Alternative Energy, Chemical, Engineering, Manufacturing, Metals and Minerals, Mining, Placement Annoucements, Plastics

Zach Price & TRG Chemical Technologies Complete Successful Search

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(Richmond, VA) May 15, 2015 – The Richmond Group USA is pleased to announce the successful completion of a search for Senior Product Quality Engineer in St Louis, Missouri.

Our client is a global chemical company with aggressive plans to expand its product portfolio and continue improving product quality. Our client continues its investments in people, technology and infrastructure because their products are in high demand across the globe.  This role is crucial technical support to existing and new products and processes and will be leading production teams in analysis and corrective actions, refining products and processes and applying continuous improvement to key manufacturing systems.

Zach Price and his team worked closely with our client’s Global Quality Director and the manufacturing leadership team through the entire process. We were able to identify and attract an outstanding Chemical Engineer with extensive industry experience optimizing processes, utilizing statistical process control and other Six Sigma methods to determine variations within new and existing products. This candidate was in the right location and was able to step in an immediately contribute to our client’s goals.

Should you desire additional information or about our firm please contact Zach Price & TRG Chemical Technology division at 804-285-2071 or email Zach at zachp@richgroupusa.com

Central US, Contract Staffing, Engineering, Manufacturing, Marketing, Midwest US, North America, Northeast US, Pacific US, Southeast US, Southwest US, US News

Wages Are Starting To Rise

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Recent reports showed that US employers added 3.1 million jobs in 2014, which was the strongest year of payrolls growth since 1999.  The US unemployment rate fell to 5.6% by the end of 2014, down from 6.7% in December 2013.  The pace of hiring decelerated sharply in the first three months of 2015, but the US unemployment rate still managed to edge down to 5.5% as of March.  A number of larger US companies have announced pay increases in recent months, seeking to attract and retain workers in a tighter labor market.  Up till now US inflation has remained sluggish and wage growth has stagnated since the recession ended in mid-2009.  Economists say that price and wage increases should continue to gain traction as the economy heals, the labor market tightens and employers compete to hire from a shrinking pool of available workers.  

 

Bruce Peacock

Vice President of Business Development              

The Richmond Group USA

 

Biotechnology, Engineering, Life Sciences, Manufacturing, Monthly BLS Report, US News

Improving Success In Your Hiring Process

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Currently, economic signs are starting to look up. Just today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that the economy added 223,000 jobs in April and the overall employment is 5.4%, the lowest it has been it 7 years. Now amidst all the merger mania, and news of layoffs that continue to permeate our collective psyche in the Life Sciences, one puzzling question remains: if layoffs are so abundant, why can’t I find good quality candidates?

The answer to that question is complicated. First of all, layoffs aren’t increasing in the life science sector. A recent article by Genetic Engineering and Technology News stated that the pace of layoffs in 2014 slowed 20% compared with the previous two years. Moreover, John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray and Christmas, an employment firm, noted that “2015 should be relatively benign in terms of layoffs and relatively strong in terms of job growth.” Secondly, we continue to find that given feelings of marketplace uncertainty, candidates have become more cautious and deliberative in their decision making processes. As hiring processes drag on – the talent that clients truly want – those that aren’t actively looking, become disinterested over time and are more apt to turn down offers if too much time elapses from the initial interview until the offer. Furthermore, lengthy processes can often result in other employers swooping in with other opportunities or counteroffers from their current employer. In any case, with the passage of time, no benefit to the client from a hiring perspective can come of it. 

Another final factor affecting the success of the hiring is not only the length of time of the overall process, but what is communicated to the candidate. Potential Red Flags may be inadvertently expressed to candidates, resulting in their disinterest in either your company or the role after the interview. Read the enclosed article to avoid those communication pitfalls.

So, let us work with you to streamline your hiring processes and communicate the right messages to allow you to capture those impact players before your competition does.

Banking, Financial Services, Lending Services, Monthly BLS Report, US News

Decisions, Decisions (and Asking the Right Questions)

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Recently, we’ve seen an abundance of employers looking for candidates even more candidates looking for a new opportunity.  This is the ideal environment, right? 

Well, yes and no.  If you’re a candidate, this is an ideal market.  For employers, however, it is a different story altogether. 

Nationally, we have entered into a candidate-driven market, where each candidate, whether they’ve disclosed it to you or not, has more than one opportunity close to offering them a pretty sweet deal.  Often, the decision is made in favor of the opportunity that makes the offer first.

“We’re not going to make a decision too quickly, even if it means losing out on the best candidate” is the knee-jerk response of many banks in this type of market.  Typically, they’ve already lost out on one great candidate, and they’re resigned to losing out on more.

