Simmons First National Corp. of Pine Bluff on Wednesday reported third-quarter net income of $23.4 million, up 8 percent from the same quarter last year.

The company also reported diluted earnings per share of 76 cents, up from 72 cents in the same quarter last year.

The company noted that third-quarter 2016 results included $953,000 of after-tax expenses related to noncore items. Excluding those expenses, "core earnings" were $24.4 million and diluted core earnings per share were 79 cents.

In a news release, CEO George Makris Jr. said the company completed its latest bank acquisition — Citizens National Bank of Athens, Tennessee — during the quarter. A systems conversion tied to the deal takes place Thursday.

"We welcome our newest associates from Citizens National Bank into the Simmons family," Makris said in a news release. "We look forward to continued growth in our east Tennessee markets." 

Makris pointed out the company's quarterly efficiency ratio of 53.8 percent, return on assets of 1.21 percent, return on equity of 8.4 percent, and return on tangible common equity of 13.3 percent.

Total loans stood at were $5.4 billion as of Sept. 30, up 11 percent from the same time last year. Total deposits were $6.6 billion, up about 9 percent from the same time last year.

Quarterly net interest income was $68.1 million, down 13 percent from the same time last year. Non-interest income was $36.9 million, up about $14 million from the same time last year.

LITTLE ROCK - Competing proposals to legalize medical marijuana in Arkansas would cost the state more to administer than they would create in new tax revenue, state finance officials said Thursday, projecting they'd need as much as $5.7 million in additional funding if voters approve either measure next month.

The Department of Finance and Administration said each proposal would generate nearly $2.5 million in sales tax revenue annually, though it warned it would take 18 to 24 months to reach that point. The department said the new tax dollars wouldn't be enough for the costs it and the Department of Health would face for overseeing the medical pot program.

"At a state sales tax rate of 6.5 percent, I think it would be a challenge for the state of Arkansas to get to a point where it would actually be a revenue neutral proposal," Paul Gehring with DFA told a joint legislative panel.

Both proposals on the ballot would allow patients with certain medical conditions to buy marijuana from dispensaries, but differ in their regulations and restrictions. For example, one proposal would allow patients to grow their own marijuana if they don't live near a dispensary.

The analysis looked at estimated sales tax revenue from the dispensaries. It doesn't include additional costs other agencies have claimed they would face if either measure is approved. The director of the Arkansas State Police, Col. Bill Bryant, told the panel his agency would need $2.8 million in additional funding to hire new staff and buy new equipment if medical marijuana is legalized. The state Crime Lab has also said it would need additional funding if medical pot passes.

The proposal estimated more than $38 million in annual medical marijuana sales. It also doesn't factor in additional tax revenue the state may see from related businesses, including security and grow lighting, that the dispensaries may need or income tax revenue from workers hired.

The head of Arkansans for Compassionate Care, one of the pro-medical pot groups, dismissed the analysis since Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson is an outspoken opponent of the proposals. She said it ignores the jobs that she says would be created at the dispensaries and other businesses.

"It will produce a huge amount of revenue and the program will pay for itself," said Melissa Fults, the group's campaign director.

A lawmaker on the panel questioned whether the projected revenue was downplayed, noting it was based on per capita sales in only six other states that have medical marijuana. Half the states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana in some fashion.

"I'm going to remain skeptical until I have numbers from every single state, every one that is legal right now. I'm going to remain skeptical because it appears based off what we've looked at that the lower numbers were used," said Republican Rep. Michelle Gray, who said she's opposed to both proposals.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Bear State Financial Inc. of Little Rock on Thursday reported third-quarter earnings of $4.7 million, up 47 percent from the same time last year.

The company, which passed the $2 billion asset mark during the quarter, also reported diluted earnings per common share of 13 cents, up from 10 cents in the same quarter last year.

"Core earnings" were $4.3 million, or 11 cents per share, compared to $3.1 million, or 9 cents per share, in the same quarter last year.  

"The bank's third quarter performance was highlighted by growth of over $30 million in total loans and $12 million in deposits along with record results in the mortgage banking business," Mark McFatridge, president and CEO of Bear State Financial, said in a news release. 

"We remain focused on carrying out our core initiatives, which includes diversifying the make-up of our commercial loan portfolio. Thanks to this effort, commercial and industrial (C&I) loans now represent over 20 percent of our total loans outstanding," he said.

Assets, loans and deposits all increased during the quarter, mainly because of the firm's acquisition last year of Metropolitan National Bank of Springfield, Missouri. Total assets were $2.01 billion at Sept. 30, up 37 percent from the same point last year. Total loans were $1.52 billion, up 41 percent, and deposits were $1.65 billion, up 37 percent.

Quarterly net interest income was $16.8 million, up from $12.2 million in the same quarter last year. Non-interest income was $4.3 million, up from $3.3 million last year.

The Venture Center of Little Rock on Friday announced that dates for its 2017 FinTech Accelerator have changed.

The center said the dates changed so that the participants can engage more with senior executives of global banking technology services provider FIS of Jacksonville, Florida, attend an FIS conference and interact with the FIS API Gateway technology. 

Startups can apply through Oct. 31 to participate in the program, which has been extended until 2018 to the tune of $2 million.

Apply here.

The accelerator is being funded with $500,000 each FIS Arkansas discretionary funds.

The 2017 program will begin May 8, a kick-off open to the public is set for May 11 and a demo day is scheduled for July 27.

Natalie Ghidotti is the CEO and principal of Ghidotti Communications of Little Rock.

Ghidotti, a graduate of Texas Christian University, founded Ghidotti Communications, a public relations consulting firm, in 2007. The firm serves clients in all industries, including retail, fast food, health care, technology and marketing startups, nonprofits and professional services. She is a past president of the Arkansas Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America and will serve on the executive committee of the national PRSA Counselors Academy next year. She is the only Arkansas member of PRConsultants Group, a network of 50 senior-level PR practitioners representing the top markets in the country.

This is a crisis communications question: If you had been asked to advise John Stumpf, former CEO of Wells Fargo & Co., about how to handle the scandal surrounding the bank’s opening of unauthorized accounts, what would you have told him?

