BARRYSTAFF July Newsletter

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BARRYSTAFF Interviews Dozens at Job Fair

applicantWhen the decision was made to hold a job fair at the newly-opened BarryStaff office in Springfield, expectations were kept in check.

There were several unknowns.

Did people know about the new office? If not, were they willing to find it?

Luckily, there was nothing to worry about.

Roughly 25 people interviewed over the span of a few hours. More than 50 percent of the applicants interviewed were qualified to fill positions at Clark County area companies.

Within the next week, BarryStaff had three people already on the job. Five more were awaiting interviews.

One applicant was placed the day of the job fair.

“I took all the applications to a couple new customers,” said BarryStaff’s Pam Bartee. “I also have after-work functions that I’m hoping will benefit.”

One man, who said he saw advertisements for the job fair in the newspaper and on TV, said people are willing to do anything to work.

“There are a lot of good workers who aren’t working,” said Carl Quesinberry. “Springfield needs something to get going.”

BarryStaff is currently in the middle of planning another job fair, this time at the company’s headquarters in Dayton. Details will be released as plans are finalized.

Check out this short video of the Springfield job fair.

 

BARRYSTAFF Celebrates One Year in New Facility

ribbon cuttingCall it a milestone in BarryStaff’s commitment to the downtown Dayton area.

The company’s brand new 13,000-square-foot facility opened June 1, 2015 on Webster Street. One year later, BarryStaff continues to work with local companies to supply industrial, clerical and permanent job placements.

BarryStaff is also the only business in Dayton licensed to screen travelers for the TSA Pre-Check program.

“Our new facility has allowed us the space to better serve our applicants and expand our services to our clients,” said President Doug Barry.

The Pam and Warren Barry Community Room also opened in 2015. To date, more than 50 businesses and organizations have requested to utilize the room for off-site meetings. With enough space for 80 people, white boards and an exquisite view of downtown Dayton, BarryStaff is proud to serve business professionals on its home turf.

The company has operated from three other downtown locations since 1982.

Check out this short video of BarryStaff employees at work.

 

Employee Spotlight: Kaytee Ryan of Active Electric

employeeLast year Kaytee Ryan moved from Denver to Dayton. She needed a job, but application after application went unnoticed for some reason.

Her online pursuit led her to BarryStaff, and the staffing agency became one of her first stops once she got to Dayton.

“I got a good vibe from everyone,” she recalled.

Ryan now works as an administrative assistant with Active Electric in Moraine. She was full-time after 90 days and she’s been with the company over a year.

“I’m definitely staying here,” she said. “This will be my second home for a while.”

At a time when so many job seekers struggle to stand out above hordes of other applicants, Ryan said she felt relieved when BarryStaff offered to send a video resume to clients. Videos are kept short – 60 seconds.

“I think it sped up the hiring process,” Ryan said. “Everything seemed seamless.”

Check out this short video that shows how a video resume is made.

 

Client Spotlight: Steve Jones of ASPM

clientWaynesville native Steve Jones has been with ASPM for 18 years. He now serves as the plant manager in Vandalia.

Roughly 100 BarryStaff employees work under him. What’s more, a BarryStaff recruiter has remained on site for a handful of years. The goal is to ensure immediate communication with one of the company’s longtime partners.

What makes BarryStaff different, according to Jones, is the longevity of BarryStaff employees.

And longevity is important to Jones. Eighty percent of upper-level employees at ASPM held entry-level positions at one time.

That means current employees should take note.

“We want them to understand the opportunities at ASPM,” he said. “It’s easy to get wrapped up in leaving for a quarter raise. But if they stay, they’ll find themselves promoted to different positions.

“Stay with us and we’ll give you a career,” he said.

Check out this short video of life inside ASPM.

 

Acknowledgements

comm room

 

june clients

Random Business Fact: Wal-Mart averages a profit of $1.8 million every hour.

BarryStaff Inc. Selected as Google’s Featured Business

Featured Business
BARRYSTAFF

Dayton, Ohio
“Our Internet presence was absolutely crucial for us, coming out of the recession”

Doug Barry, Owner
25% annual growth since 2009

Founded as a family-owned staffing franchise in 1980, BARRYSTAFF became an independent company with a new name in 2000. Today they specialize in industrial, clerical and permanent placements. “Most of the staffing we do is in manufacturing,” says Doug Barry, owner of the Dayton-based company founded by his parents. As one of the few local staffing companies left in the area following the recent recession, “we picked up a lot of the work from our competitors who went out of business,” he notes. Doug credits their current growth in large part to the Internet and digital tools from Google.

Doug rebranded BARRYSTAFF in 2010. “We have had to change our total strategy on how we go out and sell, based on social media and the Internet—which has been good,” he explains. Google is part of that strategy. The company uses Google Maps for “getting people from point A to point B, not only to our office but also from their house to the job site.” Employees use Gmail and Google Calendar to keep up-to-date, and Google Search to stay current with both clients and prospects. The staff is also mobile, equipped with smartphones and tablets for complete access to all of their digital tools from anywhere. The company plans to create training videos on YouTube, and to use social media to attract new workers as well as new clients.

