Driven by positive same-store sales and an increasingly optimistic outlook among restaurant operators, the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Performance Index (RPI) rose to its highest level in five months.

The RPI, a monthly composite index that tracks the health of and outlook for the U.S. restaurant industry, stood at 100.6 in November, up 0.6 percent from October. In addition, November represented the second time in the last three months that the RPI stood above 100, which signifies expansion of key industry indicators.

“The November increase in the Restaurant Performance Index was fueled by broad-based gains in both the current situation and forward-looking indicators,” says Hudson Riehle, senior vice president of the Research and Knowledge Group for the Association.

“Restaurant operators reported their strongest net positive same-store sales results in more than four years, while customer traffic levels also grew in November. Among the forward-looking indicators, restaurant operators’ outlook for both sales growth and the overall economy rose to their highest levels in seven months.”

The RPI is constructed so that the health of the restaurant industry is measured in relation to a steady-state level of 100. Index values above 100 indicate that key industry indicators are in a period of expansion, and index values below 100 represent a period of contraction for key industry indicators.

The RPI consists of two components, the Current Situation Index and the Expectations Index.

The Current Situation Index, which measures current trends in four industry indicators (same-store sales, traffic, labor, and capital expenditures), stood at 100.2 in November, up 0.8 percent from October’s level of 99.5.

November marked the second time in the last three months that the Current Situation Index stood above 100, which signifies expansion in the current situation indicators.

Restaurant operators reported positive same-store sales for the sixth consecutive month in November. Fifty percent of restaurant operators reported a same-store sales gain between November 2010 and November 2011, while just 28 percent reported a same-store sales decline.

This marked the strongest net positive sales performance since August 2007, when 54 percent of operators reported a sales gain and 29 percent reported lower sales.

Restaurant operators also reported stronger customer traffic levels in November. Forty-one percent of restaurant operators reported higher customer traffic levels between November 2010 and November 2011, while 32 percent of operators reported a traffic decline. In October, 37percent of operators reported higher customer traffic, while 39 percent reported a traffic decline.

Capital spending activity among restaurant operators trended upward in recent months. Forty-six percent of operators said they made a capital expenditure for equipment, expansion, or remodeling during the last three months, the highest level in five months.

The Expectations Index, which measures restaurant operators’ six-month outlook for four industry indicators (same-store sales, employees, capital expenditures, and business conditions), stood at 100.9 in November, up 0.4 percent from October and the third consecutive monthly gain.

November also marked the third consecutive month the Expectations Index stood above 100, which represents a positive outlook among restaurant operators for business conditions in the months ahead.

Restaurant operators are more optimistic about sales growth in the months ahead. Forty-one percent of restaurant operators expect to have higher sales in six months (compared to the same period in the previous year), up from 35 percent who reported similarly last month.

In comparison, just 12 percent of restaurant operators expect their sales volume in six months to be lower than it was during the same period in the previous year, down from 15 percent last month.

Restaurant operators are also somewhat more bullish about the overall economy in the coming months. Twenty-seven percent of restaurant operators said they expect economic conditions to improve in six months, up slightly from 26 percent who reported similarly last month.

In comparison, 16 percent of operators said they expect economic conditions to worsen in the next six months, down from 22 percent who reported similarly last month.

Restaurant operators’ outlook for capital spending remains positive. Forty-seven percent of restaurant operators plan to make a capital expenditure for equipment, expansion, or remodeling in the next six months, essentially unchanged from the levels reported in the previous two months.

The RPI is based on the responses to the National Restaurant Association’s Restaurant Industry Tracking Survey, which is fielded monthly among restaurant operators nationwide on a variety of indicators including sales, traffic, labor, and capital expenditures. The full report is available online.

The RPI is released on the last business day of each month, and more detailed data and analysis can be found on Restaurant TrendMapper (www.restaurant.org/trendmapper), the Association’s subscription-based service that provides detailed analysis of restaurant industry trends.

Industry News | December 30, 2011

Jobless rate drops to 8.6 percent, hiring picks up

By Lucia Mutikani

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The unemployment rate fell to a 2-1/2 year low of 8.6 percent in November and companies stepped up hiring, further evidence the economic recovery was gaining momentum.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 120,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, in line with economists’ expectations for a gain of 122,000.

