March/April 2004
The Cambridge Chronicle
The Cambridge Chronicle will be sent to our clients every other month via e-mail and will have news and information
specific to legal staffing and more specifically to Atlanta. We will also publish what is new with Cambridge, for example
changes in the benefits we offer our temporary employees and steps we take to improve our services. If you have any
suggestions on topics you would like to see, please e-mail us at jlowe@cambridgeprofessionals.com. It is our constant goal
to provide not only the best candidates and service, but also to serve as consultants to our clients.
State of the Job Market in Atlanta
For the first time in over two years we are happy to
report that the market has turned and hiring, both
temporary and permanent, is on the rise. Speaking on
behalf of just Cambridge, and not all legal staffing
companies in Atlanta, we saw a substantial increase
in temporary hiring in 4th Quarter of 2003 and
permanent hiring increased slightly toward the end of
3rd Quarter 2003 and remained strong through 4 th
Quarter 2003.
First Quarter 2004, has been even better. Permanent
hiring for legal secretaries, paralegals, and attorneys
has increased substantially in law firms of all sizes.
Corporations have increased hiring at all levels, but
continue to hire mainly temporary employees. In any
case, the market is still an employers market with an
abundance of good talent—both temporary and
permanent. Some recent employment facts reported
are:
 The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS)
reports that in March 2004, 308,000 new
jobs were added to payrolls, the fastest pace
in almost 4 years. This should help push
business confidence higher, leading to
additional permanent, temporary and tempto-perm positions.
 1st Quarter 2004 reported a total of 513,000
new jobs, almost 3 times that of 4th Quarter
2003 (179,000 new jobs). No Quarter last
year was able to show a positive “jobs”
direction!
 Despite an increase in new jobs, the overall
unemployment rate rose from 5.6% to 5.7%.
 While the BLS did not specify why
unemployment increased, it could be due to
the fact that job satisfaction is at an all time
low with, 1 out of every 2 employees
currently unhappy and/or looking.
First Annual Salary Survey-Postponed
We were scheduled to distribute a salary survey to
law firms and corporations around Atlanta this past
February. However, because the market is doing
better than ever expected—we have been extremely
busy and unable to work on a project of this
magnitude. We have rescheduled the surveys to go
out at the end May, with the results/report being
distributed in July. We know that many of you are
looking forward to this information and we apologize
for any inconvenience. However, we want to make
the most of the survey and want it to be a first class
resource for our clients. Please keep a look out for
the survey, and we encourage each and every one of
you to participate. As mentioned before, it will be
confidential and will be more useful the greater the
participation.
Temporary Rate Increase
Effective May 31st, 2004
Most of you have probably already been informed
that your unemployment insurance was increased
beginning January 2004. Unfortunately, we have just
received our notice and have spent the last several
weeks discussing solutions for dealing with the
increase. As you can imagine, staffing companies
were hit slightly harder than the average employer,
due to the fact we have employees that will work for
a period of time and then may not work for a period
of time.
For us to continue providing the quality candidates,
service, and benefits—we pride ourselves on—we
will be increasing all temporary bill rates/mark-ups
5% immediately on all new hires (this includes
Preferred Partner Agreement Clients). When you call
in an order, the recruiters will confirm with you what
the bill-rate will be. Since pay rates and bill rates do
vary from one temporary employee to the next, we
may be able to adjust the pay rate without affecting
bill rates. Regardless, as always we will work with
you to stay within your budgets, and still provide you
with the quality and experience you need.
For all temporary employees currently on long-term
assignments, their bill rates will be increased as of
May 31st, 2004. You will receive a letter in the next
several weeks with the new bill-rate. Overall billrates will increase on average $1.00 an hour, but
increases overall will range $.50 cents an hour for
lower level employees to $3.00 on the very high end
and extremely skilled/experienced attorneys.
If you have any questions or concerns, please do not
hesitate to call. We want to make the transition as
seamless as possible, and the effect to you and your
business minimal.
Don’t Want to Pay a Fee, But Need
to Ensure Quality?
Your candidates and our rigorous testing services
can help you avoid making a hiring mistake. If you
hire directly without testing, you put yourself at risk
of making a bad hire. Cambridge now offers a full
range of testing and background checks for the
individuals you hire on your own (without the
assistance of a staffing company).
