FAQs for Professionals
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FAQs for Professionals
Balancing Professionals connects employers to professionals in
the Raleigh / Durham / Chapel Hill area who are seeking part-time
opportunities. Read our FAQs below to learn more about how
professionals can work with Balancing Professionals.
Is Balancing Professionals a fit for me?
If you answer “Yes” to all of the questions below,
you might be a good fit for our professional pool.
- Are you seeking less than full-time work (e.g. part-time or
job share) and flexibility as a chosen career path, not as a
stop-gap measure while seeking full-time opportunities?
- Do you have several years of successful, professional work
experience (college degree preferred)?
- Are you looking to work in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill
area of North Carolina?
- Is your experience in a core business area (e.g. accounting,
advertising, finance, human resources, law, marketing, project
management, public relations, purchasing, sales, training, technical
writing, or other similar areas)?
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What is my obligation to you? Do I pay you
anything?
No, professionals never pay us anything for our services (all
of our fees are paid by employers). We do ask you to provide some
preliminary information (see the “How Do I Get Started” question
for more details) and we may request a face-to-face interview at
some point.
Do you operate like a staffing agency or
executive recruiter?
Our business model is unique and not identical to a staffing agency
or an executive recruiter. Here are some unique aspects of our
business:
- When employers come to us seeking to hire part-time professionals,
they are able to access our pool of professionals to see if we
have any potential candidates who might be a fit for their team.
We do not typically go outside of our pool to actively recruit
specific candidates for a specific position. This keeps our costs
to the employer significantly lower.
- Our candidates have significant professional work experience
and positions we deal with typically require college degrees
(our typical professional has 8-10 years or more of work experience
and one or more college degrees).
- We only deal with positions that involve Alternative Work
Arrangements (also called flexible work arrangements) such as
part-time or job share situations that may or may not be combined
with telecommuting or working off-hours. We do not typically
work with people who are seeking full-time positions.
- In addition to helping employers meet their staffing needs,
we also seek to educate them about the changing workplace, helping
them identify ways they can better utilize and benefit from Alternative
Work Arrangements. They can take advantage of our Work Smart
Assessment, workshops, and other customized consulting to embark
on a more sustainable approach to human capital issues.
- We do not do clerical/administrative-type positions
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What are the steps to working with Balancing
Professionals?
How to Submit Your Information to Balancing Professionals:
Step 1: Read our Professional
FAQs.
Step 2: Create a great resume. (See our sample
skills-based resume.)
Step 3: Ask yourself the hard questions on our Getting
Started page.
Step 4: Fill out our online
questionnaire.
Step 5: Send
us your resume.
It’s that easy!
What happens once I submit my information
to Balancing Professionals?
Once you’ve completed the two steps of filling out our questionnaire
and sending us your resume, we’ll have the preliminary information
we need from you. If we need additional information from you or
if we identify a potential position for you, we will be in touch.
If we get close to a potential match, you’ll be asked to
engage in an interview with us, submit references, and sign an
additional consent form related to a criminal background check.
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If I become part of your professional pool,
what should my expectations be about getting a job?
The best thing to keep in mind is that the number of professionals
in our pool will always far exceed the number of positions employers
have asked us to work on. That is the nature of this type of business.
The difference in numbers is especially true for our particular
niche of part-time, given the fact that there is a much higher
demand for part-time on the part of professionals than on the part
of employers (it is this difference that gives rise to the need
for our business!). If you are serious about landing a job, Balancing
Professionals should be one of many places where you submit your
resume.
How will you convince employers to place
professionals in Alternative Work Arrangements?
We don’t expect employers to utilize alternative work arrangements “as
a favor” to anyone. We continuously gather information regarding
workplace trends and issues so that we can educate employers about
the good business sense of utilizing alternative work arrangements.
Research by numerous organizations shows that flexibility is the
benefit most valued by the future workforce. Many talented professionals
have voluntarily opted out of the workforce because of its inflexibility
and lack of part-time positions, some of whom are now on-ramping
back into the workforce but seeking only part-time opportunities.
Other professionals are working too many hours and seeking to scale
back. Employers who embrace Alternative Work Arrangements will
realize numerous advantages including:
- Access to a highly talented pool of professionals within budget
- Employment solutions that enable 24/7 global business
- Increased loyalty, motivation and productivity of professional
workforce
- Ability to attract and retain the next generation of premium
talent
- Reduced cost associated with turnover and workforce fluctuation
- Access to a unique pool of talent not available through traditional
hiring channels
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What is a “Skills Based” resume?
A Skills Based resume (also referred to as a Functional resume)
is a resume that is organized by your skills, not by a chronological
listing of your job history. Your resume is your most important
tool in the initial stages of your job search! Skills based resumes
are especially effective for individuals who have stepped out of
the workforce and are seeking to re-enter, as well as individuals
who are seeking to change their career direction.
Our Sample
Skills-Based Resume can be viewed here (PDF, will open
in new window).
Can you help me with my resume?
Although we do not provide resume writing as a service, you might
want to check out our “Resources for Professionals” page
for links to resources that can help you create the best possible
resume.
If I am connected with an employer, who would
I be working for and in what capacity?
It depends on the situation. We let you and the employer work
out the type of arrangement that is most suitable for the circumstances
(e.g. employer/employee or independent contractor). Note that Balancing
Professionals does not take on the role of employer (this is a
change from our previous model).
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Do I get to meet and talk to employers before
I say yes to any work?
Absolutely. We never send your resume to an employer without first
discussing a position with you and getting your approval. If the
employer is interested in your qualifications, we then schedule
a meeting between you and the employer.
If I’m hired directly by an employer,
are they likely to offer benefits?
Whether an employer is likely to offer benefits will depend on
the employer's particular policies; some employers offer benefits
for employees who work less than full-time and some don’t.
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