EMinfo.comEMinfo.comJanuary 2016 Vol. 8 Issue 91

Pat TurnerEditor

Check out eminfo.com for more articles, issues and resources!

Features trends & “hot topics” for staffing and recruiting professionals.

Letter From The EditorIt’s a New Year.... a perfect time to reflect and strategize to move your company forward. January is the time of year many set new goals. We are all bombarded with ads to join the gym, lose weight, improve skills, or buy this or that to simply do more better. What you choose can make a huge difference in the way the entire year goes. It’s important to understand what small changes you can make that will lead to bigger results. Do not overload your goals so that you reach burnout too soon and give up on success. Stay the course.

We look for opportunities and make decisions that affect our lives and those around us. Deciding on whether to hire new employees, add offices and/or simply analyze what we did last year, what worked and what didn’t, are all good starting points. Where will you spend your money to grow? Several authors in this issue lend their advice on how to analyze your company and move forward.

We hope you enjoyed attending and networking at local, state and national conferences this past year. Looking back thru these conferences, digging out notes taken from keynotes and speaker sessions, is great way to find an idea to implement. We invite you to check out the many articles we’ve posted online at www.eminfo.com. We are sure you will find some great advice!

The key is to implement some change that will propel you forward. Again, you don’t need to change everything or do it all at once. Establish reasonable goals and then follow the right path to acheive them.

We wish everyone a joyous and prosperous new year.

Happy Recruiting…

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In Every Issue

4 Growing Companies

5 Recruiting Around the World

6 Ask Coach Mike

8 Owners Outlook

15 News Releases

Contents10 The Over-Sharing World and the Workplace

11 2015 Conferences in Review 12 It’s hard to recruit...when your reputation sucks.

14 THE HATEFUL LOVE OF RECRUITERS

16 Hiring All-Stars Through 4 Disciplined Processes

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Staffing Spotlights Jamie Schwartz is a 20 year veteran in the staffing and placement industry. He entered the staffing/recruiting industry in a more atypical way. Having completed his MBA, he began seeking

employment opportunities in small/mid-size companies. He landed at a well-established NYC-based staffing firm owned by 3 individuals with a clear exit strategy. Subsequent to being acquired, the leadership team acquired 18 more staffing firms. As the National Vice President, and ultimately the Executive Vice President & COO, Jamie was responsible for integrating and then managing the day-to-day aspects of what had become a national, publicly-traded staffing firm with sales in excess of $350 million annually. He eventually grew tired of the corporate life and sought a more entrepreneurial setting.

Elsa Duty

Owns Recruiting Services International, ltd, a firm founded in 1970. owned with business partner/husband Roman Duty Specializing in highly technical search; engineering, science/R&D, manufacturing, C-level, across various industries not limited to medical/life sciences, automotive, aerospace/defense, semiconductor, and various other niche markets. She is also on the Board of Directors for NPA Worldwide,

Harriett Sawyer

She has spent over 30 years of working with companies to assist them with their staffing challenges with the last 28 of those years having been in the Middle Tennessee business community. After 18 years with a

global leader in the staffing industry, she had the opportunity to learn executive search practices through one of Tennessee’s most successful regional companies.

Harriett formed her own company to build on her experiences in recruitment, to utilize the network of contacts she had made through the years where she had served as a resource to both

companies and individuals. As a Generalist Recruiter, she serve Middle Tennessee companies in their searches for management, up through executive-level positions primarily in the healthcare industry.

She joined the TRA Board of Trustees as Secretary, serving two terms in that role before becoming the President.

Mike Novakoski is Chairman, President and CEO of Elzinga & Volkers Construction Professionals (E&V) Novakoski is responsible for promoting the firm’s vision, executing strategic objectives, and maintaining a team and culture that has been nationally recognized. Headquartered in Holland, Michigan, E&V specializes in delivering the highest quality construction management and consulting services in more than 20 states and to a wide variety of industries, including senior living, healthcare, manufacturing and food processing.

Novakoski has earned accreditations and certificates in the following areas: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional, ASHE – Health Care Construction Project Management Certification, Certified Professional Constructor, American Institute of Constructors, 40-hour MIOSHA Training Certification, 10 and 30 Hour OHSA Training, Asbestos Awareness Certification, Arizona Building Contractor License, and Michigan Builder’s License.

Novakoski holds an MBA in finance from Grand Valley State University and a BS in construction management from Ferris State University.

Christine Hoffman-Hicks

Hicks Staff Smart, Inc. was formed in Dec. 2007 and launched on Jan. 4, 2008 (the same week the financial markets collapsed). Christine worked as an Account Executive for an international IT staffing company for 9 years before deciding to go out on her own.

One of the biggest achievements for her was having launched on Jan 4, 2008, the same week of the financial meltdown. Their sales have doubled

She once said, “So many people have touched my life; so many people have, I am sure, touched your lives - because we do have the same goals - we love to help people, and each of you truly have an effect on individuals’ lives because they not only depend on you, but you do provide for them to change life-long careers.” Her favorite quote in the business world was, “persistence pays.” She truly believed that persistence truly makes a difference.

She traveled to many different cities across the U.S. where IPA & NISA held events and meetings. Elaine always encouraged members to keep reaching out and learn new technologies.

