It may be a sign of the difficult times we’ve been through of late: a recent poll indicates that 23% of employers are seeing internship applications from mature, experienced workers, people who are pursuing the same positions as college students.  Internships obviously provide jobseekers with a way to “audition” for permanent roles, and give them a chance to pick up new experience and skills.  Other indications from the survey?

Regardless of applicants’ ages, more than one-quarter (27 percent) of employers said they plan to hire interns during the remainder of 2010 to help support workloads. Fourteen percent said they anticipate hiring paid interns, while 7 percent said they won’t be paying their interns. An additional 5 percent said they will hire both paid and unpaid interns. Fifty-three percent of employers said they plan to pay interns $10 or more per hour, while 5 percent said they will pay $25 or more per hour.

Let’s be clear about the considerable distinctions between internships and temporary or contingent hiring: the latter usually require specific, established skills that are put to the job immediately tackling very imminent challenges.  Internships can provide support for permanent staff, but almost always not in the kind of jobs that are critical to a company’s core success.  Often, as the survey goes on to indicate, they’re in maintenance or errand-heavy roles, where they’re peripheral to real responsibilities.

The July employment figures were disappointing to many, and a sign that we’re not out of this yet, especially since tempoarary hiring also hit a snag during the period.  Temp jobs are augurs of future full-time employment, so the sluggishness of the July results doesn’t bode very well:

Temporary hiring (part of the professional services group) fell for the first time in 10 months, down by 5,600.

How soon a recover reasserts itself remains to be seen, but numbers like these often have a self-fulfilling effect, as employers become increasingly cautious — looking at the numbers! — and postpone making new hires, especially permanent ones.  Again, the best solution for critical staffing needs in times like these remains temporary and contingent staffing, if you’re an employer who’s still treading lightly.

There are various theories as to why the jobs picture hasn’t been as positive as some have hoped.  The most recent unemployment figures posted by the government show only a modest improvement.  That’s largely because employers — and consumers — don’t entirely trust the recovery that seems to be underway, and are wary about spending — which means companies have to keep it lean and mean.

For staffing and recruitment firms, it obviously means embracing strategies that let them meet employers’ needs for highly-qualified and capable people who must fit into temporary or qualified positions.   But they also need to be mindful of the fact that the picture may change — upward or, unfortunately, downwards (if there’s a “double dip” recession), and they’ll have to make the corresponding changes right in stride in order to stay competitive!

It’s yet another sign the jobs market is making upward headway: the number of jobs for recruitment professionals is apparently on the rise, after a couple of rocky years.

In many cases, companies that downsized their staffing and recruitment capabilities are now trying to “re-build capacity and expertise quickly,” as one expert puts it.

One of the negative impacts of the downturn, for those companies and staffing firms that elected to cut personnel, is the loss of valuable expertise that’s a difficult commodity to come by even in healthy times.  It’s one of the reason North Bridge Staffing is glad to say we came through the past couple of years in relatively good shape, thanks to the quality of our team and the foresight of our clients.

Federal employment data for April shows a net gain of 290,000 jobs, a heartening increase.  Unemployment rose slightly, though that was attributed to more people leaving the sidelines and re-entering the market now that there’s been improvement:

“It’s fantastic news; 290,000 jobs is a lot of jobs,” said Chicago-based Morningstar Inc. economist Robert Johnson. “I think we’re on the road to recovery here, and I think we’ll probably see 200,000 to 300,000 job growth [each month] for most of the rest of the year. We clearly have turned the corner.”

231,000 of these jobs were from private employers, and it was the single largest one-month gain since March 2006.

More and more indicators show that there’s a steady gain in hiring by U.S. companies.  A large share of that is in temps and temp-to-hire positions, which is the typical trend when a recovery is underway.

The one significant change from prior years may be that many of those positions are not only contingent, but will in all likelihood stay that way, according to many experts.  That’s because a new model is taking hold in the workplace, for better or worse, which is one where a larger share of a company’s labor force is strictly contingent.  As this article points out,

…many business groups and labor advocates believe the contingency work force is on the rise and will become a mainstay in the U.S. companies even after economic hard times are behind us.

There is, obviously, a lot of debate about the impact of this change, and its long-range impact on workers, consumers and the economy.  But it’s apparent to any businessperson that the flexibility and thrift of temp and temp-to-hire employment options help them stay competitive at a time when the pressures and costs of doing business don’t make that a simple task.

This interesting survey indicates that workforce loyalty is on the rise during this recession.  You might think this increase owed to simple gratitude during tough times, but there’s far more to it than that, according to the analysis:

The survey, conducted between early October 2009 and the end of January 2010, finds that 34 percent say the economic downturn has made them more loyal, while 14 percent say it has made them less loyal, and 52 percent say it’s made no difference.

Those workers who are more loyal to their employers attribute the shift to positive management, pay levels that have improved or remained steady, and active communication from senior executives. Those who are less loyal say it’s due to poor management, falling pay, and low company morale.

Companies that viewed the downturn as an opportunity prospered, in terms of solidifying loyalty and morale — through better communication, by attacking the hardships and challenges frankly and openly, and maintaining a positive and upbeat attitude with their workforce.

Are employers and staffing firms properly positioned for an improvement in the job market? It can be a mixed blessing if you’re not prepared.

Just one of the complications is skills scarcity, as the most qualified and valuable prospective hires find their talents are in greater demand and go off the market. Whether you’re a staffing firm or an employer, you might find yourself really scrambling to fill positions with good, qualified people — if you haven’t been laying proper groundwork ahead of time.

There are a few simple questions any smart HR department or staffing firm should ask itself about its preparedness for a job market uptick of lasting duration:

1. Do we have a plan in place? Be certain you — and your team — have a strategy in hand to guide you in sourcing and recruiting the right prospects when the need arises. Remember, waiting until only the actual moment you need them most means you’ll have to make last-second choices – not advisable in any business situation.
2. Are we willing to scale up our staffing team? If there’s a sudden influx of job requisitions, possibly even a new slew of clients to handle if you’re a staffing firm, do you have the personnel on board it’ll take to maintain solid due diligence?
3. Are we willing to invest in staffing skills? You should always be looking to strengthen your hand; whether you’re an employer or a consultant, you should stay on top of the latest training and work resources available that can help your staffing team succeed.
4. Are we keeping the prospect file full? Even if you’re not in hiring mode, always be sure to stay abreast of what roles you might have to fill if the situation changes – and try to maintain outside staffing resources or a database of prospects that can give you a quick head start when you do need to put hires in place.
5. Are we jumping the gun in hiring full-timers? Temp and temp-to-hire personnel are probably still a wise option to keep in mind, unless you’re absolutely positive about your business prospects in the upcoming year.

Daniel Indiviglio at The Atlantic has been a proponent for some time of the idea that temp hiring is a good indicator for growth in the general economy, and now has a chart he’s discovered that helps prove his point. His capsule summary of what it shows (and very plainly, too — make sure you hit the link!) is, “as this chart demonstrates, temp jobs lead permanent job growth. It’s rare to see such a clear correlation between two variables.”

This is a graphical demonstration of the plain and simple predence and logic we see every day from our clients: in periods like this, qualified temps or temp-to-hire staffers are the safest bet, until any improvement really takes hold in time. Then those temporary positions turn into permanent hires.

The real concern comes in making sure the people you bring in, especially on a temp or transitional basis, have the skills and focus that let them jump right in, and seamlessly serve the client’s business. That’s obviously a sober and serious responsibility for staffing firms like North Bridge.