One of the most influential ways to approach a job search is through networking.  But how and why invest your time in networking?

“In 2012, networking accounted for more than one in four hires at major companies, the most of any strategy used in job hunting,” says David Vander Does, President of the National Search Advisory and a Recruitment Consultant with Gore Medical Products and CBI Group.  “And if a candidate has a referral from inside a company, he/she is 70 times more likely to be hired than a candidate without this connection,” Dave adds, referring to a finding published by Career Xroads.

So how do you network?  Where do you start and what are the tools to help you?

“Networking is all about relationship-building.  It’s who you know and who they know that can really make the difference in your search” Dave says.

The first step is to make a list of current and prospective contacts.  “Think about the relationships that you already have (family, friends, previous co-workers, etc…) and add them to your list.  Then do your research and identify others that you need to know (company contacts, business leaders, others in your profession) and add them to your list.   Think beyond the obvious, be strategic,” Dave advises.

There are lots of tools to use in building your network with www.LinkedIn.com as one of the best places to start.  “If you don’t already have a LinkedIn presence, establish one,” Dave says.  “This serves as your professional profile for recruiters, hiring managers and all the current and potential people in your network.  Think of it this way: if you don’t have a presence on LinkedIn, you don’t exist.”

Once you’re on LinkedIn, you can conduct searches by company name, industry, through current and former co-workers and through your network of LinkedIn contacts that you should be continuously growing.  Similarly, using search engines like Google can provide great insight into your field, and help you identify prospective companies and professional associations.

Dave says your next step is to divide your list of contacts into three groups: warm (people who know who you are and can give you a good reference), casual (people you may need to reconnect with) and cold contacts (people you haven’t met yet, but you need to meet). “This will help you prioritize and maximize your efforts as you begin to work your network”

Develop a database or a spreadsheet with of course names, titles, e-mail addresses, etc. but then leave a column for “Notes” where you can track of your progress with each networking target.

Now you’re ready to get out there and network. Dave says to practice these four steps with each person you meet:

1.  Make them aware that you are looking for your next “adventure”

2.  Guide their thinking about what that “adventure” could be

3.  Be confident and specific

4.  Give them permission to share your name or resume as they see fit

Dave also encourages job hunters and net-workers to develop a script and practice in your home or office.  “For most, networking can be overwhelming and frightening.  But remember, it’s really nothing more then the act of building relationships one contact at a time.  The more you do it; the easier it becomes.”  Keep these elements in mind:

1.  Intro- who am I and why am I calling or e-mailing?

2.  Your mission- I’m pursuing my next best adventure and thought you could help…

3.  Give them permission to say “no.”

4.  Provide something of value in return.

5.  The sensational close- share your plans for follow-up and ask if you can keep in touch.

“Most people will encourage you to stay in touch… do-so, you’d be surprised at how many people never get in touch with these prospects again,” Dave says.

When reaching out to a networking prospect you haven’t met, start with an e-mail introducing yourself and making a connection (Our mutual friend Sam Jones suggested I contact you; we attended xx college at the same time, I’m also a member of your professional association…). Then state your purpose and tell them when you’ll follow-up.  Then when you call, say “I’m following up on the e-mail I sent you on…this process helps to eliminate the “cold call””

Remember to say thank you. “People in jobs today are busier than ever and even if they only give you five minutes, it’s important that you acknowledge their time,” Dave points out.  “And if they help you make a good connection, let them know how grateful you are.”

And remember; always try to provide value in return.“Good relationships are not one sided; do what you can to help others in your network in return for the help they provided to you. It makes all the difference and will help to strengthen your network for the future.”

In America, the pursuit of happiness is a concept ingrained within the fibers of citizenship. The exact phrase is found within the Declaration of Independence and is considered synonymous with achieving the American Dream: “…certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…”  But this aspiration is not exclusive to only those living in the United States, people the world over strive every day to find happiness in their lives.

To recognize this universal human ambition, the United Nations has selected today, March 20th, as International Day of Happiness, a day set aside to acknowledge that the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental human goal and is essential to global economic growth.

“On this first International Day of Happiness, let us reinforce our commitment to inclusive and sustainable human development and renew our pledge to help others. When we contribute to the common good, we ourselves are enriched. Compassion promotes happiness and will help build the future we want.” -U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, South Korea

In keeping with the year’s theme and to observe International Day of Happiness, CBI Group team members celebrated with a lunchtime screening of the award winning documentary Happy. The critically-acclaimed film takes viewers all across the globe from the island villages of Okinawa, Japan to the bayous of southern Louisiana to discover how different cultures define what makes them happy.

