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Hiring Tips for interview
Hiring is a big commitment to undertake, but you don’t have to make it harder on yourself.
Hiring is a big commitment to undertake, but you don’t have to make it harder on yourself. Below, we walk through some tips and advice you should follow to have an effective and successful hiring process.
Recruiting
Don’t rely solely on online job postings
Online job boards and sites are a great way to get your open position in front of a lot of people. However, they aren’t always the best way to attract top talent. When recruiting for your company, you should also be leveraging your network. This means asking employees for referrals and going to industry events and conferences. If you’re looking to hire a marketing manager, for instance, you might want to attend a conference for your industry or go to a specific marketing event in your city.
Have specific job titles, duties and qualifications
Having an accurate and clear job title and description will typically improve the quality of applications you receive. If you post a job ad seeking “general help” for your construction business, you might be inundated with resumes from people in food services. Instead, you should have a specific job title (“Construction Estimator”) and a list of clear job responsibilities (“defining the scope of work and preparing a comprehensive budget and conceptual estimates for each project”) and qualifications (“5 years of experience in residential construction or reconstruction required”).
Interviewing
Phone interview first
According to a Forbes article, the average number of people who apply for any given job is 118. Looking through that many resumes is already a lot of work, so you don’t need to burden yourself with additional work during your interviewing process. Phone interviewing applicants first will help you weed out unqualified candidates with the least amount of work. A standard phone interview normally lasts 20 to 30 minutes, but if the interview is not going well a phone interview is much easier to cut short than an in-person interview.
Have them interview with their prospective team members
One of the best things you can do during the hiring process is to involve your employees. For each candidate you select for an interview, you should have them speak with their prospective team members. Your employees who would work directly with the candidate can offer valuable insight into how the candidate might perform if hired. Moreover, you’re more likely to hire someone who will blend in well with the current team if you involve your employees in the process.
Do reference checks
Reference checks are another invaluable tool during the hiring process. Reference checks are like a second opinion, letting you get another viewpoint on the candidate aside from what you heard in the interview. They also can save you from hiring a poor candidate — some people may interview extremely well, but not perform the job well, and the only way to find this out early on is through a reference check.
Compensation
Offer market-rate salaries
If you want to hire good talent, you’ve got to be willing to pay them well. Most job seekers are looking to increase their current salaries or receive a competitive compensation package. There are two easy ways you can get the information you need to offer an appropriate salary. The first is to do research on a website like Glassdoor. For example, the average salary for a store manager in Reno, NV is approximately $45,000, while the national average is $50,000. This can help you set a good baseline for the salary.
The second way to do research is to ask your interviewees about their desired salary range. Based on the number of people you interview, this can either confirm your baseline or help you readjust. Using the example above, if most of your interviewees say they are looking for a $50,000 a year salary for the store manager position, you may want to offer $50,000 instead of $45,000. Conversely, if many say they are looking for $40,000, you can offer that or a salary in between that and your baseline (say $42,000) to be more competitive.
Needless to say, if you truly can’t afford to pay a competitive salary, you should reassess whether you should be hiring anyone at all (and taking out a loan to cover an employee’s salary is oftentimes not a good idea).
Provide industry standard benefits and perks (or better!)
As an employer, you generally aren’t required to provide retirement plans, health plans (except in Hawaii), dental or vision plans, life insurance or paid time off, including vacations, holidays or sick leave. However, just because you don’t have to provide these benefits doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. While many small business owners worry that they can’t afford benefits or perks, they are missing out on a valuable opportunity to attract great hires and jumpstart their growth if they don’t.
Offering great benefits also doesn’t mean you need to have the perks you frequently hear about in Silicon Valley (yoga classes, on-site massage therapist, etc.). Instead, think about what’s standard practice in your industry and how you might want to improve on that.
For example, if most businesses in your industry offer health insurance, retirement plans and two weeks of paid time off, you should consider offering the same benefits to remain competitive. If you want to improve on this, you could cover more of the health plan cost or offer a better employer match for your 401(k) plan. According to a survey by Monster, health plans (32 percent), vacation time (25 percent) and pay raises (15 percent) were the three most important benefits that employees wanted.
