Indianapolis Temporary Employment

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - August 26, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011 by Harry Danz

If you have not seen at least 600 articles about Steve Jobs this week than I am sorry to disappoint, but you will not see one here. I assume you are up to date on the "Jobs" topic, but there was a lot of other important business and HR news out there this week that you might have missed. I hope you consider this news update your "apple a week" to keep the mind healthy and strong. Health care (always in the news), Social Media, Economic news (not so good), EEOC (interesting stuff), local business updates and of course some cool stuff about staffing and recruitment are all hot this week. Speaking of "jobs", things have been exceptionally BUSY here at That's Good HR this week so if you have any friends or family seeking employment, be sure to send them our way.

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Survey says... Big shift in health coverage could be coming: Nearly one in 10 midsized or big employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers after insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014 as part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. (business week)

Social Media policies and the Government...what are they watching?: The U.S. Chamber just released a new study that analyzes 129 SM-related NLRB cases. Check it out to see what exactly the government is targeting when it comes to employer social media (SM) policies.

EEOC loses bid to limit credit histories in hiring: Our recent story—“Employer beats EEOC in credit-history fight”—describes a major victory for employers. Now, perhaps, we can expect more courts to look skeptically on some of the EEOC’s tactics, giving employers more tools to build the workforces they need. (business mgmt daily)

Fragile economy fuels demand for temporary workers: Employers have stepped up their use of flexible staffing while downgrading their plans to increase their permanent workforce, as economic uncertainty continues.(Personnel today)

Enterprise Social Networking: What's The Worst Case Scenario? Experts weigh in on some of the biggest social security risks that threaten enterprises and how to thwart them. (information week)

Seven Indiana companies make latest Inc. 500 list: Indianapolis-based Slingshot SEO ranked 58th, tops among the seven Indiana firms on the list announced Tuesday morning by Inc. magazine. (IBJ)

Do not dismiss the importance of engagement in your success: Research is confirming the interconnectedness of engaged employees and profitable companies, although it may be impossible to determine which comes first -- the engagement or the productivity. Too many companies, however, put up roadblocks that hamper engagement. (HRE online)

Don't Worry, Be prepared to be Happy: I both love and believe in serendipity—which is defined as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. (Open Forum)

Good Advice for your Hiring managers: A recent article on Recruiter.com discussed Brook’s Law and its implications for recruiting and hiring. Brook’s Law states that adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. The gist of Brook’s Law is that you can’t throw manpower at any project and expect to experience the same labor productivity. (recruiter.com)

Understanding the Employee / Employer relationship in staffing

Thursday, June 30, 2011 by Tiffany Moore

If you currently staff any part of your organization with temporary employees, your staffing partner should be looking out for your best interests and providing guidance on how to properly manage that relationship. I consider my Indianapolis staffing relationships with my clients as a trusted partnership and therefore it is my responsibility to consistently communicate with you to reduce any risk for your organization. Here are some important tips to keep top of mind:

Let's begin with the candidate selection process.

That's Good HR reduces your risk by sending you candidates that closely match the compensation expectations for the position. For example, we would not present a candidate that has been making 40k previously to a position that is paying 20k. All compensation negotiations and discussions go through us so there is no confusion around who their employer is (co-employment risks)
We complete a criminal background check on every candidate that we place even if it is not required by your company. Again, this is our responsibility as the employer to ensure you are protected.
We make sure that our candidate is interested in the opportunity by giving them the client’s name before presenting their resume to the hiring manager (this may sound obvious, but the truth is, not all agencies tell the candidate the name of the company before they send their resume)

Next - the most important area of concern, once you have a contractor working for you.

The lines can get crossed once a temporary employee is on site and working for you. Here are some ways you can protect your organization from any confusion around this relationship:

My most important reminder: The contract employee is an employee of our company, not yours. This is important due to all of the legal responsibilities around the employee/employer relationship which reside with us. Our employee should have no reason to misunderstand that relationship. We are the experts in our field and we are here to help you.
All hiring and firing conversations must be handled by a That's Good HR professional, not someone on your staff.
If our temporary employee is not meeting your productivity standards, all performance concerns should come through us and discussions with the employee about these concerns are conducted by us.
All attendance concerns should be communicated to us immediately. If we failed to inform you that our employee is going to be absent or tardy, that likely means we did know about it. While we make it very clear in our process, at times a temporary employee may forget and bypass communications with us (their employer) and only inform you (the customer) about time off. When this happens, please redirect them to us.
Ultimately all employment related issues should come through us including harassment, injury, pay, benefits etc. This is why we are cautious even about discussing an employee’s pay with you as the customer. The less involved you are in employment related decisions and information, the clearer the lines are in the employment relationship.

