The Hiring Site

Employment News for the Week of November 20, 2009

2009-11-20T21:04:01Z

While you were busy scoring tickets to a screening of “New Moon” this weekend, fighting back your tears at the announcement that Oprah is canceling her show after a 25-year run, or wondering how you’re going to fill the void of your Pumpkin and Eggo Casserole this Thanksgiving, news in the hiring and recruiting world may have slipped right by you. Not to worry — we’ll catch you up.

Turns out there’s at least 15 ways to determine if your workplace is dysfunctional — read ‘em and (hopefully) don’t weep.

Many workers fear that settling for a survival job may = career suicide. (Employers, what do you think?)

Surprised? Heavier workloads + longer hours x strained resources = low employee morale.

Innocent mistake or just plain careless? Recruiter offers job via e-mail – to the wrong candidate. Yikes!

Employers beware: office stickups and robberies are on the rise.

Bailed-out companies and 2009 holiday parties? Not so much. A better idea? Team volunteering.

Did you know? For the first time ever, women hold half the jobs in the U.S.

It turns out most Fortune 100 companies need a Twitter tutorial. Stat.

Taking time off from work for the Thanksgiving holiday? Ensure a stress-free vacation!

Heavier Workloads + Longer Hours x Strained Resources = Low Employee Morale

2009-11-18T16:19:14Z

If the recession seems to have taken a toll on your workplace morale, you’re hardly alone…

A new CareerBuilder survey, released today, indicates that nearly a quarter of employers (23 percent) rate their organization’s current employee morale as low. According to Jason Ferrara, CareerBuilder’s Vice president of corporate marketing, low morale is an unfortunate side effect of this recession.

Additionally, 40 percent of workers report that they have had difficulty staying motivated at work in the last year, and 24 percent do not feel loyal to their current employer. These findings should alarm employers, who – if they don’t start working to engage and retain their current employees – could see some of their top talent leave for better opportunities as the job market recovers and more positions open up.

In order to proactively reduce feelings of low morale, organizations are stepping up their communication efforts, offering more employee recognition programs and providing more flexible work opportunities. (For more ways to increase morale, check out 8 Little Things that Make a Big Difference to Your Employees.)

In the survey, workers revealed the top factors that were contributing to low morale levels:

40 percent attributed their low morale to high stress levels at work is high
47 percent blamed an increased workload over the last six months
20 percent say that are dissatisfied with their work/life balance.

Another possible reason for the low morale levels? Nearly two-in-five workers (38 percent) felt there was departmental favoritism at work, and nearly 30 percent said they didn’t think their department was important to senior leadership. When asked what type of preferential treatment workers thought the favored department received, they said that they:

Tend to get higher pay
Receive more recognition by senior leaders
Have more flexibility in their work arrangements
Receive more funding/resources
Tend to have greater career advancement opportunities
Tend to have more training and leadership development opportunities
Are able to follow a more casual dress code
Are awarded with trips while other departments are not

Do you think there’s favoritism at your company? What steps are you taking to raise morale levels?

Leadership Development: Invest in the Best So They’ll Invest in You

2009-11-16T16:26:37Z

Last week, I listed the top traits recruiters and hiring managers look for when identifying their organization’s next leaders. Now, I’d like to follow up that post by discussing why now, more than ever, businesses need to put focus on developing their leaders (if they’re not already doing so) – and what areas they should concentrate on to get the best return on their investment.

Spending money on leadership development may seem like a lot to ask during a time when budgets are already tight, but it is critical that employers invest in ways to engage and retain their leaders right now, according to Elizabeth Craig, a research fellow at the Accenture Institute for High Performance in Boston, in a recent Business Insight podcast.

Unfortunately, businesses tend to see employee training and development programs as an expense, making these programs among the first to go when companies look for ways to cut costs. On the contrary, it is these very programs – these investments – that will better position companies’ competitive standing when the economy turns around. (Need a few more reasons to invest in leaders? We got five right here.)

Because executives have been shown to leave their companies when market conditions improve and more job opportunities open up, now is the time for companies to give them a reason to stay. The best way to retain these employees, Craig says, is to provide learning and development opportunities that will not only engage your best people and compel them to stay with you, but help you better attract new talent down the road.

Based on research Craig conducted with colleagues on executive satisfaction levels (which you can read about in more depth here) companies that offer the following opportunities for executives see a higher retention rate:

Opportunities to work on challenging tasks and to take on more responsibility.
Opportunities to broaden their skills by exposing them to operations outside their areas of expertise, and providing training to polish their business skills.
Opportunities to cultivate relationships with their peers, enabling them to learn from their peers and increase visibility. As a bonus for the company, it also enables them to increase their understanding and collaboration among various business units.