There are some legal and tax ramifications to providing benefits to your employees, so it’s wise to hire a third-party administrator or consultant. A good TPA will help you get everything set up correctly so you can avoid expensive headaches later on.
Hiring is a big commitment to undertake, but you don’t have to make it harder on yourself. Below, we walk through some tips and advice you should follow to have an effective and successful hiring process.
Recruiting
Don’t rely solely on online job postings
Online job boards and sites are a great way to get your open position in front of a lot of people. However, they aren’t always the best way to attract top talent. When recruiting for your company, you should also be leveraging your network. This means asking employees for referrals and going to industry events and conferences. If you’re looking to hire a marketing manager, for instance, you might want to attend a conference for your industry or go to a specific marketing event in your city.
Have specific job titles, duties and qualifications
Having an accurate and clear job title and description will typically improve the quality of applications you receive. If you post a job ad seeking “general help” for your construction business, you might be inundated with resumes from people in food services. Instead, you should have a specific job title (“Construction Estimator”) and a list of clear job responsibilities (“defining the scope of work and preparing a comprehensive budget and conceptual estimates for each project”) and qualifications (“5 years of experience in residential construction or reconstruction required”).
Interviewing
Phone interview first
According to a Forbes article, the average number of people who apply for any given job is 118. Looking through that many resumes is already a lot of work, so you don’t need to burden yourself with additional work during your interviewing process. Phone interviewing applicants first will help you weed out unqualified candidates with the least amount of work. A standard phone interview normally lasts 20 to 30 minutes, but if the interview is not going well a phone interview is much easier to cut short than an in-person interview.
Have them interview with their prospective team members
One of the best things you can do during the hiring process is to involve your employees. For each candidate you select for an interview, you should have them speak with their prospective team members. Your employees who would work directly with the candidate can offer valuable insight into how the candidate might perform if hired. Moreover, you’re more likely to hire someone who will blend in well with the current team if you involve your employees in the process.
Do reference checks
Reference checks are another invaluable tool during the hiring process. Reference checks are like a second opinion, letting you get another viewpoint on the candidate aside from what you heard in the interview. They also can save you from hiring a poor candidate — some people may interview extremely well, but not perform the job well, and the only way to find this out early on is through a reference check.
Compensation
Offer market-rate salaries
If you want to hire good talent, you’ve got to be willing to pay them well. Most job seekers are looking to increase their current salaries or receive a competitive compensation package. There are two easy ways you can get the information you need to offer an appropriate salary. The first is to do research on a website like Glassdoor. For example, the average salary for a store manager in Reno, NV is approximately $45,000, while the national average is $50,000. This can help you set a good baseline for the salary.
The second way to do research is to ask your interviewees about their desired salary range. Based on the number of people you interview, this can either confirm your baseline or help you readjust. Using the example above, if most of your interviewees say they are looking for a $50,000 a year salary for the store manager position, you may want to offer $50,000 instead of $45,000. Conversely, if many say they are looking for $40,000, you can offer that or a salary in between that and your baseline (say $42,000) to be more competitive.
Needless to say, if you truly can’t afford to pay a competitive salary, you should reassess whether you should be hiring anyone at all (and taking out a loan to cover an employee’s salary is oftentimes not a good idea).
Provide industry standard benefits and perks (or better!)
As an employer, you generally aren’t required to provide retirement plans, health plans (except in Hawaii), dental or vision plans, life insurance or paid time off, including vacations, holidays or sick leave. However, just because you don’t have to provide these benefits doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t. While many small business owners worry that they can’t afford benefits or perks, they are missing out on a valuable opportunity to attract great hires and jumpstart their growth if they don’t.
Offering great benefits also doesn’t mean you need to have the perks you frequently hear about in Silicon Valley (yoga classes, on-site massage therapist, etc.). Instead, think about what’s standard practice in your industry and how you might want to improve on that.
For example, if most businesses in your industry offer health insurance, retirement plans and two weeks of paid time off, you should consider offering the same benefits to remain competitive. If you want to improve on this, you could cover more of the health plan cost or offer a better employer match for your 401(k) plan. According to a survey by Monster, health plans (32 percent), vacation time (25 percent) and pay raises (15 percent) were the three most important benefits that employees wanted.
