Temporary Staffing: an HR Solution for the Holidays

Many businesses require extra staffing around holiday times, so as to handle the extra volume of business being conducted. If you have not yet hired the extra personnel that your small business will need through the season, you should definitely pick up the pace, because most hiring managers began their employee search last month.

A survey conducted by Snagajob found that almost 70% of all hiring managers will be taking on extra employees for the holidays and that the number of extra staffers needed would amount to 28% more than last year. The urge to find qualified employees is in full swing, so you may find yourself competing with a number of other managers in your immediate area. Here are some tactics you can use to still secure the needed extra staffing, which will allow you to handle the holiday rush of business traffic:

Temporary Agencies

You can completely avoid all the hassles of searching for additional staffing by working with temporary agencies, and you’ll be able to bypass all the paperwork as well. If there is a good temporary staffing agency in your local area, just tell them what you’re looking for, and they will undoubtedly be able to come up with some viable candidates for you. It works out to be a pretty simple arrangement because you pay the temporary agency, and then they pay the worker.

They will also handle the necessary payroll and tax withholding considerations, as well as all the necessary documentation, and that takes it off your plate. This may be one of the best solutions for hiring seasonal workers, because you simply don’t get that involved with the hiring process, nor are you involved with the ongoing payments to employees.

Social Networks

Assuming you have a website, posting any temporary job openings there is always a great idea, because that is a window to the world, and anyone who follows your website at all will be aware of the job openings. To reach an even bigger audience however, you should post the openings on social networks as well, because the audience will be vastly larger. Of course, not everyone who sees the job opening on social networks will be in the immediate area and can apply for the job.

You can improve your chances of attracting good employees by posting images and videos of behind-the-scenes activities at your company. When people see what it’s like to work with your company, some of their initial fears are overcome, and they are much more inclined to seek employment with you. You should also use social networks to check in with any contacts you have on the various platforms, to see if they’re aware of people seeking employment.

Check with Schools

Local schools such as high schools and community colleges will generally have enormous numbers of potential workers, and some of them may be seeking some income around the holiday season, especially since there will be a break from school at that time. A good strategy is to contact counselors at the career centers of high schools and community colleges, to let them know about seasonal openings.

In many cases, colleges have job placement centers that are eager to make such contacts and provide the information to their students. Older teenagers in high school are capable of performing most types of work for small businesses, and they often make good temporary employees. The high schools and colleges in your region can provide a huge source of talent that you can use to fill your seasonal openings, so they should not be overlooked as potential providers.

Seniors and Others

Of course, not all seniors are looking to go back to work even on a temporary basis, but some are interested in earning some extra income around the holidays, and this is another source you can tap into. Depending on the type of work you do, and the kind of tasks that need to be performed by your temp employees, seniors may be perfectly suitable to increase your temporary staffing pool and accomplish everything that needs to be done.

Another good source in the same vein are those mothers who stay at home to watch the children. Many times, mothers are very interested in earning extra income around the holiday time, and they’re willing to have a friend or relative watch the kids for a few hours, so they can get a temporary job.

You’ll have to advertise in a way that would reach these stay-at-home moms and seniors, which means you’ll have to find out where they hang out, so you can get to them. It could be that you can contact these individuals through social media, or you may have to advertise on radio and television, and in some cases, classified ads in local newspapers will be the right way to reach them.

Virtual Employees

Sometimes an actual human being is not needed to perform the type of work tasks needed at your small business. For instance, your biggest need maybe someone to handle phone calls, and to manage incoming questions and inquiries from customers. Tasks like these can be handled by virtual customer service representatives, and there are a number of companies that provide this very type of service.

The fee that you pay for your virtual employees will probably be less than what you would have had to pay an actual person, and you don’t ever have to worry about them being tired on the job. If the kind of work that needs to be done at your company is suitable for virtual employees, this can be a great way to satisfy your holiday work needs, and stay on top of the holiday business traffic.

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source https://www.malacehr.com/temporary-staffing-an-hr-solution-for-the-holidays/

Why You Should Apply for HVAC Technician Jobs in Michigan

The state of Michigan is in serious need of skilled individuals who are interested in a career in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC). At the moment, and for the foreseeable future, there is a serious shortage of people applying for positions in HVAC, and that means there simply won’t be enough skilled professionals available to meet the demand in the coming years.

