Balancing Professionals’ “Talent Watch” Program Helps Companies Access Undertapped Pool of Potential Employees

Work-Life Balance? Re-Entering the Workforce? As Employee Pool Shrinks, Employers and Candidates are Getting More Creative at “Working It”

Raleigh/Durham, NC (March 2, 2007) – Let’s face it – we like to work, we love to live. Blending the two for employees and employers is what tops the list for Triangle-based niche staffing and advisory firm Balancing Professionals.

To that end, Balancing Professionals, LLC, launches a new “Talent Watch Program” this week to give Triangle-based companies an easy way to connect to a growing pool of highly educated and experienced professionals who seek alternative work arrangements. The company developed this resource as part of a growing trend for businesses looking to stay ahead of employment needs as a competitive advantage.

“There is a pool of incredible talent that most companies miss out on,” said Balancing Professionals Co-Founder Kella Hatcher. “Experienced professionals who seek part-time opportunities in their field don’t tend to job-hunt in the usual ways. Couple that with the fact that most recruiting efforts by businesses lead them only to people seeking full-time positions. The result is a ready group of would-be superstar employees at a pro-rated cost.”

The Talent Watch resource, available at no cost to potential employers, allows companies to expand their search for critical talent by tapping into Balancing Professionals’ unique and often overlooked pool of part-time professionals. By simply answering a few on-line questions at www.balancingprofessionals.com, prospective employers are entered into a system that allows them to be updated when a potential candidate matches their profile. From there, the employer can choose to schedule a time to talk with the candidate, or take a pass.

According to Maryanne Perrin, Co-Founder, Balancing Professionals, the Talent Watch resource resulted from repeated requests from businesses to “keep an eye out” for certain skill sets on an ongoing basis.

“The program provides employers with another set of eyes and ears for building a team of the best and the brightest and allows them to see resources they might not otherwise reach,” says Perrin. “It’s also about timing -- by proactively monitoring critical skill sets in the marketplace instead of always waiting until there is an immediate need, an employer ends up with more options.”

More than 60 percent of workers of all ages rate time and flexibility as a very important factor in retention, according to a recent Wall Street Journal article. As companies face an upcoming talent shortage driven by the retirement of the baby boomer generation, employers are more likely to view building their work teams as an ongoing and thoughtful process of identifying top talent, and not just a simple process of matching a skill set to an immediate job opening. With the changing workforce more companies will also likely change their hiring and job structures to make room for more part-time, job-share, and telecommuting opportunities, allowing them to take advantage of previously untapped talent.

About Balancing Professionals

Balancing Professionals advises companies on creating a win-win, flexible workplace and connects businesses to a pool of high-caliber, part-time professionals. Operating in the Triangle area of North Carolina, the firm was founded in 2004 by Kella Hatcher and Maryanne Perrin, respectively an attorney and an engineer/MBA who had navigated careers as part-time professionals prior to joining efforts to promote part-time opportunities for others. Balancing Professionals has helped a variety of companies capitalize on the changing workplace including clients in the pharmaceutical, technology, manufacturing, non-profit, and professional services industries.

Contact:
Cara McLauchlan
(919) 552-1818
cara at mckeemanpr dot com