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Keeping the Interview Conversational: 5 Ways to Conduct an Interview Like a Pro

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The best interviews flow like a conversation rather than an interrogation. Conversations work because it gives both the interviewer and the interviewee space to think laterally and creatively, which allows both parties to share more about themselves.

But how do you keep an interview conversational when you have so many to complete and little time to do it?

Here’s how to get the most out of an interview.

Break the Ice First

“How are you?” is the most obvious question you can ask, and you won’t glean much from the candidate by asking it. Instead, ask them a more specific question that allows you to make a minute or two of small talk.

Some questions include: 

  • What’s the best thing to happen to you this week? 
  • How did you find this job post? 
  • What are you watching on television at the moment? 
  • Tell me something you’ve learned this week.

These are questions that open up the floor for discussion but don’t veer far enough into the personal to be jarring. 

Practice Asking Open-Ended Questions

If the answer to a question is yes or no, then you’ll get a yes or no answer. While it may provide a perfunctory answer, you won’t learn much, and your questions will seem more like an interrogation.

Practice answering open-ended questions to get more from candidates. These questions usually begin with “why” or “how” rather than “can” or “do.’

Ask Questions (and Follow-ups) Relevant to the Interviewee

You won’t find cookie-cutter candidates because there aren’t cookie-cutter people. So, don’t ask every candidate the same list of questions. Instead, use their resume and their previous answers to riff on their experience and ask questions relevant to the candidate’s history specifically.

Lean on Your Emotional Intelligence

Emotional intelligence is an often-overlooked part of the interview process. You don’t give anything away by being kind, warm, and yourself with a candidate, even if you aren’t sure they’re a good fit.

Lean on building a natural rapport with each interviewee where possible to keep the conversation flowing. Not only does it improve the process, but it also gives you a better sense of the candidate’s emotional intelligence too.

Let the Conversation Flow

Candidates regularly say that the best interviews feel more like conversations. And these interviews leave them with a positive experience, even if they don’t land the job.

Rather than rattling off a list of questions, let the conversation flow by demonstrating emotional intelligence and keeping each interview personal. You’ll find you both get more from the process when you do.

RightStone Can Help With Hiring!

Are you struggling with the hiring process? Let the experts help. Get in touch to learn more about how the RightStone 360 process places qualified consultants with the right businesses.

Keeping Talented Employees Can Be Difficult: 4 Tricks for Retaining Them

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Everyone wants to attract the best talent. But what are you doing to retain the talent you already have? If you’re like many organizations, you’re not doing enough.

Employee retention needs to be a core part of any business strategy, but many organizations put it on the backburner in favor of more “tangible” value-adding processes. Yet, attracting your best employees not only stops employee churn but promotes a stronger culture through experience, loyalty, and leadership.

So how do you keep employees when your competitors are actively recruiting them? Here are four tricks for employee retention.

1. Keep Their Compensation Competitive

A well-known maxim in today’s market is this: if you want a raise, then you need to get a new job.

Financial stability won’t keep employees who want to leave, but it will stop otherwise committed workers from quitting. And it will make your team more difficult to poach.

Do some research and make sure you’re offering a competitive package. If you’re not, start talking to your team to learn more about what you can do to close the gap.

2. Hire the Right Employees

Hiring an employee who is the right fit for the role and the culture is the best thing you can do to retain talent. 

So rather than filling a gap now, wait for the right fit to come along, and make sure you use a comprehensive hiring process to filter candidates.

3. Create a Robust Professional Development Process

Regular reviews, investment in skills, and mentorship are the building blocks of employee retention, and they’re all simultaneously an investment into your company.

Employees who continue to grow their skills and take on new challenges in their jobs are more likely to stay. And it will build into the final piece of the employee retention puzzle: employee recognition.

4. Recognize Employees’ Contributions

All your employees are pulling for the same team: your company. But it’s important to recognize their individual efforts. Be sure to recognize their contributions both privately and publicly to remind them how much you value them and to inspire others.

Remember to keep the recognition specific. Let them (and others) know exactly what they did right and celebrate both personal and team achievements.

Employee Retention Benefits the Whole Organization

Employee retention tactics come in many different forms, and each one is worth the investment. When you work hard to retain your employees by ensuring they feel valued, providing opportunities for growth, and recognizing your efforts, you build stronger teams and a more stable organization.

At RightStone, our consultant retention rate is far above the industry average. Get in touch to learn how we build decades-long relationships between clients and consultants.

3 Tips for Working in a Different Time Zone Than Your Co-Workers

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Remote work became the theme of 2020, but it’s not a fleeting idea. According to one survey, 74% of workers expect remote work to transition from a contingency plan to a standard form of practice.

As people find more opportunities for remote work, they will continue to spread out between timezones. And those changes can present opportunities as well as challenges.

