It has been quite some time since the last update regarding Parallel Employment Group. In the last six months many exciting things have been happening and we thought now was a good time to update our blog posts. Here are some of the actions we have taken in this short period.

We have expanded our operations in both Wisconsin and New York with a total of three new branches. Our excellent team is now offering employment opportunities in Fort Atkinson, WI; Arcade, NY; and Amherst, NY. With the opening of these branches, we have been able to place over 500 new employees with opportunities increasing each week. We have added 13 new internal associates to the Parallel team each with a unique skill set to assist with our expanding operation.

We continue to evaluate operations to be the most environmentally friendly company we can. A recent decision to offer check cards has dramatically reduced the number of paper checks we cut each week. This move has eliminated the printing and distribution of over 13,000 documents each month and that number continues to rise as we advance our operations. With the changes in technology all newly acquired equipment is energy star rated with new company guidelines ensuring each office is setup in the best possible format.

At Parallel, we welcome change and with what has taken place over these six months you can see the types of changes we are making. I assure anyone reading this that there is much more to come and will be sure to update this blog more often to keep readers informed. Parallel Employment Group is dedicated to working with you and will do all we can to create a positive working relationship.

Tweet

We grow up in a world that says we can make a difference.  Most of us as children think "I could be the next President" or “I will find a cure for cancer".  We will also say we want to be doctors, lawyers, singers, dancers, Astronauts.

I myself wanted to be a corporate lawyer or social worker.  These things could still happen, if I wanted it to but life has given me other opportunities to embrace. Most of those things we want to be as children do not always come to pass but that does not mean you can't make a difference right where you're at.  I always think the key to success is an amazing attitude towards life. 

Do we wake up happy and excited everyday?   If we are honest we will say no (but if you are, I am jealous you do not have to work as hard as the rest of us do) but the more you practice being positive about your surroundings the more you appreciate what life is offering.   Just by waking up in the morning and getting out of bed is a great start (even if you have to press the snooze button several times before actually doing it, it still counts!).    

Getting to work with an attitude that says “I am ready world, what do you have for me today”?  is not something most people embrace.  As a matter a fact, most of you are probably laughing at the very thought.  Over the years however, I have noticed average people do simple things that change other people’s lives extraordinarily.  A simple hello, a firm handshake, or a smile can lift a person’s spirits, even taking the time to give directions to someone who is lost, or being the ear for someone who is upset and needing to vent.  These are all things that just take a tiny bit of our time but make a lasting impression on the people we interact with everyday. We are the key.

This reminds me when I went through a seminar early on in my hotel management years (prior to Parallel) about seeing the world in a more positive way.  If you wrote down throughout your day between 3-5 positive events that occurred, after 30 days you will have formed a habit of looking for the positive things in your daily life (believe me I was quite the cynic when I first heard this). So, I thought why not and started this on a checklist for all of my employee’s.  In less than a month it made a huge impact on how they treated customers as well as each other, not only at work but also in their personal lives.  I know some might read this and say “yeah right, that can’t work”, and I say it cannot hurt to try (I did). 

I know from personal experience that some days it can be so very hard to find the positivity especially when you have clients yelling, employee’s upset , but you have the ability to let it affect you or to look at it as a challenge to turn the situation around for a solution to benefit all parties involved. 

One of my favorite things I enjoy doing is taking a person who is generally negative and trying to win them over.  For example, when I started working for Parallel Employment Group we had a man who came in most of the time with an attitude.  He would complain about pretty much anything that was bugging him that day.   It came to a point where most people in the office dreaded this man coming in. Now I must say this guy was a tough one to crack but after about 2 years of meeting each negative with a positive, this man is completely different around us.  He comes in, chats, socializes, and honestly has an amazing personality but we would have never known it if we had we just ignored him during his weekly rants.  It started with a simple smile, a Thank you, and the occasional we really appreciate you.  Quite  a few people told me it was useless because he was always like this but I am quite a determined person in this area and have had years of practice.  I am a firm believer that all things are possible and all it takes is just one person to take the time someone needs to be encouraged, listened to, and made to feel they are worth your time.  I also love sending out quotes to encourage people and here is one I hope you will enjoy:

 “The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, the education, the money, than circumstances, than failure, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice everyday regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% of how I react to it. And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes.”-Charles R. Swindoll

It starts with you. 

Tweet

Check out this information provided by D Singh.  It is a great look at the top reasons to seek employment through an employment service.

The major benefit of working with an employment service is the flexibility to venture into new areas with a multitude of opportunities, while keeping you engaged.  Many prospective employees believe they will never land a top position if they begin the relationship as a temporary employee. Unfortunately, this is a misconception because many temporary opportunities pave the way to permanent positions.

