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There are many small to mid-size companies that have times of fast growth and turn to human resources, or HR, outsourcing, rather than hiring new HR staff members internally to deal with their growth spurt. HR outsourcing can be a very effective way of meeting the demands of strategic growth and expansion of a business and can cut the overall costs by allowing the current and experienced staff to focus their expertise on the things that they are best and most productive at doing.

In this way, the permanent human resources staff, and other management members who are often drawn into the hiring process when the HR department is understaffed, are able to pursue and accomplish those tasks that will result in the best profitability for the business overall. A business that takes advantage of human resources outsourcing assigns the critical management of all functions related to HR requirements of the company to a third-party provider that is a specialist in the field of human resources management.

The idea of using outsourced services was first introduced, or at least popularized during the 1980’s, when many companies experienced an economic boom as a result of a healthy economy. Outsourcing services gave these companies a good way to meet increased demands on their internal infrastructure when experiencing growth, as these companies experienced the growth and had to change and adapt. HR outsourcing was often one of the main types of services that was easily contracted to an outside company.

Outsourced projects and services present the opportunity for a business to delegate specific tasks or functions that are associated with a particular department within the organization. These functions are assigned to an external entity that has a proven track-record of being able to competently manage those particular functions. When it comes to human resources outsourcing, the primary function relates to the hiring and firing of employees, as well as managing payroll-related issues, benefits management, tracking vacation and sick time accrual and usage, and other common HR functions.

However, there are some companies that take particular pride in their human resources department and prefer to have on-site HR staff that knows and interacts with the employees. In these kinds of corporate environments, HR outsourcing can still be utilized but is generally only used for outsourcing services that do not involve direct employee contact. This still allows the human resources department to be very “connected” to the employees, while also providing additional support when there are periods of increased recruitment.

In many instances, companies that need to hire large numbers of seasonal employees with also turn to human resources outsourcing to help fill the gap and to keep the regular HR staff from becoming overwhelmed. After the seasonal rush is over, the HR outsourced projects for the company can be canceled and business can simply return to normal operating procedures.

Anytime that a business experiences significant growth, especially fast growth, the HR department is on the front lines and can become overwhelmed fairly quickly. Because HR plays such a pivotal role as a company grows, using HR outsourcing for a portion of the human resources requirements of the business makes a lot of sense from a management standpoint.

Want to run your business better? All is revealed about hr outsourcing at Mike Selvon portal. Don’t forget to leave us a comment at our business process outsourcing blog.

Gas prices, inflation, war, and foreclosures are all factors that can be considered either the causes or the signs of a slowing U.S. Economy. But, what about the fact that in the next seven years 43 percent of the engineers in our workforce will be eligible for retirement? These are the professionals who, in large part, are responsible for our technologically driven culture and even the vaunted U.S. armed forces. This could spell Trouble (with a capital T).

These jobs are skill-specific and the skills necessary were learned and established through trial and error. The worst part is that these experienced baby boomers are leaving the field without establishing much guidance, if any, to their successors.

Currently, many of the most affected companies are scrambling to get quality engineers trained to fill the shoes of the exiting baby boomers. A talent war is brewing and the firms most impacted will need to be creative and determined to survive the competition.

According to the Advanced Technology Source’s (ATS) “Workforce Trends” study, a survey commissioned between ATS and AC Neilson, showed that the skilled labor shortage would cost more than two-thirds of manufacturers that responded over $50 million each over the next five years!

A third of those responses whose revenues are over $1 billion said it would cost them at least $100 million each.

For companies dependent upon an engineer intensive workforce numerous questions arise: Will the economy survive this baby boomer exodus? Will my company survive? Can I even replace these people? Do I have anyone to talk to about how to replace almost half of my most valuable workforce?

The truth is there are options.

To maintain the corporate engineering memory and skill sets developed over the years, many manufacturing and engineering companies are relying on specially designed databases. These databases allow engineers to document their answers to issues, leaving this information to guide their successors.

In another vein, higher education is doing its part. For instance, in Ohio, schools like The University of Akron (UA) are offering STEM scholarships for students who are interested in pursuing a degree in Science, Technology, Engineering, or Mathematics (STEM).

