Archives for November 2013

Happy Thanksgiving From the Fidelis Family!

Each year, we put together some of our ‘Favorite Fidelis Thanksgiving Recipes’ to share with our networks. We’ve included those recipes below to share with you!

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We also host a family dinner the day before Thanksgiving and invite family of our employees. Everyone brings their own dish(es) and after a productive morning of work, we all gather and test out everyone’s creations! And what would a Thanksgiving meal be without naps to follow? So, after everyone is finished eating and chatting, the kitchen is cleaned and we begin our Thanksgiving holiday.

 

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We hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving weekend. We’re happy to share our day with you!

Turducken

Ingredients for Brine:
1 cup kosher salt
1 cup brown sugar
1 gallon water
House seasoning
3 – 4 lb. duck, boned
3 – 4 lb. chicken, boned
Paprika
18-21 lb. turkey, skin intact and boned except for drumsticks
Cornbread dressing – your own recipe or dressing of choice

Ingredients for House seasoning:
1 cup salt
¼ cup black pepper
¼ cup garlic powder

Directions:
To make the brine: Mix salt and sugar with the water. Brine is ready when the mixture is completely dissolved. If the water is heated to quicken the process, make sure it is cooled to room temperature before placing meat in. Let the 3 birds sit in brine in the refrigerator overnight.

Preheat roaster to 500 degrees F.

Lay turkey skin side down on a flat surface. Dust turkey with House Seasoning and add 1/4 -inch layer of cornbread dressing. Lay duck skin side down on top of dressing. Dust duck with House Seasoning and add 1/4 -inch layer of dressing. Repeat with the chicken.
Begin trussing up the turkey at the neck. Insert metal skewer about 1/2 -inch from the edge and up through the other side. Run butcher’s twine between skin and skewer and tighten to draw both sides together. Continue down to legs. With every other skewer, draw together the duck and chicken skin. Tie together turkey legs to resemble standard turkey. Dust turkey skin with paprika.
Roast turducken for 15 minutes. Then turn the roaster down to 225 degrees F to finish, approximately
3 hours. Remove turducken from roaster once the internal temperature in the chicken reaches 155 degrees F. Let rest for at least 20 minutes before carving.

Cut across the middle of the breast completely through. Plate thin slices containing turkey, duck and chicken.
Cook’s Notes: If using a smoker to cook, smoke at 225 degrees F for 5 hours, rotating every 20 to 30 minutes until internal temperature reaches 155 degrees F and external temperature reaches 165 degrees F. Try to keep the flare-ups from the fire to a minimum.

*Recipe from Paula Deen via www.foodnetwork.com

Delicious Pecan & Cheese Ball

Ingredients:
1 pkg. cream cheese (softened)
2-3 finely chopped green onions
Salt/pepper and garlic powder to taste
Finely chopped smoked ham
Chopped pecans – separate into2 groups – half will go into the mix, the other will be used to coat the cheese ball

Directions:
1. Add all ingredients into one large bowl, mixing well. You can add as much chopped ham and crushed pecans to the mix as you would prefer.
2. Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste.
3. Using plastic wrap, form all ingredients into a ball by wrapping it up.
4. Place the ball into a refrigerator until it firms up a bit.
5. Remove from refrigerator and roll the ball in a plate of chopped pecans until the ball is coated.
6. Place the ball on a platter and sprinkle with greens from the chopped onion.
7. Arrange crackers around the ball for your appetizer presentation!

Chocolate Torte

Ingredients:
1 (18.25 ounce) package devils food cake mix
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 (1 ounce) square unsweetened chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Prepare and bake chocolate cake as directed on package. Bake in 2 – 9 inch round pans. Allow cakes to cool. When cakes are cool, cut each one in half with a long serrated knife, making four layers
2. In a large bowl, combine cream cheese, brown sugar and vanilla. Beat until soft
3. In a separate bowl, whip cream to soft peaks, then fold into cream cheese mixture
4. Place the bottom layer of cake on the serving plate. Spread 1/4 of the filling on cake layer, then continue to stack up layers with 1/4 of the filling on each layer
5. Finish top with the final 1/4 of filling and grate the chocolate on top. Refrigerate for 6 hours before serving

Pumpkin Pie Cobbler

Ingredients:
3 eggs, beaten
1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
15 oz. can pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1 ¼ cup margarine, melted
12 oz. can evaporated milk
1 tsp. ginger
1 cup chopped nuts, (pecans work best)

1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1/8 tsp. salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Mix the first eight (8) ingredients together.
3. Pour into an ungreased 13×9 baking pan.
4. Sprinkle cake mix on top.
5. Drizzle with margarine or butter
6. Bake at 350 ° for 25 minutes.
7. Top with nuts and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Fidelis Companies Named in 2014 Best Companies to Work for in Texas

BestCos LogoFidelis Companies LLC was recently named as one of the 2014 Best Companies to Work for in Texas. The awards program was created in 2006 and is a project of Texas Monthly, the Texas Association of Business (TAB), Texas SHRM and Best Companies Group. 