The moment the fraudulent actions and questionable sales culture were discovered, I would have advised Stumpf to publicly admit what happened, take full responsibility, apologize and unveil a plan to remedy the situation and ensure nothing like it would happen again. I would also insist that the apology and the initial statements come from Stumpf and not other leaders. The CEO should immediately tell the public that fraudulent behavior is unacceptable and employees found to be involved are punished appropriately. Unfortunately for Wells Fargo, it was too little, too late.

You’ve been an employee and now you’re a boss. What have you learned about being a boss that you wish you’d known as an employee?

At my first job as a reporter at the Fort Worth Business Press, a business consultant had us sit in a circle, listen to the person beside us and repeat back to her, “What I’m hearing you say is … .” I thought it was the hokiest thing ever until I became a boss and understood the power of listening. Listening to your employees makes a difference in how they feel about your mission. Listening is twice as hard as talking — particularly for marketing people — so I am in constant improvement when it comes to mastering the art of listening.

This issue of Arkansas Business focuses on the skills gap between what employers need and what they’re finding in new employees. What skills deficits are you seeing?

Many of my colleagues say their millennial employees are the obvious children of the helicopter parent craze. We see a lack of resourcefulness, which often has millennials looking to others to help them with answers before they ever try to figure things out on their own. In a fast-paced work environment that requires some serious thinking on your feet, that can be a major weak link in the team. Thankfully, the team we have now — all millennials except two of us — are resourceful and quick learners.

What was your biggest career mistake and what did you learn from it?

It may not have been the biggest mistake ever, but neglecting to correct a misspelling in a client ad during my first job as a PR practitioner definitely left a major impression on me. Thankfully, the ad never made it to the client or the publication, but it did make it to the desk of my boss, Steve Holcomb, who proceeded to tell me all the ways simple mistakes like a misspelling in an ad can get an agency fired. I pledged from that point on to always take the time with the details. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had my share of mistakes since then, but that one moment gave me a completely different view of my job, the agency-client relationship and how to keep both! So thanks to Steve for taking me under his wing and helping me understand the importance of the details.

The competitive field of banks in southern Clark County could triple in the near future. Bank of Delight (Pike County) has opened a branch in Gurdon, and Southern Bancorp Bank of Arkadelphia intends to open operations there.

What’s made the community of 2,100 suddenly so popular? Is the future opening of the Shandong Sun Paper pulp mill 10 miles north of town coming into play?

“That was a consideration,” said Darwin Hendrix, chairman and CEO of Bank of Delight. “But we had customers in Gurdon who were asking us, ‘Why don’t you all come to Gurdon?’”

That request was connected with the departure of U.S. Bank from Gurdon, leaving First State Bank of Lonoke as the lone lender operating a full-service branch in Gurdon.

First State entered the market about 20 years ago through the acquisition of the $29.7 million-asset First State Bank of Gurdon. That deal closed at about $3.6 million.

A Gurdon office represents Southern Bancorp’s third in Clark County and its 20th full-service branch in Arkansas.

In addition to its hometown headquarters, Bank of Delight also operates a full-service branch in Prescott (Nevada County).

“We’ve come a long way from $8 million in total assets when I started working at the bank in 1980 to more than $100 million today,” Hendrix said. “I always try to remember what my dad told me years ago: ‘Don’t ever forget what it’s like to sit on the other side of the desk.’”

The proposed sale of Pinnacle Bancshares Inc. marks a second go-around of sorts for Central Bank of Little Rock.

Back in 2009, the $81 million-asset lender intended to merge with Pinnacle Bank of Rogers under the Pinnacle Bancshares banner. At the time, Pinnacle Bank’s asset total stood at $126 million.

That deal went dark as Pinnacle Bank was hammered by losses that topped $6.2 million by year’s end. A public consent agreement with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. followed in April 2010.

Pinnacle consented to the order without admitting or denying charges of unsafe or unsound banking practices relating to operating with insufficient capital, liquidity and earnings, with an excessive volume of low-quality assets, and with inadequate policies and procedures.

Pinnacle’s first CEO, Joe Mills, left in 2007. Mills had helped launch the startup effort in August 2004 after leaving as president of Simmons First Bank of Northwest Arkansas in Rogers.

Pinnacle opened for business in Bentonville before moving to Rogers, backed with $15.1 million in capital from more than 100 investors that included Cross County Bancshares Inc. of Wynne.

Another banking concern once owned a piece of Pinnacle too. Trust-Banc Financial Group Inc., holding company of Mountain Home’s $114.5 million-asset TrustBanc, held a nearly 5 percent stake. That position was liquidated in advance of its $26.6 million sale in 2005 to Jonesboro’s Liberty Bancshares Inc.

The size of Pinnacle and Central flip-flopped during the past seven years as Pinnacle Bank has battled through bad loans, many of them secured by real estate.

The contemplated transaction now in play features an $89 million-asset Pinnacle Bank merging with a $115 million-asset Central Bank. Pinnacle Bancshares will evaporate.

Pinnacle Bank, Rogers
(As of June 30)

Total Assets: $89.5 million
Net Income: $54,000
Equity Capital: $10.4 million
OREO: $13.2 million
Full-service location: 1 (Rogers)
Staff: 9

*Dollars in thousands.
Source: Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

A historic hotel in downtown Little Rock tipped the scales at $2.85 million.

SHG Management LLC, led by Kishan Patel, bought the 86-room Legacy Hotel at 625 W. Capitol Ave. The seller is Southern Comfort Inns Inc., led by Amin Amarshi.

The deal is backed with a three-year loan of $2.5 million from Access Point Financial Inc. of Atlanta. The 1.03-acre development previously was linked with a December 2014 mortgage of $1 million held by Arvest Bank of Fayetteville.

Southern Comfort Inns acquired the property for $975,000 in September 2001 from Saini Inc., led by Sarmukh Saini.

Office Acquisition I
A 6,870-SF office building in west Little Rock weighed in at $1.11 million.