Organized by team member Caitlin Olszewski, viewers enjoyed popcorn and candy and were given complimentary bubbles to celebrate the day! Recruiter Mary Clay found the screening to be very formative and a timely addition to CBI Group’s Outside-In® Happiness Theme, which advocates employees seeking out their own personal happiness in order to become more Outside-In®.  “The screening shows how our environment allows us to take chances and be creative,” said Senior Recruiter Stan Yau, “It was very awesome in many ways.”

How will you spend International Day of Happiness?

If you’ve ever read Mastering the Rockefeller Habits, the best-selling business practices book by Verne Harnish, then you’re familiar with the concept of establishing a theme to motivate your company to accomplish its quarterly and yearly goals. CBI Group is a proud observer of these habits and consciously works to frame our daily business practices after them.

Last Friday, team members gathered together for our quarterly celebration, the Quarter Kickoff, to announce the company’s 2013 theme as well as our goals for Q1! This year’s theme is The Outside-In® Happiness Project, and was inspired by the best-selling book, The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. A popular self-help book, The Happiness Project chronicles Rubin’s personal journey to finding her own happiness and fulfillment in life.

To bring the theme to life, team members transformed our Grand Teton conference room into a relaxing oasis where attendees could unwind and be – what else? – happy! Daddy O’s catered the event and provided a refreshing menu of healthy, “good mood foods” which included seared polenta with roasted vegetable terrine and charred cherry tomato, coconut chicken with dark chocolate mole, grilled asparagus, and roasted mussels in a white wine sauce. These foods were selected based on their mood-lifting abilities – yes, you will actually feel happier after eating them!

Happy Bingo after lunch kept spirits light as team members competed to fill their squares, and along the way, learned what made their team mates happy as the bingo charts were full of the team’s submissions of their personal happiness. Some of the entries? Hiking, shopping, going to the beach, and working at CBI Group!

When the time came to announce the company’s goals, the leaders were excited to share that the rocks were mapped to reflect the 5 Happy Habits – five simple tips to maintain daily well-being – researched and defined by the London-based think-tank, the New Economics Foundation. So, what are these five simple tips for daily happiness?  They are:

• Connect With People Around You
  
• Be Active
  
• Take Notice
  
• Keep Learning
  
• Give

We are very excited to embark on our own journey this year towards being more Outside-In® and finding our own personal happiness. Our president, Chris Burkhard believes that if our team is inspired to pursue our own passions and find happiness, then we will be more Outside-In®, bringing our customers greater peace of mind.

CBI Group Founder and President Chris Burkhard was interviewed today on radio station WDEL 1150AM in Wilmington, DE about his thoughts on the job market in 2013.  Chris expressed optimism while emphasizing that today’s work world is far different than even a generation ago.

“There are lots of opportunities developing as long as workers are open to thinking about employment differently.  Being creative and open about the nature of work is key today because what can be called non-traditional opportunities and jobs do exist and are out there.”

As the job market has slowly recovered from the 2008-09 recession, the temporary or contract work force has been one of the fastest growing sectors.  And, as WDEL anchorman Peter MacArthur pointed out, “Gone are the days of working for two or three decades for a single company.  Today its more ‘every man for himself’ so it seems that patchwork is the next logical way to look at jobs and careers.”

Chris agreed using an analogy of the Wild West where most people worked for themselves and the concept of big companies as employers hadn’t developed yet.

“Every man for himself was the culture then, people were responsible for their own careers as farmers, shop and saloon keepers and tradesmen… they were on their own.  Today I think even large employers would encourage workers to be like our ancestors and be more responsible for our own careers.”

Chris pointed out that contract and independent workers take on that initiative and responsibility and that some are even using this work as a strategy to find permanent employment.  “What better way to get to know a company, and that company to get to know you, than to work for them as a temp first?”

Chris added that CBI Group and Placers, the temporary workforce company re-launched in 2011, continues to experience that growth first-hand.

Listen to the interview here:

Wilmington, DE — On November 29th, CBI Group President and CEO Chris Burkhard appeared as the keynote speaker at The Rotary Club of Wilmington. Burkhard emphasized the importance of the increasingly growing trend of short term employment – otherwise known as the contingent workforce – in his presentation, Revisiting the Business of the Wild, Wild West: A Presentation on Trends of the Contingent Workforce.

