This Day in History

Today marks the 100^th anniversary of the first nationally recognized Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is known as a day dedicated to expressing gratitude to our mothers, gifts, brunch’s and pampering.

 

Where it all Began

Ann Reeves Jarvis started the process in the 1850’s when she held Mother’s Day work clubs” to improve conditions for women and children. After the Civil War, the clubs organized events called Mother’s Friendship Day picnics to unite mothers across America and encourage women to take a more active role in politics. Ann’s daughter, Anna, was inspired after her mother’s death to organize the first Mother’s day observance in 1908. Through Anna’s efforts, a growing number of cities across the country began observing Mother’s day after 1908. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially declared the second Sunday in May to be recognized as Mother’s day.

Interesting Factoids

 Mother’s day was intentionally left in its’ singular form to signify that the holiday wasn’t a day to celebrate all Mom’s just the most special one in each individual’s life.  Anna was adamant it stay in singular form to keep each Mother’s day observance unique to the special mom in one’s life. Anna recognized it as a day that you’d go home to spend quality time with your Mother and thank her for everything she’s done for her children.

 This weekend, it is estimated that American’s will spend $19.9 billion on mom. According to Hallmark, Mother’s day is their third largest holiday for sales behind Christmas and Valentine’s. Behind Christmas, it is the second most popular holiday to shop for gifts and is the year’s busiest day for the restaurant business.

At Paladin we want to take the time to recognize all the moms out there for everything they do day in and day out. Happy Mother’s Day!

7 Misconceptions about Technology

    1.       The web is the internet

One of the most common misconceptions people have today. Most people use the web as their method of using the internet. The internet actually began in the form we use it when Arpanet started using the TCP/IP system in 1983. Six years later, Tim Berners-Lee invented the web, made up of servers and clients which display the page (Internet Explore, Safari, Firefox etc.). The internet is the system of technologies under the surface, which enable the web to come to existence.  Without the internet, the web would seize to exist.

2.       Cookies are dangerous

Web cookies are plain text files that are used for websites to store information on your computer to manage your browsing. Unless there is a security flaw in your browser, cookies can’t have access or modify any files, change settings or execute code. The only real concern people have is the lack of privacy in your browsing habits.

3.       It is necessary to let your phone’s battery drain before charging it

When a device uses Nickel cadmium batteries, it is advisable to let the battery drain fully before charging it. Nickel cadmium batteries suffer from what’s called the memory effect, when the battery is charged and discharged often enough; it begins to lose ability to charge the battery at 100%. The good news is most electronics now run on lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries don’t suffer from the memory effect and can be recharged at any time. Apple, whose products run on lithium-ion batteries, does recommend that you let your device’s battery drain from 100% to 0% once a month to help maintain life of the battery.

4.       More bars on your smartphone, mean better service

Bars on your smartphone indicate your signal strength to the cell tower closest to you. The misconception is that your signal strength signals service quality; however, your service quality actually depends on how many devices the cell tower is serving at a given time. You may have noticed that when you go to a large sporting event or festival, you have bars but you can’t effectively communicate on your phone. This is because the cell tower isn’t equipped to serve the influx of people in that one area at a given time.

5.       Emptying the trash or recycle bin will permanently delete files

Emptying the trash doesn’t delete a file permanently, it just frees up the space used on the hard drive. There will still be fragments left on the hard drive that could still be revived in the future.

6.       Macs don’t get viruses

It is true that Macs aren’t as susceptible to viruses as Windows’ devices; however, this can be attributed to the fact that Windows was the most common operating system until just a few years ago. With Mac’s gaining popularity, they are becoming more at risk to get viruses targeted specifically at Mac products. The good news for Mac users is that their OS X operating system does currently have much less paralyzing viruses to worry about.

7.       I should wait to upgrade because there is something new coming out just around the corner

In the tech world, there will ALWAYS be something right around the corner scheduled to be released. This is just the nature of the industry; if you get caught up in this mindset you will never upgrade and suffer the consequences for it. Though there are times it makes sense to delay an upgrade, make sure you have weighed the benefits with the costs of waiting.