There are some legal and tax ramifications to providing benefits to your employees, so it’s wise to hire a third-party administrator or consultant. A good TPA will help you get everything set up correctly so you can avoid expensive headaches later on.
Job Interview Tips
Whether you’re getting ready for a video interview or the old-fashioned (and still quite common) in-person kind, you’ll want to be prepared. It’s essential that you make a good impression during this crucial stage of the hiring process. There is more to getting ready than just deciding what to wear and entering an address into your GPS. There are a few pretty important steps you should take to prepare.
1. Research and reflect on the mission.
It’s not difficult to research a company’s mission ahead of time. In fact, these days, you risk coming off as unprepared if you don’t. So, spend some time online. Learn about the mission and philosophy of the company. Reflect on them. Demonstrating that you have an understanding and attachment to the heart and soul of the company could help you connect and make a good impression.
2. Explore any and all connections.
Sometimes we find ourselves interviewing for a position, or with a person, that we have some kind of connection to. For example, if you came across this opportunity through someone in your professional network, be sure to touch base with them before your interview. Reaching out to your contact could help you feel more prepared, but it’s also just courteous. Thank them for any way in which they facilitated the connection, and tell them you’re looking forward to the interview. Even if the conversation simply ends there, you’ll know you’ve done the right thing by following up with someone who helped you.
3. Prepare to answer questions that are easy to anticipate.
It’s tough to know exactly what you’ll be asked during your interview. But, you should be ready for a few likely questions. Know how you’ll respond to inquiries like “tell me about yourself” or “why do you think you’d be a good fit here?” It will help you feel prepared. You don’t want questions like these, ones you can anticipate, to throw you off.
4. Attend to practical matters.
Before the day of your interview, be sure that you have all your ducks in a row. Know where you’re heading and how long it takes to get there. Consider heading down to the location once beforehand, if you need to. This way you won’t have the added stress of trying to find your way for the first time the day of your interview. Also, polish up your resume and print some fresh copies. Gather business cards or whatever else you’d like to bring with you in advance so that you’re not hustling around at the last minute. The more you set things up for yourself in advance, the less you’ll have to worry about right before your interview.
5. Be positive.
It’s normal to feel nervous before your interview, but allowing your mind to linger on these fearful thoughts won’t help you. Instead, focus on the positive. List your accomplishments and all the steps you took that helped you meet those goals. Go over your strengths. Think about all the wonderful things you’d like to do next, and how much fun you’ll have doing them.
6. Relax.
Preparations are important, yes, but there also comes a time to let it all go and relax. Be sure to leave time the night before your interview for some down-time. Take a bath, or read a book. Do something calm and peaceful to help quiet your mind. Also, go to bed early so that you’ll be well-rested the next day. All the work you’ve done to get ready should help you settle down and rest easy. Allow those preparations to raise your confidence and lower your stress levels. Relax. Doing so will help you put your best foot forward the following day.
7. Know that it’s not over when it’s over.
Be sure to keep in mind that your work here isn’t done once the big day has come and gone. There are a few things you should do after your interview that could help you land the job. Be sure to record some notes as soon as you’re done, for example, so that you can send personalized thank-you notes to the people who met with you. Attending to all the details, at every step of the interview process, could help you stand out as a strong and capable candidate.
1. Research and reflect on the mission.
It’s not difficult to research a company’s mission ahead of time. In fact, these days, you risk coming off as unprepared if you don’t. So, spend some time online. Learn about the mission and philosophy of the company. Reflect on them. Demonstrating that you have an understanding and attachment to the heart and soul of the company could help you connect and make a good impression.
2. Explore any and all connections.
Sometimes we find ourselves interviewing for a position, or with a person, that we have some kind of connection to. For example, if you came across this opportunity through someone in your professional network, be sure to touch base with them before your interview. Reaching out to your contact could help you feel more prepared, but it’s also just courteous. Thank them for any way in which they facilitated the connection, and tell them you’re looking forward to the interview. Even if the conversation simply ends there, you’ll know you’ve done the right thing by following up with someone who helped you.
