The Annual Economic Analysis released by the American Staffing Association June 2008 shows that, if indeed the U.S. economy is in a recession, the staffing industry is not experiencing the severe contraction characteristic of previous recessions. Despite the fact that demand is slowing, it is important to take into account that total staffing industry sales are $90 billion dollars. Staffing industry employment hit a new annual record high in 2007, and temporary and contract staffing daily employment also set new record highs in the second and third quarters of last year. Presently, the market is 10% ahead of 2000 – a banner year for Staffing – and nearly $30 billion ahead of the historic low of 2002.
There is market share for this period of “flatness," economic “correction” or “downturn,” but not for the cowardly. Those who take on the market’s sluggishness with energy and good judgment, leading actively and by example will prosper even in trying times.
Building a strong growth-sustaining team calls for the time and attention of the business unit manager to maintain a sense of urgency and establish solid work plans that will leverage each team member’s strength. Guidance, support and direction is essential to maximizing team members’ contributions and lift up the capacity of the team. A high level of engagement in training and development, as well as in guiding territory management and lead development is essential to bringing about results.
Business unit managers with the most success in developing strong teams and arranging talents of team members to the discipline in which they belong, direct and support the work flow collectively and individually, as well as contribute personally.
What then are the core best practices of a successful business unit manager?
1. Manage with twice daily meetings to communicate, set responsibilities and priorities. It is wrong to think that stopping “work” to meet as a team is a waste of time. A team with clear priorities and shared information is much more effective than a team “figuring it out on their own.” These are 30-minute meetings – everyone in attendance – with the following agenda items:
Recognition Candidates for marketing to hiring mangers—who is highly placeable? Call plans, target lists of hiring authorities—who are you going to call? Candidate inventory and interview objectives. Open job orders, next steps and who is responsible for it. Specific objectives for the day (morning); assessment of outcomes (evening). Upcoming ends—what business do we need to replace? Specific, “stretch” objectives for the number of starts to happen within the week—what can we fill?, with whom?, who can we market who to? Progress to objectives and refocusing all team members based upon current needs (e.g., do we need candidates, job orders, new leads?) General communication…who may call, what is pending, hot candidates, prospective business—make sure the team knows what is happening. Role play or planned lesson to foster skills development.
2. Manage the market, inventory and match. The leader must act as the first source of what is “hot” for follow-up to pick up the pace of all team members. The relationship and interplay between oversight of sales and service is leveraged when you can “see” a branch candidate and “match” the candidate to companies the sales team are engaging.
Weekly, review Business Journal, job boards, candidate applications, and expand knowledge of the marketplace with networking, marketing directories and other business resources to garner new leads for the sales team—who is hiring now? Daily, review every interviewed candidate’s resume/file, meet as many candidates as possible personally—"Is so-and-so a fit for ABC Company”?
3. Manage business development purposefully. Who else but the manager should know the marketplace? Work with self and sales staff at the beginning and the end of the week to review target lists/lead lists/task lists for content, activity and next activity to do. Other sales driving best practices include:
Work together to make up an organizational chart for a minimum of three companies a week to expand the list of Company contacts, set out objectives to uncover missing information. Ensure that each sales-responsible person has multiple search engines on multiple job boards to receive daily postings for each position the branch is prepared to fill—this will feed lead-following for immediate direct hire job orders. Ad book binders are fine for organizing ads for follow-up calls, but inputting leads to your front office system is better to build future calls plans—monitor use of front office systems so leads are not lost in a paper shuffle. Set specific “blocked time” to make ad calls, skill marketing calls and qualifying calls to focus sales activity—sell during prime time, research and qualify during specific days/times set aside to develop future targets. Separating the two makes it easier to manage the effectiveness of sales efforts. Set objectives for the appropriate number of sales calls/visits to support business and take the time to debrief together post-call/visit and plan next steps. Make a work plan to set time aside for reference check calls—this supports the service team and offers better access to the Company contact who can be qualified as a temporary staffing or direct hire prospect. Rotate assignment of making up and distributing a “Hot Candidates” communique—monitor and manage quality and growth of email lists.