“I don’t have to tell [you] that running a company is very different today. The world is complex, change is constant, and competition is coming from everywhere. The pace of business is speeding up, too.”, explained Burkhard, “Work is being viewed as one big project today. It may even seem that everything has a time line or end date.”

Burkhard provided context and clarity to a typically complicated topic: the effects of the recent contingent workforce boom, and its impact on future employment. As our economy adapts to globalization and working in a fast-paced digital age, companies need workers who are flexible and who possess highly technical skill sets to complete projects on a timely basis. That is where the contingent workforce maintains its value – and its vitality.

To learn more about the contingent workforce trends (and what the Wild West has to do with it!) you can view the presentation here.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

What’s your favorite Thanksgiving dessert? We have a few family favorites that we’d like to share with you. Enjoy these pie recipes listed below. If you end up trying one for your Thanksgiving dinner, leave us a comment below to let us know how it tastes!  Have a happy and safe holiday with your family!

Chris’ Family Apple Pie
“Is any pie more sure to please, than this all-American favorite!?”

• 8-inch Pie Dish
• Pastry for 8-inch, two crust pie
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons flour
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• Dash salt
• 5 cups thinly sliced pared tart apples
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine

Directions

Heat oven to 425 degrees. Prepare pastry. Stir together sugar, flour, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt; mix with apples. Turn into pastry-lined pie pan; dot with butter. Cover with top crust which has slits cut in it; seal and flute. Cover edge with 2 to 3 inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning; remove foil for last 15 minutes of baking.

Bake 40-50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through slits in crust.

Lisa’s Caramel-Pecan Pumpkin Pie

• 2 eggs
• 1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
• ½ cup half-and-half
• ¾ cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
• 1 (9 inch) prepared pie shell
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans
• 3 tablespoons butter

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Beat the eggs, pumpkin, and half-and-half together in a mixing bowl until smooth. Stir in the sugar, flour, lemon zest, vanilla, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice until evenly blended. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared pie shell. Cover the edges of the pie with aluminum foil strips to prevent burning.
3. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, prepare the pecan caramel topping by mixing the brown sugar, pecans, and butter together in a bowl until evenly blended. Carefully spoon over the top of the pie. Continue baking the pie until the topping is golden and bubbly, and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, about 20 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack.

(recipe from Allrecipes.com)

Colleen’s Coconut Custard Pie

Colleen’s Coconut Custard Pie:

• 1 ⅓ cups sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 3 large eggs
• 1 (14oz.) bag sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 ½ cups whole milk
• ¼ cup evaporated milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ½ tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 unbaked (9 inch) pie shells (if frozen use 9 in. deep dish pie shells)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. In large bowl, cream the sugar and butter together for about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time. Fold coconut alternately with milk and evaporated milk. Add vanilla then flour.
3. Pour into prepared pie crusts and bake for 20 minutes then increase heat to 400° and bake for another 20 minutes.
4. Cool before serving

Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!

CBI Group is excited to announce the selection of our Charity of the Month for November: Junior Achievement of Delaware! Last week, we kicked off the Charity of the Month program with the announcement of  A Night of Achievement – a CBI Group sponsored benefit organized to raise money and build awareness around the great work that JA does for children in Delaware.

A Night of Achievement will be held on Thursday, November 15th from 5-8pm at Klondike Kate’s in Newark, DE. Tickets cost $10 and a portion of the ticket sales to be donated to JA. Live music, raffles, trivia, free food & drink specials are included with purchase of your ticket. Come out to learn more about volunteer opportunities with JA, meet with members of JA staff, or just come out to have a great night with a great organization!

CBI Group has enjoyed a strong relationship with Junior Achievement of Delaware for many years. CBI Group President Chris Burkhard has served as Chair of the Board of Directors for the past 2 years and many CBI Group team members volunteer in the classrooms as JA teachers. The team is thrilled to dedicate a month of service to Junior Achievement of Delaware and are looking forward to celebrating its accomplishments at A Night of Achievement.

