Finding Workers For Employers

Scott Lever
Kauai Staffing Manager, HiEmployment

Please tell us about the business you work for. Hawaii Employment Services offers flexible staffing services, meaning we supply temporary workers to a wide variety of clients in various industries on the island. We also do permanent placement. So if a company needed to find permanent employees, we would go into a recruiting effort and present candidates for permanent hire. In addition, we work temp-toperm. In other words, sometimes companies want to try out an employee before they actually hire them. So they would come to us and we would find the employees, hire them, supply them to the company, and they would work as our workers for the client company until the point where the client company wanted to bring them on full time. It gives the company a chance to evaluate the employee before giving them the full hire. The business started in 2010 on Oahu, and branched out to Kauai in August 2013.

In what kind of industries do you help people find jobs? We cover any and all industries here: industrial, hospital, hotel, agricultural, transportation. We’re a broad-spectrum supplier.

Do you currently have clients who are looking to hire? Yes. We are working with the hospitality industries that are looking for banquet servers, cooks. We’ve had some industrial warehouse workers who recently have been placed. We already have a base of operations.

What are some of the benefits for job-seekers in using this service? Not all companies want to hire full time. This gives an opportunity for workers to find both full-time and temporary employment for companies that would not typically be hiring anyone. The great advantage to our candidates is that we might find them opportunities to work where they otherwise might not find them. And often, these placements can turn from temporary to permanent. Sometimes our clients take our temporary staff, find that they like them, find out how productive they are and just hire them full time.

How can people utilize the services? By contacting us. We do an application and fill out new-hire paperwork. We also interview the candidate to find out what they’re interested in, what their skills are, what kind of hours and what kind of shift work they can do. We really find out as much as we can to figure out what’s going to be the right match for them. At that point, we often already have an existing engagement – sometimes a hotel already would have called saying it needs these kinds of people. So if we can decide it’s the right match, we can make an immediate placement.

What are some tips for people seeking jobs? Network. Statistics show that something like 60-70 percent of jobs are filled through personal networking.

So stay in touch with your social network and let people know you are actively looking. And of course register with companies like ours so we can keep eyes open for you.

What’s one of the most important skills that people looking for jobs should have? Interview skills. I think if people paid a little more attention to how they present themselves when they come in looking for a job, they would have a better opportunity to be heard. Personal dress is important, in addition to having a current resume that reflects their job skills and the type of position they’re looking for. Also, being able to state clearly what they’re good at, what they like to do and how they can benefit the particular company they’re interviewing with.

What’s your business motto or philosophy? It’s about making the right match. We aren’t successful if one side or the other isn’t served. Making the right match is what causes our success, and that’s where the real business is done, right at the very basic level of matching skills with need.

Lihue Plantation Building 2970 Kele St., Ste. 213 482-3900 hi-employment.com

cocomidweek@gmail.com