Bridging the Gap

There is a growing demand for professionals that possess STEM skills, yet there is a decline in young professionals in STEM. To add to this demand, according to a recent article by Business Insider, there has been a forty-four percent drop in the labor force participation rate since 2007 that can be directly attributed to retiring baby boomers.  Current trends show that this rate isn’t about to slow down anytime soon.  The problem is that there’s more people leaving and less people entering the STEM field. Of the students that pursue a Stem major, thirty-eight percent of them won’t graduate with one. How do we change this? It starts with the young.  Let’s look at the facts. In 2013,

·         56 percent of US high school graduates were not ready for college level math

·         69 percent of U.S. high school graduates were not ready for college level science

·         Students who progress through at least Algebra II in high school are two times more likely to graduate with a bachelor’s degree

·         29: The number of countries whose high school students performed better than U.S. students in math in 2012

·         22: The number of countries whose high school students performed better than U.S. students in science in 2012

 

These numbers were reflected in the number of U.S. bachelor’s degrees awarded in engineering and science fields compared to other countries.  In 2008, 31 percent of U.S. bachelor’s degrees were awarded in STEM related fields, compared to 61 percent in Japan and 51 percent in China.

The statistics show that American students are not prepared to pursue a STEM degree in college. Young children are initially drawn to science and engineering, yet that interest quickly diminishes as they begin middle school. The facts demonstrate a problem in our public education.   Over one third of public math and science school teachers did not study their subject in college and/or are not certified to teach it. Most of us can agree that if we weren’t properly taught something, we aren’t going to become passionate about it.

Building a strong background in STEM skills for our children, teens, and young adults will provide rewarding and lucrative careers in their future.  Our world is now technology driven; there is no impending decline in STEM jobs in the future. An education that integrates STEM skills into our classrooms will allow our young people to reach their potential in STEM at the college level. Young people are our workers in training.

Paladin Consulting connects talented STEM professionals to exciting career opportunities. We are always looking for skilled professionals to place in innovative, new roles. If you are ready to take on a new opportunity, apply online today.

Sources:

http://nms.org/education/thestemcrisis.aspx

http://www.businessinsider.com/baby-boomers-are-retiring-2014-2

 

The Power of Connection: The User Group

Getting involved in a network of professionals in your industry has nothing to offer but benefits regardless of industry. In the IT industry, user groups are becoming an increasingly popular networking avenue. A user group is a group of IT professionals that come together to discuss the industry and share their experiences. Through special speakers and discussions, there is a great opportunity to learn and grow your expertise.

 

User groups offer more than just free food, free seminars, and giveaways. Even if you aren’t interested in the specific topic covered in a meeting, user groups still provide an opportunity to get to know people in your industry that may be people you will work with one day. If you don’t ever actually work with them, they are people that you can call up if a problem arises that may have a solution to offer. Your network can be one of your greatest assets to have in the industry.  

 

Paladin Consulting truly believes in supporting the I.T. Community and one area that emulates that is through our User groups we support in Dallas, Houston and Washington D.C. The vision we have is to provide an outlet for like-minded techies to share their expertise in a socially driven format to discuss current trends, upcoming technology updates and network with fellow techies in their core area of expertise.

 

We have been a host and sponsor to many groups over the past several years. Some of those groups would include:

Dallas & North Houston .NET Users Group

D/FW & Houston ColdFusion Users Group

Dallas ASP.NET Users Group

HP Mercury User Group

DevOps Live

Java Developers of Dallas

Cyber Security Professionals

Are you an IT professional interested in coming to one of our user groups? Check out our Linkedin or Meetup page for more information!

What Learning Style are You?

