5 Ways to Keep your Best and Brightest Employees

Staying satisfied at the workplace, from both the employer and employee’s perspective, is becoming a daunting challenge in everyday America.

A 2010 Corporate Leadership Council survey detailed that more than 25 percent of employees were planning on changing jobs within the next 12 months. As if that statistic alone wasn’t alarming enough, more than half of the executives who participated in the survey agreed that their organizations are unsuccessful at retaining the top talent they’ve hired.

The growing problem in the workplace can be pinned on both parties, although the employer is responsible for taking charge in implementing a more suitable atmosphere. Check out the list of tips below.

1) Open Communication
Employees deserve the right to know where they stand on an impending promotion. Being dishonest or putting off a decision usually has worse ramifications than informing the employee of the bad news. Even so, as an employer you need to foster visibility. Employee’s exposure to you can be an essential ingredient to keeping them content with their future. In these meetings stress the value of developing leadership attributes.

2) Hold Employees Accountable
Research suggests that employees thrive when they are given real responsibilities, something that employers are reluctant to give. Employees that are frustrated usually feel like they aren’t being pushed enough and/or are getting too many general assignments. So show them that they matter. To keep these go-getters happy, employers should assign meaty projects. Then in turn the company is able to measure results.

3) Be Flexible
Handing over an inflexible assignment to an employee, such as relocation when the person has young children, can be a morale buster. You must compromise on the situation to make sure your employee isn’t disgruntled, or the odds are stacked against you. And that isn’t a scenario you want when you’ve just promoted someone.

4) Assign Mentors
You shouldn’t leave an employee hanging out to dry when they are first hired. Tap an effective mentor who fits their personality. Remember to occasionally sit down with that mentor and make sure they are there for encouragement and support/

5) Use A System
Having a ‘method to your madness’ as an employer shows that you provide fair and sustainable solutions to any problem an employee may have. George Penn, senior director of Corporate Leadership Council, says the key in a system is to “provide processes for creating criteria, assessing performance and controlling compliance in administration.”

Parting ways with an employee is a stressful situation that may cause harm to a company. By following these strategies effectively, satisfaction issues within your office will indeed be curbed.

How to prepare for a Hurricane

Hurricane Irene is supposed to make landfall on Saturday and Washington, DC has not seen a hurricane since Isabel in 2004. Please cut and paste the following into your address line: http://www2.sptimes.com/weather/SP.1.html

Be safe, stay dry and always be prepared.

Brian Steffan

Welcome Louise Verret, Our New Vice President of Legal Services

After many years as the Director of Personnel for Patton Boggs LLP, one of the largest and most prestigious law firms in Washington, DC, Louise has joined our firm to head up our Legal Division. During Louise's tenure she has interviewed, hired and supervised over 2,000 legal support staff and paraprofessionals. Do you think she knows a thing or two about law firms? If you would like to find out and utilize her invaluable experience finding you the right employee or job, please call her at 703-224-8182 or email her at lverret@steffanco.com

It's a Whole New Employment World Out There

Happy 2011 Everyone!

Well, we all survived 2008, 2009 and 2010 and I for one am so thrilled it is 2011. The average unemployment rate in the DC metropolitan area is 4%, with a national average at just under 10% which means that much fewer people are looking for jobs or are available to work for certain jobs. It is again a great time to look for a new position.

What this means for firms is the qualified employment pool is drying up and their positions are opening up again. Steffan & Co saw this turn coming back in late August and has been gearing up for 2011 ever since with an ever changing strong and diverse base of qualified available candidates ready to interview and start a new opportunity.

What this means for a qualified candidate is more opportunities, better salaries and a stable work environment to go into.

Everyone wins in a strong economy. I look forward to working with many new firms and candidates this year.

Brian Steffan

What is an agency

What is an agency?

There are several types of agencies, from temporary to permanent and contingency to retainer based searches. Steffan & Co., Inc is a Direct Hire Permanent placement agency that also can provide temporary employment to clients on a contingency basis. Most importantly, no fees are charged to a candidate looking for a job. Fees are paid by our client companies over and above your salary. The Urban Legend that if you go through an agency, a client will reduce your salary or they will pick the candidate without a fee is simply not true. They pick the best candidate for the job which 93% of the time is through an agency. Why? Because you are better prepared, have more knowledge about the job and firm and have been provided valuable interview training by professionals.

How does an agency work?

How we at Steffan & Co prefer to work is, to have you call or email us that you are interested in a specific position or in using our agency. We then ask you to email a copy of your resume for us to review and at the same time we will send you a link to our online application. Once we receive it, we will send you our online testing from Assessment Solutions and when the testing is completed and provided your skills match the position or a similar position we have, we will schedule in for a one on one interview

For the interview, please bring a hard copy of your resume, a list of at least 3 supervisory references and any letters of recommendation you might have. You will interview with us for about 30 minutes where we will go over your resume, background and find out more about what you want in your next career move.

Now comes the tough part, we have placed candidates within 2 hours of meeting with us and as much as two years after meeting with us. It all depends on what we have open that fits your background and desires in a new position. We always keep you in our active database and will contact you when a position comes in. We understand how anxious one can become while waiting for a call so please feel free to email us about the status of your application. It is the easiest and quickest way to reach us.

What happens when an interview is scheduled with the client?

Once an interview is set we will plan a time for us to prep you for interviewing with a client. We will provide you with the address and names of who you will meet and ways of researching the firm so that you will have the most information before you walk in. We will give over interview questions and role playing if necessary to make you the most marketable candidate for that position.

Who handles an offer?

When a client is ready to make an offer they will make it through us so that we can negotiate the best salary and employment package for you as well and handle any vacation dates for pre-scheduled appointments in your first 90 days of employment. Once the offer is confirmed we present it to you for your review and acceptance.

We check all your references, handle background checks and anything else a client may need to make you the best offer possible.

Steffan & Co is now on TV

Get Noticed for The Job You Want!

Steffan & Co is proud to announce a new resume and interview service we offer for independent job seekers. We will craft a professionally written resume for you that will:

*Promote your unique qualifications and skills
*Appeal visually with a well-designed format
*Make sure you stand out as a superior candidate
*Get you more interviews

In addition, we will train you on how to interview, test and present yourself so that you are the best and most marketable job seeker looking for employment.

Package 1. We offer this service at $99.00, which will include: an initial information finding meeting and any follow up meetings that are needed, resume creation and design, and you will receive 10 paper copies and one electronic resume upon approval.

Package 2. We offer this service at $159.00, which will include: an initial information finding meeting and any follow up meetings that are needed, resume creation and design, and a one hour in person interview prepping session with handouts. You will receive 10 paper copies and one electronic resume upon approval.

Package 3. We offer this service at $209.00, which will include: an initial information finding meeting and any follow up meetings that are needed, resume creation and design, and a one hour in person interview prepping session with handouts. Plus the creation of a universal cover letter to use with your new resume. You will receive 10 paper copies and one electronic resume upon approval.

We accept MasterCard, Visa, Discover and personal checks. Please call or email today to set up an appointment with Brian at 703-224-8182 or
bjsteffan@steffanco.com