Recruitment Rap

Greener jobs on the way…Investments and their Impact

Luigi Lupo — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:46:08 -0400

Awhile back I wrote a blog about the "green collar jobs" and it looks like green sector is here to stay. The new administration is committed to reducing carbon emissions in an effort to fight global climate change. These new investments have the potential to provide economic benefits that go way beyond the primary one of emissions reduction.

This would also create new jobs...the potential is there to not only add jobs to the economy, but also "new and improved" jobs to the labor market. A 2005 study of clean energy and energy efficiency employment identified 8,400 individuals employed in clean energy jobs. This baseline was used to establish the goal of 25,000 green jobs by 2020.

We lost 5.1 million jobs over the past 15 months. In the longer run, even if the economy approaches full employment, green investments carry the potential to change the type of jobs in the U.S. economy. The new administration commits $100 billion annually in new public investments over the next decade. That is approximately $160 billion in additional output annually for the next two years, which translates into approximately 1.1 million net new jobs created.

This will also bring an increase in the relative wages of those 70% of U.S. workers without a four-year college degree by almost 0.5% each year that the increased commitment to green investments persists. While modest, this amount does represent a wage increase for high school a graduate that is roughly 40% as large as the entire increase this group has seen since 1979.

The findings of the existing green economy employment studies vary greatly depending on the definitions, methods, and assumptions used by researchers.

The green sector is based on the development and use of products and services that promote environmental protection and energy security. It is composed of industries and businesses engaged in:

Energy Efficiency accounts for over half of all green jobs. Construction-related industries and occupations account for 70 percent of employment in the energy efficiency area, followed by professional and technical services such as architecture and engineering.

Preventing or Reducing Pollution was the second largest green core area, accounting for one-third of all green jobs. Agriculture-related industries and occupations represent over half of all employment in this green area, followed by construction, and waste management and remediation services.

Mitigation and Cleanup of Pollution was the third largest green core area, accounting for 9.5 percent of all green jobs. Professional and technical services, and waste management and remediation services, represent over two-thirds of employment in this green area.

Renewable Energy provided just over four percent of all green jobs. Construction-related industries and occupations, and professional and technical services, account for nearly half of all employment in this core area, followed by agriculture-related sectors, and electrical equipment manufacturing.

In the economic downturn green jobs are proving resilient, so the faster that government can create jobs, the better.

What’s the real Labor Market look like?

Luigi Lupo — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:36:26 -0400

The federal government uses what is known as the Current Population Survey, a monthly survey of 60,000 households across the nation, to determine who is in the labor force and whether they are employed or unemployed. To be considered in the labor force, someone has to be employed, or available for work and has to have actively looked for work in the preceding four-week period. Those who may want to work, but are so discouraged about their chances of finding a suitable job that they haven't actively sought one in the preceding four weeks, are not counted among the labor force. Consequently, they are not considered to be unemployed.

Labor Market = Candidate Market + Job Market

Only the jobless workers who are in the Candidate Market actively seeking work are considered. What about the workers that have dropped out of the labor force or never entered the labor force because they felt they would not be able to secure meaningful work or need to cover daycare costs?

To illustrate - from January 2001 to January 2009, the labor force participation rate dropped from 67.2% to 65.5%. If the labor force participation rate had not declined over this period, today there would be an additional four million workers in the labor force. And if those missing workers were counted as unemployed instead of as not being in the labor force, the unemployment rate today would be over 10%...

A better measure is the underemployment rate - (sometimes referred to as the U-6 measure of labor underutilization) which is a more comprehensive measure of labor market slack than the unemployment rate.

The primary difference between the unemployment and underemployment rates is that the underemployment rate includes people who have had their hours cut or working part time who really want full-time jobs. According to the DOL the number of involuntary part-time workers increased by 423,000 in March and by 4.4 million since the start of the recession.

The underemployment rate increased sharply from 14.8% in February to 15.6% in March. Now an estimated 24.4 million people-one in every six workers in this country-is either unemployed or underemployed.

Talking about my generation

Luigi Lupo — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 13:59:57 -0400

We are experiencing job loss at a rate not seen in 34 years and an unemployment rate not seen in over 16 years. To add to the challenges and for the first time, there are four generations in the US labor market all bringing different values and experiences to the mix.