My pledge to you, my customer is this: I will do anything possible to reduce your co-employment risks. This list is just a summary of what we do behind the scenes to look out for you and as it is with any vendor relationship, your understanding is critical.

Co-employment is the term often used to refer to the relationship between staffing firms and their clients and to the legal issues that arise from that relationship. Click here for more information on co-employment. Questions about this post? Drop me a line or give me a call!

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - June 10, 2011

Thursday, June 9, 2011 by Harry Danz

Recession? Recovery? Double Dip? Are you as confused as I am about the direction our economy is heading? Looking back over the past 8 weeks of Weekly News Updates, one begins to feel a bit conflicted about better times, worse times and how to ride the waves as they ebb and flow. To have a crystal ball right now...

As a 20 year staffing industry veteran, I am quite used to change, uncertainty and the need to adapt. Staying ahead of the curve is a full time job for us as I am sure it is for you. I hope this update is useful in that effort. Here are some of the the top headlines of the week for your review. Will it change again next week? Tune in and see, but likely so!

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Employers struggle to control wage-and-hour litigation: The complexity of federal and state laws, the relative ease of winning class action certification and workers laid off as a result of the weak economy have led to more litigation in recent years, observers say. (BusinessInsurance.com)

Jobs data stoke US recovery fears: The US added just 54,000 jobs in May, confirming fears that the recovery of the world’s largest economy has stalled. (FT.com)

HR Policy Highlight: Summer hours can be a perk with more bang for your buck than more traditional employee benefits. (Inc.com)

You Need to Get Your Senior Managers Engaged: Here’s the key finding that jumped out at me from this survey: to make talent management successful, it’s all about senior management and the CEO. If they are engaged in the process, it’s likely to work. If they’re not, it probably won’t. (tlnt.com)

6th Largest Graduate School of Education Relocating from Illinois to Indiana: American College of Education (ACE), an academic institution that provides online graduate degrees for working educators seeking advanced degrees, announced today that it will move its main campus from Chicago to Indianapolis, creating up to 40 new jobs by 2014. (DevelopIndy)

US job woe raises fears for economic growth: US employers hired far fewer workers than expected in May and the jobless rate rose to 9.1pc, raising concerns the economy might be stuck in a painful slow-growth mode. (The Telegraph)

High fuel prices dog Republic Airways: Shares of Republic Airways Holdings Inc. have been skimming treetops lately, falling within pennies of their 52-week low of $4.43 per share as the once contract-only airline struggles with rising fuel costs for Frontier Airlines, the scheduled carrier it acquired in 2009. (IBJ)

College Grads Facing Tough Choices : As the Class of 2011 graduates from college and joins the ranks of millions of other Americans desperate for work, there are several things to keep in mind for these latest members of the Austerity Generation. (Newgradlife.com)

EEOC Settles Staffing Case, Files Another: The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced it settled a national origin discrimination suit with a temporary staffing firm, a local franchise and one of its clients. Separately, the EEOC also announced it filed a suit in May against a staffing firm for refusing to hire an applicant because of a disability. (Staffing Industry)

A Crackdown on Employing Illegal Workers: Obama administration officials are sharpening their crackdown on the hiring of illegal immigrants by focusing increasingly tough criminal charges on employers while moving away from criminal arrests of the workers themselves.(NY Times)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update April 29, 2011

Thursday, April 28, 2011 by Harry Danz

Lots of time to stay inside and read during this stormy, rainy week. Good news from Careerbuilder on the quarterly job forecast, interesting developments with a few key HR legal issues, some advice on employee retention and much more in this week's new roundup. I am interested in any comments anyone might have on some of the items below this week.
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CAREERBUILDER AND USA TODAY’S Q2 2011 JOB FORECAST: The quarterly hiring outlook for the U.S. is the strongest in three years, according to the latest nationwide survey of employers and workers from CareerBuilder and USA TODAY. Nearly three-in-ten employers (28 percent) added full-time, permanent employees in the first quarter of 2011, the highest since the first quarter of 2008. The momentum is expected to continue with the same amount of employers planning to add full-time, permanent jobs in the second quarter.