Cambridge offers a broad range (over 300 tests
available) of skills test, psychological testing, and a
full compliment of background checks that can be
customized to your needs. We can develop a test
profile for each type of position you hire and then it
is as easy as calling to schedule an appointment.
Once the testing is complete we will email the results
to you!
The cost is $50.00 per test or background check
requested. A small cost to ensure your candidate has
been professionally tested. Call us to find out more
about how Cambridge can be your testing partner.
Sample List Of Available Services
Skills Tests
Microsoft Word
Word Perfect
Data Entry
Microsoft Excel
Power Point
Outlook
Windows
Typing
Math Testing
Accounting Tests
Vocabulary
Proofing & Editing
Languages
Work Attitudes Testing
Background Checks
Criminal Records
Credit Report
Driving Record
Employment Verification
References
New Clerks Program
While we have always staffed document, copying,
and file clerks—we have never had a dedicated
resource committed to this area on a full-time
basis…. well something else at Cambridge has
changed. A few of our clients have hired these
clerks, and we are proud to say they are extremely
pleased with the quality they have received.
Jane Berlin at Rogers & Hardin had this to say,
"Thank you, CambridgeStaff, for helping me bring
my new caseworker program to fruition! As you
know, I want to interview only the most highly
qualified recent college grad whose goal it is to
attend law school. I now have 22 bright young
professionals in the program and the lawyers and
paralegals can't say enough good things about the
high degree of support they receive at every turn. I
appreciate your personal attention and thank you
for sending me such outstanding candidates." If
you have a need for a clerk or have questions
regarding this service, please contact Jenny Voigt or
your current Cambridge contact.
Flat Perm Fee of $2,000
Temp Hourly Rate of $15.50-$18.60 w/ 90 days
option of perm at no additional fee
New Temporary Benefits
Starting this past February we are offering an
additional level of health coverage for our long-term
temporary employees. Until now we have always
offered heath insurance reimbursement of $100 per
month to our temporary employees to apply to the
insurance carrier of their choice. In addition, they
already receive eligibility in our 401K, holiday and
vacation pay. Our new coverage will allow longterm temps (on assignment 6 months or longer) to
participate in the same Major Medical coverage fulltime employees at Cambridge enjoy. This level of
coverage offers: health, vision, dental, short-term
and long-term disability and life insurance through
Guardian.
Featured Article:
Effective Hiring & First
Impressions
Hiring great talent is not easy and if you are truly
interested in hiring the best talent the market holds, it
is important to remember that this may be the first
interface a candidate will have your organization. So
how do you make the first impression a good one?
How do make sure you are not wasting time and
money? How do you ensure you get the best
candidates? How do you close the deal?
First things first, HAVE A PROCESS. Make sure
you have answers to the following questions prior to
interviewing:
 What and where is the need?
 When does the position need to be filled by?
 What will this person be doing (job
description)?
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What are the qualifications for this position?
What is the salary range for this position,
including bonus potential?
Who will this person report to? Where will
this person fit in amongst the rest of the
team?
Who will be the point person on this search?
How will we find candidates for this
position (post the position, utilize internal
recruiters, contact an outside search firm)?
What information will be required to
determine candidacy (i.e., resume, writing
sample, transcripts, test scores) and
complete a candidates application?
Once complete applications are received for
the position, who will review the resumes to
determine interest?
Who will conduct first interviews? How
long will candidates spend with each
interviewer?
What is the order of
interviews?
What do we want to ask in a first interview?
What do we want to know/accomplish?
What do we want to convey? What is
important for this person to know about the
position?
Should we all ask the same questions or
different questions? Should we do a panel
interview or individual interviews?
How will we collect feedback on each
interview (evaluation interview forms work
best)?
Will there be second interviews and who
will conduct them? Third interviews?
How many candidates do we want to
interview for a first, second, third?
How are we going to track applicants and
manage the process?
DEFINING A PROCESS AND SETTING
PARAMETERS
Before contacting a recruiter or starting a search, it is
important that you have the majority of the questions
answered above.
It is equally as important that
there is a consensus regarding the process and the
parameters, among all those interviewing and
participating in making this hiring decision. I have
seen more clients waste time and money, because
their own team was not on the same page when
interviewing candidates. The most costly outcome
when these things are not clearly defined or
communicated amongst the team interviewing is not
the loss of time or money, but the loss of a great
candidate. Candidates will become disinterested, and
left with an impression that the organization lacks
leadership and direction when they receive mixed
messages from the interviewers.
