Professional Outlook, Inc. Recruiting Specialists

Ecolab Inc. plans to cut 500 jobs this year as part of restructuring and cost-cutting measures connected to its recent $8.3 billion acquisition of Nalco Holding Co. Read the rest of this entry »

Excellent client just south of Houston has an opening for a Maintenance and Reliability Team Leader. This client has a strong market share and sells product globally as well as business to business and through distributorships.
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This opportunity is with a global chemical company looking to add and upgrade new and existing APC controllers. Read the rest of this entry »

Index Increases Nearly 10 Points

The Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index®, which had improved in November, increased further in December. The Index now stands at 64.5 (1985=100), up from 55.2 in November. The Present Situation Index increased to 46.7 from 38.3. The Expectations Index rose to 76.4 from 66.4.

The monthly Consumer Confidence Survey®, based on a probability-design random sample, is conducted for The Conference Board by Nielsen, a leading global provider of information and analytics around what consumers buy and watch. The cutoff date for the preliminary results was December 14.

Says Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center: “After two months of considerable gains, the Consumer Confidence Index is now back to levels seen last spring (April 2011, 66.0). Consumers’ assessment of current business and labor market conditions improved again.  Looking ahead, consumers are more optimistic that business conditions, employment prospects, and their financial situations will continue to get better. While consumers are ending the year in a somewhat more upbeat mood, it is too soon to tell if this is a rebound from earlier declines or a sustainable shift in attitudes.”  Read the rest of this entry »

Every year at about this time, The Herman Group issues its annual forecast. If it seems like much of this forecast is similar to last year, you are right. Due to prolonged economic challenges, employers are facing very similar conditions to last year. Also again, this year, we offer you our full forecast (longer than our usual alert) for the coming year. Enjoy.

1. Recruiting will intensify among smaller employers. While large companies are bracing for the rippling impact of the European debt crisis, we will see the small and medium-size companies adding staff. Many companies will continue their reluctance to add staff, until they have a sense for the outcome of the elections. Worldwide, we will see areas like growth areas like Southeast Asia, certain parts of South America (notably Brazil and Chile), and the Middle East pirating talent away from other areas. Employers attempting to recruit experienced people will find their challenges increasing.

2. In the US, unemployment will continue to remain relatively high. Domestically, we expect unemployment to remain over 7.5 percent for the coming year for most of the country. China‚s unemployment will grow, too, as employers turn away from inconsistent quality and/or find lower-cost source markets for low-skilled labor. The continuing challenge for employers worldwide is that many of the unemployed do not have the skills they are looking for.

3. More communities will wake up to the critical need for workforce development. More communities will become aware that they will simply not grow economically without having an available skilled workforce—with the skill sets their prospects seek.

4. Metrics, metrics, metrics. Looking for efficiencies everywhere, more employers will embrace technology to manage processes and keep track of talent. Companies providing software to employers will see their businesses grow. Employers will face the challenges of training their people in these new systems.

5. Companies will take greater advantage of social networks. They will not only use it in recruiting, marketing, and public relations, but also training and development, and even in succession planning. Large companies will capitalize on their own internal social networking sites to “keep it in the family.”

6. Growth levels will again vary by region. The US will have continued slow growth, as will some most areas of Europe. Others will show modest increases. The big winners in job growth and profits will be Brazil, India, and China. The lingering repercussions of the European debt crisis and the Great Recession in the US (including high levels of unemployment and depressed housing prices) will hamper expansion.

7. A growing number of unemployed people will become consultants and personal coaches. The personal and professional services industries are burgeoning. More companies will “rent” the talent they need for the time they need it. Individuals will increasingly seek the services of life-and executive coaches to help them realize their full potential.

8. Re-engineering will continue. As we forecasted in our book “Lean & Meaningful: A New Culture for Corporate America,” companies, particularly the larger ones will continue to reduce staff and hire others in an ongoing attempt to optimize productivity and profit. The drop in employee engagement will not affect this drive for efficiency, until that decrease begins to affect the bottom line. Wise employers will engage their employees in finding these efficiencies.