In memory of Elaine Romberg…

December 3, 1937 - October 11, 2015

year over year since they launched. Christine attributes the success to the strong relationships they cherish with our customers and candidates. Her relentless drive and tireless work ethic also help.

Linda-Miller Gerz

Linda started with Management Recruiters in September 1988 specializing in Food & Beverage manufacturing. Linda is deeply connected to the industry on a daily basis, speaking to numerous executives and senior managers each week discussing their goals, challenges and objectives. Partnered

with Todd Keller in running MRI Lancaster in Lancaster, PA a part of the MRINetwork. Her dedication to the Food & Beverage marketplace gives her the ability to fully understand a client’s needs and to develop true partnerships.

A Year in Review...

3EMinfoJan 16

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let our experts be YOUR EXPERTS

THE CHIEF OF STAFF Your trusted advisor for expert resources.

Meet Julie Ann. Julie Ann is Tricom’s President and CEO. Like a true “Chief of Staff,” you can depend on Julie Ann to be a trusted advisor, problem solver, and go-to person whenever you have a question, challenge, or opportunity. She makes sure you have the right resources —

and the right experts — ready to help you whenever you need it.

And when we say “experts,” we mean people who have specialized degrees and certifications in their fields, many of whom have worked in the industry for years. They’re all focused on helping your business succeed.

Did You know?

* Your risk is the equity you have in the business which is your retained earnings plus whatever capital contribution was made. For many companies the retained earnings portion is the larger portion. pg 4

*The competitive nature of everything we do in our personal lives and business ventures can create doubt and uncertainty. pg 5

* Metrics must be tracked in a format and location where you as the owner and manager can review them. Where you track them is not as important as the actual habit of everyone in your office realizing the importance of tracking individual stats and metrics. pg 9

*The biggest thing to keep in mind while working with millennials is that they respond best when working with someone whom they trust, respect and feel like they can talk to. Being approachable is important, being their boss shouldn’t mean being an authority figure, but rather looked to as a mentor and a role model. pg 10

*It doesn’t matter if you’re the most reliable, ethical, hardest-working team in the business, you still suffer from the damage the weakest players have done to our industry’s reputation. pg 12

Do you know someone who deserved to be spotlighted? Proud of your company’s accomplishments? Tell us about it! We love promoting people and companies. Email us at Tiffany@eminfo.com and tell us your story!

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Houston, TX 77057

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Growing CompaniesStaffing

Recruiting

Small

Midsized

Growing Companies

Mike Neidle is President of Optimal Management Inc. started in 1994 see (www.optimal-mgt.com, LinkedIn Michael Neidle or call 650-655-2190, mentoring staffing owners and managers to maximize sales, profits and company value. He was Senior, Executive VP for 2 national staffing firms; CEO, CFO, Director of Planning/M&A and Marketing Director from start-ups to Fortune 500 Corporations. He has an MBA and an engineering undergraduate.

RETAINED EARNINGS

After a long holiday period when most people put business thoughts on the back burner, it’s time to get back to work again. With that in mind let’s gets a conversation going on retained earnings; that is, what it is and what is it good for.

What Is Retained Earnings? Retained earnings is of course the amount of profit you have accumulated in the business and not distributed to the shareholders. It is the sum of how much money you have made since the company was started and not taken out in the form of dividends. It may sound like a boring concept that only your CPA should be interested in, but has some rather important ramifications for the way you can operate going forward. At today’s historically low interest rates, it is a good idea to borrow assuming that your rate of return is decent and you can then finance your growth with cheap money.

What is it good for? Retained earnings allow you to borrow money from the bank. The bank is interested in their degree of risk in lending money which is called debt. One of the ways they measure their risk is how much risk you are taking relative to them taking, i.e. their debt. Your risk is the equity you have in the business which is your retained earnings plus whatever capital contribution was made. For many companies the retained earnings portion is the larger portion. This is known as the debt to equity ratio. If you have a negligible amount of equity and you are asking for the bank to carry the lion’s share of risk it is not likely you will get the loan. Although this ratio varies from industry to industry, and loan restrictions are tighter then before, most banks are looking to take on no more then a 2:1 ratio; that is where they loan $2 for every one $1 in equity, industry ranges go from 0.5 to well above 2, although there are many factors to getting a loan and you would do well to check with your bank to determine what kind of D/E ratio and other conditions that they want in order to grant you a loan and then shop around to determine your best option.

Retained earnings also gives you the ability to use your internal cash to finance growth and shore up existing operations without relying on borrowing more then you would like. Say for example that you would like to use your line of credit to finance higher accounts receivable as many companies do. You can then use a combination of your current profits and your retained earnings for other things, such as: open new offices, hiring staff, increase fixed cost, buy equipment, increase inventory and supplies, etc.

TFI Resources / 1616 S. Voss, Suite 700 / Houston, TX 77057 / 800.701.4014 / 713.975.7576

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Split Placement Story:

When Trading Partners Work TogetherBy Sarah Gawrys

Adding split placements to your business model is a strategic business move that can add significant revenue. So why is everyone not doing it? Change is scary. It is often intimidating to put yourself out there when you are unsure of who and what you will encounter. You may find other recruiters that have the same clients, have better relationships with “your” candidates, and are located in your same geographic market. The competitive nature of everything we do in our personal lives and business ventures can create doubt and uncertainty. It is amazing that our worst fears are often never realized.