Not familiar with Junior Achievement? The Mission Statement on the organization’s Delaware website reads:

Junior Achievement is the world’s largest organization dedicated to educating young people about business, economics and free enterprise.  Through a dedicated volunteer network, JA offers in-school and after-school programs for students in grades K-12.  JA programs focus on seven key content areas: business, citizenship, economics, entrepreneurship, ethics/character, financial literacy, and career development.  Junior Achievement programs reach over 4 million students per year, in 124 markets in urban, rural, and suburban area in all 50 states across the U.S. – a total of 115 million students since the organization began in 1919. 

If you would like to attend A Night of Achievement, you can purchase tickets via credit card by visiting Klondike Kate’s store website.

Want to learn more about Junior Achievement and its upcoming events? Visit www.jadelaware.org.

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month and the efforts towards awareness can be seen everywhere. Turn on Monday Night Football and you’ll see  NFL players showing their support on their uniforms – pink cleats, pink towels, pink gloves, and even pink ribbon decals on their helmets. Local 5K run/walks are held almost every weekend and each benefit a different organization working towards a cure. Some women are even dying their hair pink to spread awareness!

CBI Group strives to stay conscious of causes that are important in our local community. To give back, we select a charity each month to which we devote our service and attention. For the month of October, we have selected Susan G. Komen for the Cure and Breast Cancer Awareness. The fight for a cure for breast cancer has been an ongoing battle and it not only affects those close to us but millions of women (and men) across the world.

Stay informed with these statistics from Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

• After skin cancer, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer among women in the U.S.
• Breast cancer is second only to lung cancer as a cause of cancer death among women
• Breast cancer accounts for 1/3 of cancer diagnoses in women in the United States
• In 2012, there will be 290,170 new cases of invasive breast cancer in the U.S. alone
• An estimated 39,510 deaths will result from invasive breast cancer in 2012

The numbers above are sobering for sure. However, statistics surrounding breast cancer are not entirely negative. There are about 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in the U.S. alive today and research shows that early detection of breast cancer yields a higher chance of survival. So much so, that the mortality rate for breast cancer has been declining; and, experts believe this is due to early detection and better treatments.

Join us in the fight for a cure! We will be wearing pink all month and handing out pink ribbon pins, pink bracelets, and pink ribbon stress relievers. For more information on breast cancer and what you can do to join the fight, please visit the Susan G. Komen for the Cure website at www.komen.org.

Last Friday, our team members put their best slippers forward for CBI Group’s first monthly Pajama Day! The event was organized by recruiter extraordinaire, Colleen Lucchesi, who also suggested that the event be more than just an excuse to wear our PJs to work. Employees who participated donated money towards CBI Group’s fundraising initiative for Junior Achievement of Delaware.

by Kelly Hocutt & Kelly Murray

300+ Worldwide RPO Providers
50 were invited to participate in a customer survey
Only 21 were recognized last week
1 of those was CBI Group!

HRO Today administers annual surveys that rank the top Human Resources Outsourcing providers in varying categories to assist companies in selecting the best vendors in each space. CBI Group was recognized as an Honorable Mention and Mid Market Leader, among 21 companies acknowledged last week during a global webcast announcing the 2012 Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO) Baker’s Dozen survey results.

“The recognition is a direct reflection of everything our business stands for, being a customer driven organization or as we would call it, being Outside-In®,” said Chris Burkhard, President of CBI Group. “This is not a growth award or a popularity contest, our customers gave direct feedback that put CBI Group on the list. Humbly, the words ‘Thank You’ come to mind. To all that helped make this happen!”

The RPO survey categorizes providers into three lists based on feedback from buyers. Those include, Enterprise Baker’s Dozen, Global Market Providers, and Honorable Mention & Mid Market Providers. The top 13 companies in each category are placed on the Baker’s Dozen List. The Global Market Providers must have two or more projects in two or more regions of the world.

The Honorable Mention list was renamed this year due to increased competition in the market. HRO Today found it is becoming harder to represent the scope of the market in 13 companies alone.

This year’s RPO survey included the largest sample size (over 900 verified customer surveys) of any HRO Today survey and was the largest RPO customer satisfaction study ever performed!

CBI Group is excited at the opportunity to receive valuable feedback from their customers to help improve and adapt their services to better serve them. Simply being recognized as a mid-market leader is worth celebrating, however, CBI Group is looking forward to learning more and continuing to improve their Nth Degree service in the hopes that customers recognize the difference.

“Thank you to our customers who participated in this survey!” – the CBI Team

Want to see this year’s list?
To see the Baker’s Dozen list, Global Market Leaders and the other companies on the Mid Market Leaders list: take a look at this year’s survey results here.