Some good earnings reports in the last couple of weeks may be a real good sign for business.  Companies like Boeing and Apple are reporting good numbers.  Leaders in different industries like this showing solid earnings growth has a big impact.

These companies impact all of their suppliers and other companies that they do business with.  If we continue to see industry leaders doing well we can expect widespread growth.  Something we have not see for some time.…

Reports are saying that real revenue growth is driving earnings versus just cost cutting which drove earnings for the most part since the recovery began.

Real revenue growth from the actual sale of products and services would be a welcome change.  Probably not enough evidence to say for sure at this point, but if that is what we are starting to see it will be very good for business conditions.

Todd…

Recently Google announced a new a featured related to jobs inside Google Search.  This is arguably the biggest news in recruitment marketing in several years.  Not only is the technology going to revolutionize the convenience of searching for a job, it’s implications on how job boards operate with change forever.

What is Google AI Job Search?

The new search results are part of the…

We are currently in the third longest economic expansion ever.  It’s also the slowest expansion ever.  We’ve had growth of less than 2% for 9 years.

Significant economic growth is a high tide that raises all boats.  Less than 2% growth is not that.  A real expansion with significant growth is fun.  It accelerates business growth.  The reality is, growth has been slowing for decades.  Not just the last 9 years.

Demographics are not in our favor with the baby boom generation…

In baseball, wins above replacement is a statistic measuring how many wins a player would get you instead of having an average AAA minor league player in that slot.

What is the value of a new hire over average to the bottom line of the business?  Or the loss of a good current employee versus the average in their spot?

Worth considering.

Todd Kmiec…

Whether you like Donald Trump as President or despise him, he brings some interesting perspective to the table on a regular basis.  Recent actions involving Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions highlight Mr. Trump’s ability to look at every situation without emotion.  It’s just business.

When you aren’t productive and helping the cause or the mission, you’re out, you’re fired, we don’t need you.  When that changes, no love lost, the past doesn’t matter, if you can help us succeed then we…

Foxconn, the iPhone manufacturer with operations primarily in China, announced last week that they are building a plant in Wisconsin.  For a good 10 years now we’ve heard stories about about onshoring…..bringing operations and jobs back to America.

The wage gap has been closing for some time and coupled with incentives and other advantages, like reducing shipping costs, it can be a more attractive to manufacture in the US.  It’s a really good sign and the best part is that there is…

Working remotely has some major pluses for both companies and employees and for the last 20 years or so we’ve seen a lot more remote work.  That’s changing.  Many companies are now pulling back on remote work and remote workers.  IBM, AETNA, HP, and Reddit to name a few.

Companies are saying they want more control and collaboration.  Even good things get overdone, so a pullback isn’t surprising.  It pays to be aware that there may be fewer remote opportunities going forward as…

Whatever business you are in, you need to have a defined purpose.  What are you trying to accomplish.  Specifically.

If you are playing without a clearly defined purpose you’re going to drift, at least a little.  Valuable time and resources will be wasted.  Your recruiting efforts won’t be focused enough and you’ll be at risk of bad hires that don’t create teams that are as successful as you would like.

A properly defined purpose leads to focused recruiting and great…

Being able to successfully attract, retain and work with this new generation begins by understanding the unique ways in which Millennials see their world.

By 2020, Millennials (defined as people born from 1984-on) will make up 50% of the global workforce. Being able to successfully attract, retain and work with this new generation begins by understanding the unique ways in which Millennials see their world.

According to the…

Sourcing is all about qualifications and reach.  You can’t build great teams without the qualifications that are needed to get the job done, so the focus on qualifications is warranted.

In the process though, you are going to run into candidates that have most of the qualifications but are missing something.  People are dynamic and there is a lot that goes into what a person brings to the table.  Sometimes the candidate that has most of the qualifications is a significantly better…

There are 5,000,000 jobs that are going unfilled because the skills just aren’t there.  5,000 jobs is a significant number.  5,000,000 is a significant impact.  We still have a ton of “underemployed” in America.

These skills like PLC programming, Medical Lab Technology, and Revit Design ain’t Rocket Science.  They are skills and they are specific, but they can be learned.

The gap is fillable.  Fill a spot or encourage someone who needs it to fill a spot and the skills gap will…

Economists are lowering their expectations going forward because of unexpected gridlock.  Gridlock is the norm in Washington but with a Republican White House and Congress there was some hope that a lot would get done.  But the gridlock remains.  Too many competing agendas.

Where this leaves us is probably stuck in this slow, lower than 2%, growth.  That’s better than a recession, but if you are waiting for the economy to give an extra boost to business you are probably going to be…

It’s pretty disappointing when we don’t land the candidate that we were after.  There’s a lot of frustration when this happens.  In most situations however, there is more than one person in the candidate pool.  Someone who fits the need and would be an excellent hire.

On any search you should look at the big picture and and understand that there are some number of potential candidates in existence that would be a great hire.  The objective is to make a great hire, improve your…

Job stability is not what it used to be.  It seems like it was a century ago when job stability was something that employees counted on from a single employer for an entire career.  That’s actually close to accurate.

The reality is that companies have been focused on business and results over individual employees for a long time.  That’s perfectly fine as long as employees understand that and take responsibility for their own careers.  Real job stability comes from doing great work.…

When you have a tough job to fill, a skill set that is in high demand and with a shortage of qualified people, you have to move when you can.  Too many times we see hiring managers hold to a set process of finding 3 candidates to interview before moving forward or something similar.

It’s great to have a good hiring process that works for you, but you have to think about the current situation and do what is best for business.  Candidates with backgrounds and skills that are in short…

Many companies recruit sharing as little information as possible.  Knowledge is dangerous.  The more the candidate knows about our business, the more they can find to object to.

Great companies work the opposite way.  The more they share the better.  Great companies come in all shapes and sizes and are in any industry, but they all do great work.  Sharing their vision, how they operate, what they accomplish, what they are building……these things show the great work that they do and…

The engineering sector is currently experiencing a lack of talented, trainee, qualified and experienced Engineers coming through. This skills gap is not just an issue for the engineering sector but for many other UK industries too.

What is a skills…