geek evaluation

A job interview is a process in which a job applicant is evaluated by an employer or an employer’s representative in recruitment. It is preceded by the hiring decision, and it is used to evaluate a candidate based on his responses from the interviewer’s questions.

There are various tips available for the job applicant: career-oriented magazines, training and workshops, school programs, job portal sites on the Internet, and even on broadcast media. They all provide irrefutable tips for you to ace the job interview, and eventually snag that coveted job position.

A good job interviewer (recruiting officer) assesses a job applicant during an interview with an aide of an evaluation form. The evaluation form is filled out by the recruiting officer and grade you accordingly based on your disposition. Here are the common contents of a job interview evaluation form: appearance; goals, career objectives and perception of self; qualifications for the job; decision-making and problem solving skills; job expectations; job knowledge; confidence; academic performance; previous employment performances; technical, creative, and managerial skills; and the most important of all, conversation.

You may have had all the A+ in your scholastic records, but when you differ to relating to people and conversing with them, it would not do anything good for you in finding a job. What you must remember is that recruiting officers, me included, is that companies look for employees that are interactive, assertive or aggressive. So when faced with a recruiting officer in a job interview the best advice I can give you is to be confident in making a conversation.

A recruiting officer evaluates your conversation with him based on the flow of conversation, the depth of it, your diction, grammar, as well as your opinions and ideas. One of the many talents of a recruiter is to sift the good applicants from the bad based on how you say things and say about things. It is how a recruiting officer discover your personality if it is right for the job responsibilities the job entails and how fit you are to do the job.

Again, the almost best job interview advice I can give you – that is worth as same as hard work – is bank on your communication skills, be confident in making a conversation. After all, a job interview is a conversation not a one-way discussion.

Professional certification or designation is earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task. Almost all certifications used are on acronyms indicating an earned privilege from a professional or governing body acting to safeguard the public interest.

There are three types of professional certifications applied to different working industries from accountancy to computers, to healthcare, and even to the Internet: corporate certifications, product-specific, and profession-wide.

1. Corporate certifications are given by companies to their employees usually on a program that the company has set up. For example: a company had a training course for sales or Java development. One of the advantages of having a certificate from the company is that you can use it when you are looking for another job. It gives you an edge because it shall reflect that you have a knack for learning. For example: Google-certified Adwords Associate.
2. Product-specific certifications, on the other hand, are intended to be referenced to an information technology product like a software or hardware. For example: networking specialist or IT professionals would want to receive their CISCO career certification.
3. Lastly, the most general type of certification is profession-wide. This kind of certification has qualifying exams to take (i.e. licensure exams), and years of learning to achieve it. This certification is something not to magic out of thin air. It is governed by an authority varying to different fields. For example: certified public accountant.

Profession-wide certifications adds value to anyone’s name, but such prefix or suffix to your name is not at all easy to receive. For instance: Atty. John Doe; Jane Doe, CPA; Engr. John Doe; Arch. Jane Doe; Dr. John Doe; and Jane Doe, MBA. These titles are worth everything; hard work and resources.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Geek Evaluation: New Online Assessment Tests and Website Revamp

September 24, 2005 — Geek Evaluation, a premier provider of online aptitude tests and pre-hiring screening tests has announced that at the following weeks, new skill tests will be included in their repository of online assessment tests.

“We have received a great response during our research phase to include not just technical test units, but also cognitive and conceptual questionnaires, and quizzes for search engine optimization (SEO), search engine marketing (SEM) and social media marketing (Dorie E., Relationship Manager).”

Following the addition of new questionnaires to the tests’ bank, Geek Evaluation will also be revamping its website content and web design to attract not just recruitment and staffing companies and talent management firms, but also privately-held companies offshore. This is the goal of the entire Geek Evaluation team: to further expand their market oversees.

To learn more about Geek Evalutation, please visit www.geekevaluation.com or send email here

###

Contact:
Dorie Escusa
Relationship Manager
http://www.geekevaluation.com

I am not Nostradamus, but I predict that there will be a shortage of skilled workers in the coming years due to the surgence of telecommuting jobs. I predict that more and more will engage in freelancing or consultancy. I predict that younger workers will be promoted faster than the seniors. I predict that soon there shall be employment scarcity if companies continue to disregard the importance of talent in their workers.

The most important company resource, that is overlooked by non-human resource people is talent. I have to admit, most companies, especially the traditional ones does not really prioritize it, thereby leaving it to the hands of the human resource department. If  such companies continuously fail to notice talent – that smart, sophisticated, business-minded employee with a knack for technology, globally astute, and operationally agile person – companies will likely suffer its productivity.

You being a successful company maybe attractive to your clients but doesn’t convey the same thing as to your employees, how much of that success are you ready to share with the people who are helping you to achieve it. Companies should start branding themselves not as an “employer of choice” because they give excellent fringe benefits or because other companies sees it as such, but because they are a company dedicated to satisfy workers’ expectation and committed to uphold continuous learning in the workplace, work-life balance, personally-fulfilling roles, fair management, innovative rewards and recognition programs.

