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8 Traits that Successful Professionals Show

Every job varies in terms of the skills, abilities, and talents that are required for success. A technical skill that’s absolutely crucial to one role might be completely superfluous to a professional working at a separate job. That said, there are some traits that every highly successful professional possesses, irrespective of their particular role or of the industry that they work in.

By understanding the qualities that are conducive to success in any role, we’ll be much more likely to cultivate those traits within ourselves and thereby make it more likely that we’ll enjoy success in our own careers.

With that in mind, here are eight common traits of highly successful professionals:

1. Discipline.

Before success becomes possible, an individual must learn how to forego impulsive pleasure, concentrate for long periods of time, and never veer from their own standards of excellence. All of this must start with self-discipline.

2. Passion.

Professionals who care deeply about their work and who believe that their goals are worthwhile are much more likely to be successful than those whose commitment to the task is merely lukewarm.

3. Eagerness to learn.

Success requires an ability to consistently update one’s store of knowledge and to adopt alternative points of view.

4. Ability to take risks.

If you’re not willing to take risks, you will remain in the same place.

5. Organization.

As success accumulates, so too does responsibility. Staying on top of a growing number of daily tasks requires an ability to keep things in order over long periods of time.

6. They seek opportunities to learn from the success of others.

No one climbs the ladder of success on their own. There are countless relationships that have to be cultivated and maintained along the way. For every successful professional out there, there are mentors, teachers, and inspirational figures behind the scenes who each played some sort of role in that person’s achievements. The ability to engage with and learn from successful individuals who came before you is crucial to our own thriving.

7. Communication.

If you’re able to communicate in a forthright, confident, and articulate manner, you’re much more likely to clearly express – to yourself and to others – what success actually looks like for you, and what you need to achieve it.

8. They prioritize their health.

Physical and mental health is the foundation for any success story. When we fail to nourish our bodies and our minds, we’re setting ourselves up to encounter serious impediments to success. In order to be successful in our careers, we first have to ensure that we’re getting the diet, rest, exercise, and self-care that we need to be able to perform at our best.

Improvement is an ongoing process, and the actions that we take today determine the degree of success that we’ll enjoy tomorrow. At RightStone, we specialize in providing professionals with the resources that they need to advance in their careers. Contact us today to get started!


Coronavirus Update For Our Clients

March 12, 2020

Dear Valued Customer:

The coronavirus situation is highly fluid. As a valued client, we want to take this opportunity to inform you that we are staying abreast of public health information and guidelines and will continue to monitor and assess the actual and potential impact on our clients, temporary associates and contractors, and staff employees.

The well-being of our staffing community and neighbors is paramount to us. We will continue to share up-to-date developments, as necessary. We are following government and health organization web sites and we encourage you to review the same. Many of the most commonly suggested preventive measures are inexpensive and easy to obtain. These web sites include:

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

We trust you are advising your employees similarly and that you will apply the recommended safety policies outlined in the links above. We will stand together to navigate this public health challenge and further the well-being of everyone.

Should you wish to discuss this issue or have any questions, please let your local representative know, or feel free to contact our Director of Insurance and Risk ManagementAnissa Wieck, at awieck@cssitalent.com.
As always, I am also a phone call away and welcome your direct input or suggestions.

Sincerely,
Steven R. Drexel
President & CEO


How to Ask Interview Questions that Help You Uncover the Character of a Job Seeker

Every employer understands that the interview is a critically important stage in the course of the recruitment process. By building a successful interview strategy, employers are much more likely to gain a clear and reliable picture of a candidate’s unique strengths, weaknesses, and career goals. A poorly-defined or underprepared strategy, on the other hand, can often lead employers to miss a golden hiring opportunity or, conversely, to hire someone who is unfit for the role.

So what does an ideal interview strategy for employers actually look like?

Asking questions that are designed to get a sense of a candidate’s technical skills and professional background is obviously vitally important. That said, those questions should not take up the entire interview. In addition to probing a candidate for his or her particular technical skills, it’s equally important for interviewers to ask questions aimed at uncovering a candidate’s unique personality and character traits. This distinction – between technical expertise and characterological strength – is often referred to as “hard skills” versus “soft skills”.

Here are some examples of interview questions that will help you to gain a better sense of a candidate’s personality, character, and interpersonal abilities:

  • Do you prefer to work alone or within a group setting? Can you explain why?

