An Occupational Psychologist should play a key role in transitions of ownership and/or leadership
in family owned or closely held enterprises. Yet most advisors who work with families on these sensitive
transitions don’t realize that occupational psychologists should be part of the team of transition
professionals. While these advisers often seek the participation of a clinical or counseling psychologist or
a licensed clinical social worker to address the emotional issues that often emerge among family members
during a transition, to optimize transition outcomes, an occupational psychologist should be engaged to
work directly with the enterprise itself.

The occupational psychologist guides the transition of roles, responsibilities and reporting
structures that emerge during the typical three to five year transition period. The occupational

psychologist uses assessments of individuals and job roles to assure that transition decisions are data-
based decisions. Whenever possible, models of future leadership roles are created, and potential role

occupiers are assessed for both current goodness of fit to the role and the need for development toward
a better fit to the role. The occupational psychologist should not be the ultimate decision maker about
whether a given family member or non-family member is best suited for the role; that decision making
still belongs to the family. But it is the occupational psychologist’s responsibility to see that the family
has as much data as possible relevant to any talent decision the family needs to make, whether that
decision is about selection, promotion, change in responsibilities or termination.

Identifying an occupational psychologist to work as part of the transition team is not as easy as it
might appear. Although state licensing is essential for a clinical or counseling psychologist, states vary
widely on their credentialing of occupational psychologists. I’m licensed in the State of Florida and
previously was licensed in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. But many states restrict the licensing of
psychologists to only those individuals who in engage in healthcare specialties.

Professional membership may be a better guide for identifying an occupational psychologist.
Typically they would be a member of the American Psychological Association and identify as a Consulting
Psychologist (Division 13, Consulting Psychology) or as an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist (Division
14, Society of Industrial/Organizational Psychology, SIOP). If they were at the top of their profession, they
likely would belong to the Society of Psychologists in Management, SPIM. I’m a member of both Divisions
13 and 14 and have twice been given the honor of being invited to make major presentations to the
annual conference of SPIM.

Now here’s where identifying the occupational psychologist to participate in the family enterprise
ownership and/or leadership transition becomes really challenging: Relatively few occupational
psychologists have had experience with these transitions. It’s important to find one who not only has
transition experience, but also has been invited to continue engaging with the enterprise long after the
transition has been completed. These occupational psychologists continue to assist in talent selection
and development and for larger enterprises may even have built entire talent management data
architectures. All the work they do must be fully compliant with state and Federal Equal Employment
Opportunity Guidelines as well as with the Americans with Disabilities Acts current Guidelines. I’m now
working with the second generation of a family with whom I began doing transition work for their several
enterprises in 1988. And everything that I’ve done during these twenty eight years is fully compliant with
relevant Guidelines.

A number of small colleges offer services to family owned enterprises. The individual who would
actually deliver those services should meet the same standards as those described above for occupational
psychologists.

Once you’ve succeeded in identifying an occupational psychologist with family enterprise
transition experience, ask them about the assessments they would be using to provide the foundation
for the transition decisions. These assessments should have reliability, validity and norm groups relevant to the individuals who need to be assessed as part of the transition process. And of course they should be compliant with the Federal Guidelines described above. At www.cppkitchenbath.com website, you can find more information about reputable and experienced kitchen designers located in cape cod. Every well-developed assessment has a
Technical Manual; don’t be afraid to ask to review that Manual. You’ll know you’ve found the right
occupational psychologist to participate in the transition if they applaud your interest in wanting to know
as much as possible about the assessments they use to generate data that support decision making
throughout the transition process.

Written by: Leslie H. Krieger, Ph.D., SPHR
President and Consulting Psychologist
Assessment Technologies Group (ATG)

INTRODUCTION:

Contract furniture dealerships face many talent management challenges, but conversations with several dealership leaders and principals indicate that the greatest talent management concerns center on the various stages of building the dealership talent pipeline. Although individual dealerships might differ in the priorities they place on each talent pipeline concern, all agree that four talent pipeline processes are critical for dealership success and sustainability. Those talent pipeline processes are:

1. Selecting the strongest entry-level talent who will stay and grow
2. Developing individual contributors into supervisors and managers
3. Powering sales people to optimize their contribution to revenue
4. Preparing leadership and dealer principal succession

Let’s look at each of these critical talent pipeline processes and explore the systems and activities that would optimize its effectiveness. Many of these systems and activities until fairly recently were available only to organizations much larger than the typical dealership. Now with online communications, scalable talent management architectures and expert system databases, even the smallest dealership can afford to access these talent pipeline resources.

