging your employees’ contributions and impact on the organization shows they are valuable members of your team. This promotes feelings of trust and respect. It also increases team collaboration and cohesion.

5. Request Constructive Feedback

Ask your team for input on your performance. Include what you are doing well and specific ways you can improve.

Talk more in-depth about the answers you need clarification on. The greater your understanding of an issue, the more effectively you can resolve it.

Implement the feedback you feel would be most beneficial. Regularly follow up with your team to discuss your progress.

Looking for Help Hiring?

RightStone has the qualified IT professionals you need to reach business goals. Contact us to get started today.