Society of Women Engineers Releases Free Work & Life Integration Playbook
The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) wants to help employees successful integrate their work and life—and its offering a playbook to do just that. The organization recently unveiled the "Work Life Integration Playbook," its first eBook that offers tools and case studies in policies, methods and tactics for encouraging employees to maintain a healthy relationship and balance between...
Employee Branding: Who Are You, and Who Do You Aspire to Be?
"When employees really focus on who they are, who they aspire to be, and the changes they need to make, they stand out – because so many people don't," says Lisa Orrell, speaker, International Coach Federation-certified leadership coach, and author of Your Employee Brand Is in Your Hands. "So many people don't act consistently. They don't really know where they're going. All of a...
Should I Join a Hiring Franchise or Start My Own Hiring Firm?
With the job market being as tough as it is, and with job seekers demanding more flexibility and autonomy in the way they work, it's no surprise that many professionals are deciding to become self-employed and start their own businesses. You can kill two birds with one stone in that you create your own job in a job scarce market and you get to be your own boss and can develop working patterns...
GamEffective Launches Next-gen Gamification Platform with Narratives
Next-generation gamification company GamEffective has announced the release of its narrative-based gamification platform for accelerating sales, customer service, and employee training. Using game narratives, no-code integration, and graphic elements such as fantasy sports, virtual city building, and song contests, GamEffective encourages on-the-job mastery for sustained organizational...
Robotipping: Good Reasons to Tip a Robot
Tipping a robot—"robotipping"—leaving cash or card tips for shuffling metal waiters and other service robots—is nothing like "cow tipping". Justifying toppling unwary sleeping, peaceful cows at pasture, regardless of whatever twisted appeal it has, is going to be, like actually tipping a cow, a tough challenge. But finding good reasons to leave tips for robots is easy, despite widespread...
Infographic Details College Grad Happiness, Meaningful Work is Key
By now we've all heard the popular tune "Happy" by Pharrell Williams, and we're all aware that happy employees produce successful, happy organizations. And with the influx of college graduates into the workforce, companies should be well aware of what makes today's top talent happy as well. This is where webapp Happify comes in. The company created a new infographic, "Education,...
Instant Gratification: It's Not Worth Your Job
The title should actually say that instant gratification isn't worth your job or your reputation. I keep reading stories about employees making decisions that seem to produce instant gratification, yet can ultimately hurt them in the future. The latest, unfortunately, comes from my 'home state' of Ohio—specifically Cincinnati (not my hometown, just to note). According to news...
KPIs for Social Media
People have lamented that there are few valuable key performance indicators when it comes to social media. Despite having been in existence for more than a decade, many social media platforms seem to spend more time trying to convince you that they are giving you useful data than actually giving you valuable KPIs. Part of the reason is that each social media platform works differently, and...
Randstad Sourceright Launches Portal to Share Strategic Insights
Global talent leader Randstad Sourceright has announced the launch of its global content portal for delivering strategic advice on talent acquisition and workforce strategy. The site provides information about Sourceright's talent solutions for recruitment process outsourcing (RPO), management services programs (MSP), and payroll and independent contractor solutions (PICS). Additionally, the...
Has Your Hiring Process Gone Stale?
The relentless talent attraction (and now retention) war, has begun taking its toll with 63 percent of CEOs now concerned about availability of skills in their organization, according to the 17th CEO Survey by PwC. And only 34 percent feel that HR is ready for the talent management challenges ahead. This has led to tarnished HR team reputations and left the profession in a daze, soul searching,...
AllFinancialHub.com Launches New Financial Career Center, Free 30-Day Trial
AllfinancialHub.com, a personal finance and small business portal that objects to educate and help people reach their financial goals, recently announced the addition of a financial career center designed to help financial companies find new talent. The career center site includes in-depth information on topics such as beginning a new business, choosing the right bank, all the way to leasing...
Novu Launches Platform for Insurance Companies to Close Care Gaps, Drive Quality
Consumer health and technology services firm, Novu, recently launched the Novu "Quality Engagement Platform" (QEP), an online consumer health engagement program tailored specifically to assist health insurance companies in engaging and motivating their membership in taking preventative actions to lead healthier lives through a proven wellness approach. Through Novu's new QEP, payers, such...
Last Minute Spring Cleaning? Don't Forget To Tidy Up Your Resume
Although the weather is heating up, the first day of summer is, technically, just shy of two weeks away. And while millions across the country are doing some last minute spring cleaning in preparation for summer, there's one particular area job seekers shouldn't forget to tighten up this time of year—their resumes. According to Behiring's "Confessions of the Recruitment Industry"...