The relative strength of the report was also bolstered by revisions to the employment counts for September and October to show 72,000 more jobs created than previously reported.

While part of the decline in the unemployment rate from 9.0 percent in October was due to people leaving the labor force, the household survey from which the jobless rate is derived also showed solid gains in employment

The unemployment rate had been expected to hold at 9 percent. It last dropped by 0.4 percentage point in January.

“The really good news is that employment has grown for four months running — in large steps. There was a solid increase in private employment. Everything there looks steady, but clearly healthy and positive,” said Pierre Ellis, a senior economist at Decision Economics in New York.

However, retail accounted for more than a third all new private sector jobs in November.

U.S. stock index futures added gains after the report, while Treasury debt prices briefly extended losses and interest rate futures held steady. The dollar extended gains versus the yen.

The report is unlikely to take much pressure off President Barack Obama, whose economic stewardship will face the judgment of voters next November. The outlook for the U.S. economy is also being threatened by Europe’s deepening financial crisis.

The report could temper the appetite among some Federal Reserve officials to ease monetary policy further.

In forecasts released earlier this month, the Fed said the jobless rate would likely average 9 percent to 9.1 percent in the fourth quarter. It did not expect it to drop to an 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent range until late next year.

Data ranging from manufacturing to retail sales suggest the growth pace could top 3 percent in the fourth quarter, in contrast to China, where growth is cooling and the euro zone, which many economists believe is already in recession.

While the economy’s growth pace appears to have accelerated from the third quarter’s 2 percent annual rate, unemployment remains too high.

At the same time, U.S. fiscal policy is set to tighten in the new year, even if lawmakers extend a payroll tax cut.

Taken together, some analysts believe the headwinds facing the U.S. economy will lead the Fed to ease monetary policy further by buying more bonds.

“We still have a very long way to go. I would favor the Fed going for a third round of quantitative easing,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Analytics in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “It’s the only powerful tool left, even though it’s losing some of its bang.”

Analysts say the economy needs to create at least 125,000 jobs every month just to keep the unemployment rate steady.

But there are reasons to be cautiously optimistic.

While the government’s survey of employers has shown a still tepid pace of job growth, its separate poll of households that is used to calculate the unemployment rate has shown robust jobs gains for four straight month.

At the same time, a broad measure of unemployment that includes people who want to work but have given up looking for jobs and those working only part time for economic reasons dropped to a 2-1/2 year low of 15.6 percent in November from 16.2 percent in October.

PRIVATE SECTOR SHOULDERS BURDEN

All the increase in nonfarm payrolls in November again came from the private sector, where employment rose 140,000 after increasing 117,000 in October.

Government employment fell by 20,000. Public payrolls have dropped in 10 of the past 11 months as state and local governments have tightened their belts.

Outside of government, job gains were almost across the board, with retail surging 49,800.

Elsewhere, construction payrolls fell 12,000 after losing 15,000 jobs in October. Factory jobs edged up 2,000, with most of the gains coming from automakers.

Health care and social assistance hiring rose 18,700 after adding 30,300 job in October. Temporary hiring — seen as a harbinger for future hiring – increased 22,300 after adding 15,800 jobs last month.

The average work week was unchanged at 34.3 hours, with hourly earnings falling two cents.

A conversation with Zingerman’s Ari Weinzweig

By Mary Ellen Slayter on October 17, 2011

Ari Weinzweig co-founded Zingerman’s Delicatessen in 1982 with a $20,000 bank loan. Today, the company is an Ann Arbor institution, and Weinzweig has branched out into a number of other businesses. We approached him recently to learn more about his leadership philosophy and his approach to innovation.

Describe your leadership philosophy.

There are many elements to it, but above and beyond all else, it’s centered around Servant Leadership. It’s the philosophy we learned from reading the work of Robert Greenleaf. The approach is based on the belief that our responsibility as leaders, first and foremost, is to serve the organization, not the other way around. One key element of it here is that it means that we—the leaders—view the staff as our customers. We need to give them great service every day to the people who work in our organization. The service that the staff gives to our front line customers will never be better than the service we give to them.

When you’re looking to hire, how do you decide if someone is right for your team?

There’s a wealth of ways to explore an applicant’s potential in the organization. But the most important issue for us is really values alignment. Obviously people need to be able to do the specific work at hand—baking, making sandwiches, marketing, etc. But the most important thing is do they share our values? Are they eager to learn, to work collaboratively, to give amazing service to everyone they interact with, to bring positive energy to work every day, etc.?

