Work From Home: Tips and Success
Adam Palmer • November 13, 2020
A little background: I am not new to the Work From Home (WFH) life. I have worked from home for the better part of the last 6 ½ years. Almost 5 years ago, I had my first child and then this summer, during the pandemic, I had a second, which meant there were two kids at home while working. This is all to tell you that I know how rough WFH can be. But, working from home can also be fantastic if you do it right.
- Create a workspace. When I first started working from home, I worked from the couch and coffee shops. After having a child while living in a small apartment, I moved my work station to my bed. I even bought a fold-up desk and placed it next to the bed. The problem with working from your bed or the couch is that you never really get to leave work. Yes, it’s super comfy. But, the beauty of working from an office is that when you leave the office, you are more easily able to mentally leave your work behind. If you’re working from spaces that you continuously spend time at home in, it creates the problematic mental task of removing yourself from your work. Find a small corner if you have to and set yourself up there. That is your “office.”
- Leave your house. This is very important. Get up and go for a walk or to the coffee shop. Just leave. You’ll start to hate being home, especially during this pandemic, when going anywhere is difficult.
- Set ground rules with those in your household. If you follow tip 1 above, make sure that the people in your house know that when you’re working in your designated workspace, that you need to be left to work unless it is an emergency. Or a kid shit on the floor.
- Family life balance. This is trickier but let me tell you how we have handled it. If you have a partner/co-parent working from home and no childcare, set a schedule. This way, one of you gets uninterrupted work time for a couple hours or so. One or the other cannot take on all of the kid duties and still get work done during work hours. If you happen to have a more flexible job, you can, as I have, tried to work once the kids are in bed. Also, I totally do not have a 3-month-old yelling and looking at me like I don't love her right now. Why do you ask?
- If your company is traditionally in-office, overcommunicate with your boss/manager in the beginning. Everyone worries that their people will be just taking naps and binge-watching The Six Million Dollar Man. In my experience, it tends to be the opposite. When working from home, it’s harder to leave work, so I, and many other WFH counterparts I know, end up putting in a lot more hours than when in the office.
- Lastly, cut yourself some slack. Transitioning to WFH is difficult – family being around or not. Just remember to get your shit done, and you’ll be fine.
When filling academic support roles, there are two main ways institutions can approach the hiring process. They can look for people with the technical skills for the position, or they can favor those who fit more closely with the school's culture, thereby fulfilling the institutional fit. Hiring to fit each area specifically can have its benefits. Of course, if you can find someone who fits both roles, it is a major win-win. The Immediate Impact of Technical Skill Hiring people with strong technical skills has many benefits. These types of skills can be difficult to teach if people don’t already know them. Consider these perks: Reduced Training Time: An extremely tech-savvy person can start right away. They are already familiar with your software system and know how to get the job done. If you hire someone who knows what they’re doing from the start, you reduce training time and cost. Relieving Team Burnout: Hiring someone with all the technical skills the job requires can reduce team burnout. The new person can serve as a much-needed leader, reducing stress. Hard-to-Teach Competencies: Teaching specific technical skills to someone can be extremely difficult. If they know how to do these things from the start, it is a major bonus. While all of these are major benefits of hiring someone with technical skills, they may not have the soft skills to blend with the academic culture. So, for all of the technical skills they bring to the table, they may alienate themselves from the rest of the staff. Finding the Right Institutional Fit Hiring someone with the right institutional fit means this person understands the institution's unique mission, even if they do not possess all the technical skills for the job. This brings many benefits to the table. Can Navigate Difficult Areas: A candidate with high emotional intelligence (EQ) and strong cultural fit understands how to work with others and can navigate otherwise difficult areas. Mission Alignment: Having the right academic support staff is important for student retention. Hiring someone who genuinely and instantly connects with the institution’s demographics can bring something to the table that you may not be able to find on a resume. Long-Term Retention: Employees who feel a connection to an institution's mission are far more likely to stick around, reducing the costly, exhausting cycle of turnover. When you rely too heavily on the institutional fit, it can stifle innovation and creativity. These people fit so well that there may be no room for growth or new ideas. How to Get the Best of Both Worlds The reality is that hiring managers shouldn’t have to choose between the two. The goal should be to find someone with a reasonable technical background and the skills to be the right institutional fit. To achieve this goal, hiring managers should employ these strategies: Know What Type of Job Fit You’re Looking For Truly look at what the institutional fit means for this specific role. These should be necessary competencies. Use Behavioral and Scenario-Based Questions Asking the right questions will get you the right answers. Instead of asking simple yes-or-no questions, ask questions that prompt a candidate to describe a scenario. This measures their technical strategy in how they approach the answer, as well as their cultural emotional intelligence. Determine Trainability If a candidate lacks a specific technical skill but checks all the other boxes, consider their trainability factor. Have they been able to learn new skills quickly in the past? If so, this proven ability to learn can balance a temporary skill gap. The Bottom Line As you navigate hiring for institutional fit versus technical skill, remember that soft skills like empathy and resilience can be taught. With technology constantly evolving, skills must always be taught and learned. If you can find someone who believes in your mission, you can build a training program to support them. At Summit Careers, we work with candidates and academic institutions in the hiring process. Reach out to us today to learn more about how we can help you find your next career move or discover your new employee.
