Blog
Browse thoughtful views and opinions about staffing topics from KBW’s perspective.
Your Interns: Making their Experience Worthwhile
Recently I wrote about how interns can make their summer experiences meaningful. As many of us manage interns these days, it’s also important to know how to do that in a way that makes the internship worthwhile for your intern, you, and your company. Before hiring...
Challenging Yourself at Work
Everyone wants work to be engaging and stimulating. One of the primary ways we derive meaning from our work lives is through complexity: being able to master new skills and improve on skills we already have. While too much complexity can seem overwhelming, too little...
Interviewing: The Soft Skills
Interviewing is both a skill and an art. While some people might have more of a natural talent, the best interviewers don’t get to be that way accidentally – they approach the process thoughtfully and, yes, have a lot of practice. Even with practice things can start...
Lateral Career Moves
Conventional wisdom sells the idea that if you’re not moving up, then you’re stagnating. So you’re looking for something new, a job that’s ‘above’ the one you already have. What does that mean, “above”? A new title? A new place on the org chart? More money? When we...
Who are your accidental mentors?
Throughout our lives we’re often reminded of the importance of mentors and how they can influence our success. When asked who our greatest mentors are, we think about those who had the most significant impact on our success — parents, relatives, professors and...
Podcast – Furloughed, laid off or just Looking for a change…
Dave Turano's "Cut Through the Noise" podcast featuring our own Jason Alexander, Managing Partner, BANKW Staffing.About BANKW Staffing Through its portfolio companies, KBW Financial Staffing & Recruiting, Alexander Technology Group, The Nagler Group, Sales Search...
Appreciation in the Workplace
Appreciation in the workplace has the power to create an organization where feeling valued is the norm, one where it becomes reflexive to appreciate co-workers, employees and employers. When people feel that way in a workplace, they’re more likely to strive beyond...
Honoring Administrative Professionals’ Day All Year Long
Happy Administrative Professionals Day! If you do admin work, thank you. Being the support that makes organizations and executives function smoothly is challenging work that you make look easy. Sometimes too easy. If you’re the person who is planning on honoring your...
The 5 People You Should Surround Yourself With When Looking for a New Job, And Who You Should Avoid
The job search process is unique to every person. For some, it’s an exciting period of time and they view it as the hunt for their next mountain to climb; they’re seeking out opportunity and it’s enthralling. For others, it can be a very anxious period of time,...
How to Say No at Work (By Saying Yes)
Saying “no” at work is hard. You know the reasons it’s important to say no, but you want to feel like a team player, or your boss asked you, or just want people to like you. So you say yes – and you keep saying yes and now you’re overworked and not able to concentrate...
Don’t you wish we still had spring break?
It’s a refrain I’ve heard more than once in the past few weeks. I live near a university and New England’s winter has been so bad that the very idea of ‘spring’ seems magical, but it’s more than that. In the routine of work, we often forget to recharge and can find...
The Zen Art of Job Searching
You’re good enough, you’re smart enough, and gosh darn it, people like you. If you’re not an old-school Saturday Night Live fan, that line probably sounded a little corny. But even still, I think most of us can agree that the local employment market is on a...
Writing a Great Cover Letter
Job-seekers spend a lot of time crafting their resumes, but may underestimate the importance of a good cover letter. Unlike resumes, which have crucial – but dry - information, a cover letter is the way to let the people reading see a peek of the ‘real’ you. An...
Now That You’ve Found Your Management Style… Here’s How to Deploy It to Your Team (Part 2)
Management styles can be as different as people. Although there may be similarities among managers, odds are they'd handle different employees, teams, and situations differently. Letting your team know what your management style is and how it impacts them helps you...
What to – and not to – do when asking for a Raise
There was a time when American workers were given automatic annual raises, but in our post-recession economy, that’s far less common. According to a 2015 survey by Payscale.com, while half of employers expect workers to negotiate their own salary increases, most of us...