A staffing company can be a powerful ally when you search for a permanent position. Yes, I did say permanent. Temp agencies are a thing of the past, as is paying someone to find you a job.

“You should never have to pay an agency, because client companies pay the staffing company for their services and for finding them qualified candidates,” said Jim Stewart, owner of Xpress Employment Professionals’ in Savannah, Ga.

When you work with staffing companies, you register with them, and they give you access to their network of hiring companies. Stewart encourages candidates to register with five or six staffing companies for a wider network of opportunities.

“Most companies are broad, working with light industrial and clerical clients, but as they grow and find their markets, many companies specialize in placing people in certain industries, for example, the medical industry,” Stewart said.

Typically, companies advertise widely for their jobs. So applicants are applying online, in person and by faxing resumes after reading the job advertisement in the local paper.

The staffing company’s job is to pluck the best candidates from that pool.

“A staffing company helps narrow you down from the 400 applicants online to maybe one of three candidates,” Stewart said.

Many companies, he said, may only hire through a staffing company.

“In today’s economy, companies are wary,” he said. “Many are hiring on a temp-to-hire basis. This gives you a way to get in the door of the company.”

Some companies call this an “evaluation hire,” or an “engagement period.” The job candidate works for 90 days while the company evaluates them and their work. If they perform well, at the end of 90 days, they become an official employee.

Staffing companies also offer “direct hire” positions in which candidates are immediately employed. However, Stewart said, most entry-level positions are temp-to-hires.

Ready to sign up with a staffing company? The process is simple.

Choose a local staffing company and fill out an application, typically found on their website. Call the company to make sure they’ve received your application and to make an appointment to come in and introduce yourself.

Treat this meet and greet as a job interview. Stewart encourages candidates to have an idea of the industry they’d like to work in and to dress appropriately for that job when meeting with the staffing company.

He also reminds candidates to bring two forms of identification, most commonly a driver’s license and Social Security card.

During the meeting, you will probably meet with a staffing consultant, discuss your skills and identify what you want to do, as well as what you don’t want to do. Then they can begin to try to match your skills with the best job opportunity.

You also should be able to identify your pay requirements at this meeting. Let the staffing company know the minimum amount you will accept. This helps the company guide you in your job search.

Stewart also stresses the importance of staying in touch with the staffing consultant on a weekly basis to update them on your availability.

Stewart warns that the job hunt still can be lengthy, even with the help of a staffing company.

The job may not come as soon as you want, or it may take longer than you expected to find the exact fit.

Stewart said don’t get discouraged.

“Staffing companies are also advisers,” he said. “When you run into a challenge, they will give you advice on what to do to make you successful.”

Hiring Our Heroes has spent years cultivating relationships with employers around the country to help ease the transition for military spouses as they PCS.

They hold popular spouse-only job fairs each month across the U.S.

If you are stationed in Japan, they are coming to you in 2019. You don’t want to miss it!

The 2019 Okinawa Career Summit, to be held Feb. 25 and 26, 2019, will help to connect you directly with HR experts and hiring managers via industry-specific employment briefs, attend a resume building and digital networking workshops to super-charge your transition to a civilian career, then network with dozens of companies at a free evening networking reception.

The second day will include an opportunity to get firsthand information on transition, recruitment, and the hiring process during an interactive discussion with employers from a cross-section of industries, followed by your chance to meet with local and national employers at a massive career fair in the afternoon.

This event is free and is open to active duty service members, Guard and Reserve, veterans, and military spouses. Registration will open soon. To register or learn more, visit https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/2019-okinawa-career-summit

Then, on Feb. 27 and 28, the fun moves to Yokosuka!

At the 2019 Yokosuka Career Summit, you’re invited to connect directly with HR experts and hiring managers via industry-specific employment briefs, attend a resume building and digital networking workshops to super-charge your transition to a civilian career, then network with dozens of companies at a free evening networking reception.

The second day will include an opportunity to get firsthand information on transition, recruitment, and the hiring process during an interactive discussion with employers from a cross-section of industries, followed by your chance to meet with local and national employers at a massive career fair in the afternoon.

This event is free and is open to active duty service members, Guard and Reserve, veterans, and military spouses. To register or learn more, visit https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/event/2019-yokosuka-career-summit-1

Space at these events fill up quickly and pre-registration is required. Be sure to check the website for updates and information on more opportunities.

My supervisor just spoke to me for a good 15 minutes and I can’t really tell you what he said or why he was hovering over my desk.

Sure, I nodded, smiled, made eye contact and remember even laughing at his jokes. But internally, I was still re-writing the last line of my report, making a list of all the clients I still had to contact before 5 p.m. and trying desperately to remember what we had in the freezer at home that could make a quick meal before soccer practice.