 

  • Tell me about a time that you experienced conflict with a coworker. What happened, and how did you go about resolving it?

 

  • What are your greatest passions?

 

  • What are the activities, hobbies, or pastimes that you engage in while you’re not at work?

 

  • What adjectives would your best friend use to describe you?

 

  • Who is your greatest professional influence or inspiration? Why?

 

  • Is there a book that you would recommend to someone working in this role? Why? What were the major lessons that you gleaned from reading it?

 

  • Tell me about a time that you experienced failure at a past job. What did you learn from that experience?

At the end of the day, employers should be seeking to build a comprehensive picture of a candidate during the interview process. By balancing your “hard skill” interview questions with questions that are geared towards building a picture of a candidate’s unique character, you’ll be much more likely to find someone who’s the right fit not only for the role but also for the broader culture of your workplace.

If you’re ready to connect with talented candidates who will be a perfect match for your organization, contact us today!


Coronavirus Update For Our Employees

March 12, 2020

Dear Employee:

The coronavirus situation is highly fluid. As a valued member of our team, we want to take this opportunity to inform you that we are staying abreast of public health information and guidelines and will continue to monitor and assess the actual and potential impact.

The well-being of our staffing community and neighbors is paramount to us. We will continue to share up-to-date developments, as necessary.
Please take a moment to update your contact information by going to www.cornerstone-staffing.com and clicking on My Cornerstone. You can update your contact information by clicking on “Personal Info” and then “Contact Method.”

We are following government and health organization web sites, and we encourage you to review the same. These web sites include:

U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

World Health Organization (WHO) – https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/covid-19/

Based on guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, we encourage you to:

  • Avoid close contact with people who are sick; Stay home when you are sick
  • Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth
  • Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue, then throw the tissue in the trash
  • Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces using a household cleaning spray or wipe
  • Not wear a face mask unless you show symptoms of respiratory illness, including COVID-19
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after going to the bathroom; before eating; and after blowing your nose, coughing, or sneezing (if soap and water are not readily available, use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer with at least 60% alcohol)

We trust you are already following the guidance and will apply the recommended safety policies outlined in the links above. Many of the most commonly suggested preventive measures are inexpensive. We will stand together to navigate this public health challenge and further the well-being of everyone.

Should you wish to discuss this issue or have any questions, please let your local branch representative know.

Sincerely,
Steven R. Drexel
President & CEO


4 Ways to Develop Company Culture that Helps You Keep Your Best Employees

When it comes to building a strong and talented workforce, recruitment is only half of the story; it’s equally important for employers to implement strategies and policies aimed at retaining their top employees once they’ve been brought on board. In pursuit of this goal, the development and maintenance of an optimized workplace culture should be a top priority.

What is workplace culture?

“Workplace culture” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but many professionals only have a vague understanding of what it actually means. We’re here to clear the air on this subject.

Simply put, a company’s culture is the aggregate of values, personalities, workplace norms, and qualities that endow it with a unique and intangible feeling. In other words, when we talk about culture in this context, we’re talking about the quality of the day-to-day employee experience at a particular workplace.

4 Ways to Develop Company Culture that Helps You Keep Your Best Employees

With that in mind, it’s easy to understand why building a strong company culture should be a top priority for every employer. Healthy workplace cultures lead to happy and engaged employees, who in turn produce high-quality work more consistently. There are plenty of studies (such as this one) that have proven this to be true.

So what can employers do now that will allow them to build an optimized workplace culture? Here are four simple and effective ways to get started:

1. Offer flexible work options to your employees.

Recent research has conclusively shown that employees tend to be happier in work environments that offer flexible scheduling and remote work options than those that do not.

2. Increase (and improve) your communication with employees.

It’s important that you make time to check in with your employees on a fairly regular basis to make sure that they’re able to voice any concerns and that their needs at work are being met. Managers who only rarely engage and communicate with their employees will consistently find themselves overseeing a workforce that by and large feels isolated, manipulated, and dissatisfied.

3. Acknowledge your employees’ achievements.

Managers routinely miss opportunities to improve workplace morale and increase feelings of cohesion by giving public praise to an employee who has made a notable accomplishment. By acknowledging an employee’s achievement in front of his or her peers, you can quickly and easily communicate to your employees that they work within a culture that values individual contributions and communal support.

