For staffing and recruiting professionals, sometimes it takes the right blend of marketing talent to attract strong workers for an opening. For example, the passive job seeker is someone who is currently employed, but is open to new, better opportunities. Often these professionals feature desirable skills and have the ideal qualities for positions you are trying to fill for clients, which is why you should be actively seeking them out and storing their credentials and contact data in your staffing software database. However, how are you going to attract them from their current employers?

To pique the interest of an employed worker for a new position, you have to use your marketing skills to create an image of a desirable place to work. This raises the question of whether corporate culture or innovation is more attractive to a worker.

Some staffing professionals and managers believe that corporate culture [“the organization’s self-sustaining patterns of behaving, feeling, thinking and believing”] is a key way to ensure a productive working environment for an individual. ERE reported that “culture fit” is increasingly becoming the buzz topic and is all the rage in talent acquisition departments. The question that arises is: should the hiring process for a business place more weight on a persons’ cultural fitness or their professional capabilities? Having the same tastes, likes, and dislikes may be great amongst coworkers, but is hardly necessary to productivity. The same applies to office cultures that are more formal or informal. While an informal worker may feel more comfortable in a relaxed environment, he or she should not be hindered by working in a traditional corporate office.

As a result, some staffing professionals are doubting the importance of culture fit theories. This is in despite of other organizations that thrive and promote the corporate culture experience in their office like Google, HubSpot and Zoots. While all of these organizations have demonstrated innovation, their culture may not be the key to that success.

In contrast, many recruiters believe selling a job seeker on the opportunity to be an innovator in a business known for innovation is more important to attract them to the negotiations table. Working in a corporate environment that supports innovation is more crucial than staying in a positive corporate culture that may have a stagnate approach to change.

Innovative companies don’t rely on what they know and what they have done before. Instead, innovative companies are open to change and support suggestions. For go-getter professionals, this focus on innovation could be even more important than the overall corporate culture of a business and attract them to apply and stay in a position a recruiter is trying to fill.

The recruiting industry is certainly undergoing a change. The recent recession, increased automated processes and the rise of the digital sectors have all created a unique situation for staffing professionals, which has made the adoption of recruiting software necessary. But what does an experienced staffing professional think about all of this change?

As former president and board member of the American Staffing Association, Robert Mulberger has spent over 40 years helping people find work. His insights into the industry and advice for job seekers have made him an expert resource. Robb is the principal owner and CEO of Washington, D.C.–based NRI Staffing Resources, a regional staffing services firm, and has recently published a book titled, “The Ultimate Job-Seeker’s Guide!”

Let’s take a look into what he thinks the future of the industry may look like, the overall impact of the recession on the job market and what he is hoping to offer job seekers with his book.

What does the future of the staffing industry look like?
The employment rate is currently holding steady in the nation, with only slight rises here and there. However, for the most part, unemployment is at 7.6 percent or 11.8 million people out of work, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. Some industries and regions are doing better than others, in terms of recuperating from the lasting effects of the recession. But there are a few overall trends that are blanketing the job market, according to Mulberger.

“The recession has resulted in fewer jobs to fill and fewer requests for temporary workers… no surprise there. Employers are slow to proceed, there may be work to be done, but better to make do than incur the cost of adding staff when the overall direction of the economy is uncertain,” Mulberger said. “Many a trade association is just treading water; their memberships are down and people and organizations aren’t spending on services, products, training, etc. as they did pre-recession. Same for public advocacy firms; their funding is less than pre-recession – hence smaller staffs and less ambitious plans and programs going forward. The recession has impacted direct hire placement more than temporary staffing, as it has during previous recessions.”

Mulberger added that “trends that have resulted [from the recession] include organizations doing more with fewer people and less resources. Employers, realizing that every hire is really important when working with a lean staff, expect a 100 percent match to the desired candidate criteria. Money is tight so there are pressures on fees and margins. The trend of using systems and automation to get the work done and keep head count low seems to have intensified.”

How is the ACA impacting the staffing industry?
Business owners, political leaders and staffing professionals are waiting with bated breath to see what will happen as a result of the Affordable Healthcare Act. Opinions about whether the repercussions will be positive or negative are all over the map, and people are trying to determine where the costs are going to be placed with the ACA’s implementation. Staffing Industry Analysts reported recently that recruiting firms will most likely see cost increases due to the requirement to provide healthcare coverage to workers who previously could remain uninsured. However other reports show that the costs could be passed on to the clients. The only certainty at this point for most staffing firms is that the costs will be laid at the feet of someone in the process.

“Well for sure, [the ACA] will raise costs somewhere for someone in the mix. The extent that staffing firms can pass some or all of the costs to clients remains to be seen,” Mulberger explains. “The news media reports that some organizations have shifted part-time staff workload to 29 hours per week and the repercussions from that won’t be known until some time goes by.”

To handle the change in processes and create a plan to handle the implementation of the ACA, Mulberger, like many other staffing professionals, is beginning to create a plan for the future.

“We [at NRI Staffing Resources] are talking to several insurance organizations to see who has a handle on what needs to be done to be in compliance and also to get on top of the record-keeping and paperwork. The one-year reprieve is helpful to the planning and preparation process.”

How can job seekers succeed in this market?
With the future implementation of the ACA and the lingering effects of the recession, many job seekers are looking for a way to boost their careers with a new position. Unfortunately, the market is a little less than receptive right now, which means that an individual’s search may be falling flat. Mulberger offers his advice for conquering the employment market and finding that next position in his new book.

