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What’s Happening at Primary
Stay up-to-date on the latest happenings at Primary, with our clients, our team and in the staffing industry. People create success, and the Primary success stories and other valuable resources are available here, in our newsroom. You can also follow our company pages and groups on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, or Google+ to be connected to all of the action.
Current News
Texas Winter Storm | Helpful Resources and Contacts
We hope you and your family are safe after last weeks’ storm. Although we are thankful for the warmer weather, return of power and water, we recognize that there is...
Regina Mellinger named ‘One of Houston’s Most Influential Women’
HOUSTON WOMAN MAGAZINE RELEASES SPECIAL EDITION FEATURING HOUSTON’S 50 MOST INFLUENTIAL WOMEN OF 2018 Regina Mellinger, President & CEO of Primary Services has been named one of “Houston’s...
WBENC Feature | Keys to Success: Persistence with Clarity
Regina Mellinger, CEO of Primary Services, attributes her company’s success to persistence and clarity of values, direction, and solid measurements to evaluate progress. With over $10M in business and as...
Bureau of Labor Statistics: Staffing Employment Surges in February
Temporary help employment grew robustly in February, adding nearly 27,000 jobs over the month, according to seasonally adjusted data released today by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Staffing employment...
Primary Services is the WBEA’s 2017 Supplier of the Year
Primary Services is honored to announce that we have been selected as the WBEA’s Supplier of the Year in the category of businesses with an annual revenue of over $10...
Recent Grads Starting to Find Good Jobs
The college graduate underemployment epidemic is easing. And the stereotypical image of young people stuck in parents’ basements, working as baristas at Starbucks and wondering why they burdened themselves with...
12th Annual Change Happens ! Holiday Party
As we reflect during this special time of year, we are grateful for the joy of serving and partnering with each other. The Primary team was excited to spend a...
Spotlight Award Winner: Jordan Oldani
We’re very excited to announce that Jordan Oldani is our next winner of the Primary Services Spotlight Award! An employee of Primary Services for since August 2015, Jordan Oldani has...
Spotlight Award Winner: Luz Carmona
We’re very excited to announce that Luz Carmona is the first winner of the Primary Services Spotlight Award! Though Luz has only been with us since June, she has already...
College Hiring Outlook Best in a Decade
According to a survey by CareerBuilder, 67% of employers are looking to hire recent graduates this year with 37% at a higher salary than the previous year, and some with...
San Francisco Makes Progressive Changes to Paid Parental Leave
On April 5, the city’s Board of Supervisors passed the “Paid Parental Leave Ordinance”, which will obligate employers to provide paid parental leave. Currently, California law (under the California Paid...
Women Gaining Stronger Foothold in Recruiting
Within the staffing industry, especially in some of the most elite firms, we are seeing an increase of women in leadership roles. Isaacson, Miller, a nationally recognized specialty search firm,...
San Francisco Judge Supports Glassdoor’s Refusal to Reveal Commenters
Last Friday, San Francisco US Magistrate, Judge Joseph Spero, decided that Glassdoor.com does not have to disclose the identities of those who leave reviews. According to the judge, such a...
Jobless Claims Reach Highest in Months; Still Below Threshold
The number of jobless claims rose to 276,000 for the month of March. While this is the highest it has been in months, it is still lower than the 300,000...
Jump In Wages Could Inspire Hope for Fed
Houston, among others, is one of the cities seeing a bump in wage levels due to a decrease in available talent, according to a report released by the Labor Department...
TalentSwype Launches Online Marketplace Exclusively For Staffing Firms
The Phoenix-based company has created an online marketplace for candidate’s designed exclusively for staffing agencies. The marketplace is a central location for staffing firms to source technical talent. The benefits...
Upcoming events: Annual Offshore Technology Conference
The Offshore Technology Conference (OTC) for 2016 will take place May 2-5. The theme will be Endless Innovation. The OTC, which is hosted by various technical societies throughout the energy...