Hiring managers in the manufacturing field are facing a dilemma they may never have faced before. Many are wondering, do you hire for experience or for attitude? Consider this scenario: Do you hire the veteran operator with twenty years of experience but a "this is how we’ve always done it" mindset? Or do you hire the eager newcomer who doesn’t know a CNC machine from a drill press but shows up ten minutes early with a notebook in hand? While many would have quickly answered the experience, these days the tide is turning. More companies are looking beyond what a person knows. They want to look at how they learn and act. The Experience Paradox: When Knowledge Becomes a Liability Experience is extremely valuable. People need to know how to get the job done. But experience can sometimes work against some people. Someone with decades of experience may be resistant to new software, lean manufacturing pivots, or updated safety standards. They may think that they know it all, so what more do they need to learn? This attitude can hurt both the worker and the company. If someone’s experience comes with an ego and they refuse to collaborate and learn, their net value to the company often decreases. Why Attitude is Becoming More Important In manufacturing, attitude isn't just about being friendly at the water cooler. It also includes traits such as adaptability and reliability. You can teach someone how to use a new piece of equipment. You can’t teach someone how to take initiative, care about their work, or show up on time. This is all about the attitude. When you hire for attitude, you are working to maintain the retention rate. Many people are fired for their poor teamwork, refusal to follow instructions, and attendance issues. Find the Right Balance Between Attitude & Experience If you hire only for attitude and have zero experienced leads, your production will stall. The most successful manufacturing firms strive to find the right balance. Here are some ways to do this: Rewrite the Job Description: Instead of listing “5 years of experience”, emphasize a “proven track record of reliability”. This shifts the focus from experience to include attitude as well. Look to Find Out More During the Interview: Instead of asking specific questions about machinery that has been used, ask how they learn new processes. The answer to this question will tell you more about them than whether they can operate a piece of machinery. You may also want to consider a job mentorship program where new hires shadow an experienced worker. This can help those with fewer skills, but a great attitude, get more on-the-job experience. While everyone may be able to gain experience, not everyone can always maintain the right attitude. How do companies make it work? Companies need to consider stopping hiring for what people did and start hiring for what they are capable of doing. If you need help finding the right manufacturing candidates to fill your roles, Summit Careers is here to help. We have a growing list of resumes from people who want to work for you today. Contact us today to learn more!
When it comes to manufacturing work, there is much emphasis these days on the shift schedule. For plant managers and HR directors, the "standard" shift is no longer just a logistical necessity; it is a primary marketing tool for recruitment and a major way to retain employees. Let’s take a closer look at how scheduling impacts hiring and retention. The Great Debate: 8-Hour vs. 12-Hour Shifts The choice between 8-hour and 12-hour rotations is the first major decision at any facility. Both have profound impacts on who applies and who stays. The 8-Hour Traditionalist Shift Pros: Easier for workers with childcare needs or those who find 12 hours of physical labor unsustainable. It fits the traditional "three-shift" (Morning, Afternoon, Graveyard) model. Cons: Frequent handovers increase the risk of communication gaps and "passing the buck" on equipment issues. The 12-Hour Modernist Schedule Pros: Employees work roughly 182 days a year instead of 273. This "built-in" time off is a massive recruitment draw for people seeking more free time for hobbies or family. Cons: Fatigue is a real risk. By hour ten, safety incidents can spike if not managed with proper breaks and ergonomic support. Hiring in 2026: While Flexibility Matters Scheduling flexibility has jumped to a top-three priority for manufacturing applicants, trailing only wages and benefits. This has manufacturers taking a different approach. Companies are implementing shift bidding and self-scheduling. Modern workforce management (WFM) software now allows employees to: Swap shifts via mobile apps without supervisor intervention. Volunteer for overtime during peak production. Set availability to protect specific days for education or family commitments. By treating the schedule as a dynamic menu rather than something set in stone, companies are attracting a younger, more tech-savvy demographic that values autonomy. Retention: Solving the Mid-Shift Burnout Retention isn't just about the hours worked; it’s about the predictability and recovery those hours allow. High turnover often stems from the physiological and social strain of rotating schedules. Moreover, the handoff between shifts can be a silent retention killer. When a night shift feels like they are being set up for failure by the day shift, morale crumbles. 12-hour schedules mitigate this by reducing the number of handovers, fostering a "two-crew" culture of mutual accountability. The Role of "Temp-to-Hire" in Scheduling These days, many manufacturers are using temp-to-hire models as a way to test scheduling. Before a worker commits to a permanent 12-hour night rotation, a 90-day trial period lets them see whether their lifestyle truly meshes with the demands of the floor. This realistic job preview significantly reduces turnover within the first 30 days. The Bottom Line As we move further into 2026, the manufacturers that thrive will be those that view scheduling not as a math problem to be solved, but as a human-centric strategy. Whether you opt for the stability of 8-hour shifts or the lifestyle benefits of 12-hour shifts, the goal is to maintain high productivity while reducing the revolving door. If you need help finding manufacturing workers , Summit Careers is here to help. We receive resumes daily from people looking to find their next career. Reach out to us today to learn more.
