Staffing Talk | Staffing Software | Industry News, Humor and Opinion

“You Gotta Get Paid”

2010-02-06T19:34:00.001-08:00

It's my pleasure to present this recording of the Staffing Talk show from Friday, Feb 5, 2010 with guests Attorney Sara Kobberman and TempWorks Venture VP Jack Terrana:

You gotta get paid. You're not your client's bank. Best practices in client management and collections. How to manage presenting your first invoice. Getting to AP. Legal steps in case you have to play hard-ball. Run your staffing business like you’re going to sell it tomorrow.
Government business. How government purchases of staffing and recruitment services are increasing rapidly. While much of the economy remains weak, government is getting bigger, fast. How to get your share of it.
Monster. Plus why Monster's purchase of Hot Jobs doesn't make sense. Fundamental problems in Monster's business model make the Hot Job acquisition nonsensical, a fact Wall Street confirmed by dumping Monster shares to the tune of 20%.

Staffing Robot Follows Up on My Interview of Him. Thanks!

2010-02-06T15:28:00.001-08:00

You can read the Robot’s comments here. It was a great show, and I look forward to having him back on when we cover healthcare staffing again.

He also has a funny post up on his blog now about what air travel reservations would work like if it used the US healthcare system.

Readers may remember a thorough debate on Obama’s healthcare plans between the Robot and Peter Arnold. You can find it here.

A Little UK Press for TempWorks – Thank You RecruitingUnBlog

2010-02-06T11:52:00.001-08:00

http://recruitingunblog.wordpress.com/2010/02/06/global-mash-up-thanks-to-tempworks/

Bill writes:

Tempworks are a staffing and enterprise software business run by C.E.O. Gregg Dourgarian. Gregg is based in Eagan,Minnesota and first heard about #trulondon through twitter. Gregg shares my view that technology is shrinking the world, and that geography is irrelevant when it comes to best practice. Gregg is in the process of truly integrating social media in to his products and will be exploring this further from a users perspective in the track “Twitter Automation: The good, the bad and the ugly.”

In addition to software, Tempworks automate and fund the payroll operation of both temp and contract recruiting businesses offering a very different whole solution. If you are in this sector, contact me to arrange a meeting with Gregg. (He is over from the 15th Feb.) Gregg shares my excitement at the prospect of the global mashup of views, opinions and cultures, and really made this possible. It’s not exaggerating to say that Gregg made the international element of #trulondon a reality.

Thanks Gregg, for all your support and continued involvement. It’s about much more than the money.

How I Was Hoodwinked on Twitter by Tech Pundit Louis Gray

2010-02-06T11:15:00.001-08:00

[ed.- both Jesse Stay and Louis Gray commented so to get their perspective please click on the comments button to get a fuller perspective.]

Note: Louis Gray is a well-known and respected tech blogger. I assume he fell into the role I describe here unwittingly, perhaps as part of the collateral damage of being associated with new tech toys.

Like it or not, people will judge you on Twitter based on your following/follower ratio. If that ratio is bad (following many, followed by few) which it is for many spammy network marketers, people will shun you and avoid following you without another thought. Even if your ratio is moderately bad, it’s still a sign that you are out to sell something instead of trying to engage in real conversation.

The reality though is that many end up with bad ratios despite being sincere communicators. This can happen easily if you sign up for certain unscrupulous twitter services. They’re a bit like a gentlemen’s club - they promise you a good time but end up taking your money and sending you home with a disease.

Gentlemen’s Clubs and Louis Gray

This happened to me recently (not at a gentlemen’s club – I count myself firmly in the Tim Tebow camp here, thanks) when at the suggestion of a well-known tech pundit, Louis Gray I tried out a service called SocialToo run by Jesse Stay that promised better twitter searching and networking.

Not long after plunking down $20 for the service (thinking that since it was a pay-for service that it wasn’t a spam trap), I found my twitter account was following all kinds of unsavory MLM types.

Once I realized what was happening I quickly changed my Twitter password only to find out an hour later that the spam follows were still taking place. CHANGING PASSWORDS DID NOT REMOVE SOCIALTOO’s ACCESS TO MY ACCOUNT! The only way to turn it off was to go into my Twitter settings page of services and turn it off there [ed. - it works this way for all services that interface with Twitter].

Saved by Tweepi

Fortunately I was able to use Tweepi, a free service, to find most of the spammers that SocialToo connected me with. Tweepi allowed me to sort my followees by various spam-related criteria and to quickly click on the ones I wanted to unfollow.

So shame on you Louis Gray. May you drown in spam along with Jesse Stay.

Twitter Automation – The Good, the Bad and the Ugly #TruLondon

2010-02-03T12:38:00.001-08:00

I’m pretty pumped up about TruLondon, the unconference on recruitment, HR and staffing. I don’t remember being as excited about a trip to Europe since I studied there when I was 19.

The unconference revolution is at hand. And like the Woolworth Four, you don’t should never ask permission to start a revolution and certainly should never miss out on a good one.

The chance to be around the leading minds in recruiting and social media for two whole days has me dizzy.

I’m a software developer at heart and will be leading a track on Enterprise Twitter Automation. The good, the bad and ugly about APIs and websites that promise you wonderful things but are full of surprises.

Social Recruitment the Old-Fashioned Way

2010-02-02T13:38:00.001-08:00

In recruiting it helps to have a long-term lead nurturing plan in place, and in the case of Colin it was long-term indeed. I first got acquainted with his extended family back in 1995 when my kids and Colin’s cousins became good friends in school. Since then, not just Collin, but Karl and Laura as well have worked for us on and off both full-time and part-time.

