290,000 new jobs!

Source: ERE.net

The April jobs numbers are out and they greatly surpassed expectations. And that means BIG opportunities for staffing and recruiting firms. How can you capitalize now and sell more temporary help and executive recruiting services?

• Reconnect with your former clients.
• Call on all those people who said “we’re  not hiring” 3 months ago.
• Schedule meetings with current clients to review their hiring plans for 2010.
• Call businesses that are hiring, and offer temp help to fill-in until their new hires are completed.
• Contact smaller businesses and offer staffing and recruiting services to help them manage growth.
• Proactively recruit for hard to fill positions in your local market.
• Become a specialist in recruiting for specific job disciplines in a one industry or your local market.
• Offer project staffing (or outsourcing) solutions to help companies deal with resource gaps.
• Get aggressive about marketing, so you are touching more prospective buyers, more often, with information that positions you as an expert and a trusted advisor. Become top-of-mind!

If you need help with more ideas about how to sell staffing, contact Haley Marketing today!

The Employment Situation Report-March 2010 was released by the U.S. Department of Labor on April 2, 2010.

The highlights:

• 162,000 jobs were created in March
• Job growth continued in temporary help services and in health care
• Temporary help services added 40,000 jobs in March
• Since September 2009, temporary help services employment has risen by 313,000

For the full report, visit: http://www.bls.gov/news.release/empsit.nr0.htm

Just in case you missed the latest update in ASA’s Staffing Statistics, some great news and opportunities are ahead for the Staffing Industry. 

The ASA Staffing Index estimates weekly changes in the number of people employed in temporary and contract work. The ASA developed the index to provide a current measure of staffing industry employment trends.

The index helps answer the question, “How’s business?” It allows staffing companies to evaluate their performance against a national metric on both a weekly and long-term basis.

The ASA Staffing Index also serves as a valuable resource for economists, journalists, analysts, researchers, and policy makers who are interested in current trends in staffing employment. Participants account for more than one-third of industry sales offices.

Two numbers are reported weekly. The first is the weekly percentage change in staffing employment. The second is the index itself, which shows staffing employment trends over time.

During the week of Nov. 30–Dec. 6, 2009, temporary and contract employment increased by 4.47%, pushing the ASA Staffing Index up four points to a value of 86. Staffing employment rebounded from the drop it experienced during the previous week which contained the Thanksgiving holiday.

At a current index value of 86, staffing employment is 25% higher than it was at the beginning of this year and is equal to the index value reported for the same weekly period in 2008. 

For more information and to read the full article, visit http://www.americanstaffing.net/statistics/staffing_index.cfm .

Last week at Staffing World 2009, Haley Marketing celebrated the death of the recession. Complete with a mock grave site, humorous gravestones, balloons, mardi gras beads and some libations to toast, vendors and attendees alike took the time to rejoice and have a little fun.

The good news is, that it wasn’t all in vain. We heard over and over again that business in the staffing industry is slowly, but surely, picking up. And now, more good news from CNN:

Job Outlook Brightens

If you weren’t able to join us last week, lift a glass and say “adios”…

In case you missed this article in the Wall Street Journal, Staffing Firms Await Upturn is a “must read” for all staffing companies owners. While the article talks about the nation’s unemployment rate nearing 10% and large international staffing companies’ earnings continuing to fall, it fails to mention the sectors that are thriving, like medical and IT.

The article also doesn’t mention the fact that many staffing companies have started to see an increase in business, especially smaller companies who are more agile and able to adjust to the current economic climate.

Here at Haley Marketing, we are celebrating the “Death of the Recession” with our clients as we hear more and more positive stories about their business successes. It just shows that even in a recession, businesses can prosper if they are doing the right things.

Good news for staffing firms! In August 2009, the Monster employment index showed its highest rate of increase in the past four years.

