Recruiter Today | Recruiting Trends and Tips for Recruiters - Page 123

Are You Hiring Yesterday's Leaders?

Many of you may feel the world is becoming more chaotic, volatile, and incomprehensible. Maybe you have no real evidence for this other than a gut feeling and an increasingly fried brain at the end of the workday. Well, as they say, great guts think alike (or is it great mind?). It seems that grand institutions like the United States military share this feeling of uncertainty and have even...

SpicyResumes.com Launches Offering Creative Resume Templates to Boost Visibility

SpicyResumes.com has launched to help job seekers improve their chances of being hired with a new line of distinctive resume templates that help them stand out and get noticed. Hertzel Betito, founder and owner of SpicyResumes.com, says his company's line of professional resume and CV templates provide instant visual recognition and improved employer response rates: "All of our...

Why the Tech Skills Gap Is an Opportunity for Those Willing to Learn

We've all heard about the tech skills gap: thousands of jobs available, but not enough people with the right skills to fill the positions. As an industry, technology is expanding at a faster rate than any other. However, it suffers from a huge gap in basic education. Children aren't being trained in tech skills like Web development at school, and many adults are unaware of how the products...

CareerCast Lists 10 Most and Least Stressful Jobs for 2015

Firefighter, enlisted military personnel, airline pilot and police officer top CareerCast's 2015 list of the nation's most stressful jobs due to their physical danger, unpredictability and negative psychological effects. People in these high-stress jobs work in constantly changing conditions, must be prepared for a crisis and be ready to keep people safe while remaining calm. Some of the most...

Coping With a Boss Who Goes TMI

Consider this scenario: you walk into your manager's office ready to discuss a recent revenue dip. Instead of examining the line graph in your hands, your boss holds up an X-ray and begins to explain the consequences of a recent major surgery. Workplace TMI ("too much information," in case you've never heard the acronym before) can cause extreme awkwardness and dwindling respect, and it can...

'Fail Your Way to the Top': Learning the Don'ts of Entrepreneurship

As a cynic, I gravitate to the negative. Maybe that's why I so thoroughly enjoyed MJ Gottlieb's How to Ruin a Business Without Really Trying. As you can probably tell from the cheeky title, this is not your average "entrepreneur's guidebook to success" -- this is a book all about failure, comprising 55 case studies that focus on "the most prevalent and destructive mistakes entrepreneurs...

The Career-Breaking Flaw That Is the Broken Promise

Breaking a promise is one of the biggest mistakes that a person can make in their career. Broken promises are a problem because: They diminish the value of your word: People want to count on you when you say you will do something. If you regularly drop the ball, people will rely on you less. They cause you to lose opportunities: If you regularly break your promises, people will not...

Hiring a 'Boomerang' Employee Can Save You Big

The practice of 'boomeranging' -- or rehiring employees that used to work for you -- is on the rise -- but is it actually a good idea? I'd say yes, it is: boomeranging an employee can end up being better for you than starting fresh. Rehiring Saves Money Letting someone go is expensive. Between all the exit paperwork, potential severance pay, and having to train a new employee, laying...

5 Ways to Use Humor Effectively in a Job Interview

I've read quite a bit of research that shows appropriate humor can make you appear like a more personable, effective, resilient, and engaging candidate in interviews, including a Robert Half study that found around 90 percent of executives regard "sense of humor" as key to career advancement. Additionally, this Bell Leadership Institute study found that a sense of humor and a strong work...

Bersin by Deloitte Predicts the Need to "Re-Engineer" the Workplace for Talent

Among the top predictions for 2015 from Bersin by Deloitte's Predictions for 2015: Redesigning the Organization for a Rapidly Changing World is that employers will be challenged to re-engineer the workplace, rethink jobs and reshape the ways they attract, engage and manage people. The report includes 10 predictions that highlight the changes underway in the workplace. In addition to...

Paychex Jobs Index Shows Slowing Growth for Small Businesses in December

The Paychex | IHS Small Business Jobs Index declined 0.18 percent in the past 12 months, bringing the national index to 100.56 in December, though there remain positive employment gains. With the strongest 12-month growth rate, the West North Central region maintained its lead among the regions. At 102.64, Washington continued to be the top-performing state for the third consecutive month....

U.S. Companies Add 241,000 Workers in December 2014

Companies added more workers than forecast in December, indicating the job market was sustaining strength as 2014 drew to a close, according to a private report by ADP. The 241,000 increase in employment was the biggest since June and followed a 227,000 November gain that was more than initially reported. Headcounts are growing as the U.S. economy strengthens, due in part by a pickup in...