Geek Evaluation identifies strategies for motivating and retaining top talent at the present time. Dorie Escusa, Relationship Manager for Geek Evaluation suggests the following tactics in motivating (and retaining) top talents in a company : Create a “sense of purpose” – Engagement and retention improves when people understand how they connect to the “Big Picture” and how they make a difference; Provide meaningful work – Allowing people to do what they do best and make a significant contribution is key to engagement and retention; Solicit ideas – Involvement in decisions gives people a sense of control in uncertain times, shows them their opinions matter, and improves decision acceptance; Let people know where they stand – Setting tough but realistic goals is motivating even in a tough environment; and Enhance trust and communication – Trust is built when leaders improve credibility by being candid, demonstrate reliability by ensuring their actions are consistent with business objectives and values, and and are accessible.

Escusa also offers the following guidelines for the involvement of HR in employee goal setting:

1. Know the goals – HR should be involved when senior managers plan annual goals to be aware of underlying issues and challenges.
2. Get buy-in – The executive team should support HR’s efforts to align goals and help communicate the importance of the program.
3. Cascade goals – Once goals are set at the top of the organization, they should work their way down to all employees.
4. Ensure consistency – As goals are established further down the organization, HR can assist by creating standards and monitoring consistency.
5. Hold everyone accountable – Managers should ensure goals are measurable with specific deadlines and then hold employees accountable.
6. Reinforce through development – Ensure that employees have skills and tools to achieve established goals using development plans monitored by HR.
7. Work the gaps – Managers can work with employees individually. HR should identify gaps in organizational provision and address issues proactively with the Learning team.
8. Encourage year-long communication – Initial goals may be agreed but paid no further attention. Sending reminders to update goals is one way for HR to encourage a culture of frequent manager/employee communication.
9. Monitor compliance – Managers should monitor progress and completion of employee goals HR should review overall process and report to executives and department heads.
10. Measure twice, cut once – Goals should be a major component of a company’s annual performance appraisal where employees are measured and held accountable.

The prevalence of social networking online has paved way for other websites to create a specific networking niche just LinkedIn, a networking portal specifically targeting business and career-oriented people, as well as job hunters, which influenced a great number of people in terms of promoting companies, products, and services on the Internet.

LinkedIn for Job Hunters
LinkedIn can offer you more and better features than other job-searching sites by allowing you to create an online resume and find jobs online with its advanced research tool.

LinkedIn for Businesses and Marketing
LinkedIn enables you to create company profiles, online e-mail address book and professional marketing brochure. It is also an excellent tool when generating leads for your marketing and expand business network by adding profiles from the same industry. It also serves beneficial for recruitment officers when screening applicants as LinkedIn profiles provide instant recommendations or character references, and find potential candidates online using the search query tool found onpage.

Make the most out of LinkedIN features that you might be interested with.
Aside from keeping in touch with friends and colleagues, LinkedIn added features to increase interactivity between users: reading list application courtesy of Amazon, blog posting courtesy of Wordpress, join or create groups, participate in group discussions, and invite friends, family, colleagues, vendors and suppliers.

###

Geek Evaluation took advantage of LinkedIn’s features to promote business online by creating a profile and participate in activities inside the website. Visit Geek Evaluation’s LinkedIn profile at http://www.linkedin.com/in/SkillAssessment

Hiring Guide Series (Guide 5): Training Future Company Leaders

As the person in-charge of motivating company employees, you have the primary role of developing leaders from within. One of the best practices in “succession planning” is to have a comprehensive plan that ensures leadership continuity and talent building from within your company.

In developing leaders you need to acquire a set of innate skills that can increase productivity in the workplace, give direction and focus to each staff, strong intuition in identifying talent, and boost an employee’s morale.

Since leadership skills can be developed, it is important to lift the lid by training your leaders with long-term goals in mind. This effort will increase success and profitability without cutting chunk in the company’s budget. Besides, without leadership training, long-term performance and inefficiency can cripple the company’s overall objectives and mission.

Identifying potential leaders and developing their leadership skills will translate into sound direction for the company and success in the future by adhering to the organization’s missions and visions.

When you work to developing leaders, you are making an investment. If an individual is made to feel like a valuable commodity being groomed for bigger and better, chances are they will stick around. Turnover is expensive and it can be greatly reduced with investments in leadership development. Also, the wisdom they develop will also allow them to recognize other potential leaders and set up those employees for long-term success.

And although many internal and external factors can influence morale, the greatest impact comes from the top. The majority of managers sincerely desire to lead a team with strong morale, amazing productivity and recognizable effectiveness, and this comes through in the way they lead those around them.

Hiring Guide Series Guide 5: Sustain Workforce With Activities

A good company culture that lives up to its company standards toward its employees helps sustain company workforce. Needless to say, as a recruiting officer, it is your main goal to satisfy his needs as an employee. And there are various ways to retain an employee. Involve him to internal and external events that will boost employee morale, teamwork, and company-employee relationships.