Research compiled from various university studies by The Online Journal of New Horizons shows that everyone learns and processes information differently.  According to the Online Journal of New Horizons in Education, learning styles canKnowing your learning style and the learning styles of your colleagues will help you conduct business more efficiently and improve internal communication.  There are three common learning styles that researchers have identified. As you can see the most common learning style is visual, followed by kinesthetic, and auditory. Below is a breakdown of common characteristics of each of the three most popular learning styles found in adults.

 

Visual

·         Use visual objects such as charts and pictures to see information

·         Generally can read body language of other people and interpret what people are saying though their body language

·         Able to memorize new information in notes if the information is organized in color

·         Can easily pick up on a process when watching someone else do it.

Auditory

·         Processes and retains information through hearing and speaking

·         Picks up on someone’s tone and responds accordingly

·         Can listen to lectures on audio and quickly retain what they heard

Kinesthetic

·         Learns new material by using a hands-on approach

·         Would much rather demonstrate how to do something than to verbally explain

·         Prefers to work in teams more than others

Interested in knowing what learning style you possess? Follow the link to take the VAK Test.

Protect yourself from the Internet Heartbleed

If you haven’t heard already there is a new flaw found in the encryption tool used by two-thirds of all internet servers. This flaw is so scary that security researchers named the flaw the Heartbleed. In layman’s terms, the heartbleed has the potential to be exploited leaving your login names and passwords at risk of getting into someone else’s hands.  With the risk of exploitation at a high right now, it is a good time to change your passwords.  Even without this heartbleed, it is a good practice to change all your passwords every 90 days to protect your accounts from being compromised.  Here are a few guidelines when deciding to change your password.

Use different passwords

The biggest mistake which happens to also be the most common mistake is to choose one password and use it as your login to everything.  If there is a breach in one of your accounts, it is easy for hackers to hack into your other accounts if you have the same password.

Strengthen your passwords

Passwords should be at least 6-8 characters in length and include both numbers and letters.  Names of people or things connected to you should be avoided, as the first place criminals may look to extract personal information is on your social media sites.  Your password for your email is one of the most important passwords to protect. If hackers can gain access to your email, they can easily see your accounts linked to the email and reset passwords.

Use the two- factor authentication

In addition to passwords, a new option is offered by many banks, social networking sites and email services called two factor authentications. This requires an additional verification after entering your username and password. Every time someone tries to login to the account, a one-time code is sent to you (generally via text message) that you must type in to gain access to the account.

Don’t be an easy target for hackers. Take the time to change your passwords to protect yourself.

10 Habits of the Happiest People

It’s human nature to see the negative in situations and miss the positive.  Our goals, career choice, relationships and hobbies are all driven by the simple desire to be happy, yet most people don’t make the choice to be happy in their everyday life. Happy people are more productive in every aspect of life. A common misconception is that productivity fuels happiness when reality is just the opposite. Happiness fuels productivity and success. Here is a list of 10 simple habits the happiest people share on a day to day basis.

1.       They make happiness a priority. When these happy people make decisions, they think about their happiness as part of the decision.

2.       Decide to be happy. Too often, we choose to let stressful circumstances take away our happiness. You have to make a decision that through every circumstance, you will think positively.

3.   They accept responsibility for their own happiness.  Often, we tend to put our hope for happiness on another person. If you haven’t gotten the memo yet, other people will let you down sometimes. That is why you must realize that one person won’t make you happy 100% of the time which brings us back to the last habit, it is your responsibility to make a decision to be happy.

4.       They express gratitude. The happiest people are also the most gracious people. They focus on all the blessings in their life and not the hardships. The happiest people still have many hardships they must overcome; however, they choose to focus on all the good in their life. A good habit to get into is to make a list of all the blessings in your life and put it somewhere you can see it every day to serve as a reminder that you have a lot to be thankful for.

5.       They forgive.  The happiest people don’t hold grudges but instead make a conscious effort to forgive.  When you forgive other people, you aren’t just doing it for them; you’re doing it for yourself.  Holding a grudge will undoubtedly cause unhappiness in your life.