4. Ask for your employees’ input when making important decisions.

There’s perhaps no more effective way of providing your employees with a sense of camaraderie than by including them in the decision-making process. You don’t need to ask for their input on every decision, obviously. But when you’re considering making a change to the workplace that will ultimately affect the day-to-day experience of your employees, you should make every effort to ask for and be open to their input. In all likelihood, they will be able to offer you valuable insights into how the workplace as a whole might be improved.

Building an optimized workplace is not something that can be achieved overnight, but there are steps that can be taken every day – some small and some large – to gradually work towards a workplace that will help to make your employees feel content. To learn more about what you can do to build a stronger workplace culture as well as a happier, more secure workforce, contact us today.


4 Mistakes You Should Avoid During Your Next Interview

The interview is arguably the most pivotal phase of the entire hiring process. After a candidate has been deemed to be a potentially good fit for a role based on his or her resume and cover letter, the interview is the chance for applicant and employer alike to determine if there truly is a match between the candidate’s personality, temperament, and ability, with the unique culture of the workplace that they would be entering into. It’s crucial, therefore, for candidates to know what they should expect during a typical interview, and how they should prepare.   

Knowing what to say, what to wear, and how to compose oneself during an interview is one thing; knowing what not to say and what sort of behaviors to avoid is quite another. In this post, we’ll walk you through four common mistakes that you should be careful to avoid in your next job interview. 

1. Failing to familiarize yourself beforehand with your interview.

In most cases, employers and hiring managers will let you know before your interview who it is that you’ll be speaking with once you arrive at your prospective workplace. By taking the time beforehand to read up on your interviewer’s (or interviewers’) profile(s), you will have a better sense going in of which points of your experience you should be sure to touch upon. It will also give you a chance to see if you have any professional connections with your employer that might provide some common ground. 

2. Asking questions with answers that were provided by the job post.

Before you head into an interview, always be sure to study (and study again) the job post or other resources from which you initially learned about the opening job. No job posting will be fully comprehensive in its description of the role and its responsibilities, but they will usually provide you with answers to the most basic questions. If you ask your interviewer questions with obvious answers, that could convey a message that you’re disorganized or unable to do your homework prior to an important meeting. 

3. Failing to dress appropriately.

A candidate showing up to an interview looking scruffy, disheveled, or inappropriately dressed is sending a message that he or she might be equally careless with their work. Showing up to an interview looking groomed and sharp, on the other hand, sends a clear message that you have respect for the interviewer and that you take your professionalism seriously.

4. Being distracted by your phone.

For many of us, glancing at our phones during a conversation has become such a deeply ingrained habit that we tend to do it almost unconsciously. This may be (more or less) okay during a normal social interaction, but it can greatly harm your chances of success during a job interview. Before you go into an interview, be sure to turn your phone off so that you’ll be fully present and undistracted by incoming messages or calls.

At RightStone, we’re working with IT candidates and top employers to find connections that last. If you’re ready to start looking for an exciting new role in IT, check out our jobs page. 


5 Benefits Video Interviews Can Bring to Your IT Talent Search

The practices and technologies that drive the hiring process are constantly changing. As new communication technologies become commonplace, it’s critical for employers and job seekers alike to be able to quickly integrate them into their search for their next star employee, or for their next role. Video interviews are a prime example of an emergent communication technology that is changing the hiring process across the IT industry. Rather than having candidates come into the office for a face-to-face interview, an increasing number of employers are opting to have their prospective employees submit recorded responses to a set of predetermined questions. In this way, they’re able to cut back on the time, resources, and energy that is usually spent finding the perfect candidate.  

By integrating video interviews into your recruitment and hiring process, you can greatly increase your chances of quickly getting in touch with talented employees. 

Here are five major benefits of conducting video interviews:  

1. Accelerates your hiring process.

Finding time for a prospective employee to come into the office for an interview can be a long and frustrating process. Asking candidates to record and submit their responses to a set of questions, on the other hand, can dramatically cut back on the time that is taken up by introductions, small-talk, and travel by traditional in-person interviews.