SELECTING THE STRONGEST ENTRY LEVEL TALENT WHO WILL STAY AND GROW:

Sourcing and selecting entry level talent may be the single most important talent pipeline process for a dealership, since the depth of entry level talent sets very real boundaries on the dealership’s capabilities to deliver, innovate and grow. The sourcing and selecting process is best supported by implementing an integrated approach that includes hiring management automation, jobrelevant assessments, and job-specific interview protocols.

Hiring management automation drives employment applications through an artificial intelligence guided web-based screening and qualification process. No paper is created and no effort is required on the part of the dealership’s human resource function until the process identifies a qualified candidate. Qualified candidates, then, can be routed by the software through job relevant assessments and, if appropriate, scheduled for an interview appointment with human resources and/or the hiring manager. This automation improves candidate quality while eliminating tedious hours of reading through stacks of resumes and then trying to connect with applicants who seem promising on paper.

Job relevant assessments also are web based and can be made available to an applicant either un-proctored at their own email address or proctored at a computer in the dealership. Typically these assessments include a measure of work style and one or more tests of critical thinking and/or job specific skills. If the dealership or a group to which it belongs has invested in building a model of a particular job, the applicant can be matched directly to that model. If no job-specific model exists, the applicant can be compared to appropriate population norms. Either way, the assessment process enables the applicant to demonstrate their suitability and capability to succeed in the available job.

Job specific interviews are much more likely to predict individual job performance than are the informal, unstructured interviews typically used by smaller organizations. In an integrated approach to selection, the job specific interview is divided between the automated delivery of the artificial intelligence driven hiring management system and the live in person interview conducted by the human resources and/or hiring manager interviewer. Focus groups with people who have been in the dealership long enough to observe the success or failure of several people who have held a specific job uncover the biodata and behavioral elements that predict these performance outcomes. Then questions are written to assess the extent to which a job applicant displays the elements that contribute to success. An applicant’s response to each question is scored, and these scores tallied to provide an objective measure of likely success on the job.

DEVELOPING INDIVIDUAL CONTRIBUTORS INTO SUPERVISORS AND MANAGERS:

The leap from individual contributor to effective supervisor or manager is much greater than most people estimate it to be. Not surprisingly, therefore, many highly successful individual contributors need help in making this transition to their first role with responsibility for others. This transition process is best supported by implementing an integrated approach that includes early identification of supervisory and management potential, a menu of relevant internal and external training resources, and a structured coaching and mentoring program.

Early identification of supervisory and management potential can be made from a combination of behavioral observations, performance evaluations, and standardized assessment of readiness for supervisory and management roles. Data from these three sources are combined to highlight an individual’s already evolved supervisory and managerial strengths and also their needs for further development prior to taking on this additional level of responsibility. Feedback of this information with the individual should result in the co-creation of a realistic plan for career transition to a targeted supervisory or management position. The career transition plan should identify developmental resources and set target dates for the several recommended activities to be completed, assuring that the individual’s efforts remain focused.

The menu of relevant internal and external training resources is designed to meet the most frequent development needs of individuals making the transition from individual contributor to supervisor or manager. This menu might include books, films, online training, classroom training, vendor or association-sponsored programs, consultant facilitated programs, job rotations or project assignments, as well as formal course work from a college or university. An individual’s choices from this menu should be guided by their career transition plan and completed by the plan’s target dates. Many dealerships offer tuition reimbursement or a career development budget to individuals who elect to work toward a degree and/or relevant professional certification on their own time.

