JurisTemps proudly announces its recent partnership with an industry-leading skills testing and pre-employment assessment system. With over 1,200 testing titles, including Summation Blaze; Concordance; and other legal-specific skill assessment tests, our recruiters can customize an assessment package that matches your exact legal recruiting needs. Free and unlimited testing for all candidates when JurisTemps assists with your recruit. Want to preview a test? Contact us today!

As a member of the American Staffing Association (ASA), JurisTemps is proud to celebrate its temporary employees during ASA’s annual celebratory week, National Staffing Employee Week, September 12–18, 2011. JurisTemps is honored to employ so many hard-working and dedicated legal professionals throughout the Metro-St. Louis legal community, and strives to be the top choice for employment among St. Louis’ legal professionals. In appreciation for our employees' hard work, JurisTemps recognizes its employees this week and thanks them for their continued dedication to the many law firms and legal departments with whom they work in St. Louis.

Thanks to BAMSL for another fantastic golf outing! JurisTemps was thrilled to serve as a sponsor once again, and, despite the initial rain, golfers turned out in record number for this year's tournament at Glen Echo Country Club. Angie Akerman and Sarah Krueger enjoyed greeting golfers at Hole #8 and filling their carts with tasty snacks and fun giveaways. Thanks for your support – we look forward to seeing you again in 2012!

Get paid to work out? Well, almost! JurisTemps is excited to roll out the first offering in its new employee wellness program – a fitness club subsidy program! Effective May 2011, qualifying employees working in temporary assignments can now take advantage of a new corporate partnership program with Club Fitness, including no enrollment fees, discounted membership rates, and even a monthly membership subsidy, compliments of JurisTemps. All club locations include: personal training, lockers and showers, free child care, easy to use equipment, nutritional information, and individual TVs on each piece of cardio equipment. Special enrollment rates are also available for family and friends of our employees. Continually striving to be St. Louis’ top choice for temporary legal employment, JurisTemps is proud of the benefits we offer our employees. For additional information, please contact Breann Sweeney at bsweeney@juristemps.com or via phone (314) 862-5554.

JurisTemps was honored to serve as a vendor once again for the St. Louis Paralegal Association’s 35th Annual Paralegal Day Luncheon. As always, we were thrilled to see so many familiar faces and appreciated the many paralegals who stopped to visit at our booth. We look forward to working with the new officers for the 2011-12 year, and to continuing our support for the St. Louis Paralegal Association. Congratulations to the lucky winners of our Panera Gift Card Drawing. In attendance from JurisTemps were Angie Akerman and Sarah Krueger. For more information about the St. Louis Paralegal Association and/or JurisTemps’ involvement, please contact Angie Akerman at ama@juristemps.com.

JurisTemps was proud to attend and to exhibit once again at the 30th Annual Corporate Counsel Institute at the Frontenac Hilton. The program offered 8.0 hours of MO CLE credits and the line-up of speakers was both impressively diverse and interesting. We enjoyed visiting with the many in-house attorneys who visited our booth and we look forward to continuing to provide support to the program’s joint-sponsors. In attendance from JurisTemps were Angie Akerman and Sarah Krueger. For more information about these organizations and/or JurisTemps’ involvement, please contact Sarah Krueger at sak@juristemps.com.

According to the tally maintained by the American Staffing Association (ASA), more than 3,860 news articles were generated about temporary staffing opportunities in the year 2010. The ASA credits this media blitz, in part, to the “industry’s role as a leading jobs contributor in an otherwise stagnant employment environment.”

Although the year 2010 posed hiring challenges in the legal field as well, JurisTemps can certainly attest to an increase in activity within the temporary legal market here in St. Louis. Our recruiters have been working fast to provide St. Louis law firms and corporate legal departments with the temporary support they need. Remarkably, our year ended with an atypical increase in the amount of staffing requests received from local legal employers, an encouraging sign for 2011.