“As the title ‘The Ultimate Job-Seeker’s Guide’ indicates, [the purpose of the book] is to provide a complete and definitive guide for job seekers at any and all levels. It begins with a discussion of the ‘world of work’ – what are some ‘absolutes’ of the world of work that a job seeker needs to know to maximize their chances of finding the right job for them. It then provides detailed guides to resumes, interviewing, using staffing services, creative internet searching procedures and related topics to make the process as effective as possible in the shortest time frame.”

“My book details the “world of work” environment that job seekers must understand in order to navigate the job seeking process. My book provides very detailed guidelines regarding resumes and interviewing and a unique chapter on internet searching using Google’s algorithms and the Boolean operators. There is no fluff in it and at 146 pages it is an easy and fast read.”

For staffing professionals and job seekers looking to improve their careers, the advice of a proven professional can provide exceptional insight into where the industry has been and where it might be going is invaluable. The staffing industry has demonstrated that proven skills, the right staffing software and a strong understanding of market trends can keep the industry strong and vital in the changing job market.

The Great Recession has undeniably left its mark on the employment sector. Following the dip in the economy, many companies laid off workers and decreased hiring – leaving millions of professionals scrambling to find work. However, the economy has steadily been progressing since 2008. New reports show that staffing and recruiting professionals’ clients are optimistic about hiring and their staffing software is filling up with new clients signing on and looking for workers to fill positions.

A recent study from Top Echelon has found that 70 percent of recruiters believe their clients are optimistic about hiring throughout the rest of 2013.

“It’s not surprising that companies are optimistic,” said Matt Deutsch, Communications Coordinator at the Top Echelon, according to the press release. “What’s a little surprising is that they’re this optimistic. When you combine the two categories of ‘very optimistic’ and ‘somewhat optimistic’ in this survey, nearly 70 percent of recruiters are optimistic to some degree, a rather substantial figure. “Ideally, the percentage of companies that are optimistic about hiring and embrace it more will continue to grow throughout the rest of this year and into the next. This survey is indicative of a positive trend within the recruiting industry, both for recruiters and for those who are seeking new employment opportunities.”

According to the survey, over half of all staffing and recruiting professionals (52.1 percent) believe their clients are “somewhat optimistic” about hiring, 16.9 percent are “very optimistic” and 26.8 percent are “neutral.” Only 2.8 percent of recruiters report that their clients are “somewhat pessimistic” about hiring and 1.4 percent claim their clients are “very pessimistic.”

This news comes on the heels of last month’s jobs report from the U.S. Department of Labor, which found that the total number of nonfarm employment rose by 165,000 in April 2013. The agency reported that the unemployment rate has declined by 0.4 percentage points since January 2013 to 7.5 percent.

The economy is on the rise and staffing and recruiting professionals are finding that this is improving clients’ outlooks on hiring. As the number of jobs being handled by recruiters continues to rise, the right tools will become an even greater necessary investment. The right staffing software can help a recruiter stay up-to-date on the latest movements of his or her candidates and track the hiring process on any mobile device thanks to cloud technology.

As a staffing professional, a client is trusting you to identify the potential candidates who will demonstrate strong performance in a given role. You’re given a lot of responsibility and are a key player in the hiring process. As you are often the first line of defense against a poor hiring decision, you’ve got to craft a way to identify the low-performing workers.

Your cutting edge staffing software will help you track candidates, organize who’s who, and identify which worker is best for what job. At that point, you still have to weed out the undesirables, the unqualified, the cultural miss-matches, and the chronically poor-performers before they ever get the chance to enter your system as a potential candidate. Here are five tips for identifying under performing workers:

1) Ability to meet goals. First and foremost, you need to know whether a worker is able to complete tasks in a timely manner. Take a deeper look into their portfolio of work or the tasks they were charged with in a past position. Were the responsibilities given to this person on par with industry standards? Next, you have to determine if the person under or over achieved due to unfair standards set at that company or personal failure. This can sometimes be hard to do, but with questioning it is possible. Always check references, and don’t be afraid to ask probing questions of those references.

2) Responsible with communications. How well does the individual interact with you over the phone or in person? While a bit of nerves may be expected and forgiven when interacting with a stranger (depending on what industry the person is in), the inability to communicate effectively is often a deal breaker in an employee-employer relationship. In addition to checking a person’s skills when talking over the phone or emailing, you will also have to ask yourself if they are responsible communicators. Does the person get back to you within an acceptable amount of time? Does the worker spell your name correctly or even remember to use a proper salutation? These are critical skills in the workplace and employers want to be able to trust their workers to handle simple phones calls and emails without direction.

3) Proper attitude. When you have decided to evaluate a potential worker for a position, how did they react? Are they courteous and confident, or are they rude and inept? The right attitude in an evaluation and while completing everyday tasks is important. A client is going to want you to identify a worker who will seamlessly integrate into the corporate culture, but still not be afraid to speak up if there are improvements or strategies that can be developed.

As a staffing professional, what methods do you use to identify who is going to be a strong and productive worker or a potential problem in the office? Some professional recruiters have a system in place, while others rely on a gut feeling. Are you using any technologies, like your recruiting software, to help your make your decision on who to show to a client?