The Accounting Department Manager, Maureen, shared with an Abel Personnel recruiter a common predicament in the business world. “We posted the position of staff accountant for four weeks. We
need to replace some recent departures plus meet growing demand. Those applicants that were qualified wanted to work from home or flexible hours. Those that were willing to work a standard 40-hour week needed salaries above our pay scale.”

The Tight Market Pay Rate Dilemma
“In a tight labor market, you need to expect to pay higher salaries. Desired pay rates may come down with a recession. However, there’s no certainty if or when a recession will happen,” the recruiter responded.

“I’ve explained that to my management. All they see is the need to control costs and keep our clients happy. Besides, if we pay what the better candidates are requiring, then I’ll be bringing in new employees at higher rates than existing employees. Some of those current staff have the same or better qualifications. Meanwhile, I have unsatisfied clients who rely on us as their ‘inhouse accountants.’ Plus, I’m behind on my revenue budget because I don’t have the staff to bill out.” Her despair was palpable over the video connection.

The recruiter had been busily keyboarding as Maureen was presenting her concerns. When there was a pause, the recruiter shared her screen:

“You nailed it,” replied Maureen. “Perhaps I should rethink my requirements and be more flexible. My clients won’t be happy if we aren’t on call during all regular business hours and can’t stop by. I may lose some of them. What other choice do I have to meet cost and revenue budgets?”

A Better Approach to Staffing
“Not so fast,” the recruiter counseled. “Asking clients to settle for less is a ‘race to the bottom.’ Your client base will shrink to the size that your reduced workforce can handle, or worse. We need to accept the needs and wants of your client as a given. I do think we can recruit based on which of these options might be acceptable to you and your management.”

This was the next screen the Abel recruiter shared:

Maureen was intrigued, but needed to run some numbers and discuss these options with her senior management.

The Abel recruiter emailed Maureen copies of the two slides that had been shared, adding a word of caution, “If the candidates you have seen are requiring higher salaries or more flexibility than you are delivering to your existing staff, then there is a risk that your competitors are going to contact your staff and offer these higher salaries and benefits. This is what I’ve been seeing in current accounting staff recruiting. Sometimes we need to realize that a high profit experience is coming to an end for a while. We cannot always see high profits regardless of changing economic conditions.”

“Funny, that sounds like advice my firm gives to our clients!” Maureen chuckled. “Sometimes you need a vendor partner to help you discover what you already know.”

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The software customisation company was thrilled with their newest hire. The company COO chose to call their Abel Personnel recruiter to thank her directly for her efforts in making this key addition possible. The COO characterised this hire as “strategic,” a position that needed the right person to assure the company’s ongoing growth in market share. The COO confided that the process from authorising the search to position acceptance had required about eight months, including the company’s six month effort to identify candidates using web-based services before coming to Abel.

Through this presentation, the COO asked many questions, including specific position inquiries. He then scheduled a video conference with the Abel recruiter and his HR manager two weeks later. By that time, he committed to updating the company’s strategic human resources plan, to present a list of positions with unique background requirements that the company needed to fill in the next year or two to achieve their strategic business plan. The recruiter complimented the COO on his understanding that acquiring high talent was a long game, akin to securing high revenue clients. The time investment, with the right person representing the company, had a higher probability of yielding a better return than a quick hire over the internet.

Is it time to start considering strategic hires as high talent has suddenly become available? Be in touch with Abel Personnel at 717-561-2222 or at abelpersonnel.com.

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You feel or have been told you do not have the skills to be in office administrative work, such as office clerk, customer service, receptionist. So, you feel stuck in:

Chances are that your existing skills and experience are highly transferable to an office environment. You just may need some help to see this and help possible employers visualize how you can make this transition. Staffing agencies like Abel Personnel have knowledgeable recruiters that can help you identify your shining attributes.