While this statement isn’t a bad idea, the strategy is often executed incorrectly.  Too many employers don’t ask all the right questions the first time around, then find themselves uncovering new information in every meeting thereafter, often dragging a hiring process out into four meetings when everything could have been accomplished in two or three.

One of the ways to eliminate the waste is to write a list of questions that you, as the hiring employer, need answered in the first meeting to know if it makes sense to meet a second time.  This way, the second meeting is less about each party still getting to know each other and more about determining whether the person can do the job, wants to do the job, and fits with the culture.

This type of questioning not only gets you to a decision faster, but it makes you more competitive in a market where timing is everything. 

So, what are the questions you need to ask to make your hiring process more efficient?  That’s a question we would love to help you figure out, so that moving forward you’re positioned to make quick, effective decisions in a marketplace that demands it.

US News

Report shows best cities for tech jobs

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best cities for tech jobs in United States

Best cities for tech jobs

A survey conducted by financial literacy organization NerdWallet recently revealed the top cities for tech jobs throughout the U.S. Using a number of criteria, researchers compiled a list of both traditional tech hotspots and up-and-coming areas.

Research methods 
While other companies have attempted to gage this employment trend, Forbes magazine explained that NerdWallet’s methods were among the most thorough and effective. According to Forbes, NerdWallet calculated the number of employees with tech jobs per 1,000 total jobs in each of the 370 major metropolitan areas it analyzed, using numbers from the Bureau of Labor Statistics published in May 2014. Because the BLS does not measure tech jobs as their own industry, NerdWallet pulled specific employment information from a variety of sectors, from architecture to software development. This calculation was 50 percent of each city’s overall score.

An additional 25 percent of every area’s score came from the region’s mean annual salaries for tech positions, numbers also taken from official BLS data. The last quarter of each location’s overall rating comes from the cities’ median gross rent, which NerdWallet took from the 2013 Census’ American Community Survey.

Tech employment hotspots scattered throughout the U.S.
NerdWallet’s analysis revealed that tech workers do not necessarily need to head to Silicon Valley for high-paying jobs in their field. A variety of metropolitan areas across the country are making names for themselves as emerging technology cities.

1. San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, California
Even though other regions are budding meccas of tech employment, they have yet to catch up to Silicon Valley. This area, which took the No.1 spot on NerdWallet’s list, boasts 126 tech jobs for every 1,000 positions. Workers in the industry make an average yearly salary of $130,000. Although this is an impressive number, rents in the area are similarly high, with a median monthly rate of $1,600. Since this West Coast metropolitan area became notorious for tech jobs, it has become home to some of the biggest companies in the field, including Apple and eBay.

2. Huntsville, Alabama 
Tech experts in the South will not need to pack their bags for the Golden State anymore – they have their own version of Silicon Valley right in Alabama. The survey indicated that Huntsville is home to 68 tech jobs for every 1,000 general jobs, and that tech workers make on average just over $92,000 per year. Median rent in Huntsville is much lower than Southern California, at just $725 per month. One of the city’s largest employers for tech professionals is NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.

3. Seattle-Bellevue-Everett, Washington 
A region known for coffee and garage rock will now be known for something else – tech jobs. NerdWallet explained that 77 jobs per every 1,000 are tech-related, and that average salaries amount to $108,000 per year. Rent is fairly high, with a median monthly price of $1,100, but professionals who choose to work here have a variety of companies to consider, including offices for Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Facebook and Twitter among others.

The other cities rounding off the top 10 included Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina; Boulder, Colorado; San Francisco-San Mateo-Redwood City, California; Washington, D.C.-Arlington-Alexandria, Virginia, Maryland and West Virginia; Raleigh-Cary, North Carolina; Austin-Round Rock-San Marcos, Texas and Boston-Cambridge-Quincy, Massachusetts.

US News

Applications for unemployment benefits hit 15-year low

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unemployment benefitsThe number of people applying for unemployment benefits in the U.S. reached a 15-year low last week.

According to USA Today, the number of people requesting unemployment payments dropped by 34,000 to 262,000 over the course of a week. The source noted that this number is still preliminary, but if it does not undergo future adjustments, it is the lowest amount of unemployment applications the U.S. has seen since April of 2000, when the number of residents looking for this type of assistance hit a low of 259,000. The source explained that since unemployment applications are typically indicative of layoffs, this drop is a promising precursor to April’s impending employment report.

The Associated Press noted that March’s stable yet largely mediocre employment situation had both economists and workers wondering whether the country’s trend of job growth was coming to an end. This promising data concerning unemployment applications, however, appears to show that March’s report was simply a glitch that came about as a result of various temporary factors. The source pointed to the harsh winter and lower oil prices as events that may have temporarily slowed job growth last month.