Tom's Talent Blog

Have you ever played the card game War? This is the simplest of simple games, in that the 52 card deck is dealt out evenly between two participants, and the object is merely to flip over your cards, one by one, with the winner of each hand being the one with the higher card. There is no strategy, no skill, and no advantage that one competitor has over the other (unless one of you gets a chance to stack the deck).

How about Chess? This is essentially the opposite of War. It involves strategy, intellect, patience, and skill. A more advanced player has a significant advantage over a novice, and will consistently beat their opponent. The premise that the game is built on is that your very first move, and all subsequent moves, sets you up for future ones. It’s all about positioning yourself early and often so it is easier to win later on.

Everyone in our family has an iPad, even our four year old son.  We are an Apple family with three iPads, two Macbooks, and three iPhones. And obviously we aren't the only ones - reports show that Apple has more cash reserves than the United States! And this from a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy less than 20 years ago.

In today’s staffing climate, businesses are created to satisfy needs within their surrounding community. But often in the scramble to build the business and capture the market ahead of something else, it becomes nothing more than a commodity – something that is readily available, but is hardly indistinguishable from all of the other businesses that are similar in nature.

No, the title is not an insightful quote from Jack Welch or Steve Jobs, or even Confucius - it's a line from a song by one of my all-time favorite bands Dinosaur Jr . I love well-written music lyrics the way that I imagine some people appreciate poetry. The song I quoted in the title, Thumb , is about 20 years old but has always resonated with me and the line becomes more pertinent every year.

Optimism is back in the staffing industry. Business is up, clients are calling us again, and all seems right with the world. But along with that optimism is a false sense of security, resulting in missed opportunities now and long-term consequences later.

We hear it all the time - "the staffing industry has become commoditized". "Everyone is selling on price". And you know what? They're right!  An industry becomes commoditized when there is nothing substantial to differentiate competitors.