Women in Business Part II

By Cherie Shepard, Director of Packaging & Material Handling, DRI

We are half way through our first year of our “Professional Women’s Organization” at DRI and DCA!

Recently, I wrote Part I about how our women’s group gives us a chance to bond and grow personally and professionally and the benefits derived.  Part II is below and about how a company can actually derive benefits as well.

Let’s explore the benefits a women’s organization has to a company.

  1. Recruiting new female employees– As someone who talks to candidates and hiring managers every day I hear from both sides “tell me about the culture” or “we have a great culture”. From a woman’s perspective, hearing about the company’s Women’s Organization and how it can benefit them as an individual is a strong indication of a forward thinking company. Let’s face it, we all know we spend a significant amount of time with our coworkers. Knowing that there is a provision for connection before walking in the door is a big selling point.
  1. Retaining female employees – There is an expense to replacing employees. Traditionally, women leave organizations at a faster rate than men. By instilling a women’s professional network companies have found that the gender gap in retention is closing. Women’s groups offer professional and personal development. It is an internal resource for education which may be available outside of a work setting but not without an expense to the individual.
  1. Developing Top Talent – Teaching employees to become great leaders and offering opportunities to further their professional and personal development offers an additional resource for developing future leaders in an organization. Women’s organizations within companies offer insight into communication skills, confidence building techniques, and negotiation tactics. These skills can translate into promoting employees within an organization rather than having to seek outside your company.

I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas on what you are experiencing in your professional women’s groups and how it is effecting your company.

Job Hunting While Still Employed

By John Yurkschatt, Director of IT Services, DCA

For most workers, there comes a day when it’s time to look for a new job or career path.  However, how do you look for your next opportunity while still working full-time at your current job?  Very carefully!

Here’s what to keep in mind when you’re determined to move on:

Keep job search quiet.  It’s best not to confide in any of your co-workers that you are job hunting.  Big news like that often gets leaked. Above all, do not tell your boss.  In doing so, you will compromise your current employment.  As soon as your boss discovers you’re looking, he/she will start looking for your replacement. Consider your good name and job toast.

Don’t use company resources.  It’s tempting to use your company’s copier, fax machine, and email to send your resume to prospective employers. But it’s also a huge no-no to use your mobile devices if they were company issued.  In addition, it’s just not a good idea to look for your next job while on their clock. Use off hours. These days everything is digital and your job hunt is no longer restricted to an 8 to 5 time frame therefore, apply for jobs at home after hours.

Maximize your day.  Get up an hour earlier and commit that hour to planning, searching and following-up on leads. Also, use that time to send emails, prepare for an interview, or any other job-search related activity.

Stay employed.  It’s easier to find a job while still employed. Employers prefer to hire someone who is currently working since they are perceived as more desirable and valuable.  There’s no question that discrimination against the unemployed does happen.  Hiring managers wonder what caused the unemployment and if a candidate’s skills are up-to-date or if training will be required.

Be smart with social media.  Using LinkedIn is crucial to your job search but try not to do a massive renovation to your profile all at once. This might send a red flag to your current employer. Instead, update your profile during lower traffic times like at night or on a weekend or holiday. Also, be smart about your settings.  Modify your broadcast settings so your connections aren’t alerted of every update you make.

Schedule your interviews wisely.  When you get to the interview stage of your job search, ask that interviews be scheduled at times that won’t conflict with your work schedule, such as early morning, during lunch, or after hours. Many employers will accommodate you.  If you absolutely have to interview in the middle of the day, try to use vacation time or a personal day.

Be careful with references. Accidentally using your boss or supervisor as a reference is a big mistake. Just think how they will take it when being contacted by an employer checking up on your references. References should be given upon request only and then even then with the caveat that your job search is confidential for the time being.

Are there more things to keep in mind when it’s time to move on and you’re still employed? If so, share below.

Reasons You Aren’t Reaching Your Career Goals

By John Yurkschatt, IT Director, DCA

Have you been passed up for a promotion lately? Are you not where you thought you would be in career by now? You’re smart, hard-working, and creative. So what’s the problem?

There are a number of very real reasons that could be holding you back from reaching your potential including fears you may have or false-thinking patterns. No matter what the reason, once you recognize the issue, you have the power to change it.

From my experience and vantage point, here are the 10 biggest reasons why you’re not where you should be in your career:

Fear of Success. Many people feel they don’t deserve success in life or fear their own greatness. Just as the fear of achieving a personal worst can motivate personal growth, the fear of achieving a personal best can also hinder achievement. You need to believe in yourself and that you deserve to succeed. Have you heard of “Fake it till you make it?” It means if you don’t feel confident, pretend you are until you gain the confidence needed.

