The 10 occupations with the lowest unemployment rates range from .4 percent to 1.0 percent. 5 of the 10 occupations with the lowest unemployment rate are in healthcare showing that this industry is growing. The 10 occupations with the lowest unemployment rates are:

• Appraisers and assessors of real estate: 0.4%
• Therapists, all other: 0.4%
• First-line managers of police and detectives: 0.4%
• Locomotive engineers and operators: 0.4%
• Directors, religious activities and education: 0.8%
• Dentists: 0.8%
• Speech-language pathologists: 0.8%
• Detectives and criminal investigators: 0.8%
• Physicians and surgeons: 0.9%
• Occupational therapists: 1.0%

On the other hand, there are some occupations that are seeing a significantly higher unemployment rate. Of the 10 occupations with the highest rate, 7 are in construction. The 10 occupations with the highest unemployment rates are:

• Helpers, construction trades: 36.0%
• Telemarketers: 34.8%
• Structural iron and steel workers: 28.4%
• Roofers: 27.1%
• Millwrights: 25.5%
• Cement masons, concrete finishers and terrazzo workers: 25.3%
• Brickmasons, blockmasons, and stonemasons: 25.1%
• Construction laborers: 25.0%
• Drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, and tapers: 23.9%
• Interviewers, except eligibility and loan: 23.4%

*Information last updated January 12, 2011

Goldstein, Jacob. “Which Jobs Have The Highest And Lowest

Unemployment Rates?.” NPR (2011): n. pag. Web. 2 Mar 2011. <http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2011/01/12/132859364/which-jobs-have-the-highest-and-lowest-unemployment-rates>.

The unemployment rates in 2010 have been the highest in well over twenty years. It has been a difficult year for the unemployed who have had trouble finding a position in their field. With many mass layoffs by United States based companies, the job market has become extremely competitive. There have been a record number of applications for many open positions, which makes it difficult to land a career in your specialized field.

However, stronger employment trends are expected in 2011. Harris Interactive conducted a survey of more than 2,400 hiring managers and human resource specialists. The results of this survey concluded that more employers plan to add more full-time employees in 2011 than in 2010. Job creation will be gradual, but steady, so the change in hiring may not become immediately apparent. Matt Ferguson of CareerBuilder explains that, “More than half of employers reported they are in a better financial position today than they were one year ago.” This is a good improvement and will allow these companies to hire more employees in 2011.

The results of the survey showed that 24% of employers plan to hire full-time, permanent in employees in 2011. This is an improvement from the 20% who said they plan to hire in 2010, and 14% in 2009. 13% of employers said they expect to hire part-time employees in 2011, which is up from 11% in 2010 and 9% in 2009.

Some fields will be in higher demand during 2011 than others. The top 10 fields can be seen below:

1) Sales – 27 percent
2) Information Technology – 26 percent
3) Customer Service – 25 percent
4) Engineering – 21 percent
5) Technology – 19 percent
6) Administrative – 17 percent
7) Business Development – 17 percent
8 ) Marketing – 17 percent
9) Research/Development – 15 percent
10) Accounting/Finance – 14 percent

“Stronger Employment Trends Expected for the New Year, According to CareerBuilder’s 2011 Job Forecast.” ShareBuilder (2010): n. pag. Web. 26 Jan 2011. <http://www.careerbuilder.com/share/aboutus/pressreleasesdetail.aspx?id=pr611&sd=12/29/2010&ed=12/31/2010>.

We would like to virtually introduce you to the Hire Velocity top management team. While we focus on the top management in this post, but we can assure you that our entire team is experienced in the recruiting industry. Hire Velocity understands the importance of having qualified and caring employees. For that reason, we have high standards when choosing to add new members to our team.

Valeri Marks

Valeri is the Chief Executive Officer at Hire Velocity. She has been CEO or President for the past 10 years of private or public companies. The entire team was excited when she joined the team in July 2009. Since her addition to the team, Hire Velocity has been named on the Inc 5000 list of fastest growing private companies.

Valeri has over 28 years of service industry experience. Her experience spans raising funds, selling companies, integrating acquisitions, and an IPO. Valeri has an MBA, with distinction, from the University of Michigan.

Byron West

Hire Velocity considers itself very lucky to have Byron West as our President. As a seasoned recruiting entrepreneur, Byron provides the vision and leadership at Hire Velocity. With over 20 years as top management in recruiting companies, Byron is excellent at understanding critical personnel needs without organizations and their importance to success.