If it is a new position, it is very likely that your job
description, and even the qualifications you are
seeking in a candidate, will change as you start the
interview process. This is not a problem, if properly
managed and adequately communicated. It is critical
to communicate to the candidate that this is a new
position, and that the candidate you decide to hire,
will depend a great deal on what that person brings to
the table. For a newly created position, it is
important to look for candidates who are open to
change, open minded, and consider themselves able
to “think outside the box”. You don’t want someone
who needs a clear and concise job description. By
the end of the interview process, you will more than
likely have a stronger grasp and understanding of
what you need and want based on what you hear and
see from the candidates. The position is also likely to
change in the first year, and it is important the
candidate understands this coming in to the position.
Innovative organizations would take this new
position and the interviewing process as an
opportunity to learn. Ask all the candidates who
interview to tell you what value they can add to the
position. What they bring to the table that was not
mentioned in the job description. Is there anything
they would add to responsibilities of the position
based on their experience.
You have (1) established a process; (2) set
parameters for the search; (3) garnered consensus
amongst your team; and (4) identified candidates that
are qualified, and you are interested in interviewing.
So lets start interviewing.
GENERAL THOUGHTS
 Make sure to allocate enough time to
interview a candidate-At least 30-45 minutes
for individual interviews and an hour to an
hour and a half for a panel of 2 or more.
 Every “interviewer” in the process should
have general knowledge of the candidate
prior to the interview and a “desire” to
interview-It’s a fact most people don’t look
forward to interviewing.
 Any company interviewing a “recruit”
candidate (a candidate that’s not looking to
make a move) must keep in mind that it’s
important to “sell” the organization and the
opportunity. 9 out of 10 times these are the
best candidates and the ones you will want
to hire.
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Initial interviews for recruit candidates are
to learn more about the position, company,
culture and yes, you, the interviewer!
You may want to create two interviews
(questions to ask, what you want to
accomplish). One interview for recruit
candidates and one for non-recruits. The
focus for non-recruits—is for them to really
sell you. For the recruit candidates—you
will be selling each other.
Cover “pros” and “cons” of the position
with the candidate.
Create an outline of what you want in a
candidate - Every person in the interview
process should do the same.
Remember, just like there is no such thing as
the perfect job--there’s no such thing as the
perfect candidate. If you have 80-90% of
what you want, you more than likely have a
match.
A candidate should be able to (proactively)
position what he or she can bring to an
organization. Remember it is an interview
and the majority of candidates (even recruit
candidates) are going to be selling
themselves.
As the interviewer it is
important to determine what is confidence
and what is arrogance (the two can get
confused), and remember they are selling
themselves.
Avoid letting your guard down with a
candidate. Do not get too personal in the
interview. Candidates will often reciprocate
and let their guard down—it is human nature
for candidates to reciprocate with like
action. However, some of the common
feedback I have received from clients is the
candidate, “felt too comfortable.” This is
often times, because the interviewer let them
feel too comfortable.
Avoid talking too much about yourself or
your management style. Telling too much
gives candidates the opportunity to alter
responses to what they think you want to
hear.
Ask open-ended questions, and make sure to
listen to how they answer a question
(directly or indirectly, with or without
examples). Listen to what they don’t tell
you.
Have an outline with pre-determined
questions specific to the job, the
qualifications required, what is important in
regards to fit (i.e., works better
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autonomously or as a member of a team,
deals well with stress or doesn’t, etc.)
Take notes and evaluate the candidate at the
end of the interview with a few lines on
overall general impressions and then rate
them on a scale of 1 to 10 against the other
candidates you have interviewed.
GENERIC QUESTIONS
1. Will you walk me through your
background?-The idea is to look for holes in
the resume, excessive job movement and
lack of relevant experience. Try to spend no
more than 15 minutes on a resume
“walkthrough”. You can always come back
to this in a follow up interview or phone call
if there are real concerns.
2. Is there anything you dislike about your
previous employers? –It’s not a bad idea to
put the candidate on the spot with a question
like this. What you’re looking for is to see if
a candidate will bad mouth a former
manager or organization and for what
reasons. You’re also looking to see how a
candidate handles an uncomfortable
question.
