Patience & Perseverance

“Patience and perseverance have a magical effect before which difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish” – John Quincy

I thought that business might get easier with time and experience. Last year marked my 25th year in the Canadian staffing industry and my fourth tour as an industry association President, and yet “easier” is not how I would describe these unprecedented times. Although it’s difficult to predict the economy and short term business outlook, my experience says that we should have tremendous confidence in our medium and long term futures.

The ACSESS (Association of Canadian Search, Employment & Staffing Services) organizational structure including our board, management, support staff, chapters and committees is stronger now than ever before. We have clearly established ACSESS as the highly respected single voice of the industry. We continue to develop greater expertise in the areas of government affairs, education, safety, business practices, ethics and conferences to a degree that we can all be very proud.

People continually ask me what I hear about in the industry and what I predict for our future. Here are a few of my predictions:

Prediction #1: The ACSESS conference to be held this spring in Montreal will be one of the best and highly attended conferences ever. In these challenging economic times, good business managers and owners will take the opportunity to network, learn and prepare for a roaring recovery.

Prediction #2: Staffing companies will play an integral and critical role in Canada’s recovery within the global economy. We will be a significant contributing factor when Canada competes and wins post recession business. We will offer new, innovative and better services to match and deliver the best people for jobs. We will do all this quickly, efficiently and seamlessly.

Prediction #3: Technology will enable us to deliver advanced value-added customer services including integration to customer payment systems, time and attendance reporting, dashboards for key performance indicators, applicant tracking systems, job board and internet integration, order management and vendor management. Staffing companies will be among the fastest adopters of new technologies within the entire services sector; this will be critical to our ability to leap forward.

Prediction #4: ACSESS and the CPC designation will continue to improve to such a degree that our acronyms will become synonymous with professional standards, ethics, and quality services. They will resonate with credibility. Other associations in other industries will look to us as a model for establishing industry professionalism and recognition.

Prediction #5: We will continue to be confronted with segments of the media that are addicted to misguided, uniformed sensationalism. Some elected officials will astonish us with their inaccurate industry generalizations and their desire to regulate and intervene. Some unions will continue to support groups that propagate misinformation about non-unionized industries. Unfortunately, there will always be a questionable staffing company, somewhere, that provides fodder to these destructive forces. Nevertheless, ACSESS will be seen by the mainstream public, government and media as the industry experts who can be relied upon for balance, expertise, truth and meaningful solutions.

I hope to see my fellow staffing profesional colleagues at the ACSESS conference in Montreal on April 30th . Participation at our conference (Prediction #1) is important to making the balance of the predictions come true.

Steve Jones
ACSESS National President