Will Helmlinger is VP, Human Resources for Saber Software, Inc. He joined Saber in March 2006, having been an outside HR consultant to Saber since 2000. Saber currently ranks #365 on the Inc. 500 list. In May 2007, the Portland Business Journal announced Saber as Oregon's fastest growing company. This was followed by being named #181 on Deloitte's Fast 500 in October 2007. Saber has over 570 employees with locations nationally plus off-shore operations.

He is an expert at hiring, developing and retaining top talent.He uses proven and validated assessment tools designed to improve the selection process and positively impact leadership development, employee growth, and retention.

In 1995, he co-founded Your Hire Authority(TM) with his wife Suzi, who continues to manage the consulting business. Your Hire Authority remains focused on the employee selection/recruitment process; Behavioral Solution Based Sales(TM) training; improving communications; and executive leadership/coaching. The company also developed and delivers training classes in the United States and Canada. These include: "Behavioral Interviewing Skills for Managers;" "Behavioral Solution Based Selling(TM)" and "Time Management."

Helmlinger has spoken on topics such as "Keys to Employee Retention," "Employment Trends for the Year 2001 and Beyond," "Help Me Hire Superstars," "How to Hire a Consultant/How to Hire Employees," "Attitudes and How They Relate to Success," "Why People Buy -- Getting Inside Your Customer's Head," "Getting to Yes, Faster" and "How to Get What You Want."

He has authored two books 17 Secrets to Successful Hiring and Retention and Gain the Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition, plus co-authored The Good King Syndrome with his wife and business partner, Suzi.

Helmlinger served on the curriculum committee for the UCLA Extension School. He has been published in the National Business Employment Weekly, Human Resources (Singapore), Oregon Business Magazine, Vancouver Business Journal, and National Federation of Independent Businesses on-line newsletter (NFIB.com). His regular byline "Beyond HR" appeared in High Technology Career Magazine (BrassRing) for over five years. He has been quoted in Inc. magazine, IT World Canada, Pharmacy Week, Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), and Purple Squirrel (high-tech recruiters magazine). He volunteers with Youth for Understanding Student Exchange Program and is well traveled both domestically and overseas.

He received his Master's degree in Business Management from the University of LaVerne. He received his Bachelor's degree in German at Central Missouri State University. He is also a Certified Professional Behavior and Values Analyst and is an expert in understanding human behavior, attitudes, and soft-skill competencies in the workplace.

Helmlinger had previously worked for R & B Realty Group, as their Human Resources Manager, where he played a pivotal role in opening a new, national operating division. He also worked in the Executive Recruitment Department at Union Bank and at the bank's IT/Operations Center as their Technical Recruitment Manager. Previously, he was the Employment Manager with Lloyds Bank California, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lloyds Bank Plc.

Columns

Review Your Employee Benefits

The end of the year is a great time to review the menu of benefits you offer employees. It will help you determine the ones you want to keep, add, and even toss, in the coming year.

Hiring For the Right Reasons

How to create interview questions that evaluate the soft skills you value most in a new employee.

Keeping Your "A" Team

Establishing expectations and a disciplinary process for non-performing talent can help you determine whether to keep them -- and how to get rid of them.

Ramping Up

Finding great employees these days has become more competitive. Here's a round up of resources you can use to find potential candidates, and how they work.

Performance Reviews and Employee Development

An employee evaluation or performance review process is a great way to market your company to your employee and further develop your existing talent.

Shaping Tomorrow's Leaders

A strong, consistent mentoring program can help you develop strong leaders in-house and show that your company is committed to its employees.

Laying a Foundation

Employees shouldn't be expected to hit the ground running. Use this very simple two-step process to ensure new hires start off on the right foot.

Building a Bonus Program

Having the right tools in your recruiting and re-recruiting tool chest will help you become an employer of choice for both existing employees and promising candidates.

The Making of an Employee Handbook

An employee handbook should explain more than rules. It offers you the opportunity to set expectations and communicate your company's mission and culture as well.

Re-Recruit Your Employees

While it's important to recruit new employees, it is just as important to create a process by which you're constantly re-recruiting your existing ones.

Do Your Employees Possess the Right Competencies?

Measuring soft skills in an objective manner helped a hospitality company find its perfect fit. Could it work for you?

What's in a Title?

Considering a job title from all perspectives--including from your customers', your existing employees', even your community's--will help you determine the most appropriate and meaningful job title for a new employee.

You Got Attitude!

All employees have attitudes that can positively--or negatively--affect the performance of your company. Here's how to determine what your employees' attitudes are and how to use this information to ensure they're fulfilled by--and productive in--their work.

Standing Out in the Crowd

Make your job advertisement something applicants want to read and take action on.

Building an Effective Team

Using sports teams as analogy can help you determine the star players you need on your business's team.

How Much Does Turnover Really Cost?

Calculate the real -- and hidden -- costs of employee turnover to better understand how it impacts your business's bottom line.

Assessing Talent During the Acquisition Process

Change is a given in today's business world. During a merger or acquisition, employees experience this firsthand. Here's how to assuage stress and develop a strong team during the acquisition process.

Polish Your Interview Skills

The interview process is just the first step to ensuring you hire the right candidate -- and avoid making a terrible hiring mistake.

Hiring Choice: Veteran or Rookie?

Experience counts, but so does the ability to start fresh. Each situation requires careful review.

Closing the Deal

Candidates for sales positions may show they can close the interview, but does that mean they can sell?

Behind the Smile

What personality and work behaviors lurk behind the perfect candidate's interview performance? Testing can help you find out.

Pitfalls and Pratfalls

It's not unusual to find the same hiring blunders made over and over again. Here are the most common mistakes.

Get Your Questions Straight

To find out whether a candidate is up to the job, plan your investigation in advance.

Make Hiring a Process, Not an Event

If recruitment isn't an integral part of your strategic business, you may end up holding the bag.