Dr. Dean Quinn, the interim Assistant Dean of the College of Engineering and an Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering at The University of Akron is very confident in the potential impact of STEM and of the students studying engineering at UA.

Quinn said, “We are not in a panic mode yet, where we just absolutely don’t have enough engineers to fill critical positions.”

When it comes to filling the lower level engineering positions with great potential for upward growth, fresh college graduates seem to be the best option. But, this still leaves the higher and mid-level positions that the baby boomers are leaving vacant.

This is where recruiting firms enter the picture.

Quinn said, “A company can hire a recruiting firm for a specific position with specific needs and specific requirements, and that recruiting firm can go out and find an employee who perfectly matches that job.”
A credible placement firm that specializes in placing engineers and has well established national networking capabilities is the next stop on this journey to find the talent your company needs to grow.

For those with concerns about placing all or portions of your recruiting process in the hands of a recruiting firm, consider this; if you have heart problems you look for a good physician specializing in cardiovascular medicine. If you have legal problems dealing with real estate issues you look for a good Title Dispute Attorney. If you need assistance to quickly recruit the best engineers available you look up a good engineering recruiting firm. The right firm can save you huge blocks of time. While professional recruiters do the recruiting, you are free to do your job. Most importantly, if they’re good, they’ll find just the right candidate with the talent, personality and energy you need.

Finally, in order to compete in a recruiting market short on talent, companies will need to adapt. A combination of improved employee retention programs and documentation processes coupled with improved relationships with the right universities and reliable recruiting firms are great first steps to survive the talent war!

Ron Young is the President/Founder of Technical Employment Services Inc.(TES), 1981. Ron also served in the Ohio Legislature from 1997-2004. Today TES operates throughout the US.
http://www.TESCareers.com
http://RYoung@TESCareers.com
440-266-0022
Recruiters of Key Professionals

The on-going expansion of national economies across Asia is giving birth to new companies and ratcheting up demand for Asia experienced executives. It is also producing the kind of headlines that indicate to the region’s executive recruiters that their best days are still very much ahead of them.

If anyone requires further convincing that the Asia-Pacific region indeed represents the new combat zone in the global war for management talent, just consider these facts: Hong Kong recently made public the largest Internet IPO since Google (GOOG), the Bombay Stock Market recently reached 20,000, equal to 40% annual growth, the Chinese economy is set to progress by a staggering 11% this year.

Asia is accumulating the kind of financial resources which can restructure the world economy in a way very different from what we have known since the years following World War II. In the present scenario it is easy to see how these companies and national economies will only become more reliant on world-class management talent to keep away the competition and continue this impressive growth story.

That is especially clear when one takes into account the population demographics of the Asia-Pacific region. The expatriate population of Singapore, for example, constitutes nearly one-quarter of its total population. And by 2016, the number of people age 60 to 64 in Australia will double, resulting in what will surely become a vacuum for experienced management talent.

Then take into account that most of the 10 largest companies by market capitalization worldwide are Chinese, and that a large portion of the world’s largest companies are already doing business on the Chinese mainland. Many of the world’s corporate executive staffing leaders are spending much of their time these days in Hong Kong and deep in the rich headhunting grounds of other flourishing Asian economies.

Leading management experts say that corporate talent management leaders throughout the Asia-Pacific region would be wise to stay away from their day-to-day priorities to evaluate how they are feeding their companies’ rising demand for talent.

Rather than concentrating in a process that merely fills management-level jobs, these experts contend that corporate staffing executives from Hong Kong to Shanghai should follow a more systematic approach to their recruiting process because it can have a great effect on both the performance and profitability of your business.

According to leading management experts, crucial to such a systematic approach is changing the mindset within the company from one that sees executive hiring as a means to plug gaps in the organization’s structure, to one in which the company’s strategy is the origin for its decisions concerning who to hire, what management skills they must possess, and how they should lead an increasingly global workforce.

These leading management experts acknowledge that only a few hiring organizations around the world can actually point at the cost of their overall recruitment initiatives, let alone the exact return on investment those activities are driving to improve corporate financial performance.

The Asia-Pacific region’s executive headhunters will be instrumental in connecting those dots, in part due to the prevailing demand for Asia experienced executives, and also because more of the world’s largest multinational companies are investing more heavily in workforce contingency planning.

