According to CareerBuilder.com thirty two percent of companies with 500 or fewer employees plan to hire in the second half of 2010. Twenty-one percent will hire full time while 11% will hire part-time and 6% will hire temps.
At Ryan Staffing we have seen strong use of temp help throughout 2010. Our client volume has increased over 80% from 2009. While that may not be a totally fair comparison because of the recession it still represents a return to our volume levels during the pre-recession years of 2007 and 2008.
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
HEALTHCARE REFORM UGH!
According to a poll taken by Strategic Benefits Solutions eighty-eight percent of high level corporate big wigs are expecting higher health care costs post reform and 65% view the legislation unfavorably.
KIDS SAY THE DARNDEST THINGS
Those of us a bit on the north side of 50 remember Art Linkletter and the segment of his afternoon show where he conducted interviews with children under the age of 8 years or so. Out of the mouths of babes often came some very funny talk. Well, it turns out interviewees say the darndest, nay dumbest things too when looking for employment. Consider these:
- One interviewer asked a candidate recently how she handled heavy workloads. Her answer included running in to the bathroom and crying. Didn’t land the job.
- An interview for a secretary inquired about the important parts of a job for her. Working close to a Bloomingdale’s didn’t get her a job offer.
- Then there was the phone interview scheduled for 3:00 p.m. When the applicant answered he asked for time to leave the bar he was at and ultimately begged off the interview for being a little drunker than he anticipated. Not good.
One recent mother brought her baby too the interview and proceeded to breast feed the child.
And then there was the candidate that showed up late for the interview complaining about the long commute and how he was glad not to have to do that everyday.
Those of us that have been around the HR blocks a few times I’m sure have a few new stories to share. If you have a good one, e-mail us at info@ryanstaffing.com and we’ll share them next month.
DO YOU USE INTERNS?
Those private for-profit organizations that utilize unpaid student interns need to be knowledgeable of the circumstances that allow these positions to legally be compensation free. For example:
* Training received must be similar to training that would be given in an educational setting
* The internship experience must be for the benefit of the intern not the organization.
* The employer providing the training receives no benefit from the activities of the intern and in
And may actually impede the operation at times.
* No job is promised or entitlement to a position assumed at the end of the internship.
* Regular employees are not replaced by the intern.
* Both parties understand that the intern will not be compensated for the internship.
Basically, you can’t use internship programs as a method for getting free labor. Internships should be a way for companies to provide “real world” experience to potential job seekers while at the same time showcasing their organization to the community and future recruits.
TIME MARCHES ON
As we all get older you start to catch yourself getting a touch nostalgic as well. And when you are in the jobs business like we are at Ryan Staffing you catch yourself thinking about all the occupations that you no longer place people.
I can still remember the Fuller Brush man visiting my mom and selling her a broom that I swear we used for forty years. The elevator operators fascinated me as a young kid at downtown Higbees…what a cool job I thought at the time. And the milkman that came every morning and who my mom swore was not my father (kidding). Think about some of these and at the same time put them in perspective with our current unemployment problems:
*Inspectors, testers, samplers, sorters and weighers
*File Clerks
*Elevator Operators
*Gas Station Attendants
*Iceman
*Milkman
*Switchboard Operators
*Typists
*Machine Feeders
*Shorthand/Dictation Clericals
I guess it all comes down to progress but it was still neat to meet the Good Humor man every afternoon on a hot summer day.
COMING TO AMERICA?
Get this one. In Brazil a court recently ruled that McDonalds must pay a former Manager $17,500 because he gained 65 pounds while working there for 12 years. The 32 year old man felt forced to sample the food every day to monitor quality. The company also offered its employees free lunches which added to his problem.
McDonalds in Brazil was reported to being “weighing” its options (honest I did not make that up). Can you imagine the impact on the folks at Budweiser?
I-9 FORM COMING HOME TO ROOST
The Obama administration has plans to increase the number of I-9 audits as part of the great immigration reform debate. This process which has the government auditors checking social security numbers on I-9 forms to see if they are real is an attempt to manage the whereabouts of the over 7 million or so illegal aliens in the USA. George Bush apparently relied on worksite raids as his method of enforcement.
In the second half of 2009 ICE agents found 22000 suspect documents out of 86000 received. Fine collection is up six fold and Abercrombie and Fitch got touched up for a $1,000,000 fine for violations at its Michigan stores.
The message here is that you may want to make sure your staffing supplier is performing these checks in the proper fashion.
