Grant Money for Businesses in Michigan Take a Look!

Always looking for ways to help out folks. In Michigan, there are grant dollars for improvements. 

See below: 
Grants for Safety and Health Improvement 
NOW OPEN.

#qualifiedstaffing #grants #safetyandhealth

Going Back to the Old Way of Find Qualified Candidates- Thank Goodness!

Recruiting is changing and I say, thank heavens! This annoying model of posting a job and hundreds of either unqualified or irrelevant candidates apply, they we spend days and days weeding though the system to find a few to interview is madness!

How about from the perspective of the applicant...they apply for a job with a poorly written job description that is pages long, go through a super long online process which totally duplicates the resume they spent 8 hours developing. Then, after all of that, a great candidate will never make to the recruiters desk because of a robotic application system did not like their key words. What a nightmare!

I prefer the old "circle of influence" model, where you find the best candidates thought your networks, word of mouth and relationship building models. It appears we have come full circle and maybe now we can get back to what really works. 

This article talks about this process and how it relates to our younger generation of workers. 

Read the article NOW!

Social Media Questions Answered, sort of...

Ever wonder about social media marketing? This article has some good insight on the topic and some of those unanswered questions we all have about going viral, does social media help sales and more. Good read and great to share! 

SOCIAL MEDIA ARTICLE

We Want Critical Thinking Skills and All That Jazz

We hear it all the time from employers: job seekers today, especially the younger generations, lack soft skills, critical thinking skills, problem solving skills and 'EI". What we do not hear is who is to blame? Why are all these college graduates coming out of school with a lack of ability to "think"?

Being a Adjunct Professor, I see it. Example: An assignment is due on Saturday at 11:59 PM and is to be submitted electronically. Pretty clear, you have over a week to complete the task, plan accordingly. Why is every week, like clockwork I have students who miss the deadline, come to class the next week (still with out submitting the assignment) and ask what they should do? They tell me their Internet was down, their cat ran away, children were sick...yet with all of those excuses did it not every occur to submit the paper late, you know the better late than never?

When I say "why didn't you just submit it late"? They stare at me and say something like "well, I was not sure if you would except it late."

So, if you miss a credit card payment do you just never pay it because its late and you were not sure if they would accept it late? If you are going on a first date with someone and you are struck in traffic and late do you just not show up because you were not sure they would still go on a date with you because you are late? Makes no logical sense.

Now this is an age old problem, late homework, but why is this so hard for students to solve on their own. Its not a big deal, its college and its my duty to teach them, they don't know what they don't know so I look at these opportunities as teachable moments, and offer them advice for the future on how to address these problems as it relates to the workplace. That is my job as an instructor but does everyone do this, I am not sure.

This is simplistic example of the lack of problem solving skills students have today but is a window into a much bigger problem. I see it with my own children. They are given an assignment or task and if the the regular way or doing it is not available they deduct the task impossible to complete. Dishwasher full of clean dishes and your job is to load dirty, well clean dishes in the way hence can not complete task. Or lawn mower not starting, so cant mow the lawn. It never occurs to my children to try to fix the problem. Now they are teens so some of this is to be expected but I have to wonder, have I let my children down, do they suffer from this lack of critical thinking and problem solving deficit I see every day?

The youth of today are bright and technologically advanced, so many amazing skills and abilities at their disposal but with all their knowledge I wonder if we have departed wisdom. Knowing everything is different from being able to DO something and I worry that we are equipping them with tools but not showing them how to use them or letting them figure out how to use them. Employers like coach-able people, not people who know everything, but people who are willing to learn and DO things. I have heard it a million times, I would take a hard worker who is coach-able over a highly educated college graduate with a know it all mentally any day!

#collegegrads #highereducation #karenpotter

Article on the thoughts on what employers are seeking below:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20141027122755-17000124-bosses-seek-critical-thinking-skills-but-how-about-the-rest-of-the-company?trk=nus-cha-roll-art-title

The Talent Pipeline- Where have all the good employees gone?

One of the most interested dynamics right now is the talent shortage. The best employees have jobs and are not actively looking for work. We can them passive job seekers. They are interested, but not aggressive.

Many smaller and mid-sized companies have small HR departments with numerous responsibilities. Hunting for candidates is not something they are able to do effectively. They simple post the job on the job boards and wait for the flood of applicants and hope for the best. After hours and hours of reading resumes, and sending emails, coordinating schedules, running background checks and trying to set up interviews, many HR professionals hope and pray it pans out. Many times is does not, so they start over again.

This is not the best way to find talent. Save your self time and money and let the professionals who do this day in and day out for a living hunt down that perfect candidate so you can focus on the many other tasks that demand your attention.

One thing we are always doing for our clients is recruiting the best talent and keeping our talent pipeline full.  It is essential to keep our competitive edge.

Read the article below for some additional tips on what you can do! Working on a limited budget, Qualified Staffing can help! Let us do the work so you can reap the rewards. @ www.q-staffing.com. #qualifiedstaffing #talent

Read more here!


Visit me on LinkedIn 

My Dog Ate My Homework and so much more!

As an adjunct  professor, I have heard a lot of interesting reasons for not accomplishing homework on time. As an employer we have heard even more but this funny article shares some wild excuses, I hope never to hear!

Check it out. 

#klpotter2 #employment #forbes

Sometimes NO is the best answer- Happy Friday!

In the staffing industry many people have the wrong motives for what they are doing. I believe what we do changes lives, everyday and it inspires me to do my personal best for every client. On this Friday, I thought I would share a story of how sometimes in life a NO can be the best thing that ever happened! Happy Friday readers!

This a story worth sharing from LinkedIn: (post originally by Malik Jahangir, Assistant Accountant)

A jobless man applied for the position of 'office boy' at Microsoft.

The HR manager interviewed him, then gave him a test: clean the floor. The man passed the test with flying colors.

"You are hired," HR manager informed the applicant, "give me your e-mail address, and I'll send you the application for employment, as well as the date you should report for work.

The man replied " I don't have a computer, or an email!"

"I'm sorry," said the HR manager. "If you don't have an email, that means you do not exist. And we cannot hire persons who do not exist."

The man was very disappointed.

He didn't know what to do. He only had $10 with him. Once that is spent, he won't have any money to buy any food.

He went to the supermarket and bought a crate of tomatoes with his $10.

He went from door to door and sold the tomatoes in less than two hours. He doubled his money.

He repeated the operation three times, and returned home with $60. He realized that he can survive

this way. He started to go everyday earlier, and return late.

He doubled or tripled his money every day. Soon, he bought a cart, then a truck. In a very short time, he had his own fleet of delivery vehicles.

Five years later, the man became one of the biggest food retailers in the U. S. He started to plan his family's future, and decided to have a life insurance.

He called an insurance broker, and chose a protection plan.

At the end of the conversation, the broker asked him for his email address.

The man replied: ' I don't have an email.'

The broker was dumbfounded. "You don't have an email, and yet have succeeded in building an empire. Can you imagine what you could have been if you had an email?," he exclaimed.

The man thought for a while, and replied, "an office boy at Microsoft!"

If you just lost your Job or Just failed an Interview Don't worry be Optimistic..... Good days are on the way and something better is reserved for you. -Malik Jahangir

Great story hun?  Love life people- you only get one!

#klpotter2 #jobseekers #staffing