1. No one is perfect so stop trying to be. This is a simple but very important tip to always keep in the back of your mind. Everyone wants to do their best in life in general but most of the time perfection is not attainable and trying to achieve it can cause physical and psychological damage. As you climb the professional ladder, responsibilities and duties increase and life can get more complicated. Rather than seeking perfection in what you do, strive for excellence.
2. Put your electronic devices down and slowly walk away. This is some advice we could all use, not only in our professional lives but in our personal lives as well. Whether you’re at work responding to emails or scrolling through social media in your spare time, we are constantly bombarded with screen time. This is not just hard on our eyes but can become overwhelming mentally. If unplugging all together seems daunting, try baby steps. Try not responding to emails while hanging out with family or friends and instead of scrolling social media during your child’s sporting event, sit back and enjoy. Remember, that it is okay to live your life in the moment and not feel the need to have constant updates and interruptions.
3. Exercise is important for not just your physical health but your mental health as well. Exercise, in any form, is a proven method to reduce stress. When trying to juggle a career with growing responsibilities at home, it seems that exercise is always the first thing to go out the window. This may be doing more harm than good. Exercise can include going for a walk with your family after work or even participating in meditation or yoga when you’re able. These less intensive methods of exercise can have some of the same stress reducing benefits as going for a run or visiting your local gym. In any way you are able, try to incorporate exercise and being active back into your lifestyle.
4. Focus on activities and people that benefit you. Finding yourself mindlessly scrolling Facebook or Instagram when you could be getting chores done around the house? Try and limit the time wasting activities to save room for things on your to do list. It may not seem like fun at the time but you’d be surprised at how good it feels to get items marked off. Continually getting cornered by the office talker in the morning? Politely excuse yourself so you can return to your desk and begin your day. This may sound selfish but it really isn’t. You can only be a good friend, co-worker, parent, etc. when you are feeling confident and organized throughout your day.
5. Consider re-organizing your life schedule and structure, switch things up! Where there is comfort in the predictability and knowing what to expect out of your day, sometimes this can actually add undue stress. As you grow in your career and personal responsibilities change, it can become difficult to keep up with old routines. If making dinner every night is causing undue stress, try planning out meals ahead of time or prepare freezer meals. If your daily trip to the gym in the morning is becoming too much a burden, try going after work or during your lunch. No one’s daily, weekly or monthly routine is necessarily set in stone. Simple, small changes can make a huge difference in your overall stress level at home and work.
6. Don’t over do it! As they say, Rome wasn’t built in a day so don’t expect to improve your work life balance overnight. The key here is to take small steps in an effort to make the change more feasible. You want to start exercising again? While it sounds like a good idea to set a goal of going for a walk everyday after work, it will be much easier to obtain a smaller goal of walking 1-2 nights a week. You can always build on your goals when you start to see success.

Striving to have a healthier work life balance is something that all working professionals should aim for. Today, it is estimated that 94% of working professionals are working more than 50 hours per week and almost half are working 65 hours or more. The hope is that these tips will help to remind you that regardless of what it means to you to have a solid work life balance, it can be attainable with small, incremental changes.

The Trillium brand of companies is privately owned by René Poch and provides more than 30 years of industry leading recruitment and staffing services through its divisions including: Trillium Staffing, Trillium Construction Services, Trillium Driver Solutions, Trillium Marine, Trillium Technical, Trillium Environmental, and Trillium Techs. With approximately 90 offices nationwide and nearly 400 internal recruitment professionals, the Trillium brand is proud to be recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts as a Top 25 Largest Industrial Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Largest Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Fastest Growing Staffing Firm in the U.S., and a 2015 winner of National Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. For more information please visit www.trilliumstaffing.com.

Let’s take a look at what, according to Business.Linkedin.com, are the recruiting trends to watch in 2018.

• Diversity: A staggering 78% of talent professionals state that diversity is the #1 trend currently impacting how they hire. Why? What LinkedIn found was that the main reason is to improve and diversify the company culture but also to boost financial performance and even to better represent their customers. Although companies are quick to boast wanting to focus on increasing diversity in the workplace, few actually succeed. This is largely due to the in-house Recruiters and hiring Managers are having a hard time locating enough diverse candidates to pull form.
• New interviewing tools: 58% of talent professionals state that new interviewing and hiring tools are the top trend affecting how they hire. By using tools such as online soft skills assessments, job auditions, casual interviews, virtual reality and video interviews, companies across the globe are able to improve the old model of interviewing candidates. The traditional interview is not going away any time soon but these new tools enable companies to look beyond the initial bias that may come from traditional interviews.
• Data: 50% of talent professionals say data is the most noticeable trend affecting their hiring practices today. Having data at a Recruiter’s fingertips to assist with hiring isn’t anything new but what is new is the speed with which this information is available and the different metrics that can be derived from it. Hiring professionals are able to gather and use data to predict hiring outcomes and trends and also to power machines to make smarter recruiting decisions for them (ie. AI).
• AI (Artificial Intelligence): While AI and data seem to go hand in hand, 35% of talent professionals described AI specifically as having the greatest impact on their hiring strategy this year. Can AI takeover your job? Possibly parts of it but having your position as a Recruiting professional taken over by robots isn’t happening. Only 13% of those surveyed believe that AI will take away their jobs. There is a lot more to recruiting than simply matching candidates based on a resume. The human element is very important in terms of building relationships, making judgment calls based on culture fit and determining the proper interpersonal and soft skills.