Before his move into the entrepreneur world, Byron was a member of the Navy’s Submarine Division. He uses his military skills to assemble efficient and effective teams. He is directly involved in the hiring and training of our team members, ensuring that each one is qualified to be working within the company. As an advocate for efficiency and innovation, Byron demonstrates his intense desire to overcome obstacles and win for his customers.

Byron graduated from Penn State University with a degree in Civil Engineering.

Matt Dawson

Matt Dawson is Hire Velocity’s Chief Financial Officer and Chief Operating Officer. Hire Velocity is happy to have such an experienced individual to oversee finance, accounting, human resources, and all administrative/back office functions. Matt is also responsible for developing relationships with strategic partners and reviews competitive analysis.

Matt has over 12 years of experience in the Fortune 500, private equity, and smaller entrepreneurial companies across the business services and healthcare sectors.  His expertise encompasses all facets of finance and business strategy, including capital-raising activities, business valuation, turnarounds, due diligence and financial modeling.

Matt is a graduate of University of Louisville with a Bachelor of Science in Accounting. Matt also holds an MBA from University of Tampa.

Jennifer Maher

Jennifer Maher joined the Hire Velocity team in September as the Senior Director of Client Services. Jennifer joins the team with over 12 years of experience in RPO, staffing, and outsourcing organizations across the retail, telecommunications, consumer electronics, and manufacturing verticals. Her experience includes restructuring and building high performing, high volume service delivery organizations, consultative selling, selecting and implementing new technology solutions, and advanced sourcing strategy design.

As Senior Director of Client Services, Jennifer is responsible for the service delivery across all clients. She has led multiple teams to successfully hire 5000+ people per year across the United States and Canada, while reducing time to hire, increasing overall quality of hire, and reducing turnover.

Jennifer is a graduate of the University of Miami with a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration in Accounting.

Now that you know our team, we invite you to contact us to set up a time to talk. It is hard to judge the quality of our team from a blog post and we are confident you will be impressed with us after talking with the team. You can contact us here.

In choosing the right RPO, you will have some major strengths to consider. RPO firms typically lead to large cost savings; for example, Hire Velocity can drive down your recruiting costs by as much as 50%.  Not only that, but outsourcing all or some of your recruiting efforts allows your recruiters and hiring managers more time to focus on other important business functions.  It also provides your business the ability  to scale up or down as needed gaining a flexible recruiting advantage.  Another strength of using an RPO firm is the speed and quality of recruiting. An effective RPO can reduce your time-to-hire and fill those open positions faster. But filling open positions faster should not affect the quality of the candidates. Reputable RPO firms will be able to deliver qualified, available, and interested candidates for your open positions. RPO providers are process driven and leverage Service Level Agreements (SLA) to measure, reward and sometimes penalize based on attainment of results. The SLA is such an important part of the RPO process because it details the expectations, objectives, needs, numbers, procedures, and quality of the candidates.

While there are numerous strengths for using an RPO, there can also be weaknesses if the right firm is not chosen. It is important to meet with the RPO and ensure that the partnership is a good fit since it will become an extension of your team. Choosing an RPO that cannot deliver on what you expect can cause it to have a negative impact on your business. It is important to look at the experience that the RPO firm has. For example, Hire Velocity has over 70 years of recruiting leadership on our team and the client list includes Fortune 500 retailers, private to public healthcare companies, Fortune 1000 telecom companies, and Fortune 100 technology companies.

Using an RPO can also have its opportunities. In general, RPO firms have a proven record for high hiring numbers across the industry. Organizations that have previously used a reputable RPO firm can attest to the positive results achieved during the partnership. The partnership created during the RPO experience is another opportunity for an organization. When requiring fast and cost-efficient hiring in the future, the partnership that was created with the RPO in the past will allow for a quick start to the recruiting requirements and ensure successful results based on previous experience with the organization.

As with any other business task, there are threats involved. One of the initial threats is finding that the organization and the RPO do not have a partner relationship. Again, this goes back to meeting with the RPO and making sure there is compatibility before choosing it. Additionally, a well thought-out SLA will provide guidance and avoid one party being unhappy with the partnership.

RPO SWOT

The holiday season is right around the corner and retailers are preparing for an increase in foot traffic. 58 percent of stores expect to increase sales 6 percent this season compared to last year, according to the Michigan Retailers Association. These stores need to be able to meet the increasing demand and that means hiring temporary employees this season. There are tens-of-thousands of companies looking for season employees to help meet the customer demand. Additionally, many of these positions have the potential to turn into permanent employment.