Meet Colin Stoerzinger, a Support Center Specialist at TempWorks since 2009. Colin assists clients with troubleshooting, training and answering any questions that they may have. He also helps make customizations to the client's system.

Graduating from the U of M in 2008 with a Bachelor's Degree in HR Development, Colin went to work as a Recruiter for a regional airline. He recruited, interviewed and placed employees. Colin's experience as a Recruiter helped him to get a better understanding of the importance of software like TempWorks, since he already had the hands-on experience of what many of our clients do.

When asked what he liked best about working at TempWorks, Colin answered, "Working in an environment where I get the opportunity to continually learn and develop new skills."

When Colin is not busy writing a customer report or troubleshooting, he enjoys playing pond hockey, fishing, camping, going to concerts, and strumming his guitar.

Colin hails from Rosemount, Minnesota, but currently lives in Inver Grove Heights

Staffing Calendar of Events for TempWorks

2010-02-02T13:20:00.001-08:00

TempWorks enjoys meeting up with anyone related to staffing, recruiting, payroll processing or funding. Please contact me to meet up at one of the upcoming events or see an updated list of events here on our events page.

One-Time Events

February 17, 2010 Attending Recruitment Agency Expo, London England
February 18-19, 2010 Platinum Sponsor of TruLondon, London, England
March 15-17, 2010 Attending Microsoft Mix, Las Vegas, NV USA
March 17-19, 2010 Sponsoring Staffing Executive Forum, Las Vegas, NV USA
April 20-21, 2010 Attending TruUSA, Madison, WI USA
September 22-24, 2010 Attending American Payroll Association, Las Vegas, NV
October 26-29, 2010 Attending Staffing World Las Vegas, NV USA

Recurring Events

Staffing Talk Show, Every Friday, 11:30 EST. Weekly internet talk show.

Allied Healthcare Staffing Agency Thrives Despite Recession

2010-02-02T09:58:00.001-08:00

It’s been my pleasure to have followed Molly Gould over the last few years and am proud to have been a support for PT-On-Call’s rapid growth.

Washington based therapy placement agency, PT on Call goes paperless is 2009, allowing them to continue to grow, even in a tough economy.

Saint Paul, MN (PRWEB) January 31, 2010 -- PT on Call announced that their decision to go paperlessin 2009 has created quite an outcome for their company, both internally and for their client's.

PT on Call has been providing Physical, Occupational, and Speech Therapists to healthcare facilities and schools since 1986. The company services Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Hawaii.

Paperless Processes

PT on Call was determined to be completely paperless by the end of 2009. To achieve this goal they consulted with their software provider, TempWorks, to determine what products would allow them to achieve their goal. PT on Call COO, Molly Gould, comments, “TempWorks is a powerful production tool. Since we implemented TempWorks we closed our year out in one week, and we saved overhead, as our accounting department is down to one employee.

NO PRINTING

Due to the increase in effectiveness, we are doing more with less effort.” Gould continues, “Our feat for 2009 was to go paperless, no notes, no files, no documents, no printing. TempWorks has helped us to obtain our goal. We use TempWorks exclusively, saving time, money, allowing us to be more effective in man power.”

“PT on Call’s move to a paperless environment encompasses TempWorks’ primary business goals, the elimination of exorbitant staff from back office operations resulting in an increase in their overall bottom line,” states VP of Payroll Processing Mari Kautzman.

TempWorks President, David Dourgarian remarks, “By using TempWorks Paperless products PT on Call is able to cut costs, improve efficiency and satisfy employees and customers, all in one integrated package.”

Gould concludes, “Overall, I would say that TempWorks has allowed us to be more efficient and effective without increasing our overhead which increases our overall profit. TempWorks has been the key to our continued year after year growth, even in the roughest economy in my working lifetime.”

I Don’t Get Lady Gaga, But I Danced to that Rama Rama Song

2010-02-02T06:55:00.001-08:00

First time dancing in years. Maybe I had too many beers (one, apparently, is too many for me these days). Nevertheless a great time for me and the TempWorks team at the Train Depot in Minneapolis this last weekend.

Who’d I dance with? None other than my future daughter, Laura Baratto, pictured to my immediate right (to the left as you view the picture). Can you tell we both have a lot of Italian blood as does Jack Terrana on the far left?

Both my son, David, president of TempWorks and Mark Baratto, EVP (Mark is pictured to the left below) gave stirring speeches about the company’s performance in 2009 and plans for the coming decade.

The Passing of a Staffing Industry Pioneer

2010-02-02T06:32:00.001-08:00

Not long after I started TempWorks I had the good fortune to meet George Arnold, the owner of the then Olsten franchise in Wichita, Kansas (now The Arnold Group), and some family members including Jill. George greeted me warmly there and told me stories about how he had worked with my Dad decades earlier putting together a big national staffing contract.

I’ve since gotten to know many family staffing businesses around the country but George and his team that included several family members remain in my mind as one of the most cohesive and mutually respectful.

Sadly George passed away recently, but his family carries on with his dream of running a highly respected staffing company.

Staffing Talk Show Friday at 11:30 EST

2010-01-29T08:17:00.001-08:00

Recorded live, Friday, January 29.

Shiftwise Co-Founder to be Special Guest on Friday’s Staffing Talk Show

2010-01-29T03:39:00.000-08:00

Staffing Talk is pleased to announce that Jason Lander, co-founder of healthcare staffing/VMS innovator Shiftwise, will be our special guest this Friday, January 29, at 11:30am. Just point your browser right here to watch the live show.