4. Manage the business of the business. It is up to the leader to plan for maximizing the recruiting team at the beginning of the week to:
Set objectives for individuals’ focus…recruiting, skill marketing, order management—be specific regarding the objectives for the number of fee-eligible candidate and temp interviews in what positions. Review T-H orders against temporary staffing opportunities to keep from over investing in job orders that, unlike temp, have less of an immediate chance to actually start—maintain a strict 50% of total orders, and…redirect team to actively skill marketing/selling for opportunities. By the first of the month, ensure that each Recruiter has a minimum of five “viable” direct hire orders in the right skill set—mobilize sales and recruiting teams to generate marketing calls to address any gaps in the number of job orders. Weekly, have a specific direct hire job order review and discuss what is pending and the next steps to close—communicate with neighboring offices to increase participation. Step in to talk with candidates and/or Company contacts to assist in closing. Set specific blocked times to make direct recruiting calls generated from applications/interviews/referrals—ensure a pipeline of leads from recruiting to sales—set up a method to communicate leads in a structured way. Set objectives for net starts weekly, markup, and “level” of candidates to increase GM$ per hour. To achieve the net starts objective, a 30-day forecast of upcoming ends needs to be visible to the team to set the actual number of starts per week to stay ahead of the progression, including contingencies for unplanned ends. Make up for shortfalls by focusing on placing higher-level, higher-GM$ candidates.
5. Great managers look inward. They look inside the company, into each individual, into the differences in style, goals, needs and motivation of each person. These differences are small, subtle, but great managers need to pay attention to them. These subtle differences guide them toward the right way to release each person's unique talents into performance. Recruit for talent, manage to strengths, hire expeditiously. Manage learning and development at least weekly, if not daily.
Set aside a minimum of 1-hour per week with each employee and talk about: what is expected, what you can do to set him/her up for success, what he/she does best, recognize performance—be specific, genuine and interested; uncover how to make the work meaningful, gain feedback and talk about progress, learning opportunities and how each individual’s contribution fits in the overall company and his/her career progression. Assign Company training resources to employees and organize opportunities for employees to share learning with the team Prepare role plays to overcome common objectives—have all team members involved. Listen, and role play with individuals to improve recruiting, negotiation, customer service and closing skills. Share financial reports to engage the team in the outcomes—demonstrate how increasing markups, direct hire placements/fees and marketing higher-level candidates improves results and personal financial rewards. Get out of your office and sit side by side with the team and demonstrate best practices…show, not tell.
6. Do not delegate tasks that are not revenue-generating. Support the team with meaningful contributions so they can do their jobs more effectively—individual activity to generate personal production for the good of the branch is useful, but equally important is preparing and focusing each team member by taking responsibility for administrative and operational support to enable the team to expand the business. This is not “lending a hand,” this is “doing” a task completely so the collective bandwidth of the branch team is actively engaged in work that generates gross margin dollars.
Use administrative support to assist you as needed, but do the heavy lifting yourself administratively to ensure that each employee is focused on developing the business. Release the team to “ring the cash register” collectively by doing weekly tasks like payroll and compliance, invoicing and aging, updating and managing all job postings, job board searches—review, print and distribute resumes for blocked recruiting call times. Drive sales by sourcing new leads that any branch team member can “run with.” Get the details so the next step is to “pick up the phone.” Get names of multiple Company contacts for each lead identified, get contact information (telephone, email address), input new leads to front office system and set them up on team members’ calendar or task list. Generate urgency to follow-up on specific contacts by personally contributing to the database in a meaningful way. Dedicate time to adding Companies/Company contacts in numbers and update Company records that are out of date. If you pass on a lead with good contact information and business intelligence, it is more likely to be followed and create outcomes. Take up operational tasks (application process items, reference checking, etc.). Revise/retype resumes for presenting candidates. Make up handwritten notes to every candidate who comes in the office; prepare marketing mailings. Run reports to assess business activity and inventory. Roll out corporate initiatives and respond to corporate response/reporting requirements. Ask, “What can I do to help you now”?
