Time, there just isn’t enough of it…

Having graduated from my student life and now entered the real world, I’ve come to notice the vast shortage of time in my new life. From making my own schedule to following a set work schedule, having to more carefully manage one’s time is a difficult change but one worth making. This week at Comrise, we Leadership in Training Associates seized onto our “Time Management Lunch and Learn Session.” We learned all the different ways in which we waste our time and how we can properly allocate the precious 24 hours we are given in one day. Randy Pausch, a well known and respected scholar who passed away in 2008 due to pancreatic cancer, didn’t leave without sharing his helpful insight in his last few months. General Manager Tom Liou is a big believer of Randy’s philosophy on efficiency and took this opportunity to expose the Leadership in Training Associates to the secrets of time management.

Here are a few highlights that I personally liked that can help one be more organized and time effective:

1- Create a to do list
2- Buy yourself a calendar or organizer
3- Ask yourself which tasks are more important rather than simply due sooner
4- Turn off your T.V. for a week and see how you can allocate your time differently
5- Always write stuff down, it takes up less of your brain power to have to go back and remember it again

These are a few simple yet effective ways to better manage your time and be more efficient in your day. Take a look at this link to get the full scope of Randy’s lecture on time management to see how you can better use your time and thus accomplish more of the important things in your life: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTugjssqOT0.

Main valuable lesson for me: Time is the most valuable thing you can give to someone, because it is the one thing you’ll never get back. Use it wisely, whether you devote your time to yourself, your family, to work, or to the community - just never waste it!!

Job-Sectors with Recession-Proof Pay

I was passed along this article by a colleague last week about 5 job-sectors for which the average salary barely dips, in other words is "recession-proof." With the economic recovery slowly but surely occurring, this article could be valuable resource to both recent graduates who have entered the job-market and unsure about which industry to target, as well as professionals with past work-experience in different industries, perhaps thinking about a career change.

As for the professionals already working in the job-sectors listed below, well it seems like you made the right decision (based on upon average salary trends in a strong vs. weak economy).

According to Yahoo Finance, the 5 industries that "recession-proof" pay are 1) Healthcare 2) Government 3) Military 4) Accounting and 5) Information Technology.

If a recession-proof salary is what you're after, consider these industries for your new career path. And specifically for the professionals within the IT world, you can view Comrise' IT job openings here

Here's the link to the complete article

-SG

The Art of Intrapreneurship

So you're probably wondering what an intrapreneur is? An Intrapraneur is someone who does entrepreneurial things within an existing corporate context. A Change Agent. A visionary who can also drive the change he/she sees. Someone who brings new possibilities into reality - not for their own purposes, but to build, grow or improve an existing company. In the staffing industry, constant innovation and intrapreneurship is definitely a mechanism that be put to greater use to help companies avoid stagnation and foster consistent future growth and success. Comrise does.

Most firms are able to create competitive advantages by finding new and better ways to compete in any given industry and staffing firms are no different. Agreed, that companies such as Comrise are not really creating a “product” that they can innovate, however, the fundamental values at the core of intrapreneurship can be undoubtedly applied to staffing firms and their employees to help improve performance and business processes– starting with inventive changes from the inside.

These are the top 4 characteristics that I believe make the foundation of the intrapreneur:

Creativity. This is one of the most important attributes of intrapreneurs. They don’t see what is but what could be. This translates to always having the “creativity” switch powered on. Such a mindset allows the intrapreneur to consistently superimpose a view of the future on the present.

Agility. Intrapreneurs must be willing and able to roll with the punches and be quick enough to find new directions and opportunities to make progress. It definitely helps to take the initiative and do some independent research in order to avoid being slowed down by learning curves, etc.

Persistence. It is not always important to hit a “home-run”, so to speak, in every discussion or presentation. I have realized that it is much more important to be bigger than any one day or any specific (crushing) decision. Listen to and accept feedback/criticism, and use it to improve yourself and ultimately, the company.

Commitment. Something I recall from one of Guy Kawasaki’s speeches, is that an intrapreneur must be infected with “a love for what the team is doing”. It is important to hire and retain people in a business that actually “get it” and “love it”.

Employees should continuously build their personal entrepreneurial toolkit by learning on and off the job. By taking on multiple, multi-functional, challenging jobs within the company and by learning the art of taking calculated risks (frequently), not only will the company benefit, but the employee may also benefit a great deal. After learning about the complacent attitude and conservative approach taken by many other staffing firms within the industry, I am glad to see Comrise is taking measures to embrace and foster this intrapreneurial thinking and subsequently use it to drive its ambitious growth strategy.