Complicated Applications Cause Job Seekers to Abandon Them
According to a study conducted by CareerBuilder, 60% of applications are abandoning job applications in before completing them. This is most likely due to applications being too long or involved....
Hardest Jobs to Fill in 2015
A study conducted by the American Staffing Association revealed the most difficult to fill occupations in the country for the fourth quarter. According to ASA president and CEO, Richard Wahlquist,...
Does the Surge of High-Wage Jobs Mean a Recovering Economy?
Reports from both Goldman Sachs and the Department of Labor revealed that millions of new jobs with higher wages have been created recently. According to the Department of Labor, the...
Most HR Managers Would Rehire Former Employee
According to a survey conducted by Accountemps, 98% of human resources managers would rehire former employees who left the company on a good note. However, over half of professionals surveyed...
Survey Reveals What Appeals Job Factors to Millennials Most
A study conducted by Deloitte recently discovered that two-thirds of millennials plan on leaving their current employers by 2020, and one quarter plan to leave in the next year. Why?...
Fastest Growing IT Jobs
Last year, employment for IT-specific positions increased in all industries save for oil and gas. According to government data analyzed by CompTIA. IT employment increased by 3.1% percent, which came...
Updates for employers with H1-B Employees
Time to file! The US Citizen and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting new H-1B visa petitions on April 1, 2016. The H1-B visa is often chosen by companies that...
New Recruiting Platform For The Passive Tech Job Seeker
One of the most in-demand type of professional—the tech worker—is also the most passive. Which means the majority are employed, and not actively job hunting. According to LinkedIn’s Talent Trends...
Top Jobs for Americans in 2016
The Hot Jobs 2016 report, released Wednesday, provides insight into the hiring trends for the upcoming year. For this is reports, Ranstad partnered with the Economic Research Institute to create...
Reported Income for Recent Graduates at a Decade High
According to a report published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, unemployment for recent college graduates fell to 4.9%, which is below the current national average (5%). In...
Drop in Jobless Claims Support Healthy Labor Market Theory
Despite the fact that the US economy seems to be dragging its heels, last week’s jobless numbers dropped 16,000 to 278,000. These claims are still 9% higher than numbers reported...
Talent Demand High, Supply Low
The 2016 Talent Trends Report, created by Randstad Sourceright, is a look into trends affecting talent, employees, and business for the upcoming year. This year’s report, released Monday, analyzed the...
Information Technology Professionals in High Demand
IT and cybersecurity professionals are in such high demand that many have begun to receive multiple unsolicited job offers a week. The average mobile app developer can look to make...
“Looking Glass Economy”
According to The New York Times, the messages from gross domestic product data, and hiring and employment data are very different. Gross domestic product indicates that the American economy is...
Minor Changes in US Job Openings in November
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that, on the last business day of November, job openins numbered 5.4 million. The number of job openings did not see much change...
New Employment Laws for 2016
As of January 1, 2016, new state and local government laws are mandating employers meet obligations stricter than what the federal government requires. Lexology gave a brief rundown on the...
Top Talent Trends for 2016
A study conducted aby Allegis Partners revealed the top five trends driving change in the workplace. According to Allegis managing partner, Michael Bergen, the trends listed below are “shaping the...
Paladin Consulting Acquired by General Employment Enterprises
Paladin Consulting, Inc., A Dallas-based IT and professional staffing company, was acquired by General Employment Enterprises. This will expand General Employment’s presence in Texas as Paladin’s market include Washington, North...
Study Shows Hiring Process Getting Longer
A survey of recruiters conducted by MRINetwork, a global executive search organization, revealed that candidates are receiving job offers three to six weeks after the first interview. This is in...
2016: Minimum Wage to Rise in 13 States
An overall increase in minimum wage is planned to span the next few years. This is to allow local businesses time to adjust. In 2015, fourteen cities and counties in...
Fewer Layoffs and More Hires and Wage Increases Anticipated in 2016
Though the oil crisis has led 2015 job cut numbers to reach a six-year high, the overall downsizing in 2016 is expected to drop, outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas,...