Consider this split placement story where the result far exceeded the fear:

An NPAworldwide member in Massachusetts that worked only retail felt he had an advantage as there were no other members in the network working his industry. He was a go getter and if he had IT jobs for a large retail company he would call the members in the IT Trading Group and ask for help. At the time, he was one of the top performers in the network.

A second retail focused recruiting agency applied for membership, and the existing member reacted with fear and concern about “a competitor” joining his network. He knew the firms shared many of the same clients. The new member was approved and the go getter was asked to give the new member a call. I’m sure that call was not easy and I am sure there was some fear and concern racing through the mind of our long-time member.

A few weeks later the long-time member called with good news. He reported that he had approached this change with more negative energy and fear than was appropriate. As it turned out the firms did have many of the same clients but different job openings. They both had several other clients with no common connection. That year they completed 10 split placements and found that working cooperatively they filled the jobs faster and provided better results for the clients they did not have in common.

The moral of the story is that your worst fears are often not realized. Sometimes the thing you view as a competitor is actually a partner in disguise. Partnering can lead to more opportunities, better client service, and a positive financial return. Think outside of the box and avoid negative thinking. You may be missing revenue that is easily within reach. r

Recruiting Around the World

Bigger Together.Better Together.

Learn More:inquire@npaworldwide.com

+1 616 871-3327

• Make split placements with 500+ firms across 6 continents

• Get connected locally, regionally, and internationally

• Increase your revenue

Editor’s Note: Sarah Gawrys is the Director of Membership for the NPAworldwide Recruitment Network. She is responsible for growing membership with the top executive search firms globally.

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Ask Coach Mike

Coach Mike:

In regards to cold calling hiring managers to gain new search assignments, I find I struggle when I have an actual live person on the phone. However, when I receive their voicemail, I’m not certain what to say and I feel I’m all over the place and inconsistent. And I’m concerned that the messages I’m leaving leave the wrong impression. What is your perspective on messages when prospecting for new

businesses? Should I ideally leave a message at all? Could you provide me with some best practices examples?

Cori from Pittsburgh, PA

Dear Cori:

Leaving an MPC voicemail is something I like to do after a couple of email attempts, individually, to a hiring manager. So, “Dear Cori…in a recent engaged search I uncovered an individual”--let’s say I’m marketing a salesperson—“that was 127.5% on quota last year with 82% new business development. This person did this, this, this, and this. This is the type of individual that if you are looking to expand your market, will require little or no effort as he thrives on business development. Looking at your calendar, when is a good time to talk about this candidate in more detail?”--NOT “Are you interested? Let me know if you are interested.” I have then had some clients that have used a tool called Timetrade (www.timetrade.com), and you can say, “Access my schedule here to talk about this candidate in more detail.” You can have 15 minute call blocks set up for these types of calls. Or you can just say, if you do not want to do that, “Let me know what time is good to talk about this in more detail.”

You are going to get a few types of response. The rare response will be “Can you call me today at 10?” The other response could be “Where is this person based? What do they make? Can you send me a resume?” You do not want to answer all those because you are going to get into an email dialogue where you cannot build rapport. You can email back saying “Great questions, happy to talk to you about this candidate in more detail. Looking at your calendar, when is a good time to talk?”

My favorite technique was having a weak director, manager, VP, C-level search. When I say “weak” maybe it is one of those 15%, 6 month, one-year money back guarantee, half the world’s working on it type of job order. However, it’s a valid reason to call someone. So, I would call VP’s and say, “I have recently been engaged in a project, Mr. VP or Ms. VP, and I have no idea what your current

7EMinfoJan 16

career situation is. Just thought I would talk to you quietly and confidentially about an opportunity that could be potentially stronger than your current assignment. What are your thoughts on that?”

Now, engaged means I agreed to the 15% and the one year money back guarantee. Maybe I just did it verbally. Engaged means hired. The perception is retained and I will let them live with that perception bluntly. You get into a really eloquent conversation for five to seven minutes about them and their career desires first. Most candidates are not interested in your assignment because they are happy. With those candidates I actually do not want to push them to where they are unhappy. And then I talk to them about something that transitions the call and say, “Sounds like things are going pretty well there?” And I will get them to talk about all the things that make them happy and satisfied with their current company. Next I say “Sounds like the timing of my call isn’t good for you right now,”—that is a good transition and inflection point. “Unlike a lot of the recruiters that place VPs of Sales,”--VPs of Engineering or whatever it is—“I also build the teams underneath them. As a matter of fact, our firm does not find the $20,000-25,000 fees associated with those levels insulting, like a lot of the other retained firms do. And my question to you, Mr./Ms. Hiring Manager is, ‘What do I have to do to earn the right to help you build your team?’”

Now you have two specific techniques you can use specifically to consistently market and get new clients!

Bonus Video Series: Visit www.TheRecruiterU.com to get a FREE video series delivered instantly to Your PC or mobile device to Grow your Solo Recruiting Revenues and/or Grow Your Recruiting Firm to an 8 Figure level. This is a completely new series developed in 2014.