“We are finding that law firms and corporations are now hiring when a typical ‘need to hire’ arises, such as a newly-created position or a vacancy due to an employee’s departure, retirement, etc.” notes Angie Akerman, Director of Paralegal and Support Staff Recruiting. “In the height of the recession, legal professionals were no exception to downsizing trends. We were frequently hearing about what we’d call a ‘make-do’ mentality as [law] firms and corporate legal departments were often postponing the need to hire.”

Akerman also referenced the high-quality of talent available within the St. Louis legal temporary market. “St. Louis has a lot to offer in the way of legal talent available for immediate hire. Candidates seeking temp employment at the moment are highly-qualified and eager to assist.” Akerman notes that the main benefit of using temporary legal professionals still remains the same as it always has – employers can hire staff they need, when they need it, be it a two-day rush project or a two-year special assignment.”

In fact, as the economy shifts and morphs into a new beast in 2011, the ASA carefully reminds us that temporary opportunities may not necessarily translate to temporary durations – that is, temporary opportunities may be a new means of providing for ongoing business needs and/or even a deliberate choice by many employees seeking greater flexibility. For interesting trends in the staffing industry, see recent articles in the New York Times and NPR.org.

The million dollar question that almost every candidate and nearly every client of ours is asking is, “How’s the legal market here in St. Louis?”

Working on the front lines in the legal recruiting industry, it would seem the answer to this question changes daily. That said, in a recent informal quarterly assessment JurisTemps reports an increase in client activity and requests across the legal market, with new opportunities at all levels from employers seeking entry–level and legal administrative talent, to experienced paralegals and even partners with portable business. “Employers who have not contacted us since prior to the recession are reaching out with new job requests. We are seeing an increase in both temporary and permanent activity for the first time in many months,” said Andrew Koshner, President & CEO.

JurisTemps’ recent St. Louis market assessment parallels the Federal Reserve’s latest report (”the beige book”) on regional economies as it relates to overall growth in the St. Louis region. As summarized in the American Staffing Association’s weekly newsletter for members, “economic growth continues, but slower.” More specifically related to the overall St. Louis job market, the Fed’s beige book has characterized economic growth in the St. Louis district as having “expanded modestly” since the previous report. Federal comments regarding St. Louis’ job market also included that “manufacturing and service sector activity increased, but commercial real estate and construction activity remained slow. New hiring was reported across many manufacturing and services firms.”

As a member of the American Staffing Association, JurisTemps was proud to celebrate its temporary employees during ASA's celebratory week, National Staffing Employee Week 2010, September 13 – 17th. We are honored to serve as the employer of choice for so many talented legal professionals here in the St. Louis legal community!

One of the principal missions of the American Staffing Association is to encourage high standards of ethical conduct in dealing with employees, clients, and competitors. JurisTemps takes its membership in the American Staffing Association very seriously and pledges its continued support of and adherence to ASA’s key principles and staffing practices.

As an official sponsor, JurisTemps' recruiters sported their best "on the green" while visiting with golfers and loading their carts with fun giveaways and tasty snacks, compliments of JurisTemps. In attendance at Glen Echo Country Club were Sarah Krueger, Managing Director, and Angie Akerman, Director of Paralegal & Support Staff Recruiting. We enjoyed the many friendly faces and the beautiful weather!

Angie Akerman recently attended the May 2010 meeting of the St. Louis Chapter of Women in eDiscovery. The meeting was held at Greensfelder, Hemker & Gale in downtown St. Louis and new officers were nominated for the coming year. For more information on this organization and/or JurisTemps’ involvement, please contact Angie Akerman at ama@juristemps.com.

Just this week, the American Staffing Association (ASA) provided a first quarter staffing overview. ASA has reported that “[U.S.] staffing companies employed an average of 2 million temporary and contract workers per day from January through March [2010].”