Fear of Failure. Fearing failure can damage everything at work and in life. It ruins your productivity, destroys your dreams, and keeps you from building the professional success you’re trying to build. Don’t fear failure but expect it. Your mistakes will teach you and show you a better way to get what you want and remember there’s no reward without risk.

Thinking Way Too Small. You may be looking at the future one day at a time or even one week at a time. You don’t have vision for the long-term. You see the trees and not the forest. Transformational leaders have one thing in common…their vision is bigger than average. Just like them, you need to open up your mind’s eye to continually seek new opportunities.

Lack of Soft Skills to do the Job. Your hard skills might have landed you the job but the lack of the right soft skills will hold you back from moving forward within the organization. According to Careerealism, the critical soft skills employers most desire in their employees today are honesty and integrity, strong work ethic, emotional intelligence, self-motivation, high energy, and being a team player. The good news is that soft skills can be learned. Take the initiative and get trained on those you need.

Preoccupied with Social Media. If you waste valuable work hours and productivity time on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media platforms (unless your job is in social media), you’re not going to get anywhere. Employers will see you working on “not working.” Your chance for a promotion is gone and soon you’ll be gone.

Feeling Entitled. Entitled, comfortable and security are words that you should never utter or experience. These are words that justify complacency, certain privileges, and low performance on the job. Being “entitled” to be treated differently than you are being treated can absolutely ruin your career. The reality is that coworkers don’t appreciate others leaving more work for them and bosses don’t reward bare minimum performance.

Paralysis by Analysis. Wiki defines Paralysis by Analysis as the state of over-thinking a situation so that a decision or action is never taken, in effect paralyzing the outcome. There’s a great cost to an organization if the decision making process overwhelms you and therefore prevents you from making any decision at all.

Negative Thinking. Negative workplace attitudes have an effect on every person in the organization and negative attitudes effects employee morale, productivity, and team building abilities. It also has an effect on the overall workplace environment or culture. Get rid of your toxic thinking and beliefs before they send you into a downward spiral and ruin your career altogether.

Lack of Goals. If you don’t plan anything, play it by ear, and just hope things will fall into place, you are not being realistic. What you need is a clear understanding of the company mission and create a number of professional and personal goals that relate to the company’s mission and success. Put your goals in writing. This makes them more real. By not setting goals, you look lazy and management will perceive you as having a lack of ambition or initiative.

Thinking Like an Employee and Not a Leader. Today, companies are in dire need of future leaders. If you’re giving them the impression you’re only showing up for a paycheck, it’s not likely that you’ll be high on their list of those ready for a promotion or leadership position. Therefore, to get ahead, it’s a good idea to demonstrate that you have leading edge ideas and the ability to implement them for the continued success of the company.

Is there something that’s keeping you back from reaching success in your career? If so, please share your story or comment below.

Women in Business, Part I

Women in Business Part 1
By Cherie Shepard, Director of Packaging & Material Handling, DRI

Direct Recruiters and Direct Consulting Associates recently created a Women’s Organization. While the idea of establishing a women’s group may sound very 1970’s; beginning our Women’s Group is far from exchanging recipes, diets or “how to’s” of child rearing. We didn’t begin this organization to divide ourselves from the men in our company (no they are not included). We did it to give us a chance to bond and grow personally and professionally. We want to encourage our employees to feel a part of our company and to develop the skills to speak in a public open format which can be a short fall of women in business. We each bring a unique set of skills, life events and experiences that offer new ideas and discussions.

When starting a women’s group it is important to establish some ground rules and plans of action to make it successful.

1) Have a plan of action at each meeting

We are extremely fortunate. We have a culture where there is a good deal of comradery together with a lot of fun. For this reason we know we had to have an agenda for our meetings. We want to make sure we stay on task and on time. Let’s face it we all have jobs to do and having a meeting where we just keep circling around no specific idea is a time stealer. Prior to our meeting we send an article, video or podcast to the group to be viewed ahead of time. This gives us a poignant conversation piece to bring to the discussion.

2) Meetings are not an open forum to complain about your company or management

Any time a group of employees gets together, whether it is over lunch or drinks, the topic of conversation can move toward the negative. Our goal is if there is a situation that is frustrating for one or more of us we discuss it; having our conversations become negative is counterproductive to the success of our organization. Situations that arise can produce suggestions to fix a problem; they also open a non-judgmental forum and help bring clarity to an experience.