FREE BONUS: Would you like to see how your recruiting firm or where you as a Solo/Independent Recruiter stack up? Email us at info@theRecruiterU.com for our BRAND NEW 16 POINT RECRUITING FIRM SYSTEMS CHECKLIST. In this industry first checklist we share the systems and strategies of the most forward thinking recruiting firms with you. You can do a quick “self-audit” to see where you stand with suggested areas of improvement!

8 EMinfoJan 16

Owners Outlook

Owner’s Outlook

Barb Bruno, CPC, CTS is recognized as a guru in our Profession who stands for “responsible recruiting.”Obtain a bi-weekly FREE training article from Barb by going to www.goodasgoldtraining.com and signingup for her NO BS Newsletter today!

One of the most important decisions you make is who works for you and what areas of responsibility will allow them to excel. It’s important that you do not have your business on your back, but teach others what you know. You need to review your team to see if it is time to rebuild or upgrade.

Time To Rebuild:

• Economy is improving

• Current team not able to handle the volume of contracts, orders or assignments

• You add a new segment to your current business model temp, contract or direct

• You add a new niche or area of specialization

• You lose members of your sales team

• You downsized and now need to add people to your team

Time To Upgrade:

• Team is not attaining goals set

• Team is not hitting minimum performance standards

• Sales and profits are not consistently increasing

• You have an attitude or morale issue causing conflict

• You’re thinking about firing someone on your team

• Feedback from clients and candidates needs to be improved

• Individuals on your team are not aligned with your culture or values

Difficult Decisions You Must Make

You are not in business to provide jobs for your employees; you are in business to make a profit. You must always keep that goal as your top priority. As harsh as this may sound, everyone who works for you is a temp. If a better opportunity crossed their desk, they might consider it and resign. That is why you must become proficient at rebuilding your sales team. Reality is most people in your office will not retire from your firm.

The employees who quit and stay can literally suck the oxygen out of the office. If you’ve ever wondered when to terminate an employee,

TEAM REVIEW AND METRICS

9EMinfoJan 16

it is when you start to ask yourself if you should fire this individual. Now it’s not a matter of if but when. You lose respect from the rest of your sales team because they know their co-worker is not meeting minimum standards.

THE IMPORTANCE OF MAKING DECISIONS BASED ON NUMBERS

If you are not tracking metrics, you have no way to measure current success or problem areas of growth. What you don’t measure – doesn’t count! Tracking metrics takes the emotion out of the sometimes difficult decisions you must make as an entrepreneur.

Once you know the stats and ratios of everyone on your sales team you can eliminate slumps once and for all. It truly takes the mystery out of where your team needs to focus. They now know the exact results they must achieve each day to attain their goals. It’s not about the number of calls they make, but rather the results they achieve.

Measurement of activities in sales provides feedback to:

• Set standards for activities that lead to desired sales results

• Measure the activities at different parts of the sales process

• Make adjustments to areas of activities that need improvement

• Measure against the new results and then the process is repeated

There are certain ratios and statistics that are critical to measure in order to determine the exact results needed each day by the individuals on your sales team.

Those ratios include:

• Recruiting Calls to Hit

• Hit to Interview

• Interview to Send-Out or Interview to Submittal (Contract/Temp)

• Send-Out to Placement or Fill (most important number to track)E PRO-CESS:

• Marketing Calls to Job Orders, Contracts or Temp Assignments

• Presentation to Send-Out

• Job Orders, Contracts or Temp Assignments to Fill

What never changes is the importance of how to discover what is critical to measure as it relates to sales activities and sales results. Tracking metrics are as important as planning and must be tracked daily in order for them to be accurate. The sooner tracking metrics becomes a daily activity, the sooner you and your team will enjoy consistent production.

WHERE SHOULD YOU TRACK THEM?

Metrics must be tracked in a format and location where you as the owner and manager can review them. Where you track them is not as important as the actual habit of everyone in your office realizing the importance of tracking individual stats and metrics.

It’s important that everyone realizes the WIIFM (What’s In It For Me) and the benefits of tracking their numbers. The process of tracking stats must

be simple if someone is going to consistently track their numbers. Your reaction and review of the stats will to a great extent impact whether your team tracks their stats or not.

The statement, “What gets measured, gets focused on” is true. You measure to understand, learn, grow and succeed. You measure for warning signs of slumps, but also to identify who is doing a great job. By measuring and setting minimum standards, you can identify methods for improvement. Without measuring stats and ratios the ability to prosper and grow can appear to be intangible and complex.

By setting individual minimum result standards, it becomes easier to clearly express measurable expectations. Once your sales team understands the results they need to achieve their income goals, they can focus on attaining those results on a consistent basis. It’s also important to maintain a positive, motivated attitude in sales because of the high level of rejection and failure. Measuring provides a daily opportunity for instant feedback and gratification.

If you want to supervise a lean, mean sales machine that consistently increases sales and profits, it’s your job to make difficult decisions based on numbers, so you will increase sales and profits in 2016.

If you want a simple to use automated process to track stats and metrics for $15 per month, please go to http://salesperformanceindicator.com. Barbara has created the Sales Performance Indicator that only takes seconds a day, but will provide you with the data you need to grow your business. If you have questions, call 219.663.9609.

