nancy's corner

Last week Brandy Nagel and I met with a group of recently laid off UPS marketing folks to help them jump start their job search. Many of these talented people have not looked for a job in 15-20 years.  They wanted reassurance they did not need to go buy resume paper (correct), do they need personal business cards (yes), how can LinkedIn really help my job search (business intelligence) and how to use my personal network (tell everybody you are on the job market!).

This thank you note reminds me why I get up every morning:
Nancy,
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day on Friday to share your thoughts, tips, and insights on the current job search environment in the Atlanta area and elsewhere. I found the information you shared to be very useful and walked with several valuable, actionable items to enhance my job search.

Again, thank you for your time and insights!”

We have these and others on our testimonials page.  They make a cold, snowy day seem warm and sunny.

Let’s face it, 2009 was a rocky road for many companies and individuals.  We saw layoffs, budget cuts, projects shelved or killed, even people leave the creative industry.  But through the ashes we also witnessed great triumph.

I have been an Atlanta recruiter since 1995. I went through the Dot Bomb, September 11 and other periods of unrest in the job market.  What is most interesting is the ingenuity, creativity and entrepreneurial spirit these times bring out in the survivors among us.  A layoff can be the birth of a freelancer or a small creative firm. Many displaced freelancers have bonded together and formed their own nimble agencies – able to expand and contract to meet client needs. Some have rediscovered themselves through the shedding of their corporate job and focusing their attention on family, balance and pursuing the type of work that really inspires.

Hire Profile helped many displaced employees find freelance work and new jobs in 2009.  We filled hundreds of projects from our pool of freelance art directors, production artists, designers, marketers, copywriters and illustrators.  We helped clients get the job done when full-time staff was no longer an option.

We spent some of our time reflecting on how we could serve our clients and talent better. As a result, we have upgraded our candidate tracking software, brought on a financial business consultant, engaged a new bookkeeper and overhauled our back office operations and payroll systems.  We created a new brochure and introduced our new tag line, “Visionary Creative Staffing”.  Our “Temp Is The New Perm” program created many new job opportunities. And, we continued our commitment to social media as a recruiting and placement tool through our Facebook fan page and Twitter accounts. These investments will build a strong foundation for a prosperous future.  The good news for everyone–we are already seeing an up-tick in permanent employment searches and have every indication that freelance will remain strong throughout the year!

We are excited about 2010 and looking forward to bringing you even more opportunities and resources to help grow your business and your creative life.

If you feel overwhelmed at the holidays with the family obligations, work deadlines, shopping, decorating and travel? If so, we offer this little bit of advice.  Register with Hire Profile and let us handle the project qualification, estimate generating, client invoicing and collections. You can easily enter all your time on-line and get paid quickly with direct deposit. That will leave more time for all the other chaos that are the holidays!  ENJOY!

Announcing the New Hire Profile Candidate Tracking System

Hire Profile is constantly striving to streamline our systems, become more efficient, and improve our ability to find our talent work.  This is to let you know that we have made some significant enhancements to our applicant tracking and job posting software.  You can now:

Create Your Own Account:

You can now update your resume and update your profile including contact information, objective, skills, education, work experience, salary requirements and availability.  If you are in our database prior to August 2009, we have given you an account already:

URL: http://www.hire-profile.com/find_work/talent_application.shtml

Username: your Email address*
Password: password09

Otherwise, please apply on-line with us either with the link above or to any job you feel you are a fit for here: http://www.hire-profile.com/find_work/open_jobs.shtml

*The system matches you by your e-mail address ONLY. You can change it once you are logged in. Please do not create multiple accounts using different e-mail addresses.

Things are getting busier so please be sure we have the most up-to-date resume, samples and contact information!!