What steps are you taking to invest in your leaders?

Employment News for the Week of November 13

2009-11-13T16:35:53Z

While you were busy getting suspended for your “wild” Bengals haircut, threatening to walk off the set of “Larry King Live”, or making a case for “Bikini Fridays,” here’s what was happening in the world of hiring and recruiting this week…

Things are growing in Michigan, and we’re not just talking about jobs…
Should we expect a Facebook invite? President Obama is holding a jobs forum in December.
Twinterns are so eight months ago.
If you’re not among these 25 cities…well, there’s always Q2…
The Obama administration puts the veterans back into Veterans Day.
If workers could just not get sick, that would be greeeeeeaaat…Yeah…
Employers find temporary help to get over their fear of commitment.
Want to be a better boss? Reading this would be a good start…
When it comes to its sick leave policy, Wal-Mart’s got some ‘splainin’ to do. And finally…
Now 40 years young, Sesame Street’s lessons still relevant – even for managers. Here, lessons on how NOT to manage.

We Asked, You Answered: How Do You Identify a Leader? A Top 10 List

2009-11-12T22:05:47Z

(Actually, this list is one better than a “top 10” list, because it goes up to 11.)

Last week, readers, I challenged you to tell me what qualities you consider most important when identifying new leaders. I guess this question struck a chord, judging by the number of passionate responses I received in general, and the number of responses that referenced how a leader emerges during times of uncertainty in particular.

No doubt several of you were drawing on your own experiences from these past several months, as you witnessed those around you being forced to make tough management decisions, seeing who emerged as true leaders – keeping employees motivated, adapting to stay ahead in a difficult economy, thinking outside the box to keep business going – while perhaps witnessing others “falter and fail,” as one commenter put it.

While sorting through the over-200 comments, there were several words that emerged over and over again to describe leaders. Here, I give you the most frequently mentioned leadership characteristics - and a few of the reasons given for singling these traits out.

Readers’ Choice: Top 10 11 Leadership Characteristics

Vision “A leader is someone that has vision. Someone that sees what is possible, not what is expected. Someone that sees the good in staff and promotes it, not the faults and prays on them. Someone who sees leadership as an honor…not just a responsibility.” – Michael Asbill
Integrity “Integrity is the most important attribute. Leaders must have vision, passion, commitment, charisma, great communications skills, and on through the list. But without being true to their principles (even when they think nobody is watching) they send the wrong message and lose their follower’s trust.” – Ron Boatright
Communication “I look for a manager with outcome-focused communication skills that builds trust amongst their staff, shares their knowledge and seeks feedback from associates. This allows a good manager to connect with their staff and helps create an understanding, support and acceptance critical to an organization’s success.” – Shelley Drosts
Creative – “In this day and age, creativity and ingenuity are certainly stressed, as uncertain economic times and other variables increase the need for thinking outside the box and the ability to shake off old paradigms or ways of thinking in order to innovate, improve, and lead.”- Daniel Hewitt
Inspire – “Maya Angelou once said, ‘People will forget what you said. People will forget what you did. But they will never forget how you made them feel.’ I think this is a great template for a leader…I think a leader is one who nurtures and encourages and inspires an employee to not only do what he/she is supposed to do but to feel better about themselves as a person and feel better about themselves as an employee.” – Robert
Motivate “Leadership is the ability to steer the ship during good and bad times. To make unpopular decisions that are right for the business in good and bad economies. To keep people to motivated to want more when business is good or bad.” – Susan
Courage “We expect the most from our employees at all levels. We expect them to have the courage to take risks, be bold on behalf of our clients, own their actions and look fearlessly to the future and the possibilities it holds.” – Susan Leverentz
Confidence “We continue to find that the most effective leaders are the ones who realize and accept that they cannot have all the answers, cannot do all the work, and will rise with the overall success of their teams. The challenge is often to find leaders with less management experience who have attained this level of self-confidence.” – RDL
Integrity “A great leader is someone whom others seek to follow. What does that look like? The leader will ooze uncompromising integrity. Those around him are proud to be associated with him.” – Jill Smedley
Passionate “The best leaders are those who are passionate about their work, what they represent and their ability to spread that passion by leading and motivating others in the organization to increase productivity.” – Lori
Adaptable “Able leaders respond rather than react to uncertain times. Additionally, they are not easily shaken by setbacks. They find unique solution to unfamiliar problems and they look at challenges as an opportunity to learn and grow.” – Dominic Moore

Any further thoughts? You can read all comments from the previous post here…and stay tuned for my follow-up post on ways to retain your best leaders, and why now is the most critical time to do so.

