Do you remember your first job? I was 16 years old when I joined the Royal Navy and I had no idea what it meant to work for a living. Not that you are given much choice in the forces, you will do the job, you will do it as efficiently as you can … or you catch a whole bunch of grief. Its actually not a bad way to learn about life.

For the new grad coming into the workforce today, they come from an environment where they maybe had to get out of bed before 9am some days, they might even have had the odd day with 6 hours worth of work involved! Now, this crazy new employer wants them at the office at 8:30, wants a FULL day of work and no goofing off before 5pm. What’s up with that?

Well … it is definitely a mind shift. Hopefully it doesn’t take a few jobs before you realise that first job wasn’t really all that bad. They had a decent attitude to fun, they had some nice perks that you hadn’t realised were unique, they were willing to teach you and let you grow.

My advice to the first timer in a new job!

1. Take it seriously … do everything as well as you can.

2. Don’t be sucked into the “negative” crowd. Be yourself, and make your own decisions about your level of commitment.

3. Its very easy to stand out … do good work, care about what you do, be cheerful, put in a little extra!

4. Remember that you are going to spend a lot of time on the job, for your whole working career. You can choose to do it with a glass half full attitude or not … either way you are going to be there!

5. Don’t assume anything … ask tons of questions, but use your brain! If you are anyway smart let it come through … without making silly mistakes.

6. Remember the office is not home and your coworkers are not your family … put on your professional face, don’t bring baggage to the office.

7. Don’t look for ways to do less, to get more time off or to work the system … its obvious!

8. Look for the positive in everything!

9. Treat people well … no matter who they are!

10. Smile and walk fast!

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Kevin Dee is CEO of Eagle (a Professional Staffing Company)

Have you tried Eagle’s (very cost effective) VirtualRecruiter service?

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As a “middleman” the Staffing Industry was written off, because the internet was going to replace us … well the staffing industry is alive and well. I have also heard the comment from clients … “you have made your money now so you should drop your margin!” I have heard the same from contractors. I hear from some people that agencies bring “no value”. All interesting perspectives so I thought I’d address the value proposition that an IT (since that is my specialty) staffing agency brings.

1. IT staffing agencies offer clients a “just in time” staffing solution, with direct access to more qualified IT people than any large employer!
2. The agencies can offer these resources at very aggressive prices.
3. The agencies find these resources when you need them!
4. When clients use an agency to bring in contract resources there are many benefits that come with that solution:
Flexibility, to scale up and down and supplement employees to meet demand;
Resources that generally hit the ground running;
Resources that are ONLY there while there is work to be done;
Resources that demand NO HR time … no issue management, no training, no career management, no benefits package;
Resources that are ONLY paid while working … no vacation pay, no maternity leave pay, no sick pay;
Resources that can be let go without fuss … no severance, no legal issues etc.
5. The agencies bring their clients protection from the very real risks associated with employer/employee relationships;
6. The agencies typically bear the brunt of collection issues. We pay the contractors quickly and deal with the vagaries of invoicing large clients that have increasingly longer payment terms.
7. Agencies provide contractual protection from Intellectual Property (IP) issues, non-competes, non-solicitations etc.

The way the industry works is that the client pays a “bill rate” that includes an amount for the contractor (“pay rate”) and an amount for the agency. Agencies express their component as either margin (a percentage of the “bill rate”) or markup (a percentage of the “pay rate”).

So, why can’t an agency just drop its margin after a certain amount of time? There are a few reasons:

1. Agencies only get paid for the very small percentage of contractors that are actually on contract. Typically this will be less than 1% of their total database.
2. The cost of running an agency is not just about managing the current contractors that happen to be on contract. The agency incurs ongoing costs associated with maintaining that large database of screened professionals.
3. Every company needs to maintain at least a minimum level of profitability in order to remain in business. If you were to look at the EBITDA associated with the publicly traded staffing companies you would see they average in the 3 to 5% range. This is not a highly profitable industry.
4. Clients tend to look at the revenue line and assume there is lots of profit in there to cut. Typical agency margins can range from 15 to 25% of the bill rate to the client, the other 75 to 85% going directly to the contractor. Out of the remaining margin an agency needs to pay for all of its company costs … the largest being pay for the staff (management, sales, recruiters, proposal writers, admin, finance, technology, marketing etc.). In addition there is the cost of the infrastructure (offices, technology, communications, furniture etc.) Then there is the general operating costs (training, financing, insurance, legal, travel, entertainment, job boards, charities, sponsorships, memberships etc.) There are other costs that agencies incur through involvement with industry associations, through which we protect the industry and our clients from legislative issues and political issues. Agencies also incur costs through the many and sundry issues that arise in the day to day business of dealing with people.

