Infographic: August National Employment Report
Both the Democratic and Republican National Conventions have ended and the candidates are confirmed. With the Nov. 6 election just months away, one issue continues to stand out among the rest: jobs. Americans are asking, Obama and Romney are debating and everyone wants to know about unemployment. Since the recession hit and as our economy works toward slowly but surely recovering, the biggest...
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Talentbin Adds US Patent Database Recruiting Tool
Talentbin, a talent search engine that sources candidates' activities across the social web, added another source to its list, and it's the first of its kind: the US Patent Database. The new tool allows recruiters and hiring managers to find talent across 5 million patent grants and applications filed since 2005–that covers more than 100,000 companies and over 1 million individual credited...
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Who Moved the Bucket?
Recently the list of rad new tools that everyone fawns over at the HR Technology Conference came out. And they look pretty interesting. But the thing that has me wondering are why are all these different tools coming out now? Is there something in the water? Has the economy boosted just enough so that somehow HR technology is cool again? Is it that a bunch of sophomore tools just got bought...
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TAG Releases HRM Solution to Streamline All Employer-Related Functions
TAG Employer Services, a leading administrative services organization (or ASO), has introduced its newest human resource management software for streamlining functions such as payroll, benefits administration, performance tracking, attendance, and HR compliance. The new web-based solution, WebPay, offers flexible reporting options and easy access to deep data. While offering a muscular web-based...
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Small Biz Hiring Index Rebounds in August after Sluggish July Performance
The CBIZ Small Business Employment Index (SBEI) rose by 1.15 percent in August, reversing the significant dip of 1.57 percent in July. The results come following the news that the private sector had reached a five-month high in jobs added in August. The SBEI uses data collected from a subset of over 3,000 employers not entirely accounted for by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. "Mirroring...
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Does Your Business Truly Reflect Your Employer Brand Image?
We have talked a lot about employer branding and becoming an employer of choice, and with good reason to, as a global research study conducted by the Employer Brand Institute showed that four key benefits of a well executed employer brand strategy are: Recognition as an employer of choice, ease in attracting candidates, decrease in staff turnover and recruitment costs. However, while I have...
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Why The Hiring Process Should Mimic Social Media Trends
As each day passes, social media and the hiring process become increasingly intertwined. According to a recent Jobvite social recruitment survey of more than 1,000 human resources and recruitment professionals, 92 percent of U.S. companies are using social networks and social media to find job candidates in 2012, up from 78 percent five years ago. Additional hiring data show 37 percent of...
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Getting Your Resume To The Right Person
So you've got a great resume, but once you hit the send button on that application, you really have no idea where it has gone, or if it will find its way to the right department. Most job seekers figure that the resume goes right to the hiring manager, but this isn't always the case. For most large corporations, applying online means that the questions you have answered, as well as your...
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Labor Day Ambivalence: Our Mixed Feelings About What We Honor
I can't help thinking that there's something quite weird about Labor Day. What's the one thing most of us look forward to doing this September 3rd? Not laboring. Celebrating "Labor Day" by escaping work is as peculiar as naming a Mississippi village "Alligator" (population: 220), after a reptile most people find disgusting and will flee on sight—even maybe one in a Labor Day...
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Workforce Strategy a Low Priority for Most Employers
While skilled talent remains difficult to find and flexible workforce models combined with long-term HR planning are necessary to compete in the modern business age, very few companies have a functioning workforce strategy in place, says a new study by ManpowerGroup. The report found that 78 percent of employers struggle to implement their workforce strategy or lack one all-together. Furthermore,...
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HR Technology Spending Forecasted to Rise
According to new research from HR consulting and risk management firm Towers Watson, a significant proportion of companies intend to increase their spending on HR technology over the next year in order to boost growth and improve efficiency. While the percentage of companies anticipating a spending increase hit 33 percent, the survey also found that over half of companies are planning to match...
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Employees Prefer Flexibility over Salary Increases
Flexible staffing firm Mom Corps has released the findings of its Labor Day study looking at the work/life preferences of working adults. The results of the new survey showed that: • 45 percent of working adults would give up some percentage of their salary in exchange for a more flexible work schedule. The average salary proportion respondents were willing to sacrifice for more scheduling...