Employees are often stretched thin, especially working parents who may leave the house to work but never fully leave the long, lingering list of parenting and homeowner to do’s far from their mind.

The experts tell us to meditate and focus. These catch phrases make me laugh. With the ever-growing daily list of things I must do I barely have time to run to the restroom, let alone catch a few quiet moments to myself.

But, you can practice being more mindful both on the job and at home. Mindfulness if the act of being aware of the present, which can be harder than it sounds.

Sure, my boss and I were engaged in conversation and while I was listening to him I wasn’t hearing him. Instead, I was thinking about everything else I had to do. Practicing mindfulness means to make an effort to realize your thoughts are wondering away from the current conversation and concentrate fully on the conversation. It takes intent to refocus your thoughts and attention.

Another way to practice mindfulness? Don’t multi-task. It doesn’t work and in fact studies show it makes us less productive. One task at a time, one focus.

Want to learn more about practicing mindfulness on the job? Visit www.mindful.org for tips and mindful exercises you can practice just about anywhere.

Longtime military spouse supporter, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, is creating a new program called Military Spouse Economic Empowerment Zones (MSEEZs) to help address the issues military spouses face in finding employment.

The foundation launched the effort in collaboration with USAA, and is working with both public and private companies and foundations to connect military spouses with employers and employment-related tools and resources.

The first cities picked to be economic empowerment zones are places like San Antonio and Tampa where many of the necessities are already in place. Planners envision the zones as a “one stop shop” for spouses as they seek employment.

A recent study by the Foundation, called Military Spouses in the Workplace, found that the majority of military families need a second income, but only 50 percent of military families are able to have dual income because of the inability of the military spouse to find a job.

Hiring Our Heroes will launch several  MSEEZs throughout 2018 in cities across America in hopes of  fostering a collaboration between key stakeholders to help identify best practices that will support and advance the mission of connecting military spouses with meaningful employment opportunities, ultimately strengthening the financial security of our 21st century military families.

The next MSEEZ will launch in June in Seattle.

For more information visit www.uschamberfoundation.org

Are you graduating from a degree program this year?

There may be more jobs waiting for you to choose from than in past years.

Employers plan to hire 4 percent more new graduates this year than from the Class of 2017, according to the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Surveyed employers said their hiring numbers are growing due to company growth, retirements and the need for entry-level talent.

The NACE report says the Northeast region is the only one of the four regions reporting an overall decrease in college hiring, with a slight dip of 1.7 percent. The Southeast (3.8 percent), Midwest (10.4 percent) , and West (4.1 percent) regions are showing increases.

While the Northeast region projects a small decrease in overall hiring, spring 2018 recruiting plans for employers in this region show the most promise, the NACE report says. More than three-quarters of respondents in the Northeast have firm or tentative plans to recruit on campus in the spring.

Wondering who employers are looking for? The organization says Almost 84 percent of new hires will hold bachelor’s degrees, 12 percent will have master’s degrees, 2.4 percent will have associate degrees, and 1.7 will hold doctoral degrees, with the remaining 0.4 percent holding professional degrees.

The top hiring fields are business, engineering and computer and information sciences across all levels of degrees, associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate. Near the bottom of every list in every degree type is humanities and education majors.

To read the full report, visit http://careerservices.wayne.edu/pdfs/2018-nace-job-outlook-survey.pdf

How long is sufficient to retain a quality job?

Army leadership is asking that question now and assuring senators that they are working to help military spouses find employment.

This week Military.com reported that top Army leaders spoke with lawmakers about helping spouses find meaningful work and that longer assignments to duty stations could be a way to make that happen.

Senators told those leaders that currently it takes 140 days for the Army to hire spouses or civilians for on-base jobs, a result of a “clunky and inefficient” vetting process in the Office of Personnel Management.

Earlier this month President Donald Trump issued an executive order encouraging federal agencies to speed the hiring of military spouses. Still, lawmakers say a lack of stabilization in one location, as well as a lack of on-base jobs, are the biggest hurdles.

To read the full report by Military.com, please visit, https://www.military.com/daily-news/2018/05/15/army-mulls-longer-assignments-encourage-employers-hire-spouses.html

The New Year is here and with it come expert’s predictions for workplace trends in 2018. Stop grasping the mouse. So far, it all appears … positive.

At Forbes magazine the staff there has been making workplace trend predictions since 2013 by conducting global surveys and interviewing hundreds of workers and executives. Of their top ten, our favorite predictions are:

Financial help with student loans: Forbes reports that 78 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck and student loan debt is at $1.4 trillion. That makes for some pretty stressed out workers. The magazine reports that nearly half of employees have financial concerns that has caused them to lose an average of six work days annually. As a result more employers are helping their employees pay back student loans.