3. Tell me about yourself-The goal of this
question (or request) is to learn more about
the candidate on a personal level. It’s
possible that you might be able to uncover
certain personality and character traits if the
candidate is given the chance to speak
freely.
4. How do you define success?-This is simple.
We all have different definitions of success.
This question allows the interviewer to
match up a candidate’s thoughts on what it
is to succeed with their own. At times,
people can be worlds apart when it comes to
defining the word success. It’s important to
know as a manager or colleague, what
success is to this person and what drives
them to succeed.
5. How have you handled setbacks?-Ask the
candidate for specific examples. Try to
evaluate if a candidate can think out of the
box to resolve issues that may get in their
way of succeeding. The idea is to evaluate
whether or not you have someone who can
handle distractions and difficult situations in
a calm, cool and level headed manner.
6. What motivates you?-Is it money? Being
number one? As an interviewer, you might
want someone who’s a team player, you
might be looking for someone who wants to
compete day in day out with their fellow
colleagues. This can be a tough question for
a candidate because a candidate is never
quite sure how to answer it. Every candidate
has been taught not to say money is a factor
that motivates.
7. Talk to me about specific achievements that
have occurred in your career The
interviewer should be looking for specifics.
This is where many candidates trip up.
Many candidates find it uncomfortable to
brag about achievements. It’s important to
find candidates that believe in success and
can talk about their achievements in a
professional manner.
8. Why are you interviewing? Candidates
should be interviewing initially to learn
more about the position, company, manager,
culture and to see if there is interest to
explore the position further. Although there
are always exceptions, the best candidates to
hire (in the end) are the ones that are not
necessarily looking. These types of
candidates are operating from a position of
strength, not weakness and will tend to make
sounder decisions when it comes to job
movement. These types of candidates also
usually show a greater pattern of success in
their professional background. I define these
types of candidates as “recruit” candidates.
Are you looking to leave your current firm?If the answer is “yes” this is when the
interviewer has to really probe. Ask why and
let the candidate talk. Follow up each reason
the candidate gives with more questions.
Dig and dig.
9. What type of management style works best
for you?-In my opinion this is one of the
most important questions to ask a candidate.
Why is it so important? If a manager’s
management style doesn’t mesh with a
candidate’s needs, you’re looking at a
possible disaster. The manager must know
their own management style to properly
evaluate the answer the candidate gives.
What do you expect from a manager? Have
you ever had a problem with a previous
manager? If so, how did you resolve the
problem?
10. Do you have any further questions?-Every
interviewer asks this question. But does
every interviewer expect and look for the
right question from the candidate? The best
candidates will try to close you at this point
as a follow up to this question. The best
candidates will ask you (as a “further”
question): Do you have any red flags or
concerns? And should follow up by asking
you: What’s the next step in the interview
process? Do not consider this arrogant or
presumptuous. Good candidates should be
confident and welcome difficult questions.
11. Why should I hire you? A candidate can
either completely make-up for any prior
slips in the interview or can totally screw up
in the last 5 minutes. Either way it is a good
question to ask, especially for non-recruit
candidates. However, I will caution that an
interviewer needs to look at the entire
interview and how the person did overall—
not just the answer to this one question.
This is a difficult question.
YOU FOUND “THE ONE”
Alright you have created the process, established the
parameters, established your own “general thoughts”
on interviewing, garnered consensus, written an
outline with job specific and “fit” specific questions
to interview recruit and non-recruit candidates, have
created an evaluation form, and ….now you have
narrowed it down to the candidate you want. What
do you do? Prior to even beginning the interview
process, you should have established with each and
every candidate that came in for an interview, the
following: (1) what is his or her current salary with
bonus and the breakdown of salary vs. bonus, (2)
what is their desired salary (most candidates will only
consider a move for an increase), (3) are there any
other perks they currently enjoy and would be giving
up (are they going to be giving up stock options, year
end bonus, paid parking, flex spending program,
working one day from home, etc.). If you have this
information you are ready to make an offer.
After being in the business a while, I have some
pretty strong opinions (which most recruiters would
not agree with) on what is the right way to make an
offer, and I don’t think if you are the employer
making an offer directly or a recruiter making an
offer on behalf of a client—that the process should
change. I believe prior to an offer being made both
sides understand there will be no negotiating. As a
recruiter, I explain to the candidate that this is not my
role. My role is to get you in front of the client, get
you through the interview and get you an offer, but
not to negotiate an offer. I tell my clients the same
thing.