18 Mobile Stats for the Recruiter
We've blogged. We've tweeted and retweeted. We've 'webinared'. Here at Red Branch Media, we work with a plethora of HR and recruiting technologies, both established and emerging. While researching for pertinent recruiting and HR information, we often come across some pretty awesome (or surprising) stats. Take for example, mobile technology. Since IBM created the first smartphone (named...
Hey Graduates, Did You Choose Wisely? Today's Hot Jobs
It's graduation season and young graduates across the nation are being asked, "So what are you going to do now?" That daunting question might be a little harder for those who chose a field that might not be as in-demand right now. Careerbuilder set out to discover the hot jobs of 2013, and found that bachelor's degrees are all but guaranteeing graduates a career in several high-growth...
Timesheet Mobile adds Geofence Location Alerts in the Form of Punch Prompt
Freedom Telecare's Timesheet Mobile, an employee time clock and location tracking app for iPhone and Android, now includes Punch Prompt functionality. The new tool uses the GPS location features in smartphone apps to create a geofence around an employee's punch-in location at remote work sites. The app monitors the location of employees while on the clock and prompts the employee to punch out...
Pay Interest on Your Salary?
Imagine receiving your monthly salary and then paying your employer interest on it, even though it's money earned, not money borrowed. Sounds nonsensical? OK. Now imagine that because all digital and paper money in circulation, including your salary, is actually a pile of I.O.U.s, i.e., loaned money, interest must be paid on it and you have to pay your share. How can it be "debt...
4 Tips To Get Your New Sales Hire Up To Speed Quickly
Hiring and on-boarding a new sales person is one of the most crucial events in the HR calendar. A news sales person represents dynamism, energy, sales growth, commercial stability, bigger profits and bigger bonuses. And the last thing you want to happen is for that sales person to crash out of the business after a few weeks or months into the job. It can be both damaging for your finances and...
PeopleMatter Tablet App Creates Actionable Analytics from Big Data
The newly announced PEOPLElytics by PeopleMatter is the first business analytics software product to connect business and people analytics to improve business execution. The Beta version of the product will be available this summer and uses actionable analytics and interactive data visualization to make big data more accessible and meaningful to employers in the restaurant, convenience story,...
Was the "World's Toughest Job" Video Interview Job Seeker Abuse?
I received an email in my inbox with the subject, "Job candidates should not be treated in this outrageous way." Of course, I had to click on it. It took me to a blog post by Andy Law of HuddleRecruit.com. Law talks about the recent practice of companies creating fake job ads, conducting video interviews and displaying these videos on YouTube to garner millions of views. One video he...
Enhancing Employee Engagement through Learning
The most successful recruiters understand that their job isn't just about filling positions with the talent their companies need today, but delivering the individuals with the potential to meet tomorrow's needs. What results is an engaged employee base eager to grow and develop and, most importantly, remain with the company. But finding those individuals who show great promise is only part of...
WizIQ Announces WizIQ Learning Marketplace, Offers Live Instructor-led Online Learning
Online education company, WizIQ, recently announced its WizIQ Learning Marketplace and a free comprehensive teaching system currently available to educators. The announcement, according to WizIQ, makes it the only global education marketplace to offer live instructor-led online learning where anyone can start teaching live online (not live pre-recorded classes) from any part of the...
Obese Employees Cost Employers $4,000+ More Per Year than Normal-weight Employees
Morbidly obese workers cost employers more than $4,000 a year more than normal-weight employees, according to a study published by American Journal of Health Promotion. The probability of disability, workers' compensation claims, and the number of missed days due to any cause increases as workers' Body Mass Index climbs above 25. Co-morbidities of obesity, like hypertension, hyperlipidemia...
Laugh, and Keep It Light: Trunkettes CEO Hilary Genga on the Challenges of Entrepreneurship
The Southern California pool party is a staple of the American imagination, a nationwide symbol of glamorous, playfully indulgent living. The mere mention of SoCal evokes an image of beautiful people lounging around an incomprehensibly grand courtyard, champagne flutes in hand and bathing suit-clad. As is often the case, my New England daydream version of the West Coast isn't exactly flush...
Is There Such a Thing as a Perfect New Hire?
