2008 Staffing Industry Analysts Executive Forum

Last week I attended the SI Executive Forum in Las Vegas. The event was packed with quality breakout sessions and notable keynote speakers. I was particularly impressed with Robert Reich's (former Secretary of Labor) presentation on the state of the US economy and Dr. Kevin Freiberg's keynote on change and being brave enough (or having the "Guts") to be a game changer in today's business world. Kudos to the staff who was responsible for putting this event together and their selection of fabulous keynote speakers; nice job!

Robert Reich did an outstanding job of articulating the current state of our economy and his opinion of where we are headed. He used the word "stagflation" to describe the current "perfect storm" economic conditions in the US economy. He also pointed out that the world economy is now stronger than the US economy. Immigration was another big topic in Mr. Reich's presentation. He shared with the crowd that the largest percentage of workers in the US at any given time that were immigrants was 15%. We are once again closing in on the magic number, which in years past has been the cause of legislation, (Smoot-Holly Tariff Act) which in turn had a deepening negative impact on our economy.

Although recently there has been a lot of negative press surrounding our labor economy, there are still bright spots. According to the latest BLS data the health care industry added 36,000 jobs in February, and the food services industry (hospitality) is still growing. The staffing industry is upbeat and confident which could partly be due to the increase in the total number of individuals in the labor force that are now working part-time jobs.

Dr. Kevin Freiberg really got the audience fired up. If you did not get fired up, you were obviously not listening to the passionate presentation in which I was engaged. Trust me when I say that the bravery level among entrepreneurs within the staffing industry went up a notch after listening to Dr. Freiberg's presentation. Current times call for new innovation and strategy that will take bravery in business. Do you have the "Guts!"?

Thank you to all of the staffing industry executives who stopped by our booth for a demo of our newly redesigned website, and a special thank you to all of our customers who stopped by to share their successes using our products. We love to hear from advocates! I also greatly enjoyed the round tables and the chance to learn about current trends within the staffing industry directly from industry leaders. Our attendance and participation in the event is another good example of an investment The Employment Guide is making to stay in tune with the dynamic needs of the staffing industry. We have been meeting your recruitment needs for more than ten years and look forward to continuing to exceed your expectations well into the future.

Let me ask you one more time. Do you have the guts it is going to take to be successful in today's business climate?