Structured coaching and mentoring often is necessary to provide individualized transition support beyond that available from training experiences. Larger dealerships are more likely to have a mentoring program in which senior executives are trained to offer long term guidance to one or more junior people who are in various stages of career evolution and/or transition. If you’re looking for cleaning services in Maryland, at http://www.marylandspotlessmaidservice.com website you can learn more about services, view customer reviews, and request a free estimate. Organizations of any size may invite professional coaches to offer their expertise in working with individuals who are moving through these career stages. The personal connection with a mentor or coach greatly increases the likelihood that an individual will meet agreed upon career development goals.

POWERING SALES PEOPLE TO OPTIMIZE THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO REVENUE:

Powering sales people to optimize their contribution to revenue is essential to dealership survival, success and growth. Sales person turnover is extremely expensive and disruptive, making the retention and optimization of sales people truly critical to the dealership. This optimization process is best supported by implementing an integrated approach that includes detailed delineation of selling roles and strategies, assessment and training to increase sales potential, and rational compensation models keyed to the demand characteristics of each of the identified selling roles and strategies.

Detailed delineation of selling roles and strategies is essential in providing sales people with clear expectations for their behavior, performance, and revenue objectives. Most dealership have more than a single selling role, and these roles may not always be formally defined. Typically some distinction is made between sales roles focused on new business development, current client penetration, or client management. A more formal process of job definition that includes task identification, selling strategy rationale, and performance evaluation metrics greatly increases the likelihood that a sales person will understand and deliver to the expectations of their particular selling role.

Assessment and training to increase sales potential provide an avenue for continually improving sales person effectiveness. Assessment of individual sales people can identify their competency at each point in the business to business selling cycle and also uncover the underlying behavioral attributes that may be supporting a competency or holding back its development. Sales training, then, can be tailored to the needs of each individual rather than simply spending the money to send everyone through the same packaged sales training experience. And the return on a training investment can be measured by both changes in sales assessment scores and actual improvement in critical sales outcomes.

Rational sales compensation models deliver desired sales results while balancing the financial needs of individual sales people and the dealership. Appropriate models also are the key to retaining and motivating the best performers. These models work best when they are tailored to the demand characteristics of a particular selling role and/or strategy and also to competitive job pricing in the particular job market. Sales role definition, preferred selling strategy, and market compensation benchmarks therefore must be clarified before a rational compensation model can be put in place. It’s not unusual for a dealership with several different defined sales roles to have a different compensation model in place for each of these roles. And plans also need to be made for the sales person who transitions from one selling role to another.

PREPARING LEADERSHIP AND DEALER PRINCIPAL SUCCESSION:

Preparing leadership and dealer principal succession is the big elephant in the room that few dealers want to address until it’s almost too late to do what’s best for the dealership and its stakeholders. Completely unexpected transition needs brought about by death, disability, or unexpected departure of a leader or dealer principal inevitably create a crisis mentality throughout the dealership that highlights the need for a proactive approach to succession. Preparing leadership and dealer principal succession is best supported by implementing an integrated approach that includes career assessment and development activities, a key person internal vs. external succession strategy, and an “all facets” engagement with the dealer principal.

Career assessment and development activities that support succession planning are an extension of the processes used to identify and develop front line supervisory and management talent. The succession planning activities take a longer term view and are designed to identify individuals with high potential for leadership success and guide them through a series of formal learning and business experiences that will prepare them for increasing responsibility in the dealership. Mentoring and/or coaching relationships are essential in growing people toward the top roles in the organization. And active involvement in industry associations and dealer councils provides additional valuable perspectives on what a leader should be doing to power the dealership forward.

Key person succession strategies inevitably come down to an assessment of the talent available within the dealership and the talent that will need to be brought in from the outside. Although there are many strong arguments in favor of “growing your own”, a completely home grown leadership team may perpetuate an insular view of dealership direction. Bringing on board carefully assessed and selected outside leaders can invigorate the leadership team and bring new energy to drive dealership strategies and growth.

An “all facets” engagement with the dealer principal should be in place several years before that individual expects to transition out of their leadership role and/or give up ownership. Typically dealer principals involve their financial and legal advisors in discussions about their transition but pay little attention to the behavioral impact of the transition on the dealership, themselves and their families. An “all facets” engagement should include a psychologist or organizational consultant as a member of the transition trusted advisor team. Transition preparation activities should include ongoing psychologist facilitated discussions with the dealer principal and the successors to this role. Interventions also may be needed to help other stakeholders within the dealership handle the change of leadership and/or ownership with resilience rather than anxiety. And finally the dealer principal may need guidance in accepting their own changed role and understanding its impact on their self-image and emotions.