Personally speaking, the intrapreneurial drive is one of the keys to keeping me focused on innovation in the workplace. If I’m not doing something innovative, the intrapreneurial urge kicks in and starts driving me in that direction. For young and dynamic companies such as Comrise, mastering the art of intrapreneurship is very important, and we do realize that. If implemented the right way, it will undoubtedly help many staffing firms such as ours to establish sustained profitability and powerful market presence within an industry that has always been characterized as having a very wide-open playing field.

A True Summer Internship Experience

I just wrapped up my summer internship here at Comrise, and as I brainstormed what to write in my last blog post (spontaneous writing is not my forte), I had trouble settling on one topic since I was so intent on finding one that would allow me to create the perfect, final entry. If you recall, last time I wrote a post, the Comrise team had just come together to work on several particularly difficult job reqs, so it was simple for me to choose something to write about. As luck would have it, however, the Comrise team came together once again last week, and even if the occasion doesn't lead me to write the perfect post, at least I'm staying consistent with the underlying themes of unity and togetherness.

This past week, we had our Town Hall, and it was the first time I saw all the Comrise employees gather in one setting. The topic of discussion centered around what our Comrise culture was and what we wanted it to be going forward. A Town Hall, in its traditional sense, is generally known to be an opportunity to vent any frustrations and offer suggestions for improvement, so not surprisingly, I expected to see just that in our meeting. However, this was not the case. As we went around to share thoughts, some praised their fellow colleagues for their contributions, some explained how they pitched our close-knit culture to other companies as a key differentiator, and some simply expressed how grateful they were for everything Comrise offers its employees. Sure, we all recognized that we faced significant challenges in our industry, with the economic situation, various governmental reforms, and the competitive landscape, but we were optimistic--optimistic that our culture and the way we operated would lead to success. "We are in it to win it," our manager repeated.

I am not saying that Comrise is perfect; we have our share of problems like anyone else. The difference is that we as employees, no matter our rank or job title, can voice our concerns freely, and our management cares enough to resolve them as quickly as humanly possible. It's not uncommon to see our manager or other directors walk around the office and ask how everyone is doing and how they can be of service to us. Because of this, we can share our problems as they come; we don't need to wait for a Town Hall to throw out suggestions and frustrations, and that's likely why our meeting went as smoothly as it did.

The Town Hall was a truly humbling experience and the perfect way to end my internship. I felt privileged to have spent my summer at a place where I could apply my knowledge and have ownership over my projects. A place where I was mentored and allowed to mentor. A place where I was challenged and pushed to think. And of course, a place where I could laugh, joke around, and have a good time. For all this, I thank the Comrise family for daring to invest in me as an intern, for patiently watching me learn and guiding me along the way, and for giving me the opportunity to use my skills and experience to excel. Thank you, Comrise.

New U.S. Visa Fees to Hit Indian Firms

Just yesterday, in order to raise funds for security measures to curtail illegal immigration on the U.S./Mexico border, The U.S. Senate passed a measure that will raise visa application and renewal fees for companies whose workforces are more than 50% foreign workers. Fees will be raised to the neighborhood of $4000 for applications and renewals of H1-B and L1 visas. Passed in the Senate, this bill will now go to the House for approval.

While this won’t directly impact Comrise, this measure (if passed) will be a major blow to other IT Staffing firms like Tata and Wipro, who specialize in helping to bring foreign skilled laborers to the U.S. companies who need their skills. With the majority of their eggs in one basket, these so-called “H1 shops” will have to reconcile these new costs with their existing financial schemes. While they’ll surely try to pass some of these new costs onto the visa holders themselves, these higher fees will certainly impact their business models and their bottom lines.

But, more broadly, what does this measure mean for the American workforce and marketplace, specifically in IT? Will this measure make more room for U.S.-born skilled professionals, as Senator Schumer has argued? Or is an overly protectionist measure, and therefore against WTO regulations, as the staffing firms most directly impacted by this measure argue?

Another question raised by college statistics as they’re released every year, are there even enough American skilled laborers in the market to satisfy the needs of the marketplace? Or is this measure going to force out H1 candidates who don’t even have American counterparts to replace them?

Well, dear reader, what do you think? Good move? Bad move? Irrelevant move? (This isn’t a rhetorical question – discuss below!)

Should this measure pass the House, it seems it’ll only be a matter of time before the answers are revealed…