Stand-up meetings didn’t get their start in Silicon Valley where many business and productivity trends originate. Rather Lieutenant General William G. Pagonis brought this practice to the business world after a 29-year Army career, including service as the Logistical Chief of the First Gulf War. As it turns out, the same stand-up meeting technique Pagonis used with officers in the Gulf War became effective with the supply-chain employees at Sears, where Pagonis worked as VP of Supply Chain Logistics after retiring from the Army. Today, businesses large and small utilize stand-up meetings for quick check-ins and updates.
You may know them as daily check-ins, scrum meetings, or standups—whatever you call them, there are certain pros and cons that can make these meetings effective for the engineering industry.
This is Part 2 of our series on Lead Time to Hire Engineers. Read Part 1 in the series here.
On average, it takes 58 days to fill an engineering position in the U.S. And studies show that number is increasing as today’s hiring process continues to take more and more time.
Every day that passes when you have an empty position affects your bottom line. It’s time to reduce lead times for hiring engineers and keep your business operating at full speed.
These days, Managed Services likely seems to be a buzzword you hear everywhere you turn. However, it’s more than a buzzword or fad, this developing business practice appears to only be growing in popularity.
At the core of any successful contingent workforce strategy lies a Managed Service Provider.
It used to be a foregone conclusion that most people would retire at around or 65 years old, but as with many aspects of their lives so far, the baby boomer generation doesn’t seem to be holding to that pattern. Many baby boomers (now aged 51-70) seem to have very little interest in permanently quitting work. Instead, for many reasons, they’re choosing to stay in the workforce in some capacity long after the age their parents might have retired.
Various studies on this subject have revealed vastly different data about how many people this trend affects. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, 20% of Americans over the age of 65 are now employed. Data from the University of Michigan’s Health and Retirement Study, however, shows that number to be significantly higher. That study found that 60% of men and women of retirement age don’t plan to leave the labor force when they leave their full-time careers.
Contractors, also known as freelancers or contingent workers, are employees that are brought in for a short period of time or a specific purpose. They can be used to fill in for an employee who is out for a specific time (such as family leave), or work to support a team just long enough to complete an important project.
If you're responsible for hiring technical talent, you're undoubtedly aware of the challenges involved in finding the right candidates for your available positions. In highly specialized fields, it can be tough to source workers with the right experience and expertise to get the job done. In this competitive hiring climate, with tight timelines and increasing demand for skilled labor, it's especially important for hiring managers to know where to look.
In a past article, we looked at why choosing a career in the tech sector would be a wise choice for anyone looking to change careers, or for students trying to decide what to study. We looked at the salaries of various different titles, including web developers, UX designers, and IT managers to see what a talented and hard-working employee could hope to earn.
We are already the three weeks into the New Year. We believe that 2015 is going to be a fabulous year. Talent 101 finished 2014 with a hot market for qualified talent and we have seen many requirements for contract and full time hires in the first month of 2015. This is both an opportunity and a challenge.
Musical chairs may have been fun to play as a kid, but it's no game in an office environment. To keep a business running smoothly and productively, you want every seat you fill to stay filled. When employees move to other departments or businesses, you lose.
