Yesterday, May 20th Team XL left the office behind and spent the day on the golf course at Sycuan Resort in El Cajon.
As a hole sponser for the East County Chamber of Commerce fundraiser, XL was able to meet and greet with all the golf teams that played through. Not with out a little extra fun though. Golfers were offered a point off thier score if they could win the game we had set up. XL HAS BIG BALLS! They had to chip an oversized golf ball into a bucket we had set a few feet away and tilted. Only 4 teams were victorious.
While our own golf team was stocked with jocks, they were not victorious in the overall score. They enjoyed thier golf game, and especially the stop at the Lundy Insurance hole, where they teed off with a tennis ball in a slingshot. Of course they spent most of thier time at hole 9, with Hooleys and thier infamous kegerator golf cart! They enjoyed many of the other games where they had to tee off with a putter, a timed hole with winning score of 40 sec (not our team), a bean bag toss, a tennis ball slingshot, mini golf, beer drinking, longest drive with a marshmallow, more beer drinking, frisbee toss as a tee off, and tequila shots.
A big thanks to Sycuan who sponsored the lunch with steak and chicken sandwhiches that were delicious.
The event ended with a fantastic dinner and silent auction. During a Live Auction portion of the night, Team XL was bidding on a week long stay at a party house in PB. Unfortunately we didn’t win that either.
A big thanks to Mike and Robin who supported the Team by running the game and greeting all the visitors of the hole we sponsored. We wish Stephanie and Joe better luck in the golfing next year, or perhaps we will need to replace them.
Wishing everyone a great weekend!
– Stacy
Archive for May, 2010
Grip It and Rip It
Job Seekers: Interview Tips
Dress: You should be dressed for the company and position you are applying for. Here at XL we aren’t offended if a Journeyman Framer walks in with his steel toe boots on, but if you are applying for Receptionist in a Law Firm, you might want to leave the boots at home. You should always be clean and neat and look like you took the time to prepare yourself for the interview. Because all people react to smells differently you want to keep perfumes to a minimum so as not to offend the interviewer. All “flashy” jewelry should be left at home. I’m all for being yourself in an interview, but do your research on the company, if they don’t tolerate bright pink hair and facial jewelry, then you’ll need to decide if you are willing to cooperate with that, or if this isn’t the right job for you. Don’t wear it to an interview.
Communicate: You will need to show off your skills in communcation while in the interview. We are trained to ask you open-ended questions so that you have to provide more than a yes or no answer. We are looking for you to give us a 3-5 sentance answer in these situations. If you can’t open up and talk, you won’t be considered for the job. Likewise if you go on for 5 minutes for each question you may not be keeping a good pace with the interviewer. Please, please, please leave the slang at home. We don’t speak street at our office, we don’t want you to either. Practice asnwering some of the most common questions at home, you could have a friend or family member listen and help you remove any slang from your answers. Be Honest, we are looking for core values in new hires as well as the necessary skills to get the job done. It’s okay to ask questions, we don’t mind if you show interest in the job or our company. Make sure you have learned a little about the company in your own research and ask clarifying questions in the interview. It’s a good thing to show you can carry on a two way conversation!
“Common” Courtesy: I titled this section in this way because it seems to me that Courtesy is not all that common anymore. Believe me when I tell you that a genuinely polite person comes into my office, I notice it. As interviewers we spend our days with people who display little if no concern for anyone around them. They are so focused on the job search they don’t extend the politeness we are looking for in a co-worker or employee. BE ON TIME, we schedule our days with little or no time to spare, if you are not on time you are showing that you don’t respect our time. Being late may also mean you don’t have as long to impress in the interview, because they will cut you short to make the next appointment. SHAKE HANDS and LOOK your interviewer in the eyes. Not the creepy staring kind of eye contact, but a warm smile and acknowledgement of that other person. SAY THANK YOU, you’d be amazed at how little we get this courtesy at the end of the day.
Our friends at Island Staffing have put a YouTube video up with tips about how to interview over the phone: ISLAND YOUTUBE
Here are the other sources I consulted in thinking about my blog today:
Monster
Island Staffing
XL Staffing’s Resouce Guide
Infoployment
What’s a Certified Staffing Firm?
WRC is a certification for staffing companies. The Workers Compensation Risk Certification (WRC, pronounced “work”) is a staffing-specific program focusing on the critical area of safety in the co-employer relationship. The WRC Certified Seal identifies a firm’s commitment to safety early in the sales process.
XL Staffing is proud to have been one of the first Staffing Firms in the Nation to be recognized as WRC Certified. We take our safety seriously, and have benefited by the best practices recommended to us by Risk Control Services.
We are dedicated to preventing injury and illness in the workplace and diligent in taking care of the workers who are injured. We are happy to issue Personal Protective Equipment whenever it is needed, and we train all new applicants on general safety practices. Should an injury occur on a jobsite, the employee is taken care of immediately. We maintain relationships with employee and the doctor and keep constant communication in place. We also offer an Early Return To Work policy that helps an injured worker re-enter the work environment during the recovery time.
Not only do we committ to best practices in safety, but WRC Certified staffing firms have agreed to the ASA Code of Ethics
To find a WRC Certified staffing firm in your area please check the WRC website
To learn more about XL Staffing and our Certifications and Affiliations come visit our website.
Job Seekers: Resources: Infoployment.com
How do you get a job in today’s market, with so many people looking for so few available jobs?
One site I found is offering you valuable tips and techniques. To let you know how to prepare for an interview, what to bring with you and how to handle behavioral interviews. If you didn’t already know, it today’s job market, a resume is a must, and it has to be heads above all others submitted. Infoployment can help you know what to include and how to organize your resume. They even offer links to other resume templates for you to work with.
Once you are fully prepped for your job search, you can find your first job board right within thier site. Make sure you read thier lesson on how to utilize job boards before you begin 🙂
XL Staffing is getting more jobs each and every week, to fill those jobs we review the resume’s of all applicants and choose 5-10 to interview. Of those interviews only the best presented and most qualified person gets the job offer. Use Infoployment.com to be sure you are in the top percentage!
Business Networking Radio with guest host Joe Mackey
May 1st 2010, our own Joe Mackey is a guest on Business Networking Radio. He helps talk about how difficult it is for employers who have had to face the large layoffs for the past year and the way it’s affecting thier Unemployment Insurance rates. He shares with listeners about how using temporary services can give the most bang for your buck by spending money on working hours and not on the recruiting and hiring process. Because staffing companies are the employer of record, Mackey goes on to share information about how using a service like XL Staffing, Inc. can save on additional unseen costs like Human Resources including security background checks, livescan fingerprint services and drug tests as well as worker’s compensation and unemployment insurances.
The good news… Staffing companies have shown 6 months in a row of job increases for the past 6 months nationaly.
You can hear the entire segment here
Joe Mackey honored with the LifeTime Achievement Award
We at XL are so proud of Mr. Mackey. His hard work and dedication to the Staffing Industry has earned him the honor of the James R Pierce Life Time Achievement Award. His wife and children were with him on Friday April 23, 2010 when he was honored at the Gala Dinner of the Annual Staffing and Recuriting Conference in California. Many people had gathered together and come to the event so that they could be a part of this tremendous occasion.
We at XL appreciate the leadership of Mr. Mackey and are rewarded daily by his ever lasting enthusiasm to work with legislators, to educate the community and to find worker’s compensation solutions for our business and other staffing agencies.
To read more about the award visit the press release website
XL Staffing's Blog 