Mental health will be a priority: Forbes also reports that mental health issues like depression can cause employees to miss five days of work annually, but more importantly they may have 11.5 days of reduced productivity every three months, resulting in $17 to $44 billion lost. Forward thinking companies are now stepping forward to help employees get the healthcare they need. Some have even provided 24/7 access to counseling.

The Bureau of Labor and Statistics also does an annual year-end roundup of where they think U.S. jobs will peak and fall in the New Year. In 2018 Baby Boomers are still not heading home to retire. The bureau predicts that while this group, now all aged 55 and above will continue to work their aging will “dramatically lower the overall labor force participation rate and the growth of the labor force.” What that means is that this aging population will still be competing for jobs in the workplace but overall the growth of the number of employees in the workplace will slow.

The unemployment rate will continue to decline and if you want to head into the hottest fields for 2018, look to healthcare, personal care, social assistance and construction when you are considering paths of study.

At Small Business Trends.com predictions there for 2018 also look more at easing employees’ stress levels. Work/life balance trends will change, giving employees the opportunity to change schedules and social and work interaction to fit their lifestyle.

Don’t like the device the office has provided you? May not matter in 2018. Small Business Trends.com predicts that small businesses will allow employees to use their own devices for company business. And even though the use of technology will increase in 2018, Small Business Trends.com also predicts companies will stress face time over screen time between employees for collaboration, brainstorming and social interaction.

Want to read more workplace trend predictions for 2018? Please visit:

https://smallbiztrends.com/2017/12/2018-workplace-trends.html

https://www.forbes.com/sites/danschawbel/2017/11/01/10-workplace-trends-youll-see-in-2018/#4b40681a4bf2

“Terminal leave” is the time that a service member is allowed to take off duty at the end of his or her career. It’s typically a combination of regular accrued leave and permissive TDY.

The military grants that time so that retiring personnel can search for jobs or move to a new home. But instead of using terminal leave to settle into a way of life, some couples and families turn it into the adventure of a lifetime.

Space-a fights, cruises, a cross-country RV trip, that honeymoon you never got to have – or just a nice long visit with friends and family – terminal leave is an opportunity to do whatever you want, on whatever budget you have.

During a recent Facebook discussion with a number of recently and soon-to-be retired spouses, Rhonda Best said she and her husband plan to treat themselves to a trip to Las Vegas, then visit family. They’re also considering traveling space-a or taking a cruise.

“Who knows when you’ll get a chance to have these vacations when your soldier starts their new job,” Best said.

Terminal leave begins when you sign out of your last unit. At that point, though still active duty, the servicemember is basically done with the military, but continues to receive all pay and allowances until his or her retirement date. Nothing changes in terms of pay or benefits during terminal leave – you will even receive Basic Allowance for Housing, even if you don’t “live” anywhere.

My own husband had 112 days of terminal leave when he retired last year. We used it to jump-start our yearlong RV tour of the United States, with our two teenage kids.

Carol Baxter and her husband spent three months traveling Space A to eight foreign countries while on terminal leave, and another four months traveling the U.S. As for her husband, she said: “He is refreshed – recharged – and back to himself after a grueling 30-year career.”

Others said their retiring servicemember took a more practical route and started a new job while on terminal leave. That’s not a bad deal, either, when you consider you could potentially draw two paychecks at a time for a couple of months.

So how does terminal leave work? The terminal leave form is submitted with the original retirement paperwork. Typically, that is a year or so in advance of the actual retirement date. The individual unit will help figure out how much leave will be available. It’s a complicated calculation that takes into account many factors, including leave accrued while on terminal leave.

It also includes permissive TDY. Typically a servicemember retiring from a location within the United States is eligible for 10 days permissive TDY. Those retiring from overseas locations are eligible for up to 30 days. However, permissive TDY is at the discretion of the unit and will have to be approved.

Remember that 112 days of terminal leave I mentioned my husband having? That was 82 days of accrued leave, plus 30 days of permissive TDY.

Some people also opt to sell back their leave. However, doing that has tax implications (and you lose the BAH). Check carefully with your local finance office to see if selling back leave makes sense for your situation.

The website and blog “Poppin’ Smoke” are a great resource for Space A travel. Stephanie Montague created the blog after her husband retired from the Army in 2015 and they spent a year traveling the world Space A. (Note for those not familiar: Space A flights are military “space available.” They are free with the exception of occasional minimal fees or taxes, and can literally take you anywhere in the world).

