Five Common Hiring Mistakes Business Owners Should Avoid

Your business should consist of a number of systems that create predictable and consistent results. Hiring is no different. A system in your hiring process will take any guesswork out of the hiring process, and help you find the right person for the job.

Some business owners tell me that they don't need a system for recruiting new workers. What if there is a disaster or something beyond your control, and you suddenly have to hire 20 people? What if you become ill and someone else has to take over the job of hiring? How can you be sure that they will find the right person? Having a hiring process will make sure that your will find that special person for your business.

It is never too late to create the correct systems, even if you aren't looking for new employees right now. If you have systems in place, you will be prepared when the time comes that you need to look for someone. Then you won't have the added stress of creating a system on a deadline.

When you create your system, keep in mind the following mistakes, and build your process t avoid them:

1. Make sure you actually need a new employee. Often a business owner thinks he or she needs someone for a task, when they just need a new system that can be shared by other employees.

2. Hiring a person on the spot because they “just feel right”. This means you are recruiting from an emotional perspective. Your instinct can sometimes serve you, but hiring is not one of them. You need to be objective for this one.

3. Selling your company to the recruit. Your recruit should have done his or her homework, and should know about your company by the time they come for the interview. You don't need to sell your company. You need to make sure you hire the right person for the job.

4. Hire only based on what you see in the CV and in the cover letter, in other words, hiring on skill only. You need to look at the person's attitude and behaviour as well. It is a well-known fact that people get hired on skill and fired on behaviour. It therefore makes sense to test the behaviour of a new recruit before you hire them.

5. Not having a system in place with the right resources for the hiring process.

Article Source:
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About the Author:
Hannah du Plessis is an expert in Psychometric Testing, and can help your business with systems for communication and business relationships.

Staff Retention: Top 10 Tips

The 'job for life' is not a term often used now, but employers need to consider the importance of employee retention as it affects turnover, productivity and the business's long-term success.

Here are some tips to help you keep your staff:

Recruit the right people. It seems a simple thing, but so many companies stumble by not employing the right person for the job. To ensure you have the best staff write a job description and key performance indicators before advertising the position. Think through the key interview questions and ask each candidate the same ones so you can compare 'apples to apples'. Know the type of person you are looking for, what you want them to do and their employment conditions and you are off to a great start.

Favorable work environment and culture. Make your workplace flexible and supportive so employees feel comfortable in the environment. After all, they spend a third of their time at work so it pays to make it somewhere your staff want to be. Establish a system where employees can regularly express their opinions and ideas freely - and act on any that are good for the business.

Training, career development and feedback. It is very important that employees feel welcomed, wanted and that they are given the chance to succeed in their job. Put together a structured program where new people are brought up to speed quickly and continue it by allowing staff to develop to take on new challenges. Ongoing training means staff can grow over time to move into new positions and increase their value to you. Give your employees regular reviews and support so they know what to aim for, when they are doing well and when they need to improve. Without feedback your staff will perform below standard.

Offer greater work-life initiatives. These incentives can be both financial and non-financial and include gift vouchers, flexible working hours, holidays and reward days. They should be based on performance and be applied consistently across the board. Work-life initiatives are a great way of showing staff what they are worth to your company.

Continue to educate employees. Good performance management systems will lead to a professional development plan for each employee. Use a variety of strategies and activities to improve the performance of individuals, which in turn enhances the performance of the team and your company. An effective system makes will help you recognise and reward good performance and to manage under-performance of your staff.

Keep staff informed Silence can be your greatest enemy. Regularly update staff on changes within the business and on the company's vision. People like to be associated with a company that is going somewhere. If you tell them about the company's visions, goals and plans they will get excited about them and feel it is worth their while to work with you.

Manage expectations. Staff need to have a clear understanding of what is expected of them. You can't expect your employees to shine when they are not sure what you want. Write down your expectations with a clear, unambiguous basis for measurement.

Market-leading salaries and rewards. Make your staff see their worth with ongoing, performance-based bonuses and attractive company incentives. Show them how you calculated their salary and reward, based on transparent and logical criteria, so they can see they are paid fairly. Review your staff's salaries at least annually and include the value of any benefits paid or provided so individuals can see the total package they are earning.

Effective staff management. This is a key issue for business owners. A good management system will help staff achieve their personal and professional goals, and at the same time, promote your business's vision and goals. Of particular importance is managing Generation Y's expectations and wants with their need for instant gratification, quest for constant fun and questions about relevance to them.