Written by: Leslie H. Krieger, Ph.D., SPHR
President and Consulting Psychologist
Assessment Technologies Group (ATG)

This week members of the local OD (Organization Development) Network are meeting to talk about “Next Generation Leadership”.  But does anyone really know what next generation leadership is?  The OD Network members may find themselves the members of the Over Dose Network as they try to parse the ambiguity of this phrase.

Does it mean organizations should be led by those who currently are the followers, a situation where the inmates run the asylum?  Or could it mean that each generation requires its own leadership, a situation in which several age-linked cadres of leaders compete for ultimate control?  Hopefully neither of the above absurdities is the real intent of this phrase.  A look at some relevant research may be helpful.

In 1996 the founding event of ATG’s Futures Leaders capability was a gathering of educational leaders from all over the United States who were brought together to create a model of “The 21^st Century Educational Leader”.  This model became the driver for the preparation, selection and development of community college leaders across the country.  Then, thirteen years later, these leaders were at the forefront of the reinvention of the community college and the evolution of many of these colleges into four-year degree granting institutions.  Now with over twenty years or a generation having elapsed since the creation of this highly impactful leadership model, is it really time to consider “next generation leadership”?  For “The 21^st Century Educational Leader” the answer was “Yes”, and an updated model was built in 2016.

But is the effectiveness of leadership really determined by generations?  Was leadership in the 1960’s actually very different from leadership in the 1980’s?  Will leadership in 2020 be different from leadership today?  Increasingly mega-data research suggests that the answer is “Yes”.  But that answer doesn’t necessarily make leadership generational. It could just as likely be situational or inspirational.

If leadership truly were generational, then each leadership cadre would operate differently from the one before, creating constant chaos and instability in our organizations.  Perhaps that’s what’s actually happening in many of today’s organizations, although my bet would be that they suffer from too little leadership rather than from too much.  Either way, endless waves of change aren’t necessarily by themselves beneficial.

But defining next generation leadership ultimately may be a fruitless exercise since data from organizations as diverse as the Center for Creative Leadership, the Society of Association Executives, and ATG’s Futures Leaders suggest that next generation leadership may prove to be a null set.  These data point to the paucity of people prepared to take on the leadership roles of the future.  And as if to insure this nullness, many of our largest organizations have used a recent economic downturn as an excuse to ditch whatever leadership development resources they might have had.

So, when it comes to next generation leadership we have seen the enemy and they are us!  Talent management professionals including those in organization development have failed miserably to make the business case even for leadership replacement planning.  And forget about getting ahead of the need for leadership curve.  The only useful response to the next generation leadership problem can be found in a paraphrase from the Jewish Rabbinic literature:  “In a place where there are no leaders, you must strive to become one!”

By Dr. Les

I completed the four assessments quickly, and with ease. My goal was to remain as objective as possible and the results came out rather well. I believe Pelocity was the most effective self-assessment I have taken in years. While I was as objective as possible, Pelocity identified 5-6 careers in my top 25 that I am highly interested in pursuing. One of my goals has been to eventually use my master’s in fine arts to teach creative writing at the college level. Pelocity didn’t just list “various” teaching positions among my careers, it specifically listed graduate and postsecondary teaching positions. Not only did Pelocity offer career suggestions to focus me in a particular direction, it confirmed that I am already well on track toward my goals!

I would tell other veterans struggling with their transition from the military to a civilian career to absolutely invest their time in Pelocity. Before any veteran makes a transition (or even during or after their transition), Pelocity can help them take their potentially-misguided job-seeking and focus it into a demonstrated path of success! I am excited to use Pelocity, which incorporates O*Net online, Career One Stop and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to provide every piece of information a career-minded individual needs to plan their future! When it comes to senior care in California, it’s important to consider various aspects of daily care, including applying lotion, dental and oral hygiene. I would definitely use Pelocity again at my next career juncture, even if I were thinking about moving to a different state or region. The resources Pelocity provides includes salary information, job growth statistics, and more for every state, which is appealing to me as a job-seeker.

