The Semper International Blog

First, Thank You all for the huge number of responses. 

We honestly use this survey as a benefit for the industry in general 

and not for commercial reasons.

I think we all can be glad the first quarter is over; except for the fact that the 

second quarter, so far, seems to be even worse then the first. The last 2 

months have seen a severe contraction in most areas of the economy and 

in all geographic areas. The Fed’s actions last Summer came several sessions 

too late to avoid this contraction. The relentless negativity from the media over 

the last two years reached a crescendo of hysteria in August that has scarcely 

abated till just recently. We all are grateful for the news media’s recent more 

positive bias!!

A Big question now is have the stock markets hit bottom? If so, then the 

recovery will be approximately six months from that bottom. If you look at the 

current stock charts for Apple, the Dow and the NASDAQ over the last two 

years, It appears that we have hit the bottom and are on the upturn (barring 

another terrorist shock). If the charts are correct, then we should start to see 

improvements as early as September - October. Flex Staffing tends to be a 

leading indicator, like the stock market, so we at Semper should see improvement 

three to four months after the bottom. We will let you know. 

Another BIG change in the Industry this year was the demise of Annual report 

printing. One manager I spoke to, mentioned that last year they printed 100 Annual 

reports- this season only four. The result of the SEC allowing companies to post 

the reports “online.” This single change has had a huge negative impact in that 

segment of the industry. I think of what will happen to Blockbuster and the movie 

theatre chains once the movie studios release first run movies directly online. It 

will likely be a similar issue- MAYBE I should sell any holdings.

Now to the survey results:

As you recall, the results are in the new easier to read and understand format 

which reduces the need for commentary.

The question on profitability I am sure is high on everyone’s list. The trend line is 

clearly indicative of the stress we would expect to see ; this is a MACRO issue 

not just your firm.

The question on profitability I am sure is high on everyone’s list. The trend line 

is clearly indicative of the stress we would expect to see ; this is a MACRO issue 

not just your firm.

The hiring question reinforces the above two responses. Hiring has dropped off, 

but it seems staying at the same staffing level is the course most firms are going 

with. Maybe others agree that things will improve sooner than later. (br>

Clearly, keeping expenses limited is on everyone’s mind, with base pay and benefit 

costs showing big jumps in concern from respondents. Supply costs in general are 

now the largest percent concern of firms as opposed to technology issues.

In closing, we see positive news here in the expectations of sales for this quarter. 

Take a close look at the actual results and feel free to ask questions or give 

feedback - daver@semperllc.com

Click here to view the Survey:

http://www.semperllc.com/printing_survey/Semper_Survey_2008_Q2.pdf

Thank You

Was interviewed by a very nice person from another staffing firm called “Generator Group”. Over the course of a few days and a bit over an hour the following was thrown out ofver text in SL.  Brian Regan PresidentSemper International AKA: PrinterBrian 

Recruiting in Second Life : “SL is not an easy button”

By Lisa Peyton, a.k.a. Avarie Parker

I—well, my avatar Avarie Parker–was recently lucky enough to sit down for a virtual interview with Printer Brian Dowd, real life President of Semper International LLC. Brian Regan, and his Boston based firm Semper International, was the first recruiting agency to enter Second Life in March 2007. He has expanded his in-world presence from candidate sourcing to offering services for other companies looking to go virtual. The interview spanned two meetings; this is our first conversation in its entirety.

Avarie Parker: Why did Semper International decide to enter the world of SL? What were your initial goals?

PrinterBrian Dowd: I’m a big time Online Video Game player. Also interested in Serious Games, or the use of video game technology for business application. Our goal was to use SL as a business tool in connecting with people from a distance, as well as understanding how to interact with people in online worlds. So learning and business application was stage one, more or less. We knew that there was not a large population; however, the population here did match some of our specialties like graphic design and video game staffing. Most people in SL early on had tech or design type backgrounds. We also wanted to find a venue to reach out to an audience accustomed to using the internet as a work condition–things like “Can you have a contractor/employer relationship via an online world?”

AP: Can you give me a rough estimate of the cost involved in your campaign?

