Friday, February 26, 2010

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Assessment Testing for Employees

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales/ engineering/executive/ and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration/Water & Wastewater/ Separations/and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., www.backtracker.com. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

Assessment Testing for Employees
Recruiting, hiring and training of new employees is expensive. You have to recruite or advertise a position, then you start the interview process. During the interview you are trying to determine if this is a candidate that would be a good fit for your company and if the candidate seems to have the skill set that the position requires. Then, when you do bring a new hire in to fill the position you also have to train that person for your company specific standards to the position. All of this is costly in terms of time and money. If you have made a good hire, it is well worth the investment. However, if you hire that person and find out within the few months that the position just isnt a good fit, you are out that money. Worse yet, you need to start all over to fill the position.

While interviews and background checks are a great tool, another tool that may be useful to your organization is assessment testing. There are hundreds of different types of tests out there – skills testing, personality testing, behavior testing, even IQ testing if you are interested. Generally, a company will have agreed to start using these “forecasters” for new employees. Before you start to test potential new hires, you may want to have your top performers that are already working with your company take the tests. This will provide you with a set of “benchmarks” that you can use to gauge new hire testing on. There are traits and characteristics that your top performers have that you may like to see in your new hire candidates as well. Once benchmarks are set, use these to determine if your new hire will be a fit with your organization.

There are some studies out there that indicate as many as 25% of new hires don’t make it the first 3 months within an organization. That is an expensive number. Assessment testing can be a very low cost alternative to be utilitized as another tool to “be sure before you hire”.

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Assessment Testing for Employees

Lisa Sprowls
Filtration Recruiter
Recruiter Solutions International
8850 Tyler Blvd.
Mentor, OH 44060
800-992-3875 ext. 313
lisa@rsipeople.com



Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Environmental Recruiter, Fluid Power Recruiter. As an executive recruiter/headhunter dedicated to serving the search and recruitment needs in both large and small manufacturers and distributors. Dan specializes in the search and placement of sales, engineering, management and upper level management positions. Keywords: Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Pumps, Filters, Microfiltration, Water, Oil, Gas, Air, Industrial, Cartridge, Filtration & Separation, Membrane, Reverse Osmosis, Filtration Equipment, Filter Media, Filtration Supplies, Wastewater, Fuel, Environmental, Storm Water, Dewatering Equipment, Woven, Non Woven, Ultrafiltration, Recruiter Solutions International, RSI, Lisa Sprowls, Dan Regovich, Headhunter Filtration, Filtration Headhunter, Filtration Industry Recruiter, Wastewater and Filtration, Water Treatment, Wastewater Treatment Please visit our website at www.rsipeople.com/filtration/lisa

Thursday, January 7, 2010

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - How Did You Do That?

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales/ engineering/executive/ and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration/Water & Wastewater/ Separations/and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., www.backtracker.com. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

How Did You Do That?
A common question we get is “where did you find that information?”. There is a large misconception “out there” about secret databases and information stockpiles. In part, this is caused by the internet. In the last 10 years or so, any time we had a question we could go to the internet for the answer. “Just Google it” is a common phrase heard ‘round the world.

However, when background screening is added to this equation, you have to be very careful “just Googleing it”. If you do an internet search for criminal records the records you find may not be accurate. You may be getting records of arrest where a case has been dismissed or someone was found not guilty. You may even find inaccurate information or information that isn’t really related to whomever you are searching for.

A reputable background screening company is going to get the information for you the old fashioned way. They are going to call the employers, they are going to call the schools and they will send court runners in to the courts. The information that they provide to you will be in a report that you can view, print, or keep in a file. That report is also going to be FCRA compliant and can be used as a tool when you make a hiring decision

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - How Did You Do That?

