Job seekers in Michigan were reporting that aggressive recruiters were shopping their resumés to employers without their knowledge. And some employers were complaining staffing firms were competing with them for the best candidates. In response, this state talent website in Michigan just re-launched with some changes, including blocking recruiters and staffing companies from viewing job seeker profiles on the site.
The new Pure Michigan Talent Connect site replaces the previous Michigan Talent Bank that was launched last December. It includes 20 to 30 changes designed to “enhance the experience of the job seeker or employer.”
But it’s one change in particular that has alarmed – and angered – some staffing companies.
“Previously, we had full access to search,” Kirk Hanna, director of government affairs for Troy-based Kelly Services told Crain’s Detroit Business. “With the new guidelines, staffing firms are able to post positions but not search the talent.”
The Talent Connect site was developed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, a public-private partnership serving as the state’s marketing arm and lead agency for business, talent and jobs, tourism, and overall economic growth. MEDC, founded in 1999, also developed and manages the state’s popular Pure Michigan brand.
The senior vice president of talent enhancement for MEDC, Amy Cell, says while recruiting and staffing companies have a key purpose in connecting job seekers with job opportunities, they can sometimes compete with employers. “Wherever possible, we want to make a direct connection between employers and job seekers because that was the feedback we were getting.”
“Wherever possible, we want to make a direct connection between employers and job seekers because that was the feedback we were getting.”
Cell has reportedly received phone calls from about 30 concerned staffing and recruiting companies about the new policy. While she said a policy change isn’t in store at the moment, the MEDC and its workforce system, MichiganWorks, are reviewing the business practices of staffing companies and recruiters seeking full access on a case-by-case basis.
One principal for a Michigan-based executive search firm doesn’t utilize the state’s talent website much at all, saying if a company is looking to use a job board of any kind, they probably aren’t the type to pay search firm fees.
As for reports of recruiters who don’t have a real job opportunity and may use a person’s skills to gain entry to a placement for a company or shop those candidates around without their knowledge (a subject we wrote about here), Mark Angott of Angott Search Group told Crain’s Detroit Business “it would be unethical to do that.”
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
I think that one key point that is missing from this and the Crain’s article is that unemployed people must post their profile on this site in order to receive unemployment benefits from the state of MI. By eliminating an entire industry from the site the people in charge are doing a disservice to their candidates by reducing the amount of potential recruiters seeking them out. Most importantly they are doing a disservice to MI taxpayers who are forced to support candidates who would have otherwise been found by a staffing firm or recruiter.
Staffing companies in MI need to innundate the office in Lansing as well as their local MI Works office with phone calls and emails to influence a change in this rediculous policy.
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This demonstrates how short sighted the MEDC is about not only the staffing industry but employment in the state. They still see the predatory contract companies and temp agencies waiting to prey on innocent employees. It’s true these people exist, just as they do in any other “business” who can gain access to these resumes if they claim to be hiring employees directly. What they don’t realize is that a majority of companies (and a large portion of my current clients) are hiring people on a 90 day contract to permanent hire basis. Within the automotive industry in particular there are positions that are budgeted to be filled by a contract worker for long term periods of time. What makes this decision worse is that while engineers and IT professionals probably were not being recruited from the MEDC it was a go to source for other skill sets that might be having a more difficult time finding employment. Adminstrative positions, manufacturing and more general labor positions were the most common recruits. In other words, some of the people who most needed help in finding a job. I think it’s time they stop letting a marketing firm run the program and turn it over to someone who knows something about actually putting people to work.
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“Stop letting a marketing firm run the program and turn it over to someone who knows something about actually putting people to work.”
Thanks so much for the comment Jeff. You clearly have more insight into this particular situation than I do, but as you call out, it does have some broader implications I think for the industry.
One of them that you mention is the notion of the role a staffing firm plays in the community. Are they predatory, unprincipled, or a potential partner in putting more people back to work, particularly people who might need the most help?
Thanks again for the comment.
“The senior vice president of talent enhancement for MEDC, Amy Cell, says while recruiting and staffing companies have a key purpose in connecting job seekers with job opportunities, they can sometimes compete with employers. “Wherever possible, we want to make a direct connection between employers and job seekers because that was the feedback we were getting.”
It is not up to the State (or any government entity) to determine how jobs are filled. If you talk to small business owners, they are already bogged down by government regulation and here is another example of it where there isn’t even a law they are enforcing. They are simply making a decision because “they can.”
That alone is an issue along with the fact that through taxation, staffing services pay for this service to be in existence and in many cases, our industry pays more than most companies. Still, they are prohibited from utilizing these services or, they can use them if they are deemed to be worthy by some government employee after that government employee scrutinizes their business? This is crazymaking!
It’s apparent that whoever made this decision at MEDC does not understand our industry at all. By regulating staffing services out of the mix of who can utilize their service, they may be preventing many people from getting a job as many businesses use staffing services to fill all of their openings.
“They sometimes compete with employers.”
If the “they” that is being referred to here is staffing services, “they” ARE employers and the customer they represent is another employer as well. Even if “they” represents recruiters, who do they think those recruiters are recruiting for, if not employers?
I’m sure Michigan staffing services are in contact with their local representatives. This is another case of government reaching way too far into business and making arbitrary decisions that become policy. This is way too much power for those to have who obviously don’t have enough knowledge to be in such a position.
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