PBD: That’s not quite as straightforward as you might think

AP: Perhaps you could give a range…

PBD: You can set up a small location with limited functionality for $500 - $1000. If you wanted to immerse yourself in SL and learn to build and script, you could do a small location for less, and increase the time you spend working on it yourself. For me, I was an online gamer in my personal life, so I took the latter approach. An entire Island like you are on now is a much different situation. There you are talking $10,000 + and a lot of your own personal time–or let developers do it all and spend $20,000.

AP: Thanks, that answers my question - how many people were involved in a project like the island?

PBD: Very few.

AP: Really? Have you taught yourself how to script, etc?

PBD: Basic scripting and building, yes.

AP: Very Cool! I took a stab at designing a garment and found it to be very labor intensive!

PBD: Like online games, it’s a passion thing.

AP: Yes. Has the SL campaign directly contributed to selling Semper services? Which services have been most affected? Employer side? Employee? Or outplacement? Have you traced the campaign directly to an increase in profits?

PBD: We have generated income from SL at this point, yes. We have successfully recruited and placed people we located in SL. Does it compare to investing in a Monster or CB package? No. However it gives a bit more than just people, it gives business side benefits: company meetings, mass recruitment, using it as a tool. So it is more than one element.

(Above: PrinterBrian and his coworker Gia speaking at a recent Interview workshop on Human Resource Island)

AP: About how many RL placements have you had?

PBD: Less than 10, although our database has picked up over 100.

AP: But how long have you been in SL? Less than a year, right?

PBD: Yes, March 1st we launched.

AP: So for such a short time in that seems like a big number!

PBD: Ah, OK.  Now you must consider that I work it here–meaning I am logged in and developing relationships quite often. This location generates traffic, I generate results. Does that make sense?

AP: Hmm, yes. What questions should a recruiting firm ask itself before embarking on an SL campaign?

PBD: Easy. Does anyone on staff have the energy and willingness to make it work? Spend off-hours doing interviews and getting to know people in SL. Would you rather hang out in SL or on your Myspace account? If the answer is no, then you may end up spinning your wheels and have no traffic.

AP: SL! I would MUCH prefer to spend time in here than on Myspace…: )

PBD: LOL. OK, so when I arrived you were chatting with Lewis. You met him here on the Semper Island?

AP: Yes, while I was waiting for you. He’s a Graphic Artist out of Binghamton, NY. I told him he should perhaps register with you guys as a candidate.

PBD: OK, so there you go - A graphic artist in NY, placeable if good. If you have a location where he is.

AP: Yes. So should the industry the recruiting firm works in be considered? I mean SL is an obvious choice if you are looking for GAs or programmers, etc, but how about other industries? Tower, for example, deals with HR placements…not exactly hi-tech.

PBD: Yes, you should consider it if you expect to extract people from SL. However, if you want to use it in replacement of video conferencing and phone, it brings a different value. You and I both have Voice Enabled, but we are not using it. It is free to use voice here, no charge. 50 people in a room all able to talk at no charge is an interesting thing to think about, to expand upon.

AP: A very useful and cost effective tool for meetings, etc.

PBD: Yes, or mass interviews.

(Above: Attendees at a recently attended SL Conference)

AP: Describe how you began your SL consulting services and do you think they will eclipse your recruiting services?

PBD: No it will not. It’s not our focus; however it allows us to test talent. We are also staffing companies in the game industry as well as Second Life or Virtual Worlds development companies, so interviewing someone for an SL dev firm and then seeing their work is effective for us–and not just from a talent standpoint, but a professional standpoint too. Do they meet deadlines, act a certain way, work in teams or solo, etc.?

AP: Do you have any full-time staff devoted to your SL Consulting?

PBD: No full time staff, but more than one trained person that handles SL consulting.

AP: Do you feel the trend for companies to want in to SL will continue? What do you feel the future of marketing in SL looks like?

PBD: I am not a big fan of the marketing in SL fad. However, if this is a possible direction of the internet in the near future, then any firm that uses the internet as a tool should have an understanding of it.

AP: Can you point to any in-world campaigns that you feel were successful? National campaigns, I mean.

