We all are familiar with the concept of buying local in order to help the local economy, but I’m not so sure we all agree on the definition of “local.”

I have yet to win the California Lottery, since I’ve only bought three or four tickets over its lifetime. I just never believed it made sense to spend hard-earned money on something with such incredibly poor odds. I would rather put my resources to work in a way that gives me some control and that means taking positive steps to build a successful business.

We optimists for some time now have heard or read about various spot improvements in the job markets and economy in general and have been encouraged.

I had two goals in mind when I made the decision a number of years ago to enter the recruiting business.

By nature I’m a skeptic, in part because of my Irish gene pool.  My family could tell you what was wrong with everything and at times in my life I could find a problem with anything and everything. 

A couple of months ago, I postulated the theory that our difficulties in hiring the right people may emanate in part from the failure to recognize and adapt to the vagaries of supply and demand.  Well here’s another theory to ponder and by the way I hesitate to call it a fact only because as I heard Charlton Heston comment one day that “I might want to reserve for myself the right to be wrong.”

 Building and maintaining a quality workforce is one of the most daunting challenges that most businesses face. The folly of "doing my own hiring" is one of the biggest mistakes most businesses make. Not far behind is picking the wrong vendor to help you hire your workforce.

The emerging workforce dubbed “the millennial” is here and is presenting some real challenges.  Whether we like it or not, they are going to become a large part of the workforce.  With the right approach and attitude, I’m convinced we can turn the challenges they present for those of us from the boomer generation into assets.  One of my mentors once suggested that the more I understood what makes people do what they do, the better I would be at managing them.  The current application of this principle to the millennial is one of the greater challenges I have faced but essential in the face of an aging boomer generation.  Like it or not, they are our future at the moment.    

One of the theories I’ve heard for most of my adult life is that our area suffers from lack of a well educated and skilled workforce.