Ready for that career transition? First, you need to invest some time in these 5 steps:

Your recruiter at Abel will help you determine which of your skills to focus on and how to work towards your goal. Give Abel Personnel a call at 717-561-2222 or visit us on the web at abelpersonnel.com.

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At the start of the new year, Addeline Alaniz Edwards assumed the position of Business Development Specialist at Abel Personnel. In her new role, Addeline will become a key contact for companies and organizations of all sizes to provide them with temporary, temp-to-hire, or direct hire staffing solutions. Her mission will be to introduce new client partners to Abel’s wide range of staffing services, and ultimately to connect them with the Abel recruiter who specializes in the types of positions to be filled.

Addeline joins the Abel Personnel team after serving as the Executive Director of the Rotary Club of Harrisburg for four years, and a 10+ year career in banking and accounting. This included regional member service coordinator for New Cumberland Federal Credit Union.

In addition to her full-time roles, Addeline has been a dedicated Rotarian since 2012. She has volunteered as a public image consultant for the Rotary Club of Baltimore, facilitated Rotary Mid-Atlantic President-Elect Training Seminars, has been a featured speaker to Rotary clubs around the world, and has had her writing published in Rotary Magazine. Addeline is a graduate of Rotary Leadership Institute, Judge/Bradley Leadership School and Leadership Harrisburg Area’s Community Leadership Series.

Locally, Addeline is a member and two-time Past President of the Harrisburg Keystone Rotary Club. She is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow and enjoys coordinating fundraising efforts such as the 0.5K and the Polar Plunge for her club. Other local volunteer activities include serving on the Supervisory Committee for Americhoice Federal Credit Union. Most recently in 2021, Addeline was honored as one of Central Penn Business Journal’s Forty under 40.

Addeline and her husband Josh live in Camp Hill with their three children. Addeline enjoys music, dancing, kayaking on the Susquehanna River and lounging by the patio campfire with a cold beer.

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The search for the software customization specialist proceeded for several weeks without a single candidate proposed as interview-worthy. The Abel Personnel recruiter suggested that the IT Firm’s HR Manager and the recruiter have a virtual huddle to review their approach before continuing.

“I’m not surprised you weren’t immediately successful,” the HR Manager began. “We weren’t being inundated with resumes when we had tried finding qualified applicants on our own.”

“Oh, finding well-qualified candidates has not been the problem. We’ve spoken with several who we knew were passively looking for a new opportunity. Many felt enthused about the software you handle and your reputation for the team you’ve put together. Your compensation, benefits, and career opportunity were also meeting their expectations. Those haven’t been the problem,” the recruiter reported.

Hearing that surprised the HR Manager, who now wondered if their software customization process was no longer cutting edge or if they were missing something the talent market now wanted. In a way, the HR Manager was right about both these concerns.

“In the last few years, during the Covid Pandemic, there has been a shift in the market. For example, employees gravitate more to hybrid work conditions,” the recruiter continued.

“Oh, but we did that, and within weeks of the start of the general industry office lockdown. We were one of the last local IT companies to call everyone back to the office. Based on that record, applicants can bet that if there is another flare-up, we will be ready to switch back to hybrid or full-time work from home.” The HR Manager then proudly added, “Our employees are our greatest asset!”

“I gathered from several potential candidates that hybrid work is no longer a ‘pandemic thing.’ Many found that they were more productive working from home. One person wants to have two days a week out of the office to allow her to have long stretches of sustained focus and the ability to control phone calls and people stopping by her cubicle to chat. Many want to continue to work that way regardless of positivity rates,” the recruiter explained.

“But teamwork is the hallmark of our company culture. A few programmers, meeting together spontaneously to solve a glitch, that’s what I’m told works for us,” insisted the HR Manager.

The recruiter paused here. How to convey, as many candidates had patiently explained, that there is not necessarily a causal relationship between being in the office and the opportunity to spontaneously solve problems as a team? Using an imaging technique, she pressed forward. “If I may ask, what was the effect of working from home on productivity during the height of the Pandemic? And, aside from the PPP Loan, were there any great losses in profitability?”