PBD: I am not really focused on that side, so I would likely not be a good judge. Consider this - VW’s allow you to develop your brand in a community or experience that is interactive and that is not understood yet. VW = Virtual Worlds. So if you want to create an online experience around your firm or brand, building a VW whether SL or any number of VW’s out there will have a large impact on how people interact with you.

AP:Yes, but you obviously engage in marketing Semper in-world…and Semper’s services.  But it sounds like you are more interested in an interactive experience than seeing Coke machines all over the place?

PBD: Coke machines all over the place is not the total answer. It helps, but it’s like banner ads on a website.

AP: Would you say there are companies that are “getting it” when it comes to interacting with SL residents?

PBD: Yes, those that build communities.

AP: Speaking of communities, how can a candidate best leverage SL? Any specific groups or locals they should visit?

PBD: Hmmm, that’s a big question.  I would say, there are groups and experiences here for all tastes. A personal taste in their personal time is not likely related to their professional ones. As a recruiter I am sure you can appreciate what I just said.

AP: Yes. : ) There are networking groups that charge to join–do you feel those groups are worth it? Can you give me a short list of the top business networking groups in SL?

PBD: Not really, I don’t pay to be in any of those groups. I would think they may be a good way to start out, but you quickly move past them.

AP: So how does the experienced SLer go about finding a great RL job?

PBD: Come to the Semper location (http://slurl.com/secondlife/HumanResource%20Island/207/101/27); IBM (http://slurl.com/secondlife/IBM/106/5/23) does cool things. TMP (http://slurl.com/secondlife/TMP%20Worldwide/190/43/22) does career fairs.

(Above: Semper International SL Location)

AP: Great, finally something my candidates can sink their teeth into!

PBD: I would say that there is a whole lot of recruiting happening in SL.  It’s just not that obvious.

AP: So how can a recruiter best leverage SL??

PBD: Networking, passive recruiting, developing a community, talking to people, gaining friends, leveraging friends, knowing who’s who and becoming a valuable asset to them.

AP: But again, I would assume it’s time consuming - yes?

PBD:Yes, anything worthwhile in life requires effort. SL is not an easy button.

AP: There’s the headline for my article - I love it!

PBD: LOL. Staples is a great client of ours. They will be excited I used it.

AP: Thank you again for taking the time to talk with me today.  I really appreciate it.

PBD: No problem. I will not likely give away the valuable lessons I’ve learned but I would like to make sure the integrity of recruitment and VW’s is upheld and thus I’m willing to help out people on many levels.

AP: Wonderful! Perhaps a few more probing questions tomorrow can loosen you up a bit.

PBD: LOL.

Stay tuned for our second conversation where we dive below the surface of SL discussing consumer-user behavior, relationships within SL, and Avatar creation. If you would like to learn more about the services his company offers, you can contact him via SL on Human Resources Island (http://slurl.com/secondlife/HumanResource%20Island/188/111/27) or email him at bregan@semperllc.com. 

Replied to an interesting LinkedIn question with the below, I added it here as it captured some of the positives we have found in our exploration of Second Life. 

Second Life is a very interesting space. My firm was the first staffing firm in and we have enjoyed some interesting results. Our island HumanResource Island is a professional build, meaning we use it for business purposes. Anywhere from internal Semper training and recruitment to sharing our understanding of interviewing in real life and Second Life with other SL residents for free in the for of free seminars in our virtual conference center. 

The fact is, that SL is not something that you drop money into and sit back and say, ok, let the success start rolling in. Its a lot more dynamic than that. Building is just the start developing and maintaining a community even an internal one is key. In other words, it takes constant effort, but effort that is reward with results.

Our results have come from successful recruitment of candidates from SL and placing them into real life positions. We have hired some internally or use them as contractors. Some of our training is gaining new levels of success as we understand and adapt to how powerful the immersion effect is on people and how it increases they attention span. We have even gained new areas of income generating business as we start to develop other companies locations in SL, even to the point where we may bridge this new off into a new company.

I clearly see a day where I have my 10 geographically dispersed offices working in one virtual office. Where managers can allocate teams based on needs of a geographic region. An office that people thousands of miles apart work shoulder to shoulder. Where their virtual desktops control the real applications they work in daily. A place where a growing number of people for various reasons work from their homes, yet still work in the same room as their teammates.

