Need Employees? Here’s 4 Reasons You Should be Working With Staffing Agencies

Can you remember how much you spent on hiring the last employee who unfortunately “didn’t work well with the firm”? There’s a lot that goes into the cost of hiring, including the time human resources spends creating job descriptions, setting up interviews, or the time the hiring manager took in training the new employee all need to be taken into account. When you add it all up, the cost of hiring (and eventually firing or losing) can put a serious dent in the company budget.

If your quest to find a quality team of professionals has been less than successful or overwhelmingly expensive, it’s time to consider other sources for assistance. That’s where professional staffing agencies come into play. The right staffing agency can provide top talent for even the most challenging positions. The best part… its usually at a fraction of the cost of trying to hire someone yourself.

Here are some more advantages to working with staffing agencies for your employment solutions:

  1. Valuable Industry Expertise

One of the first advantages to working with staffing agencies is their knowledge in an array of industries. Agencies typically hire recruiters that have experience ranging in categories from accounting and finance to healthcare and admin support. So whether you’re a medical facility in need of healthcare support staffing or a small business owner in need of technical support, there are agencies that can find you efficient workers for the job.

  1. Quicker Hiring Process

The hiring process is not only costly but time consuming. When you figure you have to create a job description, find platforms to advertise on, monitor applications, screen applicants, schedule interviews, and make a decision, that’s a lot of valuable time that could have been spent on other business measures. When working with a staffing agency, the hiring process is taken care of for you.

Since staffing agencies already have an arsenal of highly qualified professionals standing by for the phone call, they can easily hand pick you a few candidates to choose from making the hiring decision shrink from what could be a few months to a few days.

  1. No Commitment

In the world of business you never know what your needs might be from one day to the next. If you need staff on an as needed basis, working with staffing agencies just makes sense. Since the workers they produce know that it is a temporary contract, you can keep them on board for as long as you need and let them go later on if there is no longer a need. This is great for small business owners with a little budget, companies that have high seasons where products/services are in demand more, or individuals who simply want to test the waters of working with staff.

  1. Saves You Time

Most business owners are aware that time is money. The more time you and your staff have to spend working to hire others, the more time is lost to other business aspects. Staffing agencies on the other hand take a bulk of the hiring process out of your hands freeing up a lot of your time and the time of your key staff (i.e. managers and human resources). This allows you to focus your attention on growing the business instead of worrying about employee turnover rates and lack of assistance.

Whenever you find yourself in need of an expert professional to join your staff, you may not have to resort to the often time consuming and costly method of hiring. The right staffing agency is equipped to handle all of your staffing needs by finding you highly competent employees that are ready to be trained to get the job done. This will free up time, and money, while still allowing you to give the best possible service to your clients.

The post Need Employees? Here’s 4 Reasons You Should be Working With Staffing Agencies appeared first on Small Business Can.

Mobile Branding: A Look At Google’s New Logo

As 2015 draws to a close, it’s clear that mobile devices are all the more ubiquitous in our lives. We can go anywhere and do anything with remarkable ease. The increasingly fast development of technology, predicted by technology experts for years, pushes us further into the realm of extreme convenience and efficiency.

One industry leader that undoubtedly understands the notion of increasing ubiquitous mobility is Google. Their numerous platforms and apps span across all devices. Google is with you wherever you go, no matter what you’re doing — and makes it easy to do practically anything.

The marketing team at Google has decided to act in order to better communicate this exact idea to their users. Sooner or later, if not already, you’ll recognize a Google product whenever you’re using it. Google does this in hopes that it welcomes more users into expanding to more of their products and makes the “Google experience” more enjoyable.

Google’s new logo combines all the components of the company’s ubiquity into one easy to recognize and understandable symbol. The colors represent the many platforms, apps, and devices and how they are all unique yet one in the same. This logo illustrates a prime example of the concept of mobile branding with intent. It’s a strong move by Google and will likely become standard in the industry.