The staffing industry provides a tremendous value to the economy,(a) by providing employment for many thousands of temporary and contract workers; and (b) by providing companies with on demand access to a huge pool of qualified resources.

That is a powerful Value Proposition! We earn our margins!

A couple of months ago I wrote about Eagle’s new Eagle Certified Professional Contractor Program that was established to celebrate the professionalism of the vast majority of contractors. I also wrote a recent blog about The Professional Contractor and what that means.

It would be great if there were no need to have these guidelines. In fact some of the best contractors we know are a little taken aback that we would ask them to sign up to a Code of Conduct. It’s only when we tell them how the poor behavior of “the few” is coloring the perception of our whole industry that the light comes on, and most are keen to let the world know of their professionalism.

It is interesting to see the antics that some “supposed professionals” get up to in order to justify their actions. We have had people go through the whole process, interviews and rate negotiations and happy to have the job … until they find out the person next to them earns a dollar more! What must our clients think when highly paid professionals, who have made contractual commitments start complaining about their pay just days into a contract! FACT: Anyone can always look around and find a reason why they should be paid a bit more! The time for rate discussions is up front, once its done get on with the job!

A hot job market such as Alberta right now really can bring out the worst in people. We have seen people with long term contractual commitments, who are key resources on the projects, holding their clients to ransom because they suddenly decide that if they move they can get more money. Yes … they can get more money, but they also get that reputation and our industry gets that reputation!

I am still pleased to be able to say it is a very small minority act in this manner and the vast majority of contractors do operate in an ethical manner. They are business people and act that way. To those few contractors who don’t, I say “Get out of the business! We don’t need you!”

My wife’s car has a GPS which really made life easy for my drive to Boston last week. It took me right to the hotel, in the middle of some torrential rain, and with no grief. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a GPS for life … a tool that would tell us how to get from point A to point B? Actually, sometimes it’s just hard to identify where point B is!

You DO need a roadmap in life!

Here are some tips:

1. If you don’t know where you are going, then you won’t know how to get there. This is true geographically and in life!
2. If you have trouble defining where that end point is, or what it looks like, then pick a point along the way! e.g. If you don’t know what your career will look like in 10 years, then decide where you would like to be in a year.
3. Aim big. If you shoot for the stars you might not get there, but you will go a long way towards them. If you aim for the roof, you might not even get there!
4. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time! So … plan your strategy for success in small bits, it will make it easier to achieve.
5. Review your plans regularly, make sure you are tracking to plan and adjust accordingly.
6. Get help! Find a mentor/mentors, people that will help you.
7. Treat your life seriously … you only get one shot! So, make sure you do what you want with it … and make sure you enjoy it!
8. Fact: Hard work and good planning will get you a LONG way! If you apply some smarts to that formula you will rock the world!
9. Its not all about you! Sometimes you get more by giving. You will need to figure this out for yourselves, but my advice is to “give” as much as you can.
10. Every day is the start of the rest of your life, if you are late starting on your journey that’s OK. Just start!

Wisdom from the corner office!

Many people, who are not in a senior management position, have a lot of trouble understanding this lifestyle. (My Mom for instance … has a lot of difficulty understanding how I can spend so many hours doing that work stuff). For others it’s hard to understand why can’t I slow down, work less hours, “goof off” a little. I am the boss after all! Other friends and family can’t understand how I can go through an entire day, day after day, and not find time to call them or even email them! This is not really that easy to explain.

It is 6pm and I am just writing this blog, which this morning I thought I would have written by mid afternoon. There are also a number of items on my “To Do” list that I thought would be done before now. How does this work?

I revisit my “To Do” list when I get in, in the morning. I try to do this before actually getting into email. The list grows to accommodate all of the significant and relatively significant items … not the small stuff. Some of the items are higher priority because they are client driven, generate business or are issues that can’t be ignored or put off. My calendar will also reflect meetings that are scheduled.

If I’m really disciplined I will set aside time in my calendar to complete certain tasks. I have to admit that I am not always that disciplined, and I am also prone to move those time slots if something “important” comes along.

I then “go at it”, interrupted by the odd emergency I try to get through the list.

So … here I am at 6:00pm-ish thinking, how did it get this late? Its 11pm in England, too late to call my Mom and I’m overdue! I still have a bunch of stuff on my To Do list. I think I’m relatively good at “time management” but clearly not good enough!

But guess what … I would not swap positions! I love it!