Lisa Sprowls
Filtration Recruiter
Recruiter Solutions International
8850 Tyler Blvd.
Mentor, OH 44060
800-992-3875 ext. 313
lisa@rsipeople.com



Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Environmental Recruiter, Fluid Power Recruiter. As an executive recruiter/headhunter dedicated to serving the search and recruitment needs in both large and small manufacturers and distributors. Dan specializes in the search and placement of sales, engineering, management and upper level management positions. Keywords: Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Pumps, Filters, Microfiltration, Water, Oil, Gas, Air, Industrial, Cartridge, Filtration & Separation, Membrane, Reverse Osmosis, Filtration Equipment, Filter Media, Filtration Supplies, Wastewater, Fuel, Environmental, Storm Water, Dewatering Equipment, Woven, Non Woven, Ultrafiltration, Recruiter Solutions International, RSI, Lisa Sprowls, Dan Regovich, Headhunter Filtration, Filtration Headhunter, Filtration Industry Recruiter, Wastewater and Filtration, Water Treatment, Wastewater Treatment Please visit our website at www.rsipeople.com/filtration/lisa

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - The Disappearing Client

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales/ engineering/executive/ and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration/Water & Wastewater/ Separations/and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., www.backtracker.com. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

The Disappearing Client
We hear it over and over again in our business, “I am looking for a new vendor because I am just unhappy with the (service, turn around time, customer service, etc) my current vendor provides. Chances are that that current vendor also has no idea that there is a problem with their client because they haven’t been notified.

While this type of call comes to us daily, and we certainly are more than happy to discuss with any potential client our services and how we differ, it makes me wonder how many of our clients are “disappearing” clients and potentially seeking another vendor. You know the ones I mean. These are the clients that, in 2007, did X amount of business, in 2008 they are less than half and you haven’t heard from them in 3 months. Every week these clients are probably fielding 2 or 3 calls from a company that offers the same type of product or service that they currently purchase from you. There is a lot of competition out there and many hungry companies willing to do what it takes to land that new account. The “grass is always greener” theory seems to follow along with those phone calls as well.

We have a program where we contact our current clients every 3-6 months to say hello and see how they are doing. This gives us a chance to communicate with our contacts to find out if they have any problems, concerns, or feel that their issues have not been addressed. So, do we still have clients looking for other vendors? They certainly are. However, they are going in with the bar set quite a bit higher because of the service they currently get. Many times, they either don’t change, or they come back to us after a short period of time because they realize that they don’t get the same service elsewhere.

Keeping the lines of communication open between your company and your clients is extremely important. I don’t mean that you deal with just their problems when they call in with an issue – this means picking up the phone and calling them a couple of times a year and finding out what their issues are, or if they have any. Not only does this make for excellent customer service, but it also will benefit your company in the long run. They may be in networking groups and will recommend you to their peers, or they may be willing to act as business references for your company should you need it. Give them something positive to talk about and your customers and clients will keep coming back.

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - The Disappearing Client

Lisa Sprowls
Filtration Recruiter
Recruiter Solutions International
8850 Tyler Blvd.
Mentor, OH 44060
800-992-3875 ext. 313
lisa@rsipeople.com



Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Environmental Recruiter, Fluid Power Recruiter. As an executive recruiter/headhunter dedicated to serving the search and recruitment needs in both large and small manufacturers and distributors. Dan specializes in the search and placement of sales, engineering, management and upper level management positions. Keywords: Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Pumps, Filters, Microfiltration, Water, Oil, Gas, Air, Industrial, Cartridge, Filtration & Separation, Membrane, Reverse Osmosis, Filtration Equipment, Filter Media, Filtration Supplies, Wastewater, Fuel, Environmental, Storm Water, Dewatering Equipment, Woven, Non Woven, Ultrafiltration, Recruiter Solutions International, RSI, Lisa Sprowls, Dan Regovich, Headhunter Filtration, Filtration Headhunter, Filtration Industry Recruiter, Wastewater and Filtration, Water Treatment, Wastewater

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Competition for Open Jobs

Competition for Open Jobs

The latest statistics from the United States Bureau of Labor shows that unemployment rose from 7.2% to 7.6% in the first months of 2009. Anyone who reads the paper or watches the news knows that the news is grim for job seekers. Job losses are large and widespread across nearly all major industry sectors, and every day brings news that someone else is laying off part of their workforce.

Companies who are thinking of hiring to fill vacant positions are probably going to be receiving more applications and resumes from job candidates than ever before. How can you be sure that the candidate you decide to hire is the right one for your company? If you have 100 people apply for one vacant position, your human resource department is going to have their work cut out for them!