Are you joining an organization that operates across timezones? Here are three tips for maintaining those relationships.

Be Mindful with Meeting Times

Working between Central and Eastern time can be done with a bit of consideration and extra effort. But the difference between Eastern and Pacific? It’s a different story.

Do your best to keep meetings within normal working hours. When that’s not possible, make sure you don’t consistently burden one party with the unsocial hour. For example, if you work on EST and you have a colleague in Australia, you can take turns with anti-social meeting hours so that one party doesn’t consistently find themselves online at 8 PM or 6 AM.

Use Calendars to Set and Share Schedules

Encouraging calendar sharing is the simplest way to set deadlines, schedule meetings, and manage expectations.

For example, if you want to schedule a Zoom call, you can send out an invitation and hope it works for everyone. However, when you share calendars, you can go into the organization calendar and look for a time when you’re free.

You may also find it helpful for people to schedule out-of-office events, deep work hours, or hours generally out-of-bounds for video or phone calls. Then, you’ll schedule mutually agreeable meetings and avoid rescheduling.

Keep Cultural Norms in Mind

American work culture insists that 7:30 AM meetings are part of life. In Britain, setting a 7:30 AM meeting makes you a tyrant.

Cultural norms impact working hours and days as well as pace, workflows, and collaboration. Being understanding of how others use their work time will go a long way in ironing out issues before they become contentious.

 

Are you looking for your next role and hoping to land a remote option? Visit RightStone’s job board to find a new opportunity to work with coworkers across the United States and beyond.

Spring is a Time for New Beginnings: Should a New Job Be One of Them?

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Leaving the cold, dark days of winter behind always brings a sense of renewal. For some people, things start to feel easier, and some of the past stress falls away. Your job feels easier, your tasks less stifling.

But sometimes, spring can be a chance to try something new. A new job can set you up for an excellent spring, summer, and even career.

Is it time to be looking for a new job? Here are a few signs that it’s time to move on.

1. You’re Unmotivated Even in the Sun

For many people, cold dark winters can zap the productivity right out of us, even if you aren’t engaged with your job. Often, the good weather can make even bleak days feel brand new.

But if your Sunday Scaries persist even into April, May, and June, the issue may not be the weather. It may be your job.

Rather than waiting for something to change, it may be time to create that change for yourself.

2. You’re Browsing Job Boards

Do you find yourself on LinkedIn or other job boards just to see what else is out there?

If you are looking at new posts and thinking seriously about applying, then there’s likely something amiss in your current job. Subconsciously, you may not feel challenged or believe you’ll get the growth opportunities you want. Or you could be looking for a different culture or benefits.

No matter what’s on your mind, if you read job advertisements with interest, it may be time to start making a move for a new role.

3. You’re Struggling to Recover Each Week

Do you start every Monday feeling even more tired than you did on Friday? Are you struggling to make the most of your time off? It may be time for a new job.

The ability to rest, refresh, and recover from a workweek is a core part of staying engaged in your current role. If the job or the culture won’t allow you to take a beat and breathe, then it may be better to get out before you burn out.

 

Do you recognize some of the feelings described in this post? RightStone can help. Get in touch to learn how the RightStone 360 process perfectly matches consultants with employers.

Creating a Culture of Development: 3 Ways to Teach New Skills to Current Employees

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These days, it’s very easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day work of reacting to new challenges and just trying to stay afloat. But one of the ways companies can keep themselves in operation and spend less time reacting to changes is by preparing employees in advance.

A culture of development gives workers room to upskill, future-proofing their jobs and preparing for new eventualities. It also keeps employees engaged, which is vital in a world where 7 out of 10 U.S. workers don’t feel connected to their job.

How do you create a culture where development opportunities are not only available but taken? Use these three tips to get started.

Emphasize and Facilitate New Connections First

Conferences, classes, and workshops work wonders for development. However, by focusing only on those resources, you miss out on very real development opportunities. These are the opportunities that come through making new connections.

Mentorship has a huge impact on an individual’s career, and it offers insights you won’t find in a webinar. Yet, mentorship programs are often optional.

If you want to create a meaningful development culture, you may be better placing mentorship above other learning opportunities and allowing employees to ‘opt out’ of mentorship rather than encouraging them to ‘opt-in.’

Even better, nine in 10 workers who participate in career mentorship programs are happier with their jobs. Happy workers want to stay, learn, and grow.

Set Every Employee up with a Development Plan

Before expecting employees to find ways to upskill, you need to provide them with ideas, resources, and a plan of action.

Employee development plans provide the groundwork needed to pursue educational opportunities. They consider personal, professional, and organizational goals and identify the resources needed to get there. Even better, they provide an action plan that everyone agrees on, giving workers a chance to get started as soon as they’re ready.

Provide Adequate Funding for Development

Before you go to workers and ask them to do more, ask yourself this: what is your budget for professional development?

