Today's National Temp Staffing Zeitgeist

Roger and I got back late last night after visiting the Dallas Metro branch. Our visit included lovely and greatly appreciated clients and bankers, time with the Richardson staff and lots of eating. The two days were productive, educational and yummy! Donna Roland's tightly knit team has a fantastic groove and the gals' immediate goal is to recruit well and deeply, filling all of their open orders. Donna is currently drinking bloody Marys on Bourbon Street, playing penny slots and anticipating a win for her Saints. If Arizona prevails, best to avoid Roland and ask for Connie on Monday.

Although Roger enjoyed WiFi on the flight back, coach seats seem to be getting smaller as I get older and I only just discovered the movable feature of the head rest with 15 minutes left till landing.

Interesting findings from the Staffing Industry Analysts show that many job seekers believe that agencies charge fees to candidates and 40% do not think it is possible to get a full time position through a staffing agency. In reality, there should never be a fee to candidates and most of our positions are temp-to-hire, leading to full time jobs. Workway will incorporate job seeker education in how to use a staffing agency into our web and social media campaign.

While open positions show on the new web site, we are still developing the best way to manage the postings, keeping them current and easier to search and find by skill set and location. While updating and improving the site and content added every day, all suggestions are welcome. Employees, clients and candidates alike are encouraged to submit blogs, thoughts and findings about industry trends and news about branches and candidates for posting to Workway.com.

Our computers are old. We will be working with the branches in order to upgrade hardware to improve productivity, recruiting and making work more fun. I, myself, recently switched from hacking solely on a four year old MacBook to gliding with an HP tower connected to dual screens and see the importance of getting everyone's tools up to date. Bob May has added a second monitor as well, making his life, "a dream," being able to view a job req on the left with candidate profile on the right.

Speaking of Bob, the VMS group could hit 100 reqs this week. There were 91 last week and average activity was 82 in 2009. Accounts that we haven't seen in months are returning, there were some nice starts this week and with 32 interviews last week, VMS is optimistic about the new year. Bob gives a special props to George Henriquez in Burbank who totally rocked a fraud analyst placement, locating a candidate and arranging an interview within three hours demonstrating successful inter-branch communication and cooperation.

Linda enjoyed her week in Orlando with a lot of recruiting, firming relationships and working dilligently on three direct hires. Not only are Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale seeing several new job orders, we are receiving lots of client referrals. While last week Linda felt that no one knew about Workway, she now hears the buzz of Title Agency reps speaking our praise!

Jennifer is stoked in SoCal, AZ and NV with 30 new starts between five branches and sees orders in banking, credit union, call centers, title and escrow. One of her region's goal in January is to connect with existing clients, educating them about the new online time card system. Clients who have already implemented the system love it and we hope to continue to bring on the bliss!

Shawn had an overall good week and is seeing new orders in escrow, customer service and title both in Irvine and the Inland Empire. Among other things, Shawn's group is recruiting for a marketing position, an attorney and a commercial title searcher/examiner.

Big news is that Workway has been approved for Minority/Woman owned business status by the Supplier Clearinghouse. While we still need to prove ourselves by providing the best service possible, we anticipate that the certificate will open new doors to Workway while being able to help existing clients reach supplier diversity goals.

Thank you to everyone for a great week, may your favorite teams win and wish me no broken limbs while skiing for the first time tomorrow!

Diane Prince Johnston
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