6.       They disregard other peoples’ opinions of them. Chances are there will be someone, somewhere who won’t have a high opinion of you. Ignore it. When you try to start changing who you are to gain the high opinion of someone else, you will lose your authenticity along with your happiness.

7.       They focus on today. They refuse to focus on the past that they can’t change and the future that has yet to happen.  Today brings enough challenges on its’ own, don’t focus on things that can’t be changed or planned. 

8.       They give back. Happy people tend to be givers in the community.  Givers realize their blessings and take joy in giving back to others.  There is a different, special kind of happiness that comes to those who help others.

 

9.       They spend time with people.  Happy people enjoy making time for the people that mean the most to them and connecting with new people.  A common habit of the world’s happiest people is to say hi to someone new every chance they get.

10.       They take action. The happiest people don’t just dwell on planning, they take action swiftly.  Action takers get things done at work and at home which brings a sense of achievement. Feelings of accomplishment will fuel your happiness.  

 

The First Six Things Interviewers Notice

We know our interview attire is immediately acknowledged by interviewers, but there's many other things interviewers take note of during an interview.  In a survey of employers across America, 6 things were identified as common things noticed first when interviewing.

Arrival Time.  It should go unsaid that arriving on time is a must for an interview.  Arrive around 5 to 10 minutes before your scheduled interview. If you arrive earlier than 15 minutes for your interview, take time to review your resume and gather your thoughts.  You may also want to run to the restroom in the lobby before checking in to freshen up. 

Attire. Dress neat and clean and accessorize minimally.

Body Language.  When meeting your interviewer, shake his or her hand firmly. A firm handshake shows you’re genuine and confident. Position yourself towards the interviewer. You don’t want to slump in your chair or look too relaxed; however, you should carry yourself with confidence.  It is also important to resist the urge to fidget with your hands out of nervousness.

Speaking Style. Speak concisely and minimize the use of filler words or ramblings.  A good practice is to mimic the speaking rate of your interviewer; people subconsciously identify with people that operate like they do.

Prepare. Prepare. Prepare. Do your homework before your interview. Research the company in-depth. Some notes you may want to take to bring with you to the interview may include the company’s mission statement, values, and any recent company press releases.  Interviewers can tell how prepared you were for the interview based on your responses and questions you have for them.  Always come prepared with a list of questions to ask at the end of the interview. This reflects both your level of preparedness for the interview and your level of interest in the position.

Your qualifications. While everything else listed is very important to establish a rapport with a prospective employer, your ability to sell your qualifications for the job is the last and most important note your interviewer will make.

Ready to explore opportunities with Paladin? Contact us today!

 

 

Dress to Impress:The Business Professional Interview

Seven seconds. That is the amount of time you have to make a first impression that could determine the entire course of your interview.  Like it or not, those seven seconds are based strictly on appearance and professionalism.  One of the most common mistakes job seekers make is in their wardrobe choice for an interview.  Here are a few guidelines that should be followed when dressing for an interview where the culture is business professional. 

Guidelines for Women	Guidelines for Men
Suits, Dresses: Conservative business suit, pantsuit, or dress of natural or woven-blend fabric; skirt length should be at your knee. Choose a color that complements your skin tone and hair color; beige, black, navy, or gray. Make sure your clothes are not too tight or too loose.	Suits: Preferred dark blue, gray, or muted pin-stripes. Muted brown or black also acceptable. A quality woven blend of natural fibers looks professional. Avoid bold pin-stripes, contrasting slacks and sport coat, or light colors.
Blouses or tops: Simple style. Avoid low-cut necklines or very frilly styles.	Shirts: A nice quality white button-down or white classic collar is preferred. Oxford blue or a muted stripe is also acceptable. Be sure it is ironed.
Shoes: Polished pumps or medium heels in a neutral color that matches your outfit.	Ties are a MUST
	Shoes: Highly polished slip-ons or laced dress shoes; brown, cordovan, or black.