Jason is an avid staffing blogger at StaffingRobot, and his career includes posts with Medical Staffing Network, STAT Medical Services, Oregon Department of Veterans Affairs and U.S. Senator, Ron Wyden working extensively on labor and veterans issues. He also served as a Sergeant and Infantry Section Leader in the United States Marine Corps from 1994 - 1998.

Accounting Fundamentals for Staffing and Recruiting Companies

2010-01-28T07:23:00.001-08:00

Starting or running a staffing business and looking to get a better grip on the accounting? Here is my short course on accounting fundamentals.

Watch live streaming video from staffingtalk at livestream.com

TruLondon Conference, February 17-19

2010-01-27T20:59:00.001-08:00

TempWorks is proud to be the platinum sponsor of the TruLondon Unconference February 17-19. TruLondon brings together in an informal conversational format the top minds in recruiting around the world today. Here’s a sampling of the track leaders:

TRU Track Leaders:

Laurie Ruettimann is a seasoned and cynical HR professional with over a decade of experience in Fortune 500 organizations. A cutting edge, social media maven and newly minted entrepreneur, Ruettimann is a sought after speaker, writer and thought leader. She received her SPHR certification in 2001 from The Human Resources Certification Institute and is an active member of The Society for Human Resources Management. Laurie is also a certified recruiter and trainer through various credentialed organizations.

Listed as one of the Top 5 career advice websites by CareerBuilder and CNN, Laurie is a full-time Human Resources speaker and writer who advocates for a common sense approach to traditional employment practices. Ruettimann is a columnist for The Conference Board Review and her career advice has been featured in various publications such as The New York Times, US News & World Report, CFO Magazine, and Men’s Health. Her work has also been featured on The Suicide Girls, AOL, and Lemondrop websites. Laurie is also the founder of HR Bloggers and is the co-founder of HRM Today, the first social network for HR professionals. Ruettimann currently owns and writes for the critically aclaimed Punk Rock HR.

Jason Davis, CEO and Founder of RecruitingBlogs.com has been in both the recruiting industry and the domain name industry for nearly twenty years. His depth of understanding the industry goes far beyond the latest tools and techniques to a fundamental perception of supply and demand in the workforce. His sale of Recruiting.com to Jobster was one of the most-studied and talked about purchases in the recruiting industry. Over the course of his career, Jason Davis has purchased and sold some of the most keyword rich domain names in the jobs and recruiting world.

Steve Boese has been focused on the implementation of enterprise technology solutions to solve business problems for over 15 years, primarily focusing on core HRMS systems recruiting and applicant tracking, and collaborative technologies. Steve developed and served as the instructor for a graduate course in Human Resources technology for Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, N.Y. He hosts HR Happy Hour, a biweekly Internet radio show discussing the latest issues and trends affecting human resources, and blogs about HR technology at Steveboese.squarespace.com.

Alan Whitford founded RCEURO, the Recruitment Community for Europe, to stimulate debate, best practices and knowledge sharing within the EMEA Recruitment community. RCEURO is the first Pan European community site where recruiters and HR professionals can seek information, share knowledge and network together across boundaries, cultures and languages, all at no charge to its members.

Alan Whitford has over 20 years experience providing strategic and practical insights to the automation and web-enablement of Human Resource and Recruitment Process activities throughout Europe. Alan is a frequent chairman and participant in European conference programmes, including the RCEURO run Global Recruitment Conference in Amsterdam. He has been published in a number of on-line and off-line media covering technical and strategic HR and Recruitment issues. Alan was one of the early Bloggers in the European recruitment and HR space. More recently, Alan has taken on BlogTalk Radio, initially as a participant in Bill Boorman’s Ready for Lift Off series and latterly the RCEURO Recruitment Leaders show.

Katharine Robinson is an Internet talent sourcer and digital footprint manager for a niche recruitment business in the renewable energy sector. Katharine also provides research and training services on a project by project basis to other recruitment businesses.

Katharine uses highly advanced search techniques to find and profile difficult to find candidates with rare skill sets. Katharine is also very passionate about social media, in particular its use to aid building relationships in the recruitment sector.

Earlier this year Katharine shocked the sourcing world by ranking highly in the famous SourceCon sourcing competition, SourceCon#1: 2009.

Shane McCuskers career revolves around the question ‘Why is recruitment so difficult?’ As a result he spends most of his time helping recruitment companies make recruitment easy(er). In 2004 he left his position managing the recruitment company he had established for the Diamond Recruitment group to set up Intelligence Software Ltd. With a focus on using ‘Intelligence’ much more than ‘Software’ to help create new ways of recruiting that just work better.

Shane has a strong and diverse technical background including software development, electronic design and worked for many years as university lecturer. Most of his career has been involved in a number of business starts and turn-arounds. However his passion is vary much based on business, how they work and how by applying a little intelligence a business can be transformed.

Michelle Fischer has specialised in Recruitment and Career Management for more years than I care to count and am one of those people who truly loves my job. When I left school, like so many people, I had no idea what I wanted to do and fell upon Recruitment rather fortuitously.

Looking back, I think it’s this lack of knowledge that inspired me to want to help others both find people for jobs and find jobs for people. After a brief foray in the world of agency recruitment, followed then by several years heading up the Recruitment and Resourcing functions for a number of large organisations, I was made redundant in 2007 following the merger between Nationwide and Portman Building Societies, and saw the opportunity to set up my own Talent Management business.

Since then I’ve made it my purpose, and that of Creative Leadership, to help people and businesses with simple and effective HR, Recruitment, Resourcing and Talent Management tools that save time, effort and money. We do this through the provision of specific HR services including Recruitment, Generalist HR Support, Learning & Development and Transition Management, as well as Leadership Coaching and a broader HR outsourcing provision.