Here are some more advantages of working with an Employment Service.

1. Contract based opportunities can help you maintain a fixed source of financial earning.

2. Recruiters frequently utilize employment services when promptness is required for special projects or when notice is short. They can fulfill their requirements quickly by using an employment service. Hence, this is helpful for the individuals who are looking for immediate job opportunities.

3. Plenty of large companies execute recruitment of their staff through employment services.  In many cases, the employer will call the employment service for a temporary job opportunity and if the applicant satisfies the employers, they will hire the individual on permanently.

4. Contractual jobs widen your chances of interacting with new professionals thereby developing a wide business network. This may prove beneficial in gaining a job in the future.

5. Temporary opportunities help you become acquainted with different kinds of positions. Apart from this, for an individual who has a solid work ethic but lacks experience this could be the best option to gain exposure.

6. Working with employment services is also helpful for those who have not worked for some time. These interruptions in their career, at times, become obstacles when attempting to gain full-time employment. Your attachment with an employment service will reduce such breaks in career. Moreover, this will not affect your career adversely.

7. Additionally, some employment services provide additional benefits like health insurance. Do not forget to inquire about the benefits when applying with the employment service.

8. If you have any special expertise or developed skill sets, you are capable of gaining stable employment.  Make sure you pick the right job from the employment service to match your skills and interests. Never fall into the misconceptions that you cannot get well-paid jobs from an employment service.

9. The aim of many employment services is to have candidates with good expertise readily available. This is why some services provide training and development sessions. For example, if you need to polish your computer knowledge, many services will provide computer training.

10. Candidates enrolled with an employment service enjoy plenty of variety, which helps them to attain steady career growth.  These opportunities will never come your way if you are not affiliated with the employment service.

Tweet

This month marks my 14^th year with Parallel Employment Group.  During those 14 years, I have had the opportunity to witness the many changes that have taken place in the staffing world.  While many staffing agencies have been forced to close their doors due to economic issues, Parallel Employment Group has continued to grow, and we now have offices in Illinois, Wisconsin, and New York.  We continue to offer new opportunities to our clients and employees alike.  I feel fortunate to be able to work for an organization that has always been there to support their staff. If there is a question to be answered or an opinion to be heard, you know that there will always be someone to listen and lend a helping hand.  Knowing that you have the support of your corporate office gives you the confidence you need to take on more tasks, move out of your comfort zone, accept new challenges and achieve new goals. 

I am proud to be a part of such a wonderful company and look forward to the years ahead.

Tweet

Planet hunters refer to some planets as, “Goldilocks Planets.” These planets are within the ideal range of their star, usually around 93 million miles – the distance between the Earth and our star, the Sun – indicating they could feasibly harbor liquid water, one of the building blocks of life.[1]

Much like a star’s proximity to its respective planets, companies can sometimes be too big or too small for their customers, despite what they might say to the contrary.

At Parallel Employment Group, we pride ourselves on being just the right size to accommodate both large and small companies. We like to say that we have the flexibility to cater to fortune 500 corporations and smaller companies with equal attention to detail and customer service. We do not answer to a stock price, or a parent company hundreds of miles away.

If one of our customers picks up the phone to call us with a question or comment, they will not be reaching a call center somewhere. They will be talking directly to a single point of contact.

Availability is one of the many benefits of utilizing Parallel Employment Group as your staffing vendor of choice; when it comes to choosing a service, take a page out of “Goldilocks” and go with the one that is “just right” for your company.

Tweet

 I have learned in the last 21 years that treating people the same way you want to be treated goes a long way in this industry. I receive great pleasure out of helping people find employment that have had a stroke of bad luck by either losing a job or being laid off.   

This story happened to me a couple of years ago while working at an employment agency, and I would like to share it with you now. A man named Alfredo came into the office who was encountering several circumstances of misfortunes.  He no longer had a home, no vehicle for transportation, lost his children, was living on the street and he had no job.  As he was telling me about all of his bad luck, I felt I needed to say something that would offer him some encouragement.  It was then that I made a promise to Alfredo to do my best to find him a job. One week had passed when I received a call from one of my clients. This client was looking for someone to quickly package parts and learn the operation of their assembly line. Alfredo came into my office to check in because, obviously, he did not have a phone. We discussed the position and I tested his ability to move objects quickly using our pegboard test. He tested great and the client agreed that his score would make him a great placement for this position. He accepted the assignment, and after two weeks of working, was able to rent a motel room and ride the bus to work. After a month of working, he purchased a cell phone and new work clothes. Three months went by, and the client hired him on permanently and gave him a $2.00 raise. He came back into my office after four months of working with a dozen roses and a box of candy as a thank you for helping to improve his quality of life. He also showed me his car and let me know he was no longer living in a motel room but had an apartment that he could call home. 

