We’ve been in the workforce for a – um – few years now. As graduation day approaches for thousands of college seniors we started thinking about what we wish we’d known on that long-ago day we donned our own caps and gowns.

Below are some things we wish we’d known “back then.”

1. We’d understand that our need to keep learning didn’t end the day we received our diplomas. Instead, we should have realized we would always need to keep learning. Whether new skills, an additional degree, or even just learning more about our mentors, colleagues and supervisors, we would always keep our “learning caps” on and understand that every experience is a learning experience.
2. We’d seek out mentors in our organizations. Whether our employers offered formal mentoring programs or not, we’d seek out individuals we admired for their knowledge, savvy and all-around acumen. We would never forget the importance of building a great career network.
3. We’d rarely eat lunch alone. What we mean by that is that we’d seek out individuals in all departments of our employer as well as professionals outside our organization and ask them to lunch at least once a week. Taking our cues from tip Number 2, we’d realize the importance of building a network.
4. We’d use our college’s career center more often. Career centers are almost always open to alumni to use for networking, researching and so on. We’d contact the employees there for advice, use our alma maters’ alumni career network more thoroughly and also be available to current students/new alumni as career resources.
5.  We’d watch our budget. In fact, we’d create an actual budget that included not only living expenses and funds to pay off our student loans, but we’d also put aside some monies – no matter how little – for the future (retirement and long-term goals such as purchasing a home, etc.).
6. Finally, when we found ourselves between jobs, we’d sign up with San Francisco staffing services such as Bayside Solutions. We’d understand that employment services could help us find work quickly and that even temporary gigs could turn into regular employment.

So, be smarter than we were and contact us today!

You’ve found a new job. You’ve done the professionally responsible thing to do and gave your employer plenty of notice (2-4 weeks or even more, depending on your position) and have been working diligently until you’re the day of your leave taking.

You’re now in your exit interview. The HR person or manager is telling you to be truthful.

The question is, should you be? After all, you’re leaving. Telling the truth couldn’t hurt you, could it?

Here are some tips to help you navigate what can be a tricky situation: the exit interview.

• Ask the how your answers will be used. Will your name be on them? Will the interviewer go back to your boss with direct feedback? (If so, watch out; you’ll need your soon-to-be-former boss some day as a reference.) The Society of Human Resources Management, in fact, suggests that you get any promise of anonymity in writing. If it’s not in writing, don’t participate in an exit interview.
• You’ll undoubtedly be asked why you’re leaving. Be as professional and candid as possible. But do be wary. This is NOT the time to rant about your idiot boss (yes, we know; he really is an idiot). It’s best to answer something along the lines of the new job offers more challenges, is a shorter commute, can take your career in a more desired direction, etc.
• If you really must complain, remember that professionalism is key. Let us repeat: professionalism is key. In other words, speak in general terms. Ditch the specific. Instead of “my boss is a liar!” try “my supervisor could, perhaps, benefit from some additional managerial training.” If management receives enough of this type of feedback about the same individuals over and over again, you can bet that management will take notice.

Hoping to participate in an exit interview soon (because you’re itching for a new position)? Let Bayside Solutions help you land that next great job. We have great direct-hire positions with some of San Francisco’s best employers. Contact us today to learn more!

Multitasking – in which we work on two tasks at the same time – is the norm in today’s workplace.

Many experts believe humans aren’t really cut out to multitask. Trying to do two things “at once” means we do neither well and experts recommend that we do just one thing at a time.

But it is possible to do two things at once, so long as the tasks don’t use the same brain functions (think folding the laundry while listening to music).

Yet most work tasks are more complicated than laundry folding.

Below are some tips on how to improve your multitasking skills (or, at least, mitigating the poor effects multitasking can wreak on the finished results).

• Understand that our ability to multitask does decrease with age. People in their early 20s can multitask with less adverse effect than those older. In fact, our ability to multitask declines precipitously between the relatively young ages of 20 and 30!
• Multitasking skills do seem to improve with practice.
• Be careful about trying to multitask on undertakings that use the same type of brain functions, such as texting while reading an e-mail, for example.
• Using willpower alone to meet the barrage of distractions – and opportunities to multitask – is well nigh impossible today. For example, it’s incredibly more interesting to read a favorite blog or website “while” writing a business report than to write the report “uninterrupted” for an hour or so. So work with human nature and consider disabling the Internet while you’re writing that report (perform all Web-based research before sitting down to write).
• Experts also recommend setting a timer of some sort. A good period of working could be, for example, 25 minutes, in which you do nothing but the task before you. Take a short 5-10 minute break after 25 minutes (walk around, check e-mail, check for phone texts, etc.) and then set the timer for another 25-minute über-focused work session.