What is the biggest challenge your business is facing this year?

I think they’re pretty much the same challenges as every other year really. To continue to improve in every area of our work—to make our food better, our service better, to improve the quality of our workplace, to continue to develop our financial health, to live our values effectively every day. It’s hard to do but that’s the work.

Describe your approach to innovation.

I don’t think we have one actually. It’s interesting because we have highly developed approaches in writing and woven into our training work for almost everything else—we have “recipes” for giving great service, handling complaints, doing visioning, setting up training, tasting food, order accuracy, great finance, etc. Because the way we work—our food, our approach to organizational life, etc—is so different than the way others work, over the last few years we’ve had a fair few requests through ZingTrain (our training and consulting business) for me to present on our approach to innovation.

At first I was a bit stumped, feeling badly because we didn’t have a formal system for innovation. But after reflecting on the subject for a bit, I realized that innovation for us is just what we do. It’s so much part of everyone’s work here every day that we don’t need any formal “program” or policy on innovation and improvement is implicit in every “recipe” we have, in every process, and in everyone’s day to day activity. Everyone here is learning to lead, to run a sustainable business, to improve the quality of what we do.

For us, I think innovation is basically like showing up for work—you just get here and, in essence, it’s just part of what you do all day, just like smiling and greeting customers, checking quality, going the extra mile for coworkers, etc. In fact, I almost can’t imagine working without it. My belief is that most people are innovative and creative. I just think that they’re put into organizational settings in which they’re trained to turn their creativity off and do what they’re told to do. It’s a big loss for the country.

Outside of your own industry, whose work do you admire most?

I’ve already mentioned Robert Greenleaf. Peter Drucker and Edgar Schein also wrote some extremely helpful and insightful books about leadership. Brenda Ueland’s book on writing from 1938—“If You Want to Write”—was hugely inspiring. I’m also learning a lot from a number of the 19th and early 20th century anarchists. Emma Goldman had some pretty powerful things to say. Honestly I admire pretty much everyone who goes into whatever they do—parenting, business, sports, bussing tables, shining shoes, music, art—trying to do great things every day, and do it in a way that’s caring, kind and contributing positively to those around them.

If a recent college grad came to you and said he wanted to start his own business, what advice would you give him?

Without question I’d tell him—or her—to start by writing a vision of greatness. Visioning is a huge piece of what we do here at Zingerman’s. The vision is a picture of what success will look when you get to where you’re going at a particular point in the future. It’s got a good bit of detail—it’s a rich picture of what that future looks like, with plenty of detail about how big your business is, what you’re known for, what the people who work in it think about their jobs, how the community views you. It’s hugely helpful to do a personal piece as well—getting clear about how you feel about your work, what sort of work you do, how much money you make, how much you work, etc. is really valuable to know before you start.

There are no “right” or “wrong” visions—but if you’re not clear on where you’re going it’s pretty unlikely that you’re going to get to where you want be. A vision is not the same as a strategic plan. We do those too. But the vision is where you’re going; the strategic plan is how you’re going to get there.

By RACHEL EMMA SILVERMAN

Companies are moving beyond the suggestion box.

In an effort to cut costs and create new products and services, firms are seeking ideas from their own employees on everything from money-saving strategies to product design. To encourage participation, some are holding contests, voting and setting up “ideas kiosks.”

It’s often the employees—rather than outside consultants—who know a company’s products and processes best. According to management experts, many of the most innovative companies tend to solicit ideas from staff throughout the organization, not just the executive ranks.

But it’s often hard for rank and file workers to be heard: Research has found that the average U.S. employee’s ideas, big or small, are implemented only once every six years, says Alan G. Robinson, a professor at the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

Now though, more companies are realizing the value of their workers’ input. Spurring the process are so-called innovation-management programs such as BrainBank Inc., InnoCentive Inc. and Spigit Inc., which help companies set up online idea-submissions systems in which employees can enter, comment and vote on ideas.

Accounting and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers launched an idea-management website called iPlace two years ago as a way to gather employee ideas that could help cut costs, improve customer service and increase revenues, says Mitra Best, the firm’s U.S. innovation leader.