In these trying times, many candidates will be tempted to “fluff” their resumes in order to get a job. Resume falsification is on the rise and expected to increase as the country continues to slog through economic doldrums. Now more than ever, the need for employment screening is clear. The average company will spend between $7,000 and $15,000 in the first year to hire and train someone for the position after they hire the job candidate. That is a lot of money, particularly if you have to do it more than once for a position. If the first candidate you hire doesn’t work out, or if he does not have the qualifications you thought he had, you have to go through the process again.

You can help to eliminate some of the guesswork out of this by doing background checks on candidates. You don’t have to do it on all 100 applications that come in for that one position, but after you narrow it down to a small pool of potential candidates that appear to meet the experience or education level you need, doing a background check on those candidates can save you time, money and hassle.

Depending on the services you are looking at for your background check, the average cost costs can vary – more if you want an extensive check, less if you want a general check. A good background check run through BackTrack costs under $100, significantly less than the cost of a negligent hiring lawsuit and the potential loss of your company’s good name and reputation. Between interviewing, background checking and possibly assessment testing, you are being as proactive as you can be to ensure that the FIRST person you bring on board with your company will be a good fit.

Companies need to be very diligent when they hire. While the current state of the economy is worrisome, if you are hiring someone to come work for your company you are in a “buyers market” at this point with your choice of talent. Do your research and make sure you are getting your money’s worth.

Lisa Sprowls
The Filtration Group of RSI
www.rsipeople.com/filtration

Filtration Recruiter, Recruiter Solutions International

Monday, October 5, 2009

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Diploma Mill in Washington State

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales/ engineering/executive/ and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration/Water & Wastewater/ Separations/and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., www.backtracker.com. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

Diploma Mill in Washington State
In early July, Dixie Ellen Randock was sentenced to 3 years in prison for Conspiracy to Commit Wire and Mail Fraud. Her husband, Steve Randock, is scheduled to be sentenced in about a week. Dixie is a high school drop out. What did they do? They have been found guilty of this crime for selling bogus college degrees and high school diplomas from a Spokane, WA diploma mill. The newspaper The Seattle Times (www.seattletimes.com) has since published a couple of lists. One list shows all the people who have purchased degrees and diplomas from this diploma mill – all 9,612 people. Some of these people have multiple degrees that were awarded from this mill.

The US Department of Justice had refused to release the list to the public, and the newspaper is not saying how they obtained the list. The newspaper has conducted a preliminary analysis that shows 135 of these individuals have military ties, 39 have links to the education system, and 17 are employed with government agencies. They got this information through the email addresses that are listed for the individuals (.mil, .gov, or .edu). Their listing does indicate that some of the people who have (*) by their names didn’t necessarily buy degrees, but that their names surfaced for various reasons during the investigation.

What these people were purchasing were bogus degrees from non-existent, online, high schools, colleges and universities. They were also buying counterfeit degrees from real colleges and universities and that documentation was forged. Some of the more than 100 fake schools that degrees were issued from have names that sound like an accredited college that we have all heard of.

Keep in mind that it is not illegal to possess a fake degree. If you wish to spend $1,000 to $10,000 for a piece of paper to hang on your wall you are entitled to it. It is illegal to use the degree fraudulently. You can not use it to obtain employment, increased benefits, promotion, or for any other purposes. Unfortunately, with the almost 10,000 people out there with “degrees” from this diploma mill, it is going to be up to the private employer to determine if their employees have degrees or diplomas from a fake institution. That burden is going to rest on the human resource staff.