Never in the course of a search, do I want my client
to question why I am asking for the salary I am (it is
simple—that is the magic number that will close the
deal).
I will advise candidates if their “magic
number” is unreasonable, and I will counsel them to
reconsider. The “magic” number I give my clients is
typically what I will pre-close a candidate based on.
I ask the candidate—if you received an offer of x,
would you accept? If you can’t pre-close a candidate
at this point (it is harder to do when you are the client
making the offer directly, however, still doable) I
would be skeptical. Make sure you have a candidate
that wants an offer and undeniably wants the job.
Make sure not to let your 2nd or 3rd choice candidates
go until you have a signed acceptance offer and the
candidate has communicated to you that he or she
resigned their current position. Candidates should
not need more than a few days or a weekend to
consider an offer. Candidate’s that cannot commit at
this point are not serious candidates and are likely to
consider counter offers from their current employer,
so if you can pre-close—DO. It will save you time
and the potential loss of other good candidates (as
time goes on, even recruit candidates will start
looking at other opportunities). I never recommend
an employer come in low, the other side come in high
and meet in the middle. This is not a merger of two
companies, in essence you are asking someone to join
your family and it should be done in the most
forthright and honest way possible—where both sides
feel like they are winning instead of losing.
What I’ve put together are general ideas and thoughts
on effective hiring, from setting up the process to
closing the deal. Remember your process is a direct
reflection of your organization and your people, and
if done right can also save you time and money. I
hope this article proves useful. If you have any
questions, or if you would like to obtain a copy of
this article to distribute and use internally with your
staff, please feel free to contact me (Janelle Lowe,
404.842.2800 or jlowe@cambridgprofessionals.com).
Pay for Performance Program
March of last year we rolled out our “Pay For
Performance Program”. This program is based on
our Quality Survey System implemented two years
ago. The surveys are sent out at the end of each
temporary assignment to measure how well
Cambridge and our employees have performed. We
calculate a statistical performance value for each
survey response and review every response to insure
client satisfaction! This system gives us a vehicle,
which statistically measures each employee, for each
assignment, and provides formalized feedback used
to improve our services and respond to any issues
that arise.
responses to these surveys. Employees are eligible
for a bonus if they meet or exceed expectations while
on assignment. This bonus is then paid periodically
(there is no additional cost to clients) by Cambridge
based on a summary of all assignments and survey
results over the bonus period. Though we do coach
employees on performance issues, we do not share
specific survey responses with them.
There are many benefits to the program. The obvious
one is a better and more motivated temporary
employee. We believe connecting compensation to
performance and giving our clients a voice in their
evaluation will create better temporary employees.
The following are the most recent recipients of PFP
Bonuses:
Abigail Burns
Evelyn Bell
Jane Mitchell
Suzanne Davidson
Akara Hatcher
Fran Giampicolo
Katherine Brock
Tanya Forehand
Jennifer Hubbard
Shalonda Sumpter
Steve Sauro
Monique Martel
Caroline Grant
Phyllis Motes
Dana Hayley
Temp of the Month Program
In addition to the Pay for Performance Bonus
Program, Cambridge also recognizes a temp of the
month.
Similar to the Cambridge Chronicle,
Cambridge publishes every other month the
Cambridge Temperature.
The Cambridge
Temperature is the newsletter we publish for our
temporary employees. The newsletter serves as a
vehicle to keep our temporary employees informed
on recent changes at Cambridge (including new
referral programs, benefits, etc.), and provide
educational and resource material (including, how to
be a good temp, interviewing techniques, formatting
resumes, writing cover letters, etc.). It also recognizes
those temps that have proven themselves, to be
exceptional employees to Cambridge through quality
work, reliability, dedication and loyalty and
recognizes those temps as “Temp of the Month”.
The following temporaries have been recognized
over the last few months.
December
January
February
Shireen Hormozdi, Attorney
Fran Giampicollo, Legal Secretary
Abigail Burns, Paralegal
The “Pay For Performance Bonus ”Cambridge
for our Professional Group
temporary employees is based
on our Center,
client’s Suite 200, Atlanta, Georgia 30305
Four Piedmont
404.842.2800 or 1.800.563.6101 phone, 404.842.2805 fax
Legal, Financial & General Office Staffing Services