Employees post ideas, sometimes in response to company-wide “ideas challenges,” and vote and comment on their colleagues’ submissions. The firm promises that a team of senior managers will review an idea within 30 days of its submission and notify the employee of its status.

About 60% of the firm’s 32,000 U.S. employees have either submitted, commented or voted on ideas, says Ms. Best. Of the more than 3,300 new ideas submitted—which range from mobile apps for expense reports to changing printer defaults to print double-sided—140 have been implemented.

Ms. Best says the firm doesn’t directly measure cost-savings from the ideas program, but that some suggestions, such as one that changed the way the firm collects employee expense receipts, have saved “hundreds of thousands” of dollars.

IdeasAmerica, an association for “suggestion administrators,” who manage suggestion submissions, surveyed 31 of its 125 members last year. The study found that submitted ideas saved respondents more than $110 million dollars in time, materials, labor or energy, an average of $1,256 per suggestion.

At Bruce Power LP, a nuclear energy company in Ontario, Canada, employees can submit ideas through 10 special-purpose kiosks throughout the plant dedicated to collecting employee ideas.

They look like ATMs, says Chief Executive Duncan Hawthorne. The company implemented the kiosks several years ago so that the plant’s workers, many of whom aren’t deskbound, could have an accessible way to submit proposals.

Employees vote on submissions. “It’s like the American Idol of ideas,” says Mr. Hawthorne.

Ideas submitted have ranged widely from improving efficiency by increasing stocks of tools to creating a dedicated facility for forklift maintenance.

Some 11,000 ideas have been submitted in three years among the firm’s roughly 7,500 employees and contractors, generating “millions” of dollars in cost-savings, says Mr. Hawthorne.

Some companies pay financial rewards for ideas (typically as a percentage of cost savings, which can be tough to measure) but Dr. Robinson says that isn’t usually an effective tactic for drawing submissions on a continuing basis. What drives most people to submit ideas is a real desire to make their work easier and cut through hassles, rather than monetary rewards, he says.

At Troyer Foods Inc., a Goshen, Ind., wholesale food distributor with about 280 employees, workers who submit ideas to an online system launched last spring receive points they can redeem for merchandise and other perks, such as designated parking spaces.

Becky Ball-Miller, Troyer’s CEO, says the company wants submitting ideas to be so ingrained that it becomes “part of the job expectation and part of the performance review.”

Ideas that have been implemented include adding another refrigerator to the break room and designating a section of the parking lot as “cars only” so large pickup trucks don’t block spaces; there have also been cost-saving suggestions encouraging the company to reexamine some pricey vendor contracts.

Great ideas can also come from unexpected places. When insurer Allstate Corp. held an online idea challenge to design a mobile app for its insurance products, one winning idea came from one of the firm’s Buffalo-based trial attorneys.

“I can guarantee you his boss didn’t ask him, ‘got any mobile ideas?’ ” says Matt Manzella, Allstate’s director of technology innovation.

The Best Job Interview Questions You Should Ask

Gecko Hospitality President to Lead NAPS Board
Recruitment Industry Leader Promises to Focus on Cutting Edge Education

Downers Grove, IL – Gecko Hospitality President, Robert Krzak, has been appointed Chairman of the Board for the National Association of Personnel Services (NAPS). “It’s a real honor for me to be appointed to this organization, because it represents the foundation of education for the staffing and recruiting industry,” says Robert.

NAPS represents personnel services professionals in the legislative arena, guides the profession on ethics and assists with industry self-regulation. “NAPS also has the mission of increasing awareness of the value of personnel services, educating the industry on best practices and creating high professional standards, so there’s synergy with Gecko’s approach to the industry,” he adds.

The largest restaurant recruiter in the US and a major player in the hotel recruitment sector, Gecko Hospitality has been a member of NAPS for more than seven years. The company is widely recognized for innovation and leadership in the hospitality industry, thanks to its unique approach to hospitality recruitment:

“To us, the hospitality industry is not just a business; we have a real passion for it,” comments Robert, adding: “That’s evident in the way we operate. We partner with industry leading restaurants, hotels, resorts, clubs and casinos to provide them with the management staff they can’t get on their own. We handpick the best and most qualified candidates with the highest integrity because our clients expect no less.”

