Berks & Beyond Blog

To get ahead in  this world, you have to “put your best foot forward.”  But, there’s a fine line between respectable self-promotion and shameless bragging.  So how do you use self-promotion to advance your career, without coming across as a show-off?  Use these quick tips to tactfully toot your own horn:

1. Realize that context is everything.  To successfully self-promote, your comments need to be relevant to the conversation.  Bringing up your latest success while your boss is talking about his favorite TV show will not earn you any points.  Bide your time until the conversation switches gears.  Research has shown that once a topic has been raised, a subsequent boast is not viewed as inappropriate – because it’s in context.
2. Wait for the right moment.   Believe it or not, it is okay to steer a conversation toward a topic relevant to your accomplishment.  However, changing topics doesn’t give you license to just blurt out what you’ve done.  Be patient and wait until your conversation partner asks a question that gives you the opening you need.
3. Be a tortoise, not a hare.  Self-promotion is about building a long-term reputation for yourself; establishing trust and respect in your workplace (or the marketplace).  So get in it for the long-haul by making self-promotion a habit.  Set daily goals for doing something small – sharing an idea, reaching out to someone, showing up at an event – and measurable results will follow in time.
4. Promote your ideas.  Beyond talking up accomplishments, you should also spread your ideas, concepts and vision.  By promoting your ideas (as opposed to just your deeds) you will give co-workers and superiors something to support – without being “turned off” or threatened by your success.
5. Know yourself.  Are you like most people, who err on the side of caution and don’t talk themselves up enough?  Or are you the type who tends to talk easily about yourself and your accomplishments?  If you’re unsure, ask a trusted friend into which end of the spectrum you fall.  The art of successful self-promotion depends upon having the self-knowledge to realize when to toot your own horn, and when to let your actions speak for themselves.

Let Berks & Beyond help you put your best foot forward.  When you come in for an interview, our experienced staffing specialists will learn about your skills, interests, experience and needs – then show you where your strengths lie.  We can help you master the art of self-promotion and find the perfect employment opportunity.  Just give us a call.

As a manager, you know that empowered employees:

• have the authority, and take the initiative, to make sound business decisions;
• are energetic, passionate and committed to doing a great job;
• are creative and innovative problem solvers;
• continually strive to improve quality, productivity and morale;

all because they feel personally rewarded for doing so.

But while the benefits of empowerment are clear, the steps to creating an empowered workplace may not be.  Use these quick tips to get your business started on the right path:

1. Understand what empowerment really is.  Empowerment isn’t something you do to people.  It’s an environment you create by giving employees goals, information, feedback, training and positive reinforcement.
2. Identify an opportunity for empowerment.  Start small.  Create a work team by selecting a few key employees who have the right skills, knowledge and resources to complete a small test project.  This project should be challenging enough to allow your staff to grow and take on additional responsibilities.
3. Set clear expectations.  Let your employees know what to do and how to do it.  Factors to consider include:  deadlines, channels for sharing information, methods for delegating authority, and ways to check progress / measure success.
4. Provide decision-making guidelines.  Provide clear instructions for when and how to make good decisions.  Explain when it’s okay to the take initiative and when employees should check with team members first.
5. Encourage open communication.  Information sharing is a critical component of an empowered workplace.  Create an atmosphere in which employees feel comfortable expressing concerns and sharing new ideas.
6. Establish accountability.  Provide the advice, perspective and guidance your team needs, but require them to create and manage their own solutions.  If mistakes are made, do not step in and fix them – use them as opportunities for employees to learn.
7. Let go.  Tough as it may be, don’t micromanage.  Once you’ve established clear expectations and guidelines for the project, it’s time to take your hands off the wheel.
8. Provide positive reinforcement.  For empowerment to permanently take hold in your organization, your employees have to want to do it.  So celebrate the successes (however small) your employees have while working on the test project.  Provide the feedback they need to feel respected and valued in their efforts.
9. Review results, then take it to the next level.  Once the project is complete, assemble your team for a debriefing.  How did the group do?  What worked?  What didn’t?  Use the lessons learned to develop a more comprehensive plan for getting your whole company on the road to empowerment.

An Empowered Workplace Starts with Great People

Berks & Beyond can deliver the talented office, industrial, professional, technical and skilled trades employees you need to create an empowered workplace.

You’ve spent a lot of time developing a great-looking résumé and crafting a fantastic cover letter.  But, how do you make sure they don’t wind up looking like a mess when you send them electronically?

