Amybeth Hale
on Feb. 28, 2011
In a recent blog post by Jessica Lee, Senior Employment Manager at APCO Worldwide, a privately held, global public affairs and strategic strategic communications firm, she laments about some ‘shady’ business practices she has been seeing as of late from some third-party recruiting professionals:
“…how am I to respond and react to a headhunter/recruiting agency who I know has tried to recruit our company’s talent away who then reaches out to me to try to solicit our business?”
Amybeth Hale
on Feb. 24, 2011
Bullhorn recently released its annual report covering agencies’ performance, goals, and business practices, as well as individual compensation. The data, which was taken from Bullhorn’s annual staffing and recruiting survey, revealed overall positive figures from 2010 and goals for the year ahead, indicating that the industry as a whole is progressing.
Two thirds of survey respondents reported that their firms either met or exceeded their 2010 revenue goals. Most posted aggressive 2011 revenue goals, with many adopting a back-to-basics approach to best take advantage of the recovering market.
Interestingly, the results found that recruiters are increasing their use of social media for finding candidates and clients, though many still struggle to maximize effectiveness. As well, respondents spent less time on sales, on average, than in 2009 as hiring freezes began to thaw and work shifted to filling job orders.
Amybeth Hale
on Feb. 23, 2011
Recently, an article by Kimberly Weisul called Why It’s Okay to Have a Delusional CEO ran on BNET.com. This article brought research conducted by Timothy Simcoe of Boston University’s School of Management and Alberto Galasso of the University of Toronto on how companies run by overconfident CEOs were more successful.
To start, let’s take a look at two strikingly different definitions of “overconfident”:
Since a great deal of our readership are CEOs, Presidents, Managing Partners, and business owners, this article brings up some interesting characteristics that are certainly applicable to the Fordyce community.
Michael Gionta
on Feb. 21, 2011
I was taught long ago that “whatever you focus on expands,” and I wish I could credit the teacher. You have probably all heard something similar in the past. In this article I am going to do my best to put this concept into practical terms for the recruiting industry.
Based on many conversations and my own personal observations, the recruiting industry is coming back nicely. Many of my clients had their best quarter, not in years, but EVER! Companies are beginning to re-invest in their growth and operations. However, some recruiters are still stuck in “fear” mode and are focusing on scarcity right now, still thinking the business is in recession mode.
Frank Risalvato
on Feb. 18, 2011
When I first accepted my recruiter “trainee” position in November of 1987, I was hired by a CPA/MBA Deloitte “Big 8” audit manager who had a then-recent position as a financial officer of a W.R. Grace division. Being somewhat naïve, along with possessing an insatiable appetite to savor success and affluence, I actually went on doing what I was told I could do during my first two years and savored initial success.
Then disaster struck in the form of the 1990-1992 Savings and Loan recession. We did not know what exactly was happening at the time however. While I still made placements during the worst of this cycle, it required more work than I had needed to perform while training and for less money. I pursued necessary new clients with ferocity and managed to battle my way through. The experience knocked some of the cocky confidence out from me. But by 1994-1995 I was back sailing the high seas and hitting figures and results that paled my initial years of success by comparison.
Howard Adamsky
on Feb. 17, 2011
“We would like to live as we once did but history will not permit it.” –John F Kennedy
I was instantly impressed by the tone. By the anger and edgy urban feel. The tag line gave me shivers as the Super Bowl’s “Imported From Detroit” spot knocked me out — an up front, in your face blast from the Motor City. The message? Absolutely gorgeous and ice cold simple. We Are Back. Yes indeed! I too love the smell of napalm in the morning.
Being a boy who loves cars, I have always been a fan of Detroit and made reference to it very specifically in Employment Rage. Case in point: Quoting from a special report in Time magazine, October 5, 2009: “By any quantifiable standard, the city is on life support. Detroit’s treasury is $300 million short of the funds needed to provide the barest municipal services … The murder rate is soaring, and 7 out of 10 remain unsolved …the unemployment rate is 28.9 percent. That’s worth spelling out: twenty-eight point nine percent.” Clearly, as goes the car industry, so goes Detroit.
We have lived through a grisly two years. The causalities have been monumental and the casualties have been deep. Homes, careers, dreams, and marriages — gone. Enough. Enough of what has been because the past is a bucket of ashes.
The time has come to focus on what will be. To find a new sense of pride and a new sense of purpose and a new sense of hope for all we can do to create a vibrant and durable American economy.
Logan Bragg
on Feb. 16, 2011
This year will mark my fourteenth year in the staffing business. They say time flies when you are having fun, and I feel lucky to be able to make a living helping people find rewarding opportunities. But had it not been for some wise advice from my father, and a recruiter I never met in person, I may have never landed in this business.
It all started after I graduated from college in 1994. Almost all of my friends immediately jumped into outside sales. I had a degree in Communications and Journalism, so while I was not sure if sales was for me, I knew one thing – I wanted to be successful.
Amybeth Hale
on Feb. 15, 2011
Today, Barb Bruno launched www.happycandidates.com, a site designed to provide career assistance to those “can’t help” candidates, with the idea that the resources in Happy Candidates will certainly be able to assist them. “We have shifted once again to a more candidate-driven market,” says Bruno. “As such, many recruiters find themselves fielding an enormous number of calls from what would be classified as “can’t help” candidates. Imagine helping more people find fulfilling and rewarding jobs while saving your company time, money, and resources. That’s the idea behind Happy Candidates.”
Amybeth Hale
on Feb. 10, 2011
Last week, MRINetwork released a statement discussing the momentum that contract staffing has been gaining lately:
The contingent employment industry is traditionally a leading indicator of post-recession economic conditions and a reliable predictor of future employment trends. Cautious employers hire temps first, hedging their bets on the recovery, recognizing it is easier to scale back if demand doesn’t materialize. This cycle is no different, say the contract staffing experts at MRINetwork, except this time employers plan to maintain a larger portion of their workforce as contract employees even once business recovers.
This is something that we, and many of you, have made note of in the last several months. Tim Ozier, director of contract staffing at MRINetwork, states, “During the recession, employers learned to refocus on their core business, realizing that a smaller core workforce that was well trained and technologically astute was more effective and nimble than their pre-recession staff. As firms emerge from the recession they are, of course, beginning to hire full time workers but they are also seeing a larger role for highly skilled contract workers who are engaged on an as-needed basis.”
Good business owners observe market trends and learn to adapt their business to meet the needs of their customers. But do you think this is a staying trend, or simply a typical gun-shy reaction to the supposed end of a recession?
Tim Honn
on Feb. 9, 2011
In President Obama’s recent State of the Union address he said, “We need to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build the rest of the world.” He’s 100% correct, but is the United States prepared to focus its education system on building tomorrow’s generation of engineers and scientists so it can “out-innovate” and “out-build” its competition?
Before you ask, “What this has to do with recruiting?” consider that if America does not invest in education and innovation we as professional recruiters may not have the quality candidates to recruit and place with our clients in the future. This means a potential and significant reduction in fees!
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