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Short Term vs. Long Term Hiring Strategies

Hiring can be a complicated process. Typically companies have immediate needs, and then they have long term goals to help them succeed in building a profitable future. Hiring is no exception, which is why companies should employ two main types of strategies: short term and long term. 

Short Term Hiring Strategies

Most employers classify short-term hiring strategies as those that fulfill an immediate need. This need may or may not exist long-term, but the current demand for a solution requires immediate hiring. Examples of this may include:

Seasonal Employees

Write job descriptions to source candidates that only want seasonal work. Giving preference to “same time, next year,” candidates can help reduce training requirements and also offers customers the opportunity to interact with familiar faces.

Temp-to-Hire

Evaluate potential employees through temporary work before extending a full-time offer that commits employers to benefits. This can save employers valuable time, money and the HR headaches of temporarily employing a lousy hire.

Long Term Hiring Strategies

Long-term hiring strategies are a critical component of a company’s success. Whether it’s replacing an employee or creating a new position, having a plan in place is necessary to building a strong company culture and foundation. 

Corporate Strategy

A long-term recruiting strategy should coincide with a company’s corporate strategy. Hiring employees that fit your company goals and culture are essential. Review your business strategies and plan and hire employees that match those long-term goals.

Company Brand

Having a strong company brand will not only help you create a long-term recruitment strategy, but it will have a direct impact on employee retention. When developing a company brand, consider the following:

  • What are the company’s core values?
  • What is the company’s structure?
  • How do you recognize or reward employees?
  • Do you offer career advancement?
  • What type of work/life balance do you offer employees?

Once you have created your corporate strategy, advertise it everywhere – from offer letters, marketing materials and welcome emails. 

Social Media

Using social media to foster a talented pool of potential job applicants is also critical. It’s more than just posting jobs; it’s about fostering engagement. Turn the people that like your page into those that want to work for you! 

Job Postings and Descriptions

Make sure that your corporate strategy and goals are on your website and that your career page highlights your company’s mission and culture. Job descriptions should be more than just bullet points and skills. They should reflect the company’s culture and brand while describing what the job actually entails. 

If you implement balanced short-term and long-term hiring and recruitment goals for your company, you’ll find it easier to maintain any job turnover and that you’ll attract some of the best, brightest talent around. 


Ninja Gig allows companies of all sizes to develop an automated hiring process for online recruitment. Our easy-to-use online job application software allows companies to create legally compliant job applications. Not only can companies accept job applications online, but our applicant tracking system makes it easy to evaluate talent, highlight promising applicants and contact them for interviews. If you want to learn more about Ninja Gig, sign up today for a free trial and experience how our advanced software can simplify your hiring process.

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When Should Employers Discuss Salary in Interviews?

Knowing when to discuss salary in an interview can be tricky, especially if applicants have expectations but don’t know how to bring it up. 

Here at Ninja Gig, we firmly believe that companies should discuss salary immediately, as this helps avoid attracting applicants that may not accept the salary you are offering. 

To help respect your valuable time and maximize the number of interested applicants you attract, we recommend the following tips.

Job Description and Application

Post the proposed hourly rate or salary range online in the job posting, which will help detour anyone that is not interested in the offered rate from applying. Companies will benefit because they’ll attract more applicants that are interested in the job. Additionally, go a step further and list all benefits, if any, you are offering. A transparent job posting helps to layout expectations and educates applicants about your company.

Initial Interview

Once companies weed through applications for qualified applicants, it’s important to discuss the salary at the end of the first initial interview. This reinforces the pay to make sure it’s within the acceptable amount for the applicant. If an applicant is not OK with the proposed rate, you can forgo wasting additional time and effort on the second or third rounds of interviews. 

To help avoid wasting your time as well as the applicant’s valuable time, discuss the salary range upfront. You can always refine that amount when you present an offer, but it’s best to know that both parties agree on the variable range. 


Ninja Gig’s online job application software makes it easy for employers to create legally compliant job applications that highlight benefits and salary range within the job description posting. If your company needs assistant with online recruitment and putting an advanced applicant tracking system in place, sign up today for a free trial and preview our automated hiring process.

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Why Some Employers Should Accept Job Applications, Even If They Aren’t Hiring

Whether you have a job opening or not, you might find that you occasionally receive unsolicited resumes from applicants. For some employers, this may raise issues for record retention and unlawful discrimination, but for others, having a supply of resumes on hand can be a lifesaver. 