The American Staffing Association recommends the following steps for converting your cover letter and résumé from Word or WordPerfect documents into electronic ones:

1. Remove all formatting.  This includes lines, rules, boxes, bold, italics, and underlining. 
2. Standardize your font.  Change the font to Courier, size 12.
3. Change your margins.  Convert your page margins to 1 inch on the left and 3 inches on the right.
4. Save as a .txt file.  When you save the cover letter or résumé, choose “Save As” and change the type to “Text only with Line Breaks.”  A warning box may come up informing you that you might lose some formatting.  Click “OK” or “Yes.”
5. Reformat your résumé.  Launch Notepad (PC) or SimpleText (Mac) to reformat and clean up your résumé and cover letter. Move all centered items to the left margin, and make sure all text is flush left.  As you scroll through your documents, remove all Tabs, replace all bullets with asterisks (*), and change bolded words to all caps.  Increase white space by hitting Return twice between sections.
6. Make sure your cover letter and résumé are e-friendly.  Do not send them as attachments, but, rather, pasted in the body of the e-mail whenever possible.
7. Check before sending.  Practice sending them via e-mail to yourself as well as a friend who uses a different Internet service provider—to ensure the documents are clean and professional-looking.  Once you’ve made any required adjustments, your cover letter and résumé are ready for a prospective employer’s inspection.
8. Include keywords in your résumé.  Recruiters use keywords to search for résumés.  So choose some of the basic, important keywords in your field and pepper them throughout your résumé.  For example: web designer, account manager, communications specialist, to name some.

Need More Job Seeking Advice?

As one of Southern and Central Pennsylvania’s largest staffing companies, we at Berks & Beyond are always available to answer your employment-related questions.

The following top candidates are highly skilled, motivated and ready to go to work for you:

BUTCHER – Allentown, PA

Candidate Initials:  J. N.

Skills and Experience:  Over 20 years of experience working as a meat cutter; 10 years as a manager.  This individual also worked as a fabricator and installer for nine years.

Education:  H.S. Diploma

Desired Pay:  $14/hr.

To learn more about this candidate, please contact Katie at Katie@berksandbeyond.com  or call 610.435.9270.

WAREHOUSE / CLERICAL - Allentown, PA

Candidate Initials:  A. I.

Skills and Experience:  Former Marine with various warehouse skills including, but not limited to:  forklift, pallet jack operator, shipping and receiving.  This multi-tasking, professional candidate has office experience working as an inbound/outbound customer service representative.  Great interpersonal and MS Word/Excel skills.

Education:  H.S. Diploma; some college

Desired Pay:  $11/hr.

To learn more about this candidate, please contact Katie at Katie@berksandbeyond.com or call 610.435.9270.

ASSEMBLER, 1st SHIFT - Pottstown, PA

Candidate Initials:  M. W.

Skills and Experience:  Experienced worker with over 22 years in the warehouse industry.  Skill set includes:  dry wall, inventory, janitorial, painting, receiving, supervision, child care.

Desired Pay:  $12/hr.

To learn more about this candidate, please contact Heidi at Heidi@berksandbeyond.com or call 484.945.0516.

Expansion Means Better Service for Area Employers

Harrisburg, PA –Berks and Beyond Employment Services, Inc. is pleased to announce plans for a Harrisburg, PA expansion office.  The staffing and placement firm, which currently serves much of Southern Pennsylvania, will open the new office in order to expand and enhance the services it offers to employers throughout Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry, and York counties.

“Although this will be a brand new office for Berks and Beyond, we are not new to the Harrisburg market,” says Chris Garner, President of Berks & Beyond.  “This expansion office will allow us to better serve our existing clients in the Harrisburg area, and grow our customer base throughout the region.  Some of our most experienced employment specialists will staff the new office, ensuring a smooth transition and exceptional customer service from the outset.”

The new office, Berks and Beyond’s sixth location, will be located at 1505 Market Street, Camp Hill, PA 17011.  Like the existing offices, the expansion location will provide clerical, industrial, managerial, and technical staff for temporary, temp-to-perm, and permanent placement services.

The Harrisburg office is currently scheduled to open on February 17, 2010.

For more information, please contact Chris Garner at 610.376.9675 or e-mail him at chris@berksandbeyond.com.

Question:  What’s the one thing you can do to motivate employees, build camaraderie, and strengthen leadership – all while helping your staff understand company goals and vision?

Answer:  Hold a team-building event.  It’s a great way to boost the morale and spirit of any group.  And (despite the collective groan I can hear echoing through cyberspace) they CAN be fun.  Just follow these seven simple steps to make sure that your event is a success and not a flop:

1. Get out of the office.  If each day looks pretty much the same for your employees, shake things up a bit.  Conduct your event off-site.  A change of scenery will refresh, recharge, and reenergize your staff (and minimize distractions).
2. Generate excitement before the event.  Encourage full buy-in by using internal communication to get everyone interested.  Use e-mails, memos, your website, bulletin boards, etc. to arouse curiosity and generate enthusiasm.
3. Mix it up.  To stimulate interest and involvement throughout the day, divide your program into several sessions including work, play, and socializing.  End the day with a mealtime activity, awards ceremony, or happy hour.  Remember to include activities that are fun and relaxing, as well as frequent breaks, so your staff can recharge.
4. Get up and move around.  Games and outdoor challenges are an excellent way to encourage team cohesiveness.  They will allow your team to burn off some energy while building trust and respect among members.  Try a ropes course, a hike, or other trust-building games.
5. Record your memories.  To make a lasting impression and extend the program’s impact, document your day.  Hire a photographer, make a video, or take pictures yourself.  After the event, hand out pictures or highlight the event in your company newsletter or on your website.
6. Allow time to process and reflect.  Throughout the day, discuss new learning and how it applies to specific jobs as well as the company.  Games and activities will be of better use if you allow your team to reflect on the purpose and meaning behind each.
7. Solicit feedback.  At the end of the day, ask participants to complete a simple survey.  It’s a great way to find out what employees liked (and didn’t like) and garner recommendations for the next event.