That is, they are not only paying headhunters to plug existing gaps in the corporate hierarchy. Increasingly, these companies are paying headhunters for what they know, who they know, and how they might prolong the company’s brand and growth story to individuals it may someday desire to recruit, depending on how its strategy adapts against the backdrop of such rapid growth in Asia.

If Asia experienced executives is the new oil that is fueling the progress of companies around the world, the Asia-Pacific region is definitely the world’s fastest-growing oil field, and one that will surely draw new front lines in the global competition for top talent. So, competitors throughout the world, beware.

Hunt Partners is a high end Executive Search firm providing search and human capital solutions for global and regional clients who require discreet search of top management and board level positions.

Does your organization struggle with hiring great employees? Do you suffer from employee conflict or workforce compatibility issues? This article is designed to provide you with some useful tips to consider for your hiring process. Specific requirements may vary from job to job; however, the following information includes helpful and important guidelines from which every organization can benefit.

Managing employee conflict and communication issues is tough. Sometimes it seems that every employee and their working relationships are plagued with difficulties. What if you could help members of your team communicate better and experience higher employee morale and higher productivity? It all starts with an effective hiring process.

Identify Your Organization’s Hiring Challenges
The first and most critical step is being able to identify the challenges you are currently facing in your workforce and then find the solutions that will help you solve those challenges. Those challenges can be addressed with a few simple changes in your hiring strategy. Here are some common challenges faced by organizations in the hiring process:

- Need help finding interview questions that will determine if a candidate is going to be a fit for the job and a match for the company culture.

- Want to require background checks in hiring process that provide references and past history on candidates.

- Make hiring decisions without screening job applicants for their personality and abilities.

Review Your Hiring Methods
Renowned business guru, Peter Drucker, estimates that two-thirds of employee hiring decisions may be hiring mistakes. From your experience, you know you have hired some excellent employees yet some of them have failed. Now take a moment and think back. Did you use pre-employment screening methods to assess job candidates? What made you choose a particular applicant to fill the position? We have found that employers use the same hiring methods for any position. This suggests that your existing employee selection process may produce inconsistent hiring results and increased turnover.

Furthermore, your hiring process is one of the most strategic and valuable places you can cut costs and maximize productivity - if your process works correctly the first time. Employing a proven employee screening system is essential to making sure that your hiring process works effectively.

Every hiring decision you make will have some level of subjectivity - it’s inevitable. However, you can improve your hiring process by leveraging best practices along with the latest technologies. This will allow you to not only improve hiring practices, but will also to better manage employees, their development and succession.

Hiring best practices start with a more focused approach to how you define job requirements. This practice is often neglected in the hiring process because hiring managers tend to focus on what a candidate will do, rather than the characteristics they must possess to be successful in the position. By clearly defining the skills and traits necessary to be successful on the job, you’ll be better suited to evaluate candidates against that criteria to get the best match. Download the rest of this guide on our site listed below.

Nancy Ness is Vice President of Profiles Incorporated, authorized dealer for Profiles International assessments. Profiles is the world’s leader and innovator in designing human resource management tools for selecting and developing high-performance workforces. To view the rest of this article visit us at Profiles Incorporated.

Does your organization struggle with employee turnover and absenteeism? Is your company wasting time and money on bad hiring decisions? This article is designed to provide you with some useful tips for hiring reliable people. Specific job requirements may vary; however, the following information includes helpful and important guidelines from which every organization can benefit.

Employee turnover and absenteeism is inevitable. But when these things become excessive they can quickly put a business into the red. The cost associated with employee turnover and absenteeism is easy to overlook or ignore because they often go unrealized. Employee turnover and absenteeism have obvious costs that you can track, but the actual costs take a greater toll.

Are you frustrated by the costs associated with employee turnover and absenteeism?

A fundamental issue that managers need to understand in regards to employee turnover and absenteeism is the connection between the two. Extreme cases of employee absenteeism can sometimes be an early predictor of who is likely to leave the organization, resulting in employee turnover.

Let’s take a look at each issue, how they can affect your organization and how you can reduce their instances to save your company time, money and resources.