Focus Properties LLC, led by Morris Lavender Jr., purchased the 28 Rahling Circle project.

The seller is Radius Real Estate Fund No. 2 Ltd., led by James Wilkins. The 0.57-acre development previously was tied to a February 2014 mortgage of $450,000 held by Central Bank of Little Rock.

Radius bought the property for $745,000 more than two years ago from Diner Properties LLC, led by Bradley Diner; Amick Properties LLC, led by Roger Amick; and R&J Properties LLC, led by Dr. Leigh Ann Bennett.

Warehouse Purchase I
A 79,950-SF warehouse in southwest Little Rock changed hands in a $900,000 sale.

6600 Geyer Springs LLC, led by Drew Holbert and Justin Muller, acquired its namesake project from Monarch Land Co. LLC, led by Brenda Fulkerson.

The deal is financed with a two-year loan of $900,000 and a one-year loan of $600,000 from Relyance Bank of Pine Bluff. The 3.54-acre property was purchased for $77,000 in October 1971 from Smith-Reid-Welsh Co., led by Roy Bilheimer.

Lost 40 Buy
An 11,250-SF office-warehouse in the Riverdale area of Little Rock is under new ownership after an $825,000 deal.

Lost 40 Brewery LLC, led by John Beachboard, Scott McGehee and Albert Braunfisch, bought the 1311 Rebsamen Park Road project from Roy Dudley.

The deal is funded with a seven-year loan of $701,250 from IberiaBank of Lafayette, Louisiana. The 2.03-acre development previously was linked with a March 2013 mortgage of $773,533 held by Eagle Bank & Trust of Little Rock.

The property was acquired for $800,000 more than three years ago from the estate of Larry Meyers Jr.

Office Acquisition II
A 3,900-SF office building in the Heights area of Little Rock rang up a $370,000 sale.

A&A Investments LLC, led by Amir Qureshi and Fariha Shamsi, purchased the 111 N. Fillmore St. project. The seller is Churlock LLC, led by Spence and Kathy Churchill.

The deal is backed with a 10-year loan of $312,000 from Bank of America in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Churlock bought the 0.18-acre development from Fillmore Properties LLC, led by Ricky Schnellmann.

Warehouse Purchase II
A 7,200-SF warehouse in Little Rock drew a $250,000 transaction.

Immerse Arkansas, led by Eric and Kara Gilmore, acquired the 5300 Asher Ave. project from Kathleen Inmon.

The 0.53-acre development previously helped secure a February 2014 mortgage of $285,000 held by First Service Bank of Greenbrier.

The location was purchased in October 2004 as part of an $80,000 deal with Schicker Family Ltd., led by Mary Margaret Dunn.

Teardown Transaction
A 4,851-SF house in Little Rock’s Country Club Heights neighborhood tipped the scales at $2.2 million in advance of a teardown redevelopment.

NPS Holdings LLC, led by Jeffrey and Kara Nolan, bought the property from the estate of Kula Kumpuris.

The Kumpuris family acquired the residence for $71,000 in April 1963 from Louise Porter.

River Club House
A 5,400-SF home in west Little Rock’s River Club neighborhood sold for $825,000. Timothy Files purchased the house from Kristi and Michael Crum.

The deal is financed with a 30-year loan of $417,000 from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp. The residence previously was tied to a July 2015 mortgage of $750,000 held by Bank of England.

The Crum family bought the property for $850,000 15 months ago from Rick Angel.

Orle Abode
A 6,220-SF home in the Orle neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development changed hands in a $750,000 deal.

Mark and Jennifer Tait acquired the house from Peter and Elizabeth Banko. The deal is funded with a 30-year loan of $750,000 from SunTrust Mortgage Inc. of Richmond, Virginia.

The residence previously was linked with an April 2011 mortgage of $487,000 held by Metropolitan National Bank of Little Rock.

The Banko family purchased the location for $147,000 in March 2007 from Deltic Timber Corp. of El Dorado.

Estates Sale I
A 3,840-SF home in the Adkins Estates neighborhood of west Little Rock rang up a $674,500 sale. Amanda Golbeck and Craig Molgaard bought the house from John Owens.

The deal is backed with a 30-year loan of $417,000 from Simmons Bank of Pine Bluff.

The residence previously was tied to an April 2013 mortgage of $300,000 from Arvest Bank.

Owens acquired the property for $700,000 in May 2010 from Andrew and Jennifer Adkins.

Maisons Residence
A 4,677-SF home in the Maisons neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development drew a $635,000 transaction.

Indranil and Mangala Sarkar purchased the house from the T-N-T Living Trust, led by Thomas and Terri Allen.

The deal is financed with 30-year loans of $417,000 and $154,400 from Bank of Little Rock Mortgage Corp.

The residence previously was linked with a January 2010 mortgage of $325,000 held by BancorpSouth Bank of Tupelo, Mississippi.

The location was bought for $75,000 in August 2004 from Deltic Timber.

Estates Sale II
A 4,750-SF home in the Somersett Estates neighborhood of west Pulaski County is under new ownership after a $550,000 foreclosure sale.

Banc of California in Irvine recovered the house from Tina and Andrew Melton.

The residence previously was tied to a March 2007 mortgage of $525,000.

The property was purchased for $629,000 in February 2006 from William and Cheryl Johnson.

Marabel Home
A 3,710-SF home in the Marabel Court neighborhood of west Little Rock’s Chenal Valley development sold for $529,900.

Vincent Calderon Jr. and his wife, Rosey, bought the house from Graham Smith Construction LLC of Little Rock.

The deal is funded with a 10-year loan of $150,000 from IberiaBank.

The residence previously was linked with a February 2016 mortgage of $405,600 held by First Security Bank of Searcy.

The location was acquired for $89,000 in December 2015 from Deltic Timber.

Landmark Financing
Construction of a 196-unit apartment project in west Little Rock is in motion with a $21.8 million funding agreement.

Landmark Apartments LLC, led by Sam Alley, obtained the 42-year loan from Berkada Commercial Mortgage LLC of Ambler, Pennsylvania.