1099 Repeal Bill Passes Senate: Following months of procedural and political back and forth, stand-alone legislation that would repeal the 1099 tax reporting requirement for businesses included in the Affordable Care Act (or the health care reform law) was signed by President Barack Obama on April 15. More here from the Indianapolis Chamber...

HR Jobs Picking up: Job postings for HR and recruiting positions were up 34 percent year-over-year in March and job-seeker clicks on those ads increased by 51 percent, according to Indeed.com, which aggregates employment ads from a variety of online job boards and company websites. Get more of the story here from Hireonline...

Staffing industry employment rose 7 percent year over year in April and was up 1 percent from the previous month, according to the American Staffing Association’s monthly staffing employment survey, released yesterday. The index stands at 92 for April, up one point from March, the ASA reported. Staffing employment is typically lowest during the first few months of each year and grows throughout the subsequent months. The index measures changes in the number of temporary and contract workers.

Want to Keep Your Employees? Give Them Growth Opportunities : In a global study from consulting firm BlessingWhite, employees revealed they stick with a job because they like the work they do. However, they often leave to advance their career. More from Business News Daily....

Tables turned: Employer wins settlement from EEOC: Good news for employers: A federal judge has slapped down the EEOC for pursuing a bias case the agency knew it couldn’t win.

Supreme Court Rules that Companies Can Ban Class Actions: From Recruiter.com. Think about all the people whom you helped find jobs. How many of them are for private companies? Probably the image that you like to conjure in your mind is an image in which workers are able to stand up for themselves. As of now, things have changed for workers.

Does A Higher Minimum Wage Kill Jobs?: Minimum wage supporters are hoping to prompt at least a few states to act. In Illinois, for example, some lawmakers have been pushing to raise the state minimum wage up to $10.65 in steps over four years. So far, they have not been successful. In fact, no state has voted to increase the minimum wage this year. More from NPR...

New Flash - Weekly News blog series begins today!

Thursday, April 14, 2011 by Harry Danz

Over t

he past few months, That's Good HR has engaged in an internal effort to collect and share relevant news relating to the staffing industry, the economy and key HR and career issues on a local and national level. This information is collected, summarized and shared with our staff members internally by of our very own TGHR blogger, Karen Seketa. As you engage with our staff here at That's Good HR we hope you find your interactions engaging and intellectually stimulating as we love to talk about what we have learned about Indianapolis careers, hiring trends and key HR topics.

It occurred to me while reviewing this important information that it may be of value to you, our customers as well. No one knows better than I how challenging it can be to carve that time out of your day or week to read or review every single relevant news article that comes your way in the event there is something of value to glean from it. As an industry expert and business owner, I know it is critical for me to be able to speak intelligently with my clients and candidates on these and other topics and having some help sorting through the masses for those kernels of great information is helpful. I hope you too find this information helpful.

I will be circulating a weekly news summary with just a few of the items from our internal update. Don't want to create another resource for you to read that is just too long! Below you will find a sample blog post as the first in this series. I would love to hear your feedback about the posts as we travel together through the information overload era. Enjoy and come back next week for more news!
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TGHR News for the week of April 15, 2011 - (Summaries of relevent news, links will take you to full articles.)

Help Wanted: References Fill Jobs And Pockets: Even though millions of Americans are looking for work, many employers say it's too hard to find good help. So, many companies and organizations are encouraging employees to be on the lookout for talent and are offering cash bonuses for referrals that lead to a hire.

Employers Say Skills Deficit Is a (Big) Problem: It's not breaking news that there is a skills deficit facing Hoosier workers and their employers, but the impact of that deficit is becoming even more problematic for some employers. A new statewide employer survey conducted by Ready Indiana, the Indiana Chamber's workforce development initiative, reinforces that fact and provides more interesting findings.

Young workers in Indiana still face tough job market: The number of Indiana teens and college students with jobs fell sharply during the recession, and their employment prospects might not improve this year as they battle low turnover and increased competition from older workers.

From Staffing Industry Analyst Daily news: "Thirty-three percent of human resources professional say they plan to hire in the second quarter of this year, up from 24 percent who said the same a year ago, according to a survey of human resources professionals by the Society for Human Resource Management. Thirty-six percent of survey respondents hired staff in the first quarter of 2011, according to the report. "Even though large-scale hiring isn't yet occurring, confidence in the job market is being buoyed by signs that the economy has entered a recovery mode after a lengthy recession," said Jennifer Schramm workplace trends and forecasting in SHRM's research department. "For some organizations, an improved outlook is resulting in increased expectations of productivity as they boost working hours of existing staff. Others are bringing on temporary staff or are hiring full-time regular employees.“ The survey also found that job losses continue to decline: Just 7 percent of organizations plan to lay off staff in the second quarter. Twelve percent of companies had layoffs in the first quarter of 2011, down from 20 percent a year ago. Managers and professionals were those most affected by layoffs."

