It’s been six months since I entered the staffing industry, as the marketing director of a local firm. I left a career dedicated to the restaurant industry, including my latest position as a senior manager at a national restaurant corporation with over 565 locations.
So is staffing sexy? Restaurants certainly are! To my knowledge there aren’t any staffing themed reality shows. Nor are there any New York Times best sellers written by iconic staffing specialists. So what was it? Why the change?
Six months ago I was sitting in the lobby to interview, reluctant and nervous. While waiting, I watched a clip demonstrating video interviews. Video interviews. What? Granted, I wasn’t actively in the job market, but this had to be new. I immediately referenced how many hours I had just wasted in the previous weeks stuck in interviews while trying to hire an entry-level marketing coordinator. This video interviewing feature seemed to be a game changer. Now, I was actually interested.
During my interview, I learned of the company’s brand-new mobile recruiting center. A 45-foot custom branded career coach to take interviewing mobile. It also appeared to be a giant mobile billboard; much more noticeable than the one I had hired just weeks ago for thousands of dollars to promote a restaurant opening. Now I was no longer just interested, I was fascinated.
My second interview took place at a gutted, empty building that would be transformed into the company’s new offices — offices that could impact the business and even the community, with plans of a theater and training center to host seminars and guest speakers or to rent for a donation to a local charity, interview rooms named after interviewing tips, employee benefits to reduce stress including a fitness facility, gaming room and café. Now, I really wanted the job.
So is staffing sexy? Maybe not, but you don’t always fall in love with sexy. Maybe you fall in love with an innovative, refreshing, creative business strategy. And the explosive growth doesn’t ever hurt.
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