The 13.56-acre site at 16000 Rushmore Ave. was purchased for $601,000 in December 2012 from Jonesboro’s Liberty Bank of Arkansas.

The job applicant had a brilliant resume and precisely the technical skills the company wanted. But when her interviewer asked how she handles conflicts with co-workers, the surefire prospect lost her sizzle.

“She says, ‘I just send them a text’; I say, ‘Next!’”

That was the assessment of Tim Orellano, president of the Human Resources Team, a Little Rock-based consulting firm, playing a hypothetical interviewer. “This is how companies identify people with so-called soft skills, in the interview process,” he said.

“Skills gap” discussions often pivot on abilities or qualifications that employers find in short supply, but broader communication and human interaction traits are more likely to determine success or failure on the job, human resources experts say.

“Companies ask behavioral questions, and the interview is key,” said Orellano, who spent years as an HR executive. “An employment application basically tells employers what they want to know; a resume tells them what the applicants want them to know. To find out about teamwork, dedication, flexibility or handling a rude customer, you have to ask questions that can’t be answered yes or no.”

Though soft skills aren’t often listed on resumes, a CareerBuilder survey found that 77 percent of employers find them just as important as hard skills, and 16 percent see them as more important. A 2015 survey of 750 business managers by Instructure, a software company, discovered that most prefer hiring people with strong interpersonal skills and training them in technical areas rather than vice versa. Eighty-five percent listed a strong work ethic as the most desirable attribute in job candidates.

“The best-practice companies are willing to take a hardworking person with people skills and say, yes, maybe you don’t have the experience in a certain area that would be ideal, but we have a training program for you, or they step up in some other way to get that person,” Orellano said, using Southwest Airlines as an example. “They’ll hire more for attitude than just skills. Now, if you’re a pilot, you’re going to need to know how to fly a plane. But if you have a good work ethic and a great attitude, for most jobs they can train you the Southwest way.”

The National Soft Skills Association lists some of the most highly sought-after people skills, including speaking and listening well, excelling on a team and managing conflicts, adapting in changing environments, and working diligently with a sense of self-reliance. LinkedIn evaluated valuable soft skills by analyzing attributes listed by its members who changed jobs between June 2014 and June 2015. The four most in-demand traits were communication, organization, teamwork and punctuality.

Basic traits like good hygiene, regular attendance and punctuality are considered soft skills, but they aren’t the stuff of MBA programs. “We flunk them if they don’t show up,” said Jane P. Wayland, dean of business at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, laughing at the idea.

Still, colleges and business schools take soft skills seriously. “We’re stressing more development in communication skills, not just writing but in presentations,” Wayland said.

In UALR’s MBA program, a boot camp measures communication skills, leadership qualities and critical thinking and works to improve them. On the undergraduate level, UALR’s Career Catalyst program stresses soft skills as one of many job-hunting tools in its resume and interviewing workshops and networking events. It even offers tips on how to dress as a job applicant. “Students come in with different levels of ability. Not all are great or terrible at communication, but everybody does better with some practice,” Wayland said.

Kathleen McComber, who oversaw thousands of employees as assistant vice chancellor for human resources at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences until her retirement in June, teaches soft skills in a Webster University graduate course in career management.

“We help students focus on skills associated with behavioral or situational interviewing,” said McComber, now president of the Heart Group, a human resources consulting firm. “Today’s workplace is very complex, and having a job means dealing with people; customer service and the service industry are the big areas. Some prospects find these social situations difficult to navigate, and that’s why businesses are offering courses on teaming, customer service, telephone skills and those sorts of things.”

‘A Double-Edged Sword’
While older workers certainly aren’t known for perfect interpersonal skills — every experienced worker seems to have had colleagues who made sexist comments or threw tantrums with subordinates — younger employees bring a different interpersonal dynamic to work, Orellano and McComber said.

“Technology has become a double-edged sword,” Orellano says. “Millennials have technical abilities you wouldn’t believe, but many would rather text than talk.”

Direct discussion is important, he said, because text messages can lack nuance and lead to misinterpretation.

“Texting rather than talking, even among two people who are sitting right next to each other, I think has hurt teamwork. Talking fosters collaboration and a willingness to learn from one another.”

McComber noted another downside for those raised in the age of computers and mobile devices. “They’re great at short responses, but if they need to state a position, define a situation or describe something in detail, their ability to put that into writing can be lacking.”

Mike Harvey, interim president and CEO of the Northwest Arkansas Council, urges high school students to get into “project-based learning environments where they’re picking up some of the soft skills that all employers want: the ability to effectively communicate with others, problem-solving, working in teams, how to collaborate. All employers want that.”

The council is holding its Northwest Arkansas Workforce Summit on Nov. 7-8 in Springdale, bringing together business leaders, educators and more than 700 students, including sophomores and juniors from every school district in northwest Arkansas, at a Career Exploration Expo. Soft skills will be part of the agenda.

“You have to have good work habits and understand how to work,” Harvey recently told Arkansas Business. “I tell kids that’s the DNA of success. If you have good people skills, you can do just about anything.”

Orellano suggests that job applicants put their soft skills on display rather than putting them on a resume. “I’ll let you in on a secret: People have been known to lie on resumes.”

So it’s better to show, not tell, he says. “If you can’t smile in an interview or can’t make eye contact, or if you’re checking your phone in an interview, you’re not going to get the job. These cases sound extreme, but they happen. And you’re not going to be the applicant they want.”

In order to remain competitive with other retailers, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced early last year that it was going to start paying its workers at least $9 an hour and raise the minimum to $10 this year.

At the time of the announcement, a number of the Bentonville retailer’s competitors were already paying at least $9 per hour, and in some cases more. Turnover was becoming an issue for Wal-Mart as workers left for higher-paying jobs.

The increase in pay and improved training for workers, though, has paid off for the retailer, said spokesman Kory Lundberg. The stores are performing better on a number of metrics, including same-store sales and customer traffic.

“This is a journey, and there’s still a lot more work to be done,” he said. “But we feel like we’re on the right path.”

Wal-Mart certainly wasn’t alone in losing workers to companies that pay better.

