While there has been some decent news on Wall Street lately (look at the stock market performance in the last two months), people are still asking me when the news will improve on main street – where you and I work every day.
My answer has always been the same. I share that there are always opportunities and that it is up to each of us to find them. I was reminded of this when I received my Business Week in the mail over the weekend. The cover story is focused on the fact that there is an estimated 3 MILLION jobs open in the US. Bottom line – opportunities are there, you need to work harder and smarter than the competition to earn those opportunities.
I cam across a great article that highlights what I have been telling staffing professionals – do not bury your head in the sand and hope for results – employ disciplined thought and action and simply outwork your competition and you will survive the down market.
http://www.vcgsoftware.com/Nine_Things_You_Can_Do_To_Survive_a_Down_Market.asp.
Here are my takeaways from this article.
1. Over communicate with everyone so your customers do not think you are in trouble. You will also be able to give them confidence that you can service their account – today or tomorrow.
2. Continue to market candidates and your services so you are always top of mind. Most staffing professionals respond to this by saying they feel silly marketing candidates when nobody is hiring. I respond with the fact that a decent percentage of firms are looking to replace lower performing employees with top talent. Now, I have that Business Week article to back me up too.
3. You can add value by building a dream team for yourself and your clients. This can only happen through activity and staying in touch with applicants, clients and prospects. I participated in a sales call with a staffing firm where I suggested that each participant make an extra 9 calls a day. 9 calls a day X 5 days a week X 52 weeks X 20 people on the call is 46,800….imagine the opportunities created by this action plan.
4. My belief is that most people we are working with in this market are trained staffing professionals. Instead of focusing on training for new skills, I would focus on exploring tools that improve return on investment for their time as everyone is being asked to do more with less. I suggest to managers that they lead by example. They need to make the 9 extra calls a day and report on their efforts. Also, they need to spend the necessary time with staff to ensure that the strategy is clear and being implemented. Finally, they must take the time to be clear about expectations and hold their teams accountable – you need to inspect what you expect.