There is a lot of research that outlines the difficulties of managing a multi-generational workforce. Although there are differences from country to country, we can generally identify four generational groups that are currently active professionally: Traditional workers (born before 1946), Baby boomers (1946-1960), Generation X (1961-1979), and Generation Y (starting from 1980).

Each generation brings different values, attitudes, expectations, motivations and behaviors to the mix. If it is hard to get people from various generations to reach any agreement, it will be even harder to do so within a company, corporate function or department. Managing a multi-generational workforce is a challenge that many organizations and managers are facing today.

The differences between generations can be apparent and lead to internal discord. Are we prepared? The success of multi-generational workplaces depends on how well management and employees understand these generational differences. The goal should be to increase awareness - this can be accomplished through communication, training and employee education.

The management style of leaders will need to reflect the respect and harmony needed by all four generations to be as collaborative, productive and competitive as possible. We will need to have a multi-generational perspective when it comes to the US workforce and with that comes opportunities to strengthen our functions, departments and teams.

Generational differences can impact the overall goals, product and productivity of any team. These differences can affect a company culture to its foundation. These generational differences will also affect how we recruit and are recruited. How we will build teams and how employees deal with change. How managers lead and how team members react to that leadership.

I�??ve been able to find quite a bit of research, books, articles, blogs and discussions focusing around the differences between the generations, but little on how to integrate the different generations into one harmonious team.

Job Evolution

Luigi Lupo — Sun, 30 Nov 2008 18:45:11 -0400

The evolution of jobs and positions within companies is directly impacted by the economic changes over time. The impact is felt across all industries at a global level. This evolution has affected organizational positions from non-exempt to the executive level. In essence it has affected the labor market in its entirety. Given the current economic climate, companies are struggling with reorganizations, cost containment, headcount, and other efforts to stay in business

We are in the midst of a unique transitional economic time and will be facing what is known as a �??Jobless Economic Recovery.�?? We have suffered from the elimination of over 10.1 million jobs since late 2007. The effects of these eliminations are felt by the employee and those seeking employment in many different ways.

Fundamental shifts in operations are based on a combination of cyclical and structural organizational changes. Cyclical or temporary planned layoffs were a common business practice in many different industries of the industrial age. This practice is correlated to a company�??s production cycle. These types of cyclical changes are always a percentage of recessional economic recoveries.

Temporary operational models are being utilized through cycles of higher productivity. The practice of outsourcing small units of work as opposed to developing permanent staff is not uncommon within this model. This business practice once seen primarily in the manufacturing and production industries can now be adapted to many different industries. It is a simple way to manage costs relating to the recruitment of regular full time staff. Temporary staff typically allows organizations to support a surge in a company�??s headcount demand relative to production. This practice allows companies to better manage recruiting costs as well as permanent expenses and headcount.

On the other hand, structural organizational changes permanently affect the relationship between the employer and employee. These structural changes are due to two primary factors: process/resources efficiencies and automation. More recent economic conditions have forced companies to review their current resource allocation and headcount than ever before.

Throughout most industries companies have restructured their respective business processes to become more and more efficient. Same or similar work output with less resources. Changes to the operational process allow companies to also focus on resource allocation and job responsibilities. In many industries we are seeing that it simply takes less headcount combined with automation to achieve the same work output. Companies are evolving from the industrial age to the information age of industry. This automation reveals itself in many forms and affects all processes and levels throughout an organization. Automation has always been a strong factor of the evolution of jobs. The production and manufacturing industries are perfect early examples.

Job Evolution is the combination of traditional and new challenges faced by organizations to become more efficient. Jobs have evolved along with these fundamental changes and the introduction of the hybrid job has appeared as a result.

A hybrid position is one that has responsibilities formerly seen in two or more positions within an organization. In general, this combination of both structural and cyclical restructuring have created the opportunity for new hybrid positions and have allowed organizations to become even more efficient with less headcount.

Elements of the latest trends of job evolution will affect the job market in different ways. One way is that employers are taking longer to restructure and effectively combine positions. Through a process of trial and error companies have begun to realize the benefit of combining selective job descriptions at all levels. This creates a more efficient use of human capital allocation and a lower employee headcount. The combination of job descriptions to meet industry and market changes is the core result of this evolution. The effect is permanently changing the employers search criteria when identifying new talent both internally and externally.