Most of you will know the alarming statistics and bad press around bad hires. A U.S. Department of Labor study estimates that the average cost of a bad hiring decision can be equivalent to 30 percent of the first year's potential earnings. In real terms, this could mean an outlay of $7,000 to replace a salaried employee and up to $40,000 to replace a senior executive. And while it's important...
Large Minority of Employers Expect Job Hopping, Finds CareerBuilder
According to a new study from CareerBuilder, 55 percent of employers said that they have hired a job-hopper while 32 percent of all employers said they expect workers to job hop. The survey was composed of a representative sample of 2,138 hiring managers and HR professionals and 3,022 full-time, private sector workers across industries and company sizes. "More workers are pursuing...
Coach Alba Uses Smart-texting for Employee Wellness Programs
Nowadays, the average person uses his or her cell phone for just about everything—and the average company is following suit. Employers have begun to take their corporate wellness initiatives on-the-go with Coach Alba, a text-based mobile health coaching service. Employees can use the tool to set private reminders for "crucial moments," i.e. the tough times when they're tempted to...
From Turnover to Millennial Learning: Mobile's Impact on the Recruitment Field
Every organization faces challenges with communication. Add to this that, in 2013, 3.3 million people—not counting the self-employed— considered home their primary place of work. And add to both of those that our workforce continues to evolve into a technology-centered arena and now we're talking about even more communication challenges. What are organizations to do? The logical...
Simulation Studios Introduces Sim Platform for Engaging Learning/Training
Simulation Studios (SimStudios), an experiential training and simulation company, has announced the launch of its new TailorMadeSimulations for corporate workforce development. These semi-customizable simulations are the first of their kind to be made available to organizations of any size, and with nearly any sized budget. Built upon a platform of core technologies, TailorMadeSims combine...
How to Package and Sell Your Flaws
You've been caught —or fear you will be. One of your flaws is on the interview poker table or about to be dealt (with). It might be the huge hole in your skill set, some pathetic test result, that bluff about being able to read Chinese that is about to be called or those Facebook bar(f) photos of you and the goldfish you swallowed on a booze-fueled, half-comprehended dare. The cautionary...
For Better Big Data, Bring in the Experts
I'm willing to bet that most of Google's employees are smarter than I am, and the vast majority of them will probably accomplish more in their lives than I ever will in mine. I'd put money on it. Which is why I pay extra close attention when Google makes mistakes: if my own average-dude goofs are good learning opportunities, imagine how fertile Google's must be. Enter Google Flu...
ZALP to Offer Free Recruiting Leaders Webinar, June 12th
Can you differentiate between a recruiting manager and a recruiting leader? This question is posed by employee referral solutions provider, ZALP. And the company plans to provide the answer and much more during an upcoming complimentary webinar with Dr. John Sullivan. Sullivan, ZALP explains, will spell out the difference between both of these identical sounding roles to not only help...
Claims for Unemployment Benefits Drop as Labor Market Strengthens
Fewer Americans than forecast filed applications for unemployment benefits last week, a sign the labor market continues to strengthen. Jobless claims fell by 27,000 to 300,000 in the week ended May 24, as reported by the U.S. Labor Department. The median forecast of 50 economists surveyed by Bloomberg called for 318,000. The four-week average declined to the lowest level since August 2007, before...
FinFit Finds Financial Stress Has Increased Absenteeism, Decreased Productivity
A new survey of economic stress and financial wellness in the workplace has found that more employees are living paycheck-to-paycheck and that financial stress is a growing contributor to absenteeism and decreased productivity. The survey, from FinFit, LLC, a provider of financial wellness solutions, asked business owners and professionals for their views on the financial challenges faced by...
Zappos Says Goodbye to Job Postings
Zappos, an online retailer, has been one of the most talked about companies in the HR and recruiting space mainly because of its unique practice in offering employees bonuses to quit the company. Now, Zappos is changing its hiring process beginning with the very first step: the job opportunity posting. (For our first analysis of this important new idea, please read Zappos Is Revolutionizing...
Job Seekers: Choose Your Words Carefully
Remember how your mother would always tell you to watch what you say because you never know who's listening? Well, this is one piece of advice you don't want to ignore—and that's universal across age, gender, educational status and occupation. My "mouth" has gotten me into trouble a day or two in my life, but saying the wrong thing at the wrong time can be especially harmful when...
Can a Business Hire Its Way Out of a Recession?