3. Prepare to answer questions that are easy to anticipate.
It’s tough to know exactly what you’ll be asked during your interview. But, you should be ready for a few likely questions. Know how you’ll respond to inquiries like “tell me about yourself” or “why do you think you’d be a good fit here?” It will help you feel prepared. You don’t want questions like these, ones you can anticipate, to throw you off.
4. Attend to practical matters.
Before the day of your interview, be sure that you have all your ducks in a row. Know where you’re heading and how long it takes to get there. Consider heading down to the location once beforehand, if you need to. This way you won’t have the added stress of trying to find your way for the first time the day of your interview. Also, polish up your resume and print some fresh copies. Gather business cards or whatever else you’d like to bring with you in advance so that you’re not hustling around at the last minute. The more you set things up for yourself in advance, the less you’ll have to worry about right before your interview.
5. Be positive.
It’s normal to feel nervous before your interview, but allowing your mind to linger on these fearful thoughts won’t help you. Instead, focus on the positive. List your accomplishments and all the steps you took that helped you meet those goals. Go over your strengths. Think about all the wonderful things you’d like to do next, and how much fun you’ll have doing them.
6. Relax.
Preparations are important, yes, but there also comes a time to let it all go and relax. Be sure to leave time the night before your interview for some down-time. Take a bath, or read a book. Do something calm and peaceful to help quiet your mind. Also, go to bed early so that you’ll be well-rested the next day. All the work you’ve done to get ready should help you settle down and rest easy. Allow those preparations to raise your confidence and lower your stress levels. Relax. Doing so will help you put your best foot forward the following day.
7. Know that it’s not over when it’s over.
Be sure to keep in mind that your work here isn’t done once the big day has come and gone. There are a few things you should do after your interview that could help you land the job. Be sure to record some notes as soon as you’re done, for example, so that you can send personalized thank-you notes to the people who met with you. Attending to all the details, at every step of the interview process, could help you stand out as a strong and capable candidate.
Technology uses in the gearbox bearings
Gearboxes have long taken blame as the typical cause for a failure, and for good reason. Many gearboxes fail to pass the five-year mark without need for component repairs or full replacement. But when the industry first got its start, few considered the high winds, vibration, or environmental conditions that turbines must withstand.
“At the time, the same basic gearboxes used at cement mills or in industrial applications were simply hauled up some 300 feet in the air, place inside a nacelle, and expected to work to the same standards,”
Nowdays gearbox is specifically designed for its intended application, such as for use in a wind turbine. However, the “gearbox legacy design issue,” as Brooks calls it, has led to years of lessons learned for the Bearings industry that continue to this day. “For example, Nowdays a gearbox designed for a brand-new turbine today is exceptionally better than one even made five or seven years ago because of the accumulative knowledge engineers have gained and continue to gain over time.”
Although this progress has led to more durable gearboxes capable of better handling the harsh conditions turbines face, there is still one fundamental challenge. This challenge primarily relates to differences in speed, according to bearings industry. “A turbine’s rotor may be turning at about 15 rpm but the generators are going 1,500 rpm, which represents an increase of 80 to 100 times,”
Typically, a designer would select different types of bearings and lubricants for low and high-speed applications. “But here you have one gearbox handling different speeds and loads with one type of lubricant. This isn’t the best scenario.” the turbine design would make use of two different gearboxes — one for low and one for high speeds — but that’s too complicated and not economical or feasible for the industry.
“Nevertheless, you’re still stuck with a machine that must deal with compound speeds in a harsh and complex environment, while facing high dynamic loads. Over time that leads to failures.” the industry is likely never going to fully overcome this challenge in gearbox-driven turbines, but quality bearings properly maintained are one step in mitigating turbine downtime.
High-speed bearings
Although there is some truth to the statement that a gearbox is only as good as its components, even the highest quality equipment has a limited life expectancy in the industry. Bearings offer no exception.
Bearings serve numerous roles in a wind-turbine gearbox and show different failure rates based on their position. For example, planet carriers and low-speed bearings work with some thrust load but generally have a low failure rate.
Planetary bearings
While high-speed bearings have the highest failure rates and low-speed bearings have some of the lowest, planetary bearings rank somewhere in between. Life expectancy is about 10 years before failures typically set in, although this can vary depending on the make and model of the gearbox.