Finally, another driving force in the evolution worth mentioning is �??Job Outsourcing.�?? This business practice again originally started within the manufacturing and production industries. The difference now is that it affects many more industries and is becoming more and more common within support functions.

Job Evolution has permanently affected both the employee and job seeker. This change is the biggest difference between past recoveries and present day. If you remember, the �??dot boom�?? left many highly skilled talent pools within industry sectors that only possess half of the responsibilities and industry related experience required for the new hybrid positions organizations seek to add to their staff.

In addition, this evolution has brought with it new technologies which even further automates the older labor-intensive way of doing business. These new efficiencies, automated tools and hybrid positions have re-organized the core structure of companies and how they support their operations.

We can expect the labor force to be affected in both the short term and the long term. In the short term employees that have been retained will begin to experience even more job security and stability with more choices to move within their existing organization.

Companies are beginning to formalize retention policies as well as aggressive recruiting strategies. This will eventually lead to the demand for similar talent and additional headcount.

In the long term, the new job requirements should allow employers to source from various industry backgrounds and experiences. This will open up new talent pools as well as job opportunities for both employers and employees.

The positive impact to the labor market is that it creates career diversity and growth potential. As new organizational processes are developed and put into practice, new hybrid support positions should also begin to become available to the job seeker. Companies will soon get to a point of needing to increase headcount to be able to support the market productivity and growth goals.

This will pave the way for the long term to experience an abundant job market and new employment opportunities. Job seekers will be able to be considered for various new opportunities within their respective industries as well as apply for opportunities within different industries and market sectors where they were considered unqualified in the past. This will soon create an exciting job market open to career crosspollination.

Don’t let the numbers deceive you…

Luigi Lupo — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 15:25:58 -0400

The media is painting a scary picture otherwise known as the labor market. Last month�??s unemployment numbers are another brushstroke. Over the past 18 months, 3.3 million workers have become jobless. There are currently 10.1 million unemployed workers in this country since late 07.

The unemployment rate is at 6.5% and the under employment rate, which measures the number of people only working part-time, but looking for fulltime work, is at an all time high of over 11.1%,

The majority of downsizing in the first three quarters of 2008 occurred in the construction, real estate, and mortgage finance industries, while healthcare, IT, energy and green sectors grew.

But don�??t let the numbers deceive you�?� remember that the labor market is continuing to experience talent shortages at the top of the pyramid. The 10-million baby-boomer�??s retiring over the next eight years is hiding behind the current unemployment rate. Organizations are continuing to struggle and loose experienced talent at all levels.

Despite the unemployment rates the numbers continue to reflect we are in the midst of a talent shortage. Recruitment functions of any kind are continuously facing challenges of creatively exploring and identify the correct mix of right sizing, building, outsourcing and/or some combination to continue to be competitive and effective.

Remember that the talent shortage is a long term challenge compared to the current economy. Companies that do not have initiatives to identify and retain top talent are probably not focusing on the overall picture and will continue to struggle with talent shortages in both the short and long term of this economy.

So who hiring?

Luigi Lupo — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 15:29:51 -0400

As you may already know, the unemployment rate jumped to 6.1% last month. Making it the highest unemployment rate since September 2003 and we continued to shed 84,000 more jobs.

Looking back, payrolls are down by 605,000 since November 2007. We have experienced the eighth month in row of consecutive declines. Since March of 2007, over 2 million people have become jobless.

In addition, the unemployment rate increased among new college grads. Their jobless rate rose from 2.4% to 2.7% last month. It�??s the highest college unemployment rate since August 2004.

I also pay close attention to the underemployment rate, which is now 10.7%. Underemployment includes part-timers who would prefer full-time jobs. There are 5.7 million workers in this category.

Overall, despite the negative trending numbers and the struggling economy, there are pockets of industries reflecting a strong need for talent and continue to show signs of growth. So who�??s hiring?

According to the DOL, the healthcare industry tops the list by adding over 254,000 jobs so far this year. At a close second is the education industry which added over 126,400 jobs during the first eight months of the year. Among the currently growing industries are the hospitality industry adding over 57,000 jobs, the mining/oil industry added 48,600 jobs and the federal government which added 46,000 jobs so far this year.