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Today’s young workers are on at least one social media if not more, which means their lives, are constantly on display. The good, the bad and the boss bashing . . . 20 years ago, employers did not have such access into their employees lives. What went on in the off hours stayed personal for the most part. Of course there was the office gossip, but little could be substantiated. Silly mistakes, angry venting and drunken escapades weren’t put in front of hundreds if not thousands of people. Today’s management and human resources have access to such incidents but need to be careful to not allow this into the hiring process.

How do we fairly judge the youthful worker?

Understanding the plight of youth and allowing for moments of frustration are essential when considering this new employee. Remembering one’s own first foray into the adult workforce. Usually it wasn’t the best job, lots of busy work, or catering to a senior employee, many reasons for frustrated vents and need to blow off steam.

Setting boundaries are also important. Approaching social media by emphasizing the social part. So many older users have begun to use social media as a work tool, which can be fine if boundaries are set and acknowledged.

Many social media sites have begun to have different privacy and security settings that are good tools to used to help define these boundaries. Check out:The Complete Guide to Facebook Privacy Settings by Dan O’Halloran

Remember when you are perusing a social media site you are essentially spying on your employee during Happy Hour, i.e. their personal time (despite the fact that posts often happen during work hours).

Offering social media etiquette classes is another way to help the younger employees understand the accessibility to their lives. Many don’t get the image they portray to the world and are often judged harshly for their youthful indiscretions. Forbes had a great article: Social Media Etiquette: 12 Step Checklist by Ilya PozinHere’s another good list: Top 12 Rules of Social Media Etiquette by Lydia Ramsey

Teaching personal branding is one way to get the millennial to comprehend the importance of their digital persona. 7 Things You Can Do To Build An Awesome Personal Brand Shama by Hyder5 Steps to Build Your Personal Brand by THOMAS SMALE

The biggest thing to keep in mind while working with millennials is that they respond best when working with someone whom they trust, respect and feel like they can talk to. Being approachable is important, being their boss shouldn’t mean being an authority figure, but rather looked to as a mentor and a role model. Avoid judging, and instead use the moments to teach them. This generation has a thirst for information and knowledge and a need to be heard. They just need someone to teach them how to be heard in an appropriate way.

Personal Branding Definition:

Personal branding is essentially the ongoing process of establishing a prescribed image or impression in the mind of others about an individual, group or organization.

Urban Dictionary Definition:Personal Branding1. What you create when you want to be honest about lying about who you are. 2. The persona created by public figures or their handlers, which can then be marketed, sold and traded for gain by the owner. Synonymous with the old concepts of Gentleman and Lady, sans the honorifics.1. Frank realized his most recent Facebook post didn’t support his Personal Branding, so he deleted it. 2. Lady Gaga has brought the art of Personal Branding full circle by reincorporating the old required honorific into her persona.

Millennials in the Workplace

The Over-Sharing World and the Workplace

11EMinfoJan 16

A Year in Review2015 Conferences ISSA/

WASS

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Imagine you’re looking for a job.And I have one to offer. Great pay. Strong benefits. Challenging work. Would you apply?But...What if you never heard about the job?

Or even worse...What if our recruiters didn’t treat people very well?Or our company had a reputation for being a lousy place to work?Or your friends thought our industry was for losers?

Would you apply?

When it comes to the jobs you’re trying to fill, these are the kinds of recruiting challenges you must address. As an industry, staffing and recruiting firms have a tarnished brand. It doesn’t matter if you’re the most reliable, ethical, hardest-working team in the business, you still suffer from the damage the weakest players have done to our industry’s reputation.

The good news is that you’re not facing an insurmountable obstacle; however, you have to be ready to tackle this challenge head-on. You also have to be prepared to address other issues, such as:

• The misperception that temps are less qualified workers.• The social bashing that comes from disgruntled candidates.• The simple fact that 80% of job seekers never even consider a staffing firm in their job search.

The solution? Build a world-class employment brand.

What is an employment b--rand? It’s what you want to be known for--to job seekers. It’s the value proposition you offer, the perception you create about your company as an employer, and also the core values you live by.

An employer brand is part marketing and an even bigger part candidate experience. When I ask staffing executives about the experience candidates have when working with their firms, most are fairly confident that their people deliver a great experience. But when you survey candidates, the data tells a different story.

• Candidates think we are unresponsive.• They tell us that we rarely follow up.• They believe we only care about making a placement...not helping them find a job.• Some believe that we misrepresent jobs--or misrepresent their skills to employers.• And in the worst cases, they think we are unethical.

How to strengthen your employment brand

Step 1: Consciously design a “WOW” candidate experience.

• Make it easier to apply for jobs.

Shorten your application process. Make your application and onboarding mobile friendly. Streamline your interviews and testing.

• Offer great jobs. Do what it takes to represent top local employers. Then let people know you recruit for these firms. Educate your clients about wage and benefits trends. Use data to try and boost pay rates. Consult with your clients to help them make their jobs more desirable (improve work environments, offer non-cash benefits, etc.).

It’s hard to recruit...when your reputation sucks.

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• Communicate more directly--and often. If you can’t place someone, tell them the truth. Offer ideas and resources to help these people find work. Set clear expectations in regard to next steps. Nurture relationships with your candidates.

• Provide more resources to help people find the right jobs. Consider free training, assessment tools and career advice. Allow candidates to opt-in for job alerts. Schedule dedicated time for candidate follow-up. Consider marketing automation tools to automate ongoing contact with your talent.

