I recently had the opportunity to interview Len Adams, the Founder and CEO of ACG Resources / Adams Consulting Group. Len is passionate about helping jobseekers and fellow recruiters to maintain some perspective whenever there is a challenging economic climate, such as today.
Len outlined that there are in fact 7 key reasons why companies make hires, triggers that cause them to need to make hires if you will. Only one of those is economic growth - and so there are compelling reasons to believe that companies will still be making lots of hires over the coming months in spite of the more challenging economic backdrop.
Here's the full video interview with Len - with a transcript of the session underneath.
Hey everyone. Thanks for tuning in for today's video.
Really excited today to be joined by Len Adams. Len's going to be sharing with us some insights that are going to make you feel a lot more positive about the jobs market right now.
Len, could I just ask you to introduce yourself and your company, so people know a little about you?
Sure. Thank you, Tony.
I appreciate it, and thank you for inviting me to speak. My name is Len Adams. I am the CEO and Founder of Adams Consulting Group. ACG Resources
We are a global recruiting and temporary staffing firm. I've been in the business more decades than I want to admit to. But, ACG has been around for just about 18 years.
We're a family owned business, with a second-generation coming up behind me ...and a team of people that have been with me for quite a long time.
So we're very fortunate to have, almost zero turnover. Fantastic.
And, I was really excited about getting you on for an interview Len, because when we first spoke you were talking about seven reasons that companies typically will make hires.
And, the fact that most of those seven reasons are actually still valid today, even with, you know, the turmoil that we've had.
So would you mind spending a few moments just talking through those seven reasons?
Absolutely.
And, I may look down a little bit because I want to make sure I don't forget them.
So for all the years that I have been in the business, you know I've been through, as you can tell by my age, several recessions; Superstorm Sandy in New York, the 2008 recession, 9/11. And, through all of these, there's always a lot of bad press as to how bad the job market is.
The job market's terrible, unemployment is at an all-time high, and we're experiencing that now.
But, what I found, in training my staff, and even my own motivation, to go out looking for new business. I've come to realize that there are seven triggers in any company, that trigger an open position, and those triggers, and I'll talk about them in a little more detail, are
- resignation,
- termination,
- relocation,
- retirement,
- illness,
- death
- and expansion
Six of those occur all the time. Expansion is the one wild card, that comes when the market is really moving.
So, if you really think about it, and you know, I've done some speaking at outplacement firms, and I always make a joke about it. I say - as we're talking, someone has just ticked off their boss and gotten fired, and that creates a hole. And, now it may not be that specific job, but they're going to move someone from another area perhaps into that role. And it'll create a hole, there'll be some shuffling, reshuffling.
So, if you go out with that mindset, no matter how bad the market is, something is going to happen. Somewhere.
And you know, it's served us well in thinking about this, that you know, there's always a job out there. Now, you know, the last seven weeks have been absolutely brutal.
I will tell you that, our temp business, we've maintained it, we didn't add much.
Our perm business, March 12th, came to a screeching halt.
But, as we've gotten into the past 7 weeks, the last 2 weeks... all of a sudden, things are happening. People have moved around. People have decided not to go back to work. People have unfortunately passed away, and we are getting orders coming back in.
So, it just ratifies my thought process, that things do happen, all the time. Yeah, so there's been a sort of, a short lull when companies have literally just not known what to do and have paused things. But now, actually, six of those seven reasons are kicking back in again.
And, so there is some hiring taking place. Am I hearing you correctly?
Absolutely. The expansion will come back.
Everything I'm reading is saying that in the third quarter, third and fourth quarter should be better. So you know, we're always cautiously optimistic. But you know, the job market's very fluid. And you know, unfortunately, bad news sells press.
So, you know, the bad news is always going to be that there was it, 40 million people unemployed, and I feel for them, and yes, a lot of them are unemployed.
The restaurant industry, the travel industry, the tourism industry. And that's difficult.
But a lot of the other core industries, you know - IT and finance, and life sciences, and so on will continue hiring.
And, you know, there is a temporary lull because of these last two months, but as things get back to whatever the "new normal" is. I think we'll start seeing more activity again.
So if you were to give, a job seeker, you know, just one or two pointers, one or two bits of advice in the current market, what would you recommend, that people, focus on doing to try and be well placed to get hired again?
Sure. Two things. First of all, if you're in an industry that's completely dead, such as hospitality or the travel industry, look to see what your skills are and how they're
transferrable into another industry.
Maybe even an unrelated industry.
Everybody has skills that can be used somewhere else. Be creative, try to think outside of the box. You know, it's not always, I'm doing this, so I need to continue doing this. There are ways to transition into other areas. If you think creatively and look around, look outside the box so, you know, you have to really think:
- What else can I do?
- What skills do I have?
You know, if I'm in customer service, customer services... is a soft skill that can go anywhere. Just because you're a reservationist in the hotel industry doesn't mean you can't be in another industry that has heavy customer service needs.
Absolutely, terrific advice, and thinking about employers for a moment as well.
Any advice - what you think they should be focusing on, what they should be expecting over the coming months?
Anything you're hearing from candidates, that they need to be taking into consideration?
Well, I think from the employers' viewpoint, I think it's gonna be a little bit of a challenge, right now because of the unemployment, and the extra stimulus money that people are receiving.
There's a large reluctance on people's part, to go back to work because on some levels they are making more money, on unemployment, and so - I think they're going to encounter that. And on the flip side, they'll encounter because of the large unemployment, they'll probably get inundated with resumes.
So they really have to be very careful as to how they look and where they look and what they put out there and try to be specific as to what they are looking for.
Great. Thank you. Really positive advice Len
And I hope people watching this will feel that there's light at the end of the tunnel in terms of finding a new role, perhaps changing industry, getting back into employment. Any other comments or observations you'd make?... And, I'd also like to invite you to share with everyone how they can find your company. What's the best way of contacting you?
Yes, the best advice I can give... You know, having been through numerous bad situations with the economy is that, it does get better.
Stay positive.
Stay focused.
Keep looking.
Keep the lights on upstairs, because something will happen.
Okay, you have to stay positive
If anyone is looking to reach out to us, our website is www.acgresources.com
My name's Len Adams.
My email is [email protected]
and my direct line is 646 442 2271
My team is happy to speak with anyone that needs help, both from the client's side and the candidate's side.
That's wonderful Len. Thanks ever so much for your time today and on behalf of everyone, thanks for sharing your insights. Bye for now.
Thank you, stay safe everyone.
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