Top Wood Jobs Updates and News Releases:
April 20, 2020 COVID19 Update
April 18th Update from the Wood Products Industry: Since the past mailing more plants and wood products companies are shutting down or laying off employees. As I explained in the past mailing, there will be changes in our industry from this. Some employees will find other jobs and not return to their previous companies and some employers may not hire back everyone they released. I know this from talking to both laid off employees and employers.
Employers have been using Zoom or Skype to conduct face to face interviews before they bring someone to their plant or company. I have had hires without a face to face interview at the company site.
I have found there are companies picking up new clients from outages, while there could be some companies that may not survive financially.
There are some companies bringing back employees and people are getting restless and starting to protest. Hopefully this doesn't lead to more deaths.
If you are laid off, you should check in with me so I can at least be prepared to find something for you in case you do not return to work soon or at all..Reply to this email with your resume and let me know what you might be looking for.
For employers I have supported, keep in mind our recruiting contract could be expired and will need to be renewed. I suspect I will be very busy as everyone starts returning to work.
April 5, 2020 - COVID19 Report
In one month we went from the best job market in over 50 years to the worst job market ever. I talk to people all day across the USA and I have talked to not one plant so far that is shut down, though many are on reduced production and many corporate people working from home. Some plants have seen an increased sales orders as others have reduced their production. Some capital projects have been delayed and many companies have reduced their hiring or put a freeze on hiring where they can. Placements are still being made as people leave jobs for many reasons. I have talked to only a few where they may have or had the virus, but I have not heard of anyone in our industry in critical condition.
Some companies are struggling with interviews and hiring, but hiring continues. Some companies are using Zoom or Skype to do face to face interviews and skipping on site interviews and hiring candidates using these tools.
Some new plant start ups have been delayed, but many I have talked to are simply getting better prepared to ramp up quickly, so I am recruiting for such jobs.
My advice for anyone getting laid off is to contact me just in case you do not get brought back to full time employment. Reply to this email with your current resume in MS Word. I might not have anything for you today, but as we all ramp back up there will be a lot of new job openings and employers will be struggling to find candidates again. I went through this ramp up in 2010 coming out of the great recession and this will be very much the same.
Employers, if you are laying off or getting ready to hire back people that may not be returning, contact me now so I can be prepared to help staff you back. There will be many employees that will find other jobs and not return when you hope they do. I am placing laid off candidates elsewhere, so I know this will possibly happen to you.
September 20, 2019 Job Market Update and Turnover Rates:
We have the best job market in over 50 years with unemployment while one of the lowest turn over rates in history. This is not normal!
In May 2019, the unemployment rate was unchanged over the month, at 3.6 percent, and the number of people who were unemployed was little changed, at 5.9 million. The jobless rate was 3.6 percent in April 2019 and 3.8 percent in May 2018.Jun 12, 2019.
Everyone is working. There are 0.8 candidates for every job in the US. Trump has reduced industrial taxes and environmental pressures while working on tariffs that are fair. Tariffs have caused a lot of pressure on China and other countries while impacting us too, but we have the best stock market ever right now with the Dow Jones at 27,000 and the S&P 500 at 3000, record highs.
We are at maybe the lowest turnover total since 1910 at 44.3% in 2018. Typically over the past when there are a lot of jobs turn over is high as employees have a lot of options. But not the case now and it could be the recession scared them. The highest turn over is baby-boomers and young people.
Turnover Rates maybe the best since 1910? What is your turnover? What does it cost you?
In 2018 total Turnover for all workers averaged 44.3% for the year (quits + let go). Turnover is calculated by total separation/total workers. The highest turnover was Arts & Entertainment at 87.4% and lowest was the Federal Government workers at 14.4%. The Durable Goods industry (wood products which I work in) was 28.9%. The highest total industrial turnover location was the south with 48% and the lowest the northeast at 37%. If you read the article below about the history of turn over, you will see where we are at maybe the lowest turnover total since 1910. I was concerned we had a problem, but not according to the statistics. Having said this though turnover is very expensive and can range in estimated cost from 25% to 150% of the one-year average wage for the people who left. So, to reduce the turnover by any % can be huge. Turnover is highest for younger and older workers. With ability to find jobs quickly online it is much easier to find better jobs and companies.