Many companies see seasonal employment as an opportunity to attract and retain the best talent. Seasonal positions can be looked at as an audition and new hires should take initiative in showing how hardworking they are.  JCPenney plans on hiring 30,000 seasonal workers this season, an increase from last year. Ann Marie Bishop, a spokeswoman for JCPenney, explains, “getting a seasonal position allows new associates to experience working at JCPenney and decide if it suits them.” She explains that the company sees seasonal hiring as an opportunity to attract and retail the best talent.

This increase in seasonal hiring does not come without great competition. According to Bloomberg, there are about five applications for each job opening. With about 15 million Americans without a job, there are a lot of people looking for employment, even if it is only temporary. While the increase in seasonal hiring looks appealing to the unemployed, it still may not make it easier to find a position this holiday season.

Choosing a Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) firm to outsource your hiring needs is a great choice when you’re focused on maximizing financial and operational results. To maximize the benefits of using an RPO, it is important to have a well-formulated Service Level Agreement, or SLA. An SLA is an agreement between the customer and the RPO that specifies expectations, objectives, needs, numbers, procedures, and quality of the candidates. This agreement is developed before the RPO begins working on the recruiting tasks and is the backbone of the partnership that is about to begin.

The SLA guides the success of the partnership between the internal recruiter and RPO.  It helps guide the RPO to understand what types of candidates the customer is looking for, the process that will be used and the key metrics for success.  By having these specific details outlined, the RPO will be able to work more efficiently and achieve better results.

The SLA can also be used as an incentive for the RPO to meet the outlined goals.  By basing the part of the RPO’s compensation on meeting the goals, it will ensure the best results because the compensation is based off of the final result, their performance.

The typical RPO SLA is made of seven sections:

• Objectives and Needs Assessment – Defines exactly what the customer is looking for and what the final result should achieve.
• Scope Statement – Summarizes what process and methods that will be used to source and screen the candidates.
• Pricing and Cost Estimate – Outlines how the pricing works and the cost per resume, cost per qualified submission, or cost per hire.
• Organization Chart – Establishes the roles and responsibilities of each contributing member on each side.
• Measurements and Metrics – Discusses how performance will be measured and monitored.
• Work Schedules and Communication – Describes the expected hours of operation and how the two parties will communicate.
• Response and Escalation – Creates a communication plan for issues

Resources:

Anapol, Stan. “Recruiting Process Outsourcing: Using a Well-defined SLA and KPI to Engage the Right Vendor and Set Correct Expectations..” HR Management n. pag. Web. 9 Nov 2010. <http://www.hrmreport.com/article/Recruiting-Process-Outsourcing–Using-a-well-defined-SLA-and-KPI-to-engage-the-right-vendor-and-set-correct-expectations/>.

Recruiting quality talent requires a great deal of research. Unfortunately, finding the right person for the job is not as easy as picking a random resume from a pile and giving the person a job. Performing these research tasks take time and effort, especially when you are targeting specific competitive companies to source from. When researching candidates from competitive companies, there are two services that Hire Velocity offers.

Name Generation is the first option offered by Hire Velocity. With Name Generation you specify competitive companies that you think will have the talent you are looking for. Upon getting this information we immediately begin researching to find candidates that meet the required job specifications. Hire Velocity uses a wide variety of search tools including job boards, social media, cold calling, and our proprietary tools. Leveraging our search tools, we identify the names, phone numbers, and emails of qualified candidates. The final product is a list of qualified candidates from the competitive companies you specified.

In addition to Name Generation, Hire Velocity also offers Talent Mapping. Similar to Name Generation, we research candidates that meet the required job specifications in competitive companies that you specify. Again, we use our search tools to identify the names, phone numbers, and emails of qualified candidates. Talent Mapping takes Name Generation to the next level and maps these names into the company’s hierarchy. This service can be extremely useful to visually see the hierarchy of the candidates. This service entails an even heavier load of cold calling and research to map names, but the results can be quite valuable to your recruiting efforts.

While calculating cost per hire (CPH) is not an exact science, it can be a valuable instrument that gives insight into the cost of the hiring process for various positions and do some comparisons. Cost per hire can also allow companies to evaluate how effective they are with various sourcing strategies in the hiring process. However to be most effective, a company should look at all of the factors that contribute to the cost per hire.