The History of Labor Day

Luigi Lupo — Sun, 31 Aug 2008 22:52:31 -0400

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, not only does it mark the end of the summer and the back-to-school blues, it�??s a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. We celebrate a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

The first Labor Day holiday was celebrated on Tuesday, September 5, 1882, in New York City in accordance with the plans of the Central Labor Union. The Central Labor Union held its second Labor Day holiday just a year later, on September 5, 1883.

In 1884 the first Monday in September was selected as the holiday and the Central Labor Union urged similar organizations in other cities to follow the example of New York and celebrate a "workingmen's holiday" on that date. The idea spread with the growth of labor organizations, and in 1885 Labor Day was celebrated in many industrial centers of the country. Then, in 1894, Congress passed an act making the first Monday in September of each year a legal holiday.

Some records show that Peter J. McGuire, general secretary of the Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners and a cofounder of the American Federation of Labor, was first in suggesting a day to honor the American worker. Other records show that Matthew Maguire, a machinist, not Peter McGuire, founded the holiday.

More recent research seems to support the contention that Matthew Maguire, later the secretary of Local 344 of the International Association of Machinists in Paterson, N.J., proposed the holiday in 1882 while serving as secretary of the Central Labor Union in New York.

For more than 100 years the Labor Day celebration remains a tribute to much of the nation's strengths, freedoms, and leadership �?? the American worker.

Happy Labor Day!!

Boolean

Luigi Lupo — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 22:16:45 -0400

Search engines are an important resource when looking for resumes, whether you�??re searching on general search engines like Yahoo or Google or on resume specific job boards like HotJobs or Monster. To really make your search effective you need to remember Boolean Language. Boolean tools will help you create more effective and focused searches, producing resumes that more closely meet your requirements and also reducing the number of resumes you need to search through that miss the mark.

What is Boolean Logic?

Boolean logic is named after George Boole (1815-1864), an obscure nineteenth century English mathematician. Boole invented a new form of algebra in which values are either true or false. His binary logic is the foundation of digital circuit design and a part of the language of internet search engines. Don�??t worry - you don�??t have to remember high school algebra to make Boolean logic work.

The Boolean Operators

Boolean Operator # 1: AND

This term links two or more terms together in a search string. (Def. search string: A series of words linked and/or modified by Boolean logic used to create a search command for a search engine.) - will only return pages in your search that have both terms.

Example: pharmaceutical AND chemist

Boolean Operator # 2: OR

Returns all pages in your search string that include either term.

Example: pharmaceutical OR biotechnology

Boolean Operator # 3: NOT (sometimes AND NOT)

Returns pages in your search string that have the term that precedes it but not the term that follows it.

Example: chemist NOT biologist or chemist AND NOT biologist

Boolean Operator # 4: NEAR

Returns pages in your search string with both terms within close proximity to each other on the page. Usually within ten words or less.

Example: research NEAR chemist

An important tip to remember is that Boolean operators must always be CAPITALIZED. Search engines read lower case letters as both upper and lower case, but the reverse is not true.

Example: pharmaceutical AND research or development (Error. Boolean operator �??OR�?? is typed in lower case. Because it is lower case the search engine reads the word �??OR�?? not as a Boolean operator, but as a search term like pharmaceutical, research and development. This will produce incorrect search results and will also increase the amount of the time it takes for the search engine to complete the search.)

The Boolean Modifiers

Boolean Modifier # 1: �?? �??quotation marks

Returns pages in your search string with an exact phrase.

Example: �??sr. research chemist�??

Boolean Modifier # 2: ( ) parentheses

Helps define a subset of a search, making it more accurate. Example: chemist AND ( new jersey OR nj)

Boolean Modifier # 3: * wild card symbol

Wildcard symbols retrieve pages with keywords with the same root word.

Example: chem* (would retrieve pages with the words chemical, chemist, chemistry etc.)

Although Boolean logic is a very effective tool to assist you with your searches. There are other factors you must keep in mind. The search terms you use are just as important as the Boolean logic. If a search is proving unproductive - maybe there are synonyms to some of the search terms? Are there different job titles for the position? Play with different combinations of search terms and see what results you get. It is not uncommon to have to run four to six different search term combinations to find the right resumes.

From my experience over the years I would say only about 50% - 60% of recruiters are aware of Boolean Logic and use it when conducting searches. Boolean Logic can increase your edge in terms of speed and efficiency of sourcing resumes online. Use it and your already putting yourself ahead of half your recruiting competition.