One of the best ways for personnel services and recruitment professionals to serve their industries is to keep their skills up to date. That’s why the role of NAPS in providing targeted continuing professional education and certification of its members is so crucial, comments Robert. As the new chair of NAPS, he’s committed to fostering this part of the organization’s mission: “Under my leadership, NAPS will continue to provide cutting edge educational materials and share the latest technological resources for our members to better enhance their success.”

About Gecko Hospitality
Based in Downers Grove, Illinois, Gecko Hospitality is the largest hospitality recruiter in the US. The firm partners with top restaurants, hotels and casinos to help them identify the best salaried management personnel for their properties. Gecko has 37 regional offices and a team of more than 80 hospitality recruiters covering all 50 states and Canada. For more information, please visit www.geckohospitality.com

Job Interviews Lead With 2 Big Questions

CORNER OFFICE: ANDY LANSING By ADAM BRYANT Published: August 27, 2011 The New York Times

This interview with Andy Lansing, president and chief executive of Levy Restaurants, was conducted and condensed by Adam Bryant.

Q. You rose to the C.E.O. position from the legal side. How did that come about?

A. I started, just because it was my nature, poking my nose into other areas. I would say to people, why do we do it that way in purchasing, or why do we do it that way in human resources? And Larry Levy, our founder, would say to me, “Just go fix it if you want. Go work with it.” So I found myself collaborating with other people who didn’t report to me.

Q. How did you do that without people getting their backs up?

A. Part of it is the nature of our company, which is sort of this entrepreneurial family where people really didn’t live in silos. Even though there’s a head of human resources and a head of purchasing, there’s more of a sense of openness. We all did everything, we all worked hard, and I would approach people in a nonthreatening way.

I sort of did my best Columbo act, where I’d come in and say, “I don’t know, I don’t quite get it.” Maybe things made perfect sense to everyone else, but not growing up in the business gave me an advantage because I could say, “I don’t understand; will you explain it to me?”

I also learned early on about a trait of good leaders, which is that I may have the idea, but I’m going to make you think that you came up with the idea and give you credit for it at the end of the day. So it’s sort of getting people to do things without letting them know what hit them, and giving them credit for it.

Q. And how did you learn to do that?

A. I don’t know. What I can tell you is that early on I wasn’t crazy about the concept of telling people what to do and being a boss. The power of being a boss is an awesome responsibility, and I feared it a bit when I first became a boss.

I figured out that I didn’t want people to fear me and do things because of who I was. People have personal power or they have positional power. Positional power means I have power over you because I’m your boss — “I’m very important, I’m the C.E.O.” You should fear me because of who I am. And then there’s personal power, which is what’s inside of you. I always say there are people in our company who are dishwashers who have more personal power than someone who’s a manager because they have that quality.

So what I figured out early on is that being a manager doesn’t equal being a leader. You can have the title of manager and that’ll give you the right to walk around and spin keys on your finger or talk in a walkie-talkie or look and act important, but that’s not what gives you power.

What I figured out is that what gives you power is how you treat people and how you lead. I remember when the first secretary I had at a law firm would introduce me to someone and say, “I want you to meet my boss.” To this day it makes my skin crawl. I’d say, “I’m not her boss; we work together.”

Q. Can you elaborate on the quality you’re describing?

A. Leaders are the people you want with you when all hell is breaking loose. They have the knowledge about how to treat people with respect and dignity and how to just be a natural leader. There are those great debates — are leaders born or are they made? — and I think there are people who are just born with that natural ability that makes people want to follow them. I think some people are born with something that makes people gravitate towards them and want to work with them. I’m not saying it can’t be honed, but I don’t think you can teach someone that. I think it’s in their DNA.

Q. Let’s shift to hiring. How do you do it? What do you look for?

A. I have a pretty nontraditional approach to hiring. I hire for two traits — I hire for nice and I hire for passion.

If you sit down with me, no matter how senior you are in the company or the position you’re applying for, my first question to you is going to be, are you nice? And the reactions are priceless. There’s usually a long pause, like they’re waiting for me to smile or they’re waiting for Ashton Kutcher to come out and say, “You’re being punked.” Because who asks that question? And then I say, “No, seriously, are you nice?”

Q. What do people say?

A. It’s a question that you don’t prepare for and you’re not used to answering. And quite honestly, who is ever going to say no — nobody is. So I let them talk for a little bit about it as they try to figure out why I am asking that question. Then I stop them and I say, let me tell you why I’m asking that. The reason is that the most important thing to being successful at this company is to be nice. And if you’re not nice, this is the wrong company for you. It doesn’t mean that there is something wrong with you, it just means that our cultures don’t align, and there are great places out there for you, but this is the wrong one.