Let Us Help You Build a Better Team

At Berks and Beyond, we have the resources and staffing services to make your team even stronger.  Contact us today to learn more.

You found out about a dream job.  You know you’re perfect for it – you have the right experience, all the required skills, and the personality to excel in this position.  But then again, so do about 50 other candidates.

So how do you make sure your resume doesn’t wind up in the “circular file”?  One way to get a leg up on the competition is by crafting an effective cover letter.  A strong cover letter allows you to:

• personalize your resume
• emphasize your strengths and assets
• set yourself apart from others with similar qualifications
• interest employers in interviewing you

Here are a few tips for preparing an effective cover letter:

1. Review sample cover letters.  Visit your local library or conduct an online search to access examples.
2. Personalize the cover letter for each employer, so it specifically relates to the job for which you’re applying.  Address it to a particular person by name.
3. Make sure your cover letter looks good and is easy to read.  Pay particular attention to spelling, grammar, spacing, paragraph length and margins.
4. Limit the cover letter to one page.
5. Include something in the first paragraph that piques the reader’s interest.  Try to tie in company-specific information, to show you’ve done your homework.  Research the company online for ideas.
6. Put yourself in the employer’s shoes.  In the body of your cover letter, focus on what you can do for the company.  Highlight your ability to make or save money, assume or delegate responsibility, achieve measurable objectives and conserve time.
7. Communicate your interest, motivation and strengths.  Briefly describe your assets and qualifications, without duplicating your resume.
8. Express your enthusiasm for the job.
9. Emphasize your achievements.  Conversely, do not stress weaknesses such as a lack of experience.
10. Include a call to action.  Ask for an interview and state specifically when you will call to follow-up (allow at least three business days from when you send the letter).

Looking for more job search information?  Visit Berks and Beyond’s Candidate Resource Center.  It’s full of articles and links to help you land that perfect job.

At Berks and Beyond, we want to make staffing simpler and more effective for you.  We examine the challenges you face in your business, then develop solutions that deliver the results you need.  The following case study demonstrates our results at work:

The Problem:

A major international company in Hamburg, PA was a heavy user of staffing.  To ensure access to the high numbers of temporaries they needed, they attempted to work with three different staffing services to “make sure their bases were covered.”  However, trying to coordinate staffing needs among three suppliers proved both frustrating and complicated for HR.

The Solution:

Our staffing specialist suggested implementing a single-source solution.  By working with only one staffing service (and one point of contact), HR would experience less confusion and fewer staffing-related headaches.

The Results:

Working exclusively with Berks and Beyond has greatly simplified our client’s staffing activities.  Our continual recruiting efforts allow us to deliver the employees they need – right when they’re needed.  We currently supply 60 to 100 temporaries per week for this client, depending on their workload.  As an added benefit, our strengthened relationship has yielded an even better quality of fit between our client and the employees we provide.

Write Your Own Staffing Success Story

Contact Berks & Beyond today to find out how we can deliver real Results at Work for your organization.

A small, local law firm is seeking a Legal Secretary for a part-time position.  Hours are Monday through Friday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Job Responsibilities

Executive and paralegal administrative work.

Job Requirements:

Must have previous executive and paralegal administrative experience.  Accounting experience is helpful, but not necessary.  Must pass drug/background screening and have own transportation.

Pay Rate:

Pay is $12.00, but negotiable depending on level of experience.

Apply for the Legal Secretary  job here.  Or search for other employment opportunities here.

This year’s ”Toughest Job in Berks County” contest is underway.  Are you up to the challenge?

If your job is physically or mentally challenging – or just plain dirty – we want to hear from you.  Submit a brief video (one minute or less) of yourself on the job, explaining why you have the toughest job in Berks County.  We’ll select our winner on March 18th, 2010 during the Reading Royals hockey game.

For complete Contest Rules, visit our website.

Watch Last Year’s Winning Entry

To give you an idea of what we’re looking for, take a look at Dave Herb’s video.  Dave currently holds the title of “Toughest Job in Berks County”.  Here’s why:

Submit Your Video Today

You don’t have to get fancy to win this contest.  Remember, videos will be judged based upon the jobs themselves – not video production quality.  So, what are you waiting for?  Get shooting and submit your video to Berks & Beyond today.  You could win $1,000  and the title “Toughest Job in Berks County”.