Are you Underemployed?

Luigi Lupo — Fri, 23 May 2008 10:08:58 -0400

The unemployment rate dipped slightly from 5.1 in March to 5.0 in April and we experienced more job cuts as well as core working hours are being cut more and more.

Some positive gains were tracked in healthcare services last month, reflecting 37,000 new jobs as well as professional services (office jobs), which was up 39,000.

The interesting thing is that the underemployment rate has jumped dramatically to 5.2 million workers who are currently involuntarily employed on a part time basis or their hours have been reduced ? but they are all looking for full time work. Involuntary part-time work is the highest it has been since November 2005 and has jumped from 4.4 million a year ago.

It?s also taking more time to find a new job. The typical unemployment spell increased by over a week from March (at 8.1 weeks) to April (at 9.2 weeks). This is typical in recessions, as jobless workers are unable to find work.

The real question from April?s numbers is whether the less-than-expected losses are indicating a new positive trend or was April just a blip on the radar and we are still continuing from the negative trend? All in all it still doesn?t look good for employment conditions nationwide.

As companies lay off workers, their recruitment functions tend to slow down. In this market it is safe to assume that the most talented employee is still employed. It is also safe to assume that this top talent is open to explore new opportunities. This is the time for recruitment to become even more active and develop relationships. Research shows that more and more of the employed individuals are stretched and are open to exploring new opportunities.

How are you taping into this talent? In a down market it provides us the opportunity to move from a transactional recruiting model which only sees a snapshot of who is available at any given time to a more proactive recruitment model. This is an opportunity for companies to combine all of their recruitment efforts and resources to proactively build and reinforce their talent database. A proactive approach in a slow market will provide the opportunity to build relationships across multiple disciplines and build a database to pull from and act quickly when you have the open opportunity. The worst thing we can do is nothing and just wait for open positions to start recruiting.

Green Collar Jobs?

Luigi Lupo — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 11:59:30 -0400

We are all familiar with Blue and White collar job sectors, but now a third sector is emerging and is growing by leaps and bounds - The Green Collar Job Sector.

Green collar jobs have been defined as work force opportunities created by firms and organizations whose mission is to improve environmental quality and involve products and services that are environmentally friendly. The new job sector includes opportunities that involve the design, manufacture, installation, operation, and/or maintenance of renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies.

Moving away from environmentally unfriendly work and towards environmentally friendly work will bring significant changes and benefits to workers, communities, and society as a whole. If more cities and organizations begin to incorporate environmental concerns into their mission and goals, the potential for green collar jobs over the next decade should be significant.

It is currently the fifth largest market sector in the US with about 8.5 million U.S. jobs in renewable-energy and energy-efficiency industries. This could grow to as much as 40 million by 2030, according to a November 2007 report commissioned by the American Solar Energy Society.

Also if the federal government succeeds in combining the benefits of renewable energy efforts with the national employment sector, we could see green collar jobs exploding into a billion-dollar industry. Initiatives are being pushed by presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, who are proposing millions of dollars in competitive grants to states that exhibit labor exchange and training programs in the green sector.

Green collar jobs are also becoming more and more attractive to applicants who see the opportunity to bringing about positive change in the world. The satisfaction of making a positive difference in the world is in many cases enough of a bonus for this environmentally conscious group.

Here?s a site sites to check out that focus on Green Job opportunities, I?m sure there will be more to follow.

www.EcoEmploy.com

It?s not a pretty picture?

Luigi Lupo — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:23:22 -0400

The job market numbers were released by the BLS last week and it?s not looking good. The report paints a picture of what it looked like in the last official recession in 2001.

Payrolls fell by 63,000 and the unemployment rate dropped slightly, from 4.9% to 4.8%. You could argue that the unemployment rate should be higher, but it is largely due to the numbers in the labor force leaving the market. Overall it?s been the largest loss in about 5 years and a strong indicator that the troubled economy has reached the job market.

A few highlights from the report:

Payroll employment has now dropped two months in a row and three consecutive months in the private sector.
December and January payroll counts were revised down by 46,000.
The population in the workforce fell from 66.1% to 65.9%; the share of the population employed is down 0.5 percentage points compared to one year ago.
Had the 450,000 people who left the labor force last month been counted among the unemployed, the jobless rate would have been 5.1% instead of 4.8%.
Most industries shed jobs last month; a measure of industry hiring activity is at its lowest level in almost five years.
Employment fell in core service industries, including retail sales and offices.
Employers are downsizing temporary workers: employment in the sector was down 28,000, the largest loss in five years.
The number of part-time workers who would prefer full-time jobs?a measure of underemployment?is up over 600,000 over the past year.
Both employment and total hours worked in the economy are shrinking in traditional recessionary patterns.