At various points in my misspent navy days I used to enjoy placing a small bet on the horses. My buddies and I would then retire to a local pub and watch the races while sipping some fine warm beer! I had an amazing capability that went something like this. If I bet on a horse, and limited funds meant that there were not many bets, it invariably lost! However, when the betting funds were totally depleted I could pick out winners like you wouldn’t believe!

So what does this have to do with decision making?

As a CEO I am called upon to make decisions all day every day! Many small, some not so small, but the worst thing I can typically do is to be “indecisive”. As the business books say it is better to make a decision, any decision, rather than no decision. Having said that, some decisions will always take longer than others … and decisions will change as more facts are discovered or situations change.

There are always the “armchair quarterbacks” or “bettors without money” who can make these decisions at the drop of a hat! They typically came to the right answer weeks before “the boss”.

If you are new to management this is something to be prepared for. If you have not yet made it to management, try to remember that the people making the decisions probably have a lot more data than you! If you are the one making the decisions then you have been there!

Kevin’s advice: Don’t talk up the bets you make with no money!

As the Canadian economy churns out employment figures, the likes of which we’ve not seen in 30 plus years as evidenced by the lowest unemployment rate since 1974, the same year ABBA was topping the charts with” Waterloo”(proving once again what’s old can be new again), employers are faced with a number of interesting questions to ask themselves for both the short- and medium-term. For instance, although there is clearly booming job growth far exceeding most economic forecasts, there are some potential clouds on the horizon in rising interest rates, a slowing manufacturing sector and perhaps most worrisome, a slow down in the US economy. How best do employers forecast staffing levels given the contradiction of what’s happening currently against what may be in store for the months ahead?

The technology job market continues to be even more of a challenge to predict. IT World Canada recently published a survey of over 3,000 Canadian IT professionals that indicated 53% of those currently employed are either actively or passively searching for their next job. Organisations across Canada concur and have indicated they too are concerned about losing key IT personnel as more opportunities are available, now with the accompanying upward pressure on wages. Factor this potential churn within IT shops with an already costly and longer time to hire and many companies are now looking more than ever to a variable workforce model using contractors to fill gaps while providing the flexibility needed, as a strategic solution to some of these challenges discussed.

Over the last month, Western Canada has seen a spike in IT hiring activity. A common explanation for this increased activity is that although last summer demonstrated little slowdown or rest in the IT sector, this year many IT managers and contractors are working towards project delivery schedules that have built-in significant downtime cycles, while teams take time off in July or August. In fact recently, there has been a clear pattern of contractors (at all levels) declining contract extensions or new projects, so that they can take 6-8-10 weeks off.

On the hiring side, there certainly is significantly more ‘application-side’ activity than ‘infrastructure-side’ activity, and there has been a strong demand for more technical resources (vs functional) in the last six weeks. This undoubtedly coincides with the very active demand for functional resources (i.e. Project Managers, Business Analysts, etc.) that was experienced in the West in February, March and April.

Another unrelenting trend is the desire for more organisations to hire ‘permanent’ resources instead of contractors. Many firms have even gone as far as actively luring contractors into accepting full-time positions with good success. This is somewhat surprising based on the market rates and labour market activity that currently exists in the West.

There has also been a surge in the demand for Technical Architects – data or enterprise, in Western Canada. The hiring of such resources will certainly lead to some very interesting projects for IT professionals in the months ahead, particularly in the mid-sized energy category.

In Central Canada, the quick approach of the vacation season has translated to a considerable slow down in the market. As is the case in the West, many contractors are also making the move to full-time employment in this region.

There is a clear indication that more projects are on the horizon as organisations tend to be hiring many high-level consultants such as Project Managers, Business Analysts and various types of Architects, which would imply the same foreshadowing that was recently experienced in Western Canada.

Current in-demand skills in Central Canada include: Technical Support Representatives and Systems Administrators with multi-platform experience.

In Ottawa, it now appears the long awaited Federal government IT procurement reform is on the near horizon with the first of three stages, the RFSO, to hit the streets in late June. As part of the overall government initiative termed “The Way Forward”, PWGSC together with an American-based outside consultancy unveiled their intentions to industry players in early June. It remains to be seen what effect this will have on many of the current and pending Standing Offers and Supply Arrangements.

Hot skills in Eastern Canada of late, include: Java/J2EE Programmers in both Ottawa, and Montreal; Testers, SAP technical and functional resources, as well as Oracle and .Net Consultants for Halifax.