As we move about our day-to-day lives chatting on our smartphones, surfing the Web on our laptops, watching Netflix on our iPads, or getting some work done on our desktop PCs, there’s an ongoing competition to grab our attention from one provider to the next. Google has proven successful. Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, and Uber are not far behind. Each attempts to steal as much time and attention away from one another as possible.

Today, we’re truly are witnessing the future of mobile branding. As technology continues to save us more time and money, we’ll continue to develop stronger relationships with each of these providers. We’ll undoubtedly learn a lot more about Google and its competitors as time goes on. We’ll start identifying ourselves further and further as fans of one company or the other, creating communities of mobile fanatics (hello, Apple!).

Branding will lead the way of all of these developments. We’ll begin to identify directly with — and benefit directly from — these providers, although that’s likely to come at the expense of other services. In the end, we’ll all react differently to each company and settle with the ones we enjoy the most.

Further, poor brand strategy and management could lead to the demise of any one of these gigantic companies. They will have to learn quickly, move swiftly, and with accuracy if they hope to win us over in the long run.

With its logo change, Google seems to what it takes to be a leader in the new mobile marketing reality. Will its competitors?

The post Mobile Branding: A Look At Google’s New Logo appeared first on Small Business Can.

Why People Leave Cushy Corporate Jobs for the Unknown of a Startup?

Let’s face it, corporate jobs have a lot to offer. There’s job security, the promise of internal promotion and not to mention the robust benefits. And while many find that holding down a corporate job has it’s advantages, others opt to leave a cushy corporate for the uncertainty of the startup high.

Others may decide to leave their corporate jobs in order to join a startup. Those who do typically have many reasons for doing so but in general, many do so in pursuit of the same goals. Such goals may include the desire to fully utilize all of their talents completely, the opportunity to enter a new field and develop effective leadership skills, or the chance to potentially greatly increase their personal net worth.

A career shift of any kind can be the ideal way for any person to explore their previously underused talents. For instance, they can bring their expertise to the table and offer tips for SaaS companies and startups. Someone who truly loves to cook may want to join a startup that is centered around providing people with access to high quality meals.

A business person who likes to use technology such as a conference call may want to work with a new company that is built around providing their customers with access to such networks. The ideal fit between a startup and a person can truly help that person be happy both at work and during their leisure time. Many startups allow their employees and top executives more freedom to pursue goals in nontraditional ways than are often found in corporate culture. This kind of freedom can be highly appealing to those who may be tiring of corporate routines.

Another aspect of entering a startup at the ground floor that many potential employees find quite exciting is looking at an old field from a new angle. Someone at a standard corporation may feel constrained by pre-existing procedures or that workplace relationships have gone stale. They may also feel that they have hit a career plateau with their old company and may not be considered for important promotions anymore.

Joining a startup can help them shake off any preconceptions that others may have of their work as well help provide the employee with a new shot at promotion and new responsibilities that are suited for their talents, background and prior training. A fresh start can be highly appealing even when it means the employee may need to change jobs or relocate somewhere else.

Leaving a pleasant corporate job can also mean the chance to earn more money. Many companies may not offer the kind of compensation that an employee would prefer. While a startup poses certain risks that may not do well in the long run, those who have worked for a long time in the standard corporate world may have been able to build up a significant nest egg that enables them to easily weather any potential downturns in the new startups including potential layoffs. The new company may offer them significantly better compensation including a higher overall salary, a finer benefits package and the chance to earn even more money should the company eventually plan to go public.

The post Why People Leave Cushy Corporate Jobs for the Unknown of a Startup? appeared first on Small Business Can.

This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/people-leave-cushy-corporate-jobs-unknown-startup/ on
thinkbusiness

McCormack Family Farms at “I Believe”

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Saturday 19 December it is the turn of McCormack Family Farms

McCormack Family Farms

The McCormack Family Farms’ story began in 1984 when Edward McCormack began growing and selling veg in Kiltale, Co. Meath. In the late 1980s he was joined by his son Stephen McCormack and together McCormack Family Farms was born. For 20 years the father and son team focused on growing veg and selling into Smithfield Market in Dublin. Then in the early 2000s the focus shifted to growing salad leaves and herbs, the first of many innovative steps! Success followed with the company earning its first retail contract in 2007 supplying herbs to Superquinn.