-Bryan Pitchford

Get an individual assessment through Pelocity.

Bryan is a 16-year veteran of the United States military. He is currently an active member of the Florida Army National Guard. You can connect with him on Facebook at @elPitchford or Twitter at @darthbueller.

The digital transformation has disrupted, and in some cases, degraded entire industries. Let’s examine the impact of this phenomenon on future jobs and discuss an approach to addressing this unprecedented development in the history of humankind.

The price of technology decreased roughly 10,000-fold over the last 20 years. The computing power of our smartphones would have cost about $4 million as little as 20 years ago. Today, we carry in our pockets more computing power than it took the Apollo mission to go to the moon and back. As of 2016, more people around the world own smartphones than toothbrushes.

Entire industries have been disrupted by the digital revolution, including music publishing by Apple iTunes, traditional print and TV advertising by Google, retail by Amazon, traditional media by social media, taxis by Uber, and hotels by Airbnb. Never have we experienced such a rapid increase in the power of technology with a simultaneous steep drop in pricing. These two drivers account for most of the progress and disruption, and the pace of technological change is not going to slow down anytime soon.

Digital​ ​technologies​ ​are​ ​having​ ​a​ ​profound​ ​impact​ ​on​ ​all​ ​industries.​ B​ig Data, the Internet of Things, 3D printing, robotics, cloud computing, social media, mobile devices, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and machine learning—they all impact architecture, agriculture, education, healthcare, banking, financial services, news, politics, entertainment, manufacturing, sports, and tourism to name a few.

Digitization has profoundly influenced business operations across all sectors, from recruiting and professional development to public relations, marketing, sales, customer service, finance, and IT. In the modern workplace, it’s hard to find a professional role that doesn’t incorporate some form of digital activity. This widespread digital integration has also paved the way for specialized digital marketing strategies, such as SEO for AI companies, which tailor their approaches to meet the unique needs of firms operating in the tech and artificial intelligence sectors.

On September 7, 2016, in a nearly unanimous vote of 367-4, the U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution calling for the United States to develop a national Internet of Things strategy (IoT). The House IoT Resolution, H.Res. 847, acknowledges the tremendous transformational economic and societal potential of digital technologies. It highlights​ ​the​ ​importance​ ​of​ ​a​ ​national​ ​strategy​ ​to​ ​ensure​ ​that​ ​the​ ​U.S.​ ​continues​ ​to​ ​lead the​ ​world​ ​in​ ​technology​ ​innovation.

Ultimately, the success of the digital transformation depends on addressing the digital​ ​skills gap, which, according to McKinsey & Company,​ ​”imposes​ ​on​ ​the​ ​United​ ​States​ ​the economic​ ​equivalent​ ​of​ ​a​ ​permanent​ ​national​ ​recession.”

The Future of Jobs, a new report from the World Economic Forum claims that five years from now, 35 percent of skills that are considered important in today’s workforce will have changed.

More companies are requiring a mix of technology and people skills, and 2016 is being called the year of the hybrid job. In an analysis commissioned by Bentley University, researchers examined 24 million job listings, looking for key skills across nine industries. They found that employers want multifaceted employees who possess hard skills such as digital technologies, coupled with traditional soft skills like communication and collaboration.

We need to address digital skills gap with the effective K-12/college digital literacy curriculum. The very rapid technology changes left many teachers unprepared to provide educational or vocational leadership in the context of the vital digital skills.

Based on the extensive practical experience, 3CLICKS.US has developed a series of online courses to inspire students, teachers, parents and professionals to discover the vast array of digital transformation feasibilities and opportunities. They explain how enhancing digital skills can positively impact their professional lives, businesses, careers and communities.

You can contact Greg Gutkowski at greg.gutkowski@3clicks.us

What Happened to Equifax?

Equifax recently revealed that highly sensitive personal and financial information for around 145 million U.S. consumers was compromised in a cybersecurity breach that began in late spring due to an IT vulnerability. There are only around 125 million households in the U.S. The breach included sensitive information such as Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and, in some instances, driver’s license numbers.

