“The Pursuit of Happyness” Movie Sparks Idea for Fast Start Hiring Program
Career Blazers cuts on-boarding process 700%, Saving Considerable Time and Money

You may be familiar with the movie inspired by the true story of Chris Gardner, a San Francisco salesman struggling to build a future for himself and his 5-year-old son. Chris’s determination finally pays off when he lands an unpaid internship in a brutally competitive stockbroker-training program, where only one in twenty interns make the cut. For Career Blazers, this sparked an innovative idea that resulted in hiring a new productive sales team in less than a month; one sixth of the time it would take normally.

In the past, Career Blazers had found it difficult to find sales people with industry experience, so they hired and trained new sales people without an industry background. Unfortunately, after months of training and management support, they discovered that too many of these new employees were not working out. Career Blazers had wasted a better part of a year, as well as incurring the costs for lost opportunities, escalated training, reoccurring advertising and recruitment, etc. They needed a better strategy.

Career Blazers’ management team designed a brutally competitive 2-day training program, they called “Fast Start”. The program’s objective was to quickly identify sales people by training them on lead generation skills on the first day, and then putting them in the trenches on the second day. Progress was monitored closely for two weeks. At the end of the two-week period, offers were extended to only a few participants.

“After a full day of training on the first day, trainees were immediately tasked with making a hundred cold calls a day,” said Career Blazers president Caress Kennedy. “We monitored and tracked their progress each day. It became apparent almost immediately who was cut out for the job and who wasn’t.”

The Fast Start program took a normal on-boarding process of 4-6 months and narrowed it down to 2-4 weeks, resulting in an estimated $20,000 savings per employee. “The program allows us to weed through candidates quickly, bringing top performers on board immediately who can ‘hit the ground running,’” continued Ms. Kennedy.

Career Blazers launched the first Fast Start program in March 2008 in New York and DC. During that 2-week training period, the trainees successfully landed 33 face-to-face interviews with prospective customers in DC alone.

Two of the Fast Start candidates have since successfully completed their first two months with Career Blazers: New York’s Mary Cosgriff, has found her niche in recruiting; and DC’s Alysia Spence has steadily exceeded her quota each week.

Career Blazers plans to launch another Fast Start program in June—a pursuit that will inevitably result in happiness for all.

Career Blazers, a division of Global Employment Solutions, is a market leader offering a full range of HR services across multiple locations in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. In business since 1949, Career Blazers specializes in the temporary, temporary-to-hire, direct hire placement, as well as on-site management and payroll services.

Career Blazers is Proud To Be Part of the Volunteers of America 2005 Toy Joy
January 1, 2006 - Career Blazers, along with companies such as Altria, McGraw-Hill, and Amalgameted Life, joined Volunteers of America this past December to help collect and distribute toys to over 5,500 disadvantaged children in the Greater New York area. Career Blazers staff and temporary associates helped sort and pack toys for the 2005 Toy Joy.

To see pictures and read more about the 2005 Toy Joy visit Volunteers of America's Toy Joy 2005 website: http://www.voa-gny.org/Galleries/toyjoy_05/.

If you are interested in doing volunteer work in the greater NYC area but just haven't known how to connect with an organization, we highly recommend Volunteers of America and the events they organize. You can get more information on their website (http://www.voa-gny.org). Click the "Volunteer" button on their homepage to get started!

Caress Kennedy Elected President of the Metro Chapter of the New York Staffing Association!
November 9, 2005 - Career Blazers is proud to announce that Caress Kennedy, our President, has been elected President of the Metro Chapter of the New York Staffing Association. NYSA, affiliated with the American Staffing Association (http://www.americanstaffing.net), is the trade association for the staffing industry in our region. NYSA serves as the voice of the industry in state efforts to communicate industry matters to association members, legislative leaders, regulators, the news media and the general public.

The Metro Chapter conducts networking and training events for staffing company professionals on important business issues and trends.