Employee Turnover
Dissatisfied people change jobs at an alarming rate. U.S. Bureau of Labor statistics report that “job hoppers make up 39% of the work force.” Many new employees do not become fully productive until they’ve been oriented, properly trained and gain experience in the company - a process that usually takes several months. The time, effort and money invested in a new employee are lost when they walk out the door and leave their job.

Costs related to employee turnover can reach 150% of annual compensation for employees and 200% to 250% of annual compensation for managerial and sales positions. A mid-sized company of 1,000 employees with an annual turnover of 10% stands to experience $7.5 million in related costs!

Employee Absenteeism
Organizations with high employee absenteeism and reliability issues cannot function efficiently. The expense of employee absence, along with last minute no-shows, is a big financial burden for businesses.

So what counts as an absence? An absence refers to time an employee is not on the job during scheduled working hours, except the leave has been granted (holiday, vacation time etc.). On average, a day of absence can cost an organization $610 per employee. The average annual costs associated with employee absenteeism can range from an estimated $60,000 for small employers to over $1 million dollars for large companies.

Ask yourself the following questions:

- Would you like to know in advance if a job candidate is going to have the kind of work ethic and reliability you’ve come to expect?
- Would you like to be able to predict issues with substance abuse and employee theft in advance of hiring someone?
- Would you like to know if the candidate is going to be a good fit for the job and your company?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any one of these questions, we can help. Download the rest of this guide on our site listed below.

Nancy Ness is Vice President of Profiles Incorporated, authorized dealer for Profiles International assessments. Profiles is the world’s leader and innovator in designing human resource management tools for selecting and developing high-performance workforces. Visit us online at Profiles Incorporated.

Does your organization struggle with hiring great sales people? Does your sales department suffer low productivity or high turnover? This article is designed to provide you with some useful tips for hiring sales people. Specific job requirements may vary; however, the following information includes helpful and important guidelines from which every sales organization can benefit.

There are few organizational challenges that compare to the difficulty of recruiting and hiring a successful sales force. Sales people have the greatest impact on your bottom line and when they don’t perform, your business suffers. That’s why effective sales hiring is so critical.

Have you ever wondered why it’s so difficult to hire people that can sell consistently, year after year?

The short answer is this: the selling profession requires qualities and skills that not everyone possesses. All too often, previous experience, a clean resume and camaraderie in an interview are the primary predictors of success, which often leads to sales hiring mistakes that can cause high turnover and ineffectiveness in sales teams.

When a sales force fails to meet their goals, most companies react by implementing sales training programs or by replacing the employees who display the lowest level of performance. This can be a never-ending cycle if your sales hiring and selection process is based on instinct and a good resume alone.

So how do you rank your sales team? Do you believe you’ve hired the best sales people for your organization? Here are some things to consider:

- 54% of sales managers believe they have the right people in their sales teams
- 56% of sales managers believe the people in their sales teams are in the right positions
- 54% of sales managers recognize the need to improve their process for leveraging the potential of strong performers
- 29% of sales managers admit that the talent in their sales force isn’t being fully utilized

A little more than half! That’s it?! A little more than half of sales managers believe they’re hired the right person for the right job. Wouldn’t you like to make that number closer to 100%? Wouldn’t it be great to say that almost every person in your sales team is a top performer who belongs in their respective position? You’re probably already familiar with the “80-20″ rule in sales, in which 20 percent of the sales people make 80 percent of the sales. What if you could take that 20 percent of your top-performing sales team and hire more people that have the same skills and characteristics that make them successful? The good news is that it’s possible with the right sales hiring tools.

Sales Hiring: Job Fit

There is no greater tragedy in business than putting competent employees into jobs in which they are destined to fail. When this happens, their potential is wasted. The classic example of a poor job fit is when a company picks its best salesperson to be a sales manager and then finds that he or she is unsuccessful, unhappy or unproductive in the new position. The qualities that make for a great sales person are different from those of a great sales manager. It is extremely rare that an individual can do both well.

Job Fit is the single most important factor in sales hiring success.

To download the rest of this guide, visit our site listed below.

Nancy Ness is Vice President of Profiles Incorporated, authorized dealer for Profiles International assessments. Profiles is the world’s leader and innovator in designing human resource management tools for selecting and developing high-performance workforces. Visit us online at Sales Hiring Strategies.