Manufacturing is on the rebound in Ohio, Doug says. With fewer local staffing resources available, “companies were looking around for someone who could pick up the slack. We had an Internet presence, and that is where a lot of them found us. It was absolutely crucial for us coming out of the recession, and it has helped us with our growth going forward.” BARRYSTAFF now has four locations—another good economic sign for the Buckeye State.

Check out the story on Google

 

Function of an Employment Agency

Function of an Employment Agency

For employers, an employment agency can take the grunt work out of human resources. Filling an open position takes time and money. The American Staffing Association estimates that hiring a worker can cost 7 to 20 percent of that position’s salary and take 30 to 45 days to fill [source: American Staffing Association]. That can be pretty taxing to some companies, so it’s worth their while to farm out the hiring process to a recruiter at an employment agency.

When a business needs a specific person for a job, it’ll contract with a personnel placement services firm, also called a recruiter. The recruiter handles the search process and matches up an employee with the job in question, lining up potential candidates who interview with the company.

For senior-level management positions, a company may choose to hire an executive search firm, also known as a headhunter. An executive search firm works under a retainer agreement from the hiring company and uses a set code of standards to identify and place workers in these highly visible positions.

When a company just needs a vacation fill-in or someone to work for a few months, it uses a staffing agency. Staffing agencies provide skilled employees to work on a temporary or contract basis. Some employers also use staffing agencies as recruiters in positions known as “temp to perm,” meaning the position is temporary, but it could lead to a permanent position if the worker and company are a good fit.

For job seekers, an employment agency can be the ticket to getting that full-time job. The public employment service is free and offers a lot of tools. Recruiters can open doors to positions that may not be easy to find on your own. Staffing companies allow you to try out different companies and industries, and they’re also great for those looking for short-term or part-time work.

Another bonus of using an employment agency is access to training. Many employment agencies offer free training in a variety of skill-building tools, such as software programs and computer skills. Those who take advantage of these skills can build up their resumes, making them more marketable for the employment agency.

What College Grads Don’t Know About the Working World

Getting that first job can be an eye-opening experience for a new college grad. One person willing to give new grads some advice is blogger Laura Pierson. Pierson is a former English teacher who now works in the Human Resources Recruiting department of a large Fortune 500 company. She is passionate about recruiting, employee benefits, and employee relations. In her spare time, Laura is a freelance writer and blogger for FreeResumeBuilder. Here’s what she has to say.

What College Grads Don’t Know About the Working World.

Many recent college grads leave the halls of their classrooms with a fresh, eager zest for the working world. Many send resumes to multiple job openings, attend job fairs in their spiffy new suits, and go to interviews expecting both the best and the worst. What recent grads don’t know is that the working world is way different than college. It’s also way different than it was ten years ago.

Current employers could care less about your college courses, unless if you studied something very specific such as Engineering or Computer Science. You can’t learn how to run a business from a book, that’s why most employers will hardly look at your resume if you don’t have work experience.

So instead of approaching the business world with what you consider to be “business expertise,” approach your employers and coworkers with a desire to learn. Even if you know you’re a Microsoft Excel whiz and you can run circles around everyone in your office, Pretend that they know so much more than you. Win people over by – here’s the kicker – acting “stupid.” Admit to your lack of experience. Trust me, this will win your co-workers over as they will be very eager to “teach” you the things they have learned.

Remember, people are not always going to want to “be your friend.” You will have friendly coworkers. But other coworkers will go out of their way to avoid you, bad-mouth you, or even try to make you look bad. Your first few weeks in an entry level position may feel a lot like a Fraternity or Sorority hazing period. No one is going to congratulate you for a “job well done” every time you do something right. So, keep your head down, be polite, and do your work. Over time, this will pass and you’ll be able to pick your allies.

Ten years ago competition for jobs was less intense. Recent grads received at least $5,000-$10,000 more per year than they are offered today. For example, an Entry Level Business Analyst was offered about $50,000 per year in 2004, whereas today he or she might be offered $40,000. Ten years ago, internships were easy to come by, and many employers ran to college campuses to fight over the best candidates.

Probably the most important thing every new grad should know is that food wins every game of office politics. Are you looking for a promotion? Are you looking for higher pay? Maybe you want more of your coworkers to like you. Bring in cake! Bring in cookies! Have your Grandma Sophie make a delicious casserole or pot pie. People in the working world are naturally comfortable in their office chairs. They love comfort food, especially free comfort food.

And lastly, young college grads should remember that a job is just a job. Leave your work at work. After my fourth month of working full time, my director, who has been working in Human Resources in over 20 years, came up to me and said, “Don’t take this job too seriously, dear. Remember, family is most important.” Her words still ring true to me today. If you start working in your early 20s, you want to be able to live up those precious years before 30. Remember to make time for friends, family, hobbies, and personal goals.