If you’re a San Francisco-area company needs skilled and reliable professionals for temporary and direct-hire assignments, call the staffing professionals at Bayside Solutions. We look forward to hearing from you!

When looking for a job, you can work smart, work hard – or both! Here’s how to conduct a “smart” job search.

1.  Know where you want to go. Don’t go looking for “anything.” Instead, sit and have a talk with yourself and decide, based on your skills, background and goals, what kind of job you want and what kind of company you want to work for (large, small, government, start-up, etc.). Recruiters will toss into the “round file” the resumes of people who are looking for “a company/position where my skills will put to good use.” Be specific!
2. Distinguish yourself from the pack. Recruiters today are looking for specialists, especially in the tech arena. Look for jobs in which you have considerable experience (if you want to change careers, it can be done, but you’ll have to work hard to showing a hiring manager how your skills translate to his or her open position). Show a recruiter/hiring manager how you stand out from others with your background and skills.
3. Use social media to your advantage, or else the recruiter will use it for his. Recruiters today almost always check out your Facebook/LinkedIn/Twitter feeds. Make sure yours present you in the best, most professional light. In fact, craft your social media presence to showcase your skills and background.
4. Always have an answer for why you left your previous position. This is especially important if you’ve had three jobs in four years, for example. There should be a compelling, legitimate reason for leaving a job, such as taking a position with more responsibility, the company shut down, leaving employment to take care of a sick relative, even taking a year to explore the world (be sure to show how your year-long journey has made you an even more attractive prospect to the hiring manager – you took classes in Joomla in Britain, you learned a French, etc.).
5.  Present yourself in interviews and in networking situations as professional. Craft the “30-second elevator speech” that succinctly yet thoroughly explains the skills and assets you bring to an employer.
6. Bring your resume to Bayside Solutions. We’re the Bay Area’s top staffing firm for IT and other technical professionals, offering you many temporary, temp-to-hire and direct-hire assignments with some of San Francisco’s top firms. Contact us today!

Most IT professionals didn’t have to worry about finding work during the recession. And if follow these 7 tips, you’ll never be without a job, no matter what the future holds.

1) Know your business

You may be your organization’s most talented developer or dedicated systems administrator. But if you don’t know what the business is selling or what service it’s providing, you’re not indispensable. Don’t look at things from strictly an IT perspective, but make sure you understand how your job relates to the business world around you.

2) Watch the bottom line

Your job isn’t just about systems, software or machines. It’s about helping your organization use technology to trim costs and increase efficiency. IT professionals need to focus on areas that either drive down costs, such as virtualization, cloud computing and converged networking, or on areas that help to generate revenue, such as social media, mobile marketing and SEO.

3) Get your head in the cloud

With so many traditional IT functions moving to the cloud, your company may no longer need you to flip switches, connect cables, or troubleshoot machines. But they’ll still need someone who can tell them what services are available, which ones are worth looking at and which ones they should avoid. And they’ll require people with expertise in managing a catalog of cloud services, handling subscribers, brokering agreements with cloud providers and intervening when problems arise.

4) Broaden your horizons

Besides maintaining mastery of your own tech domain, expand your skill set to include other areas of expertise. If a crisis arises in one of those areas—and the person responsible for handling it isn’t available—you may be able to step in and save the day. Plus, an employee who has more than one area of expertise is more valuable when a department is downsizing.

5) Be a translator.

Want to facilitate communication between IT and the business side, as well as earn a little goodwill in the process? Teach your co-workers to speak geek. Start a series of casual teaching sessions where you bring less savvy coworkers up to speed about the latest in tech. You can become the go-to guy for upper management when they need something technical explained.

6) Deal with data.

If your business users aren’t drowning in information now, they will be soon. Taming the data deluge will make you invaluable to any organization. IT people who can make sense of business data, safely store it, categorize it, retrieve it, and especially analyze it are highly valuable.

7) Make a name for yourself. The more people who know and rely on you—especially outside your department or organization—the harder it is to fire you. Look for projects and opportunities that cut across departments, because this builds your internal network — thus making you more valuable to the company.

And if you’re ready to practice those habits in a new and exciting position in the Bay Area, contact Bayside Solutions today!

What’s that old saying? “Work would be great except for the people”?

Sadly, that phrase is too true too often: co-workers really can make one’s work life miserable.

