Fasteners on the Internet: Emhart’s TekLink and Richco

John Wolz

NAW Partners with Online Headhunter
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors is partnering with online employee recruiter Headhunter.net to give members direct access to career services through a cobranded site.
According to NAW, wholesale distribution accounts for one in every 20 jobs in the United States.
Atlanta, GA-based Headhunter.net features include job postings and a database of more than 1 million resumes.
The site features hundreds of thousands of jobs. Headhunter provides job seekers privacy and allows job seekers and job posters to track listings.

Online Applicant Assessment
Employers can use a 15-minute online interview to assess prospective employees prior to the first face-to-face interview.
Fitability.com introduced an online personality assessment service for �job matching.�
Finding candidates and retaining employees that �fit well� is a big issue. According to a recent national workplace survey conducted by public opinion research firm Zogby International and commissioned by Headhunter.net, 78% of the nation�s workers admit they would leave their job if a better offer came along. Only 20% percent of women and 25% of men claim that money is the key to commitment.
Based on the most widely researched and supported model of personality in the world � the �Big Five� � CEO James Campbell said Fitability allows industrial organizations to evaluate individuals faster. It assists in predicting a candidate�s job performance and satisfaction.
Based on five years of research and 130,000 participants, Fitability for Employers incorporates a library of more than 750 personality profiles and job descriptions.

Software Catches Job Hoppers
The last name of an applicant�s former boss is a great tracking aid to predict how long someone will stay on a job, according to Unicru.com CEO Bob Gregg. Such questions are used to spot job hoppers for employers wanting stability.
Applicants for hourly jobs fill out electronic forms at a kiosk, and within seven minutes the software provides a report predicting the applicant�s work tendencies. Companies can project how long employees will stay, within a two-month range, with 70% accuracy.

Emhart Fastening Teknologies launched an online engineering center to solve design, manufacturing and maintenance problems. TekLink is available to distributors and noncompetitive fastening and manufacturing firms for private branding. Global marketing vice president Martin Schnurr said TekLink is a �boundaryless system that redefines the role of industrial distributors and manufacturing firms, expanding their scope and capabilities and the geographic reach of their services� and that �anyone who enters TekLink with an assembly problem leaves with a solution.� TekLink is a commercial version of the virtual innovation center installed on emhart.com two years ago � Richco Inc. launched a new web site at richco-inc.com with more options, including searching by part number, product category, jargon table or competitor part number, ordering samples online, locating distributors, viewing products and playing Richco�s online corporate trivia game. Richco manufactures plastic fasteners, wire management devices, circuit board hardware, fiber optic accessories and components. Chicago-based Richco has 15 facilities worldwide � W.W. Grainger Inc. discontinued Material Logic, the digital unit formed to seek equity participants, and shut down its e-commerce web sites except FindMRO.com. Grainger CEO Richard Keyser explained that �financial markets and the economy limited funding opportunities.� A total of 178 Material Logic employees were laid off. \
� 2001 FastenerNews.com