Client Resources - Portfolio Creative

Flexibility Will Keep the Best Employees and Attracts New Talent

August 26, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline What was once a business perk is now the way we are all doing business. Employees are working remotely due to COVID-19 and according to this Smart Business Trends survey, 57% wanted to keep working remotely, 48% felt that they were more productive working from home, and more companies are embracing this idea because it works. This means that when it comes to your current employees returning, and your next new hire, flexibility will be a factor in order to find and keep the best talent. Just

Employment Law: The 2020 Coronavirus Edition

August 13, 2020

By Kristen Harris Like previous years, we recently attended the American Staffing Association’s Staffing Law Conference to stay on top of laws and legislative issues related to hiring, employment, and human resources management. Of course, this year was like no other. The conference was virtual, but the content was as useful as ever. With many of the topics focused on current concerns related to COVID-19, we’re providing a quick overview of the top issues that may concern our clients. Please keep in mind that we are not attorneys and are

Does Your Business Need To Pivot or Restructure?

August 4, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline All of the businesses that grew up along with us have seen a number of challenging local, national, and international events that have affected our businesses. Now, we as entrepreneurs and owners, have a challenge in front of us that means we may have to change how we do business entirely. A pandemic, a shut down, an overall lack of desire to do business causes us to wonder what our next step is. What can we do to grow our business or even stay in business? As

Continue to Grow with Virtual Employees

July 28, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline We are in the second half of 2020 and it seems that we are going to have COVID-19 for longer than we expected, meaning, we still have a lot of people working virtually. For some companies, working virtually has been a whole new adventure. For others, it hasn’t been challenging at all. Working virtually is not new to us. Creative people have been freelancing and contracting for years now. Kristen Harris and I have had Portfolio Creative for 15 years and this is the first year the

Keep Up The March

July 22, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline When we started this business we had no idea how naive we were. That is really how it is supposed to be though, right? You start a new chapter in your book of life and it is all new and exciting. Back in 2005, we knew marketing and we knew people so what else could you possibly need to know? Well… Finance Human resources Networking Websites Phone systems You get the idea, but what about RECESSION and HUMAN RIGHTS and PANDEMIC and everything that goes along with

Remote Networking: An Introvert’s Dream?

July 8, 2020

By Kristen Harris I’ve written past articles about networking, especially as an introvert. I don’t love big events, lots of hand-shaking, or blanketing a room with my business card. Since we’re doing a lot of working from home and most events have been canceled or postponed for the near future, you’d think this would be an introvert’s dream, right? Yes and no. Funny enough, I miss people! I’ve never loved a huge ballroom full of strangers, but I do like connecting with people one-on-one or in small groups. Right now

Inclusion: Stop Hiring for Culture Fit and Start Hiring for Values

July 6, 2020

By Kristen Harris We hear this all the time–“we hire for culture fit,” “not sure that person is a culture fit,” “we’re looking for someone who fits our culture.” I’ve personally said that phrase an endless amount of times. Finding a “culture fit” for your team has seemed to be the holy grail…”this person has all the right skills AND they’re a culture fit.” It’s shorthand for the ideal team member, or is it? Whatever your culture is, this person will embrace and perpetuate it, which sounds great. Except we’re

Networking in a Time When No One Wants to Hear Your Sales Pitch

June 18, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline If you have been in business for at least 15 years like us, or maybe even longer, you know that networking looks very different today. Today, it is completely different because of a world-wide pandemic and during a pandemic, no one wants to be sold to. What worked then doesn’t always work now and that leaves us with trying to reinvent a new way to network. So how does one continue to network when every in-person meeting, event, and convention has been canceled? Let’s start with the

Always Keep Hiring

June 16, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline We have heard a lot of inspirational quotes for business to keep things moving. Quotes to remind us that we always need to be selling, always be prospecting, or the most famous quote from Blake in Glengarry Glen Ross, “A-B-C. Always Be Closing.” But what about always be hiring? Very true that closing deals is the way to build profit in a business, but that starts with having a great team. Good people are hard to find so it is best done with a strategy and with

How To Find Diverse Candidates for Your Team

June 4, 2020

By Catherine Lang-Cline A bright light is being shined on long-standing disparity and inequity in our communities. We truly believe that work opportunities are an important piece of this very complex puzzle. MIT engineers did a study that racially diverse teams outperform non-diverse teams by 35%. They found that having different types of people on the same team can help others look at problems differently, be more innovative, more creative, and inclusive in their problem-solving. So what is holding you back? Think that the team won’t mesh? Most employees would

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