470-588-0400

Author: admin

Common Sense

Posted on by admin
This past week we received several leads requesting Atlanta recruiting services for skilled labor industries such as machine operation and carpentry. One commercial janitorial company reached out with a unique request that typifies the seriousness of the labor shortage in Atlanta and across the country. The owner of the company said he was tired of lengthy job descriptions and simply wanted to find someone with common sense. He added that he would soon be taking out an ad in the AJC as a last ditch effort to find someone to fill his open positions.
This a strong statement on the state of companies finding their own employees and reflects hours of wasted time in searching, interviewing, training, and firing the wrong candidates apparently with no common sense. The business owner had to drop his standards so low, because he’s been so disheartened by trying to find and keep good people on his team. Like many Atlanta companies, this business owner admitted he could grow his business but is hamstrung by the lack of talent available in the workforce. Just imagine the impact on our economy if so many of the businesses held back by labor shortage were able to meet the demand for their services.
At Amplio, we believe there are an ample supply of good people looking for a career, because we interact with them everyday. We immediately connected this business owner with a refugee named Hiru from Ethiopia. She was previously employed by the airport cleaning terminals and came to us by way of Cafe Clarkston.
After completing a phone interview, Hiru completed an in-person interview. We are hopeful this will be a great match for both parties involved and that Hiru will enjoy a fruitful career.
We are excited to have placed a strong candidate with such a great company Staffing Atlanta companies with the refugee workforce.

Seamstress Interview

Posted on by admin
This week I had the opportunity of taking two recently resettled refugees to an interview in Atlanta. As an Atlanta recruiting firm we are staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce. We specifically focus on skilled labor staffing and was approached by a local fashion designer with a growing product line to help her find seamstresses and tailors that could do customs work and had a true passion for detailed sewing. Martha from Brazzaville, Congo in Africa and Abdul from Tehran, Iraq in the Middle East both agreed to join me for the interview. We rode across town from Clarkston to Marietta street on the West side of Atlanta mostly discussing their sewing experience and survival stories. Upon arrival, we met the lead designer and she showed us some of the fabrics they work with as well as some of the recently produced products. She also showed Martha & Abdul some sample designs they would reference for cutting and sewing fabric. We then sat in a conference room and Abdul & Martha each told a couple staff members their story and answered some questions about their experience.
Finally, they took Martha & Abdul into the sewing room to look at some patterns and sew a few items to get a feel for their ability. Both Martha and Abdul had a few questions but both did well on their test fabrics.
After we left, there were some mixed feelings from Martha & Abdul on their performances. However, I heard back from the designer that evening requesting them to both come back in for an extended trial session with more fabrics and patterns.
Only time will tell whether or not Martha & Abdul find work. Abdul is an excellent tailor and was classically trained in Southern Iraq. Martha has sewn everything from the clothes she wears to airplane seat covers. This job will be a stretch for both of them, but they are up to the challenge. They certainly have persevered up to this point and I don’t see any quit in them yet!
This is why we do what we do. In skilled labor staffing we can provide refugees a fresh start for themselves and their families. But it’s a win for everyone, because so many companies are experiencing labor shortages and need legal, experienced, and hard working people. We are ready to help you whenever you are ready to grow your team and decrease turnover. Staffing Atlanta with the talented refugee workforce. We are your labor shortage solution.

Atlanta Recruiting on the Radio

Posted on by admin

I was recently interviewed on Atlanta business radioX about the work we’re doing staffing Atlanta companies with  the refugee workforce. I had the opportunity to speak about Atlanta recruiting and skilled labor staffing specifically discussing the connections we have with healthcare staffing, maintenance staffing, and agriculture staffing. We are becoming more and more known forJob placement in Atlanta and have plenty stories to share about the experience this far. The radio station was interested in the obvious win/win scenario we’re creating for Atlanta companies, helping them hire great talent, spurring local economy, decreasing unemployment rates, and placing refugees into fulfilling work. We discussed many of the challenges we face with being an Atlanta recruiting firm and one that specifically focuses on refugee employment. I told the story of one refugee from Ethiopia we helped get an interview with a local software development company. The interview went well until they asked the refugee to take a test to confirm the level of experience he had with this particular software platform. The test was obviously, on a computer however, in his learning and even teaching this software platform in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he had only used a blackboard and chalk. He was very experienced with the platform but had no ability to use it within the computer program! We’ve experienced some very interesting challenges in the Refugee staffing line of work, but we believe it pays off for everyone involved when it all works out. We discussed a few positive stories and hope to appear again in the radio show with a few CEOs who have hired refugees in Atlanta sometime soon. This opportunity allows us to continue to get the word out about our Atlanta recruiting processes and positions us as experts in our industry. Thanks for your support that has allowed us to serve in this capacity. Stay tuned!

