Developments from the Staffing Industry Daily News and The Staffing Stream to help you focus on emerging movements that could shape your business for the better.


 

Get a Boost
Ways to get real-life ‘powerups’ for your leaders.

In almost every video game, there are special bonuses that convey advantages, such as more strength or firepower. These “powerups” can heal injuries, increase supremacy and accelerate a character’s ability to achieve the objectives and win a level or even the entire game.

Real-life powerups are available to leaders who foster interdependent relationships between all parties — managers, employees and co-workers. Interdependence creates a healthy dynamic where each individual does his or her part, versus a dependent relationship where one person, often the manager, shoulders all of the responsibility for making sure tasks are remembered and completed.

Powering up in this fashion requires:

  • Setting and communicating clear and reasonable expectations, since leaders are responsible for defining the objectives.
  • Instead of always telling people how to meet those expectations, asking instead how they plan to do it. Employees take greater ownership when they participate in determining how work gets done.
  • Once team members take responsibility for doing something, they keep it. Leaders undermine employees when they attempt to serve as their long-term memory.

True power as a leader comes not from how a manager wields authority, but in how he or she makes each person powerful by fostering personal responsibility, requiring people to keep doing the next right thing.

Source: “Leadership Powerups,” The Staffing Stream, by Scott Wintrip, president of the Wintrip Consulting Group and StaffingU.

Hire Those Grads
More companies to hire recent college grads, pay more. 

Companies plan to hire more recent college graduates this year and pay them better, according to a CareerBuilder survey. Of employers surveyed, 65% said they plan to hire recent college graduates this year, up from 57% last year, and the highest outlook since 2007. One third will offer higher pay than last year, and one quarter will pay $50,000 or more.

Procurement Costs
Companies throw more money at talent acquisition.

Driven by increased competition for talent and a shortage of critical skills, US companies increased talent acquisition spending 7% on average to early
$4,000 per hire, according to new research from Bersin by Deloitte.

Get That Gig
Less than 10% of independent workers use online staffing platforms.

Only about 9% of US independent workers, or about 2.7 million people, use an “on-demand economy” platform such as Freelancer.com, Uber or others, according to MBO Partners.

It Starts & Ends With Attitude
Even when they fail, pros never set out to do anything but succeed.

Ponder this for a moment. When a professional football quarterback fades back to pass, does he believe he is going to complete the pass? When a professional golfer strokes a putt, does she believe she is going to sink it? Yes! Intellectually, they understand that they won’t be successful every time, but from a mindset and attitude standpoint, they believe they are going to have success on every attempt.

Now, let’s segue into the wonderful world of IT staffing. I have asked thousands of sales executives and recruiters over the years this very simple question: Do you expect to fill every job order you bring in as a sales rep or recruit on as a recruiter? By about 98 to 2, the answer I get is “no.” As an industry, we’ve come to believe that successful placements almost happen by accident. I believe most producers (sales & recruiters) have to readjust their thinking when taking an order or speaking with a candidate about an order.

I worked very closely with two fantastic recruiters several years ago, and the most common trait they had was their attitude. Nothing in the world was going to stop them from making the placement. Don’t get me wrong, they became masters of their craft with traditional competencies such as people skills, finesse and expert recruiting processes. However, by far the most important intangible of their success was their attitude and mindset about successfully filling job orders.

The next time you take a job order, think of that quarterback fading back to make that pass. Rest assured he believes with his heart and soul, he’s
going to complete the pass. Sales folks and recruiters need to do the same thing.
Source: “Do You Have the Right Attitude?,” The Staffing Stream, by Chris Cosmos, founder and managing director of Cosmos Sales
Professional.

Americans Get a Raise

Median earnings of full-time US workers rose 1.5% in the first quarter.

Median weekly earnings of US full-time wage and salary workers rose 1.5% year over year in the first quarter to $808, according to the US
Bureau of Labor Statistics. Full-time women had median weekly earnings of $730, or 81.6% of the $895 median for men.