For a recruiter, placing candidates with a proven track record of affecting turnover in a positive way will help the clients they have.
What is your turnover? What is your personal turn-over for your career?
https://eh.net/encyclopedia/history-of-labor-turnover-in-the-u-s/
Turnover (total separation) by Industry per Year 2014-2018: https://www.bls.gov/news.release/jolts.t16.htm
For more see our page at https://www.topwoodjobs.com/employeeturnoversolutions
April 18, 2018 Job Market Update:
This may be the toughest time to find candidates I have seen as a recruiter. Last year we had a huge exodus for all industries when baby boomers wanted to retire in 2008, but couldn’t due to the recession and last year many gave their 2 weeks’ notice when their IRAs were all up enough to retire with the good stock market and economy. Good employees are leaving companies they don’t enjoy working at any longer and employers are scrambling to find replacements for employees that had been with them for years. Larger companies are offering huge wage, benefit and bonus packages along with sign on bonuses now. Candidates giving notice to take better jobs are having to negotiate offers more where their current employer is offering stay on bonus or severance packages so they stay long enough to be replaced. Less of the “great” candidates” are available unless the wages and benefits out way their current wage and many good candidates looking for a job now often have multiple offers. We now have something new this past year too where large companies are giving their southern border states operations one year to fix their illegal alien problem. I talked to one large wood products company Plant Manager recently in Texas that was given one year to replace 95 of his 200 employees with “legal aliens”. They were notified by immigration that 95 employee’s names did not match their Social Security numbers. He said this will be a huge problem for companies hiring these people when they already can’t find employees. Our US Government will have to fast-track work visas to solve this train wreck. He called looking for a job out of Texas as he saw that he will not be able to properly staff the plant and it will probably shut down within a year. So, take care of your good people and if you can find some good people that are going to work a few more years, make sure you treat them well too or others will be knocking on their door like me. Facebook and other high tech companies are hiring all the young people and offering them great compensation packages that industries like ours can’t afford. We told all our kids years ago they wouldn’t be successful unless they go to college, so there are now no hourly people available. I was trying to recruit one industrial electrician without a college degree that is getting $135,000 as an electrician from Amazon. He has no college degree. There are very good jobs in the wood industry that pay very well and no college degree is required. We are lacking this type of skilled labor around the world. Employers are struggling with finding everyone and anyone. Economies and businesses are only as successful as the amount of qualified employees that can be hired or they can keep. With all of this and low unemployment numbers this is a great job market for employees. I have never been so busy with job searches in the past 8 years of my recruiting.
January 1, 2017
Top Wood Jobs, LLC Aquires Michael Strickland & Associates, LLC Recruting:
Mike Strickland of Michael Strickland & Associates, LLC has decided to retire. Mike began his recruiting business in 2003 and has provided candidates to many of the leading companies in the wood products industry since beginning his business. Mike began his career in the wood products industry in 1972 as hourly operator and advanced to the position of Plant Manager. He held management positions with many companies in the wood products industry including: Bruce Hardwood Flooring, Coastal Lumber Company, Georgia-Pacific, Willamette Industries and Champion International. Mike helped grow the industry through his plant management and recruiting efforts over the years. Mike will enjoy his time with his wife Gail and playing more golf and travelling. Mike has turned over his business and connections to George Meek of Top Wood Jobs, LLC. Mike would like to thank all of the companies and individuals that he has worked with during the his time at Michael Strickland & Associates, LLC.
This will provide Top Wood Jobs with additional contacts for jobs and candidates.
December 14, 2016:
Job Hopping and Career Advancement:
As a recruiter for the wood products and building materials industry, and successful at moving my career forward I find people all the time that do not like their jobs at all and would be better off leaving for something they are more satisfied with. If someone is looking at career advancement, they should be advancing every 3 years. Employees look for individuals that have successfully advanced their careers. If someone is simply moving from one job to the next and it is not a career advancement, I often question why they left and many times it is because they either did not get along with people well or made bad choices with the companies they worked for. Some simply had bad luck with jobs. Employers like candidates that have stayed for at least 5 years per job, but if they advanced their career because of job hopping, they will often consider them for management positions. Sometimes people simply are not doing what they would do best at and then simply have a tough time with the job. A great book to read to help people with that and their careers is What Color is Your Parachute. It allowed me to locate my dream job and be very successful.