Many contributing factors have to be considered when calculating the cost per hire of an internal recruiting team. The first factor is the recruiter who is a fixed cost since he or she is an employee of the company. Then hardware related costs have to be added in such as the computers and the telephones. Expenses to get the word out about open positions like job fairs, job boards, referral bonuses, and the applicant tracking system will also need to be added into the cost per hire calculation. Finally add in training, on-boarding, and turnover costs. Once all those costs are added up, the total cost per hire can be determined. This total cost per hire is essentially the same whether a company is hiring an inexpensive person or an expensive person because it is the same person doing the recruiting. When recruiting internally, it is also important to remember that the recruiter is a fixed capacity so he or she cannot handle any surges in hiring.

The alternative to recruiting internally is using a recruiting agency for hiring needs.  The cost per hire with a recruiting agency should encompass most of the items that are calculated into the cost per hire of using an internal recruiter

One option is using a contingency firm, who gets paid only when someone is placed into a position. Contingency firms typically charge 15- 30% of salary. This means if a company is hiring an employee who will be paid $50,000 a year, the contingency firm will charge between $7,500 and $15,000 per hire.  This can be a very hefty fee. The other option is to utilize a recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) firm.  An RPO allows companies to outsource a part of the recruitment process or the entire recruiting function. RPO’s typically result in a cost per hire of 5 – 10% of salary compared to the 15 – 30% that a contingency firm charges. Using the same $50,000 salary as before, an RPO would typically result in a cost per hire of $2,500 to $5,000.  Even by comparing the lowest CPH for a contingency firm with the highest price for an RPO, there is a minimum savings of $2,500 over a contingency firm.

When a company is faced with any level of volume hiring, the savings to the firm with an RPO exponentially increase.  This is one of the areas where real value is delivered.   Think of the cost savings of using an RPO versus a contingency firm to hire, for example, five sales personnel with $50,000 salary.  This could be a savings of $7,500 to $50,000!

Utilizing an RPO such as Hire Velocity, a company can achieve a more cost effective cost per hire while delivering flexibility and scalability in meeting hiring needs…especially in this market when many internal recruiting teams are at their smallest size.    Additionally, the RPO helps the company avoid any of the fixed cost elements of the Cost per Hire calculation.

Related Posts:

A New Way to Look at Cost Per Hire

Instead, find a recruiting partner that can build relationships with prospective applicants and passive candidates in order to streamline the hiring process. The University of Illinois at Chicago did a study on proactive recruiting particularly pertaining to finding qualified female candidates. In two different job searches for the same position, proactive recruiting nearly doubled the number of qualified applicants and showed a huge increase in the number of female applicants. Proactive recruiting was defined as an aggressive search for talent rather than a simple job post.

In recent years, Technology has eased the pains of creating an effective proactive recruiting process. Applicant tracking systems such as Silk Road’s Open Hire, iCims, and Taleo, (for example) have enabled companies to build robust talent pools and ease the process of finding qualified passive candidates. Leveraging the right technologies can create the infrastructure and foundation needed to lower your recruiting costs and enhance your recruiting process. Thus, it’s essential to look past the “reactive” recruiting methods such as job postings, and create a proactive recruiting process that will build a much more qualified talent pool.

Finally, remember that it is always a good practice to continuously promote your brand from a recruiting perspective.   Your career site is the door to your company and should display the goals, values and culture of your company.  Once you do proactively get the candidate to your front door, make sure you leave a great impression!

Valeri Marks
CEO
Your trusted HIRING PARTNER
Let us help you HIRE the BEST, FASTER and PAY LESS

On Thursday March 18, President Obama signed into action a new bill, which will directly affect the staffing industry over the next few years. Our industry has taken one of the largest hits over the past two years, since many companies reduced their hiring initiatives, which left many staffing and recruiting companies with half the volume they were used to in prior years. However, President Obama has made it one of his top concerns to get the whole country and economy back on its feet, starting with reducing unemployment. February saw little progress in decreasing nonfarm unemployment. The current unemployment rate has remained at 9.7% and February only saw 36,000 more employed Americans in comparison to January. The new bill will directly respond to these sluggish numbers by creating $18 billion in tax breaks for companies who hire in the next year. The bill is proposed to create 250,000 new jobs over the next year. Although that may not seem largely significant, it will bring new business for the recruiting industry, something that we can all look forward too!

Byron West
President
Your trusted HIRING PARTNER
Let us help you HIRE the BEST, FASTER and PAY LESS