Many industries benefit from having an open-ended supply of resumes on file. This is particularly true for industries that have entry-level jobs and higher turnover rates, such as restaurants and fast-food chains. This allows them to quickly fill open positions while avoiding the hassle and expense of advertising. Even if a company has highly skilled positions, niche jobs sometimes require keeping possible resumes on hand, as this can help eliminate months of advertising to find qualified applicants. 

However, it is important to note there are some legal issues with accepting unsolicited applications and resumes.

  • Record Retention – State and federal employment laws require employers to retain all resumes or applications for a minimum of one year, sometimes longer. If an employer reviews unsolicited resumes and applications, regulations define that as being considered for employment, which means they must be retained according to employment laws.
  • Unlawful Discrimination – Accepting and reviewing unsolicited resumes and applications could potentially expose the employer to unlawful discrimination claims. Government regulations require that employers conduct any recruitment and hiring in nondiscriminatory ways when it comes to protected classes, such as gender, age and disability. Having an inconsistent company policy of not accepting or accepting unsolicited resumes may make the employer liable for discriminating against protected classes. 
  • Affirmative Action – Federal contractors that are subject to affirmative action obligations are required to capture all applicant demographic data. If there is no clear policy in place, this data may be overlooked, subjecting employers to violations.

The bottom line is that unsolicited resumes benefit many companies, while they may be a liability to others. Consult with your legal department or review state and federal guidelines to help make an educated and informed decision about this practice.


Ninja Gig offers a convenient solution for employers that are looking for job application software. With our advanced automated hiring process, you can easily accept job applications online and retain them in our system. You can also make sure that you offer legally compliant job applications. If you want to learn more about our online recruitment software, sign up today for our exclusive, free trial. Let Ninja Gig help you transform your hiring practices!

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More Employees Looking for New Jobs in 2020

The job market and economy are strong, which means that nearly 50 percent of employees are on the lookout for a better job with a more healthy work environment, better pay and benefits. 

The three main reasons that employees will be looking for new jobs this year include:

  1. Money
  2. Feeling undervalued and unappreciated
  3. Desire a better work-life balance

Unfortunately, for many employers, the best employees are usually the ones to quit first, which can be devastating in terms of turnover. 

Ninja Gig has compiled a list of additional reasons why people are on the hunt for new jobs this year.

  • Relationship with the Boss – This is not in a personal sense but in a lousy boss way. Many employees leave their jobs because their boss isn’t good at managing and makes their work-life chaotic and miserable.
  • Bored and Unchallenged – Bored Employees don’t engage with work. It’s best to give employees challenges to maintain their interest in the job and the company.
  • Relationships with Coworkers – When people spend more than 40 hours a week with the same people, toxic coworkers can quickly make a job miserable. Stay on the lookout for workplace bullies. On the flip side, employees that have friends at work often enjoy their work environment more and are willing to stay with a company longer.
  • Contributions – Employees want to feel that they help to contribute to a business’ success, which means that they need to feel connected to the bigger picture.
  • Autonomy and Independence – Businesses are responsible for creating a work environment that fosters autonomy and independence instead of controlling micromanagement.
  • Recognition – Employee recognition is a significant factor in employees’ overall happiness. 

By creating a positive company culture, businesses can work towards minimizing turnover this spring and summer.


Ninja Gig is an online job application software that allows employees to incorporate an automated hiring process for online recruitment and accept job applications online. Sign up today with Ninja Gig and receive a FREE trial.

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Showing Employee Appreciation

Instead of celebrating Employee Appreciation Day one day a year in March, more employers should learn to value their team and show appreciation for their hard work year-round. 

As we established last week in our article, Uncovering the Root Cause of Workplace Stress, it’s essential to create a psychologically and physically safe space for employees to help ensure they are happy to reduce overall turnover rates.

The following tips highlight the top six ways to appreciate employees throughout the year.

1. Ask Questions

It may seem silly, but just stopping to ask employees how they are doing and engaging in small talk can help break up the stress of important deadlines, strapping bandwidth and juggling multiple projects simultaneously. By incorporating caring, genuine conversations, you’ll enhance your relationships with employees at work.

