Share your background, schools attended and family.
I grew up in Sioux City, IA, the youngest of three girls. As my sisters were nine and 12 years older, I truly was raised as the baby of the family! I graduated from Morningside College in Sioux City, living at home for the first two years and then on campus in a sorority house for two years. Even though my degree was in Social Work, I had worked at Sears through college, and was then accepted into their Management Training Program.
My first move was to Waterloo, Iowa, with Sears. Four years later I got married, left Sears and moved to Dubuque, Iowa. I had my son in Dubuque, and worked in a bank as a supervisor. Four years later in 1983, we were transferred to Peoria, a time when many people were leaving Peoria. My son, Brett, attended Roosevelt Magnet School, and after a divorce several years later, I became reacquainted with Bill Cannon, also a Roosevelt parent. His sons, Scott and Ryan, knew Brett and I from Roosevelt. When Bill and I married six months later and his boys came to live with us, I suddenly became the mother of three teenage boys! They all participated in sports in high school so we were kept very busy for six years. They are in their 20s now and on their own, all currently living in Peoria. Bill and I adjusted easily to our empty nest and down-sized two years ago to a condo. Now we focus on friends, work and our new passion of boating on the Illinois River.
Your career has been focused on the staffing industry. What influenced you to move into administration in the staffing industry?
After leaving retail and working in banking for a few years while my son was young, I realized I had a job, but not a career or a position I could be passionate about. It was a simple ad in the newspaper that led me to Kelly Assisted Living, a part of Kelly Services, and to a career I could get excited about. At Kelly we provided home care services, primarily to seniors, but also did some staffing in nursing homes, hospitals and retirement facilities. I was hired as the branch manager and for a while staffed the office by myself and then with a part-time person. Eventually we grew to a team of six people. My primary job was to sell and network with referral agencies and promote our services. Along with that I hired the home care staff and worked with our clients. That was the best part of my job: working with the clients and their families. I certainly learned a lot about aging gracefully! Recruiting and working with the staff was the most challenging, but we were fortunate to have a core team of very dedicated caregivers.
After working there for nine years, an unexpected opportunity was presented to me to manage a new staffing agency just moving to Peoria. I was ready for a new challenge so I decided to take the plunge. I had three weeks to hire a staff of five and get the office ready to open.
The most surprising part of it was that our office, AppleOne, was inside the new Super Wal-Mart store in East Peoria. It was certainly an experiment in operating in a high-traffic environment and a surprise to applicants and clients alike. At AppleOne we staffed everything but healthcare, but the principles were the same—we still faced the challenge of recruiting skilled people that wanted to work. Our number one principle was that “the applicant was the center of our universe.”
We were also charged with cultivating client companies for placing our candidates. Since we started with none and did not have a special niche market we were going after, we focused on developing relationships with companies and getting to know their needs. We wanted to be able to assist them with all levels of their staffing needs. Our office experienced phenomenal success and opened another branch office in Pekin two years later. The company eventually made a business decision to close one office after 9-11 and then, with the continued down-turn in the economy, closed the second office in 2003. While I had the opportunity to leave staffing, it was in my blood! With the support of family and colleagues, I made the decision to work with Westaff, again as a Branch Manager. I was fortunate to have two talented former employees, Ronda Roberts and Amy Mason, who chose to return to staffing with me over the next year-and-a-half to complete the team.
How has the staffing industry changed in the past 15 years?
The nature of the employer/employee relationship has evolved over the last 15 years and along with that, the staffing industry has changed its focus and emphasis. One example of that change would include the growth of the contract employee, someone who makes a commitment for a specified length of time for a particular position. We have also expanded the role of providing payroll services to our clients who want to be more directly involved in the recruiting and hiring process but yet still allow both the client and the employee that chance to try the position out before committing. The use of skills and behavioral assessments has also enabled us to present more skilled applicants as well as to enhance the fit between contingent worker and client company. Healthcare benefits for temporary workers, opportunity to participate in a company 401K, a service bonus and holiday pay and direct deposit are also new in staffing in the last few years. Of course the advent of the Internet has made a dramatic impact in recruiting and communication with clients and applicants a like. We can now have an applicant fill out the application on-line and complete the testing before coming in for the personal interview. And clients can place their order on-line and submit payroll. However, good old-fashioned recruiting and making client visits will never go out of style in our business!
How is Westaff different from other staffing companies?
Westaff is an international company with 302 offices in the U.S., the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. We are 57 years-old and have 175,000 employees and 20,000 clients. It is a Westaff core value that we deliver the highest quality service to our clients which includes reference checking and skills testing. The relationships between the Westaff office staff and the customers and workers we bring together are just as important. The service delivery happens at the desk in the local office and that is where our resources are focused and where we are making the service experience above expectations. We believe in open and honest communication and value both employees and clients.
Tell about the recognition both you and Westaff recently received.
