There is a major focus on jobs in the current economy – who is adding, why some are still laying off folks, and what is coming in the future.  There is a large pool of job seekers, some who have been looking for jobs for quite awhile.

The old standby methods are still used;  ads, job fairs, and listings on job sites.  There are some new twists, however.  Many companies, because of a flood of applicants, have set up online screening processes to find the candidates that most closely meet their needs.  This method does add time to the equation, as these systems can take awhile to sort through the information.  Companies may also set up their own private job fairs, looking for specific talent to meet a current need.  Some companies also participate in job fairs for the exposure and to “test the waters” to see who is looking for jobs and if they might meet a future need.  Many, when they are trying to find a specific person to fit an important position, use recruiters, or network through professional groups.

All this means that job seekers need to be more flexible and agile in their searching.  There are a few important things to be aware of, some of which I’ve mentioned before but bear repeating!

Showing up takes energy and effort you don’t always have, but it can pay off.  A recent job fair in Albuquerque paid off in some immediate job offers, and in other cases scheduling of follow up interviews at the company.  Note:  don’t show up in sweats or shorts!  You still need to appear professional, no matter what your occupation.  Business casual is most appropriate for these events.  Also it is good to have a polished resume with you – and have an email address they can access for followup.  Some applicants have put online resumes on Linked In or Facebook.  Do make sure these sites are done carefully and look professional.

For companies that require an online application, be patient – it may take awhile for them to get to your resume.  It never hurts to have a name to follow up with, just an email which lets them know you’ve applied and would appreciate their attention.  This may require some networking on your part. 

Finally, don’t apply unless you fit the requirements!  This just wastes everyone’s time, including  yours.  In the case where you are trying to make a career change, as I once did, you somehow need to present the resume as having experience and skills appropriate to the new field even though  they were learned in a different industry.  Your cover letter should explain why you are making the change and how you have prepared yourself for the new career.  

Good luck to both companies and job seekers.  Patience is the key.

Tags: applications, For Employers, hiring process, hiring talent, job fair, job seeker, job seeker attitudes

We live in interesting times!  Not necessarily fun, but interesting.  One of the casualties of the economic downturn seems to be a lack of opportunities for C-level candidates.  As companies downsize they also eliminate leadership positions, and so there are many very experienced executives looking for opportunities.
There is also an increase in CEO turnover as some take early retirement, some are removed by their boards and some are casualties of the economic times.  According to an article in Staffing Management magazine the government/non-profit sector led all industries in May with 19 CEO departures.  The budget shortfalls being experienced by this industry means it continues to struggle, even as job losses in the private sector have slowed.  The largest turnover for the year was experienced in health care with 98 executives leaving so far this year. 
In the technology industry, and particularly in companies just starting out, the CEO has a major impact on success.  One of the problems in this area is that many of the new companies are cutting edge and there is no established market, or the business has a disruptive technology that requires a new approach.  Tech companies with new ideas need leadership that can apply new tools to grow the company. 
So, there is opportunity for leaders to find positions in these tech startups – but they may have a very small office and no secretary!  They also may not be able to pay much of a salary up front.    Ownership in the company is sometimes offered in lieu of salary, but to collect, CEO’s have to get the company into the profit mode, and this could take awhile.  We need the talent that these executives possess, and our challenge is to provide an opportunity that  these leaders will find attractive. 

Tags: candidates, Executive jobs, For Employers, industry news

An article in the Society for Human Resource Management’s staffing publication  (Staffing Management) reviews the results of the Leading Indicators of National Employment Survey released May 7.  According to the article by Theresa Minton-Eversole  the unemployed might have a better chance of finding a job in the next few months . 
Overall the survey shows that the percentage of manufacturing companies that are hiring is the highest since fall of 2007 and in services the highest since summer of 2007.  Also the survey indicates that good workers are getting harder to find.
The LINE Employment Report surveys four key areas:  employer hiring expectation, new-hire compensation, recruiting difficulty for top level talent and job vacancies.  The survey covers HR departments at more than 500 manufacturing and 500 service sector companies, which employ more than 90% of the nation’s private sector workers.
Results include employment expectation increases of 48.7% in manufacturing and 37% in service sector.  This is the seventh straight month of predicted increases.  In recruiting difficulty, manufacturing indicated an 18.9% increase and services a 14.2% increase.  New hire compensation increased in April by 7.2% in manufacturing and 10.9% in services.
LINE survey results for job vacancies cover both exempt and non-exempt positions.  This indicator can be one of the early indicators of a shift in supply and demand in the labor market.  In the manufacturing sector 18.7% of respondents reported an increase in vacancies in April. 
The survey noted that most companies had held their salary levels through the period of high unemployment and are now increasing some compensation for the harder-to-fill positions.  Job seekers are still accepting lower wages and benefits than in the past overall.   Employers may have to change tactics as the pool of candidates for positions of strategic importance gets tighter. 