2. Saying Thanks

Regularly thanking employees for their hard work, dedication and perseverance may seem obvious, but in today’s busy world, the small pleasantries are often overlooked and go unsaid. Instead of implying thanks, saying it has immediate benefits and helps employees see that their hard work is appreciated and positively contributes to the company’s overall success.

3. Checking In

Checking in on employees to see how their workload is, if they have any questions and if there is room for improvement gives them the sense of being heard and understood in today’s chaotic workplace. Engaging with employees on a deeper level helps build stronger relationships, which leads to deeper trust. 

4. Exploring Employees’ Strengths

When employees can showcase their strengths and work in those areas, their performance skyrockets, as they are more motivated to do better work. To help facilitate employees’ growth, identify the unique strengths that will allow them to build further skillsets going forward. By engaging employees and identifying their strengths, you can further boost their confidence and help them navigate their future career paths. 

5. Onboarding and Training

Proper onboarding and ongoing training for employees helps ensure they have the education and knowledge to do their job effectively. Training can significantly improve employee retention rates, setting the tone for employees’ careers at companies. 

6. Inclusivity

Having a diverse workforce helps foster creativity and innovative thinking. Encourage employees to connect on a personal level and not only focus on business conversations. Learn what causes stress and anxiety, as well as what brings employees joy and makes them feel valued. 

Spending eight to 10 hours a day with coworkers is a lot of time spent away from our families and personal obligations. By making our work hours fulfilling and meaningful, we can help to enrich the lives of those around us and foster a nurturing, healthy work environment.


Ninja Gig specializes in helping companies develop an automated hiring process. Sign up with Ninja Gig today for a free trial and see how your company can easily accept job applications online via the applicant tracking system, which is ideal for online recruitment.

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Uncovering the Root Cause of Workplace Stress

According to the American Institute of Stress, job stress is the primary source of stress for American adults, and it is progressively getting worse over the last several decades.

Long-term, increased stress can lead to all types of health conditions, including hypertension, heart attack, anxiety and sleep disorders. 

Americans are working longer and harder than ever before. A government report found that the number of hours worked increased by eight-percent in one generation by the late 1990s, which means that Americans went from working an average of 40 hours to 47 hours a week. Globally, Americans are different from other countries. While in 1995, workers in Japan worked more than Americans, now Americans put in an extra month more of work than the Japanese and an astounding three months more than those working in Germany. 

The Health Effects of Stress

Occupational stress can cause a variety of physical ailments, including:

  • 30 percent suffer from back pain
  • 28 percent complain of stress
  • 20 percent report feeling tired 
  • 13 percent suffer from headaches

Job Stress is Costly

According to the American Institute of Stress, job stress costs U.S. businesses more than $300 billion annually, which is primarily due to:

  • Absenteeism
  • Accidents
  • Employee turnover
  • Medical, legal and insurance-related costs
  • Poor productivity
  • Workers’ compensation claims

Common Causes of Workplace Stress

There are many reasons that workplace stress exists and occur on the job, such as:

  • Lack of clarity; unclear objectives
  • Insufficient employee support
  • Poor cohesion amongst teams and employees
  • Employees have little control over their work or experience micromanaging
  • Difficult or inflexible work hours
  • Psychological harassment
  • Poor management and lack of communication policies
  • Poor health and safety policies

Human resources departments should work to help companies minimize stressful environments, which can significantly boost employee satisfaction and retention rates.


Ninja Gig offers an automated hiring process for online recruitment. We feature legally compliant job applications via our online job application software, which makes it easy for HR departments to accept job applications online and track qualified applicants. Sign up for a free Ninja Gig trial today and simplify your recruitment process.

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Preparing for Coronavirus: Infectious-Disease Plans

As coronavirus (COVID-19) begins spreading throughout the United States, employers need to stay educated about how to prevent the spread of this deadly virus.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has issued travel warnings and encourages people to clean their hands often – washing them with soap and water for a minimum of 20 seconds. Additionally, people must use their sleeve or tissue to cover their nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing. 

Infectious-Disease Management Plans

If your business doesn’t have an infectious-disease management plan in place, now is the time to identify vulnerabilities in the event there is a significant outbreak. It’s not only essential that employers address this current outbreak, but experts are warning that if the coronavirus is not under control soon, it could return next winter even stronger.