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Diploma Mill in Washington State

Lisa Sprowls
Filtration Recruiter
Recruiter Solutions International
8850 Tyler Blvd.
Mentor, OH 44060
800-992-3875 ext. 313
lisa@rsipeople.com



Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Environmental Recruiter, Fluid Power Recruiter. As an executive recruiter/headhunter dedicated to serving the search and recruitment needs in both large and small manufacturers and distributors. Dan specializes in the search and placement of sales, engineering, management and upper level management positions. Keywords: Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Pumps, Filters, Microfiltration, Water, Oil, Gas, Air, Industrial, Cartridge, Filtration & Separation, Membrane, Reverse Osmosis, Filtration Equipment, Filter Media, Filtration Supplies, Wastewater, Fuel, Environmental, Storm Water, Dewatering Equipment, Woven, Non Woven, Ultrafiltration, Recruiter Solutions International, RSI, Lisa Sprowls, Dan Regovich, Headhunter Filtration, Filtration Headhunter, Filtration Industry Recruiter, Wastewater and Filtration, Water Treatment, Wastewater

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Chemists Devise New Material For Efficient Hydrogen Purification

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales/ engineering/executive/ and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration/Water & Wastewater/ Separations/and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., www.backtracker.com. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

From www.dailytech.com, February 17, 2009, Jason Mick:
"Chemists Devise New Material For Efficient Hydrogen Purification
New material should give a boost to the hydrogen economy

Many believe that hydrogen is the eventual replacement for gasoline and that future vehicles will be fuel cell-based plug-in hybrids. However, in order to transition to such a hydrogen-based economy, many key challenges remain. The biggest challenges are devising and implementing means to make, store, and ship hydrogen to distribution centers.

One of the key challenges in making hydrogen is the need for purification. Many chemical reactions that produce hydrogen also produce a mixture of hydrocarbon gases and water vapor. In the past separating these substances has been a tricky and inefficient process.

Now chemists at Northwestern University have developed a class of porous materials that may solve this problem by letting hydrogen gas through selectively, while impeding other gases. According to the researchers, the materials exhibit the best known selectivity towards hydrogen over methane and carbon dioxide of any known material.

Mercouri G. Kanatzidis, a professor of chemistry at the university and co-developer of the material, states, "A more selective process means fewer cycles to produce pure hydrogen, increasing efficiency. Our materials could be used very effectively as membranes for gas separation. We have demonstrated their superior performance."

While current separation techniques rely on separating molecules by size, the new porous membrane material separates them by polarizability. The new membrane, composed of germanium, lead and tellurium, lets hydrogen through faster, as it is a hard, small molecule which interacts little with the charged walls. The membrane is a hexagonal nanoporous structure, with parallel tubes about two to three nanometers wide. The gas molecules are at least half a nanometer wide. The membrane selects hydrogen at a rate approximately four times higher than the current best methods.

Professor Kanatzidis describes the material stating, "We are taking advantage of what we call 'soft' atoms, which form the membrane's walls. These soft-wall atoms like to interact with other soft molecules passing by, slowing them down as they pass through the membrane. Hydrogen, the smallest element, is a 'hard' molecule. It zips right through while softer molecules, like carbon dioxide and methane take more time."

The membrane operates within a "convenient temperature range" of zero degrees Celsius and room temperature.

Professor Kanatzidis worked closely with postdoctoral research associate Gerasimos S. Armatas on developing and testing the material. The pair has published a paper entitled "Mesoporous Germanium-Rich Chalcogenido Frameworks with Highly Polarizable Surfaces and Relevance to Gas Separation". It is published online at the journal Nature Materials."

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Chemists Devise New Material For Efficient Hydrogen Purification

Lisa Sprowls
Filtration Recruiter
Recruiter Solutions International
8850 Tyler Blvd.
Mentor, OH 44060
800-992-3875 ext. 313
lisa@rsipeople.com



Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Environmental Recruiter, Fluid Power Recruiter. As an executive recruiter/headhunter dedicated to serving the search and recruitment needs in both large and small manufacturers and distributors. Dan specializes in the search and placement of sales, engineering, management and upper level management positions. Keywords: Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Pumps, Filters, Microfiltration, Water, Oil, Gas, Air, Industrial, Cartridge, Filtration & Separation, Membrane, Reverse Osmosis, Filtration Equipment, Filter Media, Filtration Supplies, Wastewater, Fuel, Environmental, Storm Water, Dewatering Equipment, Woven, Non Woven, Ultrafiltration, Recruiter Solutions International, RSI, Lisa Sprowls, Dan Regovich, Headhunter Filtration, Filtration Headhunter, Filtration Industry Recruiter, Wastewater and Filtration, Water Treatment, Wastewater

Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Many environmental markets will grow despite the recession

My name is Lisa Sprowls and I am a Filtration Recruiter. I work on many sales/ engineering/executive/ and management level positions serving the search and recruitment needs of both large and small manufacturers and distributors in the Filtration/Water & Wastewater/ Separations/and Environmental Industries.