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Texas, benefiting the state’s economy, workforce and businesses. The 2014 Best Companies to Work for in Texas list is made up of 100 companies. Fidelis Companies has been named one of the Best Companies to Work for in Texas.

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:

– Have at least 15 employees working in Texas

– Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity

– Be a publicly or privately held business

– Have a facility in the state of Texas

– Be in business a minimum of 1 year

Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Companies to Work for in Texas.  The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, systems, philosophies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation.  The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Texas and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings. 

About Fidelis Companies, LLC

Fidelis Companies is a certified Woman Owned Business based in Plano, Texas. Our recruiters and account managers are exclusively dedicated within the areas of ERP Systems, BioPharm or Engineering and offer both contract and direct hire services on a national level. This specialized approach allows us to work closely with our clients and capitalize on a large network of precisely skilled connections to deliver the optimum resource for the position.

The rankings will be revealed for the first time at the Best Companies to Work for in Texas event on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, and will also be profiled by Texas Monthly in a special publication that will be released in conjunction with the event.

For more information on the Best Companies to Work for in Texas program, visit www.BestCompaniesTX.com.

For more information on Fidelis Companies, visit www.fideliscompanies.com

 

To view the full release, visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/FidelisBestCompanies/prweb11367540.htm

Fidelis Companies Named in 2014 Best Companies to Work for in Texas

BestCos LogoFidelis Companies LLC was recently named as one of the 2014 Best Companies to Work for in Texas. The awards program was created in 2006 and is a project of Texas Monthly, the Texas Association of Business (TAB), Texas SHRM and Best Companies Group. 

This statewide survey and awards program was designed to identify, recognize and honor the best places of employment in Texas, benefiting the state’s economy, workforce and businesses. The 2014 Best Companies to Work for in Texas list is made up of 100 companies. Fidelis Companies has been named one of the Best Companies to Work for in Texas.

To be considered for participation, companies had to fulfill the following eligibility requirements:

– Have at least 15 employees working in Texas

– Be a for-profit or not-for-profit business or government entity

– Be a publicly or privately held business

– Have a facility in the state of Texas

– Be in business a minimum of 1 year

Companies from across the state entered the two-part survey process to determine the Best Companies to Work for in Texas.  The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company’s workplace policies, systems, philosophies, practices, and demographics. This part of the process was worth approximately 25% of the total evaluation. The second part consisted of an employee survey to measure the employee experience. This part of the process was worth approximately 75% of the total evaluation.  The combined scores determined the top companies and the final ranking. Best Companies Group managed the overall registration and survey process in Texas and also analyzed the data and used their expertise to determine the final rankings. 

About Fidelis Companies, LLC

Fidelis Companies is a certified Woman Owned Business based in Plano, Texas. Our recruiters and account managers are exclusively dedicated within the areas of ERP Systems, BioPharm or Engineering and offer both contract and direct hire services on a national level. This specialized approach allows us to work closely with our clients and capitalize on a large network of precisely skilled connections to deliver the optimum resource for the position.

The rankings will be revealed for the first time at the Best Companies to Work for in Texas event on Tuesday, April 1, 2014 at the Hyatt Regency in Austin, and will also be profiled by Texas Monthly in a special publication that will be released in conjunction with the event.

For more information on the Best Companies to Work for in Texas program, visit www.BestCompaniesTX.com.

For more information on Fidelis Companies, visit www.fideliscompanies.com

 

To view the full release, visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2013/FidelisBestCompanies/prweb11367540.htm

A Journey into Recruiting: Facing the Real World and Life’s Lessons

As I sat in the college academic advisement office, situated in the rather antique styled Kansas State University administration offices, armed with my most current transcripts, a career plan I had meticulously designed…fresh shirt, polished shoes, freshly shaved with just a hint of expensive cologne I had used from the sample bin at Macy’s. I let my mind drift, as I tried to breathe deeply, calming my nerves and subduing the building excitement and anticipation of the glorious career future I could expect.

Obviously, with one look at my grades, my appearance, the strength of my voice and the conviction in my words, this counselor would quickly understand he had “gold” in his office.