The last three years have been busy, challenging and exciting times for our team. We received several awards in 2004 for meeting company challenges, both regional and national. We were named the Most Improved Branch for 2004 for the Eastern Zone and then for all the branches in the United States. In the next six months our business doubled and at the end of 2005 we were named the Branch of the Year for the Northeast Region of Westaff. Along with that I was named Manager of the Year. Just recently I received the 2006 Career Leader Award from an organization I belong to, Women In Leadership.
What are some common challenges an employee faces when looking for a new position?
Change is always hard and job change is serious change. Part of our service delivery is to help applicants through the process. We help them define what is important to them in a new position, work with them to find a job that meets their top requirements and then continue to coach them through the transition.
Interviewing skills are probably the biggest challenge to our applicants—especially for people who have not looked for work in a number of years. Again coaching is very important, sharing tips on how they will be most successful and how they can present themselves in the most positive light. Practice interviews are done before sending them out and additional tips are also available on our web site. Putting together a resume can be a very challenging task and we also offer assistance with that.
What are common challenges faced by the employer when looking for a new employee?
The single most common challenge for an employer is taking the time to define what they really need up front. It is critical that the time be taken to do the preparation right. Everything hinges on understanding the hiring managers’ needs. If a client takes the time to describe the position, define the skills, define the type of behavior required and the company’s culture, we can take it from there. If the prep work is done right, it cuts out reviewing resumes and telephone interviews which is incredibly time consuming for a client. This means that we can get top candidates that meet their criteria in front of the hiring manager quickly—they interview a few really qualified people and their selection is so much easier.
Can Westaff fulfill the total HR needs for a company?
There are two areas that Westaff does not manage for clients. We do not manage benefits or employee relations for our client companies’ regular full-time employees.
What misperceptions about the staffing industry would you like to address?
Perhaps the biggest misperception revolves around the bill rate of the service we provide. Many customers and associates alike think that the difference between what is paid to the associate and the bill rate to our client is our profit. They forget that not only do we carry the normal costs of running a business, we also carry the employer burden (workers comp, SUI, employer taxes, etc.) on every associate we place.
A misperception that many times prevents high-caliber job seekers from working with a staffing agency is that we are a “temp” agency. Almost 100 percent of our applicants are looking for full-time positions. We work with them to secure direct hire positions and also temporary-to-hire. Working through an agency is a real job!
In your opinion, what are the area’s greatest workforce challenges?
The growth of the local economy in the last three years, primarily the resurgence of manufacturing, has created an increased need for skilled workers. Finding applicants with skills such as welding and CNC, along with experience and a desire to work has become more and more challenging. As we have seen a change in the loyalty of companies to their employees, this has carried over to the loyalty the employees show their employers. People increasingly leave jobs for what may be considered insignificant reasons because of the perception that a new position can quickly be obtained or a governmental agency will assist them. Work ethic on all levels has suffered.
What changes do you see in the next 10 years for the staffing industry?
Significant growth! The use of contingent workers is a major part of the workforce in the United States today. Tomorrow it will be even more important as companies struggle with the increased pressure to perform financially, find the right talent in a tight recruiting market and manage the immigration and right-to-work challenges we face in a post 9-11 world.
Adding to those pressures, the new generation of workers is not looking for the kind of secure position with a secure retirement to which their parents and grandparents were accustomed. Young workers today will manage their own careers and will change jobs more frequently—doing both contract and permanent positions throughout their career. The lines between contract and permanent have blurred. Finding the talent that is right will become harder especially in the supervisor/middle manager roles. In all, more companies will find it more cost effective to turn to the staffing industry for help for them be successful.
What was the best career advice you’ve received?
A former supervisor told me that I needed to learn that I could not control other people’s agendas. That really hit home for me in not only my personal career decisions but what I am doing today and in everyday life. While I might think I was meant to do something or that one of our applicants should accept the job we have to offer, if everyone involved (significant others, children, grandparents, the neighbors) does not think so, then it will not happen!
I also like to share advice regarding a choice of careers. Never discount the high school or college classes you might be forced to take! I certainly never imagined that I would be doing what I am doing today!
You volunteer in many organizations in the community. How important is that to your personal career success?
One of my first mentors had a high-level position at a bank, a family of four children and a very full life. But yet she chose to volunteer and participate in a variety of organizations. It seemed as if the more she did the more she enjoyed life and the more successful she became. I am not sure if I ever reached her level but I have found that becoming involved has been an integral part of my success and the success of the teams I have worked with. I have met so many people and developed so many relationships that would not have been possible otherwise. I have clients that have become friends and friends that have become clients. I have encouraged our team members to become involved also and have seen their growth both professionally and personally. And along the way we seem to have quite a bit of fun, too.
What would you like to share with our readers that has not been asked?
I remarked to the CEO of Westaff, Trish Newman, that I had been very lucky in my career for the opportunities to work with amazing people over the years and most recently at Westaff and for the success we had experienced the last few years. She said, “Yes, Marcia, but you create your own luck.” I have never thought of myself as being very creative, but after hearing her words, I decided I must be one of the most creative people around! TPW