MILWAUKEE, Jun 7, 2004 /PRNewswire-FirstCall via COMTEX/ -- The U.S. Department of Labor's latest monthly report on the employment situation echoed what the second quarter Manpower Employment Outlook Survey told us in March -- that U.S. employers are hiring faster than they have since the beginning of the new millennium. While the accelerated hiring pace is good news for job seekers, it puts pressure on the HR departments that are charged with quickly filling the open positions.

The assumption is that getting approval to hire a new employee is the hard part and the actual hiring is a cakewalk. Not so, says Barbara Beck, executive vice president of U.S. and Canadian operations for Manpower Inc. "What we are hearing from hiring managers is that they were already challenged with smaller staff sizes and fewer resources before the job scene started to improve. The increased job pace presents an even greater challenge for HR departments because making a good hire is a time-intensive and time-sensitive process."

Once a job opening is posted, employers must act quickly to recruit qualified candidates, identify from a towering stack of resumes the candidates with the potential to be a perfect match for the job, then recruit them before their competitors do. In addition, every employer wants to be sure they're hiring the right candidate the first time around to avoid the costly penalty of employee turnover. Manpower can help.

"As hiring managers battle major time constraints, Manpower is well equipped to manage their hiring process, in part or in its entirety," said Beck. In addition to providing temporary staff to meet peaks in demand, Manpower offers employers numerous services that ease the hiring process.

Direct Placement. Direct Hire is a service that lets hiring managers count on Manpower to manage the entire recruitment process, from job posting to job offer, so they can hire a Manpower-screened candidate directly onto their payroll. This may involve resume management, initial interviews, applicant testing, orientation and/or training.

Web Prescreening. NetSelect is Manpower's Web-based employment prescreening tool designed to save hiring managers the time and energy needed to sort through resumes. NetSelect can efficiently prescreen thousands of job candidates, allowing hiring managers to identify and hire the right candidate faster.

Reference and Background Checks. Although these tasks are administrative in nature, they require time and attention to ensure that you really know the candidate you are about to hire. Allowing Manpower to facilitate reference and background checks adds efficiency to any HR department.

Behavioral Interviewing. A behavioral interview uncovers a candidate's experience in a group of competencies closely tied to a job opening. Behavioral interviewing allows Manpower to pinpoint the candidates with the soft skills needed to succeed in a particular position and work environment to help hiring managers reduce turnover costs and feel certain that each candidate is a good fit for the job.

Assessments. Manpower's assessments apply science to the process of screening job candidates, adding a predictive element to the selection process that lets employers know they can count on the quality of our candidates.

Manpower has more than 1,000 offices across the United States. To find the location nearest you, please visit the Office Locator section of our Web site at http://www.us.manpower.com/uscom/OfficeLocator.jsp .

About Manpower Inc.

Manpower Inc. (NYSE: MAN) is a world leader in the employment services industry, offering customers a continuum of services to meet their needs throughout the employment and business cycle. The company specializes in permanent, temporary and contract recruitment; employee assessment; training; career transition and organizational consulting services. Manpower's worldwide network of 4,300 offices in 67 countries and territories enables the company to meet the needs of its 400,000 customers per year, including small and medium size enterprises in all industry sectors, as well as the world's largest multinational corporations. The focus of Manpower's work is on raising productivity through improved quality, efficiency and cost-reduction, enabling customers to concentrate on their core business activities. In addition to the Manpower brand, the company operates under the brand names of Right Management Consultants, Jefferson Wells, Elan and Brook Street. More information on Manpower Inc. is available at http://www.manpower.com .

SOURCE Manpower Inc.

Margaret Gerstenkorn of Manpower Inc., +1-414-906-6336,
mgersten@na.manpower.com

http://www.manpower.com

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