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How Small Businesses Balance Salary and Compensation [infographic]
The popular saying "less is more" takes on a whole different meaning when it comes to the business world. Small business owners face the challenges of calculating salaries and benefits for, most often, a small staff that handles the entire workload. Less employees are doing more work, yet small businesses cannot always afford to match its employees' more when it comes to compensation. Is...
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Recommendations on Talent Assesments from the Treer Group
Management consulting and coaching firm The Treer Group is recommending companies use a combination of specialized talent assessments and personality profiles to optimize hiring, promotions, and job assignments. "Most organizations use metric-based systems when reviewing employees, managing financials and doing business planning, but few do so when hiring new staff or considering promotions...
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DataServ Launches Automated Travel Expense Reporting Solution
DataServ, a provider of document and process automation SaaS solutions is now offering a solution especially for travel and expense (TE) reporting. Easily working with existing travel partners, the new solution helps clients more simply manage expense reports. The TE solution is an enhancement to DataServ's existing P2P solution and offers a number of new benefits including: • Replacing...
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Lack of Experience Leaves Half of 2012 College Grads Jobless, Underemployed
They studied for years. They met the requirements. Proudly, they walked across the stage to receive their coveted degrees. Yet, millions of recent college graduates are receiving a not so pleasant return on their educational investments: unemployment. According to a study by the Associated Press, more than half, or 53 percent, of the nation's recent college graduates are unemployed or...
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Your Company's Most Engaged Employees: Telecommuters?
The common assumption by many traditional managers is that off-site employees don't care as much about their jobs as those workers who come into the office every day ready to work. But new research into the issue is finding the opposite to be true. In fact, according to the Harvard Business Review (HBR), telecommuters are actually more committed to their work than conventional office workers....
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There's No Perfect Time, So Just Dive In
Having invested a considerable amount of time, money, and energy into three startups, I'm often questioned about how to best prepare for starting a company. When can you be sure that your idea is worth the risk or that you're personally ready to man your own ship? What should you do to lay a foundation for a successful business? In short, there's no simple answer to such questions. ...
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Report: Creating the Business Case for Recruitment Process Outsourcing
RPO (which stands for recruitment process outsourcing) is a hot topic. But when is the right time to implement RPO for your company? What are the benefits of going with an RPO provider? What are the considerations for picking a recruitment partner? While current economic uncertainty can stifle progressive strategic initiatives, this climate is an ideal time to approach your organization's...
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Ability Discrimination and the 'Über-Qualified': Not Just a Matter of 'Over-Qualification'
Being "over-qualified" is the familiar reason or excuse given by those doing the hiring for why superior ability loses out in job competition. But are there other ways in which ability becomes a liability? Yes, for example, when that ability is an "über-qualification". Here "über-qualification" is defined as a job-irrelevant standout skill, experience, motivation or...
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Recruiters Need Social Media Skills to Land Recruiting Jobs
WANTED Analytics has reported that, throughout the last three months, over 2,700 job postings for recruiters required candidates to have social media skills and experience. With the growing presence of social media in more business processes, companies are looking to hire more social media savvy recruiters; 40 percent more year-over-year and 191 percent over 2010, according to the report....
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HR Decision Makers not Involved in Business Strategy
HR outsourcing firm PlusHR has reported that 75 percent of HR professionals are not consulted on business strategy. The data come from a new survey conducted across 125 HR and business professionals representing companies ranging in size from 10 employees to 1000+. The survey also found that 57 percent of respondents feel that HR is chiefly used for communicating corporate objectives rather...
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Overtime Rules Regularly Violated by Employers
Kronos Incorporated's The Workforce Institute has released a new survey revealing that most hourly workers from around the world believe that their employer has violated overtime rules or laws relevant to their region. The Kronos Global Overtime Survey uncovered the following new facts about the opinions of hourly workers regarding overtime abuse: • With a range running between 72 percent...
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Why STEM Jobs Matter
Did you know that only about 6 percent of US grads leave college with a STEM based degree? When you take a look at Germany (28%), South Korea (37%) and China at a whopping 47% percent, you might start to get worried, especially with experts and workforce analysts predicting an even greater fissure between grads and jobs in the future. STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics)...