Very exciting times ahead.

Brian Regan

President

Semper International 

This is a piece that I wrote for the PIA/GATF World magazine. Along with this piece I had an opportunity to speak about this subject matter at both the PGSF Educational Summit held at GraphExpo and the Atlanta PIA/GATF Workflow Conference. The facts are clear that the print inndustry has some serious challenges facing it in regards to the future work force. Reaching in and connecting with a new generation of people used to the Internat as their primary communication tool presents unique challenges. These challenges can be over come.

Brian Regan

Where do I find the new breed of employees?
Brian Regan, President, Semper International

We all know that the industry has changed and many of the skills associated with printing have changed, too. None of these is more evident than in prepress. The new workflow solutions are often daunting to a company not versed in them—database management, mailing, digital asset management and fulfillment to name a few. Where does a printer who for years knew how to reproduce the best color work now find the new breed of employee?

What used to require a knowledge base of a very specific and talented craft has become a requirement of the new age and computer skills.

Who am I looking for?

Of course, the first requirement is for anyone to be able to handle prepress skills. (Even press operators have to be computer literate. All you have to do is look at recently introduced presses.) There are a lot of prepress skills that can either be taught as long as a person is comfortable behind a computer, or already exist in today’s job bank (in no particular order):

1) Color management: Someone who can learn how to calibrate and monitor soft and hard proofing using color management solutions.
2) Design skills: Whether a printer provides a design department for true creative work, or if the skills are required to fix existing files, it is always helpful to have a resource of people who can work their way around the Adobe Creative Suite or QuarkXPress.
3) Communications experts: IT departments need people who can work their way around the ‘pipes’ of the company: The Internet, browser, the web site, the internal network, firewall/security, and the other ancillary services.
4) Workflow experts: These are the true, trained prepress workflow experts, who have both computer and prepress knowledge and skills. These are the architects and administrators of a prepress department.
5) Premedia: As we all know, many printers don’t focus on just print, any more. There’s broadband and the Web, Web 2.0, and personalization that requires database expertise.
6) Programming: C++, PERL, HTML, JAVA, PHP and others. If you expect to build a competency, you likely will require some customization.

A state of mind

What my company has also learned is that skills are just one piece of the puzzle. The other is, for lack of a better word, behavioral. Unless someone has been formally trained in a printing school or environment, you have to acquire someone who can do well with the correct skill set or training in the graphic arts.

What do we usually look for? Well, it’s a wide set of traits. Someone who has good math skills is a start. An analytical problem solver is helpful. So is someone who can deal with multitasking. In positions requiring customer interaction, we search for people socially motivated. In fact, we use a behavioral test to hire all internal Semper personnel. It helps us staff our locations with people naturally inclined to work well with others.

Then there are the personal skills. How does the person deal with stress? If the prepress system is down due to a malfunction, you’d better have someone who steps up to the challenge. The same with the ability to work well with a lot of different people.

Where am I looking?

True fact. Our company looks for our own employees through the Internet, without any newspaper advertising (well, almost none). We believe that people who work in a sales office or are recruiters need to be able to use the Internet as a search tool. If they don’t have the computer searching skills that are good enough to find us, we figure they won’t be good candidates to look for high tech printers. This works for our inside positions as well.

The world—and not just the printing world—is a different place. The people who could be good fits for graphic arts/printing companies are not found just at printing schools or at other printing companies. A bit of creativity—and a sense of where prospects could be hanging out—can be helpful.

Remember, the printing industry is not the only place where technology has transformed the world.

So, where can I find these allusive people? There are a number of places:

1) Different colleges: I’m sure many printers have probably called or accessed schools like RIT or CalPoly for future candidates. A good suggestion would be to think out of the box, and it’s not only to find qualified candidates. It’s for ‘thought diversity’, too. I spoke with someone associated with a large investment/mutual fund firm, who said they always recruit from the same schools, with the same degrees, and the same GPA. What do you get? You can get ethnic diversity, but you also unfortunately get people who were educated in the same way, think the same, ‘look’ the same and act the same. You don’t get a variety of thought and new ideas about how to do things. Recruit from the same schools for printing, and the same thing happens. There are certainly engineering schools, design schools, and capable universities that churn out intelligent, computer-capable, ambitious candidates.