If you’re a person who has an interest in this kind of work, you can be guaranteed that there will be a huge demand for your services well out into the future. In addition to that, there is a number of considerable benefits associated with a career in HVAC, some of which are described below.

Fast job growth

According to information released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average job growth for all occupations in this country for the 10-year period between 2016 and 2026 will be a modest 7%. However, for the occupation of HVAC technicians, that same period will experience a 15% growth, which is more than double the rate of all other occupations. That means there will be a tremendous need for skilled HVAC technicians in Michigan who can install equipment in new buildings and new homes.

There will also be a strong need for some of those same skills in repairing and replacing various HVAC units. Then too, there will be a strong demand for individuals who have the skills to retrofit and upgrade HVAC systems, so they can take advantage of modern efficiencies that are now available. What all this amounts to is strong job security, so if you have any interest in doing this kind of work, you can be sure there’s a place for you in the workforce.

Career advancement

Having broken into the industry as an HVAC specialist, you don’t have to settle for doing the same work for the rest of your life. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys learning new things and adding onto your training and experience, you can acquire additional certifications which will allow you to become an expert in working on different kinds of equipment, especially the more modern units.

Some people who have been in the HVAC business for many years decide that they want to open up their own business, and this is a very real possibility for anyone with drive and ambition. If you’re not really interested in starting up your own business, you can still become the manager of company operations and strive for other higher levels in the field.

Active work/lifestyle

People who become involved in HVAC work lead some of the most active lifestyles of any professional worker. If working behind a desk doesn’t appeal to you, and being relatively stationary for eight or more hours goes against your grain, you’ll probably really appreciate the kind of work that an HVAC technician in Michigan performs. You may be working indoors or outdoors on any given day, and you could be at any one of several possible job sites.

But regardless of where you are, you can count on spending a good amount of time walking or moving about, and just staying active in general. This may not sound like a huge perk, but when you consider that over a long time, it can but provide major health benefits, that should make it more appealing. You’ll have less chance of developing cancer or heart disease, as well as Type II diabetes, so this is a significant benefit of working in HVAC.

Doing something rewarding

Pretty much all homeowners and most business operations require air conditioning, ventilation, and heating at their locations. That means you have the satisfaction of providing all these individuals with something extremely useful and beneficial to them. By providing a hospital with air conditioning, for instance, you will allow that facility to shut the windows and doors, to keep our pollutants.

By installing heating systems for Michigan homeowners, you’ll be helping them make it through the cold winter, which most of them will be undyingly grateful for. It’s easy to see how the work that you perform can be a tremendous benefit to others, and that’s something that should make you feel very good about the work you do. Not everyone has a chance to provide products and services that are in great need, but as an HVAC technician in Michigan, that’s just what you’ll be doing.

No chance of outsourcing

The name of the game for many industries today is outsourcing, because they all see the opportunity to gain efficiencies and reduce costs by sending jobs outside the company, and sometimes even offshore. As an HVAC technician, there is virtually no chance of your work being outsourced, because all of it calls for direct servicing and implementation at physical locations. Because there is literally no chance of having your job outsourced, you will have long-term job stability and security, and that will give you peace of mind about the future.

Quick training

When you are preparing yourself for professional life, the traditional route calls you to attend a four-year college program, so you can gain the necessary education needed for your chosen career path. When you are set about acquiring the necessary training and knowledge to become an HVAC technician, you can generally count on investing less than one year in a program that will give you all the basic information you need.

Many programs around the country offer a package of courses designed to give you the skills necessary to be an effective HVAC technician. These courses will teach you how to do repairs, how to do routine maintenance on heating and cooling systems, how to troubleshoot problems you’re confronted with, and how to install new equipment.

When you consider the fact that for a mere one-year investment, you can acquire the skills necessary to provide you with a lifetime career, this can almost be a no-brainer. Another terrific benefit of this approach is that after having invested a year of your time if you find out that HVAC is not to your liking, you will not have lost much time. However, the vast majority of people who become involved with HVAC, find it very rewarding and find it to be a terrific profession.

The post Why You Should Apply for HVAC Technician Jobs in Michigan appeared first on Malace|HR.

source https://www.malacehr.com/apply-for-hvac-technician-jobs-in-michigan/

PLC Programmers: Paving the Way for the Future!

