With unemployment at a 24-year low of 4.9%, what impact will that have on your Materials Management departments?

The obvious impacts are that we will have to work harder and look more diligently to build our growing organizations or to maintain adequate staffing.

Now is the time to review our training programs and give attention to employee retention if we are to keep our present worker. It is generally much cheaper to take the extra management steps to retain a good employee than to recruit and train a new one. Since the common wisdom tells us that both company and employee loyalties have waned somewhat, employees are being counseled to be responsible for planning their own careers. We can show our interest in our employee's career by continuing to develop his or her skills and providing interesting job functions and growth opportunity. We can encourage continued education and provide opportunities for job-related training and certifications, i.e. CPIM and CIRM.

Because you may not select and hire new employees every day, your selection process may be rusty or less-than-organized. More and more hiring officials are coming up empty for their recruiting effort, or have to accept a second choice candidate, when their selection process requires too many interviews or the decision making process is unnecessarily protracted.

Jon Harvill, our APICS Employment Coordinator, advises that "some improvement can be obtained by just encouraging every interviewer to take time to study the resume and plan the interview before the candidate is actually seated in front of them". For the asking, Harvill can provide a sample of a candidate evaluation form to encourage efficient communications within the interview-team and to lead to more objective decision making.

With the arrival of the summer season, there is immediately more competition for the summer extras we have been accustomed to drawing from the student ranks at high schools, technical schools and universities. With the added competition, you will have to look harder and be prepared to pay a little more for that summer help. Young people with computer skills will be in particular demand.

Because summer positions in industry are considered 'career-enhancing', and therefore more desirable, you will not suffer as much as the traditional summer-season jobs for waiter and low-tech temporaries. On your vacation this summer expect longer lines, less valet parking and poolside service, and more salad bars and breakfast buffets.