News Tag Archives for Recruitment

Why Use a Recruitment Firm

Well first of all you should use a recruitment firm because I said so. Kidding, but seriously properly utilizing a recruitment firm can save you not only time, but also money.  There are a lot of direct, and indirect, costs that go into obtaining a new employee and there are a lot of things that can go wrong. Use a recruiter and I promise you that you’ll safe guard a lot of capital that gets eaten up by the indirect cost of hiring and unfortunately sometimes firing.

Did you realize that…

• 2.98 million people per day are employed by staffing companies.
• 12.9 million temporary and contract employees are hired by U.S. staffing firms over the course of a year.
• 79% of temporary and contract employees work full time, virtually the same as the rest of the work force.

A huge perk of a firm at least in my opinion, is flexibility.  Not only does a firm offer flexibility to an employer, but it does the same for a candidate.  Companies can get the skills and personnel to keep them running smoothly through the busy seasons and candidates can choose when and where they work.  If this sounds too good to be true, here are the numbers to back it up.

• 66% of temporary employees say flexible work time is important to them.
• 64% of staffing employees report that their work gives them the scheduling flexibility and the time for family that they desire.
• 90% of client businesses say staffing companies give them flexibility to keep fully staffed during busy times.

A side perk of contract work is that it lends itself to being the perfect bridge into permanent employment.  It gives employers a chance to see what a candidate is made of and how they fit into the big picture before making a long term commitment.  On the flipside candidates get a chance to evaluate the employment situation and prove themselves to an employer.

• 88% of staffing employees say that temporary or contract work made them more employable.
• 77% of staffing employees say it's a good way to obtain a permanent job.
• 80% of staffing clients say staffing firms offer a good way to find people who can become permanent employees.

Show Me the Love, Not the Money

Big or small the competition for talent in this state is fierce.  The amount of money that could be spent getting, and then keeping, talent certainly can add up quicker than we’d like.  For big budget companies this isn’t an issue, but the rest of need to find more cost effective ways to keep the talent we have without breaking the bank.  Here are some low cost, effective, and fun ways to show your employees just happy you are to have them.

Flextime:  Most businesses need to have set operating hours, but allowing your employees some freedom if they are getting their work done goes a long way.  If someone is getting what needs to be done, done then let them take an hour and go to the dentist. Just ask that you give some notice so you can get coverage.

Summer Schedule:  Lots of businesses amend their typical schedule during the summer months to allow employees to enjoy the weather.  Instead of working 8-5 why not work 8:30-4?  Or give employees a Friday afternoon every month off. 

Canine Friendly: Have an office full of dog lovers?  Let your employees bring their well-behaved pup in every now and again.

Car Care: Who has time to get an oil change? Not me.  Why not arrange for your employees to get their oil changed during business hours and foot the bill?

Lunch, on us: Have a weekly company lunch.  Have it catered and spend some time outside the cubicle with your employees.

Give back: This is a win-win.  Give your employees some paid time off to give back to the community in any volunteer organization like and you’ll get nothing but praise for it too.  Why not go a little further and get the whole office involved in a charitable cause?

Extend the love: Let employees going through major life transitions such as becoming new parents, losing a family member, or separating from a spouse expense up to $300 of food in the first three months.

Get, and stay, fit: Incorporate health and fitness into your company culture.  Provide all your employees with gym memberships and allow them and hour at lunch to use them.  If that doesn’t fit your structure reimburse employees for purchases directly relating to fitness (running shoes, gym memberships, Pilates mats, etc)

All in all there are lots of ways to say thanks for sticking around.  Use some of ours or get creative and come up with whatever works best for your company! Think we missed any big ones?  Let us know because we’re all about saying thanks!

Impressive Graduates

I just wanted to take a moment to say kudos to Bryant University.  We braved the snowy weather on Wednesday to attend their annual career fair and were thrilled we did.  The caliber of undergraduates and soon to be graduates that we met was astounding.  Not only were they all well put together, but everyone we met, across all disciplines, was well spoken, astute, and more than ready to enter the workforce. 

As a result we have registered quite a few exceptional candidates.  If anyone has any need for entry level staffing or interns let us know. I promise you will not be disappointed.

Say Yes to Temp!

“I’ve always been hired directly by the company”, “I will only consider permanent work”, “A temporary job isn’t a real job.” Recruiters everywhere, including us, hear phrases like these almost every day.  Getting candidates to consider temporary work is tough.  A lot of the time candidates just simply don’t understand or have not been educated as to how the market has changed and how temporary work can benefit them. 

According to a survey done by CareerBuilder and the American Staffing Association, less than a quarter of employers intend to hire full time, permanent employees in 2012.  However, the same survey revealed that 36% of employers intend to hire contract and temporary workers.  Of the employers who plan to hire temporary or contract workers, 35% of them say they plan to make the temporary role permanent if everything works out.

To translate that into City Personnel terms, 35% of the employers surveyed intent to hire for temp-perm positions in 2012.  A temp-perm situation makes a lot of candidates nervous, however there is less reason to be nervous than they think.  A temp period really isn’t so different from a probationary period and as we tell all our candidates, if you do a great job you’ll have a job.  The huge upside of this arrangement is that both candidate and employer get a change to evaluate one another before making any long term costly decisions.  A good job, as everyone knows, is important in one’s overall happiness.   For an employer the benefit is clear, no great financial risk until you know the candidate is exactly what you want.

Every Day is a Vacaction Day

Vacation, you want one, I want one, everyone wants one.  It is what we all spend the rest of the year looking forward to, a time to kick back and relax.  Most companies have a very clear policy on vacation. That policy is that it is limited.  Limited by both the amount of time you are allotted and by how far out you need to put in for permission to use your allotted time. In essence it means that for most people that last minute travel deal to Jamaica that just landed in your inbox is not going to work out.   Now the question becomes should it be able to work out?

Cutting edge start-up companies believe you should be able to take advantage of those deals or even just be able to take a vacation day to do errands without worrying about wasting the precious commodity of vacation time or losing pay.  They in fact believe in unlimited paid vacation days, no strings attached.  I’m sure some of you are now wondering what on earth are these people thinking and even more why are we even humoring this idea.  Well the reason is simple, its work place culture debate. 

What will result in increased productivity for the employer?  The unpredictability of unlimited no strings attached vacation, or the predictability and limitability of structured vacation time.  The pro-unlimited vacation side thinks that it increases productivity for a few simple reasons:

• Happier Employees: allowing people downtime that isn’t so rigidly structure gives them a case to recharge and start every day with a fresh outlook.
• Employees are Adults: your employees are adults and should be treated as such. They know what needs to get done and if they can get it done right in 4 days as opposed to 5, why not let them have that extra day to enjoy?
• It reduces costs: larger companies need the resources to track vacation time.  Without structured vacation time there is no need to track it.
• It Shows Appreciation: your employees make your company run and this is a great way to show them how grateful you are for that.  It will also keep them working hard for you to return the favor.  Companies that practice this format find employees are happy to work extra hours and go above and beyond what needs to be done.
• It’s a Great Recruitment Tool: how many companies offer this? Not many. How many people would love this? Just about everyone. By implementing you would have not only a larger pool of applicants, but also a higher retention rate among those chosen.

As an employer where do you stand? As an employee which environment do you think you would be more successful in?