….in order to generate higher pay rates.  It’s an economic truth.  If there are too few of something the price goes up.  More demand for that widget than there are widgets to satisfy the demand will make them more expensive.

In recruiting it takes more than just scarcity.  Try finding a Diesel Mechanic when you need one, or good Manufacturing Technicians with PLC programming.  They are hard to find and there are more needs for them than there are qualified candidates to fill…

Some good earnings reports in the last couple of weeks may be a real good sign for business.  Companies like Boeing and Apple are reporting good numbers.  Leaders in different industries like this showing solid earnings growth has a big impact.

These companies impact all of their suppliers and other companies that they do business with.  If we continue to see industry leaders doing well we can expect widespread growth.  Something we have not see for some time.…

Reports are saying that real revenue growth is driving earnings versus just cost cutting which drove earnings for the most part since the recovery began.

Real revenue growth from the actual sale of products and services would be a welcome change.  Probably not enough evidence to say for sure at this point, but if that is what we are starting to see it will be very good for business conditions.

Todd…

We are currently in the third longest economic expansion ever.  It’s also the slowest expansion ever.  We’ve had growth of less than 2% for 9 years.

Significant economic growth is a high tide that raises all boats.  Less than 2% growth is not that.  A real expansion with significant growth is fun.  It accelerates business growth.  The reality is, growth has been slowing for decades.  Not just the last 9 years.

Demographics are not in our favor with the baby boom generation…

In baseball, wins above replacement is a statistic measuring how many wins a player would get you instead of having an average AAA minor league player in that slot.

What is the value of a new hire over average to the bottom line of the business?  Or the loss of a good current employee versus the average in their spot?

Worth considering.

Todd Kmiec…

Whether you like Donald Trump as President or despise him, he brings some interesting perspective to the table on a regular basis.  Recent actions involving Steve Bannon and Jeff Sessions highlight Mr. Trump’s ability to look at every situation without emotion.  It’s just business.

When you aren’t productive and helping the cause or the mission, you’re out, you’re fired, we don’t need you.  When that changes, no love lost, the past doesn’t matter, if you can help us succeed then we…

Foxconn, the iPhone manufacturer with operations primarily in China, announced last week that they are building a plant in Wisconsin.  For a good 10 years now we’ve heard stories about about onshoring…..bringing operations and jobs back to America.

The wage gap has been closing for some time and coupled with incentives and other advantages, like reducing shipping costs, it can be a more attractive to manufacture in the US.  It’s a really good sign and the best part is that there is…

Working remotely has some major pluses for both companies and employees and for the last 20 years or so we’ve seen a lot more remote work.  That’s changing.  Many companies are now pulling back on remote work and remote workers.  IBM, AETNA, HP, and Reddit to name a few.

Companies are saying they want more control and collaboration.  Even good things get overdone, so a pullback isn’t surprising.  It pays to be aware that there may be fewer remote opportunities going forward as…

Whatever business you are in, you need to have a defined purpose.  What are you trying to accomplish.  Specifically.

If you are playing without a clearly defined purpose you’re going to drift, at least a little.  Valuable time and resources will be wasted.  Your recruiting efforts won’t be focused enough and you’ll be at risk of bad hires that don’t create teams that are as successful as you would like.

A properly defined purpose leads to focused recruiting and great…

Sourcing is all about qualifications and reach.  You can’t build great teams without the qualifications that are needed to get the job done, so the focus on qualifications is warranted.

In the process though, you are going to run into candidates that have most of the qualifications but are missing something.  People are dynamic and there is a lot that goes into what a person brings to the table.  Sometimes the candidate that has most of the qualifications is a significantly better…