9. Far too many employers worldwide will ignore the roles of engagement and retention in their bottom line profitability. Though employers will have higher employee turnover and greater difficulty in recruiting, too few will take action to meet this challenge. By necessity once again, employers will be forced to look at the real drivers of employee retention, which may not be what is reflected in their surveys.

10. In the US, the escalating regulatory environment will cause employers to need employment lawyers more than ever. With the continuing increase in regulations affecting Human Resources, smart employers will have no choice but to collaborate with their employment lawyers early on to avoid problems after the fact. The largest employers have been working with their trusted partners for years.

Just as loyalty towards green products and services has fallen victim to the continuing economic woes around the world, so has customer loyalty—both internal and external to organizations.

In a surprising report recently released by Right Management, 84 percent of the respondents to an online poll said they “plan to look for a new position in 2012.” That number is almost double the number found by Randstad in their recent poll. Only seven percent of these “internal customers” said a move was “unlikely” or that they expected to stay in their current positions.

On the other end of the customer spectrum, in a recent survey of service providers, 66 percent of respondents believed that their (external) customers are less loyal today than they were two years ago. If service providers want to attract new subscribers in saturated markets, they will need to implement loyalty strategies to combat competitors’ aggressive offers. Due to this market saturation and increasing competition, 82 percent of service providers said that customer loyalty programs would be “very important” or “important” over the next five years to their company’s strategy. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s time to write and read your new goals for 2012. If you have not yet written down specific goals, commit today to get them written! Your goals should include any and all areas that are most important to you. Examples:  Career, Financial, Personal, Health, Spiritual, Philanthropic, Education, etc. Write down your ten non-negotiable goals and follow them with 4 – 5 Action Items and Completion Dates.  If you don’t write them down, or include dated Action Items – there is a chance they will only have the longevity of some New Year’s Resolutions.  Lastly, post them where you can read them as you are conducting your job search efforts.  These goals remind you WHY it is important for you to focus on  your Job Search to turn the goals you’ve set into your reality in 2012.

Very occasionally, our recruiters pick up on some negative attitudes from some candidates who may be frustrated in their job search. Our fear is that potential employers might also pick up on these negative vibes and impact their decision to hire or not to hire.  We understand this is a very difficult time of year to be looking for a new position.  We understand how frustrating it is to be rejected and not receive a job offer.   It’s easy to focus on what has and is going wrong with your job search.

However, it’s time to realize you have NO control over the job market, or the decisions made by hiring authorities.  You DO have 100% control over how you choose to react. Their decisions can become learning experiences to improve your search efforts, or they can destroy you.  The choice is yours to make. Read the rest of this entry »

Several recent studies have reinforced our belief—that employee loyalty is declining—around the world. The most recent evidence comes from the well-respected consultancy Mercer in their 2011 “What’s Working”survey—released just last week.

This statistically valid research, conducted with nearly 30,000 employees shows that the percentage of workers seriously considering leaving their organizations has risen significantly, since the last time the survey was conducted. Mercer conducted the previous surveys between 2003 and 2006, prior to the economic downturn.

In many of the 17 geographic markets, the increase in workers considering leaving is 10 percentage points or more. In the United States, the increase was 9 points, from 23 percent in 2005 to 32 percent in 2010. (Not all markets were polled in each survey.)

According to Mindy Fox, a senior partner at Mercer, “. . .lackluster engagement is no longer just a US phenomenon.” In the face of companies looking to drive productivity and efficiencies, this kind of widespread apathy and high turnover can be seriously detrimental to an organization’s business performance, especially given the current economic environment. Read the rest of this entry »

In its recently released Energy Industry Update, ScottMadden, Inc., one of North America’s leading energy consulting firms, highlights the continuing challenges faced by the energy and utilities industries as world economic growth remains slow coming out of the “Great Recession.”

This semi-annual publication features our view of recent significant events and emerging trends in the energy industry. In this issue, ScottMadden observes that aging plants, shifting demand patterns, continued growth of renewable resources, and costly environmental regulations are driving substantial investment needs.

“Our utility clients are seeing some developments that can help moderate rate increases, such as relatively inexpensive natural gas,” said Brad Kitchens, president and CEO of ScottMadden. “But the energy sector still faces a new round of investment requirements and will need to find ways to fund this build-out.” Read the rest of this entry »