The 1 thing that is critical to know before taking a new job

Interview your interviewer

Most employees think they are getting interviewed for a job.  It never dawns on them that they should be interviewing the company they are considering for employment as well.

Find an Employer Who Will Invest in You

Most people don't think about what their job means.  Think about it.  Where is the one place you spend most of your time?  It's probably a tie between with your friends and family and at your job.

You invest your time for a paycheck.  But what else should you get out of the time you spend working?  Experience?  Sure.  Shouldn't you get something more though?  After two years with an employer, should you be the same person as when you started?

If you are, your employer isn't doing you any favors.  Often, employers see employees as just workers, not a valuable asset.  How do you see yourself?  How does your family see you? Can you be replaced without any thought or are you valuable?

If you see yourself as valuable, look for employers who think the same way as you.  After two years of employment, you should not be the same employee as when you started.

Recently, Harlan opened its Workplace Simulation to help prospective employees identify a role they will love.  Instead of taking the traditional approach of simply describing a job, we allow future Food Manufacturing Professionals the opportunity to experience a variety of roles and select the one they feel is best for them.

Harlan's innovative approach has proven very successful.  Since the simulation opened, new employee retention and satisfaction is up significantly.  Take a look at Harlan's workplace simulation here.

5 tips to identify employers who will invest in you

  1. Make sure the employer is willing to show you exactly what the work environment is like.
  2. Make sure that the employer help you match your interests with different types of work.
  3. Make sure the employer provides you pro-active support and resources that extend beyond the first day or week.
  4. Make sure the employer provides you in-depth and on-going training that has some form of certification or certificate of completion.
  5. Make sure the employer can clearly outline to you the advancement and/or promotion path and can validate to you that the path is real.

Let's break these 5 tips down

Make sure the employer is willing to show you exactly what the work environment is like.  While you are interviewing for a job, you have to do that job somewhere.  What is that 'somewhere' like?  Some questions to consider:

Job candidate participating in simulation activity

Harlan job candidate participating in a simulation activity

Make sure that the employer help you match your interests with different types of work.  There is more to a job than what's in a job description.  Let's use a job we have open as an example.  Quality Assurance Technician. Here are 3 of the job responsibilities:

If you don't like technology, are not good at concentrating for extended periods of time, are not super-detail oriented and are not naturally curious, you won't like this job.  At least not for long.  But these things are not always in the job description.  So the only way to find out if you will like it is to experience what it is like first hand.  By simulating what the job is like and what the environment is like, you get a really good idea if it is a good fit for you.  So invest in interviewing employers who provide you this opportunity!

Bake Line Simulation

Harlan's Bake Line Simulation Area

 

Harlan's Bake Line

One of Harlan's actual bake lines

Make sure the employer provides you pro-active support and resources that extend beyond the first day or week.  Most employers have an 'on-boarding process'.  Often, this can last a day or a week.  After that, well, you are on your own to figure it all out, which can often be difficult and sometimes frustrating.  Invest in interviewing employers who have a solid mentorship program that lasts at least 2-3 months.

Master CFP Mentor

Harlan Mentors are both knowledgeable and fun to be around

 

Harlan Mentor

One of Harlan's Master-Level certified mentors

Some questions you might want to consider asking the employer:

Make sure the employer provides you in-depth and on-going training that has some form of certification or certificate of completion.  If you have ever played a video game, you know that the better you get at the game, you advance upward and often collect badges which recognize your achievement.  The same should hold true with your job.  After two years with your employer,  have you moved up based on mastering certain skills and activities?  Did you get any additional or advanced training as part of your employment?  Did you receive any certifications?  Ask these questions when you are interviewing your next employer!

Make sure the employer can clearly outline to you the advancement and/or promotion path and can validate to you that the path is real.   The best way to explain this is to outline what we do here at Harlan.

Our SAFE program, which stands for Standards Based, Accountability Driven, Food Excellence, has several certifications within it.  Every employee goes through the process and is required to achieve 2 of the 3 certifications.  Once the employee achieves the second certification, they are eligible for advancement and promotion.  This can happen within the first year of employment!  If you chose to interview with us, make sure to ask about our certification programs.

We've created a video that helps to bring some of the things we have touched on here to life.  Our goal is to help you find a place you can build a meaningful career, not just find a job.  Jobs are plentiful.  Opportunities to grow and advance from that job require a little more effort on your part.

If growing and advancing is important to you, please use this information as a guide and if you are interested in joining Harlan, simply click here.