If you’re stuck in a cubicle farm or facility with a “bad” co-worker, read below for some tips on how to cope.

1. Act fast. Don’t tolerate the bad behavior hoping it will go away on its own. Chances are, the poor behavior will get worse if ignored. By not speaking up when someone bullies you, you’re tacitly giving the individual permission to continue
2. Some people don’t take criticism well. They don’t understand that suggestions on how to do something better or requests to get work done by deadline, etc.  aren’t personal attacks, but professional and business critiques to improve  performance. Such individuals may take professional critiques as personal attacks and lash out.
3. If the problem with your co-worker is that he or she can’t do all the tasks assigned well, offer to split duties, if possible, with both of you taking on tasks each of you does best. Yes, this may mean more work for you, but you can let your superiors know that you’re taking on more responsibility (without denigrating your co-worker) and a promotion and/or raise could result!
4. Try to resolve your differences without the help of your manager or the human resources department first. If the two of you still can’t come to some sort of professional workplace collaboration and if the bad behavior persists, bring it up to your boss and then to HR (in case the boss can’t or won’t help).
5. Keep the conflict private as much as possible. Don’t kvetch in meetings or to co-workers: you’ll be seen as a whiner instead of justifiably aggrieved.

If you’re in the market for some new co-workers, contact one of our recruiters. Bayside Solutions can help provide you with opportunities to work with some of the Bay Area’s top employers. Contact us today!

Human resources is a people business. You have to deal with employees in a number of different ways, from dealing with routine administrative activities to performance issues. As a result, knowing how to communicate effectively is important. And finding out what is really going on in a situation is critical.

Sometimes that becomes difficult, because no matter how much companies stress the value of employee integrity and ethical considerations, people can be less than truthful. So, having some understanding regarding why workers might want to shade the truth would certainly be helpful in more effective communication and problem resolution, says business consultant Ron Ashkenas.

We all have different criteria about what is truthful. And it is these differing perspectives that often lead to breakdowns. What might lead an employee to be less than truthful?

One instance that is easily understandable is when a person does not want to be seen in a negative way. So, if he has made a mistake, he might create excuses and rationalizations about it, rather than admitting the real cause. For example, Ashkenas relates the story of a manager who was behind schedule on a big project. The delay was due mostly to his lack of discipline, but his reason for the delay was a snowstorm.

Another reason for shading the truth is the unwillingness to subject others to criticism. This was the case with a manager who refused to criticize her workers during performance reviews. Her excuse was that it was better to offer support for good practices, rather than highlight weaknesses. Yet, without telling them their weaknesses, there was no way they could make improvements.

People also shade the truth when it might have a negative impact on the bottom line of the business. This might occur when a salesman doesn’t mention supply problems in making a sale to a customer, or when a CEO fudges on the problems of integrating an acquisition. Letting people know what is really going on could hurt reputations and obviously even cause the failure of the project or sale. So, many opt to give only a portion of the truth and then try to determine how to handle the problems later.

Ashkenas says it’s easy to make judgments about these behaviors and demand that people be utterly truthful always. But that is not in our nature, and it is not in the nature of businesses either. The best course, he says, is to try to become more alert as to why people might be less than honest.

When you need high tech professionals for your San Francisco-are company, contact the recruiters at Bayside Solutions. We can find great workers for your long- and short-term temporary needs as well as direct-hire recruitment. Contact us today!

Setting goals can be a potent way to help you succeed, to make progress. But, from time to time, it is also necessary to take a look at the goals you have set, to evaluate them, to see if they are still doable, and still what you want to do. Depending on your progress, you may need to modify your goals.

According to business consultant Dorie Clark, there are times when you need to even consider abandoning a goal. And she gives several reasons why sometimes the best course of action is to give up on a goal.

One reason is when pursuing a goal actually is hurting more than helping. Clark uses her own experience as an example. She set a goal of getting exercise early in the morning, before she began her workday. But instead of increasing her energy, this schedule left her tired and listless and affected her productivity. She was just not a morning person and she realized that this goal was doing more harm than good, so she shifted her workout time to the afternoon.

Another time to consider tossing a goal is when it interferes with other goals you have set. Clark uses the example of scheduling recreational time for yourself in your calendar in order to help balance your work with your life outside work. But when she did this, Clark said the stress of trying to maintain her scheduled recreational time interfered with her goal of finding a more balanced life. So she gave up trying to plan her free time, and became more spontaneous with it.