Seven Secrets to Getting More Done: You can have the greatest attitude, a strong telephone presence, and the best recruiting and client development skills. But if you lack strong work habits, you are destined to failure. Read about the seven tips from this article - click link above for the rest of the article.

A Big Fat Secret about Employee Appreciation

Thursday, March 3, 2011 by Karen Seketa

Here's a secret....and I won't even charge you for it. Free advice, right here from That's Good HR. It has to do with yet another "day" officially designated to recognizing people we should already be recognizing every day of the year. Our employees. Do you want to know the very best way to celebrate "Employee Appreciation Day" this Friday, March 4th? Here it is....

TALK TO THEM! Tell your employees that you appreciate them. Plain and simple. No flowers, cookies, movie tickets, plaques, poems or form letters needed. Just a conversation please, however brief. Just a few minutes to look them in the eye, learn something new about them and thank them.

Truth be told, I think it is ridiculous that we have dedicated a single day to employee appreciation. Seriously, if you are not appreciating your employees on a regular basis then A) you have the wrong employees or B) you need to review your priorities as supervisor. Or both. As an Indianapolis staffing company, it can be challenging to stay connected to our employees as the roster changes every day. The nature of temporary work is that there are many talented people who are your employee one day and are not the next. Add to that challenge the fact that they all physically work somewhere else. As you can imagine, we really struggle with communicating to our employees how much we appreciate them. That is not an excuse - we know it is our job to figure it out and manage our communications with our temporary employees so they know we care about them.

We survey every one of our candidates after they come to our office to apply and interview (yes, we actually MEET our candidates before we submit them for a job) and then we survey them again each time they complete an assignment for us. Do you want to know what is MOST important to almost all of those surveyed? You guessed it - communication. Keeping in touch, keeping them informed, keeping them connected. Now, I would be outright lying to you if I said we had this mastered. I am telling you the truth, however, when I say that this is the top priority that we discuss, brainstorm around and struggle to master every day. When we figure it out, that will be another secret for another day.

When you are a temporary employee, you suddenly become part of a bigger group of people who all want the same thing....gainful and meaningful employment. I read an interesting post on Fistful of Talent that talks about employee appreciation and I love what it has to say. It is called The World Is Bigger and We Are Smaller – The Paradox of Recognition and here is an excerpt:

"Use Employee Appreciation day to find a way to connect one-to-one with each person on your team. Make them huge in your eyes. Don’t make them small by comparing them to everyone – make them big by valuing what and who they are individually.

It is a paradox. We want recognition on a large scale but value recognition from just one.

Shrink someone’s world and make him or her valuable to you.

Ask yourself, how will I make someone large this week? Next week? All year?"

I concur. Now stop reading this blog post and go talk to someone and make them huge.

The best Staffing agency in Indianapolis

Tuesday, February 15, 2011 by Customer Experiences

Although reluctant to pursue a temporary job through a staffing agency, due to past experiences with other staffing agencies. That's Good HR exceeded my expectations!

Speaking with Jamie and Jessica on the phone, and meeting with Jessica in person for a one on one interview really impressed me. They treated me as a person, with professional respect, instead of a paycheck like other staffing agencies have in the past. The personal interview is to find out what you are looking for and what they might have available. Before I could leave the building, Jessica had a position that she wanted to submit my resume for! I never would have thought of this happening! All though this position went to another candidate 2 more came within days!

I can not speak highly enough of this company and would recommend them to anyone that is looking for employment or a great staffing firm!

Submitted by: Ben Rist-Brown

The "Naked "Truth about Employment Trends

Monday, December 27, 2010 by Karen Seketa

Patrick Lencioni's newest book, "Getting Naked", heralds a provocative approach to client service. He focuses on the concept of "entering the danger" in your consultative

relationships with your customers. Here is an excerpt from Patrick on this topic:

"Entering the danger is powerful because it makes a bold and unequivocal statement that you care more about helping your client than about protecting your business. Whenever I've entered the danger with clients, they almost always stop me afterward and say something to the effect of "thank you for making us deal with that issue; we've been avoiding it for way too long."