Finding a job you love can be a guessing game

Let's face it.  Today, if you want to find a new job, it's pretty easy.  Just drive down the highway or city street for 10 minutes and you'll see 'NOW HIRING!'  billboards and signs everywhere.

Interviews can be informative for the employer but not always for the prospective employee

Most employers have to offer competitive wages and benefits if they want to have a chance at attracting potential employees.  If you are a job seeker, you have lots of options right now.

So which one is best for you?

When you go to an interview, how honest is that employer going to be about what that job is really like and what task it really includes?  Think about your last job interview.  Did the person interviewing you really work to match your interests with a job description or did you just interview for a generic open job?

Harlan believes that it is important for our job candidates to know exactly what a Food Manufacturing facility is like and what a Food Manufacturing Professional is responsible for doing day to day.

Harlan Work Place Simulation Station 5. Bake Line. Notice that not only are the tasks outlined but what a prospective employee should consider.

Why is this so important? 

Because food manufacturing isn't a distribution job.  It isn't a services job.  Harlan approaches getting started very differently that most other companies.  This is because our employees are required to become Certified Food Professionals through the training Harlan provides.

Why do does Harlan do this?

Because 1 out of 10 Americans have had a food product made by our Food Professionals.  Feeding America's families is a very important responsibility.

To ensure we consistently deliver on our promise of Safe, Quality Food, Harlan attracts the highest quality candidates who are looking for a work place they can stay for 10+ years instead of just a few months.  We take our role and duties as Food Manufacturing Professionals very seriously.

By the way, over 21% of our Food Manufacturing Professionals have been with Harlan for 10 or more years and many of our supervisors and managers started out in entry level positions!

One 9 different stations in Harlan's Workplace Simulation-plenty of different options to try!

To help attract the right candidates Harlan has opened its Workplace Simulation Center to help job applicants understand what it is like to work as a Food Manufacturing Professional and to help them find a role they will love and can excel in.  We built our work place simulation so prospective employees who are unfamiliar with our industry can experience it all first hand BEFORE they sign on.  Our simulation also helps job candidates determine what role is most interesting and will help to fast track employees for growth and advancement.

A prospective employee trying out one of several hands-on tasks at the Simulation's Warehousing Station.

After all, we know that if you have doubts on day one, you won't stay.  We also know that if you don't love what you do, you won't can't build the foundation for a solid professional career.  To help bring this to life, in this Workplace Simulation image, you see a prospective employee trying a task in a specific department she doesn't have much interest in.  Instead, she was able to try other tasks in other departments and found something she loved to do and was passionate about!

Lots of job advertising talks about careers right now, however, few companies actually are investing in providing the tools needed for employees to love their jobs and to excel.  A great career can begin with a solid job but it also requires access to training, learning, growing, more responsibility, advancement and access to better benefits and pay.  Great careers are the by-product of employers and employees working together as a team.

If you are looking for more than you are currently finding, then come visit Harlan.  You'll quickly experience the difference just like our most recent hire, Omo.

Oma's search for a role she loved ended at Station 6, Packaging in Harlan's Workplace Simulation.

"The Harlan Workplace Simulation gave me the opportunity to try different things and find something I can do very well.  This was the only employer I have interviewed with that cares about helping me find something I want to do.   I can't wait to start.  I am going to be a Food Professional!"

Get started today on YOUR journey to become a Harlan Food Manufacturing Professional by clicking here to schedule your interview and Work Place Simulation visit.

Why a Signature Career at Harlan might be for you.

Food is life and the Food Professionals at Harlan help to feed 1 in 10 people in America.  Having a valuable mission and purpose in your life can be as important as a good paycheck. Actually, wouldn't both be nice?

Think about it.  When you go out with your family or friends to a popular restaurant and when the delicious breadsticks are delivered to your table, how would you feel when you say to those sitting around the table, "Hey, I made that".  How about when you go through the drive thru and in the bag you open are products you have made or as you walk through the isle in the grocery store, you see products that you helped make be put into shopping carts.

Being proud of what you do really comes to life with these examples, doesn't it?

Food Manufacturing isn't for everyone.  We are looking for people committed to more than just showing up for a job.  We are looking for professionals that want more out of life and seek real upward mobility.

We'd like to share our company Newsletter, 'The Dish' with you so you get a feel of what we are about.  We are a family owned company that has been in business for 30 years.  Our jobs are not seasonal and we want to work along side other professionals that are seeking stability and are willing to invest in themselves in order to move up into more pay, more responsibility and authority in their roles.

