“Our biggest challenge is finding people who have the qualifications for our positions and who are looking for full time work,” said Melissa Masters, an account representative for the firm, which specializes in all forms of staffing including executive, clerical, IT, healthcare, industrial and skilled laborers.
Patrick Staffing, which has offices in Fairfield, Franklin and Dayton, hires for industrial placements, with most positions being temp-to-hire, but also is hiring for day labor and short term jobs, according to Fairfield branch manager Jenny Smith.
Smith said many candidates often do not update new contact information on resumes and many have disconnected numbers. Lack of motivation by candidates is another challenging factor, she said.
“Good attendance and job performance are required to be hired permanent by our clients,” Smith said. “It is a probationary period to see if the candidate is a good fit for the company.”
Further challenges include finding someone with good job tenure at one company instead of several in the course of a year, she said.
Nick Winnenberg of family-owned Express Pros said getting hired in today’s economic market “is all about soft skills.”
“Most of our clients are very willing to train technical skills, as long as the associate is willing to show up every day and have a good attitude about their job,” Winnenberg said. “Work ethic and attendance are the biggest reason for client-led turnover.”
From an associate standpoint, the biggest difficulty is company culture, he said.
“According to our last national study, over 78 percent of associate driven turnover — the ‘I quit’ kind — comes from a cultural mismatch,” Winnenberg said. “Simply put, people aren’t leaving jobs, they are leaving managers, environments, and co-workers.
“Luckily we have coached most of our office clients in that and we have reduced the turnover quite a bit.”
Monica Pelaez, branch manager of Kable Staffing in Fairfield, said key challenges facing staffing firms include “transportation issues, daycare hours, unemployment, or government assistance and sometimes people just don’t want to work.”
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IF YOU GO
WHAT: Staffing Firm Job Fair
WHERE: OhioMeansJobs-Butler County, 4631 Dixie Highway, Fairfield
WHEN: 9 to noon Tuesday, April 4
DETAILS: Positions rangings from entry level to skilled, requiring certification and license. Many of the jobs are direct hire with several being temp to hire. Pay ranges from $8.60 to $26 per hour.
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Masters said her advice to potential candidates is to come prepared to be sent out for an interview that day.
“Another piece of advice is to have a resume,” she said. “Most of our clients are looking for people with certain skill sets and want to see what they’ve done in their previous jobs but also people who show enthusiasm about joining a team.”
Smith said applicants should keep resumes updated and limit them to two pages unless applying for a highly technical position.
She also suggests job applicants dress to impress when coming to register and follow up with the staffing firm afterward.
“Call us every day,” Smith said. “In the staffing world, things change daily. It also helps us to remember you more.”
Return phone calls as quickly as possible, as each staffer is making calls to pre-qualified candidates when making a placement.
“You can miss out on a great opportunity because someone else returned the call first.”
Winnenberg said Express Pros has put 14,000 people to work in a variety of companies, both commercial and office administration, since it was founded in 2002, but people need to show up to the job for which they are hired.
“It seems like a ‘Ha-ha, obviously’ kind of thing, but it really isn’t,” Winnenberg said. “Attendance is key. Almost every single company we are working with, wants people regardless of experience. Don’t call off if you can help it. Put your time in, and grow from within the company.
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