Now, entering the danger does have costs. First, it is always uncomfortable. As positive as it almost always turns out to be in the end, it can be downright scary in the moment. Second, in rare cases, a client won't appreciate the naked approach and might very well punish you, going so far as to end your relationship. But without the discomfort and possibility of backfire, there would be no danger."

As an Indianapolis staffing professional, one of my core responsibilities (and natural tendencies) is to keep current on any "danger" trends that we see in the marketplace as they relate to hiring trends and Indianpolis job opportunities. Currently,we are experiencing two rather sensitive "danger" trends as they relate to Indianapolis job openings. One on the client side, one on the candidate side. We know these issues could cause some emotional response from our constituents but from our perspective these are very real and very important to recognize so we are going to risk the danger to talk about them out loud.

For our clients - we have noticed a recent and quickly escalating trend of our best candidates securing fulltime employment faster and having more irons in the fire that are all moving quickly through the hiring process. Our fair warning is that for clients who are used to taking a long time moving through the interview and decision process, you will no longer have the luxury of those great candidates having the patience to wait for you. There are too many other interested and viable options that they can pursue and the fastest to the hiring finish line will win the loyalty of the candidate. This is a hard message to communicate to our customers who are used to having the time to mull over their hiring decisions with our candidates, but the reality is that it is part of our responsibility as a service provider to be very clear and consultative about employment trends, as we are typically the first to see them. We are doing a great disservice to our customers if we do not. Our message with new job orders these days is this: move quickly or lose your chance at the choice candidate we work hard to source and carefully select for you.

For our candidates - the trend is a scary one. The applicant flow we are seeing is showing more and more signs of having been out of the workforce for anywhere from 12-18 months, sometimes longer. The extensions in support from unemployment payments has resulted in many choosing the remain on unemployment instead of taking a lower paying position to remain in the workforce. This is a tough conundrum and one can understand the argument of keeping your stream of income coming in from unemployment funds vs changing your lifestyle to adapt to a lower income if you don't have to. The downside to this is that our customers are standing firm on their requirement for recent and relevant work experience in order to even consider a candidate for a position. This goes for both temporary and full time positions. The relevant may not be as critical as the recent, but given the significant of changes that have taken place in the workplace over the past year or two, anyone who has not been employed may find it difficult to adjust to today's office cultures, technology and expectations.

Our advice for our clients is to take a moment to assess your hiring processes and see how you can streamline them to ensure that you get the candidate that you want before they get away when your competitor moves faster. For our candidates - make sure that you are taking any action possible to update your resumes with recent and relevant experience - and if you have been out of the workforce for an extended period of time, see if you can apply other experiences such as part time work, self-employment experiences or volunteer work. Be sure to recognize that the workplace has changed over the past year and educate yourself on updated technology and workplace trends through research and following blogs such as The Hiring Site by Careerbuilder and Career Realism.

At That's Good HR, it is a fine balance to please our customers and our candidates while providing important information about local workplace and employment trends. We do our very best to be honest and forthcoming with what we are seeing and hearing out there in the Indianapolis job market so we can provide a service that goes above and beyond the simple of matching of a need to a candidate. I know that we always appreciate it when our customers and candidates are honest with us and it is our goal to provide the same service to them, even when it means we have to enter the danger.

National Staffing Week and the art of "Thank you!"

Thursday, September 16, 2010 by Mary Springer

This is a "repost" of a blog that was published last year at this time. It is that time of year again and we want to extend our extreme gratitude to all of our employees -this one is for you!

The dictionary definition of the word grateful is: "warmly and deeply appreciative of kindness or benefits received. Thankful"

My definition of the word grateful follows:

Not sure if you knew about the recent week of appreciation devoted to our staffing employees, deemed "National Staffing Employee Week" for the Staffing Industry. At That's Good HR in Indianapolis we dedicated the week to recognizing all of our temporary and contract employees that work very hard for us and more specifically, fill all kinds of Indianapolis job openings for our clients. Our temporary employees specialize in accounting, finance, HR, administrative, clerical, customer service and medical positions in Central Indiana.

Looking back on the week, it was probably one of the best investments in both time and money that we have made this year. Saying "thank you" to those without whom we would not be here today, is so important. It also goes to show that at the end of the day, everyone likes to be appreciated and noticed as a contributor every now and then.

Throughout the week we have received emails and thank you's. That's right, people are saying "thank you" for saying "thank you"...how great is that?! Here is an example of a thank you we received....