Today McCormack Family Farms supply all the leading retailers in Ireland! In March 2015 this 2nd generation family farm took its biggest, innovative step yet entering the juice market launching three new veggie juices using the finest salad and veg grown by the McCormacks: Apple & Spinach; Orange & Beet Leaf; Carrot, Beetroot, Kale & Pea Shoots.

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

The post McCormack Family Farms at “I Believe” appeared first on Small Business Can.

Why Local SEO Is More Important Than Ever

Local SEO has become an asset. Everyone is in a race to get noticed on the internet, to have their website be focussed on in the first page of results on Google. So if you’re looking to get popular amidst your target audience, local SEO is more beneficial than you’d think. There’s so much competition out there that you’d have to get in line to find your position somewhere around the search engines. Local SEO will be your best friend to get you out there so you can be seen and noted by people who are more significant than you know. You’d wonder why Local SEO has become that important. Let’s find out.

1. More people are searching for Local Businesses online

The way you look for new apps and games on the internet, people look for businesses too. Yes, it’s the most common phenomena these days after the way the virtual world has evolved in the last few years. You might not know, but the number of people looking for local businesses online is more than those looking out in the real world. People find it much easier to get immediate results at the click of a mouse and the touch of a finger. Your visibility on search engines during such a time will help you get noticed right away. Search engines often find local businesses based on location. If your business is ranking and is close to where the consumer is at the moment, you’re sure to get noticed instantly. Isn’t that so much easier a job for you as well as the customer? People are too busy to take the trouble of scrolling through the wide list of results on the search engine, and if your company website is right at the top, you’re sorted already. Local SEO will help you attract more customers than you would if you were to promote elsewhere.

2. Less competition in local than global search

In the global scene, there’s more than a million websites with ties enough to have them rank right at the top, rendering your website somewhere in that huge mess. Let’s be honest, you’re not going to get up there in the global standard so easily. It takes a lot of effort. But if Local SEO is there to help you out, in the local area, you’re more likely to get noticed, because there’s an entirely separate level of competition here. It’s much easier and more reliable too. With Google maps and the likes, search engines are more inclined towards the local sphere than global to deliver better results. What you must keep in mind is that it makes everyone’s work so much simpler. Neither the search engine, nor you, nor your customer has to go through too much of a hassle. Instead of jumping into the global world first thing, get to the local sphere initially so that you can be more prominent overall.

3. To rank higher in Local search engine with little efforts

Less competition, easier approval from the search engine, and being seen prominently on the local sphere; it gets much easier for the search engine to rank you higher when you’ve gone local. You can be shown on local search results more frequently than you would if you aimed for the global standards. Search engines will rank you higher, resulting in a simpler notice of your website to the people who are near you, and who are searching for local businesses in their area. What better way to get noticed than becoming popular within your local consumers instead of just jumping into the sea of websites ranking high in the global sphere. It makes the search engine’s job much less of a hassle when dealing with so many websites trying to get noticed.

4. Save dollars with local marketing

Local marketing saves more money than you’d think. Your local business will be marketed in a more refined way, without you having to shed dollars every other minute. Search engines like Google are keener to go with local businesses, giving you more access to become popular where other rich and famous businesses are already dancing about getting noticed more often than not. Search engines will want to rank your local business higher so you can get a chance to be out there, ranking you high enough to become as popular as you can get. These search engines might have profits of their own while doing this, but at least you get what you wanted, without having to spend precious time and money that you’d rather save to expand your business rather than in promoting it. It is indeed important to market your business out in the virtual world, and you do have to spend some heart-wrenching money on it, but in the end it all works out best for your business. And the better way is to get Local SEO so you don’t have to empty your bank account all over.

