The kids have gone back to school, and it's time for the grown-ups to focus on learning, too! Sharpen those pencils!
Fall is conference season in the staffing industry, and we're looking forward to two of the big ones: NAPS, this week, and Staffing World 2011 next month. We've got a quick list of the ways to make the most of a conference in this issue of InTouch.
If you've ever talked to a buddy in the staffing industry who doesn't use COATS, you might find it hard to describe everything the software does. Now, you don't have to! We've created a brochure for COATS in a handy downloadable PDF format, and you can get it for free right here.
Between conferences, please feel free to drop into the COATS Users Group on LinkedIn to get advice from your fellow staffing leaders, and check out the COATS blog for staffing stories and legal roundups.
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Coming Soon: COATSsql Version 4.3.0
 We'll be releasing a new version of COATSsql soon. Version 4.3.0 will be available for download from the customers-only site in the upcoming weeks. Send us your email address to make sure you are on the update list! If you must have it now, call Support and we can send you the BETA version. Version 4.3.0's main new features are: - Randomization of Social Security Numbers
- A reference box to notate when a candidate has been vetted with E-Verify
- Updates to the EMPL screen for mass emailing or texting of candidates
Please let us know other features you would like in an update! |
Contest: How Do You Use COATS?
 Tell us and you could win a $25 gift card!Whenever we talk to you, we're amazed at the innovative uses you find for the capabilities of COATS. Send us an email telling us what special way you've devised of using COATS, and we'll enter your name in a drawing for a $25 gift card! We'll also publish the best COATS tips in our newsletter. |
Get the Most Out of Conferences
 A few tips for making the most of your time at conferences this fall:
- Know what you want to accomplish at the conference, and make a list of any questions you want answered or any topics you'd like to hear discussed. This can help you choose sessions and workshops.
- If there's someone who's sure to be at the conference that you'd like to meet, contact the conference organizers and ask if they could introduce you to the person. If that's not possible, be sure to attend the networking session most conferences have on the first evening before sessions begin.
- Consider submitting an idea for a panel suggestion, recommending a workshop topic or even volunteering to speak. If you've been in the business for many years, you've got a lot of expertise and insight that others can benefit from. Also, if there's an issue or concern you have, it's likely that other staffing firms may be experiencing the same thing and would appreciate a discussion of the topic.
- When planning to attend sessions, be realistic about your time and attention. Attending four or five sessions back to back with no breaks is unfeasible. Most sessions tend to run over, which will make you late to every subsequent session, and you'll be frazzled, too.
- Take care of yourself during the conference. Make sure you get enough water during the day and enough sleep each night. Dress in layers, so you can adjust to whatever climate control system the hotel hosting the conference has.
- Don't leave a session without writing down at least one action step you can take as a result of the information presented. This is another good reason to allow at least 15 minutes between sessions, so you'll have time to make any final notes and write your action steps while the information is fresh in your mind.
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Building a Better Life for Kids Recovering from Cancer with the Roc Solid Foundation
 We're all really excited about the project we're doing in late October with the Roc Solid Foundation. The foundation's Play It Forward program helps gives kids recovering from cancer hope and joy by building playsets for them and installing them in their backyards.
In September, Tom, Karen and Catherine from COATS helped our sister staffing company, Reliance Staffing & Recruiting, build a playset for a beautiful little boy named Wes. You can read about that build here, or see photos of it here.
If you'd like to support the Roc Solid Foundation in their work making the lives of kids with cancer better and more hopeful, click here. |
September 11 and Staffing
 As much as September 11 is noted for what we lost as a nation, it can also be seen as a day to mark our determination not just to survive but to rebuild and come back stronger. In the 10 years since the attacks, we've also had to rebuild our economy in the wake of financial desolation. And it might have taken longer than we'd like, but we are starting to come back stronger from that, too.
So it's actually rather appropriate that National Staffing Employee Week starts the day after September 11. After all, staffing has led the job growth we've seen in the past couple of years. When a company needs to rebuild after a natural disaster, they call on staffing to provide temporary labor. "Coming back stronger" is what staffing is all about.
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Feature Focus: Client Falloff Report
 Doesn't it seem like forever since you heard from that particular client? Say, just how long ago was it? If you've got COATSsql Staffing Software, you can find out instantly by using the Client Falloff Report function.
Read more --> |
Join the COATS Users Group on LinkedIn
 The COATS Users Group on LinkedIn is starting to heat up! We created this group for COATS users to discuss the software with us and with each other so we can all get more out of it. This is a members-only group, so you don't have to worry about anyone wandering in and spamming us. Unfortunately, that means you do have to apply for membership, but we promise you'll get in; all you have to be is a COATS user. We look forward to seeing you there!
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 IT Department Contacts: COATSsql Users on SQL Server 2005 SP1 and SQL Server 2000 SP4, click here.
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Miss a Newsletter?
COATS has been sending an emailed newsletter since August of 2008. If you missed one of our monthly newsletters, click below to see what you've missed!
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Upcoming Training Times for COATS
Group training times for COATS customers: October 2011 24: 10 am - noon,
2 - 4 pm EDT November 2011 17,18: 10 am - noon, EDT December 2011 1,2: 10 am - noon, EDT Click here for more info |
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A New Member of the COATS Family 
Tech Support Specialist Jessica Barber and her husband Donn welcomed their first child, Ireland Krysta Barber, on September 10. Congratulations and welcome to Baby Ireland! |
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Welcome to Our New Clients!
We added a new company to the COATS family this month:
- Premium Transport Staffing, Inc.
And these existing clients added more users:
- Career Concepts Staffing
- Staffworks Group
- Amotec Technology Solutions, LLC
- Doubletree Personnel
- Your Employment Solutions
- Culinary Staffing of America
- Compass Point Labor Management
Thanks to all of these companies; let's grow bigger and better together!
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Compliments of:
Stacey E. James
Littler Mendelson P.C.
501 W. Broadway, Ste. 900
San Diego, CA 92101-3577 (619) 232-0441
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