An useful infectious-disease management plan addresses:

  • Employee travel restrictions
  • Provisions for employees traveling and unable to return home
  • Workplace safety precautions
  • Mandatory medical check-ups, medication and vaccinations
  • Mandatory reporting if an employee is exposed
  • Employee isolation or quarantine
  • Workplace shutdowns

Plans should include information for sick employees about staying home and telecommuting, if necessary. While the coronavirus hasn’t reached a pandemic, businesses should iron out these types of issues in advance.  

Even if you don’t have a specific plan related to infectious diseases, having a disaster-preparedness plan can also apply. As in the event of a hurricane or tornado, offices shut down. So too, would businesses if the coronavirus reaches a full pandemic level.

What Employers Can Do

Employers should stay up-to-date on the latest coronavirus information through the CDC website. While the coronavirus is still in its infancy stages, its spread is evitable.

Here are some recommended employer strategies:

  • Encourage sick employees to stay at home
  • Separate sick employees and provide face masks, if necessary
  • Post posters that encourage clean hand hygiene, staying home when sick and sneeze and cough etiquette
  • Provide no-touch disposal receptacles and tissues for employees
  • Regularly clean the workplace and workstations
  • Post and disseminate CDC coronavirus posters and fact sheets
  • Post the CDC’s “Stop the Spread of Germs” poster

While pharmaceutical companies are rushing to test medications to ease coronavirus symptoms, there is no cure or vaccine currently in place. 


Ninja Gig offers an automated hiring process and helps to simplify online recruitment. If a pandemic occurs, businesses can hire temporary remote workers by using our online job application software. We can help automate your HR systems, which makes it easy for companies to attract quality candidates so they can quickly apply. Sign up for a free Ninja Gig trial and begin automating your business’s hiring practices today.

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7 Top Human Resources Tasks That Companies Should Automate

Human Resources is one of the most overworked and understaffed company departments and often faces managing new hires, answering benefit-related questions and coordinating an endless mountain of paperwork. Enter modern-day HR automation, which can make management more affordable and accessible.

  1. Payroll – When payroll is automated, it reduces the possibilities of human error and makes it easier to provide more accurate calculations, payroll records and better time management since programs automatically track time-off requests, vacation and sick leave.
  2. Time Sheets – Digital time tracking software helps reduce manual tracking errors and employee time fraud, making it easier to compile hours and data for payroll.
  3. Onboarding and Recruitment – When you hire a new employee, have all new hire paperwork, including applications and tax forms, automatically emailed.
  4. Records Management – Keep all necessary company paperwork in electronic format so you can easily search for items in the future, which is much easier than sifting through boxes of paper.
  5. Benefits – Employee benefits can be difficult to track manually. Companies should automate the benefit eligibility process, allow employees to quickly make online modifications to their plans and automatically have emails sent to employees to help manage open enrollment periods.
  6. Evaluations – When companies only conduct annual reviews, they often forget about an employee’s performance during the first part of the year. Having a streamlined, automated process that evaluates employees’ work performance throughout the year and allowing for clear communication between employees and supervisors can dramatically help reduce turnover while promoting collaboration.
  7. Tax Documents and Forms – Automating tax documents helps ensure that you always use the correct tax forms, and that information is still up-to-date.

Your Human Resources department needs the necessary automation to hire talented employees, while dramatically reducing paperwork. Ninja Gig makes it easy for companies to accept job applications online via their cost-effective and innovative applicant tracking system. By having an automated hiring process, HR departments can use online recruitment techniques and produce legally compliant job applications online in minutes.

Sign up today for a free Ninja Gig trial and let us help you automate your company’s hiring practices.

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Diversifying Your Workforce

Companies that have diversified workforces experience long-term value creation and increased profitability. Equality between genders also has room for improvement but has progressed significantly over the last 50 years. 

Why Does Diversification Matter?

When most people initially think about diversity in the workplace, they generally assume that this focuses only on gender and ethnicity. However, diversity comes in a plethora of forms, ranging from academic and professional backgrounds, varying socioeconomic classes, religious beliefs, sexual orientation and national origin to mental and physical abilities. 

Taking Action-Oriented Steps

To hire a diverse team that will benefit your business, you need to keep these six actionable steps in mind.