Retirees can travel Space A, but there is a big advantage to doing so while on terminal leave and still on active duty. Active duty personnel and their families get higher priority for seats, meaning it’s much more likely you’ll get on a flight.

I personally know several families who have taken Space-A flights while on terminal leave, as their last “hurrah” before retirement. Once you familiarize yourself with the system – and remain flexible – it can be a great way to travel.

Remember that you can also stay in military lodging while traveling, to include hotels, TLA facilities, cabins and campgrounds. That can be a great way to travel on a budget, especially in the U.S.

“Being able to travel during terminal leave requires a little bit of advance planning,” Montague said. “But it's well worth it!”

By Amy Nelson

This past weekend, I attended a midsize conference for the vocational training school I am currently enrolled in. I was not quite sure what to expect.

In the past, I have attended more than a few conferences, of various sizes, in many different industries. Since I have worked the logistical side of a conference before, that gave me the confidence to attend as a participant. But academic conferences can be a different ball of wax altogether. However, being a for-profit school, this wasn’t exactly an academic conference, as such.

This conference was billed as an academic and networking conference for currently enrolled students and recent graduates. There were about 1,500 participants, primarily female. Most were either mid-career switching or post-children, workforce re-entry age. The audience was vastly international with 50 countries represented. Of the participants from the United States, all but six states were represented.

This conference turned out to be, in part, extended lectures - filmed for future courses. Part of the conference was hands-on, peer-to-peer training, mostly in a large group setting, with partnered exercises and role playing. The last part of the conference was the inevitable sales pitch for advanced programs that the school offers.

The interesting part about this school is that it is vocational training, steeped in deep, current, peer-reviewed, evidence-based, scientific research. But, it is also, in part, an entrepreneurial business school. The topics on the agenda were very wide ranging. It made the conference feel a bit jarring to me. I had a hard time switching gears from deep science talk about herbal remedies and support for women’s health to working the side hustle and developing this business as a business not a hobby. We swayed from a blissful, high energy, meditation to hard core, in-depth, financial topics about investing and portfolio management. I wish they had planned an academic day and a business school day instead of jumbling the topics all together.

In all, I took away a lot from the conference because I let it be what it was going to be. Going to this conference was a big leap of faith. I was stepping out on my own, literally, as I went alone with only a few contacts I had met through our online class interactions. I was stepping up into this new career space and owning it as mine. It was a time to put a lot of my personal package to the test for those who are also working through this part of the process; to see if this new identity fits me and if not, what I need to change to make it fit well.

I chose to toss my practiced scripts aside to see what came out of my mouth every time I introduced myself to someone. I wanted to see how the other students presented themselves. I went to make connections and get inspired to bring my commitment back to my community. I had all of these things planned out and decided to let the flow go and try new iterations as I went along. What words fit in my mouth best when asked, “So what is your intention with this program?”

I found myself falling to several specific phrases and causes when answering that question. When I tried to interject a different one, it sounded fun, but rang hollow. Some of my answers didn’t engender the same vibration in my belly. I worked hard to feel the impact of my words and how they made me feel inside.

One of the presenters spoke about energy healing and how, in the Western world, we have something called the placebo effect and how it is summarily dismissed by most Western medicine as not helpful. His discussion held that in Eastern medicine the placebo effect doesn’t exist as a concept because it is understood that thought influences the physical being as much, or more so, than any substance one can ingest or absorb from the outside environment. The same thing follows with that spark of right intention, of joyful felt sense of emotion. Once that feeling can be intentionally recreated, one can then practice that intention and, eventually, fan that spark into a giant beacon of healing.

The most valuable thing I learned to understand was what a felt sense of an emotion means and how to capture that spark in myself. I learned what words I speak, that spark that warm physical sense of joyful and peaceful emotion. I can do anything with this new career, but I needed to find out what I have to do. Learning that physical, felt sense of emotion - that sense of energetic vibrational spark of joy and forward motion - when I said those specific words was invaluable. Now I know what I need to do, what spark to fan into that beacon of healing light for my community.

My main complaints about the conference itself are mostly logistical in nature. For example, the floor of the building we were meeting on is an internationally renowned concert hall. However it was labeled on the documents we were emailed prior to the event by the least common of all of its names. If the location had been labeled by the famous name it would have been much easier to find. As it was, there was absolutely no signage or ambassadors anywhere else in the building except the floor we were meeting on to indicate where we were supposed to go, and as it was listed by a different name, none of the building staff knew what we were asking for.