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IBM Acquires Leading Recruitment Provider Kenexa
Recruiting and talent management solutions provider Kenexa Corporation has announced a definitive agreement with IBM to be acquired by the computing giant for $46 per share or approximately $1.3 billion. The transaction has been unanimously approved by the Kenexa board of directors who are recommending Kenexa shareholders to also approve the transaction. Kenexa uses a combination of technology,...
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Credentialing Process to be Streamlined with TargetRecruit's New ATS
Provider of a CRM-based applicant tracking system (ATS), TargetRecruit has announced a new solution to simplify the credentialing process for healthcare staffing. The Single-Step Credentials management module, developed specifically for healthcare recruiting organizations, is a web-based solution that is fully integrated with document-automation solution Drawloop and eSignature management...
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8 Ways to Optimize Your Company Careers Site
Research tells us that employee referrals (underpinned somewhat by social networks) followed by job boards are the two most popular sources of hire by some distance, according to the CareerXRoads Survey – and, quite rightly, I have devoted a lot of my editorial time to talking about how recruiters can make best use of these two channels. But, they are not the only two ways to hire, and in...
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U.S. Workers to Receive only Moderate Pay Raises in 2013
A new Towers Watson survey is predicting moderate pay raises for American workers in 2013 as employers are looking to closely manage costs in a wavering economy. Annual bonuses are also not expected to be fully funded this year. The average projected pay raise in 2013 is 2.9 percent for salaried non-management employees, up only marginally from 2011's average of 2.7 percent. "Most U.S....
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Mixed Survey Results Raise Concerns about Retention Efforts
A new Randstad study has clearly demonstrated the muddled world of employee engagement and how it may befuddle retention efforts. The research from the HR consulting firm showed that 75 percent of employees feel inspired to do their best while 66 percent feel they are valued and their efforts recognized by their employers. But a different picture is painted when questioned about future career...
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'Equal Rights' and 'Equal Opportunity Employer': A 'South Park' Philosopher's Very Different Take
"We've all learned something important today," is the signature closing catchphrase uttered by the likes of gentle, potty-mouthed "South Park" 8-year-old cartoon character "Stan Marsh"; his buddy, "Kyle Broflovski" and other characters, who give Comedy Central's South Park episodes a mock air of gravitas in end-of-episode summations. Well, I learned something from South...
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ERMAGHERD! MILLERNIALS!
Oh millennials, you crazy scamps you. Now you have the entire corporate world bowing to your demands. When will you alleviate the stranglehold you have on the Fortune 500? A recent Wall Street Journal article highlighted this (or something kinda like it) by reporting on the various "demands" that millennials are foisting on the corporate world. With a subhead that cries: "Older employees cry...
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Getting in the Interview Mindset
One of the most intimidating steps of searching for a new job is the interview process. You are being evaluated by another person, asked pointed questions, and scrutinized on several levels to determine if you are the right type of person to fulfill the available role. It is critical that you have the right mindset when entering your interview so that you are not overwhelmed, but also so that you...
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How To Select Remote Employees (Part 2)
This is the second part of the article posted recently which talked about how to select remote employees. The first article acknowledged the rise of telecommuting, e.g. Forrester Research has predicted that by 2016, over half the work force may be telecommuting. It argued that it should not be taken for granted that employees who can work effectively in a co-located environment will be as...
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Census Bureau Reveals State of State Employment
State and local governments employed approximately 16.4 million full-time workers in March 2011, according to recent estimates released by the U.S. Census Bureau. This number is down 1.4 percent from the same time in 2010. The report found that 8.9 million of these workers were employed in education, 964,381 worked in hospitals, 923,951 worked in police protection, and 717,940 were occupied in...
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HR Service Delivery will be Changing Rapidly
The 15th Annual HR Service Delivery Survey, performed and released by Towers Watson, has revealed that an increasing number of employers are planning to change the structure of their HR functions due to continuing pressures for improved HR services delivery. The survey also found that shared services are the most valued process for delivering HR services. Investment in HR technology is also...
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FakeBook Effects on Recruiting
Hey guys, remember when all those fake profiles on Facebook and Twitter were revealed and the marketing and advertising world went a little nuts? Here are the facts: Paris-based analytics company Semiocast announced that Twitter now has 500 million users. However, its counting revealed that just 27% of account holders actually do anything on Twitter. That means, the "real" number is around 170...