According to one report, there’s a real disconnect between what employers think they offer and what employees get.

So go back to the drawing board and ask: are you granting enough money for development?

Upskilling Workers Benefits Everyone

A culture of development benefits workers, teams, and the whole organization. However, it requires more than handing out passes to conferences. You need to start with a solid foundation to show employees what’s possible and how to get there. And then, you need to provide the resources they need to make it happen.

 

Would you like to learn more about building a development culture and what it means to staff it? Get in touch to learn how RightStone pairs consultants and clients to build relationships and broaden teams.

3 Reasons to Hire a Contract Worker to Join Your IT Team

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The way we work requires agility, particularly in the world of  IT. If your response doesn’t match the market reality, you put your whole organization at risk.

IT agility is your IT system’s ability to respond to external changes, and part of your agility comes from your people. That’s what IT contractors continue to be an increasingly popular choice for businesses.

Here are three reasons why hiring a contract worker is the right move for your IT team.

You Need Specialist Skills for a One-Off Project

You already have a few IT generalists and maybe even a security specialist. But your existing team may not have the skills and tools needed to complete a vital project.

If you need help with rolling out a cloud computing campaign, setting up an ERP, application development, or data center management, a contractor might be the best option. These projects usually occur over a set timeframe, which means you can hire a contractor for the project’s duration without worrying about finding work for them when you’re done.

You Need to Hire Quickly

Do you need to roll a project out in the next few weeks or months? Have you been given a hard ‘go live’ date by company leadership?

Hiring a full-time employee takes weeks or even months, depending on the skills you need. Contractors take less time to bring on board because they are a once-off investment. Plus, many of today’s top IT talent prefer to work as contractors, so you aren’t limited to candidates currently looking for a new job or getting ready to leave their current post.

The hiring process is more nimble, which means you can complete your projects on time.

You Need an Extra Set of Hands without the Expense

Hiring a new employee costs more than a salary: they have benefits, spend weeks going through onboarding, and can come with huge hiring expenses.

A contractor comes with a fixed fee, no need to pay benefits, and strict end date. So you can remain in control of your human capital costs.

Hiring a contractor makes sense for many companies, particularly when you have project-based work and a strict deadline. But just because you choose the contractor route doesn’t mean you can’t afford to find the right candidate.

 

Are you looking for an IT contractor? At RightStone, we place the right IT consultants with the right clients using our RightStone 360 process. Get in touch to learn more about how we match technical requirements and personalities.

Can Taking a Break During Work Actually Make You More Productive?

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How often do you sit down at the computer and not look up again until it gets dark?

It happens to everyone, and even if you feel focused, you may not be as productive as you think you were.

The human brain needs a break every once in a while, and if you don’t actively provide it, then, your brain will do it for you. Taking a break isn’t a sign of weakness: it’s the best way to stay productive.

Here’s why you should take more breaks — both long and short.

Reduce Stress Levels

You can feel stress even at a job you enjoy. Finding yourself facing an intractable problem, feeling frustrated about a lack of resources, or even waking up on the wrong side of the bed can leave you with hunched shoulders.

Breaks are one way to deal with a high workload without sending stress hormones flying through your body. A clinical study found that even five-minute breaks every half hour can help surgeons significantly reduce psychological stress.

Imagine what it can do for those of us whose daily tasks don’t involve surgery!

Increase Your Attention Span

Are you struggling to concentrate? Finding yourself easily distracted? There’s a temptation to push through and try harder. But sometimes what your brain really needs is a good old-fashioned break.

In a study of assembly workers, workers who enjoyed a short break were able to increase their attention span significantly in the period after their break.

The lesson: if you can’t concentrate, stop trying. Get up, walk away, and return to your desk when you’re ready. You’ll not only be able to focus but you will have an improved focus.

Feel More Engaged

Taking breaks can improve your overall job performance and increase your chances for a promotion. Why? Because workers who take breaks are more engaged than those who don’t.

Research found that daily micro-breaks leave employees feeling rejuvenated, even in work they didn’t enjoy. However, you have to take a proper break and relax: a quick break for a snack won’t do the trick. Take five to ten minutes and do something else or just switch off. You’ll be surprised at how quickly it works.

Looking for more great career advice? Visit our blog or get in touch to learn more about our RightStone 360 service for placing consultants like you with their dream clients.

Start Standing Out: 3 Tips to Help You Get Promoted

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Today, career experts say the best way to get promoted is to find a new job. But you don’t need to start job hunting to get the recognition you deserve. And you shouldn’t need to, especially if you love where you work right now.

Even still, working hard won’t win you the promotion all on its own. Your coworkers also work hard. You also need to find a way to stand out.

What does that look like? Here are three of our expert’s best tips.