"WOW! What a great surprise! Can’t thank you all enough for the bag full of goodies. All things that I can use and especially like the idea that they will sit on my desk and remind me of the wonderful company that employs me!! And the candy was great, too!! That I didn’t need, but can I tell you it’s gone already?!

Seriously, it’s a pleasure to know and work with such pleasant, thoughtful and professional people."

In this industry, there is sometimes the perception that staffing companies work only for the client company because they ultimately pay the bill and that we do not care as much about our candidates. I am sure there have been instances in our industry where that has been the case and it is unfortunate. My belief is that we could have more job orders than we know what to do with but if we do not have good employees to place in the positions our company ultimately would not be successful.

Our lifeblood in the staffing industry is placing quality people in the right jobs at the right time, but the most important part of that equation is the "people" part and it is important that we treat our "people" with the respect that they deserve as loyal and hard working extensions of our company. I am sure that I have fallen short on that in the past but after last week's reminder of how important our temporary employees and contractors are to That's Good HR, I will not be forgetting again anytime soon.

So, in case you did not hear us say it last week, let me be clear when I say to you, our employees...THANK YOU!!!!

Don't Short Change Contract Work on Your Resume

Friday, August 20, 2010 by Stacy Rouse

In this economy, it is not unusual for me to review a resume where the most recent position that someone has held was a contract or temporary position. It is also not unusual to see someone whose

resume shows that their last position ended a year ago or more, and then when I speak with them in person they tell me they have been doing contract work in the meantime. I have been seeing it so much recently that it I would almost call it a trend. Any time I notice this I will ask the candidate why they are not listing the information on their resume and the most common reason I'm given is that they don't think it looks good to have such a short term position on their resume. Really?? So you think it looks better to have a huge gap in employment rather than to show a contract job you held while searching for a full time, direct hire opportunity? It makes me wonder who these people may have spoken to that gave them the impression that it "looks bad" to have a contract position on your resume? That person/company is obviously not at all in touch with the reality of today's market. As hiring trends continue to lean towards companies filling their Indianapolis job openings with contract staff rather than permanent (for whatever that's worth) full time employees, people are going to be missing great opportunities to list key employment experiences on their resumes.

I, and most recruiters, see it as a huge plus if someone was able to secure a contract job while they continued their search for a direct hire job. It shows to me that they are focused on trying to continue to keep themselves and their skills active, their resumes fresh, and learning new skills, all while still earning a paycheck. I realize that even contract jobs are hard to come by still, so I'm not putting down those people that haven't been able to secure anything yet. I am specifically talking about those that have worked (or are currently working) in a contract job and are leaving it off of their resumes. In my experience, most recruiters would want to see that experience listed on the resume, even if the position is not 100% relevant to your current job search. You may be learning or utilizing a skill set that could be transferable to a new position in your area of interest. Another thing that people forget about when omitting this information on their resumes are the additional references and credibility that can be gained with exposure to other companies and industries.

If you are in an Indianapolis job search and are curious about how to list contract or temporary positions on your resume, feel free to reach out to us at That's Good HR. We'd be happy to help ensure you are putting your best foot forward on your resume.

Unemployment Benefits and Accepting Work through Indianapolis Staffing Companies

Thursday, March 25, 2010 by Lisa Minter

Unemployment or Employment??????

With the large number of people who have been downsized from Central Indiana jobs over the last 2 years, questions repeatedly come up about how unemployment works in regard to accepting short-term or part-time employment with Indianapolis Staffing companies.

To be eligible for unemployment, the state of Indiana requires you be unemployed through no fault of your own and that you are able, available and actively searching for work.

It's important to broaden your horizons in a still-tight job market and a great way to do this is to apply for part-time, temporary or temporary-to-hire positions with Indianapolis Staffing companies. When you apply with an Indianapolis Staffing company, you are applying with one company who may be able to market you to many Central Indiana jobs. It’s a great way to explore what opportunities are out there and what is a good fit for you while building skills and experience. Prospective employers view this as a positive.

Accepting these positions does not jeopardize unemployment benefits. If you accept a part-time position while claiming full-time unemployment benefits each week, you still receive the difference in pay weekly. If you accept full time-work that is temporary, your benefits simply begin again at the end of your assignment not to mention extending your benefit period.

There is valuable information located at the IN Department of Workforce Development’s website, including a claimant handbook.

Back on Campus

Thursday, February 18, 2010 by Amber Crosby

It's that time of year again for Indianapolis companies to gear up for some serious campus and college recruiting. Already this week, That's Good HR has participated in many local campus events. I went to Indiana University - Indianapolis to speak to their recruiting class, conducted mock interviews for the Kelley School of Business and today I will be attending the collegiate career fair. Yes, it's a busy life for Indianapolis staffing companies, recruiters and headhunters.