Take a look at the latest issue of The Dish.  If you like what you see, set up an interview here or simply visit us in Avon, Indiana during the week to participate in our open interviews.

Either way, we would love to meet you!

 

The Dish_No.2_July 21_FINAL

Begin your career as a Harlan Food Professional today!

Our career opportunities are diverse and provide competitive pay and benefits!

There are four simple steps involved in becoming a Certified Food Professional.

  1. Click here to apply for a new career as a Food Professional.
  2. Schedule and successfully complete your new career interview
  3. Successfully complete your 1 day on-boarding process.  Click here to follow a recent New Hire Class through the Harlan On-Boarding Process
  4. Successfully complete your New Hire & Apprentice Food Professional training

We need you to make the decision and take the action to begin your journey to career growth.  Together, we will successfully  help you achieve your goal to become a Certified Food Professional!

Here are some frequently asked questions which will help you in deciding whether a new career as a Food Professional is for you.

Q: What are the certifications Harlan offers?

A:  The most common is the Harlan CFP certification.  To be eligible for the CFP Certification, team members must first complete the AFP process.

AFP stands for Apprentice Food Professional.  This phase lasts 90 days from completing the on-boarding and initial training process.  During your AFP training period, you will learn the basics of your role and tasks as well as the foundational elements for both product quality, communication, safety.  During this time, you will undergo how the team you are assigned to works as well as the production line or team you are affiliated with.  At the end of your apprenticeship, you will take a certification test and graduate to your CFP (Certified Food Professional) training period.

Your CFP or Certified Food Professional training period will last approximately 8 weeks.  During this time, you will learn detailed information on how to fully master and excel in your role.  You will also learn, and commit to memory, every aspect of manufacturing and plant safety.  You will master and commit to memory every aspect associated with product manufacturing quality.

Harlan is the only food manufacturer to offer this certification to employees.

As part of this process, you will be taught more advanced communication and team collaboration techniques.  During your CFP training process, all of these advanced skill will be put to practice as well.  During this time period you will be scored by your supervisor as well as complete training and testing modules through our learning management system.

As your CFP training period concludes, you will take a final test and graduate to CFP (Certified Food Professional).

Q: What level of certification makes the most sense for me?

A: All employees must fall within one of three groups- New Hire Trainees, Apprentice Food Professional or Certified Food Professional.  As your career advances, you will have the opportunity to also graduate to higher CFP levels.  The below chart breaks down the different levels which include Several CFP Levels based on role and responsibility as well as Master CFP Options based on skill and expertise gained on the job.

Q: How will an AFP/CFP certification help in my career progression within Harlan?

A: Like many advanced certifications or degrees, having the CFP designation indicates to the industry that you have mastered specific best-practices as well as meet and/or exceed industry accepted standards and practices.  As your CFP Certifications expand, so does upward mobility!

Q: What are the eligibility requirements for the AFP/CFP certifications?

A: First, you must be a legal resident of the country in which the Harlan facility you are applying to resides (i.e. United States or Canada).  You must have proficiency in speaking, reading and understand the English language.  English is our language for quality and safety.

Second, you must successfully complete your New Hire period.  This means showing up for work on time and each day.  During your New Hire period, you will be assigned a Harlan Food Professional Mentor.  Engaging with and learning from your mentor is also a requirement to be eligible for moving from New Hire to AFP and from AFP to CFP.

Q: How do I keep my certification valid?

A: Each manufacturing line must meet certain defined performance criteria, including that team members all being in good standing.  This means all employees tied to a specific team (such as maintenance, shipping, etc.) or a specific manufacturing line must be in good standing as a New Hire, AFP or CFP.  Also, each team and line must successfully complete and pass on-going audits.  If all Food Professionals are in good standing and their team or line passes the audits, they achieve Center of Excellence certification.

Also, each CFP must re-certify for their CFP status annually.  Certification remains valid as long as they successfully re-certify and their team or line have an active COE status.  Not passing your CFP re-certification or your team/line's inability to regain a lost COE status will invalidate the CFP status of team members affiliated with that team or production line.

At Harlan, excellence in attitude and performance is rewarded.

 

What do Harlan benefits look like?

Harlan offers competitive benefits for all its Food Professionals.  These include:

Details on these benefits are outlined to you during the interview process.  We look forward to you getting started on your Food Professional Journey so apply today!  Click here to get started now!