2) The Print and Graphics Scholarship Foundation (PGSF) is a not-for-profit, private, industry-directed organization that provides undergraduate college scholarships and graduate fellowship assistance to talented students interested in graphic communications careers. Currently, more than 240 students are receiving financial assistance through PGSF, at colleges, universities, and technical schools across the country, including Rochester Institute of Technology, California Polytechnic State University, Clemson University, Georgia Southern University and Western Michigan University, among others. Approximately 75 PGSF scholarship recipients graduated this past year. What a place to find outstanding talent. Resumes of the participating PGSF scholarship recipients can be found at www.gain.net on the GAIN job bank.

3) Web 2.0 presents both a challenge to the old ways of doing business and an opportunity to gain tremendous leverage. What is Web 2.0? They are untraditional, social web sites that involve the visitor and evolve with the visitor. There are many examples: Myspace, Jobster, Linkedin, flickr, Spoke, YouTube and others. And, there are the blogs, which cover every topic imaginable. To thrive, companies will have to figure out how to engage young people from all over the world. Companies can follow the trail of blogs and social networking sites to find and recruit young employees from every part of the world.

Business Week recently published a web article, ‘Children of the Web: about how the second-generation Internet is spawning a global youth culture–and what business can do to cash in.’ (see the video: http://images.businessweek.com/ss/07/06/0621_global_youth/index_01.htm.) How are younger people influenced? As the article remarks: “Consider Brazilian Fabricio Zuardi, 27. He grew up 180 miles from São Paulo and found a job via the Web with Silicon Valley tech startup Ning Inc. Zuardi now lives in Palo Alto, Calif., in an apartment he located on craigslist.org. He has no traditional phone, preferring Skype Internet-based service. He doesn’t own a TV. In his spare time he posts items on his blog or writes software that he contributes to open-source development projects.”

As noted, companies are using this technology to find new employees. Remember, if these people are using Web 2.0, they are already familiar with most of the skills you probably require in a prepress department.

It is essential to understand that social networks—as the name implies—are social networking sites. People who are savvy on the Internet, and who do not have inhibitions about using the Internet to develop relationships, are the ones who should manage or handle your social networks. I would go even further and suggest that depending on your company size, it is almost imperative to have one or more dedicated people handling this function. Like technology, keeping up with all these networks and keeping your firm’s message fresh, is a full time job.

4) Another form of Web 2.0 are Virtual Worlds which, described in Wikipedia, are fully immersive 3D virtual spaces; environments where humans interact with each other— socially and economically—using the metaphor of the real world, but without physical limitations. The most popular metaverse is Second Life.

Second Life is a user-created 3D virtual world that has many advantages over traditional websites. The power to incorporate people viewing the same content brings tremendous advantages to marketing and business applications—as does the opportunity to add a powerful collaborative tool for training, conferences and recruitment. Residents make up the population of Second Life; characters that you can meet and interact with.

Second Life is filled with creative people and many of them are graphic designers involved in real world design projects. Some are registered with Semper International, and we use them in the real world for graphic design and programming. Others are very tech savvy and work on large projects for real world companies, who are creating their own visions, using the built in scripting language (a poor ‘sister’ to java script). These people are approachable ‘socially’ and relationships can be developed. As discussed above, you must have someone who is able to develop relationships with these people; not just aggressively and latently attempting to get them to help you.

Some companies are already using Second Life to recruit people. Remember, this is a world of computer-savvy people. Semper is an active recruiting force in Second Life, as are TMP, IBM, Cisco, Verizon, Microsoft and others.

Social networks and the Metaverse are just beginning to be understood. However, the impact is quite powerful and worth reviewing and possibly using.

5) Go where techies visit on the Internet. My guess is that your prospective employees are not searching Monster.com. Just refer to the Web sites that would attract the people you are interested in. Follow blogs and other cyber links to find your most qualified candidates. Three print blogs (found with a very quick search) are printmode.net, printceoblog.com and prepressforum.com (printworkers.com has a link). However, not all candidates are reading print blogs, but perhaps they are visiting blogs and tech forums that are specific to their skills. Visit blogs from other industries with fundamentally similar skill sets. How different is an X-ray tech from a prepress tech? What are the primary skills sets a person must have for your position? Could you find those primary skill sets in people from other industries? Sometimes you’ll need a very wide net to capture the highest skilled talent.

