American Staffing Association (09/10/12)

The American Staffing Association announced today that marketing specialist Kevin Miller has been named the 2013 National Staffing Employee of the Year. The announcement marks the beginning of National Staffing Employee Week, Sept. 10–16.

“ASA salutes Kevin and the contributions of the millions of temporary and contract employees on assignments in the U.S. every business day,” says Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. “For young people newly entering the work force and others looking for work, staffing firms are vitally important resources, offering free counseling and career track assignments that can lead to permanent employment. In addition, many staffing firms provide free training programs to help meet the country’s demand for skilled workers.”

After graduating from college in the summer of 2011, Miller sought the assistance of staffing company Adecco Staffing to place him in his first career position. Adecco Staffing quickly placed Miller in a temporary-to-permanent marketing specialist position at the U.S. headquarters of a Fortune 500 multinational technology corporation. Based on his excellent performance, the company hired Miller as permanent employee this August. He is responsible for designing and implementing marketing strategies for the company, while overseeing current business channels and new business acquisitions.

“Kevin has an extremely professional and mature demeanor for a recent college graduate,” says Jennie Parisi, the recruiter at the Wayne, NJ, branch of Adecco Staffing. Parisi nominated Miller for the distinction. “When he came to us, he wasn’t looking for ‘just a job,’ but a career. He had the sense that by working with a staffing company, he would find his path and be able to build a career.”

Staffing firms better enable workers to adapt to change in today’s rapidly evolving economy by creating jobs and delivering valuable employment to millions of people each day—including young job seekers, according to a recent report by the Boston Consulting Group commissioned by the International Confederation of Private Employment Agencies (Ciett, of which ASA is a member). Staffing companies worldwide are expected to help 75 million young people enter the job market and upskill 65 million people, giving them more work choices.

Miller credits his staffing-firm experience for placing him on a now thriving career path “Graduating from college and entering a slow job market and rough economy, I found working with a staffing company enabled me to get my foot in the door and provided me with an opportunity to showcase my abilities in a practical environment,” he says. “Having Adecco place me with a Fortune 500 company was absolutely paramount to the success I am experiencing in my career today.”

Miller will be formally honored Oct. 10 in Las Vegas during a recognition ceremony at Staffing World^® 2012, the ASA annual convention and expo, where he will be celebrated by staffing industry professionals from around the country.