Being able to embrace these trends and determine how to best institute them into your existing recruiting process is your best bet in competing in today’s competitive job market. Just remember, that you’re not alone when it comes to trying to diversify your strategy. Companies across the country and the globe are keeping a keen eye on these trends now and into the future to make sure they continue to have a competitive advantage.

The Trillium brand of companies is privately owned by René Poch and provides more than 30 years of industry leading recruitment and staffing services through its divisions including: Trillium Staffing, Trillium Construction Services, Trillium Driver Solutions, Trillium Marine, Trillium Technical, Trillium Environmental, and Trillium Techs. With approximately 90 offices nationwide and nearly 400 internal recruitment professionals, the Trillium brand is proud to be recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts as a Top 25 Largest Industrial Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Largest Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Fastest Growing Staffing Firm in the U.S., and a 2015 winner of National Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. For more information please visit www.trilliumstaffing.com.

Unfortunately, we are starting to feel the wrath of a very real Driver shortage. According to USA Today and thehustle.co, the United States is currently experiencing a Driver shortage of 51,000 Drivers nationwide. This has resulted in a 6-10% increase in shipping costs. Guess who gets to pay the difference? That’s right, we do! In fact, with more and more Baby Boomers retiring every year and no one replacing them in the trucking industry, it is projected that by 2021, the US will be experienced a shortage of more than 100,000 Drivers.

In an effort to combat the shortage, shipping and logistics companies have had to increase wages by about 10% just in the last 18 months but are still struggling to fill seats. In fact, Tyson, the nation’s leading chicken distributor has stated that in order to offset a $200 million increase in shipping and distribution costs, consumers will begin to see increases in their products.

Even with investing more and more money into driverless trucks and other technologies in the coming years, it just won’t be enough to offset the increase cost in locating and retaining Driver talent. In addition, consumers will continue to become more reliant on e-commerce giants such as Amazon for their goods in lieu of visiting local stores. Unfortunately, in the end, the Driver shortage has and will continue to directly affect logistics and transportation companies, but also local businesses and the end consumer which includes you and me.

The Trillium brand of companies is privately owned by René Poch and provides more than 30 years of industry leading recruitment and staffing services through its divisions including: Trillium Staffing, Trillium Construction Services, Trillium Driver Solutions, Trillium Marine, Trillium Technical, Trillium Environmental, and Trillium Techs. With approximately 90 offices nationwide and nearly 400 internal recruitment professionals, the Trillium brand is proud to be recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts as a Top 25 Largest Industrial Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Largest Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Fastest Growing Staffing Firm in the U.S., and a 2015 winner of National Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. For more information please visit www.trilliumstaffing.com.

In fact, according to a recent report released by NPR, there are as many as 30 million high paying skilled trades positions currently available and the kicker, a lot of them DON’T require a college degree! Even with these staggering statistics, thehustle.co reports that high school graduates are still opting to go the 4 year college route, which over the next 5 years could result in 68% more opportunities in infrastructure being available.

So what type of positions are we talking about here? Well, according to the US Department of Education, the 30 million available jobs average an annual salary of $55k, and that is without a bachelor’s degree. The key point to remember here is that although a bachelor’s degree may ultimately provide a higher salary than a high school diploma alone, the same can not necessarily be said for someone going to a trades school. Another huge point in the skilled trades favor is simple. On average, the typical trade school graduate is able to pay off their school debt 1-3 years earlier and start off with higher salaries in comparison to those who receive a 4 year liberal arts degree. Who wouldn’t love that?

We aren’t saying that the skilled trades is right for everyone or that you should forget your dream of becoming a Doctor or Biologist. However, if you are someone who may be on the fence about what you want to do for a career, just take a look at your local trades school and see what they are offering. You might be surprised at what your options could be!

The Trillium brand of companies is privately owned by René Poch and provides more than 30 years of industry leading recruitment and staffing services through its divisions including: Trillium Staffing, Trillium Construction Services, Trillium Driver Solutions, Trillium Marine, Trillium Technical, Trillium Environmental, and Trillium Techs. With approximately 90 offices nationwide and nearly 400 internal recruitment professionals, the Trillium brand is proud to be recognized by Staffing Industry Analysts as a Top 25 Largest Industrial Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Largest Staffing Firm in the U.S., a Top 100 Fastest Growing Staffing Firm in the U.S., and a 2015 winner of National Best and Brightest Companies to Work For. For more information please visit www.trilliumstaffing.com.