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BY sblepage

Cameron-Brooks June 2009 Career Conference

We just completed the June Career Conference in Austin, TX.  40 candidates and 19 companies conducted 350 interviews in 2 days.  From the Conference results, you would not have known that the U.S. is in the 19^th month of a recession.  Candidates averaged 8.8 interviews and every candidate achieved success at the Conference.  17 support team members attended, helping them convert initial interviews into 4 to 5 companies expressing interest in them.  We’ll be very busy in the follow-up process helping the June candidates turn these results into offers.  While there is still some uncertainty in the economy, we are sharing these numbers with you to show clearly that there are great opportunities in this market for Cameron-Brooks’ candidates.

Some top Fortune 500 companies attended the Conference to interview for essential positions in their organizations.  Other companies attended that are much smaller but have exciting, ground-breaking products and strong growth prospects.  We also had many other opportunities representing a wide range of industries, career fields and geographies.  From talking to our client companies, we get a unique view of our economy.  Corporate America is turning a corner from the challenges of the recession to the opportunity ahead.  From the corner, it is possible to look back at how great companies have come out on top while still being able to look ahead at how they will continue to prosper. 

Several of the companies that attended the Conference are implementing LEAN manufacturing initiatives.  One of them is a Fortune 500 provider of packaging solutions and makes some of the consumer goods products with which you are very familiar.  This company looked at its manufacturing process during the recession and decided that one key step for them was to find efficiencies in production.  With an experienced workforce and a leading position in their market, it wasn’t easy to convince their people that change was necessary.  However, they’ve been successful getting their LEAN projects kicked off and are hiring for team leaders that could help continue the improvements.

Another Fortune 500 company is helping drive down the cost of pharmaceutical distribution through online initiatives and automated warehouses.  They work actively to promote low cost solutions reducing the costs of pharmaceuticals to individuals and decreasing the cost of Medicare.  These savings have been made even more important due to shrinking family incomes during the economic downturn.  Their patient-centric approach to distribution helps proactively identify and prevent dangerous drug combinations by using tracking software and notification systems.  They need operational leaders who can help bring organization and effectiveness to an existing pharmacy distribution center as well as establish new processes for a soon to open automated pharmacy distribution center.

A California semiconductor manufacturer used its corporate culture of high-level performance and innovation to weather the economic storm.  They fought hard to maintain market share and increase product value of their chips that are used for cell phones, automobiles, solar power devices and more.  They are emerging from the downturn with a number of key initiatives and are hiring for project leaders with strong problem-solving skills.

A major retailer with over 35,000 stores around the world was hiring for a District Manager.  Its CEO and COO are both former JMOs who have established a business model where they earn revenue from franchise profits instead of revenue like most of their competitors.  This unique arrangement creates a true partnership where both the company and the franchise owners have shared interests in creating and implementing profitable initiatives.  They have emerged from the recession in a strong position and want to bring in military officers to help further build the relationships with their stores.

These are just some examples of how our client companies used the economic downturn to strengthen their business models, creating opportunities for change and growth.  Looking from the “corner” as Corporate America begins its recovery; we can see the strength, innovation and commitment that have kept these companies great.  As we look ahead with them, there is exceptional opportunity to become part of their solution and future growth.  These companies are excited about the quality of candidates they saw in June, so you can thank the 40 officers for getting great organizations excited about coming back to a Cameron-Brooks Conference for more talent.  As you review the comments from the June candidates in the discussion area, (http://bit.ly/Ne2co), you’ll see that their success was the result of a lot of hard work – the interviewing bar was high.  They will post their suggestions for your preparation and interviewing techniques as they complete the follow-up process and receive offers in the next several weeks.  As always, we’ll keep you up to date on the market through our blog and our discussions with you.  We look forward to sharing our expertise with you while we are on the road working through your plans and preparation.  Our schedule is always posted on our website – www.cameron-brooks.com.

Roger Cameron, Scott LePage and the Cameron-Brooks Team