All industries, from health care to manufacturing, have faced a shortage of workers, said Kathy Deck, director of the Center for Business & Economic Research at the Sam M. Walton School of Business at the University of Arkansas.

Deck said that increasing pay would be the first action she would suggest when companies can’t find the right workers to fill positions. “I’m going to say compensation matters a great deal,” she said. Workers start searching the job boards if they feel that they can’t get paid more at their current company, she said.

Kara Simmons, vice president of the staffing division at The Hughes Agency of North Little Rock, agreed that companies may need to raise their pay to attract qualified candidates. Simmons said currently there’s a demand for industrial workers, such as machine operators, welders and forklift operators. But some companies are willing to pay only $8.50-$9 per hour for those positions, she said — at or barely above the state minimum wage.

“And we have to give them that pep talk of, ‘OK, you get what you pay for,’” she said.

In addition, the labor market is tight in Arkansas. For September, the latest data available, the statewide unemployment rate was 4 percent, while it was 5 percent in the nation, according to the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

In northwest Arkansas, the unemployment rate is less than 3 percent. “There aren’t lines and lines of unemployed people waiting to take those jobs,” Deck said. “And so this should be the time economically when we see employers under pressure to raise wages.”

When the companies raise their employee wages, they “absolutely” find better workers and keep the workers they have, Simmons said.

TJX Cos. of Framingham, Massachusetts, which operates T.J. Maxx and Marshalls stores, raised its minimum wage to $9 an hour in 2015. And workers who have been with the company for at least six months began earning at least $10 an hour this year.

“We believe our wage initiative has been well received and is helping us attract and retain talented store associates,” TJX spokeswoman Erika Tower said in an email statement to Arkansas Business.

Still, Deck said that she has heard from employers in the region that are handcuffed on raising workers’ pay. Those companies are part of national chains, which won’t let the Arkansas managers raise pay for their workers.

“That exacerbates the problem with turnover,” she said. “And it makes it very difficult for them to attract folks who are going to stay for any length of time, particularly when you do find very large companies like Wal-Mart increasing pay.”

For the jobs that are available, the potential candidate isn’t going to take one that represents a pay cut from unemployment benefits, Simmons said. Or workers would prefer to stick it out at unsatisfactory jobs rather than take otherwise more fulfilling jobs that pay less. “Money has a strong influence,” Simmons said.

While money is an important element, it’s not the only way to attract and retain workers, said Ellen Davis, senior vice president of the National Retail Federation, a trade association. Retailers also are looking at ways to improve the training and education of employees.

Those efforts should show up on the bottom line. “They’ll either help you because it’s reducing turnover, or it will help you because it’s increased sales in your store because customers are having a better experience,” Davis said.

Wal-Mart’s Finding
With about 1.5 million workers in the United States, Wal-Mart is the country’s top private employer.

But in 2014, Wal-Mart was coming under attack by unions over its worker pay. Making matters worse, its same-store sales numbers in the United States were flat at best. Same-store sales are considered a key retail metric because they offer a comparison unaffected by new store openings.

Lundberg, the Wal-Mart spokesman, said coming up with a strategy to improve U.S. sales included quizzing some 23,000 employees about what they wanted from their employer. The top answers were higher pay, more consistency in scheduling and better training. Wal-Mart decided to spend $2.7 billion on its domestic workforce to target those areas.

In addition to the increase in pay, Wal-Mart made adjustments in scheduling and broadened training.

Wal-Mart has opened three training academies for department managers and will have 200 across the country by the middle of next year, Lundberg said.

The training academies are two-week programs that teach managers about retail and their departments. So far, 8,000 people have graduated.

The entry-level employee also receives more training. “They are being exposed to understand where they could go from an entry-level job to wherever they’d like to go at Wal-Mart,” Lundberg said. “That’s been something that’s been very successful as well, to help people see that there is a path for a career at Wal-Mart.”

In about 650 of Wal-Mart’s Neighborhood Markets, the company is testing a program giving the employees the same hours and days every week.

The initiatives have helped in Wal-Mart’s recent success, Lundberg said.

Walmart U.S. has had eight straight quarters of positive same-store sales. For the fiscal year that ended in January, same-store sales at Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores increased 1.2 percent over the previous year.

In September, Wal-Mart said 99 percent of stores received performance bonuses based on how well they performed. The company paid out more than $201 million in bonuses.

In September 2014, only 76 percent of the stores received performance bonuses, resulting in $128 million being paid out.

With the programs, Wal-Mart has created “the right type of work environment,” Lundberg said. “We think we really make a difference for both our associates and our customers.”

Unsurprisingly, the more education a worker has the likelier she is to have a job and the higher her earnings are, although a professional degree — physician, lawyer — means both a lower unemployment rate and higher earnings than a doctoral degree.

The educational categories detailed in the chart reflect only the highest level of education attained. They don’t consider completion of training programs such as apprenticeships and other on-the-job training, which may affect earnings and unemployment rates.

“Let all who read this know: The day on which Americans go to the polls to elect their president is hereafter to be a federal, state and local holiday, to be observed by private businesses and individuals as they see fit.”

That’s our suggested proclamation to make Election Day a holiday. To those who think we already have too many federal holidays, we tend to agree. That’s why we’re proposing eliminating Columbus Day and replacing it with Election Day.

Columbus “discovered” the New World (there’s disagreement about this), but he never made it to mainland North America. His arrival in the Americas was, indeed, momentous, triggering the Columbian Exchange, which saw crops like corn, potatoes and cacao (the source of chocolate) move from the New World to the Old, and rice, wheat and coffee move from Old World to New. All of which was pretty fabulous, particularly the chocolate and coffee.

Not fabulous was the transmittal of Old World diseases overseas, diseases like smallpox, measles and malaria, to the indigenous populations, who, lacking immunity to these plagues, were decimated. Many localities around the U.S. now celebrate “indigenous peoples” day instead. So there’s that.

