Staffing Robot - Healthcare Staffing, Marketing and Technology Blog

Does the staffing industry need its own YouTube?

This week I stumbled upon a new site called Staffing Industry Tube.  Staffing Industry Tube is a site that allows professionals in the staffing industry to post videos from funny to helpful, offering tips, advice, presentations, talks, commercials – and even some nonsense.  Basically, it’s like YouTube for the staffing industry.

My question - Does the staffing industry need a YouTube? 

A quick pass of the site will quickly let you see it’s a new service still trying to figure itself out.  The site describes itself as:

"Staffing Industry Tube is the only collection of solely Staffing Industry related training and topical videos on the web that is categorized for you. Find what you want, when you want it- From training to current news and economic insight. Every category/topic is industry specific!

So far, there seems to be a decent amount of activity and some useful information in the uploaded videos.  Aside from useful, there are also some videos for entertainment.  This one that gives a grim picture of the current state of the job market, called - "The Job" - had me laughing…and thinking. 

The site is user friendly (it feels like YouTube) and has several nice functions for rating videos and watching those that have been most played.  You can even create your own channels, customize your page with HTML/CSS and embed videos from other sites.

I’ve joined the site and created my own channel for Staffing Robot.  I imported a couple of videos on how hospitals and healthcare staffing companies can use Twitter for their business and recruiting efforts from my previous staffing robot blog post on the same topic.  There is a lot of potential with this site and I hope to see others join and contribute.  In general, I love seeing big sites like YouTube get segmented by specific niches.  Video is a great communication medium and it will be interesting to see if others in the industry pick up on it.

So, again, does the staffing industry need a YouTube?  I guess we’ll see.

Refuse to lose

Over the last few months I’ve talked to several companies in and out of the healthcare staffing industry all dealing with the same thing.  The down economy.  I’ve talked to business owners and employees that are all struggling with the same issues: budget cuts, layoffs, salary reductions, down revenue, loss of clients, etc.  I’ve been hearing it so often it’s become standard conversation.  I’ve found that it’s created a very negative mindset in most of the people around me, including myself.

Until this week.  On Tuesday I spent some time with a friend who just started a new company called NedSpace.  NedSpace is a Portland, Oregon based co-working environment for startups, innovative technology companies, non-profits, artists and social entrepreneurs.  While I was there I talked to several people who are entrepreneurs trying to get their new company off the ground.  These people all had great ideas and vision.  I listened to their stories about the problems they’ve overcome or that they’re currently working through.  Some of them told me they found this time to be perfect for starting a business.  Some of them told me how they found themselves here due to being laid off from their jobs. 

The biggest thing I noticed about these people was how positive they all were.  Here’s a group of individuals without any security, without pay checks, without revenues, without any assurance of success, all taking major risks because they believe in their idea and what they are working on.  Being an entrepreneur myself I found spending the afternoon in this environment surrounded by these people to be recharging. 

All of this has reminded me that it’s the hard times that show you who you are.  That confront you with challenges to meet.  That present you with obstacles to overcome.  It’s the hard times that make it all meaningful and make every minute and all of your efforts really count.

To me, it was all very encouraging and made me want to encourage others out there that are struggling and have lost focus.  Keep your head up.  Stay motivated.  Recharge your vision.  Get creative.  Don’t slip into a negative mindset.  Embrace the challenges out there right now.   Perform.  Don’t give up.  And most importantly – like Chuck D. said - refuse to lose.