• Put someone in charge of the candidate experience. Make service excellence a measurable goal. Collect feedback from your candidates. Hire a mystery shopper to secretly apply with your firm and report their findings. Benchmark your service against other staffing firms and other local employers. Survey your candidates to determine how you can improve.

Step 2: Proactively market your employment brand.

• On your website. Don’t just post jobs, tell your story to candidates. Give people a reason to choose your firm over the competition. Use video to illustrate your values and share testimonials. Offer value through blogs, eBooks, white papers, links to training, etc. Make your site design inviting on any device.

• In social media. Be vocal in the social communities where your candidates hang out. Share ideas. Add value. Do something every day, but don’t always be recruiting. Monitor what’s being said about your firm (use Google Alerts, Social Mention or other tools). Publicly address critics to show that you’re listening and that you care. Proactively encourage endorsements on social review sites. Encourage reviews on Indeed and Glassdoor.

• In your recruitment advertising. Sell your company (and your client) before you list the job requirements. Provide links to company videos and reviews. Write your posts with flair; have a voice that matches your target audience. Differentiate by using unique or at least more descriptive job titles. Test Pay-Per-Click campaigns on Google, Facebook and Twitter to put your ads in front of the right people. Test sponsoring jobs on Indeed, Simply Hired and Glassdoor. Take advantage of free distribution to job aggregators and social media sites.

• In your local community. Be more visible than your competition. Champion local causes and events. Consider outdoor, TV, radio or local print advertising. Build a network of referral sources...and nurture them every month. Partner with people and organizations who can boost your visibility. Nurture your candidates through regular communication (email, web and in-person events). Highlight employees of the month.

Better branding = More placements.It’s really that simple. If you’re known to be a great company, a great place to work, and a firm that really cares about its people, you’re going to attract more candidates. And you’re going to spend a lot less on recruiting!

Companies like Southwest Airlines and Zappos have legendary employment brands, and those brands were created by a fanatical commitment to culture, process and communication. You can do it. The staffing industry can do it. And if we all do it, we’ll change the perception of how job seekers view the staffing industry, we’ll reach those 80 percent of people who don’t currently work with us, and we’ll fill more jobs with better talent! r

- See more at: http://newsletter.haleymarketing.com/i/69319953l1#sthash.FqtvWO4u.dpuf

14 EMinfoJan 16

In October 2015, the experts at Staffing Industry Analysts released a report rating primary staffing suppliers. The report was chock full of useful, interesting information, but I’d like to focus on one primary area I found compelling—the Net Promoter Score, a measure which rates customer loyalty.

Scores on this metric can range from -100% to + 100%. Buyers gave their primary staffing suppliers a Net Promoter Score of -4%.

That’s not very good.

To put these numbers in context, US Airways, whose employees have a reputation for rudeness and poor customer service, received a Net Promoter Score of -8% in 2014. In sharp contrast, Southwest Airlines, whose employees are well-known for their courtesy and stellar customer service, received a score of 62% that same year.

Based on this survey, satisfaction among primary staffing suppliers is a mere four points better than the infamously rude and universally maligned customer service representatives at US Airways.

Again, that’s not very good. Without pulling any punches, I’ll go ahead and say it outright: that’s just plain bad.

Let’s compare these numbers to comments made by a panel of chief executives from four prominent staffing firms in the healthcare industry. At the Healthcare Staffing Summit in Las Vegas in September 2015, panelists agreed that their services were not viewed as a necessary evil, but rather, the consensus among executives was that buyers were satisfied with their services. The prevailing view was that their clients valued both their contributions and their partnership.

These conflicting views clearly beg the question: which is correct? The data in the survey, or the insights of the CEO’s?

As with most things in business and in life, the truth is most likely a combination of the two.

In the current economic landscape, healthcare facilities have scores of open jobs and not enough acceptable candidates to fill them. Healthcare leaders, like leaders in many businesses, have turned to the staffing and recruiting industry for their specialized expertise in solving their hiring issues.

But these organizations, across the board, often make a mistake in the way they approach the staffing industry. They treat services as a commodity. They pressure their vendors on price. They go from one company to the next, like a rug merchant in a busy open-air market. They cast one supplier aside for another based on price alone, even when the current one has provided nothing but excellent results.

These quixotic, fickle attitudes about staffing providers remind me of how many people view insurance: it’s a necessary evil they wish was optional, especially when it’s time to pay the premium or renew their policy. However, when they have a claim, they do an about-face. They’re glad it’s there, and they expect their insurance provider to solve their problems without any hassle. They want their claim settled and they want their adjuster to cut them a check yesterday.

The insurance industry occupies a unique space in the business world. Customers don’t want to buy policies, but legal and business requirements mean they have to buy policies. That’s why the insurance industry—which everyone loves to complain about ad nauseam—has such high market penetration.

But what about the staffing industry, which offers a service virtually no one is legally bound to acquire?

Eric Gregg, CEO of the business survey provider Inavero, recently conducted an appraisal in partnership with CareerBuilder.com. The results? They found that only 32% of companies used external staffing services this past year.

In the staffing industry this number can be seen in two ways: first, as a mistake on the part of the companies, and second, as an opportunity for staffing and recruiting firms.