A PLC Programmer not only designs and creates but also maintains and troubleshoots a certain type of industrial automation system. This includes systems that are either directly or indirectly powered by Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs).

The PLC programmer will be directly responsible for every aspect of the safety as well as the overall reliability of the machines and automation equipment under their control. Such a person will know how to leverage industrial-grade software and hardware

Some of the more common PLC manufacturers include the following major companies:

• Allen Bradley
• GE-Fanuc
• Omron
• Siemens
• Mitsubishi

The above-mentioned manufacturers make some of the most well-known systems seen in the industry. If you are interested in becoming a well-known PLC Programmer, you must have in-depth know-how of at least one of these control systems. Of course, more is better and exposure to multiple systems is a definite asset.

Fortunately, once you have managed to acquire a really strong command over even one of these control systems, you will quickly be able to learn the others as well. This is because they all operate on the same key principles. All you have to do is to learn their specific integrated development environment (IDE).

If you live in the North American continent, it is best to go for Allen Bradley, Ohio or the Siemens PLC system. These two manufacturers are making some of the most widely used programmable logic controllers (PLC) in the industry today.

How Can You Become a PLC Programmer?

First and foremost, you will need a formal education to get into this field. In fact, there is no way around an accredited post-secondary institution. This holds particularly true when you are trying to get your very first job in this field and want to impress your potential employer.

If you have an application that is fully backed up by an accredited credential, you will be able to get a better response. In fact, it can be very extremely valuable, and it will also help to separate your application from the many others in the pile.

A Post Grad Diploma can be a Great Advantage

There are no viable substitutes for the hard and soft skills required to create a positive impact on an employer.

This holds particularly true if you do not have any experience in the PLC field. Here, a post-secondary degree or diploma can be an invaluable advantage during the recruitment process. The best programs include any field of study that is directly or indirectly concerned with the science of engineering. Specifically, automation and control will be an excellent choice here.

Some of the more common programs that can help you advance your PLC career include:

• Computer Engineering
• Electronics Engineer
• Mechatronics Engineering
• Mechanical Engineer and
• Electrical Engineering

The Local Community College or Formal University Education

You have to choose between opting for your local community college or a formal varsity education. Colleges are generally more geared towards imparting all those vocational skills that most automation and control employers actively seek to enhance their business.

This means that a college education will easily equip you with the skills that the industry is utilizing today. This is one of the best advantages that a community college level education will almost always have when compared to more traditional university education.

The best thing about a varsity education is that it will help you to think out of the box and design your answers to real-world problems. Here it is important to understand where a university education really shines. And that is the knowledge that it will install that will require you to think analytically and outside of the box, i.e. to think critically and to problem-solve issues.

Colleges are a good choice if you want to become a PLC Programme alone. In case you aspire to transcend programming and move up the corporate ladder into an executive role, then a university education will help in furthering your ambition.

Try to Use PLC Hardware and Software as Much as You Possibly Can

There is no need to wait to get a few degrees and diplomas before you start working with the actual software and hardware. This holds true for real-world PLC solutions of the kind used to control automation systems

In case you are lucky enough to be working in the field and you have access to actual PLC hardware, then, you are halfway there already! And if that is not the case you can also approach companies to offer you an internship where you will be able to learn the tools of the trade.

Using Emulators

An emulator or emulation software can be defined as a way to simulate physical PLC hardware. Such emulators can be used on PCs, laptops and large scale servers. PLC programmers at Allen Bradley Ohio can also use software-based emulators that work like the real thing. They will allow you to create, download upload, and even run complex programs without the actual physical hardware.

There are several downsides to using this software. Some of them only support very specific controllers. And all of them are basically just stripped-down versions of the real thing. Apart from that, there is no real way to interface with an actual physical I/O. This means that you will not be able to learn how to use the physical PLC hardware. Moreover, there is no analog option available either.

Conclusion

PLC programmers are at the cutting edge of automation and control and they are rapidly adding to a growing community of professional technologists’ engineers and technicians. You should also try and join them and become one with one of the most important fields in information technology.

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source https://www.malacehr.com/plc-programmers-paving-the-way-for-the-future/