At this point, we can be pretty certain that it?s a matter of time until the recession is officially recognized. Historically, once payrolls begin to grow less than 1% on a yearly basis, the economy has been in and is headed for recession.

Are we ready? Is the Unemployment Insurance system ready to meet the needs of displaced workers? Will a new resident at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue be ready and able to turn this around?

Building your Dream Team?

Luigi Lupo — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 16:16:41 -0400

How can you build the next Dream Team within your organization? A strong team understands each members work style and expertise and leverages those skills to be successful. I?m starting to see more and more companies educating their employees on different work styles through the use of personality profiles and other assessment tools.

The ability to understand how others work on your team is important. Learning how to flex to others' work styles is becoming even more important. Understanding your team and how to work with everyone on it ensures that there is a productive environment and positive interactions within your team. Flexing is a way of getting in sync with the other person by adjusting your behaviors to others' wants and needs.

This doesn't mean you have to change your work style. Flexing means you adjust your approach with each individual to make them more comfortable when working with you and each other.

Personality assessments are being used more and more with employees and building strong teams/work groups. Some of the more commonly used tools for assessing personality and psychological characteristics include: Myers-Briggs Type Indicator Instrument, Kolbe System, and DISC Personal Profile System

These tools primarily assess and measure character and personality traits required for continued success on the job. These traits can include persistence, coping with stress, handling rejection, need for approval and sociability. It is a measurement of the whole person and how they will handle the job, as well as interpersonal relationships with coworkers.

The goal of any team is to be productive with members that enjoy their work and working together. A team begins to become a team when employees see their jobs not merely as what they are supposed to do, but as contributions to the group's overall success.

Effective teams are productive and are able to work out ways to resolve problems when they occur. They are efficient because their managers make sure to leverage each member's skills and insights, rather than letting the team be dominated by the most verbal, most aggressive or most popular personalities.

Here are 11 helpful steps in building a Dream Team:

1. Share the team's common goals and purposes.

2. Clarify each person's role in achieving the common purpose.

3. Share the needs of the team's external or internal customers or clients.

4. Work out effective ways to resolve conflicts based on the needs of the specific team.

5. Make sure you are still the manager by holding employees responsible for meeting goals or helping to solve problems.

6. Make sure team meetings aren't a forum for your team. This allows for the development of team synergy.

7. Allow team members to provide input into their jobs by encouraging them to make suggestions.

8. Make sure there is room for minority or unpopular views.

9. Reward the team as a whole.

10. Reward each employee individually and include a review of their teamwork. .

11. Celebrate team milestones and successes.

Understanding your own work style and the styles of your team members; not only helps you to work better together, it can also help you leverage the teams? knowledge and insights as a whole.

Job market not super on "Super Tuesday"

Luigi Lupo — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 14:36:46 -0400

"Super Tuesday" marks two important events. It will be the biggest step so far in selecting the next President, but it will also be the first coast-to-coast election since the nation's economic troubles became front page news.

Of the 24 "Super Tuesday" states, 20 have seen their unemployment rates rise over the last six months. Signs of economic trouble are a rising unemployment and under-employment rate. When the job market weakens it hurts not just those who are out of work, but also suppresses pay levels for working people from the lowest-paid through middle-income families. Pay raises are fewer and farther apart when unemployment is high.

Employer-provided health insurance coverage declined in 18 states, leaving a growing share of the population uninsured in 19 states. In 22 of the 24 states, private-sector employer-provided pension coverage declined.

This will, no doubt, be on the minds of voters as they cast their votes today and can also provide insights into voters? economic worries, hopes, and priorities.

Top US Jobs for 2008

Luigi Lupo — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 14:35:48 -0400

Happy New Year!

Interesting article on what jobs are hot for 08. Here are the 30 fastest growing occupations for 2008 to 2016, according to the BLS.

I?m still wondering when ?Professional Recruiter? or ?Recruitment Consultant? will make the list...

