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N E W S W O R T H Y

FEBRUARY 2017

From the TeamGreetings! We hope you’re off to a profitable2017! We’re excited by the buzz we hear aroundMichigan and the auto industry’s investmentshere. Jobs, jobs, jobs is the watchword ofthe New Year. Of course that means thealready tight talent market may get morechallenging. We’ve been reading a lot about economicpredictions for 2017, and we’ve felt the talentwar's impact. In its annual coming-year-predictions edition, for example, MiBiz’sOutlook 2017 features dozens of local leaderviewpoints from across a vast array ofindustries. These experts cite everything fromtalent’s affect on mergers and acquisitions(it’s a way to leverage existing talent byconsolidating business) to employers’recognition of the need to help currentemployees achieve skills and training in-house. Some go so far as to cite talent asthe top challenge facing economicdevelopment throughout the region. Not to worry, we’ll remain in the talentattraction trenches with you. Our collectivetalent community, KzooConnect, continuesto generate interest and discussion amongyoung professionals. And we have anotheryear of talent research, best practices andtrends to share through this quarterlynewsletter. We’d love to brainstorm aboutindividual challenges or opportunities withyou any time. Just give us a call!

The Welsh & Associates Team

Evergreen JobsA radical idea for a competitiveadvantage

For most companies, hiring begins when arequisition for a new position is filed with HumanResources. In a perfect world — one with anample supply of ready talent — companies woulduse just-in-time supply principles borrowed frompurchasing to fill those open slots. But today’shiring environment is far from perfect. According to Talent Economy (Fall 2016), apublication of Human Capital Media, the skillsmismatch of today has created an “arms raceof lavish perks and one-upmanship.” Ourexperience has found that individuals hired in abidding war can create a ripple effect of entirelynew challenges. This is especially true withyoung professionals who expect a corporateculture transparency around salary and benefits. We’d like to propose what may be to many aradical concept: Create evergreen jobs.

Evergreen jobs are those mission-critical rolesthat always seem to be open. Regardless of thefunction performed, these jobs are a drag onresources. The hiring team is constantly fillingthem, and the ongoing churn affects bothproductivity and moral. The idea of evergreen jobs is a little-knownstrategy that only a few companies use. But itis gaining traction and becoming increasinglypopular among employers looking to establisha long-term competitive talent advantage. It’sparticularly popular in healthcare, retail,technology and customer service. There are risks of course, to creating evergreenjobs. When candidates see a job that’s constantlybeing filled, for example, they may hesitate toapply. But this is easy to address with that samephilosophy of transparency young professionalstoday seek. Tell them honestly that you’re alwayslooking for top talent and that you strive to createa deep bench of expertise. Here are a few ofthe advantages you’ll gain:

An open door for top talentTraditional hiring requires both the company andthe candidate to be searching for one anotherat the same time. When you create an evergreenjob, you’re always ready when great talentknocks. This may even allow you to be moreselective — or at least to adjust your selectivity.

No longer either, orIf two top candidates apply at once, you can hireboth to fill evergreen jobs. You may have a talentoverlap for a period of time, but chances are thecost of carrying two employees will still outweighthe cost of an open position.

Conflated costs and other resourcesEvergreen jobs create a pipeline of talent. Thisenables you to schedule regular hiring andtraining in a manner and at a pace that’s mostconducive to workflow and best utilizes allresources.

www.WelshandAssociates.net

Taking Stock of How We’re DoingEach December, we review our business from both afinancial and a relational perspective. Ours is relationship-driven industry, and we pride ourselves on our longstandingassociations. So we were surprised to discover that a full50% of our business came from new clients in 2016. Theseare companies we’ve never done business with before!When we dug deeper, we learned that 90% of those newrelationships were referrals from other W&A clients. Andthough we have no hard data, we believe — based onconversations — that our existing clients are doing a greatjob of retaining talent. We love to hear that! We built W&A on the strength of our candidate relationships.Their referrals to colleagues and friends have helped usdevelop an outstanding pipeline of professionals from whichto draw. We love knowing that this focus on relationshipsis having a similar impact on our clients. We’re both flatteredand humbled by the faith and confidence these patternsdemonstrate. We extend a hearty “thank you” to all.

2017 National Hiring TrendsLinkedIn’s Talent Blog released its annual Global RecruitingTrends 2017 report in October. Based on a survey ofapproximately 4,000 corporate talent acquisition leadersacross 35 countries; the report offers a snapshot of insightinto recruiting. Here are their key findings:

• Talent acquisition has a prominent seat at the executive table• Recruiters will be even busier in 2017• Sought-after talent includes professionals in sales, operations, and engineering• The top sources for quality hires are employee referrals, job boards, and professional networks• Budgets go to traditional tactics, but branding tops investment wish list• Diversity, screening automation, and data are key future trends

FastCompany cites these Top 3 Recruitment Factors for2017:1. Mobile Applications. Some 77% of job seekersnow use mobile devices to look for opportunities.2. Candidate Experience. Apple, Netflix, and Salesforcehave a job application process that takes 15 minutes orless. This is the standard by which other companies will bemeasured.3. Employment Brand. In today’s word-of-mouth socialmedia world, your employees are your brand.

West and Southwest Michigan: ACompetitive Advantage

For many years, human resource managers in the greaterKalamazoo area lamented the challenges of gettingprospective employees to consider a move to the area.Times have changed. The advent of tech — which makesworking from anywhere possible — is just one factor in ournew appeal. Today’s young professionals, it seems, maybe seeking precisely what we have to offer: an incrediblequality of life. According to a study by Fidelity – publishedin Fortune last spring -- Millennials are even willing to takea $7,600 pay cut for a better quality of life. Our collectivetask now is to make sure young professionals know it’s here. The U.S. Council of Economic Advisors (2014)characterized those quality-of-life characteristics with thisdescription: “Millennials value staying close to family andfriends, having free time for recreation, and working increative jobs. However, they also want to make a positivesocial impact on their children and communities, as well ason society as a whole.” Sounds like West and SouthwestMichigan to us! And don’t forget…• The cost of living is 7% lower here than the Michigan average and 18% lower than the national average (with a 37% advantage over the national average for housing.)• The average short commute of 17-22 minutes is a bit misleading. You’ll cover a far greater distance in that time driving here than in urban centers like Detroit or Chicago.• At the farthest western edge of the Eastern Time zone, where else can you enjoy summer daylight that stretches – nearly – into the wee hours? That leaves lots of time after hours to pursue hobbies, spend time with friends, or give back through volunteerism.• The Lake Michigan shoreline is a mere 45 minutes of scenic countryside from downtown Kalamazoo and as pristine a vista as any “real” Coast.

If you have a young professional that’s doinggreat work for your organization, considerletting us brag a bit about them inKzooConnect. We’d love to help you recognizetheir accomplishments. And what better wayto attract other talent to the region?