1. Get a Mentor

We don’t get anywhere in life on our own. The same is true in career advancement: you can choose to fight hard or you can choose to work together with a mentor. The impact of mentorship is huge: you actively work with someone who is where you want to go, and then you learn from them second hand.

2. Be Open About Your Career Goals

Often, people find themselves passed over for a promotion they wanted and work for and wonder: why not me? In reality, their leadership team had no idea they wanted the promotion in the first place.

Having open lines with communication and sharing your career goals means your boss will know what you want to work towards. It also means that you will know early on if your goal isn’t available at your current organization. In other words, you will have a better indication of whether to move up or move on.

3. Take Ownership of Projects

You need to be a team player, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take ownership of your projects. Demonstrating that you can take a project from ideation through to completion — and uplift others along the way — makes you indispensable to your company.

Indispensable people are the people who tend to find themselves first in line for that big promotion.

Take Control and Win Your Next Promotion Sooner

Working hard is no longer enough to earn you a promotion, but you don’t necessarily need to go searching for greener pastures. When you take concerted steps outside of your daily work to prepare yourself for more responsibility and make your intentions clear, you are more likely to find yourself at the top of the list of those earning a promotion.

Are you looking for the next stepping stone in your career? We’re here to help. We help place qualified candidates with the right clients, which makes getting that promotion easier. Visit our job board or get in touch to learn more about the RightStone 360 process.

3 Ways to Ensuring You are Immigration Compliant When Bringing On a New Hire

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There’s a whole world of talent out there. And with remote work becoming increasingly acceptable, there’s nothing stopping you from sourcing talent elsewhere.

However, hiring a non-citizen isn’t straightforward. With your hire, you take on new responsibilities.

The work process is tricky, but you can use these three tips to streamline your immigration compliance process.

Use Processes for I-9 Completion

I-9 compliance is perhaps the most laborious part of immigration compliance. Having I-9 processes set up, and or using an I-9 specialist or trained HR team member, will ensure you don’t miss a step.

Ideally, your I-9 compliance processes should:

  • Centralize I-9 procedures for completion and retention (including copy retention)
  • Ensure only trained staff complete the processes
  • Provide measures for dealing with issues (such as expired documents)
  • Include regular self-audits of both documentation and the systems

Ensure Re-Verification Takes Place

Even when you hire in a compliant manner, your efforts can be thwarted if you don’t have a stringent re-verification program. Re-verification programs keep track of immigration statutes to ensure both the company and the foreign employee take the right steps at the right time.

Legally, you only need to reverify when the employment authorization document expires. However, it is always best to schedule reverification before the actual expiration date and to perform the process regularly

Have a Formal Plan for Foreign Employees

If you intend to bring on any foreign employees, you will benefit from a formal immigration compliance plan. The plan should cover everything from recruiting to hiring to re-verification as well as the Labor Certification process. 

The legal and compliance benefits of a formal plan are reason enough to get to work. The clarification the plan provides also offers additional benefits. Your foreign employee recruitment plan can and should also help inform your job advertisements: you want to attract people most likely to succeed with a visa so as to avoid a prolonged recruitment process.

Are you looking to expand and enjoy a global talent pool?

RightStone offers reporting, documentation, and immigration compliance services. Get in touch to learn more about our unique IT staffing service offering.

How to Help Your IT Team to Remain Focused During Long Projects

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Any team will look at a deadline that’s six, nine, or 12 months away and see it as a distant problem. These kinds of deadlines always feel like plenty of time to complete a project. 

Yet, those months can disappear quickly. And it’s your job to ensure that your team doesn’t find themselves two weeks away from a six-month deadline with six months of work left to do.

How do you keep your IT on task even on a long project? Use these tips to help stay on track and deliver better results.

Break It Down into Milestones or Sprints

Achieving a goal always sparks motivation. But what do you do if the overall goal is a year or even more away?

While the work completed today will contribute to the end goal, your team need to see results sooner to stay focused. That’s why “chunking” work into milestones (or sprints, if you want to dabble in Agile) wins the day.

When you set milestones, you mark the passing of time in a tangible way. Reaching those milestones equates to an accomplishment and thus boosts morale. Even better, smaller segments of work simplify planning, so you can get the project off the ground faster.

Reiterate the “Why” as You Work

Why are you completing this project? And why does this milestone fit into the end goal?

If you want to keep teams focused and motivated, then you need focus as much on the “why” question as on the task at hand. When team members know why they need to accomplish a task or even why the deadline is what it is, then they will be more likely to see the value, which will stop their attention from drifting to other work.

Give Frequent Feedback

Milestones also make it easier to provide regular feedback to all team members. Feedback offers emotional motivation by boosting our sense of self-esteem. When teams get good feedback regularly, they want to keep repeating the actions that earned those feelings.

Are you looking for the next valuable member of your project team — or even your team lead? Learn more about the RighStone 360 process and find out how we make IT project execution a success.