6) Go to events and be seen where you share a similar vision of interests. These could be print trade shows, but perhaps there are other technology events that attract people with the skills you are looking for—or maybe there are just popular leisure time spots. People like to join firms with the same or similar vision of the world that they have. Get your company’s vision publicized for people to buy in to. Designate a charismatic person from your staff as an evangelist to talk at events and present a solid message that people will listen to. You goal is to get people in the crowd to subconsciously nod their heads up and down in agreement.

Start surfing
The technology world has opened up a wide variety of options to find and deliver messages to very competent technical help. The same creativity many printers have used to maintain their businesses will be required to find talented candidates. They aren’t visiting the old print haunts any more, but they’re out there—and you don’t even need to leave your office. Start surfing!

Semper International™ Opens Video Game Staffing Division

Semper International™ Opens Video Game Staffing Division Most Trusted Name in Graphic and Print Staffing Placement Expands to New Market

Boston, MA – September 7, 2007 - Semper International, a company which has dedicated itself to offering flexible staffing solutions to the graphic arts and print community for more than 12 years, today announced it will be establishing a new division to service the video game software development community in the continually growing video game market.

The new division – built upon the highly successful equation which made Semper International the top solution in its target markets – will offer a wide array of skilled programmers, artists and animators to software development houses, whether large or small, across the United States.

“We are extremely excited to be opening our new video game staffing division because with the feverish pace at which the gaming industry is growing the need for specialized software development talent is likewise increasing,” said Brian Regan, President, Semper International. “By using our proven methods of talent acquisition and placement we are poised to revolutionize the way video game development companies acquire personnel.”

Semper International has studied and tracked the phenomenal growth of the video game industry and realizes the value of offering an adaptable, flexible staffing solution to those organizations in need of qualified talent, especially with the increasingly difficult demands each “next generation” gaming system requires. Semper International will be able to provide clients with talented contractors to handle a wide variety of projects – from basic game testing to complex programming and project management. The company will work hand-in-hand with both contractor and client to assure quality and timeliness in all situations.

Through its offices in Boston, Atlanta, Minneapolis, Dallas, Chicago, Los Angeles, Orange County (CA), San Francisco, Wayne (NJ), and Washington, D.C., and its online office located in the metaverse Second Life , Semper International plans to partner with both video game software development companies as well as the talent already existing in these markets. By utilizing its flex, flex-to-hire and direct hire solutions, Semper International will be able to easily and conveniently assist these companies with the rapid expansion needed in today’s competitive marketplace.

For more information, visit us here - Click

About Semper International: Semper International, LLC was founded and staffed by professionals who were raised and trained in the graphic arts and staffing industries. Since 1995, Semper has provided staffing solutions – flex, flex-to-hire and direct hire – for the design, pre-press and finishing fields. Its efficient and reliable business model has helped transform how a wide range of graphic arts and print companies, both large and small, fill important roles or stretch production capacity. Semper International now applies this model to the video game and metaverse (fully immersive 3D virtual space) markets. Headquartered in Boston, Semper International, can be reached at 1-800-954-4993 or on the web at http://www.semperllc.com.

Was a very interesting turn of events for us here at Semper. Our goal entering Second Life was to explore recruiting in this new type of environment as well as look for ways to use this space for training and collabrative work. What we did not expect was to gain business in developing other firms Second Life presence. The below PR piece is the first example of our work.

What is interesting is that we were able to use our resources in SL to create this situation. That recruiting in SL did work for us in that it opened doors that we did not see. At this point we are now able to use this new venue to prescreen people we invite into SL. To recruit people from SL to real world positions. To use the space for internal training and metings. And now, to help bring firms into SL.

Semper will not focus heavily on this new doorway and limit it to select firms that we approve of. However, it is very interesting where this ride has taken us in a very short period of time. Our primary goals still remains on recruitment and business to business application.