Why Your Office Health and Wellness Programs Fail

Office health and wellness programs matter. Every dollar spent on workplace wellness programs can reduce health care costs for employers by $3.27, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Health-related absenteeism also costs the economy $84 billion in lost productivity every year. The CDC reports that...

Joberate Finds Job-Seeking Workers Leave for New Job Within a Median of 120 Days

Joberate, a leader in tracking and measuring workforce job seeking behavior, has released its analysis of U.S. job seeking behavior data that shows the median currently employed American leaves his or her current employer within 119.6 days of a measurable increase in job-seeking behavior, the J-Score. The median J-Score of a person who voluntarily resigns is 40, while the average (mean) is...

Small Business Employment, Pay, and Revenue Grow in December, Hours Worked Decline

In Intuit's most recent Small Business and Revenue Indexes, U.S. Small businesses were found to have added 30,000 new jobs in December, a 0.14 percent increase over November. Employees also saw a 0.15 percent increase in monthly compensation, up to an average monthly pay of $2,782; a $4 increase from November. Hourly workers worked five fewer minutes in December, compared to November's...

Unemployment Benefits Claims Drop as Holiday Workers Stay On

Fewer Americans filed for unemployment benefits last week as labor-market tightening compelled employers to hold on to seasonal hires. Jobless claims decreased by 4,000 to 294,000 in the week ended Jan. 3, as reported by the Labor Department. The median forecast of 45 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for a decline to 290,000. Employers finding it harder to fill vacancies are likely...

The Office Hurtful Helper: Workplace Sabotage Psychology

As a species of "frenemy"—the friend who is, nonetheless, your enemy or your enemy who is somehow also your friend, the office "hurtful helper" is in a complex class of his or her own. The hurtful helper can take many forms, have one or more diverse agendas, strategies and tactics, and be very, very subtle when not utterly obvious and transparent. Among the types are those "hurtpers" (to...

The Evolution of Social Media Recruiting

Social media has taken the world by storm in recent years. With so many people spending their days checking in and posting out, it makes sense for recruiters to take advantage of the phenomenon. While social media recruiting is not a new concept, the way that hiring managers utilize these websites to find the right employees has changed. Social Media Recruiting Statistics Over 90 percent of...

How You Can Improve Your Interview Success Rate With a Thank-You Letter

In this age of bleeding-edge, social media-based job-search techniques, it can be easy to overlook some of the more traditional strategies. That's a shame, because these techniques are often very effective, even if they do seem unfashionable. The thank-you note is one such old-school technique that many employers respond favorably to. In fact, according to an Accountemps survey, 59 percent...

Does Name Dropping Help or Hinder Your Job Hunt?

Research tells us that that word of mouth is still the most effective way to get a job: according to this CareerXroads study, around 20 percent of jobs are filled via employee referrals. A study from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York further underlines this point by revealing that referred candidates were twice as likely to be called to interview and had a 40 percent greater chance of...

Top 10 Things Talent Acquisition Leaders Need to Do in 2015

As the New Year dawns, it's a great time to consider what you'll do to attract and retain top talent in 2015. I spend a lot of time networking with peers in talent acquisition and am lucky to get an inside view on what is at the top of the list for those on the forefront of recruiting. Here's my take on the top 10 things that you need to do in 2015 to take your TA program to the next...

Don't Take These Phrases With You Into a Job Interview

As the economy improves, many companies find themselves sitting on piles of cash. They could hire more employees, but they often hold back. When they do hire, one of the things they are looking for is a combination of skills and confidence. Not many companies are willing to spend the time and money taking on an employee that needs a lot of hand-holding and a set of expensive training...

The 5 Bummers of Telecommuting

Death to the office! Long live the telecommuter! Or something. As we all know, telecommuting is fast becoming the new norm: according to data compiled by Ken Hess for ZDNet, 24 percent of American employees (a 20 percent increase from 2012) already do some of their work from home, and 90 percent of U.S. employers say they're providing or expanding telework options for their...

Multi-Tasking Bandwidth vs. Attention Span: Why You Need to Know the Differences and Connections

You're looking for a wing (wo)man you can depend on to take on, stick with and follow through on multiple tasks and projects or maybe just one big task. The last to occupy that position was a disappointment, because he couldn't keep his eye on the balls to be juggled. What you don't know is whether that was because he had problems multi-tasking or because he had a short attention span in...