Because if you get in this company and you’re not nice, I’m going to get you. It may be a day, it may be a week, it may be a year, but you will not have success at this company long term if you’re not nice.

Then I say, I know you’re not going to tell me that you’re not nice and you probably are very nice. But when you’re reflecting on the interview afterwards and whether you want to pursue this after our conversation, if you think that this nice thing is kind of “that’s not me and why do they care about that, they should only care about if I can do the job,” then pull yourself out of it. No harm, no foul.  They won’t say it, but I’ve had more than one person not come back or not pursue the job.

Q. Where did you get the idea to do that?

A. It was probably from Larry Levy, talking about the importance of being nice, and it kind of just evolved as a company philosophy that we only hire nice people. It’s probably the first line in every one of our training manuals — we only hire nice people. And I realized a bit selfishly, too, that I only want to work with nice people. I don’t want to work with jerks. Life’s too short. I also knew intuitively that if you have a company of nice people in a service business, in a hospitality business, that’s going to be a good thing.

Q. And the passion question?

A. Then I say, “What are you passionate about in your life? What does passion mean to you?” And I’m looking not necessarily for the magic answer, but I love it when I hear that someone has fire in the belly. And then I say, you have got to be passionate about this company and the job if you come to work here. If you’re not, you’re going to be standing there, people are going to be driving by at 90 miles an hour and you’re going to say, “Whoa, what’s going on?” So again, ask yourself whether this is just a job to you; if it’s just a job, it’s the wrong place. If it’s just a step onto another career, it’s probably the wrong place.  And then we talk about how the two biggest predictors of success in our company are those two traits.

If you give me someone who’s nice and who’s passionate, I can teach them everything else. I don’t care what school you went to, I don’t care where you worked before. If you give me someone with those two traits, they will nine out of 10 times be a great success in the company.

Q. What else is unusual about your culture?

A. I’m not a fireside-chat kind of guy, doing company updates that are very formal. So we have a really fun thing called “On the Road With Andy,” where I’ll take my flipcam with me whenever I go to one of our locations and we’ll do a video, either about a great employee we want to highlight or about an incredible food item they’re doing at a particular location that I want the rest of the company to see. It’s real tongue in cheek and fun and we post those for the whole company to see.

We just did a really neat feature where the whole company participated in a contest. We called it March Madness. Everyone’s always saying, “Andy, we want you to come to our location, we have something to show you.” So all 100 locations submitted a one-minute video of why I should come to their location, what they want to show us. And the whole company used brackets, like March Madness, with two videos that they were voting on online. One location got some pro athletes to say, “Come on Andy, you’ve got to come here and see this.” Some had mascots doing things. To me it’s about those kinds of fun, human things that help set the culture.

Q. Can you elaborate on what you said about not being a fireside-chat kind of guy?

A. I don’t like the idea of being a corporate C.E.O. with formal messages. I don’t like the town hall where you have to line up with a microphone. It’s not who I am. So the more we make it casual and the more we use humor, the better. You don’t have to be a comedian, but humor to me is the world’s best tonic. I always say that the shortest distance between two people is humor. I didn’t make that up, people have said that before, but it’s totally true. We work our tails off in the hospitality business, but if you can do it and laugh and have a good time doing it, it’s really special.

How many of us have heard these famous last words at the end of a not-so-successful date? They remind me of Charlie Sheen’s character on Two And A Half Men. “I’ll Call You” was Charlie’s escape hatch which allowed him to quickly part company with his lady friends without a big confrontation. It was never genuine. Rather flip and dismissive. Which is why Job Seekers recoil when they hear the same words from a Professional Recruiter: “I’ll Call You.”

I understand the temptation to lump Recruiters in with the Charlie Sheens’ of the world. After all, today’s society has been conditioned to understand “I’ll Call You” to be the ultimate blow off. However, I can assure you, and the rest of today’s Job Seekers, that when we Recruiters say “I’ll Call You” we actually mean it! It may not be the next day or next week. But if your work history is strong, and your skill set relevant to our niche, we will eventually call you.