5. Get targeted traffic that actually converts

Matching results with the location of the customer and the geographical area of your local business, the search engines will develop results that will suit the requirements of the customer. This in turn gives you more scope to be seen because you appear to those closer and more accessible. Proximity searches are customized based on the one searching for the local business, and the internet traffic that develops according to your ranking, geographical location of the one searching, and how easily available your local business is to your customer, the search engine will render extremely useful results. And the internet traffic is much more refined than you’d imagine. Local SEO takes up a lot of your significant matter, making you more prominent out there.

6. Create brand awareness and increase visibility

According to the search history of the customer, your website will be ranked in the search results. Your company getting noticed and ranked higher is based on how close you are to your prospective customers. People want to trust local businesses rather than pay too much attention to the global standard. There might be excessively popular websites of businesses out there, but consumers will always give their first priority to those more accessible to them. Your visibility increases if you are in the local business sphere. Google maps targets the proximity factor, and the likes of the Texas Google Maps Company have evolved in this sphere greatly. It will get you a more prominent sort of ranking in the results, so that you can be accessed better by your customers. Also, people recommend things to others, and if you are locally recognized by many, your popularity increases tenfold. Keep in mind that your popularity will directly affect the business of your company in future, which is certain to bring you more progress than what you’d imagined before you even entered the arena of local SEO.

With the virtual world advancing, the website for your business is less likely to get noticed if you delve into the global phenomena. It is much easier for everyone if you are locally visible. Take measured steps, and improvement is sure to come.

The post Why Local SEO Is More Important Than Ever appeared first on Small Business Can.

Tracey’s Kitchen at “I Believe”

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Friday 18 December it is the turn of Tracy’s Kitchen. This is her story.

Tracy’s Kitchen

As a small girl, I recall food being central to our lives – when friends and family called over, when we visited my grandmother’s house, when we came home from school, and certainly at Sunday lunchtimes! It seems that I have always been surrounded by good, wholesome, home-cooked food! It was no surprise to my mother then, that when I left home at 17, I didn’t rely on the usual student fayre to get me through college, rather I cooked my way through those four years, and my digs became the central location for friends who had run out of funds before the end of the month – it became known as a place where tasty grub would always be rustled up…simple and cheap, but tasty and filling!

When my own children started with the Walking and Talking, life got busy and I soon discovered that having more children than hands could be a problem if they weren’t occupied! Thus started the baking – Play Doh I had to buy in, whereas flour, milk and eggs I had in abundance always…when I added a few raisins and they made their first scones, albeit misshapen and kinda tough, we were hooked… hooked on the pieced that gathered us around the counter, hooked on the squigy feel of getting stuck in with tiny hands and hooked on watching through the glass door of the oven watching nothing turning into something…

We became bakers…aged 1, 2, 3 and 35..! It wasn’t until Lucy Jayne’s 4th birthday, that we turned our hand to making something more special, like a fondant covered cake…her first birthday cake request for a Heart Shaped Cake so I bought a heart shaped cake tin and never looked back…

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

The post Tracey’s Kitchen at “I Believe” appeared first on Small Business Can.

How to Improve Your Company and Employee Morale

There are many ways that you can improve your sales and increase your profit margin. You can hire great people, reduce your overhead, outsource when needed, etc. Chief among all of these tricks and tips, though, is making sure that employee morale at your company stays high. Studies have proven over and over again that happy employees are more productive employees. Here are some techniques that you can use to boost morale:

Food and Beverages

It sounds like a silly idea, but feeding your employees and having beverages readily available both keeps your employees happy and improves their productivity (productivity that is lost when they have to leave the building to refill their coffee or get another soda). The easiest way to do this is to outsource the provisions to another company. This doesn’t have to mean having expensive catered meals every day! Hiring a company to keep your kitchen stocked and functional can just as easily be done by a food services company. For example, Aramark Refreshments provides coffee, snacks, and more to companies of all sizes.