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Open Beta Announced for HD Real-Time Video Collaboration Service
TenHands, Inc., provider of free video collaboration software for business, has announced the open beta release of its up-and-coming desktop video service. The offering is a first for real-time, high-definition video delivered via a cloud-based solution. The solution, utilizing the Amazon Elastic Computer Cloud, HTML5, and WebRTC, is now available for free for everyone after its initial closed...
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New Technology Alternative for Employers who Purchase Healthcare
Integrated health plan provider WellNet has announced WellNet 4.0, the newest release of its platform for creating transparency in healthcare costs and savings. The updated WellNet is geared towards small and medium-sized businesses that need a way to identify programs to lower healthcare costs. The technology allows employers to continuously monitor member behavior in order to engage and...
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Engagement Index Shows Employees are Ready to Leave
Leading HR services and staffing company Randstad has revealed that a large portion of U.S. employers feel that the sluggish economy has stymied their ability to move forward in their careers. The newly released Randstad Engagement Index found that 43 percent of workers think their career paths have slowed since the recession and that they will require significantly more time to meet their career...
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Job Interviews – Don't Ruin your Chances of Success!
So, you've been searching for the perfect job for a while and you've finally found the one that you really want. You apply and get an interview and you feel that everything's going as well as it can and that things are finally looking up. However, you'd be surprised at the number of people who get to this stage and then do or say something before, during or after their interview that...
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7 Ways To Keep High-Potential Gen Y'ers At Your Company
The average American worker today stays at his or her job a mere 4.4 years, according to a recent Forbes article, while Gen Y'ers (those born between 1977 and 1997) are leaving in a fraction of that time—91 percent expect to stay in a job fewer than three years. As new data reveals that a lack of longevity with one company has no effect on length of stay at the next, the old stereotype of...
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The Mid-Mid Life Crisis
Like others my age, I worry about getting a job. This phenomenon of young adults going through their own mid-mid life crisis has been noticed and exploited for comedic value (see HBO's Girls, anything that makes fun of hipsters, etc.). I think lots of people think the lives of Gen-Yers consist of wandering around Brooklyn, drinking local beer and wearing flannel. They're starving artists with...
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Benz Communications Says Employers not Communicating with Employees about Benefits
While most companies rate maintaining communication with employers as one of their highest priorities, the 2012 Inside Benefits Communication survey from Benz Communications has shown that most of them are talking much more about communicating rather than actually communicating. Highlights of the survey include: • 78 percent of employers said that keeping employees engaged was a top priority...
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Poor Benefits Choices Lead to Significant Annual Waste
New research out of Aflac has revealed that 56 percent of employees waste up to an annual $750 on poor insurance benefits election. Nearly 25 percent of respondents said they either chose the wrong level of coverage or chose options they didn't need while just 16 percent of employees said they were confident in their selections. The Aflac study, entitled the 2012 Open Enrollment Survey of the...
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Job Postings for E-commerce Pros Up 31% Over Last 12 Months
WANTED Analytics has shared the results of a recent survey showing that over 25,000 job ads were posted by recruiters seeking candidates with e-commerce skills and experience, during July 2012. This number is up over 30 percent year-over-year and up 50 percent from July 2010. This increased demand for talent seems to be driven by the need for the expansion of corporate websites to include online...
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How to Source Talent on Twitter
"Why Should I Source on Twitter?" Well, you might not realize that: Twitter now has over 250 Million Users, it's growing by 500,000 new users every day, and that its users send more than 350 million tweets each day! Twitter is a platform where users publish Tweets, 140 character-long messages, to broadcast to a network of followers about what they are currently doing and interested in. The...
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How To Go For The Gold With A Team-Based Hiring Approach
With the medals handed out and the games concluded, we can take a look back at the months and years leading to the Olympic games. Top athletes selected to represent each country's Olympic team were picked from the best, after many try-outs and judging competitions. Based on the toughest criteria, these decisions were a result of input from many people involved in the process to make sure that...
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'You Think Too Much': When the Mind Messes with the Job
People are always telling me, "You think too much." But no employer has ever said that to me. I get paid to think—and as much as I think is necessary. I've always been paid to think and to think very, very hard (as a feature writer, critical thinking lecturer, calculus and abstract algebra instructor, advertising "idea" man and copywriter, columnist, philosophy lecturer, satiric...
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