Medical Marijuana Rooms and Bikini Fridays? Hiring Managers’ Most Unusual Workplace Requests

2009-11-11T21:26:42Z

You may recall a season two episode of “The Office” in which Michael Scott starts a suggestion box for the employees of Dundler Mifflin. Michael encourages his employees to submit their “constructive compliments,” and at the suggestion box meeting, one of the first suggestions from the box reads: “You need to do something about your B.O.” Things go south from there.

CareerBuilder recently asked more than 2,900 hiring managers about the most memorable employee requests they’ve received in the office suggestion box. To say the results were “interesting” would be an understatement.

The most memorable suggestion box requests:

Allow people to change clothes in their cubicles
Add a tanning bed to the break room
Put beer in the vending machine
That jail time be covered under family medical leave
Institute “Bikini Fridays”
Be required to work only during daylight hours because employee is scared of the dark
Create a special smoking area for medical marijuana
That the HR person wear nicer shoes
More time off to pursue side business as a clown
Replace employee’s desk with a futon so he could lay down and work
That the lactation room with gliding chair be used for naps, so everyone can use it
Install a swimming pool for employees to use
Have the team meeting be held in Hawaii

So… what are the most horrifying memorable requests or recommendations you’ve received in your office suggestion box? Can you top these?

Better, Faster, Stronger: Keys to Conducting a More Efficient Candidate Search

2009-11-11T19:10:44Z

Well aware that searching for quality job candidates can often be – to borrow a phrase from one of the best TV shows of all time – “about the most fun you can have without having any fun,” CareerBuilder recently released, “Better Recruitment Starts with Better Search: CareerBuilder’s Search Smart eBook.”

This quick and easy read – available for a free download below – is essentially a guide for making candidate searching as painless a process as possible.

As the economy makes its way to recovery, your organization may find itself with an urgent need to re-grow staff in order to keep up with increasing demand. “Search Smart” provides tips and tricks you can use to conduct an easier, faster and more effective resume database search – and find the perfect candidate when time is of the essence.

Searching for candidates doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming, but it can be if you’re not going about it the right way. ”Search Smart” explains what you need to know to get the most relevant results – in the shortest amount of time – when conducting a resume database search, including:

Why candidate search today requires a different approach than a decade ago, and how to rethink the way we search for talent.
How to understand and effectively use the technology within the resume database for faster and easier search.
The advantage of using search in a world that relies increasingly on social media recruitment tactics.
The difference between keyword and concept search, and how to use both techniques together and more efficiently.
How to avoid common mistakes to take the time and labor out of resume databse searches.

If you’ve ever been frustrated or disappointed when conducted resume database searches – whether you’re not getting the quality or quantity of results you need or find it too time-consuming – you should take a look at this eBook.

Click on the image below to view or download your free copy of CareerBuilder’s Search Smart eBook.

Employment News for the Week of November 6

2009-11-06T16:58:47Z

This week, while you were busy collecting your 27^th World Series title, debating whether or not to move your syndicated talk show to cable, or observing the anniversary of the invention of time travel, here’s what you may have missed in the world of hiring and recruiting…

Worker productivity, company profits surge in the third quarter. (So why aren’t we more excited?)
As office thermostats go down, so too does worker productivity.
Some people will do anything to get out of that 8 a.m. meeting….
Turns out, there IS a way to get your employees to work for free.
What’s almost as awkward as running into your colleagues at Burning Man?
And we wonder why H1N1 keeps spreading...
Help wanted. (Just not the help of any of the millions of available job seekers.)
At least there’s some good workplace-related news.

Bridging the Gap: Employment Branding Across Generations

2009-11-05T19:27:21Z

Your mama may not dance, and your daddy might not rock’n’roll…but that doesn’t mean they’re all that different from you – especially when it comes to evaluating prospective employers.

Despite the supposed “generation gap” that exists in the workforce, Gallup research has found that certain factors – such as management quality, compensation, quality team dynamics and career development – are valued equally across generations when it comes to prospective employers.

For those differences that still exist, however – both in what these groups want and in how they search for jobs – here’s a breakdown of what to keep in mind when branding yourself to these various age groups.

MILLENIALS
Generation Y, or “the Millennials,” are people born roughly between 1982 and 2004. The strongest defining characteristic of the Gen Y group is their technology-driven lives.