What was the Equifax IT Vulnerability?

The reported vulnerability that attackers exploited to access Equifax’s system was in the Apache Struts web-application software, a widely used enterprise platform. But as subsequent coverage of the incident has unfolded, it has become clear that Equifax had institutional problems maintaining systems in a secure state. To top it off, the attackers had access to the network for a long period of time and left plenty of clues that they were there, none of which were detected until much later.

How to Avoid an Equifax Disaster?

Anti-virus and Firewalls are no longer enough to keep the bad guys out. Companies must now take the proactive measure of locating and remediating their IT vulnerabilities within their networks, devices, proprietary applications and other IT assets. To do this, you must engage a cyber security professional with the knowledge of current global cyber threats and the talent to simulate an attacker, enabling you to strengthen your cyber security posture.

Here are some quick cyber security breach facts:

• There are 1.5 million attacks every year, 4,000 attacks every day, 170 attacks every hour and nearly 3 attacks every minute in the US.
• The average consolidated total cost of a corporate data breach grew from $3.8 million to $4 million last year alone.
• Us cyber-attacks are costing businesses $400 to $500 billion a year and is quickly becoming the reason executive jobs are lost.
• 60% of small to mid-sized companies go out of business within six months of a cyber-attack.
• Because insurance companies are still attempting to understand the cyber security space, there are many gaps in cyber security insurance coverage.

OnDefend is your Solution

OnDefend’s Vulnerability Management Services identifies, quantifies and prioritizes vulnerable assets within your IT environment that can be successfully exploited by a cyber-attack. Additionally, OnDefend provides remediation solutions to help resolve these vulnerabilities efficiently and effectively.

Find and fix your vulnerabilities before the bad guys do. Its fast, its easy and affordable!

OnDefend strengthens the security postures of companies across the US. Contact us now to get a quote.

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The U.S. Department of Labor recently released its March 2017 Veteran Employment Update showing that 40 of the 50 states experienced a drop in their veteran unemployment rate over the past year, though Florida remained unchanged at 4.7 percent. To better help Florida’s veterans, Pelocity, a cutting-edge career guidance software company based in Jacksonville, has partnered with the Jacksonville Military Veterans Coalition (JMVC) to connect more veterans with employers looking to fill high-wage, high-demand careers in the state.

Through a partnership with the Learning Alliance Corporation, a grant from the Department of Defense and the gracious endorsement of retired Brig. Gen. Michael P. Fleming, Pelocity is aiming to connect as many as 2,000 of our nation’s noble veterans with military-friendly employers.

“As Chair of the JMVC, we are constantly seeking partners who add value to our military veterans. The professionals at Pelocity provide high-quality career support to veterans at no cost, which is a powerful combination,” said Fleming. “We are fortunate to partner with Pelocity to enhance our support. We thank Pelocity for their commitment to veterans and look forward to working with them.”

Pelocity provides an integrated network for individuals and employers alike. It allows veteran subscribers to embark on a unique career exploration through a series of assessments. These assessments are meant to measure their knowledge, skills, abilities and personal work style. The system then matches candidates to job opportunities based on the best-fit careers in their Pelocity profile. The Department of Defense grant provides employers’ access to the Pelocity Enterprise Portal, which allows companies to find veteran candidates whose preferences align with the company’s open employment positions.

Stephen Pollan, CEO of Pelocity’s parent company, Assessment Technologies Group, said the software provides a better match because it incorporates intangibles like personal preferences and work style, which can be a better measure of an employee’s on-the-job success.

“Pelocity bridges the gap between education, employers and career readiness,” said Pollan. “It matches individual and corporate personalities, not just keywords.”

Hanania Automotive Group has joined with Pelocity in making it easier for transitioning military members to obtain employment and join a winning team. Hanania has more than 500 employees across 15 dealerships throughout Florida and Tennessee. The company had long been an advocate for veterans, providing support to K9s for Warriors, the U.S.O. and the Jacksonville-area military air shows. When retired NAS Jacksonville Commanding Officer Captain Howard Wanamaker was hired last fall as the company’s Human Resources Director, he quickly recognized Pelocity as an opportunity to expand Hanania Automotive Group’s veteran-friendly initiatives.