 

A good rule of thumb: Dress for the job that you want, not necessarily the job that you are interviewing for. If you are interviewing for an entry level position, dress like you were interviewing for a more senior position. Why? Because employers like to hire people that they believe can grow in the company. Someone who presents sloppy doesn’t exactly scream a go getter. Nailing a good impression in the first seven seconds will set the tone of the interview. Don’t let something as simple as your choice of clothing get in between you and your dream job. 

Looking for a new job? Check out opportunities available with Paladin!

                                                                                                                                                       

Employee Recognition

Building employee morale is arguably the most important task for a company. High employee morale can boost productivity, participation, retention and opportunities.  Employee recognition is a conduit for employee morale and if done effectively can change the entire culture of a company.

Be thoughtful. Sometimes it is better to give an employee a small token of appreciation that doesn’t involve a company t- shirt or coffee mug.  Putting in that extra thought will not go unnoticed by the employee.

Be intentional. While it is great to recognize all your employees for their hard work, when recognizing individuals or a specific team, make sure you recognize the specific accomplishments that led to recognition. Employees like to know their hard work isn’t going unnoticed. By bringing their accomplishments to the limelight, you are demonstrating that you pay attention to their work.

Be inclusive. When recognizing a team, recognize each team member’s contribution as well as the accomplishments of the team as a unit. As a member of a team, it is easy to feel lost in the group. By recognizing each team member, you are affirming their value to the team.

Be a culture of encouragement.  A great tool to achieve this is to develop a colleague recognition program. Allowing employees to recognize what their coworkers are doing creates camaraderie among employees.

People like to be praised; it’s human nature. By taking the time to recognize employees, you are reaffirming their efforts, thus encouraging them to keep up the hard work.  Encouraging employees significantly build employee morale.

 

What we can learn from St. Patrick

Today is St. Patrick’s Day, and in America the festivities have been in full swing since the weekend. When people think of St. Patrick’s Day, most think of a sea of people decked out in green, packed pubs, and festive parades.  While the festivities are fun, there is much more to St. Patrick than these fun traditions.

St. Patrick was kidnapped and sold into slavery as a teenager. For six years he worked tirelessly, never losing hope that one day he would be free and get a chance to pursue his dreams. One night, St. Patrick fled and found a ship. He asked the captain for passage, but was denied. After telling his story to the crew, the crew convinced the captain to grant him passage. When St. Patrick got back to his homeland of England, he spent the next seven years studying to become a priest. After becoming a priest, St. Patrick traveled back to Ireland, where he was a slave, and realized his dream of bringing Christianity to Ireland.

St. Patrick’s story can serve as a model for reaching your dreams. We may live in a different time and have different goals but there are a few lessons that everyone can learn from St. Patrick.

1.       Persevere. When you have a dream, you will undoubtedly have challenges you must overcome to achieve your dreams. When you face adversity (and you will), you must persevere and not give up just because you were told no by one person. St. Patrick was denied passage by the captain, yet he ended up on that boat due to his persistence.

2.       Be prepared. St. Patrick was prepared for the day that he would find the right time to make his escape. You must be prepared to seize opportunities when they are presented to you. No one ever reached their goals without preparation.

3.       Reach out to people. Relationships with people can be your greatest asset to have. You never know when someone will be inspired by your dream and eager to assist you.  

Have a desire to reach new career heights? At Paladin, we strive to partner with you in finding your dream job. Contact us today to find out more about opportunities available with Paladin.

 

There's No Time like the Present

One mistake many people make today is failing to save and invest early in their career.  The typical excuse these people have is that they don’t make enough money to save early in their working lives.  Individuals just starting their career should set aside the maximum contribution they are able to make.  To give an example of just how valuable time is let’s look at two scenarios: Person A starts investing at 25 and is planning on working for 40 years before retirement. She starts investing $250 per month at a 12% rate of return. By the time she enters retirement she will have approximately $2.9 million. Now let’s imagine a second scenario where Person B delays investing until he turns 30. At age 30 he starts investing $300 per month and plans on retiring in 35 years. When he enters retirement, he will have approximately $1.9 million in investment income. As demonstrated, even if you invest more monthly than someone who started five years earlier, you will be worse off in the long run. If Person B had invested even a fraction of that $300 earlier and then increased his contributions in five years, it would have had a profound difference in his funds available at retirement.  Investing early has more benefits than the obvious time value benefit.