Most recently I’ve been exploring the use of Twitter, Facebook, Blogging, Linked In and many other social media within HR, resourcing and recruitment. Can you believe that only a few years ago these things didn’t exist? The future is changing and this new method for communicating will revolutionise the way we do things. Arguably, it already is. So I’m curious, are you an early adopter or resistant to anything but face to face communication?

Through her roles in recruiting, project management, consulting and now as Chief Strategy Officer at HRMDirect Talent Management Software, Sarah White has over 10 years of diverse experience aligning talent strategies with business strategies. In her current role she oversees product strategy, business development, alliances and partnerships for one of the industries fastest growing Applicant Tracking Solutions. She is an experienced speaker, blogger, author and trainer working with organizations of all sizes and industries with a particular niche in privately held small to mid sized organizations.

In the past few years, she has served as keynote or guest speaker on a national, regional and local level for such prestigious groups as Kennedy Information, SHRM, HRMA, Young Professionals Group (YP), Children’s Miracle Network and more. In addition, she authors articles and blogs, guest speaks in university classrooms, CEO roundtables and other business groups and has been tapped as an industry expert by Wall Street Journal, NBC News, and various regional newspapers and business journals. She has a bachelor of arts degree in Speech Communications with a focus on Organizational Communications. Follow Sarah’s uncorporate I’m So Corporate blog for some geeky, sassy, and expert insight into the HR world.

Mike Taylor founed www.WebBasedRecruitment.com in 2001. Mike had spent the previous 15 years working in HR and Recruitment for major blue chip companies including IBM, Motorola and Nokia.

In his last role at Nokia Mike was the UK Recruitment Specialist with responsibility for Nokia’s UK careers web-site and online advertising strategy.

In 2001 Mike started Web Based Recruitment – an Online Recruitment Consultancy that helps companies use the Internet to attract targeted job seekers and reduce recruitment costs through the use of online marketing techniques.

Mike organised the UK’s first Social Media In Recruitment Conference in July 2009 and will be organising the 2010 Conference on 22nd April 2010.

In January 2009 Mike published his first book – How To Find A Job Using The Internet – www.OnlineJobHunting.co.uk

Jim Stroud is a Social Media Development Manager for EnglishCafe, the premier English learning community for global professionals. Prior to EnglishCafe, Jim Stroud amassed a decade of experience in the Recruiting field. As a self-described “Searchologist,” Jim has consulted for such companies as Microsoft, Google, MCI, Siemens and a host of startup companies.

When not engaged in Recruitment Research, Competitive Intelligence and Training projects for the aforementioned organizations, Jim created and sold two online properties while managing an award-winning blog – The Recruiters Lounge. He is also the producer and co-host of the video series – I Live Online and co-host of the technology podcast – Friday Traffic Report. Jim also produces The Searchologist, a membership site focused on resume sourcing and lead generation strategies for Recruiters. ( It also features a video series by the same name. Click here for a sample episode. ) The Searchologist video series is also accessible via iTunes. (If you have an iPhone or iPod, please subscribe.)

Jim has been quoted in such leading publications as The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, The Wall Street Journal, US News and World Report, Red Herring, Globe and Mail and Fast Company. His latest whitepaper – Resume Forensics, explores how to find free resumes and passive candidates online. Additional information on Jim’s career can be found here: http://thesearchologist.com/about

When he is not online, Jim suffers severe withdrawal pains that can only be soothed by chocolate chip cookies and family time.

Andy Headworth is the owner of Sirona Consulting Limited, a specialist consultancy that has extensive experience within the recruitment industry. He helps and advises companies about recruitment strategy, recruitment process, online recruitment, candidate attraction and how to use social media as a successful tool within recruitment. Andy is one of the leading bloggers in the UK in the Recruiting and HR space, and his blog – Sirona Says – is well read around the world. In 2009 Andy spoke at a number of large events, on the subject of Social Recruiting, and it looks like 2010 will be just as busy, starting with TruLondon2 in February.

Trisha McFarlane is a Regional HR Director in an agency environment with 15 years experience.

Prior to her current role, she was the Tax and PCS Site Leader for PricewaterhouseCoopers in St. Louis, MO. She also cut her teeth in HR early on as a Branch Supervisor for Manpower International, Inc. and as a supervisor at Bank of America.

Trisha views the role of the HR professional as one that is evolving. As a generalist who has expertise in employee relations, employee engagement, compensation, performance management, training and development, and change management, she understands the nuts-and-bolts of current day human resources. She’s also spreading the word of the importance of generalists understanding and embracing social media and HR Technology.

She is a sought after speaker on human resources and social media. Trisha is also a regular contributor to Halogen Software’s “Lighter Side of HR”.

Trish is the co-founder of the HRevolution. This conference attracted 50 HR bloggesr, HR pros, recruiters, and CEOs. It also received media attention on the FOX affiliate station in Louisville, KY where the event was located. Proceeds went to Junior Achievement of Louisville.

Trisha holds a Master’s in Human Resource Management from Webster University in St. Louis, MO. In addition, she earned her B.A. in Sociology with a Minor in Political Science from the University of Missouri.

Jon Ingham works mainly with employers that already have sound approaches to people management and helps them extend their HR agendas to gain further improvements in the capabilities and engagement of their people, and the effectiveness of their organizations. Jon’s most recent consultancy clients include:

•    Financial Services: Barclays, Schroders, Aviva, AXA, QBE, National Bank of Abu Dhabi
•    Services: TUI
•    Technology: BT Global Services
•    Products: Barilla, Diageo, Coca Cola HBC and Coca Cola Bottling Indonesia
•    Chemicals: GSK, Novo Nordisk, Syngenta
•    Public Sector: Several UK government departments and agencies.