3) Make it fun

Just because we are at work and we are professionals we still want to enjoy ourselves. Most of us are not golfers or basketball players. Shocking but true. So we don’t have the same bonding times that these activities offer. So we try to schedule our meetings around other things. Some ideas are a picnic, a wine tasting and a painting party for starters. Even something as simple as walking during our lunch break for some physical activity enables us to get together and connect.

What ideas do you have for a group like this in your organization?

(Stay tuned for Part 2 on how this type of group can benefit your company)

Knowledge to Build On by Guest Blogger, Alex Goodman, Freshman at University of Wisconsin

Doing my high school senior project at Direct Recruiters Incorporated, or DRI, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Sure, I had an elementary concept of the recruiting. However, walking in on the first day I was determined to find out more. My sponsor, David Peterson, Managing Partner, made sure I did just that. After picking his brain, I learned how complex and difficult recruiting really is. Essentially, there is a set process of finding, calling, and acquiring passive candidates. The complexity arises in the fact that DRI’s candidates are basically their “products” to client companies, and in this industry the “products” can say no to job opportunities or say yes at first only to change their minds later. It is up to the recruiters to think on their feet, have their best interests at heart, be empathetic, and personable all in an effort to move a well-settled candidate into a new job.

After having this long and interesting talk with David, I shadowed and listened in on his current projects along with his team.  I did this nearly every day that I came into the office and was impressed. The skills that he explained to me in the initial conversation were demonstrated in real life and in real-time. Not only that, but I felt the personable vibe of the conversation along with the necessary business vibe just by being in the same room.

As the days went on, I decided that it was time to put my knowledge to the test. After discussing possible phone projects with David, he and his other co-workers came up with some ideas. They gave me a list of people, a phone, and a script with basic questions to ask potential candidates. Without hesitation, I dialed a number and tried to read the script to a real person; I froze immediately. I was nervous, robotic, and lost for words when dealing with these people. The workers at DRI truly made it look easy. However, they assured me it was totally normal considering I had no formal training and had me call more people. By the end of the two weeks of the project, I was flowing through the script and even was able to make small talk to these total strangers.

Lastly, the aura of DRI’s office was nothing short of friendly. When I arrived, David took me on a tour of the office and had me greet most of the employees. Every time, I was given a firm handshake and a warm hello. And every day after that, the people I passed in the office continued that homey vibe. On occasion, I was even able to sit down and have a casual conversation with other workers. Also, I had the privilege to sit down with the President and Marketing Manager separately. These two were extremely knowledgeable and were able to answer every single business, and even life question, I asked.

My experience at DRI can be summed up in one word: Valuable. I learned more about business than I ever could in a textbook, participated in recruiting, and even networking. From the work I did, to the lessons learned, I enjoyed every day of my senior project. I was not only exposed to the dynamic world of recruiting, but also to a vital base of knowledge that I can only build on.

5 Reasons Social Media is a Must When Job Hunting

By Matthew Cohen, Energy Management Practice Leader, DRI

Everyone knows the traditional ways of looking for career opportunities including career websites, job boards, job fairs, and cold calling hiring authorities. These have been the accepted practices in job hunting for years.  However, in recent times, social media has become an increasingly valuable tool for candidates looking for new opportunities as well as hiring authorities and companies looking for top talent.

With that in mind, here are 5 big reasons why social media is a must when making a career move:

  1. Creating a Digital Footprint- Just like paying your credit card on time helps you build financial credit, having a track record on social media can be valuable when prospective employers perform due diligence on prospective hires.  Your Facebook and Twitter are not just for vacation pictures, but are areas where you can post content that you are passionate about and can also relate to your chosen profession.  Use LinkedIn to find out information about people before you meet them as well as grow your network.
  1. Companies Respond on Social Media- Organizations that market themselves to the masses are more than ever relying on social media as a marketing and hiring tool. Hiring authorities and corporate recruiters are more likely to respond to direct messages on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn than traditional ways of reaching out to prospective hires.
  1. Job Posts on Social Media- Companies not only use social media to brand themselves, but increasingly use many social media platforms to post in-demand jobs. If you follow organizations that you may be interested in working for, you are more likely to discover open positions and they’re more likely to discover you. Companies have found that social media recruitment allows them to cast a wider net.
  1. Demonstrates Tech Savviness- Employers are putting a greater emphasis on the use of technology. Having experience on social media shows prospective employers a candidate is aware of the latest trends in technology and is tech-savvy. Therefore, you need to stay on top of relevant technology and social media platforms or you will be considered a dinosaur.
  1. Networking Opportunities- Even when not actively looking for a job, networking with professionals on social media can be a valuable investment in your future. Following executives on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook can pay dividends when the time comes to discuss your next opportunity. In addition, utilizing social media provides you with the opportunity to stay in touch with colleagues who can lead you to their connections and possible career openings.