A Buddhist, Muslim, & Christian stuck in traffic…

Posted on by admin

Yesterday I spent the afternoon taking a couple refugees to a job interview with Synergy Systems, a local company providing parking lot cleaning and maintenance services for businesses in the Atlanta metro area. Ali is a refugee from Iraq who fled his home country when racial tensions flared up against the Kurdish people group. San is a refugee from Bhutan who also fled his home due to civil unrest. They found themselves riding on the chaotic I-285 perimeter highway in rush hour traffic in my red Ford F-150 comparing their journeys to America. They both performed well in the interview and were fascinated with how the fleet of street-sweeping trucks operated. This job was a 3rd shift opportunity where they would drive a truck and clean the parking lots of Atlanta’s best restaurants and malls from 9pm at night to 6am in the morning.

The ride back to Clarkston turned to conversations about faith. Ali shared about his Muslim roots and San talked about the core beliefs of Buddhism. I shared about what makes Christ’s life and death unique to the Christian faith and we all agreed to learn more about each other’s beliefs. San is hoping to get this job so he can attend an 8 month electrical training program during the day and spend some time with his family. Ali had a job delivering furniture for a local company that went out of business. Both men are looking forward to contributing to society and their families.

This is why we are staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce. These guys have lived through so much and deserve an opportunity to have fulfilling work. We help companies experiencing labor shortages all over the city with Atlanta recruiting in construction, maintenance, healthcare, and skilled labor positions and would love to do the same for you! Contact us today!

Agriculture Staffing & Farm Labor

Posted on by admin

We are staffing Atlanta with the talented refugee workforce. One thriving industry in the Atlanta area impacting the entire country is agriculture. Georgia is and has always been a strong producer of many textiles and food staples consumed by many people around the US. However, in recent years, many farms have been understaffed and thus unable to match supply with market demand for their produce. One article appeared in the Wall Street Journal recently entitled “On U.S. farms, Fewer Hands for the Harvest.” It details the many farms around the country struggling with labor shortages. Many of these farms have had to raise their wages and begin providing benefits packages to attract enough laborers. Some reported workers walking off in the middle of their shift because another nearby farm was willing to pay them higher wages.

Why the wage war, you ask?  Because money is rotting on the vine. The article discusses one California farm, “Limoneira, which generates about $100 million in annual revenue, has already lost 8% of production to fruit that rotted and fell to the ground…”. Eight million dollars has fallen to the ground, a good incentive to hike earning potential and shell out medical coverage. Customer acquisition costs can be a little inflated if it ensures eight million dollars is not rotting away due to a lack of hands to pick it.

This seems to be such a conundrum. Over 5% unemployment and yet no one wants to get paid to be a field laborer? Furthermore, as the US cracks down on illegal immigrant workers, the agriculture industry seems to have no answers.

Have no fear farmers, refugees are here! The solution to the labor shortage dilemma has been resettled in our own country. UN sponsored, legal, loyal and hard-working refugees from South America, Africa, and parts of the Middle East and Asia are the only solution for agriculture staffing and farm labor. We are honored to play such a pivotal role in supplying America’s farms with the farm laborers so they can meet market demand for their produce. Read the article here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/on-u-s-farms-fewer-hands-for-the-harvest-1439371802