Lisa Scales is the co-founder and Managing Director of recruitment technology company Talent on View Ltd. Talent on View develops web based solutions leveraging the use of social media technologies and currently has three core products Talent on View, a video platform for recruiters, CV on View a career portal for students and the newest product Tribepad, a social community platform for businesses. Lisa has worked in the recruitment/HR arena for over 15 years in senior roles for two large global recruitment brands as well as a city law firm in HR.

Nick Price is an Employer Brand specialist and Founding Director of Working Films (www.workingfilms.co.uk).

Nick has extensive experience in many areas of employer branding, recruitment research, diversity issues and internal communications. Having begun his career in recruitment research with TMP Worldwide in the late nineties, he then moved to communications agency ThirtyThree to take on the role as Head of Research where he was responsible for a number of ground-breaking projects. Nick set up his own business in 2006 specialising in employer branding research and communications.

He has worked with a wide variety of clients in a range of sectors, including the Metropolitan Police, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Oxfam, Central Government and a number of NHS Trusts. He has also worked internationally, travelling to India for a graduate recruitment project with Oxfam and led a team in five countries across Eastern Europe for a graduate research project for a top five accountancy firm.

Having established Nick Price Research in 2006 (www.nickpriceresearch.com), Working Films was founded in 2009 to take film and online video to the heart of how organisation’s manage and communicate all components within their employer brand. Passionate about work and film, Working Films was a logical progression. Nick also has his own blog called WhatEverYouThink.com.

Simon Lewis: “A former integrated recruitment consultant transcending IT, sales and marketing with experience in all major business sectors. Now co-owner of Only Marketing Jobs, the premier digital recruitment advertising platform for the marketing industry. Simon and his business believe that only by evolving will job boards remain an integral aspect of the recruitment process; and that by joining the social revolution niche boards, in particular, will gain greater prominence through content-driven transparency.”

Matt Alder is the founder of strategic consultancy MetaShift and has spent the last twelve years working within the Internet space. He became involved in online recruitment eleven years ago, spending seven years as Head of Interactive Media with TMP Worldwide followed by four years as Head of Digital at Penna Barkers.

During this time Matt has worked on digital recruitment and brand strategy for numerous clients across both the private and public sectors. He has lead teams that have devised some of the Europe’s biggest and most complex digital recruitment campaigns and helped pioneer the use of tracking tools for digital recruitment marketing in the UK.

Matt is passionate about innovation and has a strong interest in how the digital revolution is changing the way companies communicate. He has written and spoken extensively on the future of recruitment and is a highly respected blogger with an international audience. Matt is also an enthusiastic social media experimenter and a regular commentator on all aspects of the emerging field of “social recruiting”. He recently became the first person outside of North America to be named by John Sumser and Recruitingblogs.com as one of their global top 100 recruitment and HR influencers.

Jacco Valkenburg, born 1971, is an international recruitment expert, trainer and author of two books about LinkedIn. He has more than 13 years experience in global recruitment strategies and execution spanning numerous countries for leading companies.

As founder of IPRC and Recruiter University he provides companies with recruitment and talent management solutions and expertise. His mission is helping companies ‘from good to great staffing’. Recently he launched recruit2, a full service provider for referral recruitment campaigns. Furthermore he is managing a group of approx. 40.000 Recruitment Consultants on LinkedIn and has it’s own blog www.RecruitingRoundtable.eu.

Mark Williams has 20 years experience in the recruitment industry covering roles from business development and ‘full cycle’ Recruiter positions through to Managing Director and founder of one of the UK’s first Supply Chain Recruitment businesses.

In 2008 Mark started ETN Training, a modern training business aimed at providing solutions to businesses throughout the UK from SME’s to large corporates and across all industries by enabling them to make effective use of LinkedIn.
“The last ten years have seen the growth of the Web and unprecedented changes in the way we do business – some things have been for the better and some not. I believe Linkedin is a great example of how the internet can really help a Recruiter to grow their network and reputation in their market”

Despite his passion for social media Mark is still a traditionalist at heart “Recruitment has been and always will be, about relationships. Social media opens up new avenues and opportunities but without the core skills that have always existed in our industry, they count for nothing”.

Mark encourages his delegates to see LinkedIn as a platform to communicate to their specific market or business community, this can lead to finding great candidates and winning new clients but the focus should always be on networking and raising their visibility.

Lucian Tarnowski is the energetic face behind BraveNewTalent.com, the new social network connecting talent directly to employers. He is winner of the Global Enterprising Young Brit of 2009 and is currently a finalist for the Real Business Young Entrepreneur of the Year. He was named as one of Britain’s rising business stars by The Spectator Business and is on the UKTI (UK Trade and Investment’s) Global Entrepreneur Program with BraveNewTalent being described by the UK Government as a “Technology company of Exceptional Potential”.

Lucian is using the BraveNewTalent platform to head up the global social media outreach for One Young World - An initiative to give young people a place to engage and have their voices heard about their future. BraveNewTalent is using social media to help select 1500 young leaders from 192 countries in what will be one of the most ambitious uses of social media for a real world event as well as the world’s largest youth leadership summit. Aside from BraveNewTalent, Lucian has a long association to India and is a youth advisor for Next Generation India on the Board of the UK India Business Council. He continues to run the youth focused charity Take Heart India providing blind and disabled students with IT skills thereby guaranteeing them jobs for life.

Dee Allan is the Co-Director of Redmos and founder of 3C Synergy. Redmos is a community driven e-learning and social training initiative for the recruitment sector, and 3C Synergy is a Chartered Building Consultancy specialising in Recruitment in Asia.