I would like to hear from you on how social media played a role in your recent job search. Please post your comments below.

Critical Tactics for Job Hopping

By Barb Miller, Marketing Manager, DRI & DCA

Job hopping is becoming more readily accepted in today’s workforce. The stigma of not staying in one position or at one company for very long, is fading away.  According to Mashable, 18 months is now the socially accepted minimum for staying at a job. In the past, staying for only 18 months would trigger a negative reaction and employers would ask for a reasonable explanation such as a company layoff or plant closing.

In May 2014, Career Builder surveyed 2,138 hiring managers and HR professionals and 55% have hired job hoppers and nearly one-third have come to expect workers to job hop. In fact, the stats show that by the age of 35, 25% of workers have held five jobs or more. For workers ages 55 and older, 20% have held ten jobs or more.

As you map out your career strategy that includes stops at several employers, there are a few critical tactics you should think about:

Have a large, resourceful network. Social and professional networks are more active, wide-reaching, and influential than ever before. Networking is vital in today’s competitive market.

Keep your range of skills honed. With each new position comes a new set of challenges. Take full advantage of development opportunities and be willing to learn from other respected professionals in your industry.

Know what you want to get out of every job change. Before making a move, have an explicit understanding of what the new position will add to your experience base, mastery, and personal maturity and satisfaction.

Your next move must be rational. Have a plausible explanation for each move you make. Employers will want to know why you are making a job change. Stay away from saying things like “it sounded like a good idea at the time” or you’ll raise eyebrows.

Be prepared to stay in each job long enough to learn something. This is where 18 months comes into play again. Staying 18 months is considered acceptable and usually the point at which you develop new skills, receive your first formal employee review, and possibly a salary increase.

You are what you were last.  Your most recent job and resume reflects your career path and what you want to do with your life.  When meeting a potential new employer, don’t veer from your story. Your resume and how you answer interview questions, should be in sync.

If you would like to mention another critical tactic when job hopping, please comment below.

A Look Back at HIMSS 2015 by Norman Volsky, Director of Mobile IT Practice, DRI

BLM999_NORM VOLSKI_B_4X5Last week I attended the annual HIMSS conference in Chicago. It was an exceptional event with world class speakers, the latest in HIT products and services and great networking opportunities.

While there, I met with executives at numerous Healthcare IT companies. Below are specific companies I met with that were doing some very unique and innovative things that I felt were noteworthy:

HEALARIUM

Mobile platform designed to help patients follow their customized care plan. Healarium has 15 ready-to-use condition based care plans (30,000 completed by patients).

SEAMLESS MD

Patient Engagement solution specifically geared towards Surgery. The platform delivers customized clinical programs for pre-op and post-op patient engagement, data collection and monitoring across surgical episodes of care.

QUALCOMM LIFE

Cloud-based system that is an open ecosystem for medical devices and applications, enabling end-to-end wireless connectivity allowing medical device users and their   physicians/caregivers to easily access biometric data. This platform is a turnkey solution to monitor high risk patients in a home setting. During the Keynote address, Walgreens announced their partnership with Qualcomm Life. Qualcomm also recently announced a strategic relationship with Cerner.

VISUALDX

Visual Clinical Decision Support tool that allows physicians to enter a patient’s symptoms and information to help them diagnose rare diseases. VisualDx has been getting a lot of interest from EMR vendors from an integration standpoint due to new Smart on FHIR API Integration capabilities. Here is a great article that was written about the company recently: http://www.wired.com/2015/04/visualdx/

HEALTHLOOP

“Automates Fantastic” is the company’s slogan in regards to its high touch cloud-based Patient Engagement platform. Healthloop strives to help Health Systems, IDN’s and Practices provide quality care to its patients and improve the overall patient experience. Healthloop has recently earned a Net Promoter score as good or better than Apple which shows how much its users like and adopt its second-to-none design.

SOCIALWELLTH

Focused on Prescriptive Digital Health by providing access to over 100,000 apps and helping Providers, Employers and Payers prescribe the appropriate apps to the consumer based on their condition. Helps facilitate communication between consumers and their healthcare sponsors at the point of care. SocialWellth announced a new “Wellth Chips” program at HIMSS to incentivize consumers to use its platform.