With each and every finalist candidate that we present to our clients, we also provide a complete background check. Our background checks are provided by our parent company, BackTrack Inc., www.backtracker.com. All reports provided include employment verification, education verification, social security trace report, motor vehicle report, reference checking and criminal records searches.

Many environmental markets will grow despite the recession
Source: The McIlvaine Company Published Feb. 18, 2009

Air and water pollution control companies have been reporting record profits. While they won't be setting records in 2009 and 2010, they will be balancing lost sales in some markets with growth in others. This is the conclusion of the McIlvaine Company based on its continual forecasting of individual markets by product, industry and country. One of the biggest revenue generators will continue to be the power plant scrubber market. Worldwide orders will drop from US$11 billion in 2008 to US$8 billion in 2009 and US$7 billion in 2010. However, revenue for suppliers will reflect the large order level in 2008 through 2010. This is due to the fact that revenues are generally recorded over a three to four year period on each project. Orders throughout the next decade will remain far above the pre-2000 levels.
A similar trend exists for selective catalytic reduction systems for coal-fired power plants. Purchases in China, U.S., and Europe will be strong. Power plant particulate control sales are likely to accelerate due to new fine particle regulations.

Sales of air pollution control equipment for waste-to-energy and biomass power plants will be up. This will be offset by losses in steel, mining and cement. However, the stimulus package could offset some of the impact in the cement markets. Sales of fabric filter replacement bags will be relatively unaffected by the recession.

Sales of macro filtration equipment for municipal wastewater including belt presses, sand filters, and filter presses will exceed $700 million in 2009 offsetting some shrinkage in the mining industry. The U.S. stimulus effort will be a substantial boost to sales in the U.S. Infrastructure plans in most developing countries will continue as planned. Some countries such as China will expand their investment to provide stimulus.

Sales of sedimentation and centrifugation equipment including clarifiers, centrifuges, and hydro cyclones will be down slightly, but the wastewater segment will grow this year by $30 million to over $1 billion. Infrastructure stimulus benefits will also boost this market but will be offset by mining market shrinkage.

Cross-flow filtration sales will be up due to continued growth in wastewater and desalination. Total sales will exceed $9 billion in 2009 despite slumping sales in the residential reverse osmosis segment. Desalination expenditures in some smaller Middle Eastern countries may be slowed, but on balance this segment will continue to grow.

Sales of air and water monitoring equipment will grow modestly. The measurement of ambient pollution in developing countries is a strong growth area. China will continue to improve its stack monitoring efforts.

Filtration & Separations Recruiter - Many environmental markets will grow despite the recession

Lisa Sprowls
Filtration Recruiter
Recruiter Solutions International
8850 Tyler Blvd.
Mentor, OH 44060
800-992-3875 ext. 313
lisa@rsipeople.com



Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Environmental Recruiter, Fluid Power Recruiter. As an executive recruiter/headhunter dedicated to serving the search and recruitment needs in both large and small manufacturers and distributors. Dan specializes in the search and placement of sales, engineering, management and upper level management positions. Keywords: Filtration Recruiter, Water Recruiter, Wastewater Recruiter, Pumps, Filters, Microfiltration, Water, Oil, Gas, Air, Industrial, Cartridge, Filtration & Separation, Membrane, Reverse Osmosis, Filtration Equipment, Filter Media, Filtration Supplies, Wastewater, Fuel, Environmental, Storm Water, Dewatering Equipment, Woven, Non Woven, Ultrafiltration, Recruiter Solutions International, RSI, Lisa Sprowls, Dan Regovich, Headhunter Filtration, Filtration Headhunter, Filtration Industry Recruiter, Wastewater and Filtration, Water Treatment, Wastewater