As we look into the future, we look at the past. The use of a contract or contingent workforce was extremely light in the early 1980s and decades before that. Business and workforce needs were more predictable, you know...employment for life, along with low levels of automation and computerization requiring a physical workforce.
As business cycles became more varied along with increased use of computers and robotics, resource needs became more varied. In the late 1980s and particularly the 1990s a contingent workforce became more appealing. Reasons why contingent resources became popular, and remain so today, include supplementing current staff, acquiring expertise not available on staff, to get a fresh approach or different perspective on a problem, to acquire experience from different companies in your industry or cross industry experience, to do the repetitive/complex task that no one else wants to do, to off load work (outsourcing or managed services) which enable staff to concentrate on core competencies, vacation/expertise/cross trained backups, try before you buy contract to hire, and so on.
So with a look at the past and present, what does the future hold?
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Past articles from Remedi, Valuable Relationships in Tough Times and RDBMS Versus Real Relationships detail the candidate supply and demand pendulum that confronts EDI hiring managers and integration managers when staffing contract and full-time hire needs in varying economic conditions. These articles outline in each economic circumstance how hiring managers can best engage the sourcing pros of professional services firms to derive value in the search for resources.
We have received positive feedback from hiring managers on these articles, and somewhat surprisingly, from Integration candidates as well. The article Interviewing your Recruiter takes a reciprocal approach, providing guidance for integration professionals in terms of how to best select and engage with a recruiter. Hopefully hiring managers will find this view of the recruiting process valuable as well.
With a look at both sides of the integration talent equation let’s move on to the CareerBuilder 2015 job forecast. The first 1/3 of the year seems to be unfolding along the lines of this report at least from our observations.
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As EDI and EAI projects are in full swing for 2015, there are some easy-to-follow tips when selecting your next EDI consultant. In past blogs we've discussed problems that impede integration projects, ROI of B2B Integration projects, and factors that drive your integration projects. Now that you have those projects approved, how do you make the best use of everyone's time? Here are some easy tips when utilizing an EDI consultant to assist with your project.
We’ve all heard the phrase, “I’m going to do it!” Recently, I turned 50 and I’m now saying “When am I am going to do it”? The "it" can be different for each one of us. Well, this year I decided I was going to discuss taking a Hot-Air-Balloon ride with my husband to celebrate our 5th Wedding Anniversary. I’ve wanted to take a Hot-Air-Balloon ride for many years and I’ve talked about taking a Hot-Air-Balloon ride with my friends and family for many years. I even have Hot-Air-Ballooning pictures all over my office and I look at them every day. I shared the idea with my husband and he loved it. The difference this year is that my husband and I have been taking action on our goal. We’ve discussed it with a couple that have been friends with us for years and they are going to join us on our adventure this Spring! We have made some calls and started to research different companies that offer flights in our area and are now looking at dates that the four of us can put on our calendars. Look for pictures in my next blog!
If you’re like me, you too have many things you have been wanting to accomplish or experience, both in your business and in your personal life. So, what’s holding you back or delaying those things from happening on a more regular basis? Perhaps you’re bogged down with a laundry list of day to day things that seem to be more of a priority or you’re putting out fires within your EDI department and you can’t see the bottom of your desk. So, what happens is the bigger EDI goals get put aside for the more immediate and urgent tasks. We find ourselves not accomplishing those bigger goals and being disappointed.
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