August 2009 Index Highlights:

• Index rises seven points, or 6 percent, the highest monthly rate of increase since August 2005.
• Year-over-year decline eases to 24 percent, the most moderate pace of slowdown so far this year.
• Retail, administrative and financial industries demonstrate solid growth
• Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media rise among occupations, whereas healthcare, community and personal care and services show softening demand.
• New England leads all regions while Portland, OR sees the highest rise on the month amongst the metro markets.

NEW YORK, September 3, 2009 – The Monster Employment Index rose in August, seeing its highest monthly rate of improvement in four years, as a majority of industries, occupations, and regions registered increased online job availability following the slow summer hiring activity. The Index’s annual rate of decline continued to moderate, indicating some signs of improvement in underlying demand for labor nationwide.

The Monster Employment Index is a monthly gauge of U.S. online job demand based on a real-time review of millions of employer job opportunities culled from a large representative selection of corporate career Web sites and job boards, including Monster®.

“The significant jump in the Monster Employment Index in August offers encouraging signs of improvement in the US economy with the demand for managers and professionals as well as sales and office workers picking up in time for the fall hiring season,” said Jesse Harriott, senior vice president and chief knowledge officer at Monster Worldwide. “The Index is now at its highest since February while showing the most moderate yearly rate of contraction since December 2008.”

Great news!

According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, temporary staffing just showed big gains in the past two weeks–and the industry has reached its highest level since last year!

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125123132870958103.html

If business is truly on the rebound (and we think it is), NOW is the time to get out infront of the increase in demand–and get an edge on your competition.

As employers start to need more temps, who will they call?

• The company that made the most cold calls?
• The company that made little or no effort to keep in touch?
• The company that consistently nurtured relationships, added value, and provided support–even when there were no new job orders?

Easy to see who the winners will be, but are you doing all you can right now to nuture relationships, add value, and keep your firm top-of-mind?

Need some ideas for for nurturing relationships?
Visit the “How to Tips” section of our website for hundreds of ideas.

Every day I receive hundreds of emails, but there is one I read religiously.  It’s from Google Alerts giving me the latest news about the staffing industry.  As you can imagine over the past few months that email has been less than uplifting with stories about economic turmoil,  job loss, decreasing profits, failing businesses, and general pessimism over the future of our industry.

Today, I decided enough is enough! Attitude is everything!  We can sit back and feel badly about the situation or we can step up and look for the opportunities that exist. There must be at least a little good news out there and I set out to find it.   

Below are links to a three news articles that I found that you should read. They contain optimism about the staffing industry and what lies in our future.  If you know of others, please post them in the comments. Let’s decide that as an industry we have opportunities to grow and prosper.  Let’s make it happen.

And finally, let me remind you that we’re all in this together.  I want you to know that Haley Marketing supports you.  We are committed to helping you find ways to gain market share and create new sales opportunities. Please take advantage of the free resources we have made available to the staffing industry.  You’ll find links on our home page.  Just click on the “Freebies” tab on the right and check back often because we’re always adding valuable resources. Oh, and join us for our free webinar series, Lunch with Haley.

As promised, a few optimistic articles…

Temp Jobs Can Be Your Ticket to a Full-Time Gig – One of our clients, Robin Mee, past president of the Capital Area Staffing Association and president of Mee Derby & Co, was quoted in a recent Washington Post article. The article highlights the success of temporary jobs turning into future full time opportunities.  It also provides excellent insight and advice for registering as a temp. As an industry, this is the kind of press that makes a positive impact.

Temp firms see uptick -  Higher unemployment rates bring about more demand for temp jobs, and that means an industry on the rise.  This article also points out that more candidates means the ability to pick the best and brightest.  That equates to higher productivity.  It’s this type of thinking that will lead us right of the recession. 

Not Hiring? Tell That to the 4.4 Million Who Found Jobs - This article is posted on ERE and it hits my point exactly. The more we talk about “no one hiring”, the more we believe it to be true.  The facts are proof though and this article shows that there are jobs out there and companies having problems filling those positions.  Sounds like a golden opportunity to me!

Enjoy!
Vicki

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