“We are excited to partner with Pelocity and the JMVC to bring more talented, skilled and experienced veterans to our Hanania team,” said Wanamaker. “Across the board, veterans possess extremely strong leadership skills, dedication and work ethic.”

Pelocity brings to light those valued skills possessed by veteran candidates – skills that are highly important to all Jacksonville businesses. It enhances the core vision of JMVC, which recognizes that many of the skills veterans develop in the military – leadership, fast and accurate decision-making, operational focus, and the drive to accomplish a mission – have extreme value to employers. Together with JMVC and Hanania Automotive Group, Pelocity is working to build awareness of how these veteran skills and personality attributes make military veterans outstanding employees.

About Pelocity

Pelocity is a career-guidance software where people, educators and employers intersect. It combines the best of science and technology to empower students, job-seekers and transitioning veterans to choose the right career, get the right education, connect with the right employer and maximize their earning potential. Like a GPS for the future, Pelocity’s patented methods determine the best occupational goals for an individual’s education and career planning. For more information, or to get started, visit Pelocity.

About the Jacksonville Military Veterans Coalition

The JMVC is committed to honoring military veterans and currently-serving members of the National Guard and Reserve by facilitating career, business and education opportunities in Jacksonville. The JMVC believes that veterans and transitioning military service members have acquired a wealth of knowledge, skills and competencies through practical workforce experience and are ready to supply the very skills businesses need to be successful. The JMVC provides business and job listings on its Jobs for Vets website as well as hiring assistance and toolkits for organizations that are unfamiliar with hiring veterans. For more information on the JMVC, please visit the JMVC website.

According to the U.S. Labor Department, the unemployment rate has fallen to 4.3 percent, its lowest point since 2001. Some analysts believe the 138,000 U.S. jobs added in May will even be enough to encourage the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates later in June. But it’s not all good news. The rate of job growth has actually been slowing down in recent months – and that could mean trouble for both employers and job seekers.

Why the slowdown?

The economy has been steadily recovering from the Great Recession. At the current hiring pace, unemployment could soon drop to a level that some analysts would claim indicates a healthy economy. Others believe this slowdown is necessary to maintain balance. Either way, the job market waters are murky. Many people that were considered unemployed were not necessarily hired but had actually stopped looking for work in recent weeks. While this had a positive impact on the unemployment rate, the fact remains that fewer new job opportunities are being posted.

The showdown

Fewer new jobs are going up yet job openings are still at an all-time high, meaning companies are not actually filling as many positions. With more job applicants already on the clock, employers have less hiring options to place the skilled workers they need. Traditionally, that is good news for applicants because employers tend to raise pay in order to attract the best candidates. Advantage, job seekers.

However, employers are taking a pass on raising wages (for now), mainly because they don’t yet have to. With the previous large pool of job seekers, they were able to keep wages low and still find the skilled people they needed. But now executives are tapping their fingers over the fact that employee productivity has fallen by 0.6 percent over the first quarter of 2017. Until productivity ramps up, employers are taking a pass on pay raises. Advantage, employers.

Here’s how it’s going to go down

Economists have suggested that this hiring lag will lead to higher wages in the next year or so after the new hires get past the learning curve and start increasing productivity. But that means employers have to place the right skilled employee now and employees have to find the right position that fits their work style.

Now more than ever, employers are seeking better candidates through talent development consultants and employees are seeking organizations where they can have longevity. Workstyle and ability assessment tools help both sides match skills and personality traits to the requirements of the job. They go beyond simple resume keywords to bridge the gap between education, employers and career readiness. It is a simple solution that quite often pays for itself through lower turnover, reduced HR spending and greater productivity.

A better bottom line for employers, greater pay and job satisfaction for employees. Advantage, everyone.

Does hiring smart pay off in higher profits? You bet it does! In fact, hiring smart typically brings a much greater return on investment than does spending on process improvements or capital equipment.

Let’s look at actual ROI data from hiring smart initiatives we created for three very different businesses: debt collection, product distribution, and fast food.