This is what makes my job special and is the reason why I plan to retire in this industry.

Tweet

I have been in Sales for well over 15 years.  Six of those years have been in the Staffing industry.  I have had to alter my sales strategy at least 6 times in those 6 years.  The demand for temporary labor has increased dramatically over the years; hence, the competition has increased 10-fold.  Many of those competitors are price driven.  To compete with them, you must provide a superior level of service and be driven by strong ethical business practices.  You must work diligently to identify early on in the sales cycle who are the right prospective clients.  You must find those prospective clients that require a higher level of service and co-employer trust from their staffing and recruiting vendor.

To accomplish this requires a great amount of passion and dedication towards your future customer’s business success.  It is not easy, but if you follow a few steps and really believe in developing business partnerships, you will attain your long-term sales goals and business success. 

Step 1:  It is critical that you identify and understand your potential client’s decision-making hierarchy.  The Chief Officers of your prospective client are making decisions likely based on future product development, business initiatives, growth targets, etc. whereas your mid level Managers and Supervisors may be more concerned with meeting their daily, weekly, monthly and yearly production and budget goals.   You may also have to contend with a Parent Company that has corporate-wide policies concerning labor.  The point is there are many people with as many diverse motivations within an organization that you as a business development specialist and a true business partner must understand. 

Step 2:  What is the client’s motivation for changing staffing vendors?  This seems like an easy step but is often missed or simply ignored.  Most sales professionals believe in themselves and the company they are representing.  That is the correct mind set and is what you need to succeed in any business.  However, you must uncover “WHY” the client “Would” (not “Should”) do business with you; what is the client’s core dependence on their existing staffing vendor and why is their existing staffing vendor not meeting their needs?  Here is where we all need to look inward; trust our instincts and ask hard questions like, “Why would you change vendors?”  The answer to that one little question determines your next course of action.  If you are honest with yourself, often times, this is where you would walk away  because a prospective client simply wants to see if there is a “cheaper” price out there for the same service.  We never fault the client for that.  We just continue on our quest for that client we can help.

Step 3:  You must tie the prospects budget into your service offering right from the beginning.  This means identifying the “Must Haves” from the “Nice to Have” at all Management levels.  This is where you need to meet with Executives, Middle Managers and Supervisors to indentify everyone’s labor need.  Adding on services such as criminal background checks, E-verify, drug screens, yearly audits, metrics reports, fill ratio guarantees, weekend coverage, turnover guarantees, on site coverage, etc. all cost money to manage and implement.  All companies want these guarantees but not all companies are willing to put the cost of them in their labor budget.  I once spent two months working with a potential client to put the right staffing program together just to find out that “what they wanted” was not “what they could afford”.   By going back to the drawing board and identifying the “Must Haves” we were able to put a staffing program together that met their core objectives and met their budget.  I was lucky to have another chance to re-quote.  Had it not been for step one and step two, I would not have been given the opportunity to re-quote. 

Step 4:  Identify for your prospective client policies and procedures you have in place as a reputable vendor to protect them, your client, from the liabilities associated with co-employment laws.  Believe it or not, not all staffing agencies follow the labor laws; pay appropriate unemployment taxes or worker comp costs, or worse.  By pointing out your ethical business, you are reminding them of the risks associated with doing business with a staffing vendor that is less than “ethical”. 

Step 5:  When you earn that new business account, the most important thing is to conduct quarterly reviews and audits to ensure that the service levels you promised are being met.  It is important to share with your customer the success of your staffing program.  They need to be reminded that their existing vendor is and always will be the best choice they made.  Remind them of that often by presenting quantitative and qualitative data on a quarterly basis. 

Tweet

In such a competitive market like staffing, it can be challenging to stand out in the crowd. In the four years I have been with Parallel Employment Group, not only have I had the opportunity to gain insight about the staffing industry, I have also learned what it means to be successful in the service industry.  Customer Service is the cornerstone of every staffing company, and during these economically tumultuous years, I have watched some agencies flourish and others close their doors.  I therefore found myself asking what keeps Parallel’s clients and employees loyal to us?  How has Parallel created a successful culture of Customer Service?

1)      Clients are our number one priority!  Our work is not finished until our clients’ needs are met, and we adjust our priorities and schedules in order to do so. It seems obvious, but placing clients’ needs at the top of the list ensures quality service at every step.