GRAMMAR LESSONS ALL JOB SEEKERS SHOULD KNOW

When applying for a job, there are few faster ways to get your résumé and cover letter thrown out of contention than by making a glaring grammatical error.

These days, human resources departments and hiring managers are flooded with résumés. They have to be narrowed down somehow, and grammatical errors are an easy way to eliminate applicants.

“In an era of spell check, easily edited documents and instantly shared ‘can you give this a look’ emails, typos and grammatical errors on résumés and/or cover letters are pretty much unforgivable,” says Sean Smith, president of Third Street, an Indianapolis-based marketing company. “The message sent by typing ‘too’ when it should be ‘to’ can literally be the difference between getting the nod or getting a no.”

Here is a proofreading checklist for your résumé and cover letter.

1. Know your homophones
Homophones are words that sound the same but have different meanings, like too, to and two. Using the correct version on your résumé is crucial.

“The misuse of your/you’re, there/their/they’re, and to/too/two occurs more times than I care to dwell on,” says Marisa Brayman, a Web developer and blogger for Stadri Emblems, a company that designs embroidered patches. “If someone uses one of these incorrectly on a cover letter, he can say goodbye to his chances of ever landing a decent job. If this is due to a simple typo, that is one thing; however, in my humble opinion, if the individual doesn’t know the difference between these basic words and has never bothered to take an hour out of his or her life to learn it, he or she is not deserving of landing a decent job.”

A quick refresher:

Their, they’re, there

Their: The possessive form of “they.” (“Applicants submitted their error-free cover letters.”)

They’re: The contraction of “they are.” (“I think they’re getting the hang of this grammar thing.”)

There: A location. (“The pile of cover letters is over there.”)

Two, too, to

Two: A number. (“There are two applicants in the lobby.”)

Too: Also. (“I’d like to be interviewed for the job, too.”)

To: A preposition or infinitive. (“I’m going to apply.”)

Your, you’re

Your: The possessive form of “you.” (“Don’t forget to proofread your résumé.)

You’re: The contraction of “you are.” (“I have a feeling you’re going to get this job.”)

It’s, its

The best-selling grammar bible, “Eats, Shoots, and Leaves” by Lynne Truss, best describes the difference between these two words:

“To those who care about punctuation, a sentence such as ‘Thank God its Friday’ (without the apostrophe) rouses feelings not only of despair but of violence. The confusion of the possessive ‘its’ (no apostrophe) with the contractive ‘it’s’ (with apostrophe) is an unequivocal sign of illiteracy and sets off a simple Pavlovian ‘kill’ response in the average stickler. The rule is: the word ‘it’s’ (with apostrophe) stands for ‘it is’ or ‘it has.’ If the word does not stand for ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ then what you require is ‘its.’ This is extremely easy to grasp.”

Some other common homophones you should know:

Whose and who’s

Every day and everyday

2. Use apostrophes properly

Apostrophes are used for a few reasons:

•They indicate the possessive: “In my last job, I managed the CEO’s calendar.”

•They indicate the omission of letters in words (i.e., in contractions).

•They indicate the exclusion of numbers in dates: “I graduated college in ’05.”

•They indicate time or quantity: “I must give my current employers two weeks’ notice.”

Be sure to check your résumé for proper use of apostrophes, as well as for any erroneous punctuation. Apostrophes do not, for example, indicate the plural form of a singular noun. It is incorrect to say “I developed orientation programs to help new employee’s get acclimated to the company.”

3. Keep tenses consistent
“Building lists correctly is important,” says Christina Zila, director of communications at Textbroker.com, a Las Vegas-based content-creation firm. “Use consistent verb tenses: If you start your job duties with ‘managing multiple employees,’ don’t have your next point as ‘prepared annual reports’ but ‘preparing annual reports.'”

Similarly, as a general rule, all activities or accomplishments that you completed in the past should be in the past tense. Activities that you perform now should be in the present tense. This should be kept consistent throughout your résumé.

4. Proofread and then proofread again
The bottom line is that proofreading your application materials before submitting them is a must.

“There are enough people with bad grammar pet peeves that there is virtually no position out there where grammar doesn’t matter,” says Debra Yergen, author of the “Creating Job Security Resource Guide.” “Since a basic search-engine inquiry for ‘grammar pet peeves’ nets more than 400,000 returns, it’s safe to say that hiring managers are paying close attention to grammar and other résumé and cover-letter errors. Read and reread everything you write for a job application, and if you doubt yourself even slightly, run your submission past someone you trust.”

Manufacturing Activity Increases

The Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing index rose from 56.6 in November to 57 in December. Index readings of more than 50 generally indicate expansion, according to the Institute, “We saw significant recovery for much of the U.S. manufacturing sector in 2010,” said Norbert Ore, chair of the Institute for Supply Management’s manufacturing business survey committee. “The recovery centered on strength in autos, metals, food, machinery, computers, and electronics, while those industries tied primarily to housing continue to struggle. Additionally, manufacturers that export have benefited from both global demand and the weaker dollar.”

Forbes.com – Jan. 11, 2011