“But regardless of gearbox model or bearing type, we generally find that deflections and loading problems are the primary issues with planet bearings”, “This is because of the variable loads that come into the gearbox and cause undesired deflections. This is made worse when the main bearing wears and lets even more thrust and load than intended into the gearbox. Over time, these forces take a toll.”
Integrated bearings
A bearing typically has three pieces: the rollers, an inner race that is pressed onto a shaft, and an outer race that is pressed into the gear bore. But now there are options that integrate the inner race with the shaft or the outer race with the gear, or both, into one solid component. “Integrating essentially machines the bearing’s outer race into the inner bore of the gear,”
An integrated bearing reduces the total number of components in the assembly by directly machining bearing races into the surrounding components of a gearbox. It is an option for cylindrical and tapered gearbox planet bearings.
“In some ways it brings complexity into the manufacturing process because bearings are not made at gear plants nor are gears made at bearing plants,” says Brooks. “But there are a lot of advantages to integrating the two.” Most notably: integrated bearings show improved performance and greater power density.
“At the time, the same basic gearboxes used at cement mills or in industrial applications were simply hauled up some 300 feet in the air, place inside a nacelle, and expected to work to the same standards,”
Nowdays gearbox is specifically designed for its intended application, such as for use in a wind turbine. However, the “gearbox legacy design issue,” as Brooks calls it, has led to years of lessons learned for the Bearings industry that continue to this day. “For example, Nowdays a gearbox designed for a brand-new turbine today is exceptionally better than one even made five or seven years ago because of the accumulative knowledge engineers have gained and continue to gain over time.”
Although this progress has led to more durable gearboxes capable of better handling the harsh conditions turbines face, there is still one fundamental challenge. This challenge primarily relates to differences in speed, according to bearings industry. “A turbine’s rotor may be turning at about 15 rpm but the generators are going 1,500 rpm, which represents an increase of 80 to 100 times,”
Typically, a designer would select different types of bearings and lubricants for low and high-speed applications. “But here you have one gearbox handling different speeds and loads with one type of lubricant. This isn’t the best scenario.” the turbine design would make use of two different gearboxes — one for low and one for high speeds — but that’s too complicated and not economical or feasible for the industry.
“Nevertheless, you’re still stuck with a machine that must deal with compound speeds in a harsh and complex environment, while facing high dynamic loads. Over time that leads to failures.” the industry is likely never going to fully overcome this challenge in gearbox-driven turbines, but quality bearings properly maintained are one step in mitigating turbine downtime.
High-speed bearings
Although there is some truth to the statement that a gearbox is only as good as its components, even the highest quality equipment has a limited life expectancy in the industry. Bearings offer no exception.
Bearings serve numerous roles in a wind-turbine gearbox and show different failure rates based on their position. For example, planet carriers and low-speed bearings work with some thrust load but generally have a low failure rate.
Planetary bearings
While high-speed bearings have the highest failure rates and low-speed bearings have some of the lowest, planetary bearings rank somewhere in between. Life expectancy is about 10 years before failures typically set in, although this can vary depending on the make and model of the gearbox.
“But regardless of gearbox model or bearing type, we generally find that deflections and loading problems are the primary issues with planet bearings”, “This is because of the variable loads that come into the gearbox and cause undesired deflections. This is made worse when the main bearing wears and lets even more thrust and load than intended into the gearbox. Over time, these forces take a toll.”
Integrated bearings
A bearing typically has three pieces: the rollers, an inner race that is pressed onto a shaft, and an outer race that is pressed into the gear bore. But now there are options that integrate the inner race with the shaft or the outer race with the gear, or both, into one solid component. “Integrating essentially machines the bearing’s outer race into the inner bore of the gear,”
An integrated bearing reduces the total number of components in the assembly by directly machining bearing races into the surrounding components of a gearbox. It is an option for cylindrical and tapered gearbox planet bearings.
“In some ways it brings complexity into the manufacturing process because bearings are not made at gear plants nor are gears made at bearing plants,” says Brooks. “But there are a lot of advantages to integrating the two.” Most notably: integrated bearings show improved performance and greater power density.