2)      We take pride in our partnerships!  No matter what challenge a client is facing, we commit ourselves to helping our clients achieve their goals. The problems that clients experience are problems we experience as well. We are there to develop and implement customized solutions as an extension of the client’s team.   

3)      We have dedicated staff! Having a staff that works well together and cares about client satisfaction may be the single most valuable asset in any office. I feel fortunate as a manager in saying that each member of my team cares about our clients and plays a vital role in the success of our branch.

4)      We know our industry! Clients look to us for advice in Employment Law, OSHA and EEOC guidelines and many other areas. It is our responsibility to have expertise in every facet of our industry, and we do, at every level of the company.

5)      We make the most of our resources! Parallel is dedicated to finding creative solutions that match the many varied needs of our clients. Whether that takes the form of on-site management, tracking production, or finding that “needle in the haystack” candidate, we have a wide variety of resources available to us and have no limit as to what we can do to assist our clients.

6)      We care about our employees! Assignment employees prefer working with Parallel because we care about them. I have heard more than once that employees feel “like a number” working with other agencies, but at Parallel we do our best to help solve problems, address issues and get to know our employees. After all, they are our biggest resource and we need to take care of them!

7)      We hold our employees accountable! It can be easy for temporary employees not to feel connected to their agency while they are on assignment at the client company. Our employees know there is an expectation to uphold, and we feel that because of this they are more likely to represent us positively while on assignment. More importantly, clients feel supported knowing we manage our employees, even if we can’t always do it on the production line.

Tweet

Employees are one of the most important aspects of running any kind of business and detrimental to a company’s success.  Every company should understand that people are their greatest commodity.  Without qualified people who are good at what they do, any company would be in serious trouble.  Employees are valuable to our business and a seasoned and experienced employee can unquestionably bring a lot of value and added benefit to the business.  I am passionate about the topic of retention because candidates and employees are our lifeblood – our reason for existing.    

As the economy revives, companies with dissatisfied employees will experience a swift migration of their top talent if they are not proactive to keep them engaged and happy.  Ultimately, hiring individuals who are truly fit to succeed in the position for hire will dramatically increase the chances of that employee being satisfied with his or her work and remaining with the company for an extended period of time.  In the long run, the retention of existing employees saves companies thousands of dollars in advertising and recruiting expenses, orientation and training of the new employees, decreased productivity until the new employee is trained, and loss of customers who were loyal to the departing employee.  In addition to money, some additional ways the process of employee retention will benefit an organization are:

·    Loss of company knowledge: When an employee leaves, he/she takes with valuable knowledge about the company, customers, current processes and past history (sometimes to competitors).

·    Turnover leads to more turnovers: When an employee leaves, the effect is often felt throughout the organization with increased workload.  The unspoken negativity often intensifies for remaining staff resulting in turnover. 

·    Goodwill of the company: Higher retention rates motivate potential employees to join the team.

There are endless factors that play into keeping employees satisfied considering every individual has different motivations for working.  But, we all work because we obtain something that we need from work.  In my 8 years of staffing, I have found the following to be the most common elements to satisfaction in the workplace:  competitive wage and benefit packages, communication, including employees in decision making, opportunities for growth and development, recognition of hard work, clearly outlined expectations, fair treatment of all employees, fulfillment and enjoyment in the workplace and balance of work and personal life.

For every company, workforce is an intellectual capital, which is the source of its competitive advantage, and helps achieve the bottom line.  In my opinion, instead of trying to eliminate turnover, we need to take control of it.  Push out the low performers, but do not let good people get in downward spirals.  When an otherwise good employee is struggling, help him or her see what they can improve on to be successful.  Help everyone earn more of what they want in order for them to remain satisfied.  Remember, though, whatever you are doing to be flexible and generous to retain your good employees, be much more flexible and generous to keep your great employees. 

Tweet

I have been in sales for almost 15 years and there isn’t anything else I would rather do.

The basis of selling is in building relationships.  I believe it is not about the number of contacts you have, it is about the relationships you create.

First, listen to your customers.  They will tell you what they need from you if you take the time to listen and make them feel comfortable.  Let your customer know how important they are in this partnership.  This partnership will become an extension of their business and your goal is for them to realize that they are as important to you as you are to them.

Be honest!  Honesty is huge and it will take you a long way.  Do not be afraid to let your customers know what you can and cannot do.  Making promises that you know you will never deliver will make you lose their trust thus jeopardizing what you have worked so hard for.

If your business has anything to do with people and all businesses do, then you are in the business of building relationships.  This will set you apart from the rest and your success will be inevitable.

Tweet