THE HATEFUL LOVE OF RECRUITERS by Scott Wintrip

Scott helps staffing and recruiting firms reduce time-to-fill to zero. Services include management consulting, executive coaching and advising, speaking, workshops, and products.To reach Scott at Wintrip Consulting Group call 866-789-6757 or Scott@ScottWintrip.com

15EMinfoJan 16

Why?

Because many companies simply aren’t very good at hiring. When they hire on their own, their efforts come with zero guarantees. Yet they insist on going it alone.

You can change this, but first, you have to change attitudes about staffing services. It’s incumbent on the everyone in the staffing and recruiting industry to eliminate the hate and leverage the love.

How do you do this?

The key is one word: impact. Firms that deliver impact in creative and sustainable ways have significantly higher NPS (Net Promoter Score) than those who do not. Remember, NPS measures customer loyalty.

And that’s what you need to stay ahead: adding more and more loyal, repeat customers.

Where should you start?

I’ve identified five critical impact areas that can help you eliminate the hate and leverage the love. An in-depth exploration of each area will help you maximize its impact on your services.

To make best use of this process, I suggest you review each area carefully. Ask yourself the questions I’ve provided. Answer each question with unflinching honesty. Then, take it to the next level by creating a few of your own.

Impact #1 – Flexibility

How can we deliver more flexible solutions that solve more of our customers’ problems?

Impact #2 – Accuracy

How accurately do we match our jobs and candidates? What do we need to change to achieve perfect matching?

Impact #3 – Quality

Where is our quality of talent or service inconsistent? How can we leverage our strengths to improve our quality across all areas?

Impact #4 – Value

What do our customers value most? How can we best learn what they value and deliver more of that?

Impact #5 – Immediacy

Customers typically need someone yesterday. How can we deliver more of the talent they need the moment they call?

Final Thoughts

Keep this number in mind: 32%. That’s the number of companies using external staffing and recruiting services. That low market penetration represents tremendous untapped potential. Tapping that potential will only happen if staffing and recruitment firms increase their impact.

The best way to maximize impact?

Eliminate the hate and leverage the love. r

16 EMinfoJan 16

Like many executive search professionals focused on senior positions, I have many prior years’ experience building companies. Specifically, I built IT consulting companies where my teams successfully implemented complex ERP systems at a very high success rate. The key to successfully implementing these ERP systems was leading clients through well-defined project steps and related processes. After successfully growing several consulting companies, I sold my last firm to a public company and stared a boutique executive search firm where I could leverage my extensive network of contacts in technology companies.

My first major client was PwC where I helped them identify and hire high performing Managing Directors, Directors

and Sr. Managers into their IT consulting practices which focused on implementing SAP, Oracle, CRM, Business Intelligence and Analytics. While managing searches for PwC I saw value in transferring some of my experience implementing complex ERP systems over to leading executive search projects.

Like ERP implementations executive search projects succeed or fail based on the level of attention paid to project definition and the associated implementation processes. Here are 4 of the processes we use to make sure our clients hire All-Star performers:

1) Developing a Career Opportunity Profile which is a 2-3 page document we use to persuade passive candidates that it’s in their best interest to investigate a career opportunity with our client. If you are fishing for big fish you need effective bait.

2) Developing an extensive Candidate Vetting Questionnaire with input from the client. Submitting this completed questionnaire along with the candidate’s resume, answers over 90% of a hiring managers questions even before they decide to speak with a candidate. These days no one has enough time and busy clients appreciate it when we economize their time.

3) Focusing almost all of our candidate outreach on “passive” All-Star candidates. It takes unique approaches to engage them as they are usually preoccupied with diligently working to succeed in their current positions.

4) Developing an insightful Reference Call Questionnaire which places special emphasis on asking the right questions during a reference check. Speaking to the right references, not their colleagues, and asking the right questions provides a wealth of information. It is often the best step in determining if the candidate will ultimately be successful at our client.

By investing heavily in these well-defined processes we have been able to ensure our technology clients are building high performing All-Star teams across the US. r

Hiring All-Stars Through 4 Disciplined Processes

Peter DufloPresident/CEOStrategic Ventures

pduflo@strategicventures.com

www.strategicventures.com

About Strategic Ventures Strategic Ventures is an Atlanta-based executive search firm helping technology companies grow revenues by quickly filling key positions nationally with both permanent and contract professionals. The firm is led by Peter Duflo who personally leads senior executive search assignments while his recruiting team focuses on helping clients acquire talent for their IT, finance, software development, consulting, support and sales & marketing teams. Our roster of satisfied clients includes multinational corporations, mid-cap and start-up technology companies. Visit strategicventures.com for more information.

Spotlighting Executive Search Processes...

17EMinfoJan 16

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by Frank Burtnett, Ed.D.

The Career Mechanic is a monthly treatment of a career development issue or problem by author, counselor and educator Frank Burtnett. Topics will be drawn from Dr. Burtnett’s book, Career Errors: Straight Talk about the Steps and Missteps of the Career Development Process and will represent those faced by individuals across the life-span as the enter, progress, exit, reenter and move about the workplace---matters witnessed by search and staffing professionals on a daily basis.

Coming Soon!