While that may only be “an increase of 0.8% from the same quarter last year,” it has resulted in a “10.2% increase” over last year in staffing sales – another significant indicator that temporary employment continues to rise!

From the front lines here at JurisTemps, the caliber of legal talent available for hire in the St. Louis job market continues to be exceptionally good. Local law firms and legal departments remain highly selective and continue to have their choice of top legal talent. The majority of the direct hire recruiting requests we have received have remained well within the competitive salary ranges for experienced candidates. Similarly, JurisTemps has experienced a rise in employers seeking temporary secretarial and paralegal assistance with many of these positions slated for temp–to–hire as the market continues to improve.

Our advice to employers remains to maximize productivity by capturing excellent talent, especially on an interim basis, which will add to your overall office productivity and increased morale. Our advice to job candidates: For those who have delayed seeking new direct hire positions, the market is strong enough for you to test the waters. For those unemployed, look seriously at temporary opportunities as they will continue to rise in number and may well be the direct link to your next long–term employment opportunity.

JurisTemps was proud to attend and to exhibit once again at the 29th Annual Corporate Counsel Institute at the Frontenac Hilton. The program offered 8.0 hours of MO CLE credits and the line–up of speakers was both impressively diverse and interesting. We enjoyed visiting with the many in–house attorneys who visited our booth and we look forward to continuing to provide support to the program’s joint–sponsors, the St. Louis Chapter of the Association of Corporate Counsel and The Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. In attendance from JurisTemps were Angie Akerman and Sarah Krueger. For more information about either of these organizations and/or JurisTemps' involvement, please contact Sarah Krueger at sak@juristemps.com.

JurisTemps was honored to serve as a vendor for the St. Louis Paralegal Association’s 34th Annual Paralegal Day Luncheon. As always, we were thrilled to see so many familiar faces and appreciated the many paralegals and legal administrators who stopped to visit at our booth. We look forward to working with the new officers for the 2010–11 year, and to continuing our support for the St. Louis Paralegal Association. Congratulations to the lucky winners of our Panera Gift Card Drawing. In attendance from JurisTemps were Angie Akerman, Jessica Anderson, and Sarah Krueger. For more information about the St. Louis Paralegal Association and or JurisTemps' involvement, please contact Angie Akerman at ama@juristemps.com.

Since hitting a low–point in July 2009, temporary employment in the U.S. has continued to rise – boding well for both employers and job candidates! Employers are recognizing that employing talent on a temporary basis offers not only great flexibility to meet unpredictable business realities, but also the added benefit of employing immediate talent without the costs associated with permanent hires, i.e., benefits, taxes, insurance, payrolling costs, etc. Prospective job candidates are gaining immediate work opportunities, testing out new workplace environments, and adding to overall economic productivity.

In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that staffing services have added 166,000 jobs to the U.S. economy since July 2009, including 47,000 temporary positions in December 2009 alone. In its latest 10–year employment projections, the BLS has further predicted that “growth in the employment services industry is expected to be nearly twice the rate of overall job growth in the economy.”

The American Staffing Association has echoed BLS’s data: “BLS research cites growing demand among employers for more flexible work arrangements as a driving force behind this expected growth in temporary help jobs. Challenges presented by the latest economic recession have pushed many businesses to explore the use of staffing strategies that are more responsive and more readily adapted to changes in consumer demand for their goods and services. Employing temporary workers with specialized skills will allow businesses to reduce costs resulting from hiring and maintaining idle full–time employees while also enabling them to provide quality services or goods to maintain a profitable business.”

From the front lines here at JurisTemps, we can confirm that the caliber of St. Louis legal talent on the job market at the moment is very good. Our advice to employers is to maximize opportunities to keep productivity up by capturing excellent talent, even if just on an interim basis, adding to overall office productivity and morale. Our advice to job candidates – look seriously at temporary opportunities as they are predicted to rise in number and may also serve as key links to long–term employment opportunities as well.