“None whatsoever. The PPP loan helped cover the cost of the receptionist and some maintenance and janitorial staff that we did not need when no one was working in our offices,” the HR Manager responded.

“And if you are, rightly, focused on the well-being of your staff, does that mean you must treat them all the same? Does everyone work just as well in the same work environment? One size fits all?” the recruiter then asked.

The HR Manager first chuckled at this. “One size does NOT fit all” was a slogan that the company often used to promote its software customization services. That was followed by a long pause, as there was a visible change in the HR Manager’s expression, mirroring their internal shift. Diversity of experience, needs, and opportunities was a very familiar HR concept.

“I get your point. We’re preaching one approach to our customers and a different approach internally,” was what had evolved for the HR Manager.

That became the starting point of a “what if” conversation, identifying broader work parameters for the still-open position. The conclusion: work conditions were negotiable. The recruiter then reconnected with the applicants that had declined their interest. Within a few weeks, four candidates were interviewed, their references were contacted, and a background check was completed for the preferred applicant.

When the HR Manager called the recruiter to present the offer to the candidate, the postscript was added, “Of course, we had to extend the same flexibility to current employees. We couldn’t offer new employees a better deal than existing ones. My management was quite overwhelmed by the positive feedback from this announcement, way beyond holiday cheer and yearend bonuses. One employee told her supervisor that the flexibility was even better than the bonus. We were also surprised that there wasn’t an urgent rush to go hybrid. The ones who declined still said they were grateful to have a choice. So, what else should we be doing to attract and retain talent?”

This was a conversation that the recruiter loved to be having with client partners. Customizing recruiting approaches that recognize that every company, position, and applicant is unique.

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In every employment interview, there comes a time when the hiring firm asks, “So, what questions do you have for us?” Aside from questions about job responsibilities, career opportunities, compensation and benefits, the workplace responses to the shifts of the last few years suggest there are 5 other questions you might also want to consider posing:

5 Interview Questions You Need To Ask

You may feel uncomfortable asking these questions, if only that these may affect the interviewer’s opinion of you (even though they shouldn’t). An Abel Personnel recruiter can greatly assist here, asking the questions for you, even before the interview. Seeking that level of support in your job search? Connect with us at abelpersonnel.com.

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Caroline, the head of her company’s staffing function, had met with her Abel Personnel recruiter for lunch in early December every year for the past seven years (at outdoor locations before Covid vaccinations were available). This tradition dates back to Caroline’s predecessor when company policy allowed vendors to take their clients out to lunch. Now everything is “separate checks.” The two women enjoyed having lunch together. It was a great opportunity for Caroline to give her recruiter a heads-up on planned staffing needs for the coming year, and to hear what trends the recruiter was seeing in staffing in Caroline’s company’s industry.

Once Caroline had shared what sets of skills and work experience the recruiter should be on the lookout for after the first of the year, the discussion turned to holiday plans and traditions. They each recounted how many activities that had been canceled due to the pandemic were reinstated for the first time this year, and how many (some thankfully) would not be returning. This discussion naturally turned next to the tradition of New Year’s resolutions.

“You mean ones besides ‘exercise more, spend more time with family, be kinder?’” Caroline joked.

“I was thinking of business-related resolutions, particularly in staffing,” the recruiter replied. “Those types of aspirations that often don’t make it to the company’s business plan, except perhaps how much staff needs to be hired or to improve staff retention.”

Caroline nodded at this, before observing, “As you know, we underperformed in staffing this year, though thanks to you we did better than most of our competitors for the same talent. But you’re right, there are things we could be doing better. I bet you have some ideas?”

These five “resolutions” all made sense to Caroline, although for some she was unsure how to begin implementing them. The Abel recruiter was pleased to help with this, committing some time to Caroline to have these in place before the first of the year, which is when other business urgencies typically take precedence.

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