Her recruitment experience stems from the UK, however she has spent the last few years living and working in Hong Kong, India and Singapore working these markets, and assisting clients on projects in wider Asean countries as well as China and Africa.

Dee’s recruitment insights have been quoted in Recruitment, Business and Construction media such as Australia’s RCSA Saavy, CIOB, British Chamber of Commerce’s Orient magazine, Walk your Talk, and the Head Hunt magazine. She has also written her first book titled ‘Recruitment Uncovered’ and recently filmed 6 x recruitment training DVD’s, all due for release in Jan 2010, under the Redmos brand.

Dee is also a big believer in philanthropy, and leverages her work in recruitment to impact worthy causes, through transaction based giving via the Buy 1 Give 1 scheme www.B1G1.com

Stephanie A. Lloyd is Strategist-in-Chief, Radiant Veracity, located in Atlanta, Georgia, and Host, Dream Job Radio.

She is a National Careers + Workplace Columnist for Examiner, a division of Clarity Media Group owned by one of the largest media investment companies in the world. There she authors a highly-regarded career and job search advice column for 110 major markets nationwide. Additionally, Stephanie is a regular contributor to Recruiting Bloggers, Talent Net Live, and High Velocity, and she partners with Todd Schnick to produce the popular video blogging series He Said, She Said.
Paul Harrison is Managing Partner of Carve Consulting, a digital engagement practice specialising in Corporate Social Networks, Online PR, Social Media Monitoring and Search Engine Marketing. With offices in the UK and Australia, the practice has developed corporate social networking strategies, social media marketing and social recruiting programmes for a range of private, public and not-for-profit organisations, including VisitBritain, Yell Adworks, UBS, Virgin, The Audit Commission, Fairtrade, Wine Australia, Hays, ANZ Bank, and the NHS. The practice offers strategy, advisory, research, training and managed services.

Paul has worked online for more than 12 years, having joined early start-up Taps.com in 1997. Paul began his career in publishing, having graduated with a degree in Mass Media Communications. Before launching Carve Consulting, Paul set up and developed the new media divisions of two leading UK advertising agencies. An avid skier and current affairs junkie, his dream social media campaign would have been Barack Obama’s grassroots election strategy. Unfortunately the call never came.

TRU Twitter Journalist:

His ancestors were Spanish pirates who came to England in chains to be locked up in Plymouth gaol. Because of this lineage Glenn Le Santo is a straight-talking, take-no-prisoners type. But despite his crooked ancestry he’s a refreshingly honest and transparent individual, a genuine “my word is my bond” style gentleman. Glenn has done many different and varied things in his almost fifty years. He went from computer operator at IBM in the Seventies, through fine artist, and on to become a national magazine editor. In between he found time to ride a motorcycle from East to West through the US of A. He liked the ride so much he turned around and he motored all the way back across the America again. He did it the right way of course, on a Harley-Davidson.

Now he’s an emerging authority on everything 140, devoting his time to blogging about social media issues. He is also a regular at social media events and exhibitions, often to be found prodigiously live-blogging the event from his laptop. Le Santo’s business card now says ‘professional tweeter’ and he has topped UK’s Most Popular Tweeter chart, he’s even been formally addressed as Mr Twitter.

Accounting Fundamentals for Staffing and Recruiting Companies

2010-01-27T20:48:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow morning TempWorks will be holding and videotaping my course Accounting Fundamentals for Staffing and Recruiting Companies. We’ll be making a recorded, short version of it free afterwards by special request. Leave a comment here if interested.

Mobile Prediction for 2010: Windows Mobile Resurrects with Silverlight

2010-01-25T09:59:00.001-08:00

Prediction: Microsoft will announce Windows Mobile 7 at Mix 2010 in March of this year, and they will clean clocks on Iphone and Android because the underlying operating system is vastly better.

Note: I am not invested in Apple or Microsoft stock in any way other than holdings in ETFs like QQQ. I do have a bias because TempWorks products are based on the same underlying Silverlight technology.

Check out Bing maps for any doubt about the superiority of Silverlight.

Business Process Redesign Lifts Hawaiian Staffing Leader

2010-01-24T20:07:00.001-08:00

Agency Redesigns Business Process to Dominate Hawaiian Staffing Market, Increase Productivity and Reduce Cost.

St. Paul, Minn (PRWEB) January 21, 2010 -- Akamai Employment Agency of Hawaii recently implemented TempWorks Software,streamlining their business and allowing them to boost their bottom line.

Staffing, CRM and Recruitment Software

One of the services that Akamai implemented was TempWorks Payroll Processing. Akamai President and CEO, Robin Rohrer informs that, "Akamai began using TempWorks in March of 2009 since then; we have cut over-head by about 25% almost doubled our productivity and increased focus on revenue generating tasks, such as sales and recruitment."

Akamai began using TempWorks in March of 2009 since then; we have cut over-head by about 25% almost doubled our productivity and increased focus on revenue generating tasks, such as sales and recruitment.

Prior to TempWorks Payroll Processing, Akamai was using ADP to process their payroll. In addition to ADP, they also had two other semi-redundant systems. Rohrer states that, "Access to all of our data was extremely inconvenient, especially as we expanded to three different branches. We needed something that was integrated, so that all data was accessible in one system and we didn’t have to pay three separate vendors. TempWorks was a great option, allowing us to eliminate the extra steps to simplify the process and reduce vendor costs by over 50%" concludes Rohrer.

TempWorks specializes in software targeted to the Staffing Industry, and since 1997 has provided recruitment, payroll and billing systems. In 2006 the company decided to add payroll processing, employer of record and payroll funding to its line of services. TempWorks processes payroll for customers in all 50 states, and has added several multi-million dollar accounts in 2009.

