Today concluded our 3-day extravaganza and marathon of a week! Today, like Tuesday & Wednesday, we continued the celebration and thanks in our Rogers office J With over 350 people coming through our doors I bet you can only begin to imagine the stories and experiences that were shared. It is incredibly overwhelming in the absolute best way possible but that means I have a significant challenge ahead – to get the stories told J
Measurements model our mindsets.
Have you heard that one before? Think about it, our mindsets are determined by where we’re measured. I wish I had kept track of how many people responded with “WOW” upon walking into our offices to see the cubicle contest and decorating extravaganza! I bet it would have been 100%! We track a LOT of information in our business, and one of my very favorite numbers to celebrate is our Referral Rate. I think of our referral rate as a function of quality and an indicator that our mindsets are in the right place and we’re doing the right things. Year after year, ~50% of the people we put to work are referred to us. I share that with GREAT pride. That is no small feat and it’s something we work on diligently. I’m excited to share some stories of the power of relationships and referrals…
- My mom grew up on a farm in Roseau, her neighbor and best friend was Gene. His step-son was looking for a new ‘home’ but only wanted direct hire opportunities. My mom is the best referral partner I have, so without hesitation I reached out to his step son, John. John was happily employed, but commuting from Monticello to Shakopee every day for work, talk about a nightmare. It took a little convincing, and several phone calls and in person conversations, client visits, and a thorough interview process but eventually we got John in at a new company. I am STILL over the MOON thrilled about having worked with John. His first day was Monday, July 30th. On Saturday he text: “…checking in…Monday is almost here and my brand new career…very excited and a little nervous. That is probably normal, just wanted to say from the bottom of my heart how much it means to me that you and your mom helped me with this amazing opportunity and now it has come to pass….so very very cool. Thank you!!!! I mean, this is HUGE!!!!!” It’s way huge, and I had the privilege to be the one to connect the dots.
- We met with Bob and he started working for us in 2017, kicked it out of the park. Bob referred his step son Braeden to us. He was in a unique position with criminal charges on his record that were not his – so we worked with him to verify and clean it up and got him placed. He started his new role and was hired on in record time with our customer. Obviously he was good. So when Braeden’s friend Deon was looking for work, and moved to MN – the first place he called was Vision! We placed him too and he’s thriving! These three gentleman all worked with the same recruiter….where do you think her mindset is at?! She’s winning J
- Today I met Matt. He retired from a solid career at our customer and many years there. He didn’t want to stay home and wanted to keep busy – so where did he come? Vision. We got Matt busy working right away with a customer that can offer him part time hours and the flexibility and home he was looking for. He LOVES it there! Today when he was leaving he leaned in and whispered something about how much he loves working with Vision and he loves that we communicate and genuinely care about how the position is going!
- One of the new clients we started working with this year came today, it was so fun to put faces to names for me! You know how they heard about us? A candidate we placed, 10+ years ago, at a DIFFERENT client told his boss that if he was frustrated and wanted good talent, to call Vision. Are you kidding me?! I can’t make this up, because people matter, and how you treat people makes a difference…even after 10 years!
- Caitlyn came today, she’s always smiling. I saw her on site at our customer earlier this year and she gave me a little more to her story. Caitlyn found us because her son had an awesome experience several years ago. So when she was looking he suggested she come to us. Two years ago he also referred her grandson’s girlfriend to us who is still working where we placed her and she was hired on! Can you even keep up with the chain of connections!? This is SO. COOL.
As per usual, I could keep going but this is getting fairly lengthy. ~50% is pretty rad. This holiday season, let’s all make sure we’re taking measure of the important things in life, and not trying to keep up with our neighbor, co-worker, friends or others. Let’s make sure our mindsets are in the right place to continue to do good in this world.
**Special thanks to everyone who came out to join us for Thanks. We had an amazing time and feel incredibly blessed to be able to celebrate each year!**
Merry Christmas to you and yours,
Heather