Investing early in your career when there is less disposable cash available, you learn to be more disciplined in your finances. When you include investment spending in your budget, you have to trim your spending in other areas, forcing you to be more frugal when spending.

Learn from your mistakes; a young investor may make a bad decision when investing. The good news is that young investors have a lot more room to take risks, hoping the payoff is high but able to absorb the loss if it is not. The added benefit of making a mistake early in your career is that you will have plenty of time to recover. If someone made the mistake later on when they had much more money in the game, the loss could be devastating.

Build a comfortable cushion. When you begin to invest early, you can have a peace of mind that your savings will be of good use in the event of an emergency. Having that cushion adds greater security and quality of life which will help you achieve your financial goals for the long run.

Contributing to a 401K plan is a great start to securing your financial future. At Paladin, we recognize the importance of investing for the future. That is why we offer competitive 401K plans for all of our employees and match contributions of our employees. To go beyond 401K plans, you may want to consider contributing to an IRA, where your money grows tax free. A traditional IRA is a tax deferred retirement account. You pay taxes when you start making withdrawals from it at retirement. A Roth IRA is a retirement savings account that is funded with after tax dollars. This means at retirement, you pay no taxes. Like anything else in life, starting a behavior early will help to build a lasting habit. When you invest early, you also get the added benefit of time value; allowing your savings to grow. There’s no time like the present to begin building a strong financial future. 

Boosting Retention Rates

The average employee stays at his or her job for 4.4 years according to the BLS. That means an average working individual will work for approximately 10 different employers over the course of their career.  These statistics were based on the current work force; the next generation of workers is expected to stay at their job for less than three years. This downward trend is not expected to go up any time soon. So what’s the significance of this data and what difference does it make? From an employer perspective, it is quite troublesome because employers invest on talent acquisition and training and development, only to lose an employee before there is any significant return on investment. For an employee, job hopping can be caused by a variety of reasons, but according to a survey by Net impact, these younger workers are seeking a job that brings happiness and fulfillment in their career.

How do employers fight the job hopping statistic released by the BLS?

Establish a connection

The first thing employers can do is make their new employee’s feel welcomed from day one. When an employee feels connected to other employees, it makes their time at work more enjoyable.  Making that first impression goes a long way to establishing a connection to the employee.  A well connected employee that feels like part of the company is less likely to actively seek out new employment.

Reiterate Company’s Mission statement and values

Present the company’s mission and values to each employee and reiterate the values whenever possible. When employees are reminded of their company’s mission and values, it provides them with the bigger picture of “why they do what they do”.  In a recent survey, researchers found that 58 percent of respondents said they desire to work with a company whose values are like their own and would be willing to take a 15 percent pay cut in order to work for such companies.  A company should first make sure they have clearly defined their values and then communicate these values to candidates during the recruiting process. Values will help the candidate and the employer determine if they are a good match for each other. 

Keep lines of communication open

Employers can survey their employees to measure morale, see areas where they’re succeeding in and areas where they can improve. A company committed to their employees makes for a happier, more productive workplace.  Happy employees and employee retention rates are heavily correlated.  On the other hand, employees must speak up and communicate with their employer. According to this same research study done by Net Impact, Gen Y workers ultimately desire to contribute creatively and have their ideas heard in the workplace. Employees must speak up in order to be heard. It sounds like such a simple concept, but one would be surprised at just how often employees are silent when it comes time to discuss these ideas with their employer. 

At Paladin, we value our employees and have expanded our employee relationship initiatives to deliver uplifting satisfaction to our employees.  We welcome employee input and listen to every comment given to us.  Looking to contribute your talent at a company that values your contribution? Contact us today.