There is something great about being back on campus in the springtime and remembering

what it was like trying to decide what to do for the summer. Ahhh, the good ol'days that seemed so carefree!  It's true that most Indianapolis based professional staffing firms attend the college career fairs in the fall but most students are narrowly focused on their companies of choice for internships or employment after graduation at that time. The spring recruiting events are great for Indianapolis based staffing firms because now is the time that students will stop by to discuss how we can assist them in their job search. What is it that we can do for them, you ask??

1. Share our network with them. We have network connections with over 250 Indianapolis based companies with whom we regularly meet with and hear about what's going on in their business, their industries and current hiring trends. This can be a huge advantage to college students just based on the wealth of information we have at our fingertips about indianapolis job openings. We might be able to suggest companies to look into that they haven't heard of but we know that they are currently seeking summer and fall interns.

2. Offer summer employment opportunities in their fields of study. We can help those college students that weren't fortunate enough to land an internship for the summer but are staying in Indianapolis by presenting them with temporary employment opportunities in the areas of accounting, finance, HR, and administration.  Keep in mind that when graduation day arrives some work history looks better on a resume than none at all.

3. Help them find a full-time permanent or temp to hire opportunity here in Indianapolis with one of our clients. When graduation day comes and goes and they are still searching for a full-time position (which, as discussed in an earlier blog posted by Mary Springer, unfortunately can happen as we emerge from the recession) we can assist them in their Indianapolis job search.  Our clients frequently hire new grads that have worked for us in the summer months. They feel it shows ambition and they trust that we know their skill level due to the assignments they completed for us. It never hurts to have headhunters considering you for their clients during your job search whether you are a college student or an experienced veteran! After all it's a free service for you!

Tell your college friends, co-workers or children to stop by to introduce themselves at one of our upcoming career fairs:

Collegiate Career Fair at the Convention Center on Thursday, February 18, 2010
Butler University Networking Fair at Butler's Campus on Tuesday, March 23, 2010
IUPUI 'Just in Time' Career Fair at IUPUI on April 1, 2010

We look forward to meeting you!

Is it over yet?

Monday, November 30, 2009 by Cathleen Litz

After a few months of pretty positive economic data, the past few weeks haven't been quite as optimistic. While I am certainly not an economic expert, I have worked in the staffing industry for 5+ years so I hope I am a little more qualified to comment on hiring trends.

So here's the bad news. As you would probably expect, this year has not been pretty for the staffing industry. Most recruiting firms have experienced declines ranging anywhere from 20 to 60%. While our firm hasn't escaped without a few bruises, That's Good HR has a solid reputation and network as an Indianapolis staffing firm so we are in a good position going into 2010.

The good news is that we are starting to see a recovery. Temporary staffing picked up over the summer. On the direct hire and executive search side, we are starting to see things pick up. However, not quite to pre-recession levels just yet.

Many people assume unemployment levels directly impact our business. And with unemployment recently crossing the 10% thresholds, it is often assumed that we might just be seeing the worst of the recession. However, for the direct hire and executive search division, non-farm employment is the best indicator of our business. Earlier this year, non farm job losses ranged from 650-750K per month. For the month of October, the preliminary data indicates that non-farm job losses were closer to 190K which is a great improvement for our business's outlook.

Out of work after 17 years: taking my own advice

Monday, October 26, 2009 by Lisa Minter

Last year I became one of the many casualties of the economy. I was downsized from an Indianapolis Staffing company where I had spent the last 17 years. This was not only a blow to my ego but also stressful to be searching for HR jobs in Indianapolis in a very bleak economy.

After feeling sorry for myself and spending a short amount of time being the youngest snowbird on the Gulf Coast (this was actually a boost to my bruised ego!), I decided to practice what I had been preaching for the last 17 years in my staffing and HR roles:

1) Do not solely rely on job boards to find your new career. While sites such as CareerBuilder and Monster are valuable, do not assume that only submitting your resume through these sites will land you your dream job.

