In the video, you’ll hear testimonies from tenured staff employed with C&A for 5-10 years, but you’ll also hear from our most recent hires as well!  They chose C&A for a reason – whether it’s our team-oriented environment, our dynamic training program, having a rewarding career opportunity, or the company culture.  Find out by watching the video right here on our blog!

C&A employs people that are all dedicated to each other’s successes.  The people make C&A what it is today.  Our training program is 2^nd to none!  We provide all the tools and resources necessary for success!  We impact lives by offering a rewarding career that gives our employees a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day.  Finally, the company culture makes you feel like you’re part of a family.  We are a large corporation with that “small town” feel. 

So if you’ve been thinking about a new rewarding career, think about C&A Industries!  You should choose C&A!

About Melissa Gunset
Melissa began her career with C&A Industries in July of 2008 as a corporate recruiter. Working in the HR department, Melissa is responsible for hiring for internal positions across all C&A divisions. Melissa has a BS in marketing from Northern Illinois University. She is a Chicago native who recently relocated to Omaha, and she spends her free time with her husband and daughter.

Everyone is connected in one way shape or form, but have you checked out your online reputation lately? 

Don’t be surprised, but employers are looking online to see what information is out there about you! What are they looking for you ask? Well, that would be called “digital dirt.”   The term could refer to that picture of you at a party with one too many “liquid fun.”  Before you know it, you’ve been tagged over and over again with comments from your friends about what happened that night.

What ever happened to reference checking and your professional behavior that was displayed during an interview?  Isn’t that enough?  Not quite.

Thanks to search engines, everyone and I mean everyone can access and unravel everything about you.  Research has found that only 7 percent of job seekers believe that available online information affected their search while 70 percent of HR professionals have turned down a candidate based on what they found online.

So, before you start your job search, do a little research on yourself.  You just might want to adjust that privacy setting on your social networking account.

Souce:  Online Reputation in a Connected World, Cross-Tab Marketing Services (for Microsoft), 2010

About Susie  Fredericks:  Susie began her career with C&A in November 1999.  In her current role as a corporate recruiter, she’s responsible for hiring for internal positions under the C&A umbrella of companies.

Here’s what Mark had to say about their experience in training for and competing in this endurance event.

Tell us about the indoor Ironman competition you completed:
We had 10 days to complete 85 laps of swimming, 26.2 miles of running, and 112 miles biking.

How many other individuals competed in the event?
There were five others but this Ironman was based on an honor system. We could do any of the events in any order, as long as all of the events were completed in 10 days. As an example, we decided to “Eat the biggest frog first” and take on the swimming. We completed the 85 laps in 3 hours and 50 minutes on the first Saturday morning it started. It really surprised us that we could complete the 85 laps in one morning since both us are not proficient swimmers!

What made you decide to take the leap to such an intense event?
Both of us love to eat and drink and as a result, we are not in the shape we strive to be in.

How long did you train, and what did you do to prepare?
Paul trained by swimming 50 laps and running a couple miles over a couple weeks before it started. He figured since he had 10 days, it wasn’t that big of deal. However he experienced severe cramping during the last 10 laps of swimming and also had to miss 3 days. As a result, he had to run 8 miles and bike 50 miles on the final day to get through the finish line. That was tough. A week or so before it started, I really increased my intake of bananas & complex carbs.

Was it easier training and accomplishing this with a partner?
Definitely. We were able to talk to each other during the running and biking, making the time go by quicker. Of course we pushed each other being the competitors we are.

What recommendations would you share with someone thinking about accomplishing this same thing?
Get some really good running shoes, swimming goggles & ear plugs and drink tons of water a few days before starting and during.

The biking was more difficult than expected, primarily because of the small seat on the stationary cycle. Spend some time on the bike along with running & swimming before too.

How did you do? How close did you come to meeting your goal / time expectations set for yourself?
We completed the event on time and what makes me even more proud is we did not cheat 1 mile!

Would you do this again? And if so, would you do anything different?
I would do this again although bike more at the beginning so my rear-end can ‘recover’ until the next ride a few days later!

What does that mean for our own workforce?  Our summer hiring is in motion.  We’re adding internal staff to serve our clients’ hiring needs and we’re off to a great start! 

Here at C&A, we recently hired six new people for our healthcare staffing division, Aureus Medical Group and are on our way to hiring six or seven more to start later this month.  In addition, we’ve added several new employees in support roles and with various other staffing divisions as well. 

In years past, our team of corporate recruiters has typically spent the majority of our time filling Account Manager (sales) positions but is also responsible for all internal openings.  In the past two months we have had a wide variety of positions to fill from Payroll Specialist, to IT Support Analyst, to Staffing Assistants in addition to those in sales.

The time it takes to fill a position could be anywhere from 1-8 weeks depending on several factors.  Once we receive a job request, we speak with the hiring manager to find out what skills are needed for the position, pay range, assessments that need to be given, and what type of experience will be the best fit. 

We then write ads to appeal towards a person with a specific skill set encouraging internal applicants to apply.  We frequently conduct resume searches on Careerbuilder and LinkedIn as well. 

How quickly a job is filled depends on the quality of applicants that we have apply and how long it takes us to get them through the interview process.  We have been lucky to get some great additions to the C&A team!

Has your company recently experienced an upswing in hiring?

About Stephanie Witt:
Stephanie began her career with C&A Industries in January of 2008 as a Corporate Recruiter – Team Lead. In this role she is responsible for hiring for internal positions under the C&A umbrella of companies. Stephanie has a BS in Business Administration from UNL. Away from work, she is consumed with caring for her two little boys and trying to get back into a workout routine!