Temporary Employment On the Rise
The American Staffing Association began compiling data related to temporary and contract employment in June of 2006. Since then, the ASA Staffing index has served as an indicator of the level of temporary employment across the country. During the early months of 2007 & 2008, temporary employment hovered around the 100-point mark. However, with the onset of the recession, we saw a steady decrease in the later months of 2008. This remains consistent with the previous state of our economy.
This past July, temporary employment hit rock bottom and has since risen 23%. The significant increase doesn’t seem very evident on the graph in comparison to previous years, but in contrast to the steady decline we saw in November and December of 2008, the increase is reassuring.
So what does this mean for businesses, the recruiting industry and the greater economy? Temporary employment has always served as a great indicator for the direction in which permanent employment will head. With temporary employment increasing throughout the past two months and a relatively small drop in temp employment in the last week of the year, we can expect unemployment to decrease in the near future. Since August of 2009, unemployment has remained around 10%, but as we begin the new year, temporary employment indicates that the unemployment rate will once again fall below 10%. A strong recovery is not clear, but a recovery nonetheless is nearing. With the beginning of a new year, we are excited to see a recovery in the staffing and recruiting industry.
Karaer, Alexandra. “BLS: Temporary Help Continued to Add Jobs in December.”
Staffing Week: n. pag. Web. 14 Jan. 2010.
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Byron West
President
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Improving Candidate Experience
With 18 days till Christmas, many people are beginning to notice the elaborate Christmas decorations in malls, airports, and grocery stores. But why do so many retail centers choose to spend so much money on Christmas decorations, which they will be taking down a month later? One explanation is to improve the customer’s shopping experience. If a mall chooses not to decorate during the Holidays, customers will most likely choose another, more festive mall for their next shopping spree. The whole idea of improving the customer’s shopping experience seems to be common knowledge in the retail world, but why do recruiters overlook the applicant’s experience?
One explanation may be that there are so many applicants; it just isn’t feasible to ensure each applicant has a good experience. Well, isn’t that the case in most retail situations? An average Wal-Mart store serves over 3,000 customers per day, which exceeds the number of applicants most recruiters see per day. Thus, it’s just as feasible to ensure an applicant has a good experience as it is to ensure a customer at Target has a good experience. The next question would be, how important is it to ensure the applicant has a good experience?
After simply emailing unselected applicants, saying that someone more qualified has been given the position, we received great amounts of feedback telling us how much that simple email meant to them. With 10% of the country unemployed, it’s easy to overlook the importance of your company’s reputation in the hiring process, but in years to come, when unemployment goes down, the steps you take to improve your reputation for giving the applicant a pleasant experience will mean a lot. For example, if you apply for a job at a Consumer Goods company and are treated poorly, that could be a determinant in which product you choose at the grocery store. Your brand name is everything, and it includes your reputation in the hiring process.
Something that should not be overlooked is how easy it is to improve the candidate’s experience. Many applicants will say that no response from a company at which they applied would classify that company as failing to provide a good experience for the applicant. Therefore, it is as easy as creating an automatic response in your ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to thank the applicant for applying and giving them a little knowledge about their current status. In addition, mass emails to those applicants which failed to qualify, will also shed a more positive light on your company.
Simple steps such as these can help to improve your brand name, which can prove to be crucial in tough hiring times.
Byron West
President
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Actively Looking for a Job? How do you cover all angles?
In this tough economy, competition for open job slots is fierce. So how do you catch the recruiter’s eye? What sorts of things do you do to maximize your potential of being hired?
The first thing to keep in mind is the recruiters’ perspective. Most recruiters are glancing through hundreds of resumes a day, searching for the one that best fits the job description. Thus, you only have one chance to make the right impression. Make your resume catchy and sophisticated. The standard size 12 typewriter font doesn’t do you any good. Instead, take advantage of free resources, such as resume templates on Google docs or in Microsoft Word. Additionally, make sure that you include every accomplishment that may work towards your advantage.
Once your resume is aesthetically pleasing, your next concern is how to give the greatest visibility to your resume. Companies like Resume Rabbit can post your resume to over 80 job sites for $59.95, but that may not be entirely necessary. With Yahoo! Hot Jobs, Careerbuilder, and Monster being the most popular places recruiters dig for resumes, posting to all three will give your resume proper visibility. Keep in mind that posting your resume to these sites costs you nothing. So, cast a wide net.
As an active candidate for any position your approach should be a more aggressive one. In addition to posting your resume, searching for relevant job postings can be beneficial in staying up to date with new jobs. While searching for posts on the big three (Hot Jobs, Monster, and Career Builder) may be effective, there are still more efficient resources that can be used. Sites such as Indeed and Simply Hired are increasing in popularity, and for a good reason. By taking advantage of these sites, job seekers can view postings from various job boards and career portals simultaneously. Using Indeed and Simply Hired can cut the time you spend searching for jobs in half.
With competition for open jobs increasing more and more, its essential to cover all the angles involved in being an active candidate. Creating a powerful resume and posting it to the right sites is a great way to give yourself wide spread visibility in the eyes of recruiters. In the same sense, using Simply Hired and Indeed ensures that you are aware of any job postings which could relate to you. Taking advantage of these resources can make your path to finding a new job a quick and painless one.
Byron West
President
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With 10% of the team on the sidelines… What play will you call?
The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently released that unemployment rose by 558,000 people to 10.2% in October. The 0.4% fluctuation from September’s (.8% unemployment rate brought into question the relapse of the economy and what the forecast for the future might be. However history has shown us that the last thing to decrease after a recession, especially one as severe as 2007’s, is unemployment (See Figure 1). As a result, it’s time to realize that soon, the economy will begin expanding again.
With projected growth in several industries topping over half a million in new jobs over the next seven years, its important to understand that the economy is in the process of bouncing back. Hospital Healthcare is projected to add almost 700,00 jobs by 2016, and the tech industry is expected to add almost 500,000. Thus, the current set-back, is nothing more than a set-back. With GDP growing, companies will soon be in search of new employees to relieve current workers of the stress that comes along with their increasingly heavy workloads.
Figure 1
Berchem, Steven. Annual Economic Analysis Puzzles Through the Data and Explains the Trends. N. pag. American Staffing Association, n.d. Web. 23 Nov. 2009. <http://www.americanstaffing.net/statistics/economic2009.cfm>.
Byron West
President
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