  1. Act – Whether you’re building a new company or a new team, keep diversity in mind from day one.
  2. Send the Right Signals – Pay attention to your vocabulary in job descriptions or on company websites. Use non-gender-specific descriptions, such as “they” over traditional “he” or “she.”
  3. Remove Bias Views – Avoid reviewing any applicant data that could form bias assumptions, such as age, gender, pictures or even names. Some companies also go so far as to utilize voice changing telephone features when conducting interviews so that all applicants sound more neutral.
  4. Diverse Talent – Instead of only recruiting top-rated college graduates from a select group of universities, focus on considering applicants that have real-world experience or attended alternative schools. 
  5. Offer Flexibility and Accommodate Needs – Whether you’re providing flexible work hours or letting employees periodically work remotely from home, it’s important to include all potential applicants in this process. Additionally, consider offering private rooms for nursing mothers, gender-neutral bathrooms and office decor that is non-offensive.
  6. Focus On Diversity at Every Level – Instead of trying to focus on achieving diversity globally, aspire to have diversity for every position within the company. 

Ninja Gig is an advocate for diversity within the workplace. Our online applicant tracking system makes it easy for companies to accept legally compliant job applications. If you’re interested in learning more about our online recruitment system, sign up today for a free Ninja Gig trial and see how we can help transform your company’s current hiring practices.

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Top Reasons Why Companies Outsource

Traditionally, outsourcing is defined as strategically utilizing outsourcing resources to perform job duties and activities that would traditionally be handled by internal resources and staff. 

Companies often contract major services from valued business partners that have areas of expertise or knowledge that may also come at a beneficial cost-saving to companies. 

Why Do Companies Outsource?

Many businesses choose to outsource certain functions. These are the seven most common reasons why companies outsource:

  1. Reducing and controlling overall operating costs
  2. Gaining access to unique expertise outside of the immediate organization
  3. Improving the company’s focus
  4. Freeing internal resources to do other types of work
  5. Maximizing the use of external resources
  6. Increasing efficiency or streamlining time-consuming tasks
  7. Sharing risks with a partnering company

The Downfalls of Outsourcing

Outsourcing isn’t always productive or positive. In fact, companies have to weigh the advantages or disadvantages of outsourcing, which can also prove to be challenging to manage. The following are the most significant reasons why outsourcing could prove costlier or fail. 

  1. Existing employees may feel threatened or as though they are disposable
  2. Staff redundancies
  3. Communication problems that relate to language or time zones
  4. Issues with service or product quality
  5. Loss of control over procedures and policies
  6. Data security threats

What Companies Outsource

Outsourcing gained rapid popularity in the 1990s when many companies began using it to help save money. Most jobs that were initially outsourced were customer service-related jobs, such as call centers. Today, outsourcing has rapidly grown, and now financial services, IT, retail services, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, software and computer technology jobs are often outsourced by companies. 

How to Successfully Outsource

Thirty years ago, the most common reasons companies outsourced were to reduce their headcount and overall costs. Today, more companies outsource to help add value to in-house services, especially when they don’t have employees that specialize in certain areas of service. To successfully outsource, companies must:

  • Have a strategic plan and vision
  • Carefully select vendors
  • Clarify company objectives and goals
  • Structure vendor and subcontractor agreements
  • Practice relationship management
  • Have open communication with stakeholders about outsourcing
  • Pay attention to personnel issues that may arise
  • Have a short-term financial justification for outsourcing
  • Have the support and involvement from senior leadership

Avoiding Failed Outsourcing

Most outsourcing contracts are canceled or renegotiated within three years. It’s vital that companies and executive management work to help foster and support an ongoing relationship with outsourcing teams and companies to avoid this economic loss and the time spent finding new outsourcing options. 

Senior management should regularly meet with outsourcing teams to discuss expectations and identify and resolve any challenges or problems that arise during the working relationship. 

By implementing these strategies and focusing on the end goal, which is to produce better products or services for your customers, companies can have productive, long-term outsourcing relationships.

Ninja Gig helps companies accept job applications online via an automated hiring process. Whether your company wants to hire in-house or test the grounds with an outsourcing employment agreement, our advanced HR online recruitment system can successfully help you create legally compliant job applications. Sign up today for a free Ninja Gig trial and see how Ninja Gig can help improve your company’s hiring practices.