As Semper moves into phase three of its Second Life agenda, we are even more excited about the future of this budding division. Our focus on high quality, timely actions and successful ventures is making us able to stand out. The next phase will be quite interesting and we are ready to jump in.

Brian Regan
President
Semper International

Tower Consultants to open presence in Second Life

High-Level, Human Resource, Executive search firm enters the virtual world.

STUART, Fla.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Tower Consultants, a nationwide, female-owned boutique search firm specializing in the recruitment of human resource professionals for a myriad of Fortune 500 companies, announced today that the company has opened a presence in the virtual world of Second Life, at http://slurl.com/secondlife/HumanResource%20Island/115/70/27.

This online outpost, created under the supervision of Semper International, whom Tower shares in ownership of Human Resource Island, will serve as another point of outreach for the company as it expands operations and exposes Tower Consultants’ unique mission of combining highly talented human resource professionals with challenging and rewarding careers to the nearly eight million residents of Second Life.

“Working heavily with clients at the apex of talent acquisition, Tower Consultants is excited about expanding their staffing ability and further capturing the attention of up and coming highly progressive global talent,” said Founder, Chairperson and CEO Donna Friedman. “While our search firm focuses on experienced professional human resources hires, our clients and the candidates we place in staffing and university recruiting roles will strongly benefit by extending their reach to the Second Life community.”

Second Life has been used by companies such as IBM and Fidelity as online, virtual meeting spaces and other business-to-business needs. The software platform has also been used by American Apparel, Dell and Pontiac to advertise their goods and services to consumers. Career recruiting companies, such as careerbuilder.com, monster.com and Semper International have recently entered. Nearly one million new users sign up to be a Second Life resident every month.

Since 1998, Tower Consultants has focused on providing quality service and support for its retained search clients. Originally focused on compensation and benefit searches, it soon expanded into delivering a wide array of specialty searches, including talent acquisition, talent management, executive and management development, organizational effectiveness, HRIS and payroll, training, labor relations/employee relations and corporate and field-based HR generalist roles.

It has recently placed high-level executives in Fortune 500 firms such as ConAgra Foods, Arcelor Mittal, Tyco International and Charles Schwab. Tower Consultants spans all industries and clients also include premiere non-profit organizations such as Catholic Health West and Yale University. The company is proud to be affiliated with organizations that include Human Resource Planning Society, National Society for Executive Recruiters, International Association of Corporate and Professional Recruiters, Worlds@Work and the Society for Human Resource Management.

For more information, visit http://www.towerconsultants.com/.

About Tower Consultants: Founded in 1998 by Donna Friedman, Tower Consultants has focused on putting highly-qualified human resources executives in rewarding and challenging positions. It is committed to building relationships with both its candidates and the companies that hire them. Focusing on leading companies across all industries, the company targets global human resource leaders ripe for a career change and a step up the ladder of success.

Based in Stuart, Florida, the company can be reached at 772-288-3590 or by email at contact@towerconsultants.com.

August 22, 2007 01:45 PM Eastern Daylight Time
Semper International Opens New Island, HumanResource Island in the Virtual World, Second Life

New location coincides with company’s new venture into virtual world consulting

BOSTON–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Semper International, the leading placement firm for skilled help in the graphic arts and printing industry, and a growing provider of trained, technical staffing in other high-tech areas, particularly video games, announces it has opened a new island location, HumanResource Island, in the Second Life® virtual world.

Second Life®, developed by Linden Labs®, is a 3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents. Opening to the public in 2003, it is currently inhabited by over 4 million residents from around the globe. Second Life is an exciting new venue for collaboration, training, distance learning, new media studies and business.

HumanResource Island has been developed to allow Semper to augment its current capabilities in Second Life. With the additional land they will have a much larger location to handle their growing uses for Second Life. The collaborative nature of the virtual 3-D Second Life world makes it an exceptional resource for a recruiting company to interact with clients and talent.. They are already using it as a forum for seminars for clients. The company is also successfully inviting candidates to Second Life to listen to presentations offering job search advice while, concurrently, prescreening them for possible jobs.

With its knowledge and experience in virtual worlds, and its extensive list of programming resources, Semper International has also built a business around Second Life consulting. The company provides expert analysis of whether a client is prepared to build a Second Life location, rules of how to culturally engage with other ‘residents’, and programming resources to build an appropriate site. Companies interested in exploring more can visit http://www.semperllc.com/metaverse/.