What are your candidates looking for?

Luigi Lupo — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 14:02:32 -0400

There has been a lot of research done over the years on what truly motivates an individual to change jobs. As you can imagine, this is a moving target since we are motivated differently at various stages of age and life. But it generally always seems to boil down to 3 basic human needs:

1 - The need for economic rewards and flexibility is essential to lead ?Comfortable/Good Lives?

2 ? The opportunity to do meaningful work and the opportunity to learn and develop as a person.

3 ? The need for supportive relationships.

A ?Good Job? satisfies all 3 fundamental human needs. But we need to understand the differences between these three employment needs. Some jobs fulfill one or two of the needs, but do not satisfy all three.

For example, you may have a great paying job that is boring or a low paying job that is very satisfying and challenging. And of course you may have a great paying, fulfilling job that is managed by a poor leader.

The needs vary from individual to individual, but which ever need is not met at the current employer, then that need usually becomes the motivation for new employment.

Part of our jobs as recruiting professionals is to understand both our candidates? motivations and which of the ?needs? are they trying to fill in their next job as well as how that ?need? matches what the employer has to offer. Really understanding all this is critical in identifying the right person for the job and contributing to employee retention.

Age and workplace satisfaction?

Luigi Lupo — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 15:20:04 -0400

According to a recent study by Leadership IQ, the biggest statistical driver of workplace satisfaction for workers between the ages of 21-30 is whether their supervisor recognizes and praises their accomplishments.

Only 30% of workers ages 21-30 would strongly recommend their organization as a good place to work. Interesting contrast is that 47% of workers ages 61-70 would strongly recommend their organization as a good place to work, making them the most satisfied age group.

This study also found that younger workers do not feel they are getting nearly enough praise and recognition. Only 39% of these younger workers agreed that their supervisor does a good job of recognizing and praising their accomplishments. Keep in mind that when it comes to retaining younger workers praise and recognition does not cost your organization anything.

According to the survey younger workers want praise and the older workers want clear measures of their performance.

Another take away from this survey is that one management style does not fit all employees. This is also true when it comes to recruitment. Each age group is motivated differently and should be considered to attract and retain both younger and older workers.

Job Market Update?

Luigi Lupo — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 13:31:43 -0400

In a major revision of recent data, the U.S. labor market now appears considerably different than was previously reported, according to today?s report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Payrolls expanded by 110,000 in September, the strongest monthly gain since May.

Just as important, last month?s reported loss of 4,000 jobs was revised upward to a gain of 89,000. Together, revisions for July and August added 118,000 jobs to the nation?s payrolls.

Last month?s employment report showed job growth at an average of about 45,000 over the prior three months, the revised data and today?s payroll result raise the three month average to 97,000, a much healthier rate of job growth.

Even with the upward revisions - job growth has slowed this year. A reflection of the slowdown in the overall economy.

Along the lines of Applicant Testing?

Luigi Lupo — Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:17:41 -0400

In the interest of creating a more standardized, fair, and meaningful naturalization process, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) recently completed a multi-year redesign of the naturalization applicant test. The newly-restructured exam (administered beginning 2008), challenges applicants to a list of tough questions, covering history, politics, geography, language and culture, before citizenship is legally earned.

The major aim of the redesign process is to ensure that naturalization applicants have uniform, consistent testing experiences nationwide, and that the civics test can effectively assess whether applicants have a meaningful understanding of U.S. government and history.

USCIS examiners will select ten questions and the applicant must answer 60% correctly in order to pass.

USCIS Test Questions.

Would you pass the U.S. citizenship test?

And NO using Google or peaking at the answers?

Stressed over a long commute...

Luigi Lupo — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 10:27:22 -0400

It seems that in some countries long commutes are becoming more of a health hazard. British workers say that commuting makes them stressed and has a negative impact on their health, according to a study released today by Telewest Business, part of the Virgin Media Group.

The environmental impact of more people working from home is also gaining recognition around the world. According to the study, more than half (52 per cent) of UK adults who could or do work from home believed that reducing their commuting made, or would make, them a ?greener? person.

Interestingly, flexible work schedules were introduced in Germany in the 1960s as a method to reduce daily traffic congestion problems. By questioning the business necessity of working a rigid 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM work shift, German management consultants determined that wider time bands would not adversely affect business operations and would yield mutual benefits for employees and management.