Would I be hired as a president, or would I have to actually show them what I can do? After just scraping by in college, odd-jobs, garage sales, begging mom and dad for must a little more “support”, this six figure income position was going to be a new life.

What would I buy first? A penthouse apartment in the highest building in the city? A Porsche, to replace the 14 year old Corolla that was in serious need of repairs? An entire wardrobe, designed for those with the hard-to-fit “husky” profile? Of course with this new status, this life changing career all my professors have spoken of once you have “the golden ticket” – your diploma. I would probably just buy it all.

His office was filled with expensive framed diplomas; each represented a class, seminar or certification in advisement and counseling. Thank you letters, personally addressed to him adorned one wall…each thanking him for his advice and collaboration. Several were signed by “President” or “VP” of this or that, all of them sending me a clear signal: I had arrived at freedom. I was sitting in the office of the matchmaker of financial freedom; the guru of careers, the ‘one’.

I studied business, marketing and sales management. I found a way to pass basic college math. Slept through my electives, sat behind a really smart girl in economics and pestered my roommate to cram with me for the final in geography. Through all the parties, all the studying, all the sleepless nights; some actually attributed to classwork. I had passed. I had achieved the golden ticket… I had “set myself apart” just like all the ads I had seen foretold of college graduates. I have seen 1000’s of commercials on television of students, from various colleges and technical universities, revealing how they had changed their lives by graduating and getting out of a dead end job. It was my time.

As he studied my transcripts, obviously marveling at the intelligence and savvy each grade and subsequent professor’s comment outlined, I found myself inching forward in my chair, anticipating the words that would soon pour from the lips of this career guru.

“Have you ever thought about sales as a career?” “Maybe marketing?” ……”Oh! I have it…recruiting!?”

Sales, marketing, recruiting…what was he talking about? I had sold the idea of throwing multiple parties to my roommate throughout these 4 years…I had done some marketing, albeit, the marketing typically revolved around marketing my ideas about the need for additional funds to my parents….Recruiting? Isn’t that what the coaches did to kids in high school they wanted to have on their college team? Did he think I was an athletic coach? Did he misread my transcripts? Perhaps he had the wrong transcripts and student folder in front of him…that had to be it.

As I left his office that day, the VP titles I had dreamed about, the Porsche, wardrobe, vacations, furniture, luxury apartment…everything I had done without for these 4 years of academic hell quickly swirled down the dream toilet.

Hello world, I’m a college graduate! The world is supposed to be mine. Where’s my golden ticket!?

I was fortunate that, after my disappointing meeting with ‘the one’, I stumbled into a career that I enjoyed. For 17 years, I discovered and stayed in an industry which peaked my interest, satisfied my financial needs and continued to elevate me into a higher status with the company, offering the ability to manage people, implement positive change and create a reputable name for myself. I had risen to the top of retail sales, earned a good living and was known throughout this industry as someone who had proven himself. All the nights, weekends and holidays that I had sacrificed over the past 17 years had paid off. But where was I? What was next?

My brother had left coaching and teaching to be a recruiter several years ago. I never really talked to him about what he did; it was an abstract title that I didn’t really understand. When I called him to inquire about his role, what he explained intrigued me.

“So you get paid to find people jobs, with companies that need their skills?” “Why would they pay you for that?” “Why don’t the companies just run ads?”

On February 1, 2000, after relocating to Dallas, Texas, I sat at my new desk, in my new company, poised to be successful in my new career: recruiting. I remembered the questions and answers my brother had given regarding recruiting. “We find people jobs with companies that need their skills.” This was going to be easy.

The account manager at my new company, who had clients that requested our assistance in finding specific people, began talking about the open positions we would be working on, illustrating the specific skills each candidate needed in order to qualify for these openings. We would be recruiting for Information Technology positions (IT), and the acronyms associated with these positions might as well have been spoken in German. My extensive computer savvy over the past 17 years included turning on a fax machine, balancing a credit card transaction machine, and once, being shown how to write a formula in Lotus 123.

HTML, Java, Sonet, database architecture, etc., the list went on and on. Each new requirement, a word I hadn’t heard before, let alone, one that I would understand as it relates to the position. Names of companies I didn’t know existed, certifications I had never heard of before.