“I think it is important to note that our continued use of Second Life is not specifically as a marketing platform. We’re not lining the streets with banners,” explains Brian Regan, Semper International president. “We continue to be impressed with the non-marketing utility of Second Life. For example, the introduction of voice in Second Life has allowed us to use the virtual world as a collaboration tool between Semper employees from different, real-world offices. They are able to meet in our Second Life office for conference meetings. New ideas of how to use it are generated almost on a weekly basis, which is why we were willing to invest in a complete island.”

Semper International’s HumanResource Island can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/HumanResource%20Island/196/112/27. A Semper International blog that further delves into their Second Life experiences can be found at http://semperllc.wordpress.com/

“Second Life” and “Linden Labs” are registered trademarks of Linden Research.

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About Semper International

Headquartered in Boston with branch offices nationwide, Semper International is a temporary help placement firm founded and staffed by professionals who understand the positions, equipment, and software essential to their core business areas, assuring a perfect employee-employer match.

To provide career growth, Semper University is an online training program to help employees prepare for upcoming changes in the industry. Realizing how the Internet is revolutionizing the industry, Semper also works with the most talented web designers, graphic designers, desktop publishers and production managers.

For more information, visit Semper International at www.semperllc.com. Semper International’s Second Life office can be found at http://slurl.com/secondlife/HumanResource%20Island/196/112/27.

Common myths about the video game industry.
By Tuan Pham (Contributing writer)

Whenever we chat with our friends in the game industry, there are a few common gripes that always appear. No matter if a development group is large or small, major issues always crop up. This isn’t just talking about lack of pizza or Chinese during Crunch Time; these are pretty serious.

1) Only young male teenagers or college students are into video gaming.

According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA), the average gamer is 33 years old and has been playing games for nearly 12 years. In fact, 38 percent of all gamers are female.

In fact, serious gaming, a genre in the whole video game industry, is dedicated to using video games as a solution in the fields of health care, education, training and public policy. This wildly deviates from the myth of all gamers are single males who hang out at the local GameStop or Best Buy.

2) Being in the video game industry is just like printing money. There’s a lot of it out there and everyone involved gets rich.

While video game sales are reaching record highs ($7.4 billion in 2006), not everyone is successful. With the release of every blockbuster, such as World of Warcraft, Halo and Grand Theft Auto, there are at least hundreds of titles that end up collecting dust on the store shelves.

3) Only games that are successful are violent bloodbaths.

In 2005, only 15 percent of all game sales were rated M for Mature by the Entertainment Software Rating Board, or ESRB. While action games do dominate the market to a degree, there are legions of puzzle, childrens’, sports and casual games that are stocked on today’s shelves.

4) Only established franchises or massively multiplayer online role playing games are successful in today’s market.

While franchises such as Madden, Halo and Grand Theft Auto and MMORPGs such as World of Warcraft and Lord of the Rings Online dominate the headlines, there are other titles who have done well in the market. Take a look at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_video_games for a list of titles which sold more than 1 million copies. There’s a few that might be very suprising.

Last year, the eighth best selling game in the U.S. was Brain Age, a brain training game for the Nintendo DS. It sold even more copies in Japan. This brain-teasing serious game forces a person to take three educational tests each day to lessen mind fatigue over time. The follow-up, which has already shipped in Japan, will be released shortly in the U.S.

5) Staffing video game companies is cakewalk.

The pool of applicants for video game companies is extremely high right now. Schools are starting to tailor create game design degrees and people in the current generation have grown up with video gaming. However, there is a massive need for established project managers who have worked in high-stress, deadline-based environments as well as raw talent to think of the new games of tomorrow.

While degrees in game design or graphic design are valuable, one of the most important things to have is a solid portfolio of work when applying to game developer. Also, a major plus is experience in the software field in general.

As we chat with our contacts in the field, most of them do not have a game design degree. Some hold a degree in Computer Science, some in Liberal Arts, some that don’t even have college training. But, they are successful in their career.

Breaking into the industry has its challenges. Most, if not all, are surmountable.