Most Agency Recruiters, like me, are driven by our clients’ immediate needs…critical positions which need to be filled ASAP by candidates who meet a very specific set of criteria. This explains why a highly-qualified Accountant will hear “I’ll Call You” when the Recruiter is working on filling Sales positions. Or why an accomplished Engineer will hear “I’ll Call You” when the Recruiter is handling several Chef openings. Or why the recent college grad will hear “I’ll Call You” when the Recruiter is seeking out CEO candidates. It doesn’t mean the Accountant’s or Engineer’s or College Graduate’s resumes were awful and that they “never find a job in this town again.” It simply boils down to timing.

I’ll admit we Recruiters see thousands of resumes a month. Even if we say “I’ll call you,” how do you, the Job Seeker, know that we won’t forget you three months from now? I’ve been asked by Job Seekers before:”Can I call you every week to stay in touch?” It’s a nice idea, really. But if I honored this request by the several hundred prospective candidates I’ve been in contact just in the last month, then you will legitimately be able to compare me to Charlie… *after* he lost his mind!
If you, the Job Seeker, wish to stay on a Recruiter’s radar for future opportunities, then you will benefit the most by supplying the following:

• an updated copy of your resume
• accurate salary history
• reasonable salary expectations
• markets for relocation
• list of tangible, measurable accomplishments
• aspirations for your next position
• three professional references
• an active cell number
• and a viable email address

A good Recruiter will enter every tidbit of this information into a profile he/she has created for you in their keyword-optimized database or tracking system. Between your resume and the above bullets, you have armed the Recruiter with the information needed to match you to upcoming positions. And when the right position matches up…then the magic happens. And unlike Charlie Sheen…the Recruiter actually calls! It may be in two weeks…two months…or two years. But the Recruiter calls.
Please don’t misunderstand. I do not mean that you, the Job Seeker, should completely drop out of sight after the initial phone screen with your Recruiter. I’ll confess that occasionally well-timed calls from active Job Seekers who want to update me on a new accomplishment or a changed email address, have been followed up with my query “By the way, may I run a new opportunity past you?” So in the end, the best way to treat “I’ll Call You” from a Recruiter is to view it as the beginning of a beautiful friendship. (Giving props to Bogey.) Not the dismissive end of a brief encounter. (Ala Charlie Sheen.) Your Recruiter likely wants to help. It’s just he/she may not be able to do so right now. But when that perfect project does come along with criteria that matches your background & skill set, then both you and the Recruiter will be…Winning!

Wendy Gawlik CPC

Five Problem Employees and What You Can Do About Them

Small companies aren’t immune from workplace behavior problems. Here’s what to do about them.

By Gwen Moran |   August 5, 2011

Problem employees inevitably surface in most workplaces and small companies aren’t immune. Sometimes, the problems are obvious, such as attendance issues or a failure to deliver results. Other times, a workplace harbors a problem and you might not immediately know the cause, says attorney Lisa Guerin, co-author of Dealing with Problem Employees.

As a busy entrepreneur, you’ll need to make sure desired workplace behavior is clarified or reinforced for each new employee. Sometimes you’ll need patience if an unproductive employee behavior stems from troubles at home. In other cases, the problems are so undesirable and worrisome, the employer needs to take swift, effective action to stave off a major loss. Here are five types of problem employees and what to do about them.

1. The Poor Fit. Bibby Gignilliat, 51, chief executive of Parties that Cook in San Francisco, thought she had hired a winner but found her new employee’s customer-service skills far from polished. “She kept saying things were ‘awesome’ and ‘totally cool’ and she would use ‘like’ every other word, even after repeated coaching, making a bad impression on customers,” Gignilliat says.

Gignilliat’s business of hosting parties with cooking classes — for a corporation’s team building exercise or as a fun event at a private home — requires a sophisticated set of skills to be deployed all at once in the heat of the action. This capacity for deft on-the-job maneuvering is sometimes hard to glean from an initial hour or so interview.

Gignilliat now works with new employees for a three-month probationary period before determining whether she’ll hire them permanently. She has also set up an internship policy to try out employees before adding them to her staff.

Employers need to make sure their expectations are clear through written policies and performance reviews, Guerin says.