2. Enables you to screen more candidates.

Most hiring managers out there will have found themselves in the awkward position of being less than one minute into an interview and realizing that a candidate isn’t a good fit for a particular role. Video interviews allow hiring managers to quickly assess a candidate’s suitability and quickly move on to the next applicant if it’s quickly determined that there isn’t a fit. 

3. Brings consistency to the interview process.

Even when hiring managers go into an interview with a list of questions, in-person conversations can quickly become sidetracked into other topics. All too often, the result is that candidates end up providing responses to different questions. By asking your applicants to record and submit their responses to a consistent set of questions, you’ll be ensuring that you receive equally consistent and comparable responses. 

4. It allows candidates to be more relaxed.

Meeting with an employer in person for an interview can be a stressful experience for a candidate. Even if their experience and skills make them a great fit, having to sit across a table from a hiring manager can make often make a candidate flustered and nervous. Answering questions in front of a webcam, however, is a far less daunting prospect – particularly when applicants are allowed to record multiple takes until they’re satisfied with their responses.  

5. Quickly screens out technologically-impaired candidates.

It’s important for any employer in the IT industry to quickly eliminate candidates who aren’t able to follow basic technological instructions. Recording and submitting responses to a video interview is by no means challenging (to most candidates), but there will be some who will be either too lazy or too perplexed to carry out the task, and they will be left in the wake of other, more competent candidates.

At RightStone, we’re working with IT candidates and top employers to make connections that last. To learn more about how to get connected with top talent, we’re here to help. 

 


Do You Love Your Job? 3 Signs It May Be Time to Move On

It’s easy to know when you love your job. When you’re happy in your current industry, company, and role, you feel excited and energized at the beginning of each day (or at least most days). You’re able to foster mutually rewarding benefits with your coworkers. And at the end of the day, you tend to feel a genuine sense of satisfaction. Arriving at the realization that we don’t love our jobs, on the other hand, is not nearly as straightforward. In many cases, people might continue working at a job that they don’t enjoy for years, simply because it’s able to provide security and stability. In others, employees might continue to put up with toxic work environments or responsibilities that they don’t enjoy because they imagine that there will be some reward awaiting them in the future which will justify all of their present dissatisfaction. 

There are plenty of tech professionals out there who dislike their current role, but who are hesitant to leave, not least because of the competitive nature of their industry. Sometimes, it’s best to deal with the temporary frustrations and stay put. Other times, it’s time to move on and look for something better.  

Here are three reliable signs that it might be time to leave your current job: 

You don’t feel challenged by your work.

In order to feel satisfied, useful, and engaged at work, it’s important for most of us to be challenged by our roles and responsibilities. Not too much, but enough that we genuinely feel that we’re growing personally, professionally, and intellectually. If you feel that you barely have to put in any real effort in order to be successful at your current job, that’s a reliable sign that your time and energy would be better spent somewhere new.

You often feel sick, tired, or stressed.

There’s a certain amount of stress that will come with the territory of any job. Consistent stress, on the other hand – whether it’s the result of your workload, work environment, boss, or all of the above – can have seriously negative consequences on your physical and mental health. If you start noticing that you’re regularly achy, tired, anxious, or maybe just not always the most pleasant person to engage in conversation, it’s probably not just you – it could be the demands of your current job. 

Employees at your company tend to not stick around for very long.

If you feel satisfied (or maybe you just feel neutral) at your current job, but you start to notice that new faces around the office seem to rapidly come and go, be careful. That’s a reliable sign that there may be some unresolved or unspoken problems at the workplace, and also that there are better places to work that are out there. 

If you’re ready to begin looking for your next role in the IT industry, check out our jobs page. 


How to Improve the Candidate Experience During Your Next Hiring Campaign

For job candidates, the search for a new role can often be a frustratingly slow and tedious process. Unresponsive prospective employers, long and arduous email threads, automated email responses; all of these are factors which job candidates encounter all too often in the job search and which can quickly disenchant them from a particular role. A smooth, efficient, and rapid recruiting process, on the other hand, is sure to make a positive impression on job candidates and will maximize an employer’s chances of receiving an application.  

It can be challenging, however, for employers to identify the specific aspects of their current recruitment and hiring models that are in need of improvement. With this in mind, this post will walk you through four simple ways to improve the candidate experience in your next hiring campaign. 

Write a clear and up-to-date job description.