The Refugees of Urban Mattress Company

Posted on by admin
We are staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce and hearing incredible stories of impact through business owners across the city. We’re excited to share some of those stories here on the blog. However, before diving into Atlanta recruiting successes, we thought it would be best to share about the very first company we encountered intentionally hiring refugees. We met Steve & Ethan of Urban Mattress Company while living in Denver, Colorado. They are making a huge impact in what most people would describe as a sleazy industry. One of the many ways they are redefining the mattress business is by hiring refugees.
Steve shared the following thoughts with us about employing refugees:
Why would a mattress store get in bed/partnering with refugees?  The early DNA of Urban Mattress in Denver when we started the business was to find ways that our small world of selling soft rectangles would impact our community.  When we moved to Denver it was brought to our attention the large refugee community that moves here every month.  Immediately we reached out to ACC (African Community Center) to see if there were ways we could partner.  Only 5 months after we opened our doors, Jennifer, the director, introduced us to Kutaiba, a fluent English Speaking Iraqi from Baghdad.  He brought along a young guy named Omar.  We trained them and they have been with us ever since.
These two guys are like family.  We came alongside Kutaiba in the hospital to pray and bring gifts for his family when their son was going through a serious surgery.  We labored hard to figure out how to bring his brother from the middle east who was struggling with cancer.  Once his brother was here in the US we mourned with Kutaiba when he lost his battle with Cancer.  We quizzed and even struggled with Kutaiba and Omar when they were studying for their US citizenship.  We celebrated with them last year when they both became citizens.  We rejoiced when Kutaiba made enough money to buy a house in Denver for his family.  We learn from their culture and religion.  We laugh, we fight, we grow together to make Urban Mattress a place where lives can find rest, sleep and transformation.
They are Urban Mattress. I couldn’t imagine a company with out Kutaiba and Omar.  They are awesome.

We Need New Names – Book Review

Posted on by admin

We Need New Names is an incredibly powerful autobiography by NoViolet Bulawayo. She tells her story with soulful passion from fleeing her home in Zimbabwe to joining her aunt in Detroit, Michigan. At multiple points throughout the book, Bulawayo steps out of her first-person narrative and takes on the eloquent voice of her people. In these poetic pauses in the story the reader gains a full perspective of those forced fro their home in search of a better place to live for themselves and their families. Bulawayo paints an honest portrait of what it means to be a refugee. I will include a short portion of one of the poetic pauses in the story below from page 147-148 entitled “How They Left.”

“Look at them leaving in droves…Those with nothing are crossing borders. Those with strength are crossing borders. Those with ambitions are crossing borders. Those with hopes are crossing borders. Those with loss are crossing borders. Those in pain are crossing borders. Moving, running, emigrating, going, deserting, walking, quitting, flying, fleeing–to all over, to countries near and far, to countries unheard of, to countries whose names they cannot pronounce. They are leaving in droves….

They flee their own wretched land so their hunger may be pacified in foreign lands, their tears wiped away in strange lands, the wounds of their despair bandaged in faraway lands, their blistered prayers muttered in the darkness of queer lands.

Look at the children of the land leaving in droves, leaving their own land with bleeding wounds on their bodies and shock on their faces and blood in their hearts and hunger in their stomachs and grief in their footsteps. Leaving their mothers and fathers and children behind, leaving their umbilical cords underneath the soil, leaving the bones of their ancestors in the earth, leaving everything that makes them who and what they are, leaving because it is no longer possible to stay. They will never be the same again because you just cannot be the same once you leave behind who and what you are, you just cannot be the same.

Look at them leaving in droves despite knowing they will be welcomed with restraint in those strange lands because they do not belong, knowing they will have to sit on one buttock because they must not sit comfortably lest they be asked to rise and leave, knowing they will speak in dampened whispers because they must not let their voices drown those of the owners of the land, knowing they will have to walk on their toes because they must not leave footprints on the new earth lest they be mistaken for those want to claim the land as theirs. Look at them leaving in droves, arm in arm with loss and lost, look at them leaving in droves.”

Staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce is our mission at Amplio. For the refugees coming in droves to Atlanta, we are waiting with open arms to accept them and help them find meaningful work so there stories do not end as those who feel they do not belong in a strange land. If you are a company in need of Atlanta recruiting, we desire to provide you with intelligent and loyal refugees so you can make a difference in their lives and change their stories.

 

Bad Math

Posted on by admin

Staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce is our mission along with providing Biblically based content to encourage people at work. The following guest post was compiled for the YouVersion Bible App entitled “Bible on Business.”

Bad Math

Many of us have been taught bad math.

We’ve learned two formulas in particular which lead to a lack of clarity about what God wants to do in and through us.

We’ve learned that “Great Commission = clergy” and “professional = laity.”

The almost inevitable result of this bad math is to think the people who hold real value in God’s eyes are the clergy, the fulltime religious workers. After all, we are told, they are all about “the Lord’s work,” and they serve Him in “fulltime ministry.”

The flipside of our conclusion is that, sure, laypeople have some value, but it’s more about the money they make (and give as tithes and offerings) or the abilities they have (“hey, would you be interested in teaching a Sunday school class?”).