Traditionally, much of the US labor force has worked in a structured environment, with the work schedule following a set pattern ? a "9-to-5" workday. Studies show that employers have begun to recognize that many workers prefer schedules that allow greater flexibility in choosing the times they begin and end their workday and when they will be on site. Consequently, increasing numbers and proportions of full-time workers in the United States are able to opt for flexible work.

In the US we expect our workforce to be mobile. Then mobility will need to blend both flexibility and job security to truly work. The concept of Flexible work schedules, if implemented effectively, will allow employers to recruit from a deeper and larger talent pool. This not only, allows employers to modernize the way things get accomplished, but may also lead to higher productivity. And in many cases, it may create more jobs.

One could argue that one of the biggest differences between European countries and the US in addressing work force issues is that Europe and other countries are looking at this issue from a government legislative perspective to find a solution and not from an individual employer policy perspective.

We all know that flexible work schedules and other family-friendly programs can be effective tools in recruitment, reducing turnover and tardiness and increasing productivity, job satisfaction, and company loyalty. Collectively, these positively impact a company?s bottom line??.Not that we needed another reason to lobby for flexible work programs, but now you can add - makes your employees ?Healthier? and ?Greener? people, to the list.

End User Training...

Luigi Lupo — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:54:31 -0400

End User, as defined by Wikipedia, is a popular concept in software engineering, referring to an abstraction of the group of persons who will ultimately operate a piece of software (i.e. the expected user or target-user).

For the purpose of this blog; let�s roughly translate to: Hiring Manager - a popular term in Recruitment, referring to an abstraction of the group of persons who will ultimately operate a piece of a staffing process (i.e. the expected user, target-user, or interview team).

As we develop new models, programs and initiatives, we sometimes rely on our recruiters to partner, educate and deliver the new process. In many cases this method of delivery is not as effective as we would like. Most of the time in this scenario, recruiters are more like policy police than consultative recruiting partners.

This brings me back to my point � End User Training and Education. If a hiring manager has had no formal training/education in talent evaluation or is new to a manager �hiring� role, chances are there this is going to be a disconnect with the recruiting process and it will have an impact. In some cases, staffing is still viewed as an administrative role and, as we all know, this also has an impact on just about every metric you are tracking.

Take every opportunity to formally educate your internal clients. We need to look at recruitment from a holistic perspective and the fact that it is a team sport. The hiring manager is a major player in the game and is not always on the same page as the rest of the team. But of course they have the final say on who gets hired into the organization.

One way to get everyone in the organization on the same page with recruitment is through formal education and training sessions. I am continually seeing new and creative techniques, models, programs, and initiatives, but we seem to miss the final step��End User training and considering the team sport nature of recruitment � it is a critical piece for success.

The Recruitment function has the unique position to understand the internal culture and company trends, as well as, the external labor market and how the company is perceived. And in most cases is the bridge between the two entities. This insight is the key to developing a strategic creative function aligned with the business.

I would recommend developing a recruitment training process for anyone in the organization who may come in contact with an interviewing candidate. A few topics of importance to remember and include in your training modules to provide a balanced and educational training session:

� External Market Conditions � It is important to provide not only an overview of the labor market from a general perspective, but also your industry specific labor market to provide a better understanding of the challenges. What does the landscape look like in your geography? What are the trends in the industry and how can you leverage your team.

� Internal Process & Policy � Educate on what are your organizations� internal recruitment process and resources, as well as, the roles and responsibilities of the team members. (A big component to this module should also be vendor management and internally branding your employee referral program)

� Compliance and Legislation � Provide your hiring team with an overview of legislation and how it applies to the interview process. How does it impact the hiring manager and the interviewing candidate?

� Interview and Selection �One of the most important things you can do for your organization. Examples would be training to use behavioral interviewing techniques and assessment tools.

� Candidate Experience � I think we all know the importance of educating on the candidate experience and how the hiring manager can impact the overall perception of an organization.

Repetition and structured practice - is a method of perfecting execution with sports teams. Again looking at the �Recruiting Team� holistically, it would be helpful to take every opportunity to continually educate and internally brand your recruitment function to include new hires and newly promoted hiring managers.

Providing a stronger understanding of the overall talent acquisition function and how recruitment is a team sport, with every player having a specific role, can only help you and your recruitment team to succeed.