This conference has the potential to be so much more than it was for the participants and it frustrated the past event professional in me that there wasn’t more to it. I also know that my felt sense of joyful forward emotion says - let another event professional take the conference to the next level, my work is elsewhere. I’ll enjoy the fruits of their labor while celebrating my own at next years’ conference.

By Amy Nielsen

I arrived today with a gust of wind that propelled me through the door with such force that I almost fell over the six-foot-tall rooster.

The wind whipped and the sun glared an ineffective attempt at warmth. I was at the County Revival and Renewal Conference, a networking opportunity I decided I couldn't pass on, even if it meant skipping a long-planned family trip into the city.

The conference was presented by the county revitalization and renewal, non-profit collaborative organization. They have been in charge of the beautification of the county for the last 15 or so years. And, in the last year, the county was awarded the right to build a casino.

Bids went out, a company was chosen, and the building is rising. This potential economic windfall is the impetus to step up the game in the county, to do more than just beautify the county for this organization.

With the addition of another, smaller, satellite non-profit organization, the revival collaborative is reshaping themselves to focus on the health and wellness of the county and help it become more of a destination, rather than just the zip code of the resort casino.

This county is already a mash up of world class resorts and stunning poverty. Our county routinely ranks low, if not lowest in the state, for health and wellness yet is located in the heart of a beautiful wilderness area. There is a need and a desire to put great effort into changing that statistic.

By health and wellness they have defined several very specific areas of interest: place making to promote not only downtowns but inspire people to walk in downtown areas, creating centers of wellness focusing on total mind, body, spirit and health for all ages and accessibility needs, and lastly focusing on teaching health and wellness to the youth through public and private partnerships in the public schools.

The conference sponsored a small vendor showcase of local organizations and businesses that all offer health and wellness oriented services. While browsing among the local organic breads and cookies, community supported agriculture options, and the local worm farm and compost distributers, I saw a woman knew.

I had interviewed with her for a position we both knew I was ridiculously overqualified for and just as equally passionate about. She had moved on from that organization and was here promoting her latest health initiative collaboration. I knew instantly that I was in the right place.

The first order of business was a small awards ceremony for the volunteers of the past year. There were some impressive folks being honored, many with years of dedicated individual service to not only this but several other local community civic groups. Equally impressive were the public private partnerships that were showcased. This organization, like all civic oriented non-profits, runs on its volunteers. Having spent a large portion of my life in and around such organizations I know the value of a good volunteer. They are worth their weight in gold. If I don't land a job with this group, I will certainly be looking to volunteer for them.

Next up was the keynote speaker. I had only read a little about what she was going to speak about because I was focused on a specific afternoon breakout session. I planned to listen politely and work on my crochet for this portion of the day. I got my tea during the break, pulled out the vest I’m working on and settled in for the next hour. As far as I am concerned, I will learn something new, no matter what she talks about.

The topic was fascinating and her delivery was delightful. I learned about a whole new way of looking at planning a public access space. I learned how to get the most bang out of the extremely limited bucks that go around for things like effective signs to direct pedestrians from the parking areas to main street. Totally cool. I never put much thought into who makes those kinds of decisions. So now I, and you, know. Go out and help beautify your town.

As I said, interesting, but not what I was really here for. Up for lunch. This place knows how to do world class food. It was good, plentiful and not rushed. Then, finally, what I came for. The afternoon breakout session. I had read in the pre-conference information that one of the sessions was going to focus on improving school food and the ways and hows of instituting a school garden. This is exactly what I want to be doing.

I got down to the room a little early to scope it out and get a good seat. I was hoping to meet the presenter ahead of the class and at least introduce myself. I was in luck. She was just finishing setting up her materials. We chatted briefly then she went to grab her lunch before her time started. I checked out the materials in the back of the room, collected each of the handouts, and sat down to read a bit before the session started.

As it happened the presenter was an invited guest, not actually from the local organization as I had thought. She had started a program the county is hoping to implement once they get the funding and the personnel lined up. When she returned from lunch she introduced me to the woman who invited her and who was in charge of the project for the county.

BINGO!

This was exactly the woman I needed to meet. In fact, when I told her what I do and what I want to do, she had to sit down because, in her words, I was, “the answer to all her prayers.” She introduce me to the other educators in the room who are already on her team. We collectively figured out that I know several of the same folks in our hill towns and will fit in very nicely, thank you very much! I am the missing piece. The link to make it all go.

We have a lunch date next week to meet again and discuss the proper ins and outs of exactly what I can do for the organization and what the organization can offer me in return. I am getting in at the ground floor of a supremely exciting project for which I am uniquely suited and talented. This is what it means to step out of your comfort zone, put on the big girl panties and go forth to conquer your destiny. Cape flapping.