Employees of the Year: Birdie Williams
Our third Employee of the Year is Birdie Williams Birdie Williams has worked for Primary Services for over 10 years, and has worked for many of our corporate clients. Birdie...
Federal Reserve Raises Interest Rate By 0.25%
After nearly a decade, the Federal Reserve raised the interest rate. The rate is now set at 0.5%--a 0.25% bump—after a unanimous vote by the Federal Open Market Committee. A...
Employees of the Year: Cynthia Hodges
Cynthia Hodges is the second of our Employees of the Year. She has worked for Primary since 2012, completing numerous successful assignments with four clients. Currently, she holds an accounting...
UK-Based Impellam Acquires Bartech
According to Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), Impellam Group will acquire Bartech Holding Corp., and any subsidiaries on December 9 for $120M. Founded in 1977, Bartech provides managed service provider and...
Employees of the Year: Navida Estupinan
This year, Primary Services had the pleasure of recognizing three employees for their outstanding accomplishments as an Employee of the Year. The winners were selected based on their achievements and...
OSHA: Discussion on Program Guidelines Update
Recently, OSHA published a draft of the Safety and Health Program Management and left it open for commentary. The next step for them is to hold a facilitated discussion, which...
OSHA Penalty Increases on Horizon for 2016
The federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 stipulated the necessity for OSHA to increase its penalties to adjust for inflation. This will be the first increase since 1990. According to...
Unemployment Claims Drop to New Low
A new low in unemployment benefit applications could indicate a resilient job market. The number of people filing for first-time claims dropped by 12,000, bringing the total to 260,000, which...
Unemployment Debt Continues to Weigh, 6 Years Post-Recession
Of the 35 states that borrowed money when the recession depleted jobless benefit accounts, only three have yet to retire their debt: California, Ohio, and Connecticut. This is because businesses...
OSHA Releases Updated Program Guidelines For Comment
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has created a document for employers to use when developing employee protection programs regarding workplace conditions. The draft is called Protecting Whistleblowers: Recommended Practices...
Email is the Preferred Company Wide Communication Tool
According to a survey released by GetApp, company-wide emails are the preferred method of communication for small and midsize businesses. The survey included hard copy methods such as posters and...
Companies Commit to Hire 1 Million Veterans
Yesterday, 200 hundred companies celebrated Veterans’ Day by pledging to hire one million veterans. This group of companies, which includes J.P. Morgan Chase, Pepsi, and Southwest Airlines, was created four...
October Jobs Report Show Drastic Improvement in Labor Market
Any doubt brought about by the less-than-optimistic reports from August and September have been all but banished following the October jobs reports. It reported a 271,000 gain in payrolls, marking...
Job Boards’ Q3 Revenue Results
Reports from major job boards indicate lower revenue for the third quarter when compared to last year’s third quarter, Staffing Industry Analysts reported. The major job boards who reported were...
5% Bump in Average Salary for 2015 Graduates
The National Association of Colleges and Employers’ 2015 Fall Salary Survey revealed that the average salary for the class of 2015, bachelor-degreed grads is 5.2% higher than the final salary...
Independent Contractors Gaining Foothold
The 2015 CWS Summit North America conference revealed current trends in the industry. One of the more pertinent trends was the change in use of independent contractors. In the past,...
Are Older US Workers Poised for a Comeback in the Labor Market?
Despite international trends, the long-running uptrend of the labor force aged 55-64 has slowed. Other advanced industrial nations have seen a growing labor market as the older generation has begun...
Cruise Industry Boosts Texas Economy
In the past year, the cruising sector has contributed $1.33 billion to the Texas economy, which is an increase of 5.3% from 2013. The nation’s fourth-busiest cruise port, Galveston, reported...
Women to Bear the Brunt of Retirement Shortfall
A former executive at Bank of American Corp., Sallie Krawcheck, has said that the retirement savings shortfall is “a women’s crisis,” at the American Council of Life Insurers conference. According...