Not only were the job descriptions foreign to me, I was quickly learning that the recruiting industry had their own set of never before heard acronyms to explain their functions. “POEJO”…when I heard this, I assumed it was just her Texas accent and there was obviously someone in the room named Joe who had fallen on hard times. “JO’s”, “SO’s”, the slang terms kept coming. There was a computer on my desk…new, shiny, with a blinking green dot at the top of the screen, obviously inviting or encouraging me to do something…I just didn’t know what. People kept referring to their date base; being single, I was encouraged that so many people in the office were dating so frequently that they needed to keep track of it on their computer. Maybe Texas was going to be a good move! Obviously, I later learned it was the company’s database, not a date base; and there would be a need to learn how to use this computer.

I guess I never imagined how one would go about finding people to fill these jobs. I assumed that I would just run an ad in the paper or something, and as people called, informing me they saw my opening and they wanted the job, I would send them over to the company, and watch the money pour in. Needless to say, this wasn’t the strategy widely accepted in the recruiting business.

Thirteen years later, as I look back on the first days of recruiting, I wonder how I have made it this far. I had no computer training prior to starting, had never made a “cold call”, had never interviewed for a job personally, let alone prepare someone for an interview. I had always been someone with a base salary, paid commission for my sales, etc…knowing every two weeks what my paycheck was going to say. For the past 12 years and 9 months, of my 13 years in recruiting, I have been commission only. I have relied only on my efforts, drive and professionalism to provide my personal income. Sometimes, I wonder how I have survived.

Several months ago, as I walked into my home after a day of recruiting, I was met by my 4 year old daughter. She has gotten into the repetitive habit of asking; “How was your day?” She has heard my wife greet me with this question and adopted it as her own greeting. She always follows with, “What did you do at your job today?” I suppose, what happened in my day seemed infinitely more interesting than her own routine of eating, playing, coloring, reading and celebrating the daily accomplishment of keeping her “big girl panties” dry. My standard response is typically, that I talked to a lot of people on the phone today I didn’t know, and made new friends. On this day, after asking her coined phrase related to the disposition of my day, she asked, “Did you talk to people you didn’t know today and make new friends?”

Hearing the words, seeing the seriousness of her question emphasized by her raised eyebrows and half smile…it hit me. My job directs me to call both candidates and companies, uncover the specific needs of clients and match their needs to the skills of the candidates we represent. My career has revolved around talking to people I didn’t know, and making new friends. It wasn’t just a response to a question; it has been my lifestyle for the past 13 years.

There are a lot of books, webinars, conferences, audio tapes and interactive videos made my seasoned recruiting professionals on the market. Each one illustrating different techniques related to our industry to maximize your success as a recruiter. Over the years I have seen a countless number of amazing speakers, applied numerous techniques they have shared and embraced the fruits of success as a direct result of being exposed to their expertise.

Information is power, and this industry is so gracious with sharing and teaching this information. So many of the top producers in the recruiting industry have painstakingly produced literature and sacrificed their personal and professional time in an attempt to share their methods of success with others. There are very few industries where people that reach the “top” and want to bring others with them. We are driven to see one another succeed.

But, as with anything in life, everything essentially pairs down to its simplest form. Religion, marriage, sports, life….whatever “category” you choose, our humanistic approach to understanding the core of the topic is to break it down to its simplest form, a form we individually understand.

Treat candidates and clients fairly. Be honest every time. Return calls. Take the time to understand the needs/wants/desires of everyone involved in the process. Never forget that it’s not a resume, it’s a person.

My “simplest form” for recruiting is this: “Talk to people I don’t know, and make new friends”. It took a 4-year-old to help me understand what my true career was really all about.

 

Johnny Letourneau

Johnny FID_2716aa

STRIKE!

How do you spend a Monday afternoon? Well, yesterday some of us spent it bowling our hearts out in Addison. As a prize for a second quarter contest, our team members were invited to two hours of bowling, courtesy of our wonderful owners, Alan Butz & Karen Richards.

Obviously, not everyone could make it: kid’s after-school duties, awaiting the arrival of a new baby, prior work conflicts, etc. But, those of us who did partake in the early afternoon had enough fun to make up for everyone else!

 

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Take for example, Mike, above. I can only assume he was imitating our logo, running to his turn at the lanes. And the form of the Fidelis men! I’ve never seen more pointed toes and expertly executed bowling form; they definitely outdid us females in that category!

 

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Between laughs, some close calls, a competitive game of bowling poker and some laugh-til-you-cry wipe-outs, it was above and beyond a successful bowling excursion. And the fact that it was black light bowling was the icing on the cake! Who doesn’t love fluorescent bowling balls and laser lights? How we were all feeling this morning though, that’s an entirely different story!

 

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So, thank you to all the teams that met and exceeded the qualifications for the second quarter contest. It was a fun time had by all!