PRO TIP: Make sure you have healthy food and beverage options like fruit, veggies, bottled water, etc in addition to the more traditional cookies, chips, soda, etc.

Allow Telecommuting

Companies that allow their employees to work from home at least part of the time don’t just have happier employees, they have more productive employees. Allowing telecommuting reduces the amount of time people have to take off from work when they are ill or need to look after their children. It is also helpful for the introverted who might be easily distracted or worn down by an otherwise social office environment. And, thanks to tools like Slack, Skype, etc. collaborating while telecommuting is easier than ever.

Provide Benefits

Offer your employees full benefits packages. This means offering dental and vision coverage in addition to a good health plan. Other benefits can include access to company vehicles during work hours (reducing their financial burden for gas), providing daycare to working parents, and unlimited sick and vacation hours. That might sound counterintuitive, but research shows that people who don’t have to worry about “using up” their sick and vacation leave are more responsible, productive and take less sick and vacation time on average than those who have a “use it or lose it” policy.

Reward Often

While it is true that there are competitive people out there who respond well to healthy in-office rivalries and negative feedback, most people are more inclined to thrive when they are praised and rewarded for their hard work and effort. We all love getting gold stars, right? Make sure that you tell your people how great they are and compliment them on the projects that are going well. Provide small rewards and thank-you gifts after stressful projects are completed to show your appreciation. Even a simple thank you card with a short note goes a long way toward keeping a team’s spirits up.

Social Time Outside of Work

Encourage your employees to spend time together outside of work hours. Being able to spend time together in a casual environment can foster bonding and improve communication between team members. Sponsor a regular happy hour at a nearby pub. Take everybody out to lunch. Throw holiday parties off site. Sponsor a weekend getaway. There are lots of big and small budget ideas that can help get employees together even when they aren’t working.

There are a lot of great methods you can use to keep your company morale high and, by extension, lift productivity rates. These are just a few of them. What are some of the methods that have worked well in your company?

The post How to Improve Your Company and Employee Morale appeared first on Small Business Can.

Silver Hill Farm at “I believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Thursday 17 December it is the turn of Silver Hill Farm.

Silver Hill Fram

Silver Hill Farm is a fully integrated family owned duck company. Founded over 50 years ago by Ronnie and Lyla Steele in Emyvale, Co. Monaghan. The present Managing Director is their son Stuart Steele. All aspects of our duck production are owned and controlled by Silver Hill Farm from breeding, egg production, hatching and selection to processing and cooking. The success of Silver Hill Farm lies in the unique Silver Hill Hybrid duck. Continually developed over the years, to produce a duck that is full of flavour, succulent, tender and consistent in its quality. This breed is exclusive to Silver Hill Farm.

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

The post Silver Hill Farm at “I believe” in CHQ appeared first on Small Business Can.

Maintaining a Reliable Cash Flow Top 5 Benefits of Invoice Factoring

Looking for effective ways to pay bills on time, improve your cash flow, and fund your business’ growth?

With banks tightening the extension of credit for small businesses these days, several financing options seem to be unviable.

In such a situation, invoice factoring may be the right choice for your business. It is being regarded one of the most genuine alternatives to conventional bank funding option by several businesses.

Plus, it has a number of benefits.

Invoice factoring lets you stabilize your cash flow by converting outstanding invoices due in 30, 60 or even 90 days into immediate working capital.

Still not sure if invoice factoring is a trustworthy means of business financing?

In that case, here are five prominent benefits of invoice factoring that will help you understand why it may be right for you.

1. More Time to Focus on Business-Building Strategies

Are late payments from your clients causing you a lot of trouble?

Invoice factoring can be your savior.

The invoice financier will look after your sales ledger, freeing up your time to manage your business. This implies that you won’t have to wait for customers’ payments so that you can make yours. With invoice factoring, you can pay bills, meet payroll, and remit taxes on time without worrying about late fees or damaged credit. Moreover, the invoice financiers will also take care of the excessive paperwork.