Sometimes, Clark says, it’s time to leave your goals behind when they no longer apply to the things you want to achieve. As an example, Clark cites the time she received an attractive job offer – it was the kind of job she would have killed for in her twenties or thirties, but now, because of her experience and time in life, it no longer held the kind of attraction it did for her younger self. She declined the offer.

Our lives change as we grow older and our goals change as well — it is no shame to give up a goal that just isn’t that meaningful for us anymore. What is important, Clark says, is to look at the reason for setting the goal – why you are doing it – to see if the goal is still important and still relevant.

Most of us are never adverse to the goal of “finding a great job.” If that’s one of your goals for 2012, contact a recruiter at Bayside Solutions. We can help you find new opportunities at some of the San Francisco area’s top employers. Contact us today!

If you have to give a presentation or make a speech – and many of us will do so at least once in our careers – take note that you need to pay as much attention to the pacing, intonation and timing of your speech as you do to the content.

Jerry Weissman, a leading corporate presentations coach, gives an example of this by relating a story about watching a foreign film. Weissman says he has only a rudimentary knowledge of French and Italian and so when he watches foreign films in these languages, he has to lower his gaze to read the subtitles during the movie. As a result, he says, he cannot follow the spoken words, because they go by too quickly, except, he says, at the end of a sentence, where there is a pause.

This example illustrates the need for speakers to pause at the end of sentences during their presentations. Actors, public speakers, clergy, even people in everyday conversation usually pause at the end of a sentence or even a phrase. It gives the listener, like Weissman with his foreign films, the time to take in the words.

The problem, which is all too common among people who are not used to public speaking, is that when we get in front of an audience, our anxiety leads us to rush through our words, to speak faster than usual and, as a result, simply rush right through the spots where we should pause. This fast pace makes us look as if we are out of sort, often causing us to mangle words. This becomes even more of a problem if you are giving a presentation to people for whom English is not their native tongue.

Presenters need to take their cue from actors here, Weissman says. Actors watch the cadence of their speech and tone of voice and when they reach the end of a sentence, they pause for effect.
If you’r presenting, take time to pause in order to give your audience time to take in and assimilate the information you are giving them. The best way to do this, Weissman says, is to drop your voice when you reach the end of a sentence. Unfortunately, most speakers tend to do the opposite – raising their voices at the end of a sentence, making them sound more like a Valley Girl, Weissman says.

If you’re looking to practice your speaking skills in a job interview, contact Bayside Solutions. We can help your land work with some of San Francisco’s best employers. Contact us today!

Geotechnical engineering is one of the specializations within civil engineering that involves investigating and understanding what lies beneath the ground’s surface.

Geotechnical Engineering 101 – What’s it all about?

Geotechnical engineers design and build foundations, excavations and slopes. One very important concern of geotechnical engineers is the safety of soil and the ability of the land to support the underlying structures.

The work of a geotechnical engineer includes five key activities: desk study or research into existing information, ground investigation (gathering new data), interpretation (understanding new data), analysis and design, and finally construction (or remediation).

Job prospects are excellent because every construction project involves foundation work. With development land at a premium, many projects involve the challenge of building on difficult ground such as swamps, or hills. In these areas, specialists like geotechnical engineers and consultants are needed.

A Career In Geotechnical Engineering – What Would I Do?

Because all construction takes place in or on the ground, geotechnical engineering plays a crucial role in all civil engineering projects. The need to investigate the ground is of vital importance before any construction work takes place. The failure to carry out adequate site investigations often has had dramatic and expensive consequences on construction projects.

In a geotechnical consulting firm, everyone works as a team to complete a project. A team usually comprises a project director who oversees the whole project; a senior engineer, assisted by one or more engineers and geologists; a checker or checkers to make sure everything is done correctly; followed by an internal and an external reviewer.

In such a firm, engineers learn to apply most of what they’ve learned theoretically at college. They’ll learn the critical issues involving analysis and design work, think innovatively about options and alternative designs and also address safety and environmental issues in their design.

How about Salary?

The median salary for geotechnical and other civil engineers was $77,560 per year in 2010, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, the average salary earned by those working in this field was higher. The Bureau indicates that the average salary for geotechnical engineers was $82,280.

Job Outlook

Those in the geotechnical and civil engineering field can expect good job prospects through 2018, according to BLS projections. The Bureau indicates that it expects jobs to grow by 24 percent by that time, over and above its reported total for 2008. This makes the civil engineering field the fastest growing of the engineering subfields. This growth will be largely the result of increased emphasis on and need for improved and new infrastructure throughout the country.