Listen and empathize. Ensure a smooth working environment by regularly talking to your staff and being a good listener. Take advantage of our love of being asked for our opinion and use your employee's tips for the business's advantage. If you don't show an interest in your staff, you are sending the message that you don't care about what they have to say.

About the Author

David Marriott and established Constructive Recruitment in 2003. He is a technical and operations recruitment expert with over 15 years experience in recruitment. Constructive Recruitment specialises in recruiting for the construction, infrastructure and resources sectors throughout Australia and overseas. www.constructive.net.au

Should You Hire New Employees in a Slow Economy?

Unemployment figures are at an all time high and companies continue on the course of downsizing. So should your company actual be hiring when most organizations are scaling back? If your organization wants to be one of the key players when the economy turns around, then the time to prepare for the turnaround is right now. Three important things to consider are:

• Do you have employees that are not meeting performance expectations?
• Can you capitalize on the abundance of top performers that are currently available?
• Have you considered utilizing interim hires?

Take a good look at the performance of your existing employees? During good times if an employee is not meeting expectations, there's a tendency to look the other way. Can you afford to carry weak employees? It's critical to take a hard look to see if you have under-performers in your organization. If you have employees that are not meeting performance expectations you must take action. Replace weak performers with people that will do what the job calls for.

Next capitalize on the top talent that is currently available. Just like it is a buyers' market in real estate, it is currently a "hiring market" for employers. Company restructuring and downsizing has created an abundance of quality talent available. Short-sighted organizations are looking at survival. Companies that look beyond survival are looking towards the future to see if their current talent pool supports their long term strategy. These companies are hiring top talent now and building a strong, solid organization.

One note of caution; be careful using the same approach that you might use in a real estate transaction, when you are making an offer to a new hire. You may throw out a below market offer on house. And if you are lucky, you may get it. If you do the same thing with a new hire, the new hire may accept the offer; however this strategy could backfire. The new hire may not be happy in the long run. Their dissatisfaction may be reflected in their performance, and ultimately they may leave your company as soon as the market turns around.

Hiring interim employees is the third consideration that often gets overlooked. This is a perfect time to engage top talent for interim employment. Interim employees work for you on a temporary basis, typically for a period of one month and up to one year. Interim employees do not receive benefits, which is huge savings to your organization. With interim employees, you can have top talent work on projects and initiatives that everyone has been too busy to do. The main purpose of the interim hire is to fill a gap and work on a specific project. The organization benefits because they get to address a much needed initiative. The interim hire benefits too. They gain meaningful work that helps them to bridge the employment gap until they can obtain a permanent full time position.

You may be concerned that an interim employee may leave before the project is completed. To minimize the possibility of an interim hire leaving prior to project completion, you can offer a bonus for the successful completion of the project. This approach not only encourages an interim hire to complete the project, it ties their performance to the success of the project as well. Interim employment is a terrific win-win for the company and for the interim hire.

Should you be hiring in a slow economy? First, take a hard look to make certain that 100% of your employees are meeting expectations. Replace under performers with people that will do the job. Look at your talent pool and determine if you have the talent that will be able to achieve your long term strategy. And, can you utilize interim hires on projects that you have been too busy to start. Considering the advantages that this market brings, the question no longer is should I be hiring in a slow economy, the question becomes, how many people should I be hiring right now?

Shari Roth is a managing partner of CAPITAL iDEA. An accomplished performance improvement consultant, Shari's ability to simplify complex problems into effective solutions has driven notable results in the transportation, insurance, financial, hospitality and telecommunications industries. Shari's focus is to create leadership cultures where employees are empowered, engaged, and aligned to achieve the organization's desired results.
With over twenty years of experience in Fortune 500 companies, her clients find Shari's unique blend of financial, marketing and sales expertise invaluable. Shari's in depth knowledge and certifications in Behavioral, Motivator and Hartman Assessments contribute to her clients' success in hiring and retaining top talent. Shari's clients have seen improvements in employee retention, increased profitability, and customer growth.

• http://www.capital-idea.net
• shari@capital-idea.net
• http://www.twitter.com/ShariRoth

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Shari_Roth

Hire the best candidate every time!

One of the most challenging tasks for managers and executives is putting a selection process together that truly selects the best candidate for a given position. If you polled 100 companies, you would likely find that each company has its own distinct process and that the results over time from that process have been mixed at best. The most important aspect of the hiring process is its predictive value: the ability to predict the future job performance of a given candidate. So what hiring practices have the highest predictive value? Decades of research on selection processes has resulted in extremely valuable knowledge about the utility of various selection methods and the superiority of specific selection assessments for making the best hiring decisions.