Tags: applications, candidates, Executive jobs, For Employers, hiring talent, Hiring Trends, industry news, job seeker

An article in the Society For Human Resource Management (www.shrm.org) magazine brings attention to a bill introduced in both houses of Congress that affects companies using contract workers.  Known as the Employee Misclassification Prevention Act, the new proposed bill adds paperwork and other costs that may reduce the savings benefit to companies using contract workers. The employer in the past wasn’t required to keep documentation on non-employees and in many cases wasn’t responsible for payroll taxes for that worker.  Under the propsed bill that will change.

There are speculations as to why this bill is necessary.  One reaon may be that a misclassified contract worker is prevented from accessing wage and hour protections and benefits they may be entitled to. 

Among the bill’s many provisions targeting misclassification:

* Requiring that employers keep records reflecting the correct status of each worker as an employee or nonemployee and stating expressly that employers violate the FLSA when they misclassify workers.
* Increasing penalties on employers who misclassify their employees and are found to have violated employees’ overtime or minimum wage rights. Civil penalties would be imposed, up to $1,100 per employee for first-time violators, and up to $5,000 per employee for repeat or willful violators.
* Allowing double liquidated damages for employers that fail to accurately classify an individual as an employee and violate the minimum wage or maximum hour provisions of FLSA.
* Requiring employers to notify workers in writing of their classification as an employee or nonemployee.
* Creating an official Department of Labor (DOL) “employee rights web site,” explaining that employees may have additional or greater rights under state or local laws and how employees may obtain additional information about their rights under state or local laws (the web site may provide a link to permit individuals to file complaints online with the Wage and Hour Division).
* Providing protections to workers who are discriminated against because they have sought to be accurately classified.
* Mandating that states report quarterly to the DOL the results of state auditing and investigative procedures with respect to identifying employers that may have excluded employees from unemployment compensation coverage.
* Directing states to strengthen their own penalties for worker misclassification.
* Permitting the Wage and Hour Division, other administrations of DOL, and the Internal Revenue Service to refer incidents of misclassification to one another.
* Directing the DOL to perform targeted audits focusing on employers in industries that frequently misclassify employees.

Tags: employee benefits, For Employers, Hiring Trends, industry news

If life weren’t complicated enough, finding the right talent for the job (or the right job for your talents), managing staffing levels during economic uncertainty and both employers and employees trying to prepare for the next “new” thing- we have a new set of social challenges.

There’s the mental health parity rule – employee health plans should provide the same level of coverage for mental health conditions as they do for other health problems. Defining “equivalent” is going to be a challenge for all the good intentions in that provision.

Over-the counter genetic test kits have some folks concerned that there will be abuses/discrimination based on test results.  I’m not sure if these concerned citizens think that health plans and employers can then screen for chronic health conditions such as diabetes and then deny coverage or not hire???  That seems farfetched but not impossible.

W-2 forms for 2011 will have to report the aggregate cost of employer-sponsored health care coverage. That opens the door to the employee being taxed on that benefit.

The immigration reform measures and individual state efforts to pass laws regarding issues in that arena will keep employers and employees on their toes. There’s a potential for a lot more “documentation” in the hiring process.

Then we have all the other issues that come up when dealing with the human element in the workplace. Abusive employers, employees working while using drugs or alcohol, downsizing rules when there’s no work to be done, safety on the job and many other problem areas make the workplace a complicated place to manage or to work in.  Rules are created to handle these problems which create more required training, reporting and reviewing of company policies.

With all this going on it’s hard to get the job done. If there’s a problem, we can make up a rule about it. Sometimes it is easier to work for yourself!

Tags: candidates, change management, For Employers