Job growth improving for Temps

The Staffing View

On business, the workplace and employee relations

September, 2009

The Good News on Staffing: Most of the Bad News Over

Though hiring in the staffing industry has yet to rebound nationally, we’re happy to report that we’ve seen a steady increase in job growth Sales among our companies have risen for 24 consecutive weeks, during which time we’ve added more than 300 jobs Most of the recovery has occurred in the light industrial sector, which includes assembly workers, packaging employees and quality control specialists, among others

We’ve also taken time during the recession to upgrade our website Now our clients are able to place an order on the site Clients simply log in as they have in the past for their “Web Time Clock,” look for the “Enter and Order” link, then fill in the appropriate fields to place an order This will help us respond more quickly to your needs We’ll also be adding a new portal soon for employees

Nationally the good news on staffing jobs is that most of the bad news is over According to the American Staffing Association, America's staffing companies employed an average of 19 million temporary and contract workers per day from April through June, which is 35 percent lower than in the first quarter of this year and 302 percent lower than in the second quarter of 2008 While this is the seventh consecutive quarter of year-to-year employment declines, the massive quarter-to-quarter job losses of last year have slowed considerably

Richard Wahlquist, president and chief executive officer of the American Staffing Association, says that even though staffing employment is off by nearly a third from a year ago, US staffing firms are still employing about two million people each day “We have seen an uptick in staffing employment since early July," he says, "and we expect that staffing firms will see increases in demand as the economy recovers"

US sales of temporary and contract staffing totaled $127 billion in the second quarter of this year While that’s a decline of 303 percent or $55 billion when compared with sales reported for the same period last year, many staffing firms have used that time to make their companies more efficient and productive through technological improvements and operational changes

How Brainstorming Works and Flops

Whether you’re a temporary employee or a permanent hire, there’s always the chance you could be corralled into a brainstorming session where you work Your employer might know of a new business opportunity, for example, and is looking for ideas on how to win the contract Or it might be a new project within the company and a division manager pulls together a team of people to generate some thoughts

In some companies this is a regular practice and it works But in others brainstorming is considered a huge waste of time and talent The concept of brainstorming was first proposed in the 1930s in a book called Applied Imagination as a way for groups to double their creative output But though it has survived, it’s been a controversial management technique from the start

Here are some thoughts on what many management experts believe it takes for brainstorming to be useful and how it can flop

Ways that it works

• Arrive prepared One way to solicit good ideas and promote discussion around those ideas is to have people write them down in advance and bring them to the brainstorming session That way people have already started to focus on the topics and don’t attend the meeting hoping they’ll be struck with inspiration


• Brainstorm alone Archie Bunker once said to Edith “Do you want to do something together? Do something together by yourself” Very often the best results of brainstorming occur after the group meeting Ideas get thrown out to everyone, but the real creative thinking takes place when people return to their offices or desks armed with what they’ve heard


• Hire an outsider When the goal really is to generate ideas, some companies hire a facilitator These are professionals whose only interest is to recognize new ideas and encourage discussion around them They’re not interested in personalities or politics, just outcomes

When brainstorming fails

• Office politicians rule Group brainstorming sessions can be undermined by individuals who use them to enhance their office position, rather than to contribute to a project or company effort


• Sluggish creativity Not everyone can engage in a conversation and instantly start spouting brilliant ideas Consequently the discussion ends up dominated by one or two people


• People are self-conscious Brain storming is about raising ideas - sometimes the more far-fetched the better - and building upon them But in many group sessions participants lack the self-confidence to risk verbalizing a wild thought Nothing really imaginative gets offered

 

Explaining Prolonged Unemployment to Employers

The economic news is becoming more promising The stock market has rallied sharply Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, has declared that the recession is over The housing market is showing signs that it may have reached its bottom It’s all very encouraging if you’re someone who is looking for a job

But how do you approach employers if you’ve been out of work a long time? Not just months, but even a year or more It’s not an extraordinary amount of time to be unemployed given the severity of what’s now being called “The Great Recession” Many interviewers will understand your prolonged unemployment But that doesn’t mean they won’t have questions about you, even if they don’t ask them Have you really been looking hard to find a job? Did you get comfortable not working? Is there something about you that has persuaded other employers not to bring you on? How rusty are your skills after being out of the workplace for so long?

If the amount of time you’ve been out of work is an obvious question mark on your resume, it makes sense to tackle the subject head-on There’s no point in going through the interview motions if you feel as though it’s a cloud hanging over the conversation with the hiring manager

Virginia Bola, author of “The Wolf at the Door: An Unemployment Survival Manual” suggests you take a moment at the beginning of a job interview to explain what you’ve been doing since you last worked Interviewers often ask job applicants a general question early on such as “Tell me about yourself” Bola suggests that is the opening to inform them about your activities while unemployed

But be smart about it Think about what you’re going to say in advance Bola suggests you set two goals The first is to describe your jobless time in the most positive manner possible Don’t sound bitter about not being given a chance by other companies Secondly, speak to the issues that might be in the interviewer’s mind Explain how hard you’ve been looking for a job, some of the reasons why other opportunities didn’t work out and how you’ve managed to keep your professional skills sharp while unemployed

After you’ve taken time to explain your long absence from the workplace and fielded some likely follow-up questions from the interviewer, you can get on to the reason you’re in that meeting in the first place - showing why you’re the best person to fill the job opening Good luck!

 

Home Schooling

September is the back-to-school month for those states that didn’t start-up in August But many college students won’t be packing off to their dorms or commuting to classes from home They’ve enrolled in online courses or distance learning and continuing their education wherever they park their PC or roam with their laptop

According to a Department of Education study released in June, taking online courses has some definite advantages over classroom education when it comes to learning Perhaps surprising to some, the study found that students who took all or part of their instruction online, generally performed better than those taking the same course through face-to-face instruction The results lend new credibility to distance education, which is growing in popularity for adults who have family obligations or work at a full-time job

The study also found that adult learners enrolled in online programs that combine distance learning with periodic face-to-face meetings with instructors and classmates, a blended course, performed the best among all other students enrolled in continuing education programs In fact many colleges report that blended instruction is among their fastest-growing types of enrollment

So why does distance learning work? It’s not about the technology The report points out that the use of video or online quizzes, for example, doesn’t enhance learning Distance learning works because it’s a time saver Students in distance programs spend more time on the tasks of their courses than those who attend classrooms in person Presumably the time savings is achieved by not needing to commute to school