2) Network, Network, Network!

o Reach out to any and all personal and professional contacts. Referrals are a very valuable tool in searching for positions. Your neighbor may know of a position opening up within his company or your former employer may be hiring. People who know you want to help.

o Contact your college placement department.

o Contact your former employer’s competitors. You have the industry experience and knowledge they are looking for and you can add new insight to their business.

o Join professional organizations in your area. There are organizations for HR , Accounting and many other professionals in Indianapolis. There is also the Business Network International Organization (BNI) which is the largest business networking organization in the world and The Network of Women in Business. There are also website groups for Administrative professionals and "virtually" any other type of professional on websites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and MySpace. These organizations enable you to network yourself directly to hiring officials.

o Many churches in the Indianapolis area have networking groups which is another great way to market yourself.

o Volunteer. This is a great way to not only network but to also turn the negative of finding yourself with too much time on your hands into making a positive impact in your community.

3) Follow the news. Know what companies are coming to your area. While they may not have jobs posted yet, you can proactively market yourself ahead of the pack!

4) Contact Indianapolis staffing companies. I know of a really GREAT staffing company, called That’s Good HR! Indianapolis Staffing companies work for you. Whether you are looking for Federal Government Contract jobs, Accounting jobs, Administrative jobs or Six Figure jobs in Indianapolis, Indianapolis staffing companies have many contacts within many companies. While you are networking yourself to one company at a time, Indianapolis staffing companies are networking you to many direct hiring sources.

5) Above all else, stay positive and open-minded. What may appear to be a less than ideal job opportunity could end up being a better career fit for you. For example, you may start at a more entry-level position than where you previously were. This may enable you to learn about the company from the ground up. You may have employment offers that are “temporary to hire”. This is an opportunity for you to try out a new company or industry.

Over 45 & Unemployed

Thursday, September 3, 2009 by Cathleen Litz

I thought twice when blogging about this article as I didn't want to be the "Debbie Downer" of our blog. However, I really encourage you to read it. While it is a little depressing chronicling Michael Blattman's, a former Sallie Mae executive, job search, it is very insightful as to the realities of our current employment market. And it brings up a few really good points. Regardless of whether you want to call it age discrimination, workers over the age of 45 are facing the unemployed ranks for longer periods of time than their younger counterparts.

Just based on reading the article (I obviously don't know the intricate details of Mr. Blattman's job search), it appears there are some things he could be doing to improve the effectiveness of his search. Here are my thoughts:

Network - Mr Blattman has applied for 600 jobs online. I talk to many candidates everyday who literally sit at home and apply for jobs on Monster, Careerbuilder and corporate recruiting websites all day. While these sites can be great to find out who is hiring and hiring trends, focusing your search only on these job postings if very limiting. Tell everyone you know that you are looking for a job. Re-connect with former colleagues. Attend networking lunches.
Have Confidence - Even if you have taken an emotional beating during the course of a job search, don't let potential employers know it. Mr Blattman describes telling an interviewer that he would take any job. While that may be the case, who wants to hire someone who is desperate or has no self-confidence? Not to sound harsh, but think about it from the employer's perspective.
Consider contract work - While a permanent position is ideal for many, consider a contract or temporary position. It can be a great way to get back into the work force and keep your skills sharp. That's Good HR has a temporary services division and works with many job seekers who are in between positions.

Last, at That's Good HR, my focus is to provide assistance to individuals engaged in an Indianapolis job search. Please contact me if you are looking for Central Indiana jobs or would like additional information regarding the above topics.

College Recruiting, Part 2

Wednesday, August 26, 2009 by Mary Springer

My last blog described a meeting I had with a client where I learned that her son was still seeking meaningful employment after graudating from college in 2008. We discussed the challenges in today's market for a new college grad to find a job in Indianapolis once they have graduated. That blog entry focused on encouraging soon to be college grads to take advantage of the on campus resources before they graduate.

This blog is focused on another option that I presented to my client in assisting her son with his post graduate job search. I spoke with my client and let her know that I would be more than happy to sit down with her son and educate him on our business, the Staffing Industry and his Indianapolis job search. Discussion with her son then led him to me and a quest for an opportunity to get his foot in the door with temporary employment while he continued his job search.

He came in and registered with That's Good HR, Inc. and I sat down with him and walked him through all of the positives of taking a temporary job while looking for permanent employment. The American Staffing Association does a great job of providing key information and FAQ's for jobseekers. He was not aware of our industry as a real option for him and it opened a whole new set of options for him.

The result? We were able to match his skills with a great temporary opportunity with one of our key customers. The unemployed graduate is now receiving a regular paycheck at a fair wage AND he is learning new skills and gaining valuable experience. It is win for both of us, so much so that in my NEXT blog, he is going to be featured as a guest blogger to provide some perspective from his point of view.