It’s not uncommon for job candidates to apply or even to interview for a role, only to discover down the line that the skills and responsibilities required by that position do not, in fact, match with their own experience. In many of those cases, a considerable amount of time and resources could have been saved if the employer had taken the time at the early stages of the process to write a comprehensive job description. 

Set expectations early on about your recruitment process.

In the search for a new role, time is of the essence. It’s important, therefore, for candidates to understand early on what they should expect in terms of timeline and communication. Every company will have a slightly different recruitment process; clarifying the details of yours to a prospective employee will make it much less likely that they’ll become frustrated and disappear.  

Keep the ball rolling with communication.

This one is crucial. Recent research has demonstrated that a lack of communication on the part of employers is the number one most frustrating part of a candidate’s job search. It stands to reason, then, that devising a strategy aimed at consistent and helpful communication is perhaps the most effective thing that any employer could do to improve a candidate’s recruitment experience. 

Go the extra mile when conducting interviews.

The interview is arguably the most critical point of the recruitment process. It is the first opportunity for candidates to meet with their prospective managers and colleagues in person and to get a glimpse of their potential future workplace. In order to ensure that it’s a positive experience for candidates, it’s important for employers to prepare appropriately. This goes beyond merely preparing the appropriate questions (although that’s important, too); proper interview preparation also means gathering the right people into the room, respecting a candidate’s time, and (as we mentioned earlier) being clear about what they should expect for next steps. 

At RightStone, we’re working with IT candidates and top employers to make connections that last. To learn more about how to get connected with top talent, we’re here to help. 

 


8 Traits That Successful Engineers Show

With the rate at which new technologies are currently being developed, the IT industry remains in a perpetual state of flux. Tech companies that are able to adapt to the shifting technological landscape tend to grow and thrive, while organizations that remain fixed to the tools of the past run the risk of being left behind. As an extension of that phenomenon, it’s vital to the success of individual engineers to be able to continuously update their skillset and to be a fluid learner within their dynamic work environment. The responsibilities of the average IT engineer may, at times, feel monotonous, but the fact is that engineers must hone a broad array of skills – both technical and interpersonal – in order to achieve success.

What are the most important character traits for an engineer to possess in 2020?

1. Constant learner

New technologies can become essential for the engineer’s toolkit practically overnight. It’s crucial, therefore, for the modern engineer to be able to take the initiative and educate him or herself when trying to master new platforms or programs.

2. Detail-oriented

No one knows the truth behind the phrase the devil is in the details better than engineers. When you’re consistently working with and building code, it’s absolutely crucial to develop a hyper-attention to minute details.

3. Communicator

Discussing the more technical aspects of a project to your fellow engineers is one thing; breaking it down to clients and customers is quite another. Given the necessity for modern engineers to often work closely with people outside of their department, the ability to communicate complex information in layman terms is invaluable.

4. Determined and driven

It’s inevitable. Every engineer will – at one point or another – be faced with an obstacle that feels insurmountable or a technical problem that appears to be unsolvable. The successful engineer, however, is the one that views these occurrences as challenges to be overcome rather than as reasons to give up.

5. Collaborator

The modern engineer will frequently be required to work within a team setting. As a result, it’s vital for the success of the individual and of the team that each engineer understands the value of compromise, listening, patience, delegation, and teamwork.

6. Leader

An integral part of any engineer’s job description is encountering and resolving complex problems that even company executives may not be able to offer solutions to. When such technical problems present themselves, companies will frequently turn to their engineers to provide solutions. Consequently, it’s important for engineers to possess the confidence and motivation which will allow them to take the lead.

7. Analytical

At its core, engineering requires an ability to digest vast quantities of information, identify patterns, and finally to reorganize information or develop new patterns that will optimally serve the interests of the organization. In order to perform these duties effectively, engineers must constantly sharpen their analytical and data-processing capabilities.

8. Creativity

Lastly (but certainly not least), engineers must be able to think outside of the box. If an engineer’s methods become too fixed and rigid, he may struggle to adapt to the changing conditions of the industry in which he operates. By constantly updating his own skillset and daring to adopt unconventional modes of thought, on the other hand, he’ll be able to continuously innovate and meet the challenges of the future head-on.

Looking for new IT job?

At RightStone, our goal is to help IT candidates achieve their loftiest goals. To find out more about how you can level-up in your career, check out our jobs page.