Southwestern Family of Companies

The Digital Age and the Millennial Mindset

By Tim Knight, VP and Senior Managing Partner, Banking

Technology has afforded job seekers unprecedented access to information about employers, workplace cultures, and the overall hiring landscape. Too many options, however, can be both a blessing and a curse. Human beings are hardwired to think about improving their stations in life, and thanks to technology jobs offering a better salary, job title, and working conditions are just a tap…

7 Traits To Look For When Hiring a Sales Rep

By Hans Schlegel, Partner, Sales

We all know the expression: “You’re not selling a product; you’re selling yourself.” It’s a sales adage so old that it veers on the edge of cliche — but that doesn’t make it any less true. That’s why anybody who’s hiring sales representatives knows that the quality of the product or service being sold is just as important as the…

Hiring a Professional Recruiter Can Actually Save You Money

By Jay Boone, Partner and Manager, Banking

Save Time, Save Money “Time is money.” – Benjamin Franklin There are numerous factors that impact the time it takes to identify, vet, and onboard a quality job candidate. Creating an effective job profile, launching the initial search, evaluating resumes, conducting interviews, making an offer, and navigating counter-offers are all important parts of an increasingly intricate process that can be…

Go Back to the Future

By Stephanie Maas, Partner, Banking

Go Back to the Future with Millennial Hires Banking has a storied history and a firmly entrenched corporate culture. It’s only natural, then, that the hiring practices of both established and emerging financial institutions hark back to the past more than they look to the future. Hiring managers in the banking industry face greater challenges filling open positions than ever…

The Construction Industry – Recruiters Making a Meaningful Impact

By Rich Weinman, Practice Lead, Architecture/Mechanical Construction

 

The construction industry is the one of the largest employment sectors in the United States. With the federal government poised to invest more resources into building and maintaining America’s infrastructure, the construction industry job market has a bright future indeed. An evolving industry, however, also means changes in the dynamics and expectations in hiring practices. The Need for Speed Several…

Partner with a Headhunter

By Matt Lewis, Partner and Practice Lead, Banking

Every modern professional needs three people in their lives: an attorney, an accountant, and a headhunter. People have always, of course, needed legal services and financial expertise to navigate the many challenges of conducting business and managing money. But a recruiter? Really? Yes. Now more than ever. Technology has changed the way human beings—both as job seekers and as hiring…

Career Spotlight: Courtney Rice

By ThinkingAhead

Courtney Rice is a recruiter who has spent the past thirteen years at ThinkingAhead.  From Michigan, she studied engineering at Michigan State University, and like frankly many college students, wasn’t entirely sure what she wanted to be when she “grew up”.  She was fortunate to have had a summer job with Southwestern Advantage selling books and learning how to run…

New York City’s Ban on Salary History Questions: More States to Follow?

By ThinkingAhead

In 2015, women earned 79.6 cents for every dollar men earned, according to the Census Bureau. Some suggest that women often earn less than men — a well-documented wage gap that’s even worse for women of color — because they’re less likely to negotiate when it comes to salary offers. Payscale.com disputes this theory: although 42 percent of women negotiate their salary (compared to a similar…

Common Job Applications: Improvement or Detriment in The Hiring Process?

By ThinkingAhead

Thanks to common job application technology, candidates can send applications to hundreds of jobs at once — and recruiters and hiring managers have even larger piles of resumes to review and sort. But are common job applications actually effective? In other words, should candidates and hiring managers expect better results, or are these algorithms simply making the process more difficult? Man Versus Machine…