TempWorks President, David Dourgarian comments, "Our mission from day one has been to make staffing companies profitable by eliminating non-revenue generating personnel and allowing them to focus entirely on serving their customers and employees. With TempWorks Payroll Processing our clients are in a situation to leverage the best of technological innovation without disruption." Dourgarian continues, "Starting a relationship with Akamai and seeing the positive changes in their business processes is very rewarding for TempWorks."

Akamai improved their profit by:

Decreasing the size of their payroll and billing department.
Going from three to one vendor, significantly decreased payments.
Automating their sales and recruitment process, allowing them to fill orders faster and more efficiently.

About Akamai Employment Services
Akamai provides human resources and recruiting to various types of organizations. Employees are provided on a contract basis in a temporary contract or hassle free hire.

Akamai is based in Hawaii with three different branches located in; Maui, O’ahu, and Kaua’i. Their goal is to promote the industry though quality service and good business practice, providing both the client and the employee with a commitment to excellent service.

Paperless Timecards Saving Staffing Companies on FTEs

2010-01-24T15:40:00.001-08:00

TempWorks Software Adds Fifty-Four New Customers in 2009

By diversifying, investing in technology, and providing immediate improvement to a staffing agency’s bottom line, TempWorks increased sales by 45% in 2009.

Saint Paul, MN (PRWEB) January 7, 2010 -- Staffing Software and Financing Provider, TempWorks, is proud to announce fifty-four new relationships with temporary staffing businesses in 2009.

Staffing, CRM and Recruitment Software

This is not only exciting for TempWorks but for the economy as well, comments TempWorks Funding VP, Jack Terrana.

TempWorks succeeded in increasing market-share by focusing its development energy on products that allow customers to increase market share, reduce overhead, and improve profitability. The TempWorks Time-Card Linker, an application which enables staffing firms to display the digital image of scanned time cards with their corresponding transactions, relieves the customer of having to collate paper timecards with printed invoices, saving the user nearly one man-hour per $10,000 of weekly billings.

“Bringing on so many new business partners in 2009 really sets the tone for the new year” said TempWorks EVP, Mark Baratto, “Success in today’s challenging economic climate demands that recruiting and staffing companies increase their focus on speed, efficiency and accuracy in delivering well-qualified candidates to their customers. Our success is based on adapting our software to the business needs of the customer, rather than forcing the customer to adapt their processes to our software” concludes Baratto.

The payroll processing and funding business also showed significant growth. “This is not only exciting for TempWorks but for the economy as well, comments TempWorks Funding VP, Jack Terrana. “New contracts are a positive sign of economic recovery.”

Other noteworthy accomplishments include:

A software licensing agreement with a professional employment organization with volume in excess of $100 million per year.
A payroll and invoice processing agreement with a ten-branch organization with volume in excess of $35 million per year.

TempWorks anticipates release of key new products in 2010, including the new version of TempWorks Enterprise, 14R2

How to Please a Woman, If She Hasn’t Left You Yet

2010-01-23T17:56:00.001-08:00

If you’re looking for ways to rekindle that flame guys, here’s your answer.

Each January my wife heads down to Peru to do cleft palate surgeries with a bunch of other docs which leaves me cooking again. Normally, as in before I was married normally, or rather before I had seven kids normally, I would have just high-tailed it down to La Belle Vie, the Twin Cities finest chef-owned French restaurant. But no, I've only got an hour before picking up my eldest daughter from the airport (Minneapolis is an black ice rink these days) and so I need all the time I can get.

Of course you might be asking what this has to do with staffing software. Great staffing businesses do more with less. They make more money and work less. People who suck at staffing get all caught up on perfection and waste incredible amounts of time on no-good prospects. They spend hours on candidates that are just kicking tires. The software business works the same way. Great programmers ruthlessly avoid wasted time (ok, they're lazy too). If an algorithm gets too confusing or complex, they know they've gone down the wrong path and start over. People who suck at coding think complexity is great, and they don't know how to take a break and get the 50k foot view.

My dinner hits the sweet spot. It balances cost, efficiency, and enjoyment just like staffing and software should.

Carre d'Agneau avec de l'Asperge Grillee a la Gregoire

Ingredients: Deux carre d'agneau (2 lamb racks; costs $20 at Sam's club) Panoufle d'herbes (just use your favorite steak rub) 1kg d'asperge (spears of asparagus, couple bucks a pound again at Sam's club) Huile d'olive Carafe de vin rouge Directions: Fire up the grill.

Carre d'agneau Thoroughly rinse out the lamb rack before slapping it around with your rub and smearing it with olive oil. Place tin foil through the center of your grill and place the racks with the exposed bone over the tin foil so they don't burn up. Grill at 350 both sides for about 10 minutes. Then flip the racks on their end meat-down so the bottom, thick part of the rack gets thoroughly cooked. Grill for five more minutes.

L'asperge grillee Chop the ends off the asparagus (if in big hurry skip that part) and roll them around in some olive oil, salting and seasoning with fresh lemon and lime. Throw them on the grill. Now here's where a lot of great chefs go wrong. They advise you to douse with water any flare ups from the olive oil drips. Mortal mistake! Blacker the better I say. Just take a hamburger flipper and role the spears every once in a while. In an emergency, move them away from the hottest part of the grill. Oh yes, for the kids just tell them to go make their own instant mac and cheese. They love taking responsibility for themselves, and with Mom it's their chance.