Research over the past 25 years has shown that variability in work performance among incumbent workers is very large. One way to standardize this variability is by measuring the dollar value of output. The accepted formula to measure the dollar value of output is a 40% standard deviation of the mean salary of the job (Schmidt & Hunter, 1998). For example, if the average salary for a job is $40,000, then superior workers (those producing in the 84th percentile for their job, or one standard deviation above the average) produce $16,000 more than an "average" employee and $32,000 more than a "poor" performer. Therefore, managers can increase the economic value of candidates hired by creating a process that reduces the inherent variability among performance of those hired; i.e. by improving the likelihood of hiring a 'high performer.'

What does the optimal process look like? Almost 100 years of employment research concludes that the most valid single predictor of future job performance is General Mental Ability (GMA). Among the various assessment procedures used across all types and levels of occupations, GMA has the combined highest validity and lowest application cost (Moscoso, 2000). As a stand-alone assessment technique, a work sample has slightly higher predictive validity but is much more costly than a measure of GMA. For professional-managerial jobs, GMA predicts roughly 34% of performance success in that job. For lower level administrative jobs, it predicts 26%. For this reason, any selection process should use some measure of general mental ability as a primary differentiator between candidates. From there the question is which procedure(s) will add substantial incremental validity above GMA without prohibitive costs?

Assessment Centers (AC's), a strategy employed by numerous selection processes, meet the first criteria but not the second. A 1998 review of hundreds of assessment procedure studies found that AC's have substantial predictive validity themselves but only add a 2% increase in validity when combined with a measure of GMA. In other words, applicants who score well on measures of intelligence typically also perform well in AC's, so there is little to no additional value in putting candidates through expensive assessment centers, which typically cost thousands of dollars per candidate.

On the other hand, both work sample tests and structured interviews offer the same predictive value as GMA, and significant incremental value when used in conjunction with GMA. A well-designed work sample test will predict approximately 29% of a candidate's performance and a structured interview can predict 26%. Additionally, the incremental value of each is 27% and 24%, respectively. Averaged across occupations, a measure of GMA plus a well-designed work sample test will predict 42% of a candidate's performance; GMA combined with a structured interview will predict 40%. A further advantage of both of these processes is their versatility in the selection of entry level or experienced workers. However, work samples are easier to create for lower-level workers, who typically have much more tangible results compared to higher-level managers. For example, it is much easier to use a work sample to count how many widgets a line operator produces than it is to measure how well an HR director handles a conflict situation.

For this reason, structured interviews typically are used in place of work samples for candidates at the manager level or above. Structured interviews are highly versatile in that they offer a fixed format, can be designed through a job analysis, and may have an accompanying scoring manual. Conventional structured interviews typically consist of a series of questions focusing on job responsibilities, knowledge, and achievements in previous jobs; however, they generally are not based on a formal job analysis. Two types of structured interview techniques that do rely on job analysis are the Situational Interview (SI) and the Patterned Behavior Description Interview (PBDI). In the former, the interview questions involve specific work dilemmas designed to elicit the applicant's intentions as a measure of their future behavior. The PBDI, in contrast, is based on the premise that the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior. Candidates are presented with some criterion relevant to the job and are asked to recall a relevant past incident and to describe their specific behaviors in that incident. One added benefit of the PBDI, also referred to generally as behavioral interviewing, is its flexibility in allowing candidates to use examples from community engagement, volunteering experiences, and educational history in addition to examples from work.

Regardless of the format, both conventional and structured interviews demonstrate significant predictive value. In fact, research has shown that the structured interview is one of the best predictors of job performance and training proficiency, and it generalizes across occupations and organizations.

In economic terms, the gains from increasing the validity of hiring methods can amount over time to literally millions of dollars. Many organizations rely solely on unstructured interviews for hiring decisions. In a competitive world, these organizations are creating an unnecessary disadvantage for themselves. By adopting more valid hiring procedures, specifically a combination of general mental ability and either a work sample or a structured interview, they could drastically improve their competitive advantage.

Our selection assessments at Roselle Leadership Strategies, Inc. include four ability tests aimed at calculating a candidate's true GMA, as well as personality tests, proprietary open-ended sentences and a structured interview aimed at determining how a candidate is likely to act and perform on a day-to-day basis. Our primary objective is to reduce the variability in performance of employees hired in order to increase dramatically the economic value of each hire, specifically, and of the organization, generally.