With the GDP growth rates of the major western economies either slow, flat-lining or receding, I don't think it is safe to suggest we are comfortably within a post-recession era. In fact, the IMF cut the growth forecast for developed economies in 2012 by 0.7 percent to a mere 1.2 percent and the 2013 forecast was cut by 0.5 percent to 1.9 percent. So, with economies languishing in terms of GDP...
The "Idiot" Might Just Be an "Outsider": Appreciating Diverse Perspectives in the Workplace
Over at the QuickBase blog, Esther Schindler offers some interesting thoughts on how to treat your workplace's "village idiot." According to Schindler, every group has an "idiot" — a team member who is simply the least productive and accomplished. It's just a fact of life: in any given group, someone has to be the worst. Schindler says that the way teams treat their "idiot"...
Jobscience PowerSearch to Transform ATS/CRM Databases into Primary Hiring Sources
Jobscience, a leading CRM-based recruiting firm, has announced Jobscience PowerSearch, a visual interactive ATS/CRM search tool within the Jobscience platform. The tool requires no training and broadens the usability of internal ATS/CRM databases, essentially transforming them into primary sources of hires. "In today's world where consumer application user experience is the new standard...
What's Your Social Media Recruitment Model?
This might hurt: Facebook is more than 10 years old. Launched originally as thefacebook.com, it has been around since February 2004. Twitter is eight years old. LinkedIn is celebrating its 11th birthday this month. Brand "new" social darling WhatsApp will have turned five by the time you read this. Clearly, social media isn't new. Everyone is using it on every device in every place with...
4 Writing Tips to Improve Your Job Search
Most jobs will require some form of written communication. Even if it's something as seemingly small as a business email, the ability to write and write well is extremely important. And this is true for both the personal and professional aspects of life. At some point during the job search you'll be required to write a cover letter. Or perhaps it's not a job opportunity you seek, but a...
First Impressions Count, but Last Impressions Count More
Most interviewees understand the importance of making a powerful first impression during the interview, because it can set the tone for the interview from there on in. There are countless studies that show that interviewers form their impression of you within the first 30 seconds. And if you make a serious mistake in this opening phase, you may find it hard to change the interviewer's first...
Questionmark Perception Adds Assessment Management, Reporting Enhancements
A new release of the Questionmark Perception assessment management system for on premise deployments includes new features that enable learning and assessment professions to run job task analysis assessments. Users can create Job Task Analysis (JTA) assessments, most commonly used for constructing and validating certification programs, to ensure that the questions on certification tests are...
This is One Very Weird Recruitment Poster
Tell me this isn't weird: Appealing to patriotism through a recruiting poster slogan written in the language of a foreign power. Imagine a U.S. Marine recruitment poster in an Iowa farm town bannered with the following slogan above the head of a steely-eyed, ramrod, granite-jawed pilot posing proudly beside his gleaming F/A-18 Hornet: "アメリカの誇り". That's as difficult to...
Glassdoor Releases Top 25 Companies for Compensation & Benefits for 2014
Glassdoor recently released its inaugural report on the "Top 25 Companies for Compensation Benefits for 2014." The rankings derive from U.S. employee feedback. Google came in at no.1 with a 4.4 rating for compensation and benefits. The remainder of 2014's top five included: -Costco (4.4 stars) -Facebook (4.3 stars) -Adobe (4.2 stars) -Epic Systems Corporation (4.2...
Five Super Useful Free Online Resources for Recruiters and HR Professionals, Again
We said we'd be back with more links to free resources for recruiters and HR professionals, and we weren't lying. Here are five more Web-based resources for you to check out. Hopefully, you'll find something you've never seen before. BTW, here's the link to the first article. 1. Pinterest It's not all adorable cupcakes and vintage clothes (though, watch where you step, because...
5 Ways to Use LinkedIn's Mobile Photo Sharing to Boost Your Brand
Last month, LinkedIn announced that it will be launching a mobile photo sharing capabilities via the LinkedIn Mobile App. The largest professional networking site recently exceeded 300 million members, and a recent Glassdoor study revealed that 89 percent of job seekers plan to use their mobile devices during their job search in the next 12 months. With the rise of Instagram and "selfies,"...
Title VII Rules Updated on Religious Discrimination
It's been 50 years since the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Especially relevant is Title VII, which deals with Equal Employment Opportunity, especially in light of recent updates to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's Fact Sheet on Religious Garb and Grooming in the Workplace: Rights and Responsibilities. The fact sheet, as highlighted by Aditi Mukherji, JD, at his Free...
