Recent SUV manufacturing plant closings have some people talking about a slowdown in auto manufacturing overall, a real bad sign for business conditions.

Or is it a shift?  SUV’s are still popular, but maybe not as popular as we tend to think.  If small SUV’s and other choices are becoming more popular, we may see plenty of business from auto manufacturing that is just shifting away from the bigger SUV’s.

We want the employment and business impact, so I’m hoping for shift…

Hard to work with is a business killer.  If you’re a pain, or inefficient, you make things hard on the person you work with, client you work for, candidate you network with etc…..then you will methodically kill business.

Easy to work with is a business builder, network extender, relationship strengthener.  A little empathy goes a long way.  Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and then make yourself easy to work with.  This will cement relationships, bring in business, extend…

Want to build a great team?  Many consultants will suggest that you should model successful companies.

That’s a great strategy.  Find a company, division, or operation that you truly admire.  But build it with better parts.  Recruit talent in every spot that you can that is better than the model and you’ll build a truly great operation.

Todd Kmiec…

Underperformers are a drag.  You can’t have a great team with an underperformer.  But some underperformers are in the wrong role and may not underperform in another role.

Good managers will see potential moves for underperformers that may motivate and improve their performance.  The biggest benefit of a move like this is the opening that you can now fill with an elite performer.  Move underperformers one way or another to open up gaps that you can fill with impact…

Recent reports say that employers expect very low pay raises next year including the lowest level spent on incentive pay since 2013.

We haven’t had real wage growth since the Great Recession and without wage growth the economy can’t get going in a meaningful way.  If the reports are correct and we see low pay raises next year it means more of the same for the economy and business conditions.

Sluggish.

Todd…

It’s not like nobody saw this coming.  Bankruptcy this year for Toys R Us, Gander Mountain, Radio Shack, The Limited, HH Gregg and many others.  For years we’ve all known that retail was changing in a big way and that the change was going to be permanent.  If retail is or was your specialty then you should have made an adjustment a long time ago.  New specialty or a change in strategy within that specialty.

If retail is your career, same thing.  The time to adjust was a while back. …

Everybody wants to know what the metrics say.  I’m a big fan of big data.  Metrics can play a big part in strategic decisions, but when the rubber meets the road you’re going to use that strategic decision to go accomplish something.

Recruiting strategy involves metrics.  Recruiting is about the part where the rubber meets the road.  What you’re building.

Todd Kmiec…

One step at a time doesn’t necessarily mean one candidate at a time.  A step can be building a team or a part of a team.

The key is to focus on the business, not a particular hire.  What are you trying to accomplish?  What you are you trying to build?  Work from that perspective and the steps will become clear.  They’ll involve hires.  Maybe one.  Maybe many.

Todd Kmiec…

….is a myth.  It’s not the one that got away.  It’s the one that wasn’t a fit, even if you thought it was a fit.  Recruiting is about the one that you are searching for and trying to attract.  When the one in your sites gets away, it’s not the one you are searching for any more.

Don’t waste time on the one that got away.  You need to be focused on the one you are searching for.

Todd Kmiec…

Netflix built a culture over the years based on the idea that they are not a family, but more of a team.  Like a professional sports team.  The basics are, we are focused solely on results.

You can take time off when you want or work when you want, but you have to produce.  If you produce, great.  If you don’t, we don’t need you.  You could be great at what you do, but if it doesn’t produce what the team needs then we have to move on.  So you’re not really fired.  It’s more like…

My son, who is in middle school, was telling me about his day the other night.  He said, “so we’re in class, Technology and Innovation a.k.a. Wood Shop.”  I asked him what he meant by a.k.a. Wood Shop.  He said that’s what it is.  They basically take blocks of wood and use tools to make things.  Technology and Innovation Class.

Wood Shop has value, but calling it Technology and Innovation Class is sending the wrong message.  We’ve got a real skills gap in this country.  It’s closing,…

The JOLTS Data is out and shows that job openings have reached a new high.  Not just a blip up, but a new high with a new average high for the trailing 12 months.  In other words, the trend is up.  6.17 million job listings in the US.  That’s a big number.

We also have a record low labor participation rate currently.  Some believe that this indicates that the job openings in general don’t pay enough to lure workers back to work.  If businesses in general are going to have to increase…

Making mistakes on your resume is a sure way to get you overlooked.  Presenting yourself in a less than favorable light will do that as well, but not just on the resume.

Jobvite’s 2016 survey of 1,600 recruiters and HR professional found that 72% of respondents had a negative reaction to typos. Other social media sins include sharing photos of marijuana use (which 71% of respondents couldn’t stand), oversharing in general (60% of respondents weren’t fans), and posting pics of alcohol…

Airlines are complaining about a pilot shortage.  A recent article stated that the shortage is best understood as an obvious manifestation-and perhaps the nadir-of a long-term deprofessionalization of what was once a solidly middle-class career: We made the pilot occupation so unattractive, so tenuous and poorly paid, that people stopped wanting to do it.

That’s how you shrink a candidate pool.

Todd…

It’s that time of year again.  Fantasy Football.  Seems like it is everywhere.  The popularity of fantasy football shows how fun it is to put together an unrealistic team and to go compete with it.

Falling into that mode in your recruiting program can be a big mistake.  Fantasy teams aren’t real, but great teams are.  You can’t build a dream fantasy team in your business, but you can build a great team that is incredibly productive.  Trying to build a fantasy team in business diverts…

John Wooden, famous UCLA basketball coach and one of the greatest coaches in any sport ever used to preach that you must focus only on the things that you can control.

Great advice for hiring managers and recruiters.  You can’t control a turn down.  You can impact it by providing an attractive opportunity and offer, but you still can’t control it.  You can’t control a crazy salary demand and you definitely can’t control the size of the candidate pool for a certain skill…

Lost productivity due to eclipse watching was reportedly over 700 million dollars.  That’s a day off or two for a bunch of people.  Not everyone, but that’s a lot of productivity out the door.  With the recent hurricanes we have a bunch of days off for fewer people, but still a lot of lost productivity.

These numbers are minor compared with the lost productivity that we see every day from poor effort, lack of effort, and wasted time.  Employees who are dedicated and work hard are…

Inflation is now running around 1%.  That’s really low.  There are financial benefits to low inflation, but low inflation generally doesn’t help businesses grow.

We know that salaries have not been growing for quite some time and until they do start to grow, it’s better to have low inflation.  A better scenario would be a little more inflation and equivalent salary growth.

Todd Kmiec…

Recent reports of ageism in Silicon Valley and and other places bring attention back to the subject.  This is a tough topic because there are valuable workers on the wrong end of it.

Older workers have more experience and there is a lot of value in that.  However, younger workers bring new skills, motivation, and a desire to work hard.  They tend to be willing to work long hours and they cost less in salary.

In some cases the experience is more valuable.  In some cases it’s…

The state of Maine is making a concerted effort to bring candidates back home.  Companies in the state are targeting candidates that grew up there, went to college there, or have a significant history there.

It’s a good strategy for stability.  People who have experienced life in a certain part of the country and want to come back are more likely to stay for the long haul.  Creating opportunities for candidates like this makes sense for businesses that will benefit from stable…