Works Cited

Kataoka, H.C., Latham, G.P. & Whyte, G. (1997). The relative resistance of the situational, patterned behavior, and conventional structured interviews to anchoring effects. Human Performance, 10, 47-63.

Moscoso, S. (2000). Selection interview: A review of validity evidence, adverse impact and applicant reactions. International Journal of Selection and Assessment, 8, 237-247.

Schmidt, F.L. & Hunter, J.E. (1998). The validity and utility of selection methods in personnel psychology: Practical and theoretical implications of 85 years of research findings. Psychological Bulletin, 124, 262-274.

About the Author

With a Master of Business Administration Degree from the Opus College of Business at the U. of St. Thomas, a Masters Degree in I/O Psychology from the Illinois Institute of Technology and a Specialists Degree in Compensation Management. Ben is Managing Director of Roselle Leadership Strategies, Inc. Website: www.roselleleadership.com Blog: http://leadershipstrategies.typepad.com/blog/

Human Resources 2.0: How To Do More With Less

Do-more-with-less - that's the new mantra for managing human talent in the economic downturn. Amidst layoffs and reduced venture capital financing, companies are seeking innovative solutions that balance their continued need to solve complex problems with their hiring and budget constraints. In this article, we will teach you how to deploy an efficient model for managing your company's staffing needs. Whether you're a garage start-up or a multinational corporation, the Distributed Agent Model allows you to stretch your budgets further and dynamically grow and shrink based on your business needs.

Managing Your Human Capital
While the Distributed Agent Model may sound like something from a spy novel, companies such as InnoCentive.com and DuPont are using it to tap into brainpower outside their company. Probably the most popular incarnation of this model is crowdsourcing, where a problem is broadcast to a large audience with the hope that someone in the crowd will solve it. Here is a step-by-step approach to using the Distributed Agent Model within your organization.

Step 1 - Define and Scope Each Task
It's useful to think of your company's complex problems in terms of tasks that can be completed in a sort of global factory with workers distributed around the world. For example, an online travel site might use remote agents to act on complex hotel reservation requests that a computer simply couldn't handle such as "make a hotel reservation that would be perfect for a Valentine's Day surprise." Clearly a computer couldn't define what "perfect" meant, but perhaps a distributed set of workers, organized effectively, could find a great chic boutique hotel that fits the bill. The important pieces of this example are that tasks can be as complex as your workers can handle but they should be self-contained, meaning everything needed to complete the task is tightly packaged up within it. What you're looking to avoid when designing your task is the kiss-of-death for a distributed agent model: manual intervention. AskSunday.com, a New York based virtual concierge service, does a great job of allowing remote agents handle complex tasks such as booking travel plans.

Step 2 - Source the Right Workers
Seek workers who possess the core competencies you need for the task. Unlike conventional staff hiring, since you are recruiting for a specific task, "hiring up" or opting for over-qualified candidates could result in an agent population that is unenthusiastic and less motivated.

Consider intrinsic rewards in addition to, or even instead of, financial compensation. Finding a way to give your agents a pat-on-the-back, even a "virtual" one, goes a long way. ThisNext.com, a social shopping site which uses human agents to source unique online deals, does a great job of this. ThisNext.com rewards its agents with both novel "thank-you" gifts as well as kudos in the form of public recognition of their successes for all members to see.

Step 3 - Automate the 99% Case
Most of what your agents do should be completely autonomous and not require any manual intervention. The moment your system requires manual intervention, you have introduced a scalability problem into the system. For example, for a task such as proof-reading an essay, if a staff member is required to skim through the finished product, you have just created an expensive bottleneck. Of course, occasionally you will need to manually intervene in order to take corrective action or to re-assign a task - make sure that this is truly the exceptional case. TutorJam.com, an online tutoring company, has developed a complex Java-based backend system that allows hundreds of tutoring sessions to take place simultaneously without intervention. The system uses a combination of educators and automation to detect unusual situations.

Step 4 - Incorporate a Feedback Loop
When you have hundreds of agents "running around" performing tasks, you will need a quick way of assessing the successful completion of a task. Perhaps, having two agents independently completing the same task and comparing results might make sense. In many cases, simply having a "feedback loop" can signal that a task was completed successfully. For example, if the consumer can implicitly or explicitly acknowledge or even rate the quality of a completed task, a feedback mechanism is established. Be creative in defining your feedback mechanism - in many cases, a simple check of the volume of web traffic visiting the finished product or a quick 5-star rating system similar to Amazon.com or EBay.com may suffice. In both cases, a rating mechanism allows you to quickly evaluate the effectiveness of a particular worker or task.