Which brings us to Election Day, which comes only once every four years, an advantage in the eyes of those who grumble about all the federal holidays. Our American democracy was founded on the right to vote, a right that was gradually expanded to all law-abiding citizens age 18 and older. Changing Election Day to a Saturday would be ideal; in the meantime, a holiday dedicated to that right and that makes it easier to exercise that right makes sense. State and local governments would have to buy in, and we hope that private enterprise would see the value of such a holiday as well, but we’d leave that decision to employers.

Some months back, several standing banners appeared in the offices of Arkansas Business Publishing Group — quotes from JFK, Vince Lombardi and the like. At first I dismissed them as the kind of rah-rah stuff aimed at salespeople, not cynical journalist types like me, but some of them have started to grow on me.

One of them is an unattributed list of “10 Things That Require Zero Talent”: being on time, work ethic, effort, body language, energy, attitude, passion, being coachable, doing extra, being prepared.

Now, the cynic in me wants to point out that there are people — even people who have boasted of great success and developed large popular followings — who display few of those abilities. The kind of person who isn’t coachable because he’s already the greatest at everything, even things he’s never attempted. The kind of person who can’t control his body language even when it matters, who finds it impossible to prepare even for the biggest tests of his life.

For the rest of us mere mortals, these are known as “soft skills” — learned behaviors that are important in all business settings and which add tremendous value to harder skills and innate talent.

Most of us who have been in the workplace for a while have encountered the most frustrating kind of co-worker: the one whose hard skills are good, or good enough, but whose soft skills create tension. Years ago, I worked with a talented reporter whose attitude was so poor, so combative, so toxic that several of us literally cheered when our editor announced that he had been fired. The news product suffered slightly and temporarily while his replacement got up to speed, but the work environment improved tremendously and permanently.

In this issue, we’ve taken a look at the problem of the “skills gap,” the catch-all phrase being used to describe the problem employers are having in finding the right employees to fill the jobs that are available. While nothing we’ve written is remotely like “breaking news,” the experts our reporters consulted with may at least validate what the Arkansas Business audience is experiencing on the front line. And maybe there are some tips here that can help you find better candidates in the first place and then make them more productive sooner.

One of the articles, No Surprise: Higher Pay Helps Attract, Retain Employees, is the one that managers are most loath to accept: You get what you pay for. During the Great Recession, people only left jobs involuntarily. Few businesses were hiring, so you could count on keeping your best people without having to fight off poachers. Or, if you were hiring, you could count on having the field wide open. (I personally waded through 105 resumes for a single job opening on my reporting staff a few years back, a truly humbling exercise.)

But those days are over, thank goodness. Unemployment is low nationally and even lower in Arkansas. The Census Bureau’s report that median household income surged by a record 5.2 percent in 2015 has been heralded in ways that make me uncomfortable — most Americans did not get a raise that big — but it certainly is more evidence that the fundamentals of supply and demand are changing the job market.

Which reminds me of another one of the signs in our office, a quote from John F. Kennedy:

“Change is the law of life. Those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.”

My favorite of the signs is a long quote from Theodore Roosevelt, one I’ve read many times before but which has taken on new meaning in this ugly political season — and in an age when those of us who put our names on our work are regularly attacked online by those who have only the fierce courage of anonymity:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Gwen Moritz is editor of Arkansas Business. Email her at GMoritz@ABPG.com.

It seems to be a common complaint: Online employee recruitment efforts produce lots of resumes but few great prospects.

PC Magazine reported last month that the percentage of new hires coming from job boards and board aggregator sites has dropped to between 27 percent and 37 percent as the job market has tightened.

And, even more ominously, recruitment software maker Lever looked at 4 million “candidate considerations” during the 12 months that ended in July and found that only 1 in 100 candidates gets hired. The ratio is slightly lower at small companies and slightly higher at larger ones, but 52 percent of candidates who applied directly through a company’s website or online job posting were “underqualified,” Lever said.

Automated job-match programs — like Monster, Indeed, Glassdoor, Career Builder, Dice and the state-run Arkansas JobLink — are still useful, but experts say employers have to use them smartly to get the best results. And that starts with knowing what you want.

To avoid poor yields from the automated programs, employers should be specific and share the culture of their companies when posting jobs on online boards, experts told Arkansas Business.

“Company job descriptions should be more specific about telling who you are as a company and the types of people who will be successful,” said Cameron Smith of Cameron Smith & Associates in Rogers, an executive recruitment firm.

He also said employers should keep track of real metrics that gauge whether candidates are taking desirable actions so they know what content is resonating with job seekers. “It helps you to see what is working and what isn’t and how you can improve if something isn’t working.”

But there is point at which an ad can be too specific, Allison Ramsey warned. She said it could have the adverse effect of not attracting enough applicants.

“I wish I had the magic answer,” said Ramsey, who has been a local area manager for Staffmark of Cincinnati since 1993 and is communications director for the Arkansas Society for Human Resource Management State Council.

Accurate and complete job descriptions are also necessary to ensure that posting on boards is helping an employer, said Daryl Bassett, director of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services.

The department operates Arkansas JobLink, an online job bank that also receives postings daily from the national Labor Exchange, other states’ job banks and USAjob.gov. The service is free to employers and job seekers.

Bassett said some 290,000 local and national job openings have been posted with Arkansas JobLink so far this year, and the most common mistake he sees employers make is submitting incomplete descriptions with erroneous or missing salary information. “These errors could lead to missing matches with potentially good candidates,” he said. “Additionally, some employers fill job ads with a list of ideal requirements most applicants won’t meet, resulting in low match rates and fewer candidates.”

Bassett said employers should work with their local workforce center to improve job postings, while Ramsey suggested listing mandatory and desired skills separately.

But Ramsey also finds fault with flawed filtering systems and job seekers being indiscriminate.

Ramsey said job boards search for keywords in postings. Job seekers are notified of openings posted that have those keywords in them and simply click yes to submit a resume without reading or only skimming the description. For example, Ramsey said, “I’ll post a job for a plant manager, and I’ll get a guy who has worked at Taco Bell.”

The other side of that, she said, is that, with a low unemployment rate of 3.9 percent, the few who aren’t working may be jobless because they have few job skills. As a result, they apply for jobs for which they are unqualified.