18 EMinfoJan 16

News ReleasesDeloitte Study Reveals that One-Third of Workers Do Not Feel Comfortable Taking Vacation TimeCompanies can do more to foster a culture of well-being or risk losing talent Companies can do more to foster a culture of well-being, according to a Deloitte survey released today. Deloitte’s Workplace Pulse survey found that roughly one in three respondents (33 percent) do not feel comfortable taking personal time off/vacation days. Moreover, nearly one-third (32 percent) say they’ve consistently placed work commitments over family/personal commitments and fewer than half (48 percent) say their organization as a whole values their life outside work. The survey of more than 1,000 full-time employed adults also reinforces well-being as more than just a gender or generational issue. More men than women reported that in the past six months they consistently placed work commitments over family/personal commitments (35 percent vs. 27 percent). In addition, millennials are also struggling to balance work and well-being. “These findings should serve as a wakeup call to organizations looking to retain and attract talent,” said Mike Preston, Chief Talent Officer, Deloitte LLP. “Organizations are investing in more and more benefits and perks associated with well-being, like flexible work options and unlimited vacation days, aimed at winning the war for talent. But our survey shows businesses can do more to create a culture of well-being, which goes beyond offering generous programs and focuses on everyday behaviors. Well-being is not mutually exclusive to delivering value to clients, in fact it’s important in any high performance culture.” Modeling Well-being Critical, Especially For Millennial Talent and MenThe data also offers a way to address these issues and it starts with ensuring leaders at all levels model well-being. More than a third of respondents say if they saw their direct managers (39 percent) and senior leadership (38 percent) prioritizing personal commitments over work, they would feel more comfortable doing the same. These results were amplified among millennial talent, who are quickly becoming the majority group in the workforce. This group was more likely to say if they saw their peers, managers, senior leadership, and CEO prioritizing a personal commitment over work, they would feel more comfortable doing the same. This is perhaps not surprising given they were also more likely to say in the last six months that they’ve consistently placed work commitments over family/personal commitments (36 percent vs. 27 percent of Gen Xer’s). In addition to millennials, men are also looking for leaders to model well-being. More men than women strongly agree that they wished their CEO and company leaders were more open and honest about their experiences and challenges balancing work and life (20 percent vs. 13 percent). Despite the increased attention and the evolution of well-being from a women’s issue to a workplace issue, these results suggest that organizations still have a long way to go.

Peers Have the Biggest Impact on Workplace HappinessAs the skill gap continues to widen and more and more people are looking for new career opportunities, issues that impact engagement like well-being become increasingly important. For the majority of workers, (59 percent) co-workers have the greatest impact on happiness in the workplace. While peers had the greatest impact on workplace happiness, there were signs that CEOs and other leaders should become more visible. Only 16 percent of respondents say their CEO is very transparent on a professional level and only 10 percent say their CEO is very transparent on a personal level. In addition, while few employees (8 percent) say their CEO has a big impact on their happiness at work, almost half (44 percent) say that if they heard more about their CEO’s experience managing well-being, it would have a positive impact on their own feeling about their workplace. “These results support our own well-being journey at Deloitte. In the past, Deloitte offered a range of wellness and work-life programs and benefits, but we were hearing from our people that we weren’t doing enough to address their individual needs,” said Jen Fisher, National Managing Director of Well-being, Deloitte LLP. “This is why we are taking a more holistic approach to well-being, focused on creating opportunities for our people to personalize their experiences and empowering teams to support each other in managing work and client demands.” About the Workplace Pulse SurveyDeloitte’s workplace pulse survey was conducted by KRC Research to understand how employees view work-life balance at their organization. The survey was conducted via an online poll of 1,016 full-time employed adults across generations, in the United States from October 6-12, 2015. Data shown in this topline has been weighted to reflect the demographic composition of the United States per the latest U.S. Census.

19EMinfoJan 16

NPAworldwide and NBN Recruitment Networks Merge GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN, USA – December 22, 2015 –Effective January 1, 2016 NPAworldwide and NBN (National Banking Network) will consolidate and operate under the NPAworldwide brand. The merger of these two exclusive fee-splitting recruitment networks began in September 2014.

“The networks were extremely compatible and similar,” said Dave Nerz, president of the combined organizations. “Both recruitment networks offer membership by invitation only and have a thorough due diligence and reference checking process in place. Only premier firms with a commitment to fee splitting and a high standard of ethics are extended membership. Exclusivity promotes and enhances open communication and trust that allow split deals to be done.”

Firms in the network vary in size, but are typically 1-5 recruiters. Some firms are larger, but size is not a determinant for membership. The combined networks are placing upwards of US $60 million in salaries annually and sharing more than $13 million in fees annually.

“We are excited to have the former NBN members officially a part of the NPAworldwide family. These recruitment firms bring a depth of knowledge and experience in finance and accounting as well as banking and financial services that is unparalleled in the industry,” continued Nerz. “We are happy to continue the traditions of NBN and to combine the best practices of both networks to improve results for clients, candidates and the members themselves.”

About NPAworldwide. NPAworldwide is a recruitment network facilitating placements between its members. The network has nearly 500 member offices across 6 continents. For more information, please visit www.npaworldwide.com or www.npaworldwideworks.com.

20 EMinfoJan 16

Editor: Pat Turner

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