What to Emphasize When Recruiting These Workers
Millenials get a bad rap for their supposed attitudes of entitlement, but they just want what any other worker wants – to be challenged and to do work they’re proud of. But because they lack the professional experience of their older counterparts, they might find themselves easily frustrated when relegated to menial ‘entry-level’ tasks. For this reason, opportunities for rapid career advancement are very important for to generation, as well as good pay and benefits and great training programs, all characteristics shared by BusinessWeek’s Best Places to Launch a Career:

Great pay and benefits: Last year, Deloitte, which boasts the top spot on BusinessWeek’s list, offered hiring bonuses to 90 percent of their new hires, for an average bonus of $5,102. Additionally, it’s common practice for these ‘best places’ to offer tuition reimbursement, 401(k) options, flex time and paid time off.
Top-notch training programs. Cisco Sytems’ new hire training program includes a week-long orientation with various managers across 30 departments, enabling new employees to then select which managers they would like as their own as part of a “matching program.” Because of this system, new hires enjoy an immediate sense of ownership in their new roles. It’s also probably why a remarkable 98 percent of new hires are still with Cisco after two years.
Opportunities for rapid advancement: Every Ernst&Young employee participates in a formal mentoring program – perhaps helping to explain why most entry-level hires are eligible for a promotion and a raise within the first year.

Where to Find Them
Social networking is a part of this generation’s daily routine, so smart companies utilize various social networking sites to get in front of these candidates – using these platforms to post jobs, informational videos, podcasts and content, as well as interact with job seekers. (Learn about how Deloitte uses social media for both recruiting and retention purposes.)

Offline, these companies make use of their partnerships with college campuses. In 2008-2009, for example, Teach for America recruited on 471 undergrad campuses and made job offers on 379 of them.

GENERATION X
Born between 1965 and 1980, Gen X tend to be skeptical, pragmatic and practical, self-reliant, independent and individualistic, according to PsychologyToday. Like Gen Y, they are well-versed in technology, but have a few years of professional experience behind them, as well.

What to Emphasize When Recruiting These Workers

Stability: This generation is attracted to companies with strong portfolios, plans for the future, and proven longevity.
Corporate culture: Gen X thrives on diversity, responsibility, honesty and creative input. They like a casual, friendly work environment, seek challenge, involvement and flexible learning arrangements.
Work-life balance and flexible work arrangements: Many are working parents, so they seek assistance from their employers to care for both growing children and aging parents.

Where to Find Them
Generation X is more likely to use job boards, professional or trade association Web sites or visit individual company Web sites to search for jobs than Gen Y, as well as tap into their networks of friends, family and former colleagues. That said, it’s important that you not only communicate the benefits of working at your company clearly, but that you do so continuously, in order to maintain brand awareness.

BABY BOOMERS
Born between 1946 and1964, the Baby Boomer work ethic is characterized by dedication, loyalty and a willingness to stay in the same job for a long time. They have a lot to offer businesses with their work and life experience, skills and knowledge that many younger people can’t offer. They tend to work longer hours – and respect is paramount when managing a Baby Boomer.

What to Emphasize When Recruiting These Workers
Money is not necessarily the most important factor for seniors. Raised with a strong work ethic, these workers enjoy recognition and support for their efforts. Because they’re also thinking toward the end of their career, retirement benefits and flexible work arrangements are important to them. Focus on the following aspects of your company when talking to these workers:

Recognition programs
Health and retirement benefits
Flexible work arrangements (such as flexible scheduling, job-sharing, and phased retirement)

Where to Find Them
Cornell University, AARP’s Best Employer for Workers Over 50, uses placement agencies for older job seekers to successfully target mature workers and retirees. In addition, Cornell recruits from within its own ranks of retirees through the Cornell Retiree Association and the Cornell Association of Professors Emeriti. First Horizon, another ‘Best Employer’ on AARP’s list, also uses placement agencies for older job seekers and draws on a relationship it has cultivated with Senior Services of Memphis to locate and attract mature workers and retirees.

Keep in mind that, as noted above, certain qualities will always be attractive to job seekers, no matter what age group, and that no matter what, a cross-channel recruiting campaign – one that utilizes both online and offline resources – will give you the best chance for reaching the greatest pool of candidates.

Creative Down Time in the Workplace — Are You Down With It?

2009-11-04T23:16:08Z

I recently read this post about creative sabbaticals on Harvard Business Publishing’s blog. The article, which also features a video of a talk given by Stefan Sagmeister, owner of design firm Sagmeister Inc. in New York City, presents some interesting ideas about our ideas of creative thinking and space in the workplace — and asks how we use free time to refresh and become more productive.

For me, it raised questions from an employer’s perspective as well:

Do you encourage “down time” for your employees to help them spark creativity and new ideas?
If so, do you have any kind of organized process for this?
Do you think it’s healthier for your employees to be constantly busy, or to have opportunities to be idle and think or explore a topic or project completely different from their normal job duties?

I have included the video below; When you have a moment, it’s worth a watch.