Having a good work week!

So far so good with the new solo duties this week. We had a job fair today for my solo company and it ROCKED!! I got like 65 applicants that all want my jobs. Sweet!!

Let me explain why that's so important...

Here's a breakdown of how our business works and how I keep my head off the chopping block every week. Placements are everything. Doing it the old way having 20+ clients that I staffed for, I would place an average of 7-10 employees per week. I would also lose 5-10 in turnover that same week. Netting about 2 if I was lucky. That's what the cheeses look at. If we suck a week and only place 8... losing 10... we're crap (which I have done on many occasions). In order to remain in the good graces for the week, we need to place at least 10. I haven't been able to do that lately.

We keep track of the hours our employees work every week. Our 2 top recruiters are averaging 3500-5000 hours billed per week. I'm at like 2500. My highest was 3300. How many hours we bill out a week determines our worth within the company. When I'm sucking at 2500 hours and feeling like crap - things are not good. Keep in mind that the national average is 1200 hours per recruiter!!! My question is - what in the hell are those recruiters doing all day!!??!!?? If any of us brought in a meager 1200 hours in one week we'd be canned! So you can see why we pull our hair out and blow spit bubbles when our hours start to slip.

My hours were declining before this change in accounts took place. Actually... they started to slip before I went looking for another job. They finally realized that my cash crop client was sucking me dry and not leaving any time for my other accounts - which in turn made my numbers plummet!! So... in giving me one and only one client (cash crop) - I'm able to give them my undivided attention and raise my numbers through the roof.

So far this week I've placed 14 people and lost 2 and it's only Tuesday!! WOOHOO I say!!! With these additional 65 people I got from the job fair, I'm sure I can place at least 25 of them. I will be the envy/enemy of my fellow recruiters. lol

In reading over this I noticed how terrible I sounded... in regards to placements. I think the job I do is vital to our community. I help people find jobs that otherwise might not get a chance. I don't look at applicants as numbers - I know they are people. I see some of the sweetest and meanest people out there on a daily basis. Each of them are worthy in their own right. Sometimes I think the cheeses forget that and only care about dollar signs and only care that we are the #1 staffing agency in Oklahoma. That's what makes my job stressful. If our numbers drop and we lose our 'title' for the year, it reflects bad on them and in turn makes it bad on us measly recruiters. Such a twisted web we weave.

In the end though - I do like my job. It's the little things that make it all worth while. When a few of my employees went permanent with my cash crop, they got together and sent me a thank you card. They didn't have to take time out of their busy lives to thank me for finding them a job they liked, but they did. That's what gets to me :) I have had several employees cry in my office when I have found jobs for them. You never really stop and think about the little guy. The person who no one else will give a chance to because they have a few teeth missing, or they look strange. Or the person that looks a little ragged and drives a pinto because they can't afford the things that we all take for granted. At least they're trying to better themselves. Sure, there are a few out there that are just looking for their next fix... and you can smell them from a mile away... but the good ones outweigh the bad ones :) That's what keeps me going. I saw several of those people today. You see on their applications that they've visited every staffing agency in Tulsa trying to get work and have only been given temp work... probably because they all look different from you and me. It pisses me off! It's like in Pretty Woman when those nasty clerks wouldn't help Julia Roberts in the store because she looked like a hooker (Well... she was a hooker). Give me a little time with that person and they will come out looking like a million bucks. All they need is a chance and for someone to believe in them enough to give them that chance. That's where I come in.

Enough of my soap box... time to sleep :)