Activities inside the company:

1. Reward your team. Have small team lunch or dinners in the office
2. Engage your employees to join open-forums, brainstorming sessions, and company talks to discuss news and updates, or issues.
3. Play a “treasure hunt” game. The winning pair or team will receive good prizes.
4. Encourage everyone in the office to join profit-sharing activities, but never impose it as a “compulsory.”
5. Make your department an open door. As the human resource officer, your job also entails to guide your employees and provide counselling sessions. Encourage everyone to talk to you about work problems, or personal problems that affects working relationships and work as a job.

Activities outside the company:

1. Join a sports league in your community. Start up company-sponsored basketball, volleyball, or golfing leagues in which any employee can join and play for free.
2. Team gathering for charity. You may ask the support of non-profit organizations in your community on how your company can be of help to their vision activities.
3. Let your employees attend seminars, symposiums or conferences outside of your company. This way, they will experience meeting other people in the industry.
4. Reward your team. Have small team dinners outside the office.
5. Company Outings. Go to private resorts or beaches every summer.

Hiring Guide for Small Business (Guide 4):
The New Hire Aboard

The “boarding” process of a new employee is just as critical as the hiring process. It should provide new hires with the knowledge, tools, and contacts they need to success in their new role in the company. More importantly, the boarding process is about making the new employee feel comfortable, safe, and welcome in his or her new environment.

If in case you have an employee who is not fitting in with his colleagues, take some time to assess the situation and consider implementing the following:

Initiate group activities everyone can get involved in. Organize a lunch outing, a creative brainstorming session, or other fun activities so your new team member can feel a part of the group.

Ask team leaders to step up and make new employees feel welcome. Encourage employees to set up “lunch dates” with three others they don’t know very well and to follow up on their experiences.

Consider a mentor program. Pair a new employee and veteran employee together so the latest member of your team can learn the ins and outs of the company.

Take on the responsibility of getting to know your employees. Find out their strengths and weaknesses. If you work on building a positive and trusting working relationship with them, in time, they will feel more confident talking to you about what they want in a workplace environment.

You have practised days for the answers to the crucial questions that shall determine your future; whether you get hired or not, that is. Gone are the days of “tell me something about yourself” because there is a new batch of questions that a great number of recruitment officers like asking job applicants. Geek Evaluation have rounded up its network of recruiting officers to dish out their top ten interview questions:

What circumstances bring you here today?
One recruiter laughingly shared her experience with a job applicant who answered, “I am here for the interview.” Obviously, you are there for that reason; you don’t have to reinstate. Simply answer something like: I am here to tell you what I know and what I can do for the company, and why I am the best applicant there is.

What would you say are your two greatest weaknesses and how do you work at overcoming them?
It is hard for someone to admit his weakness; what more to tell it to other people. Only someone with an assertive or strong personality can open that to public and that kind of candidate is what’s sought after by recruiters. It is believed that when a person acknowledges his weakness, he can counter it good positive disposition.

How do you alleviate stress?
With great power comes great responsibility, and with great responsibility you get stressed. Having a senior position (mostly) in a company comes with it and there are different ways to alleviate it. People have their own preferred comfort zone. For example: when a writer gets writer’s block syndrome, she seeks solitude by looking at the clouds or walking it off.

How do you typically deal with conflict?
Conflicts are normal in the workplace. When it is asked, simply recall a past experience and illustrate how you managed to deal with it. Just a tip: do not bad-mouth a past employer or a past colleague. This is a bad sign to all recruiting officers as they believe that you will have the tendency to badmouth them too in the future.

What are three goals you’ve achieved this past year?
Recruiting officers like hearing what a candidate’s plan for the future and the goals they have achieved in the past because if a person knows how to plan and succeed, he can do also do it the workplace.

What was a major obstacles or risks you overcame in the past year?
This is the type of question that requires no bull answers. Recalling past obstacles whether professionally or personally is all right.

When were you most satisfied in your job?
The interviewer wants to know what motivates you. If you can relate an example of a job or project when you were excited, the interviewer will get an idea of your preferences. “I was very satisfied in my last job, because I worked directly with the customers and their problems; that is an important part of the job for me.”

What salary are you seeking?
It is to your advantage if the employer tells you the range first. Prepare by knowing the going rate in your area, and your bottom line or walk-away point. One possible answer would be: “I am sure when the time comes, we can agree on a reasonable amount. In what range do you typically pay someone with my background?”

Why did you leave (or why are you leaving) your job?
If you are unemployed, state your reason for leaving your previous company always in a positive context. But if you are employed, focus on what you want in your next job based on your need to a newer environment, better remuneration, or more challenging responsibilities.

Why should we hire you?
Summarize your experiences: “With five years’ experience working in the financial industry and my proven record of saving the company money, I could make a big difference in your company. I’m confident I would be a great addition to your team.”