Staffing Industry and Labor Market Outlook Remains Promising As Final Quarter Begins
The latest job growth data hasn’t been optimistic, but despite that the staffing industry’s outlook is promising. Though the global economy has affected the US market, most industries (save for...
Trends: Job Seeking Going Mobile
This shouldn’t be surprising as the presence of social media has become more and more relevant in the space of job seeking and recruiting. But a recent study has determined...
Employment Falls Short of Projections
Payroll growth during the month of September fell short of expectations, and the jobless rate did not changed due to people leaving the workforce. In additions, wage growth had very...
PNC Survey Indicates the Most Promising Small Business Plans Since 2012
According to the PNC Economic Outlooks, small and mid-sized businesses show a lot of promise in terms of growth and hiring. The most since 2012, actually. 26% of owners are...
Texas Economy Is Resilient: Weaker, But Still Growing
The new president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Robert Steven Kaplan, has declared Texas’s economy critical to the growth of the United States. The Dallas Fed’s research director, Mine...
What is “Full Employment” and How Will We Know When We’ve Reached It?
For the past few weeks, the Fed has been wavering on the decision to raise the interest rate. One of the key components to making this decision is employment. The...
Staffing Industry Reaches Record Revenue
According to a forecast by Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA), the US staffing industry is projected by 7% and 6% in 2015 and 2016, respectively. This would bring the total revenue...
Fed Opts to Postpone Interest Hike
The Federal Reserve announced that it will not raise interest rates and move away from its stimulus campaign. The country’s rebound from the recession has been the longest recorded expansion...
Staffing Industry Analysts’ Global Power 100 – Women In Staffing
Staffing Industry Analysts (SIA) announced the launch of its first ever “Global Power 100 – Women In Staffing” list, an international look into dynamic women in the staffing industry. SIA...
United States Adds 173,000 Jobs in August
According to the Labor Department, The US jobless rate dropped to 5.1% (the lowest since April 2008) when employers added 173,000 jobs in August. The average monthly gain in the...
Jeff Thornbrugh joins Primary as VP of IT
Jeff Thornbrugh joins Primary Services as the Vice President of Strategic Accounts & IT Services Primary Services is excited to announce that Jeff Thornbrugh has joined the organization as the...
Inc. Magazine Recognizes Primary Services on Inc. 5000 List
Today, Inc. magazine revealed Houston staffing agency, Primary Services, among some of the best in their 34th annual Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies. This will be the...
Study Provides Tips for Smart Job Search Practices
A recent study on hiring trends have revealed six methods to make the most of the job hunt. The study examined where companies, large and small, tend to find employees...
Texas Ranks Among Top States with Highest Employee Engagement
A new Gallup study has found that engaged employees–that is, employees who are committed to and motivated by their job–have greater job satisfaction and productivity rates. Texas ranked among the...
US Economy Following Millennials South and West
Economic growth in western and southwestern cities like Austin, Houston, Denver, and Portland is exceeding records predating the financial crisis. This is due to a boost in service and technology...
First Quarter Reports Indicate a Rise in Median Wages
According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the national median weekly earnings for the first quarter were 1.5% higher than last year statistics. The data was collected through a...
Jump in Employment Does Not Include Jump in Pay
While the job market’s expansion is the best it’s been in at least 15 years, the same cannot be said for pay averages. Contrary to what had been forecasted, the...
Expansion in Temporary Staffing Expected in 2015, Forecast Says
According to the “US Staffing Industry Forecast: April 2015 Update,” the temporary staffing industry will grow 6% in 2015 resulting in worth of $121.0 billion by 2016, an industry record....
Job Opportunities for Recent College Grads on a Steep Incline
A study by Michigan State University’s College Employment Research Institute indicates that since recruiting of college graduates is at its highest since the dot-com boom, recruiting and hiring will become...
Diverse Economy Keeping Houston Solid Despite Drop in Fuel Prices and Rise in Electricity Prices
Certainly, the drop in oil prices is due to affect Houston’s economy; however, the industrial diversification of Houston’s economy renders the situation less dire than anticipated. Job opportunities in non-energy...