5 Tips to Make Your Staff Excited About Coming to Work on a Monday Morning

You may be one of those successful, highly effective types who bound into the office on a Monday morning full of excitement and inspiration, ready to join an equally supercharged and hungry team. Good for you! You probably don't need to read any further; you're already golden. But given an 87 percent staff disengagement rate, it's likely that many of you preside over a workforce that...

The Mobile Workforce Is Here to Stay

A survey from PwC predicted that the number of mobile employees will grow by 50 percent by 2020. Mobile work lends itself to a better work-life balance for employees and has brought productivity gains to companies who have implemented it properly. As a company with virtual workers in nine states, we at Visibility Software have seen the true benefits of having a mobile workforce. Quality...

Modernizing Recruiting: Automation and Other Tools

Automation: the core of the modern recruiter's processes. Without it, recruiters would not be able to handle the sheer number of candidates and resumes that cross their desks. Modern recruiting tools -- such as applicant tracking systems -- work by taking candidate information and parsing it before the recruiter sees it, thinning the candidate pool by up to 70 percent. Aside from...

When Is Putting Money in Your 401(k) a Bad Idea?

The benefits of tax deferral and corporate matching make the 401(k) the foundation of most people's retirement plans. Putting in enough to get the maximum corporate match is almost always the right choice, and funding your 401(k) usually even comes ahead of paying off debt. But sometimes it makes more sense to put money other places. For most financial situations, the following priorities...

Failure Is a Possibility: Facing the Hard Truths of Life and Business

"You're Going to Die," by John Cox Eran Dror is an interesting man. You might call him a polymath: after studying history, philosophy, and film in college, he became a tech journalist. Then he moved to the states from Israel and worked in product-related roles at a series of startups. Dror has also seen some stuff: in 2011, as he turned 30, he found himself single again, working at a...

The Best Ways to Apply for Non-Traditional, Non-Corporate Jobs

The age of the Internet has helped to relieve the American workforce of many of the burdens that the job application process formerly carried. Long gone are the days of walking to your nearby convenience store to pick up a newspaper, traveling home, and sitting at the kitchen table with a highlighter sifting through the classified section for job listings. Most companies are now on the Web...

The New Age of Applicant Tracking Systems

My 19-year old son was recently applying online for a department store position. In discussing the outcome of his pursuit for a coveted job, I found it interesting that he applied at only two of the four companies he was targeting. When asked why, he said two of the employers had outdated steps that made the process too long and too much of a hassle. Wow! A 19-year-old eager to find a job...

The 6 Rs of Workplace Anger Management

The other day, a friend in China who has been waging a personal battle against anger asked me whether "release", i.e., venting, those feelings is better or worse than "repression" (or suppressing) them. My take on her question was that it represented and was framed as a false, limited choice, because there are alternatives—better alternatives—to popping or sealing the anger cork. For...

Nationwide Job Growth Reported for November

According to the Economic Report released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the workforce experienced a net growth of 321,000 jobs in November, an increase of 78,000 jobs over October. November's job growth was 32 percent higher than October's revised employment number of 243,000 new jobs, and an 18.5 percent increase over September's revised number of 271,000 jobs. Employment gain...

Employee Confidence in December Near 8-Year High, Reports Randstad Index

According to the Randstad U.S. Employee Confidence Index, which tracks U.S. workers' monthly perspectives about jobs and the economy, the December index increased 1.3 points from 58.3 to a nearly eight-year high of 60.0. Similarly, the Randstad Macroeconomic Confidence Index, which measures employees' confidence in the overall strength of the economy, rose 1.6 percentage points to 50.5 in...

8 Tips to Get Staff to Adopt Your New Hiring Software System (Part 2)

Thanks to the modern tidal wave of IT consumerism, the average worker has become more technology enabled than they have ever been. One would of course imagine that this newfound technophile status would translate to corporate recruiting teams, their mouths watering at the prospect of new hiring software systems to replace their legacy processes. Recent anecdotal evidence reported on the...

CareerBuilder Reveals Best Employment Outlook Since 2006

According to CareerBuilder's annual job forecast, more than one third of employers expect to add full-time, permanent employees in 2015, the best outlook from the survey since 2006. Salary increases are also on the agenda of hiring managers. Thirty-six percent of employers plan to increase full-time, permanent headcount in 2015, a significant jump from 24 percent last year when employers were...