Step 5 - Jump Start Your Learning Curve
This is where your strengths as a Web 2.0 company really come into play - agile deployment and fast product cycles. Your first attempts at a framework for managing human agents will be imperfect. The reality is that handling distributed human agents and the resulting problems could leave you scratching your head. Frequent releases and iterative upgrades will help you continually improve and refine your system and set you on the path to achieve your business objectives.

Tell Us About Your Experience
Our experience launching TutorJam.com, a K-12 online tutoring company, has shown us how flexible and scalable the Distributed Agent model can be in meeting the diverse educational needs of our customers. Let's get a dialogue going; Share your tips and stories with other organizations looking to capitalize on the growing trend of distributed agents, and tell us how you do more with less.

About the Author

Nathan is currently Vice-President of TutorJam, the premier online tutoring company. He has over 7 years of engineering experience at technology firms including Microsoft, Slipstream Data, and Texas Instruments. He holds a Bachelor's in Math and Economics from the University of Waterloo, a Master's of Science from the University of Washington and is an MBA candidate at Duke University.

The Six Biggest Applicant Lies!

Although statistics vary widely, there is widespread agreement that a substantial number of resumes belong in the "fiction" section of the bookstore. The rate of fraud can be as high as 40% and higher according to different sources. Applicants certainly have the right to put their best foot forward, and puffing their qualifications is an American tradition. But when puffing crosses the line into fabrication, an employer needs to be concerned. When you hire an applicant who uses lies and fabrication to get hired, the issue is that the same type of dishonesty will continue once they have the job.

What are the six most common fabrications from job applicants? According to a nationally recognized background checking firm, Employment Screening Resources (www.ESRcheck.com), they are:

1. Claiming a degree not earned: Yes, believe it or not, applicants will make up a degree. Sometimes, they actually went to the school but never graduated. Some applicants may have had just a few credits to go, and decided to award themselves the degree anyway. On some occasions, an applicant will claim a degree from a school they did not even attend. The best practice for an employer is to state clearly on the application form that the applicant should list any school they want the employer to consider. In that way, if an applicant lies, the employer can act on the lack of truthfulness regardless of whether the educational requirement is part of the job requirements.

2. Diploma Mills or Fake Degree: A related issue is diploma mills or fake degrees that can be purchased online. For those that actually attended classes, read books, wrote papers and took tests to earn a diploma, you apparently did it the old fashioned way. Now, getting a "degree" is as easy as going online and using your credit card. There are even websites that will print out very convincing, fake degrees from nearly any school in America. In fact, the author obtained a degree for his dog in Business Administration from the University of Arizona--and the dog had been dead for ten years. A transcript was even obtained and the dog got a "B" in English! Some sites will even provide a phone number so an employer can call and verify the fake degree. Some of the degree mills even have fake accreditation agencies with names similar to real accreditation bodies, in order to give a fake accreditation for a fake school.

3. Job Title: Another area of faking is the job description or job title. Applicants can easily give their career an artificial boost by "promoting" themselves to a supervisor position, even if they never managed anyone.

4. Dates of Employment: Another concern for employers is applicants that cover up dates of employment in order to hide "employment gaps." For some applicants, it may be a seemingly innocent attempt to hide the fact that it has taken awhile to get a new job. In other cases, the date fabrication can be more sinister, such as a person that spent time in custody for a crime who may be trying to hide that fact.

5. Compensation: A related issue is pay - applicants have been known to exaggerate compensation in order to have a better negotiating position in the new job.

6. Lack of Criminal Record: Nearly every application will have a question about past criminal conduct. Although employers may not "automatically" eliminate a job applicant without a showing of a "business necessity," if the person lies, then the employer would have grounds to deny employment based upon dishonesty.

The common denominator in all of these: they can be all be discovered by a program of pre-employment screening. To quote a phrase popular in the 1980s. "Trust, but verify."

About the Author

Lester Rosen runs http://www.esrcheck.com and has authored two books. He is a frequent presenter nationwide at human resources, fraud and security conferences, and was the chair of the steering committee that founded the National Association of Professional Background Screeners (NAPBS) and served as its first co-chair. He has testified as an expert in negligent hiring cases in California, Florida and Arkansas.