MEDAWARE

Behavior based software solution that detects and eliminates prescription errors. Similar to fraud detection in the credit card industry, MedAware takes EMR data, builds a mathematical model which represents real-world treatment patterns and detects when a prescription largely deviates from the standard treatment spectrum.

CRITICAL ALERT

Nurse Call system that does not need middleware to be able to function. Combines Secure Messaging, RTLS, Real Time Dashboards and Reporting and Clinical Workflow Escalations to allow hospitals to improve patient satisfaction, enhance outcomes and drive down costs.

PINGMD

Communication platform that allows two-way message, call and video chat (both patient-to-physician and physician-to-physician). PingMD helps build a “professional dynamic network” so that physicians can give effective referrals. PingMD helps care teams manage a patient’s treatment.

EXTENSION HEALTHCARE

Alarm Management vendor that has built a next generation mobile platform that has been getting significant traction recently. Its open architecture allows seamless interoperability. Extension manages alarms, alerts and secure texting all under one umbrella to reduce alarm and interruption fatigue to improve workflow, response time and patient satisfaction.

APPSCRIPT

mHealth prescribing platform trying to make sense of over 125K health apps and 1000’s of wearables and clinical devices. IMS’s goal is to help doctors know which apps will provide the best clinical outcomes for specific conditions allowing Providers and Health Plans to better manage their populations.

AIRSTRIP

Mobile Interoperability platform that allows live remote monitoring enabling clinicians to access critical patient data whether they are inside or outside of the hospital. This innovative tool enables care collaboration and single workflow visualization to improve decision making. Airstrip’s goal is to provide clinicians with less overall data to quiet the “noise” but more actionable data to help treat patients effectively.

INTELLIGENT INSITES

Real-Time Operational Intelligence vendor that focuses on RTLS/RFID, Asset Management, Workflow Management, Environmental Monitoring, Patient Safety and Infection Control. Having both a mobile and desktop platform, Intelligent InSites provides its customers with second to none analytics and dashboards to improve financial and operational efficiency, quality, regulatory compliance and patient satisfaction.

Overall the conference displayed state-of-the-art healthcare technology. The emerging solutions that the companies I met with have developed will undoubtedly change the way healthcare is provided. Most impressive, was the incredible passion of the people I met with for what their companies are doing to improve healthcare delivery. I feel so lucky to work in an industry where people are so passionate for what they are doing and truthfully, it is what drives me to wake up and come to work to talk to so many interesting people every day!

For more information about HIMSS 2015, contact Norman Volsky 440-996-0059 or nvolsky@directrecruiters.com

Matthew Cohen Interview Michael Best, VP of Software Operations at SClengery

Matthew Cohen, Energy Management Practice Leader with DRI, intervbest-michael-smiews Michael Best, VP of Software Operations at SCIenergy, who shares his insights on how best to overcome the many obstacles in the energy analytics space.best-michael-sm

The following interview was also featured on EnergyManagerToday.com. Click here to see the original article.

Overcoming Obstacles in the Energy Analytics Industry

The energy management software industry has transformed itself from a novelty to a necessity for building owners and managers in the last few years. The energy management software industry is thriving. It is moving quickly to adapt to a market that is experiencing exponential growth and building owners whose need for performance data has increased tenfold. I asked Michael Best, vice president of software operations for SCIenergy to share his insights on how best to overcome the many obstacles in the energy analytics space.

Matthew Cohen: How can an energy analytics company differentiate itself from its competitors in the current market?

Michael Best: Energy analytics on their own don’t actually change anything; they only give the information to change. End users that pay the fees to get analytics installed and configured need to be committed to make change. Energy analytics companies get the best results when they become the active energy managers for the end users and guide their customers with the help of the analytics to fix the most important things first and hold them accountable with constant communication and reports of their efforts. Once they see the success of their actions, they are much more likely to make policy change from that point forward. The value of an energy analytics company is its outcome, not just its software.

Matthew Cohen: What type of buildings are being underserved by energy intelligence software, and what can the industry do to change that?

Michael Best:
There are probably 80 percent of commercial real estate buildings in the market that do not have energy intelligence in them. The reasons could be…

  • There is no building management system (BMS) installed.
  • The value of the results of energy intelligence does not get acted upon.
  • There is no budget to do energy intelligence, fixes or retrofitting.

All of these problems can be overcome.