How to Recruit a Star Performer

2010-01-22T10:19:00.001-08:00

This is a story about how Tempworks recruited a star programmer, James Tamplin, who moved on several years ago after a brilliant stint with us and is now an aspiring actor and a founder of SendMeHome.Com.

The clip above by the way is James doing the “Hells Angels Ketchup Packet” video clip . I liked the climax: “Sometimes you have to spit in the eye of the devil just to know you’re alive.”

Step #1: Know Where the Talent Is

The first step in recruiting a star performer is to know where the talent is. You can be the best judge of character, the best interviewer, the best match-maker, but if you’re looking in the wrong place for talent, you’ll end up with high-priced, sub-standard product.

Where is the talent for star software performers? Answer: in the basement playing video games. No, not many kids hooked on Runescape will be star software performers, but in that crowd lie the uncut diamonds. You just need to find them.

In James case, he was a kid in our neighborhood. My wife knew his Mom, etc. Nice kid, EE major, bored, top student. Played computer games. Programmed. Gotta meet him, I said to myself.

Step #2: Network, Network, Network

This has happened to me so many times I can’t count. I get friendly and chat up someone and good things happen.

In James’ case, I was out on the street playing catch with my son and he walked by. Like a dog on a bone, I was on him with questions. When do you go back to school? What do you think of C# and .Net? Have you got a job?

Step #3: Nurture Those Leads Regardless of Time to Buy

It ended up that James at the time was all booked up with I’m not sure what. College stuff. Going back to the UK. But we stayed in touch and talked about code and Tempworks and school on an ongoing basis.

One day the timing just happened to be right. He needed a job and rang me up.

Staffing Talk Show, Recorded January 22

2010-01-22T08:20:00.001-08:00

And the After Show.

Watch live streaming video from staffingtalk at livestream.com

Special Guest for Staffing Talk Show, Friday, January 22, at 11:30 EST

2010-01-21T13:07:00.001-08:00

It's my pleasure to invite you to join me and special guest James Tamplin, co-founder of Envolve.Com, a San Francisco startup that is redefining real-time web conversation for the January 22 edition of our talk show right here Staffing Talk at 11:30am EST.

We’ll be joined by StaffingVenture author Jack Terrana. Jack runs TempWorks startup division and has helped launch dozens of successful staffing and recruitment startups.

We’ll be talking about Twitter tools and Twitter personalities including Bill Boorman, the Animal, Jerry Albright, PunkRockHR and the Manpower legal blogger.

Please join us by pointing your browser right here at StaffingTalk.com at 11:30 am on Friday.

Haiti Earthquake Account by Ex-Tempworks Developer James Tamplin

2010-01-18T07:45:00.001-08:00

I’ve written before about James who is an actor and also a serial entrepreneur who did the original development of our original Canadian payroll system years ago.

Here is his an excerpt from his gripping account of being in Haiti during the earthquake. You can read his full post here:

I walked onto the roof of my building to read a book after I woke up from a nap. The sunset was gorgeous so I went to find Andrew so he could see it. I found him sitting in a rocking chair just outside the dining room in the first building. We headed up to watch the sunset and were joined by three Canadian doctors. Roughly 10 minutes later, around 5:30, the earthquake hit.

The entire building started shaking violently and the Canadian doctors fell to the floor. The first thing I thought was ‘Haiti doesn’t get earthquakes’ – a fraction of a second later I decided that was irrelevant and I didn’t want to be on the building anymore. I sprinted down a short flight of stairs, jumped a railing and dove for a palm tree. Sometime during that sprint there was a sickening crunch as the first building (dining hall, reception etc) pancaked to the ground. Haitian buildings are typically large slabs of concrete supported by cinder-block walls. When the cinder blocks were shaken so they could no longer support the weight of the concrete, the heavy concrete roofs / floors simply came crashing down.

The whole thing lasted somewhere between 5 and 8 seconds. Once earth stopped shaking and I shimmied down the palm tree and checked if Andrew was ok. Next, I sprinted around the collapsed building yelling for anyone who was inside. All that came back was silence. The two-story building was now between 2 and 7 feet tall in various places. Half an hour later I would have been eating dinner inside. A few hours later we determined there were certainly 4 people inside, maybe more.

The Sales Aphorisms of Bill Boorman

2010-01-16T19:02:00.001-08:00

It’s been a full day since Bill’s appearance on Staffing Talk yesterday but I still haven’t fully digested his rapid-fire delivery of sales aphorisms. Really, you need to listen to his entire message to get the full benefit as this is just a sampling:

Working social media has everything to do with targeting. If you’re a recruiter, the targets are clients and candidates. But you can’t approach them directly.
So you work it like a saloon. You listen, you engage on all manner of topics. If you show interest in someone, often they’ll show that interest back to you.
Guide for sales people using social media: 80%/20%. 80% of your interaction should be listening, conversing not directly related to what you do.
Listen carefully to what is going on in your markets. Build your reputation on providing things your targets find interesting. Example: one successful recruitment company positions itself as a career coach even though its revenue stream is direct hire fees.
Take advantage of realtime events that use the hashtag. Examkple: #TruLondon. Doing so is like being physically at the event.
Although there will continue to be demand for great conferences, the “unconference” revolution is real and here today. Costs are kept down because there are no expensive speakers and the setting is usually a public place or provided by an organization gratis.
The low cost of unconferences allows the Indians (worker bees) to participate, even if their company isn’t paying. That means the people that actually do the work are there in big numbers.
Another guideline for sales: talk (by phone, in person) to 10 people in your online network per day.

Talk Show: How to Promote Your Business with Social Media

2010-01-15T08:11:00.001-08:00

Unconference revolutionary Bill Boorman charmed and delighted the Staffing Talk audience on our January 15 show.