2. The Disappearing Act. Sometimes, problematic behavior crops up in connection with troubles emerging in an employee’s personal life. For example, several months after Pac Team America president Eric Zuckerman, 30, gave a new employee time off to recover from injuries in a car accident, she was arriving late to work, leaving early, and sometimes sneaking away at midday for long naps from his Paramus, N.J., merchandise display company. After unsuccessfully trying to discuss the problem with her several times to find solutions to accommodate her, he eventually had to fire her.

Spotty attendance might signal any of a range of issues, from a problem at home or job dissatisfaction, Guerin says. Talk with your employee privately to find out if she has encountered a difficult personal problem or faces a life transition, such as a relationship breakup or an ill parent’s turn for the worse, and express sympathy. You might want to refer the worker to an employee assistance program if your health-insurance plan offers one as part of its package, she says. Or you can enlist an EAP provider to create such a program for your business. An EAP provider might offer counseling services by phone for as low as $18 an employee a year. (Check a national directory ateap.sap.com.) To learn more about EAP programs, consult the website of theEmployee Assistance Society of North America.

Remember: Employees with a personal or family health issue may be eligible for certain types of leave, depending on the situation and the workplace’s state.

If your talk with the employee uncovers an underlying dissatisfaction with your company, consider if he is raising a workplace practice that could bear some improvement. Perhaps the vacation policy hasn’t been clearly laid out, and with summer approaching, he is becoming resentful. But if the chat reveals deep-seated dissatisfaction, perhaps the employee needs to consider adjusting his attitude or if the job is a good fit. You may have to remind the employee that chronic and unexplained absences will be treated according to your company’s written attendance disciplinary policy.

3. The Scofflaw: Randy Cohen, 46, thought he had hired a new employee who fit the energetic, open culture of his Austin, Texas, ticket brokerage, TicketCity. But soon the employee routinely ignored policy and procedures. Cohen found himself constantly correcting the young salesperson’s behavior so that he didn’t alienate customers. “He made the company a bunch of money, but he was a pain,” says Cohen. Over the past 21 years, Cohen says he’s had other employees who’ve bucked the rules, including drinking on the job.

Cohen now has a policy of “firing fast” when he finds an employee who isn’t willing to follow rules. Legally speaking, an employee who engages in reckless behavior, such as driving dangerously or drinking on the job, can leave the employer liable for the actions within the “course and scope of employment.” So, if you learn that an employee is behaving in a way that could put others at risk, immediately investigate the situation and impose discipline, if appropriate, Guerin says.

4. The Sour Apple: Negative employees who bad-mouth the company and its leadership to fellow employees and even customers can disrupt morale. Cohen found one in his ranks after learning about the naysayer from other employees. Eventually the person left the company, but he says he wouldn’t be as tolerant again. “Someone like that can really hurt morale,” he says.

Guerin suggests a frank discussion with negative employees. Avoid discussing personal characteristics, such as “you’re irresponsible and negative.” Instead, state the problem and then explain why it has to change. For example, “You complain about customers and work responsibilities. This is hurtful to customer relationships and morale and needs to stop. If you have a problem with your job or co-workers, follow our resolution policy for these issues.”

Discontented employees who bad-mouth the company and its leadership to fellow employees and even customers can take a toll. Any small company might, as part of its growing pains, have a slipup that’s more apparent to workers inside the company than outsiders. But excessive public grousing by an employee needs to be stopped.

5. The Filcher: Regardless of their diligence in pre-hire screening, employers occasionally discover illegal activity by their employees. Vonda White, 46, recalls having an unsettling feeling about an employee at her Tarpon Springs, Fla., insurance-brokerage firm Collegiate Risk Management. He demonstrated a negative attitude and seemed distant in his day-to-day dealings with her. Eventually she discovered he had copied the company’s database and was trying to help a friend launch a competing company, White says.

Whether there is an increase in shrinkage, the cash drawer doesn’t add up, or an employee is stealing valuable information, theft can threaten your company’s bottom line. Approach employee theft cases as whodunits — the evidence points to a problem but the culprit needs to be found, Guerin says. You may need to supervise employees more closely or install security systems to prevent theft. White installed software that prevents employees from copying large or multiple files. “Depending on the size of the theft, it might make sense to talk to a lawyer or loss management specialist to decide on a strategy,” Guerin says.

As a general rule, direct, clear communication is the key to dealing with most employee problems, says Guerin. Once you discover a problem, it’s critical to take action instead of letting it fester and get worse.