There are many ways to collect data from a building, such as a simple BMS system that provides scheduling, data collection and control. There are impressive documented savings for a building with a BMS versus those without a BMS.

The value in currency and in kWh from the data is vitally important to prioritize fixes, to show improvement and to measure and verify results.

If real-time miles per gallon is displayed in our vehicles, we change how aggressively we drive because we know it is hurting us in our pocket. This takes behavioral change and accountability. Likewise, if results are shown from energy intelligence and we do nothing, we will save nothing. Results need to be acted upon.

Matthew Cohen: As VP and a team leader, how do you attract and retain top-performing talent in the energy analytics space?

Michael Best:
HVAC is moving from being an old-school, manual industry to a “cool” big data industry and is starting to attract younger more technology driven industry.

The younger generation see energy big data analytics as a game changer for the environment, and that is driving the hiring process. The data side is also driving salaries a little higher, which helps retain talent. The sustainability side of buildings is attracting women to a traditionally male career, which is exciting as well.

Matthew Cohen:
What do you see as the next frontier for energy analytics?

Michael Best:
Integration to preventative maintenance or other CMMS systems via software application programming interfaces (API’s) is imperative and can bring additional checks and balances to help drive the behavioral changes needed.

The addition of the “Internet of Things” excites me immensely. Having the ability to add extra sensor data to analytics brings even more value. Being able to bring lighting, occupancy, plug loads, data center data, security, elevators, audio visual, parking, water management and irrigation, look up pricing, ADR and the smart grid using dashboards and digital signage to display the results in a meaningful non-confusing manner is the next frontier.

Doing all of this and not exposing the building to a security risk is of utmost importance, and one-way communication for the data outbound only is important. There should be no need to reach into a building to get the data, the building needs to send the data only; the rest is done in secure servers.

Matthew Cohen: As a leader in the industry, what is your biggest challenge in keeping pace with changes in technology?

Michael Best: We have only begun the big data analytics revolution, especially with all the additional potential sensors. I believe energy analytics companies can give time back to people running buildings by using technology, analytics and insight to drive savings and be their trusted technology advisors.

There are so many new technologies, new sensors, and communication protocols that they have no time to start to understand it. Let your analytics company do that for you and stay abreast with the growth explosion.

There are multiple barriers to adoption of new technologies — trust, privacy, security, protocols, value propositions and standards — but the opportunities for solutions and outcome services are endless.

matthew-cohen-square-web-shotMatthew Cohen
Energy Management Practice Leader
Direct Recruiters, Inc.
440-996-0860
mcohen@directrecruiters.com

5 Qualities Candidates Look for in a Company

By Sydney Arnett, Marketing Specialist, DRI & DCA

Last month, Glassdoor.com announced its seventh annual Employees’ Choice Awards, honoring the Best Places to Work across the United States. Companies on the list exemplify those with a strong company culture and happy employees, as well as an engaged work.

While these two things are great for improving morale and productivity, they’re also incredibly powerful tools for recruitment marketing and attracting new talent. According to Glassdoor Career Trends Analyst Scott Dobroski, “Company culture is among the top five factors people consider” when weighing a job offer.

To attain the best candidates in today’s rebounding job market you need to be able to market your employer brand and attract job seekers. So what are common traits of companies with an engaged workforce and strong company culture, and how can you make sure your company is a “Best Place to Work?”

  1. Continuous training and professional development – A 2014 Deloitte study found that, in the last year alone, corporate budgets for training and development have risen by 15 percent. To begin, try implementing a weekly training meeting, send some employees to a conference, or organize a mentoring program.
  2. Recognition of personal accomplishments and milestones – Another key component of engagement is employee recognition. Make employees feel valued and appreciated for all of their hard work and contributions to the organization as most employees want to be recognized by their managers for their hard efforts. Companies that fail to implement reward systems do their employees and their culture a disservice.
  3. A fun environment – For many employees, engagement means having a little fun at the office once in a while. Creating a positive work environment that includes fun ways for employees to interact will go a long way in engaging employees. Whether this means having an occasional birthday or holiday celebration in the office, or a more formal annual retreat, employees will have something to look forward to other than the daily grind.
  4. Value employees’ opinions – Employees want to feel valued and respected. Make employees feel involved and empowered to make a difference in the organization.
  5. Offer some flexibility – Employees appreciate having a say over when they work. Allow employees to work from home on an as-needed basis and/or permit flexible work hours for employees to deal with personal matters when they come up.

Post any other qualities you look for in a company when job hunting.