10 Steps to Landing a Job During the Recession

Ten ways to find a job in ten days.

This article was written to help job seekers find a job in this recession. It is geared towards job seekers that work with headhunters, third party search firms, and recriuters. It can help you find jobs on the market in your industry whether you are looking for a sales job or technology job, this article can help you find a recruiter, has interview tips, and will help you negotiate your job offer letter. With the recession there are a lot of job seekers, and this article includes how to find a job during the recession.

1. Prepare yourself. This involves rewriting your resume and buying the right interview outfit. Practice your interview in the mirror and prepare for tough questions, such as an interviewer asking you to describe a time you helped your company when you didn't have to, or what your weakest trait is. Make sure you have your resume on hand when you do finally attend the job interview, along with any presentation papers that you feel will help you land the job.

2. Find a recruiter. Go to a recruiter directory to find a list of recruiters in your area. Once you are at the recruiter directory you should be able to do a search by industry or location. It is important not to narrow your industry too much, as you want to keep an open job search so you don't limit your results. Let the recruiter know if you are willing to relocate, that way they can search for jobs for you in other areas, with will expand your options dramatically. Go on a reputable directory to find a recruiter in your area. One good recruitement directory and staffing resource is http://www.therecruiterdirectory.com

3. Get all the job details. Be sure to ask the recruiter you are working with for specific details when they have an interview scheduled for you. Good questions to ask are if there are if this is a replacement position or a newly created job title. If it is a replacement position be sure to inquire as to why the previous employee did not work out. You can also ask if there are other candidates in the pipeline for this position and if there are other candidates who are no longer being considered. If there are, why didn't they make the cut? What does the recruiter recommend you do to avoid that problem? Keep in mind the recruiter is on your side, and while they want to be sure they hire the right person for the job, it makes their job easier if you get hired.

4. Presentation is everything. Many people don't realize how important presentation is when going to a job interview. Not tucking in your shirt could literally cost you the job. Your resume should be carried in a briefcase, folder, or something similar. Shoving your resume in your pocket does not look good when applying for a job. Even if you are applying for a casual job, you are gong to want to dress professional for the interview.

5. Arrive on Time. Make sure you have the right company directions. Arrive early, not on time. If you plan on arriving on time there is a good chance that there will be something unexpected, such as traffic that will make you late. Plan as much as you can ahead of time, and even find alternate routes 'just in case'.

6. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Make sure that you have are applying to several different jobs. Not only will you get hired sooner, but you may even find yourself in a position where you have multiple offers. That is always the best case scenario, as then you can pick your favorite company and/or compensation package.

7. Concentrate on what the company wants first. The last thing you want to do in an interview is ask about the compensation package and benefits first. Remember, the company probably has several people interviewing and will choose the person they think is the best, not the candidate who likes the comp package the most. Remember, you are trying to sell your resume, experience and services to the company. While asking questions about how the company works shows interest, asking about the salary is not something that should be brought up until the offer letter is presented. Feel free, however, to ask the recruiter. They are a third party and want to make sure they have a good match between employer and employee and that includes what the company is paying and your salary expectations.

8. Do Your Research. Be sure to research the company and what they do. If you have questions about the company that show you have done your research, chances are the hiring manager will be impressed. If you ask a bunch of questions that show you have no idea as to how the company works, that will come off less than impressive.

9. Follow Up. Be sure to get the interviewers e-mail address so that you can send them a thank you e-mail to follow up. Let them know that you enjoyed the interview and look forward to working with them, even if you haven't been hired yet. Tell them you were impressed with the interview and their organization and be sure to include why. Inquire as to what the next steps will be. Follow up with the recruiter and find out if they received feedback. If you did not get the position, ask the recruiter why so that you may use that advice for future interviews.

10. Don't Reject, Negotiate. If you like the organization you interviewed for, and could see yourself working there, don't outright reject an offer that doesn't seem realistic. They might be just giving you a lowball offer to test your waters. Let the job recruiter know what your minimum conditions are and ask for a counter offer. Be careful going too high, don't forget there is a chance your counter offer will just be rejected and that will be the end of it. Ask yourself if you can afford to take that chance in this economy. Keep in mind there aren't that many companies hiring right now and it is very hard to find a job. Another technique is to gently mention the other offers you have on the table to the recruiter.

About the Author

Jackie has been writing articles for years, and is an expert when it comes to human resources.