Arkansas JobLink uses the keyword-based filtering Ramsey mentioned. Bassett said it searches resumes for keywords, and job seekers whose resumes have that keyword are automatically notified of the posting. But he said this saves both employers and job seekers time.

The job bank also uses the Transferable Occupational Relationship Quotient, a software system that identifies and matches skills to related occupations and industries to expand and target job search opportunities. The system puts postings from other job banks into Arkansas JobLink and Arkansas JobLink postings into other online job banks, too.

Despite their flaws, Ramsey said job boards reach more people than traditional methods, and a 2014 Collegefeed survey of 15,000 young job-seekers backs up that statement. The survey concluded that around 70 percent of millennials say they hear about companies through friends and job boards.

Job boards are also beneficial because they can help fill non-specialized positions quickly, Smith said.

Ramsey added that posting openings online is cheaper than print help-wanted ads. The cost to post might be about $1,200 of the $4,000-$6,000 companies spend on recruiting, she said.

According to the PC Magazine article, job boards still represent 60 to 80 percent of what small companies spend on recruiting. Ramsey said the rest of her estimate is the cost of time spent searching for the right person.

And time is money, Ramsey said, so companies should post a job as soon as a position is available and leave it up for at least 30 days.

Social Media Aids in Recruiting
Bassett, of the Arkansas Department of Workforce Services, finds that efforts “to reach and attract young job seekers must include a robust use of social media in today’s society.”

Putting the word out that way, however, means employees must be prepared to receive responses by private message on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And Smith said engaging social media posts must include visuals. “Some companies have real, authentic photos and videos on their corporate websites,” Smith said. “Don’t just say what makes your company a great place to work; show it.”

Comparing Job Posting Costs
Online sites vary widely in pricing, features offered

	Glassdoor offers employers the ability to post 10 jobs for seven days for free. Then they can get a customized quote by contacting the sales department. Options include purchasing a customized company profile on the site, a single job posting or job slots that can be reused and display advertising that targets the best candidates.
	Monster offers one 30-day job posting for $299 to $599. The most expensive option includes advertising on other sites, 20 free auto-matched resumes, targeting through social media and the ability to search and find people by location and to email up to 200 directly. There are also discounts for bulk puchases.
	Single job posting pricing on CareerBuilder begins at $419 for 30 days, with discounts for the advanced purchase of more than one posting. All postings purchased must be used within 12 months. The posting will also appear in searches within a 30-mile radius of the city and ZIP code the employer selects as the location of the job.
	Simply Hired has been acquired by Recruit Holdings Co. of Tokyo, which also owns Indeed. While employers can post jobs for free to both, a paid listing is more prominently displayed. Employers can choose their own budget and pay each time someone clicks on their post.
	LinkedIn sells a 30-day job posting for $199, a five-job pack at a 22 percent discount and a 10-job pack at a 37 percent savings. Employers can also sponsor a post for an additional price per click and budget that they choose. The minimum bid per click is $1. The minimum total budget is $50.
	Dice caters to technical and engineering professionals with a 30-day single posting for $395. Prices go as low as $250 for five-10 postings. Premium products, like 60-day postings, require employers to contact the sales department.
	Craigslist charges anywhere from $15-$75 for a 30-day posting, depending on the location selected. Listings are posted in reverse chronological order, so a job an employer posts might get buried in just a few days and not show up until the job seekers have seen several pages of newer postings.
	Facebook offers those who operate pages, like businesses, the ability to boost a post for a minimum daily budget of $1 for up 14 days. Facebook says that post will reach 67-180 people. A company’s reach goes up the more it chooses to pay. It can reach a targeted audience, people who like the company’s page or people who like its page and their friends.

Bank-owned real estate gave Today’s Bank of Huntsville a winning edge in the regulatory-mandated sale of Allied Bank of Mulberry (Crawford County).

Today’s bid 77.24 percent of the book value of Allied’s OREO, property recovered that secured bad loans.

That line item added $7 million to the kitty based on Allied’s June 30 call report. The nearly insolvent $66.3-million asset lender recorded OREO of $9.1 million at the time.

The OREO component — that’s “other real estate owned” — separated Today’s winning bid of a negative $6.14 million from the pack.

Lenders that submitted bids for Allied to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. included Chambers Bank of Danville, First Community Bank of Batesville, Grand Savings Bank of Grove, Oklahoma, and State Bank of Texas in Dallas.

Last week we told you that two other lenders expressed interest in Allied Bank: Centennial Bank of Conway and FNBC Bank of Ash Flat.

Seeking Recompense
Arkansas bank watchers will no doubt recall that Chambers Bank was the leading creditor of Allied’s bankrupt parent company: Acme Holding Co.

Chambers held two loans totaling more than $4.5 million and secured by Acme’s ownership of Allied Bank.

In connection with one of those loans, Chambers landed a $2 million summary judgment in Yell County Circuit Court on July 15 against Lex and Ellen Golden, who personally guaranteed the debt.

In its collection efforts, Chambers last month garnished an $886 paycheck, one of Lex Golden’s last paydays at Allied.

Golden held the title of special assets manager with the bank and was the long-time CEO before that. His family controlled Acme and Allied until the FDIC stepped in last month.

C Holdings LLC, an affiliate of Chambers Bank, also held a $1.4 million delinquent loan claim against Acme.

Hildene Asset Management, representing the holders of trust-preferred securities, held a claim of more than $3 million against the Acme.

James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, says one hike to a key interest rate is all that's needed right now.

Bullard's comments, delivered yesterday at the University of Arkansas, echo his previous statements on monetary policy.

Bullard's address focused on a single equation he said can "describe much of the state of the current monetary policy debate" and "how the St. Louis Fed’s new approach fits within this one-equation format."

"The bottom line," according to Bullard, is that "low interest rates are likely to continue to be the norm over the next two to three years."

Analysts widely expect the Fed to raise interest rates before the end of the year.

More: You read Bullard's complete speech, see his Powerpoint presentation and read the news release about his UA appearance right here.

