Smart Move: Integrating DevOps Into Your Software Development Process

For some time now, DevOps has been the official buzz word of the IT world. Since the momentum and movement to the cloud greatly accelerated over the past few years, the DevOps skillset and the need to build a DevOps team have become vital components within every software and technology organization. Continue reading “Smart Move: Integrating DevOps Into Your Software Development Process”

Growing Careers in Florida’s Medical Cannabis Industry

With cannabis now legal for medical use in 33 states, the lawful marijuana industry is positively thriving. As of January 2019, the cannabis workforce in Florida reached new highs since its state legalization in 2016, totaling over 10 000 Floridians employed in 14 state-licensed Medical Marijuana Treatment Centers and approximately 90 licensed dispensaries.  If analysts’ projections from a report in The State of Legal Marijuana Markets is correct, medical marijuana in Florida will exceed $1 billion in 2020.

This exponential level of growth can mean only one thing for the Sunshine State and its residents – job creation. By the end of 2019, it was estimated that there were over 211 000 full-time workers in the cannabis industry across the US, which according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, created more new jobs than those by the manufacturing and utility industries, as well as the government. This number is expected to grow exponentially over the next decade.

While still a relatively young industry, the pull-power for career professionals from traditional industries is incredibly robust, with Accountants, Laboratory Workers, Marketers and Tax Experts comprising more than half of the new cannabis workforce. For businesses and start-ups rushing to take advantage of this blossoming industry, a strong and reliable workforce will be a competitive advantage helping to ensure higher market share occupancy and business growth.

For years, MSI Recruiting has played a significant role in sourcing candidates for new, little-known, rapidly-emerging and alterative industries, securing the best staff from entry to executive-level for our clients across the board. We fill positions related to standard business functions for legal cannabis companies, such as Human Resources, Finance, Marketing, Sales and Administration to name a few. We actively work to break the stigma and systemic biases around cannabis and its industry; educating top-tier talent who may have had prior reservations around the industry about its true nature and its rewarding professional prospects.

“The cannabis companies we have been retained by to perform search and placement work located in Florida have proven to be highly professional and corporate in their approach and image. They are high-tech in both décor and demeanor. Our experience with cannabis companies has been placing highly-educated professionals that fill roles in Accounting, IT, HR, General Counsel and Financial Analyses. This industry has the same potential in terms of growth and employment that the Tech Industry has shown over the last 20 years,” said Jody Moore, Founding Partner of MSI Recruiting.

As more and more professionals make the shift to careers in the cannabis industry, the competition for the best people will grow accordingly.

“Cannabis and related industries are areas where MSI Recruiting has seen tremendous activity in the last 24 months. The rules by which the industry is governed are constantly shifting, making it difficult in many cases for companies in the industry to make business decisions. That said, most of our clients in the space are hiring consistently and rapidly. MSI Recruiting has clients that are growers, distributors, real estate developers, and everything in between.  From a hiring perspective, we expect the volume and pace to keep up through 2020 as we keep an eye on how the changing laws will affect the industry,” said MSI Recruiting’s Managing Partner Kellen Smith.

Secure a strong workforce today with MSI Recruiting. Through our unparalleled focus on effective staffing, we put forth the best people to help your business achieve success.

Personality Testing in Hiring More Important Than Ever

Some personalities just don’t mix. At some point, we’ve all experienced this firsthand. Out in the world, when disparate people recognize their inability to mix well, they have the freedom to refrain from interacting. But in the workplace, that isn’t the case. Personality mismatches in the workplace can, and will, affect business, especially if it results in friction between an employee and the business.

In recent times, the issue of ‘fit’ has become increasingly important as more and more organizations realize that the majority of failed hires are not always a result of an individual’s inability to perform their duties, but a consequence of poor cultural fit. This manifests itself in employee clashes, breaks in communication, tensions, poor attitudes and general unhappiness all around. Whether problems are immediate or simmer on a slow boil, they can decrease productivity and increase employee turnover, which in turn harms a company’s image and raises operational costs.

Personality testing has become one of the most effective ways of mitigating this problem; helping to ensure that the right people are selected for key roles. These assessment tools provide objective insights into the behaviors, values, thought processes, character traits and professional abilities of potential candidates. This, in turn, allows for more informed decisions about who best fits a job role and whether or not they will thrive in a unique business environment.

MSI Recruiting personality tests can reveal whether a person is introverted or extroverted, patient or impatient, meticulous or forgetful, open or resistant to new ideas, and so forth. When combined with our resume analysis and an in-person interview, these assessments make it easier to determine the most promising profiles and ultimately aid in hiring the best talent at the end. These tests can help with identifying character traits that are important for specific roles, (such as attention-to-detail for an Accountant or the ability to keep calm under pressure for a Neurosurgeon) eliminating any bias from the recruitment process and resulting in greater efficiencies for a company when ideal individuals occupy their job vacancies.

In addition to streamlining the hiring process, personality testing helps employers identify which existing employees have the capacity to thrive in Senior or Managerial roles when opportunities for staff promotion present themselves. As a result, decisions can be made around which individuals will help to boost productivity and business bottoms lines with greater accuracy.

These insights are also beneficial to employees in terms of self and career development as they bring strengths and areas for growth to one’s attention. Through this self-awareness, individuals are empowered to improve themselves in order to reach their career goals. Consequently, this ambition for professional improvement benefits the employer’s business as their employees work harder and develop into heightened versions of their professional selves.

“Personality is a scientifically-proven predictor of job performance and assessing behavioral tendencies in the workplace. At MSI Recruiting we understand the importance of making the right fit between a job seeker and an employer. The insights derived from our personality tests can be used as actionable hiring steps, offering more surety into hires, reducing employee turnover and expenses, fostering positive inter-employee relationships and improving management relationships,” said Jody Moore, Managing Partner of MSI Recruiting.

No matter the personality type of an applicant, or culture of a business, MSI Recruiting successfully makes the right connections between diverse companies and candidates on a daily basis. To find out more about how we can help your company with successful hires, get in touch with us today.