This way you’ll get ample amount of time to focus on other business-building endeavors such as sales, marketing, and client development. Further, you can plan about taking calculated financial risks as you’ll be able to figure out the exact amount of money that will hit your account well in time.

2. Quick Access to Money and Living a Debt-Free Life

Invoice factoring makes for an appealing means of financing because it is one of the quickest and easiest processes for acquiring funds. The initial setup averages 5-10 days from receipt of the factoring application and supporting documentation. Funds on approved invoices are provided to businesses within 24-48 hours in most cases.

Comparatively, banks take a lot longer to approve loans.

Moreover, as invoice factoring is not a loan, it doesn’t add to the liabilities on your balance sheet. This implies no monthly loan payments, and a clear balance sheet.

3. Receiving Payments on Time

The invoice financier will credit check potential customers, and this will enable your business to trade with better quality clients, eventually resulting in receiving payments on time. Moreover, the financier can help you negotiate better terms with your suppliers.

4. Choose Invoices as per Your Convenience

Long term contracts, minimums, or maximums – forget these concerns with invoice factoring. You can pick and choose invoices that you want to factor without having to worry about bizarre terms and conditions.

Also, the factoring fee is quite reasonable. The cost of factoring invoices has declined drastically over the years with advances of up to 95% of the invoice value available, and fees as low as 1.5% over base rate. The fees vary by industry, volume and number of invoices, advance rates, customer creditworthiness, and the time the customers take to pay.

Additionally, factoring companies don’t demand you to spend your funds in a specific manner, which is why you can buy equipment or assets the way you intend to.

5. Strong Financials Not a Requisite

If your business has hit a few bumps in the road and you’re worried that you won’t qualify for factoring services, keep your qualms aside.

You don’t need great credit, years of experience in business, or a long strong financial history to qualify for factoring services. The factoring company looks at the strength of your customers paying on the invoices, instead of focusing only on your credit score.

Moreover, unlike traditional bank loans, factoring doesn’t require you to risk your home or other property as collateral. Factoring companies mainly focus on the credit strength of your customers.

If you’re looking for services related to invoice factoring in San Diego, you can consider opting for Invoice Factoring San Diego.

Conclusion

Owing to the many benefits of invoice factoring, several companies are using this means to fund their businesses and increase profits. If structured thoughtfully, you can use factoring to boost your bottom line. There’s so much to it, from taking advantage of early payment discounts, and negotiating bulk discounts from suppliers, to increasing inventory for large orders. Moreover, applying for bank loans can be a real hassle. The aforementioned benefits make it clear that invoice factoring options are more flexible and less expensive than ever before and procuring cash is quicker through it. Not to forget, choosing this funding method will also go a long way in building a healthy relationship with your client.

The post Maintaining a Reliable Cash Flow Top 5 Benefits of Invoice Factoring appeared first on Small Business Can.

First Ireland Spirits at “I Believe” in CHQ

As part of “I believe“, Ulster Bank has given a stand to their clients to sample the Christmas atmosphere, sell and make the public aware of their offerings.

Over the next weeks you can visit them at the Food and Craft market. On Wednesday 16 December it is the turn of First Ireland Spirits

First Ireland Spirits

Nestled in the heartland of Ireland’s green and pure landscape, First Ireland Spirts have been crafting Irish creams, liqueurs and spirits for over 20 years. Working with local farmers and producers, the team have perfected the art of Irish Cream Liqueur with 24 hours from dairy to distillery, unique Irish liqueurs with crafted local ingredients, and more recently Irish Whiskey and spirits, creating award winning brand

Visit them at the fair or visit their website.

The post First Ireland Spirits at “I Believe” in CHQ appeared first on Small Business Can.

This post was originally published here - http://www.smallbusinesscan.com/first-ireland-spirits-at-i-believe-in-chq/ on thinkbusiness