5 Ways to Make Your Personal Brand Work for You, Not Against You

Throughout my career, hundreds of resumes have hit my desk with a familiar thud. But without clear branding or a defined skill set, each one is just a jumbled collection of keywords and outdated language. I'm looking for candidates who not only have experience but also know how to present themselves professionally, and I'm not the only one. As a job seeker, it's more important than ever...

Employer Popularity Index Rates Top Employers by Industry Ranked by College Students

The AfterCollege Employer Popularity Index (EPI) is a ranking of the top employers as rated by students in the fields of technology, engineering, business, nursing, allied health, and life sciences. According to the EPI, some industries, like tech, have held steady for the past three years with Google, Microsoft, and Intel remaining the employers of choice. There has been some change among...

PeopleKeys to Offer Free DISC Webinar Series in 2015 to "Be a Better..."

PeopleKeys, a leading developer of DISC personality testing and behavioral analysis solutions, has announced the launching of a new webinar series in 2015, featuring monthly installments of live, interactive 30-minute DISC training sessions on the theme of "Be a Better ...." The webinars will include DISC strategies for personal growth and self-improvement, and will stream from...

Perks.com Releases Whitepaper on Gamification of Engagement

Perks.com, provider of incentive programs that drive business success, released a new white paper entitled Let the Games Begin: A Game of Clue in the World of Engagement. This resource highlights the emerging, positive impact of gamification on employee engagement in addition to analyzing both the benefits and drivers of stakeholders. Mention of an internal survey conducted in the Spring 2014...

3 Hiring Headaches: Too Many, Too Few, and Poor Quality

Technology advancements and the evolution of best practices make the hiring process much more efficient than it once was. Even though these developments have brought the hiring process light-years past where it used to be, recruitment and hiring still cause all sorts of pain for HR professionals. The number of applicants, determining a cultural fit, and the balancing act of speed and agility in...

8 Tips to Get Staff to Adopt Your New Hiring Software System (Part 1)

In the old days, when team principals tried to take corporate recruiters from legacy hiring systems and processes to new software-based integrated hiring systems, the culture shift was so great that it met with resistance from staff. However, with social media, smartphones, and other smart technologies (figuratively) coming out of their ears, the modern corporate recruiter is almost as...

Hiring Veterans: 4 Reasons a Vet Is Your Best Bet

"We need to do our part to explain to HR leaders that veterans possess the skills to help organizations thrive." – David Sutherland, cofounder and chair of the Center for Military and Veterans Community Services at the Easter Seals Dixon Center. Last February, first lady Michelle Obama announced that more than 100 construction companies will hire 100,000 veterans over the next five...

Maybe Don't Gamify Everything

Another day, another argument in favor of gamifying your work environment: today, we published an item from our resident news writer, Joshua Bjerke, about "Let the Games Begin," a white paper from Perks.com that strongly supports gamification as a way to engage employees. "The word 'Game' is synonymous with fun," proclaims the white paper's landing page. I'm not sure that's always the case:...

National Survey Finds Creativity Gap in U.S. Workplace

A survey commissioned by the Fairfax County Economic Development Authority (FCEDA) has found that less than half of Americans think they are tapping their creative capacities on the job. That figure stands in contrast to the majority of American workers (73 percent) who believe they are instinctively creative, revealing a "creativity gap." Further, despite a job market slowly recovering...

ATS Changes? Why Now Is the Best Time to Shop for a Video Interviewing Platform, Too

If you're part of the 60 percent of companies that planned to change HR/Human Capital Management (HCM) systems in 2014, we know where a lot of your time and attention has been focused this year. The last thing on your mind may be researching and purchasing a video interviewing solution. However, a change or upgrade to your applicant tracking system (ATS) is really the right time to acquire a...

4 Bright Pathways out of Your Dead-End Job

With just 13 percent of employees currently engaged at work, we know there are an awful lot of workers out there who aren't deriving much value or satisfaction from their jobs. Even more concerning are the controversial findings of a recent study published in the Journal of Economic Behavior Organization, which suggests that many people who end up in dead-end jobs may only have themselves...

8 Tips on How to Leave a Job

When you leave a job, it's important to give notice in a professional manner. You don't want to burn any bridges: networking is crucial to your career. Here are eight tips for leaving a job the right way: 1. Give Your Employer Ample Notice Two weeks is typical, but you may want to consider giving even more notice, depending on your job. As U.S. News and World Report says, "For...