Benefits to earning a professional certification

Want to stand out among a pool of candidates? Although there is not a clear cut answer to this question (the answer depends on the industry and specific job) gaining a professional certification is a valuable asset to have.  Working toward a professional certification will help your resume.  Work experience is a great indicator that separates candidates, but it doesn’t always showcase a person’s expertise and skills.

Getting a relevant professional certification carries credibility

When you earn a professional certification, it establishes credibility to your skills. Employers appreciate the extensive coursework and testing behind the professional certification. Earning a certification provides proof that you are a highly qualified individual for the job.

A certification is an indicator of a dedicated professional

When you work toward receiving a relevant certification, you distinguish yourself as a person who possesses a strong work ethic and a desire to enhance your skills.  The fact that you were willing to spend extra time and money to invest in your career says a lot to recruiters, employers and colleagues. Certifications indicate that an individual keeps up with new developments in one’s area of expertise and furthermore is determined to reach new heights in his or her career development.  

Having a professional certification next to your name, is a great recognition to have whether you want to establish more credibility in your career, are seeking a promotion, or looking to land the job of your dreams.

 

 

Leveraging your Internal connections

Recent studies have led many companies to seek out their well-connected employees.  These employees are the ones who seem to know and talk to everyone in the office. That person you go to when you’re having a tough day at work, or have questions.  Research has shown that these employees hold a significant amount of influence on employee buy in and morale in the work place.  Firms are using these “influencers” to lead teams in product development, get employees' buy in on new initiatives, and to spread news throughout the organization. During the search for these employees, many employees that often go unnoticed by management are being identified as influencers in the firm. Recently, many respectable corporate giants have not only gone to great lengths to identify these influencers, but also are beginning to recognize them. Recognition ranges from promotions to invitations to exclusive executive management meetings in their prospective companies.

How do firms identify these influencers? They conduct surveys asking employees to identify who their go to person is at work. Some may dig deeper and analyze employees' email, calendar recipients, and social media connections.  One may be asking, what are the traits companies are looking for when determining who their influencers are. According to the Wall Street Journal, these employees are outgoing, empathetic, approachable, positive and energizing.  Influencers have been identified as potentially a firm’s most valuable internal assets.  By making relationships between people in a company visible, you can capitalize on the strengths, close gaps in collaborations and most importantly strengthen employee morale. This kind of information can prove crucial to a firm’s efficiency and a great tool when wanting to initiate real change in a company.

Paladin Advice:

Paladin sees many of our employees who fit the role of “influencers”.  We have observed that these employees gain the highest satisfaction marks from our clients and they have the most career growth and longest employment tenure.  We encourage all of our employees to develop the traits of an influencer…be outgoing, empathetic, approachable, positive, and energizing.

 

The Good, the Bad and the…

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a second straight month of a slowdown in job creation with an increase of 113,000 jobs added in the month of January.  This number is much lower than the monthly average 194,000 jobs added in 2013. Companies hired less people in December than any other month over the last six months. Of course this report is troublesome considering we were experiencing momentum in the recovery efforts before the past two months. But is now the time to panic?

We all can agree that the economy has been less than impressive, however; according to economists the payroll results will perk up in the near future. According to the BLS, the national unemployment rate has decreased by 1.3 percent over last year. In addition, the private sector has experienced exponential growth over the last four years. It is also important to take note that jobless claims decreased to 336,000 in the week end of February 15. Though it was more than originally forecasted, it is still substantially lower than last year’s average of 344,000 jobless claims.

Although the employment rates have not been the most promising, economists believe that we are still in an economic recovery and not a contraction. If the economy continues to grow as predicted, we can look forward to more job creation and less layoffs. With our help, we will get talent placed and more importantly help America get back to work.

But Paladin has Good news...

Paladin is happy to report that we have had 20% business growth in the last seven months.  Furthermore, the better news is that we have record levels of new customers and job opportunities.  We are here to help you and your network grow their career and get that next job opportunity.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics “The Employment Situation” report