Lastly, there has been a disturbing trend among IT consultants that continues to create issues in the marketplace. The primary issue is that contractors are neglecting to fulfill their contract obligations and commitments and are leaving their projects and clients early to engage in new opportunities and make a few extra dollars. This is bad news for the entire IT industry and has the potential to create significant implications for all IT consultants for years to come. This unethical practice can adversely taint many organisations and managers resulting in the decision to decrease the use of contractors as part of their resourcing model. As a leader in the staffing industry, Eagle has taken a proactive approach and introduced the Eagle Certified Professional Contractor Program which includes adherence to a “Code of Conduct” for Contractors to specifically address this issue. It has been very well received to date by both hiring organisations and IT professionals.

So Bill (never met the man and probably don’t really have the right to address the World’s richest man by his first name … but I am a little forward sometimes!) is going to step down from his day to day role at Microsoft!

What a ride that man has had!

As CEO and founder of a $100 million company I regularly look in the mirror and ask myself if I’m still the right guy to be running Eagle. (Note that I don’t ask anyone else!) As companies grow and evolve through the many stages of growth there are many different skills required. For Bill to have grown this company from the famous garage start-up to the monolith of today is certainly an incredible feat … no matter what you think of Microsoft (I will definitely not mention the blue screen of death!)

When we started, I was the Ottawa sales guy, President & CEO, Tech support guru, Marketing Guy, chief cook and bottle-washer. Today I am in a totally different place than when we were a start-up … not sure I would have the staying power of a Bill Gates, but hopefully I can last a little longer!

Good luck to Bill, what an amazing job you have done with Microsoft and thank you too for being one of the world’s biggest philanthropists.

My VP in Western Canada sent me that little saying last week! Its really a very interesting truth that is hard to find fault with, other than it is so obvious … or is it?

In my various roles I have occasion to talk to many business owners, CEOs, sales managers and people trying to be successful in their various businesses. One of the most common laments I hear is about how difficult it is to get salespeople out in front of clients! Hmmm if you are not talking to your clients then how are you getting business? Waiting for the phone to ring? Hoping someone will send you an order? Not necessarily the best way to success.

So … sometimes the most obvious of statements still doesn’t resonate!

A couple of messages to ALL sales people:

1. If you don’t get out in front of your clients, how are you going to get orders?
2. Worse, if you don’t get out in front of your clients, someone else will, and it might just be me!!

Go dig wells!

This week Eagle is having its first external ISO audit in the hope of achieving ISO certification. I thought people might be interested in our ISO journey, and experience to date.

When we started Eagle one of the things we considered was whether to go through the rigor of getting ourselves ISO certified. Certainly there were indications that clients would recognize such a commitment to quality, and might even begin to dictate it to suppliers. The big issue was that as a growing company, we really wanted to be able to continually improve our processes and not lock ourselves in to a set way of doing things, because of the ISO process. Back then the ISO certification did lock you in to a very rigid way of doing business … but that has all changed. Today the standard allows you the flexibility to continuously improve and yet forces a commitment to consistency and quality.

So, eighteen months ago we took the plunge and embarked on the journey to ISO certification. Why, you might ask? There were a few reasons but the primary one was that after 5 years as one of Canada’s 50 Best Managed Companies we felt it was time to “up the ante” on our commitment to quality. We also felt there would be marketing advantages to being certified and finally we felt that the process might help us to be better at what we do.

We signed on with the Business Development Bank of Canada to provide consulting services and help us prepare for ISO certification. Initially we were keen on an aggressive schedule and were thinking we could “get this done” in eight months, and on to the next thing. A funny thing happened along the way … this whole process had a very positive affect on our company! Suddenly the act of being certified wasn’t the most important part of this project, we were finding ways to improve our business because of the systems we were putting in place, very cool.

As we discovered projects that needed to be addressed, we slowed down our whole implementation schedule and really the journey of just “getting better at what we do” was the focus. Our BDC consultant was very patient with us and as a result we have now reached the time for our external audit … and actually I’m pretty relaxed about it all.

We have implemented systems that allow our people to truly provide important feedback to help us get better … that is illuminating when you realize that we really were not all that bad before! Remember we have been a 50 Best Managed Company for a lot of years and have even reached Platinum Status now! We have implemented customer surveys and solidified processes that we had previously thought worked … but now know they didn’t work as well as we thought! We have developed quality measures, a quality manual and quality processes. We have trained our staff about the importance of ISO to Eagle, and it has really become key to the way we do business.

I have to admit that a couple of years ago I was skeptical about such an investment of time and money on this initiative. Today I’m a believer. If we pass the audit I will be a happy man … if not, we’ll get there sooner or later, but we are already reaping the benefits of this commitment to quality! I guess I’m a convert!