But that’s not what the Bible teaches! Look at what Peter writes in 1 Pet. 2:9, and then get ready to jump for joy (out of your plush leather executive chair, or off of your factory floor, or… well, you get my point). Did you read it? If you are not jumping for joy, maybe I can help.

The “you” Peter calls chosen and royal and holy and belonging to God are not clergy. They are laity! He is writing about the whole body of Christ, not just a select few. In other words, the “you” is YOU! You the business professional! God has chosen YOU to proclaim His excellencies.

The calling and privilege is not merely reserved for a few fulltime religious workers. It’s for teachers and doctors and engineers and lawyers and entrepreneurs and business people. It’s for YOU!

Have you considered how you can best leverage your job, your skills, your career, your company for the sake of God’s glory among your neighbors and among the nations?

João Mordomo, is a Great Commission entrepreneur, serving God in various positions with several companies in Brazil and throughout the globe.

Kairos Moments

Posted on by admin

We are an Atlanta recruiting firm representing the talented refugee workforce. We also provide great content around Biblically based business advice. The following guest post is part of the “Bible on Business” series we compiled for the YouVersion Bible App.

Kairos Moments

Early in my walk with Christ, as a new leader for a consulting start-up in Syracuse, New York, the presence of the Lord nudged me as I read: “Do not be anxious about anything…”

“Gary, this verse is for you.”

In the midst of this moment with God (Kairos moment), I experienced the Holy Spirit reveal the very depths of my soul: I was a worrier.

Shy as a young man growing up, I worried about everything. With any upcoming speaking engagement, before sales presentations to clients, in meetings with large groups which might call for impromptu speaking, and around project challenges, whatever the circumstance, I became anxious and overcome with useless worry.

As I meditated on this passage, and committed it to heart, it was if the Holy Spirit was saying:

“My peace is an inner treasure that I died a criminal’s death to bless you with. Receive this “gift of peace” growing within you as you trust in me. Challenges in life cannot touch it, if you confide in me.”

Over the ensuing weeks, months, and years, I found this verse coming to mind when I entered into difficult situations. As I confided in him and laid the situation before him, the Lord fulfilled his promise to me over and over again….”the peace of God which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

This Kairos moment with the Lord, transformed my heart and mind. The trajectory of my life in business shifted from less anxiety in the midst of circumstances to more joy in the adventure.

We have opportunities each and every day to enter into Kairos moments with the Lord. May we embrace these moments as God guides us in our work.

Gary Christopher work with The Jholdas Group and resides in Atlanta, Georgia. Compiled by Amplio Recruiting.

Failure

Posted on by admin

Staffing Atlanta companies with the talented refugee workforce is our passion. We also desire to provide great blog content on leading a Biblically based business. The following guest post was compiled for the YouVersion Bible App entitled “Bible on Business.”

Failure

Job is considered by many to be the earliest-written book in the Bible. Yet here in Chapter 19, Job has a “special” revelation from the Lord that is the MOST CLEAR teaching in the Old Testament on a bodily & personal resurrection for those who trust in God.

Abraham, Moses, David, the prophets – none of them communicated as clearly as Job does here about their understanding of life after death. In the midst of Job’s failure God reveals to Job that he would one day see God with his own eyes! His personality and spirit will continue beyond death and one day in his resurrected flesh, Job WILL see God.

This incredible revelation went against the current spiritual and scientific thinking in the Middle East. I am encouraged by Job’s experience — we have SPECIAL permission to ask God WHEN we are going through massive failures: “…God give me a special and high-quality revelation through this failure…”

In business we all have failures; I have had many failures among the 25+ mid-size businesses that PRI has started or acquired in China and Central Asia in the last 25+ years. The primary reasons for failures include poor business & personnel judgment by our leadership (including me), some significant changes in external market & technology conditions, some just plain evil done by others, etc.

From these failures I’ve gone to the Lord and asked Him, not just one time but many times, to specifically and explicitly teach and reveal to me what I can learn from these failures.

Looking back over the past couple decades (overall very profitable both financially and spiritually with fruit among unreached cities and peoples), I have learned more from the failures than from the successes.

During the failures and immediately afterwards, I’ve learned more of God and His eternal truths, because God seems to have a special heart for those who are suffering through failures and desires to reveal Himself during these humbling and difficult times. God comforted and blessed Job (and me) with special insights & revelations of Himself and His character and His will.

Dwight Nordstrom is the Chairman of PRI Management Consulting in Beijing, China. Compiled by Amplio Recruiting.