Mark and Dianne Ross have given $1 million to The Baptist Preparatory School of Little Rock, officials said Tuesday.

The money will go toward the private school's capital campaign, which aims to pay for expansions and renovations at its upper and lower schools.

"Mark and Dianne Ross have a longstanding and special relationship to Baptist Prep," Laura Bednar, the head of school, said in a news release. "Their generous donation is the largest in our school’s 36-year history and will touch the lives of all our students."

The money will support $2.6 million in projects:

• A multi-use athletic practice and performing arts center at the Upper School.
• Facility renovations at the Upper School.
• An 8,000-SF artificial grass turf activity field at the Lower School.
• Playground renovations at the Lower School.
• Outdoor classroom and amphitheater at Lower School.
• Safety and security upgrades in the Lower School.

"We were blessed to have had the opportunity to send both of our children to Baptist Prep, where they received a great education in a Christ-centered environment, helping prepare them for their life’s journey," Mark Ross, a former COO and board member at Bank of the Ozarks Inc. of Little Rock, said in a news release. 

"Baptist Prep continues to do a wonderful job preparing young men and women to live lives that make a difference, lives of courage and integrity," Dianne Ross said.

The Christian, college-preparatory school said the new multi-use building will serve as an athletic training and practice facility for the basketball and volleyball programs. It will also host the band, choral performances and theatrical productions. 

LITTLE ROCK - An Arkansas lawmaker says he'll file legislation next year to cut income taxes by $105 million, a move he says would benefit nearly 600,000 taxpayers in the state.

Republican Sen. Bart Hester announced Wednesday he's working on legislation that would ensure wage earners making less than $21,000 a year in gross income would no longer have to pay state income taxes. He said his proposal will also cut taxes for those making between $35,000 and $50,000 a year and would give an additional 1 percent reduction in income taxes for first-year teachers and police officers.

Republican Gov. Asa Hutchinson has said he'll propose another income tax cut next year, but has not said how much it'll be. Lawmakers last year approved Hutchinson's $102 million income tax cut.

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

Two Financial Centre at 10825 Financial Centre Parkway in west Little Rock sold for $11.3 million to local investment group Two Financial Centre Holding Co., the Kelley family and the Flake family.

The four-story office building is 124,904 SF and has a 33,088-SF underground parking garage. The property purchased is 3.83 acres, and the sale closed on Tuesday. 

Two Financial Centre and its sister properties, One Financial Centre and Three Financial Centre, were built in the 1970s on pastureland by Financial Centre Corp. before other buildings like the Simmons Tower existed to dominate the city's skyline.

Flake & Kelley Commercial CEO Hank Kelley represented the buyers, and Jim Bendall of Two Financial Operating Associates represented the seller, Two Financial Operating Associates LP. 

"This is, we think, a strategic location for central Arkansas…," Kelley told Arkansas Business. "For us, it's just further investment in Little Rock and our belief that we can take the property and, over time, improve it, and make it a class A building based upon its location."

He added that the location is good for an office complex not only because of nearby restaurants, hotels and hospitals but also because traffic has been moving smoothly through the new Big Rock Interchange. 

Kelley also said the company's management team would work to increase the operational efficiency of the building, how it looks and modernize it but run it as a local owner receptive and responsive to tenants. 

Jim Cargill is a fourth-generation banker who began his career at his family’s bank in Lewisville. Cargill has been with Arvest for more than 30 years, where he is currently president & CEO of Arvest Bank-Central Arkansas.

Cargill attended the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, where he majored in finance and banking. He is a graduate of the American Bankers Association Graduate School of Commercial Lending and of the Professional Master of Banking Program at the Graduate School of Banking, Louisiana State University.

Arvest’s central Arkansas market holds $1.4 billion in deposits and includes 31 branches in five counties.

Arvest has traditionally been less concerned about “efficiency” than the other big banks in Arkansas. What’s different about Arvest’s model than, say, Bank of the Ozarks and Centennial Bank?

It’s important to remember that the efficiency ratio is driven by both revenue and expense. We work to align with our customers in both areas, and although it can be more expensive, it’s the right decision for us and our customers.

For example, Arvest operates under customer-focused hours because those times are designed around our customers’ patterns and needs. Additionally, our overdraft fees are half of those of our competitors and among the lowest in the nation. Both of those practices are expensive, but they are based on analysis of our customers.

Is Arvest looking to expand in central Arkansas, or do you see this as a mature market?

Arvest has been in an expansion mode since the Bank of Bentonville was acquired in 1961. We never cease to look for opportunities within our existing or adjacent markets to expand and serve more customers. When I began my career with Arvest, we were composed of four banks in northwest Arkansas. Today, we operate more than 260 bank branches across four states.

One of the greatest growth opportunities for Arvest as a bank group is within central Arkansas. Even though we are the leading mortgage lender in the state, we realize there are still opportunities for growth. In addition, we are seeing growth in our wealth management division and continue to work to build on our other banking services. It’s important, too, not to correlate “expansion” with the number of physical branches. Robust and expanded services within each branch, in addition to enhancing existing channels for mobile and online banking, expand the delivery of services to customers and cater to their banking preferences.

What’s your biggest concern about the Arkansas economy?

Many areas of our state are enjoying very strong economic growth, but there are always some that are affected by the cyclical nature of specific industries, such as timber, farming and oil, just to name a few. We’ve learned through the Arvest Consumer Sentiment Survey and the Arkansas Tech Business Index that, for the most part, Arkansans are encouraged by the state’s economy and their personal financial outlook.

You come from a family of bankers in Lewisville, Arkansas. What did you learn from the bankers in your family that has helped you in your career?

Growing up in a banking family, I learned the importance in our community for the banker to be available, involved and willing to provide advice and support for the purpose of making the community, and its citizens, successful. I still believe that community involvement and sincerity about taking care of people is the greatest lesson I learned. To that point, last year Arvest associates in central Arkansas volunteered more than 3,000 hours of service. Again, everything points back to your customer. In banking, and any business, it’s important to operate with the flexibility to do what’s right for your customer. That requires a lot of genuine listening.