CASE STUDY #1: A FINANCIAL RECOVERY AGENCY

Hiring Smart Investment: $30,000

Details: ATG helped the agency select debt collectors who quickly surpassed the national average of debt collected per month, enabling its 100 collectors to collect an additional $2.5 million per year.

ROI : 8,300%.

CASE STUDY #2: A PRODUCTION DISTRIBUTION COMPANY

Hiring Smart Investment: $80,000

Details: ATG helped the company select field sales associates whose first year turnover rate dropped from 54% to 28%, resulting in reduced annual turnover costs of $16.3 million per year

ROI: 20,300%.

CASE STUDY #3: A FAST FOOD RESTAURANT COMPANY

Hiring Smart Investment: $150,000

Details: ATG helped the company identify better-fit store managers and team members, resulting in reduced turnover, faster customer service response and greater customer spending. This produced an overall bottom line improvement of $17 million per year.

ROI: 11,300%.

These impressive, real-life returns on investment occur in part because of the economies of scale present in larger organizations. However, even smaller businesses can obtain measurable benefit from introducing a hiring smart strategy. Many smaller businesses don’t recognize that the true cost of turning over a non-sales employee typically equals half of that employee’s base compensation. So, turning over one $40,000 a year employee costs a business $20,000, factoring in the costs of separation processing, replacement hiring, new hire training and lost productivity and opportunity.

For example, a moderate-sized company might employ 20 people whose base compensation averages $40,000. At a 10% turnover rate, the costs of turning over those two people would be $40,000 per year whereas a hiring smart strategy typically would cost a company around $4,000 a year. If this strategy prevented just one turnover, the dealership’s annual turnover costs would be reduced by $16,000, giving them an ROI of 400%.

Early adopter companies have been using hiring smart strategies for over fifteen years. These strategies enable a company to match candidates against research-based models of key roles such as Designer, Project Manager, and Sales Executive, or to have custom plans created at a very low cost.

Although it can take between 18-24 months before meaningful investment returns can be calculated, there is every reason to believe that investing in a hiring smart strategy will have a very positive impact on a company’s bottom line.

Stop wasting HR dollars and start hiring smart. Contact us to get started.

“We use technology to advance the way talent and companies connect,” Stephen Pollan said. Stephen is the founder and CEO of Pelocity, a Jacksonville-based company WWP is working with to identify careers for warriors.

The technology goes beyond a simple question-and-answer format. It creates a database of prospective jobs and spells out, in detail, what is necessary to apply.

“This means a warrior knows if they can start that career right away, or if they need to expand their skills,” said Kevin Rasch, WWP Warriors to Work^® manager. “This allows Wounded Warrior Project to steer veterans toward additional education, if needed, or networking opportunities for jobs they are already qualified for.”

“The assessment pinpointed what I wanted my career to be,” Navy veteran Gabriel Perez said. “The survey came back with network administrator and computer technician as my top careers.”

Gabriel already targeted those fields in his career search. He has been working with WWP career counseling on his resume and interview coaching.

“Wounded Warrior Project has helped me throughout my search,” Gabriel said. “Now I have opportunities with potential employers.”

WWP placed more than 2,800 warriors and family members in meaningful careers, creating more than $95 million in economic impact in 2016. Through partnerships with organizations like Pelocity, WWP is working to increase opportunities.

Pelocity is operating on a grant to connect veterans in Florida with career opportunities; they hope to expand it nationwide while working with WWP. One of the benefits for warriors is starting on the assessment while they are beginning their transition out of the military, giving them a head start on their next career.

“Pelocity also looks at the future of careers,” Stephen said. “You don’t want a job that is going away in 10 years.”

To learn and see more about how WWP’s programs and services connect, serve, and empower wounded warriors, visit http://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/, and click on multimedia.

About Wounded Warrior Project
Wounded Warrior Project^® (WWP) connects, serves, and empowers wounded warriors. Read more at http://newsroom.woundedwarriorproject.org/about-us.

This article was originally drafted by the Wounded Warrior Project and reprinted with permission. Contact: Rob Louis, Public Relations; 904.627.0432; rlouis@woundedwarriorproject.org