October 28, 2013:
The Lack of Skilled Labor
I started working in the wood products industry in 1975 with my first job feeding a tepee burner for a sawmill and plywood plant in Kalispell Montana that was used to burn waste wood. I left that plant to Plum Creek MDF where we then took the residuals that were burned in teepee burners and used the wood to make MDF panels. Since those early years I went on to support building new plants and consulting to the industry and started working as a recruiter full time in 2010 after looking at what was coming to the industry and saw recruiting as being a good opportunity for me.
To be successful at the recruiting business you need to have good recruiting skills, understand the needs of employers for the industry you are working, have good connections and a lot of very good resumes. When our industry started to have its downturn in 2008, there were a lot of people laid off and resumes were available. Jobs for recruiters slowed up, but there were always jobs for people with technical skills whether it be engineering, maintenance or production jobs.
The 76 million baby boomers were really starting to head towards retirement in 2008, but with the stock market and IRAs decreasing in value, many baby boomers held on to their jobs as long as they could until their IRAs bounced back up. For many their IRAs are now back to where they were in 2007 and possibly even better, so now the Baby Boomers are ready to get out after a delay in their retirement plans and the tough times we just went through.
Many employers did not have good systems in place to keep track of where their laid off people went. Some of them either changed industries or now with their retirement programs back up are retiring. I have had many of the largest wood products companies contact me as they are very concerned what is going to happen in the next five years with their work force that are scheduled to retire. The past recession made it difficult for employers to hold on to all their good people and did not have the funds to support training their younger or less experienced employees so they don’t have the people to promote from within. The larger companies have increased their recruiting work force now and the smaller companies are reaching out to recruiters like Top Wood Jobs to locate people with the skills they need. Unfortunately the some of the larger company’s recruiters don’t have the industrial experience that seasoned recruiters have that understand the needs of the employers. For some of these companies they are experiencing higher turnover with less experienced candidates.
This is my fourth year of full time recruiting full time after working in the wood products industry for 35 years. I have seen my business increase each year and I have been forced into turning down more clients and sending less resumes per job because of the demand. For any recruiter in this business long enough they will prioritize their work based on specific criteria. I can’t work on all the jobs I can get, so my focus goes towards the clients that get back to me in a timely basis on the candidates I send and I get the highest fees. When I have clients that don’t get back to me on the resumes I send and they negotiate my contract fees down to the lowest possible fee, they don’t see the resumes I send clients that do get back to me right away and pay me higher fees or retainers. Wood products companies operate their businesses the same way. They support best the clients they have that show them the same urgency that the supplier does and gives them the most business.
When you look at all the jobs there are to fill it is based on the number of candidates that employers need. There are far more sawmills than there are OSB plants and there are more production workers than there are salesmen. 50% of my jobs are production management jobs and 50% are maintenance and engineering jobs. Lumber and plywood make up about 50% of my jobs while OSB and the growing market of wood pellets makes up another 25% and the remainder are for the rest of the wood products industries. With the increase of new wood pellet mills and the startup of OSB plants there has been a surge in the past year with those industries. OSB plants are mostly up now and there are some more wood pellet plants to start up. Plywood and lumber plants are seeking more high level positions to fill retiring employees.
Everyone wants to hire a 35 year old with 50 years of experience, 6 Sigma, a college degree and a clean resume. I suspect that because of the loss we will see in baby boomers retiring now and lack of trained experienced younger workers, we will see companies give in to hiring older more experienced employees where they can. Recruiter fees will increase and companies will put a higher emphasis on training and hiring from within while training their less skilled employees.
I see my business continue to increase over the next five years and beyond as employers struggle to locate the skilled and experienced candidates they will need. Wages went down through the recession, but wages and benefits will go back up to be competitive in the shrinking marketplace for skilled workers.
George Meek www.TopWoodJobs.com
200420