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

As companies recruit and job seekers hunt there are more and more steps to the process of hiring/getting hired successfully. Many of us have been on both sides of that desk, and have the scars to show for it.  There are more tools and systems available, but are they just busy work and hurdles, or do they add to the process?

As an employer, you are trying to find the best candidate without having to spend months in the process. In this job environment, the applicants are just looking for a chance to join a company and contribute (and, let’s not forget, get a paycheck!).  Making the connection is important, but more difficult all the time.

The process starts with the job posting and job application.  This may be on a company site, public job site, ..or just word of mouth.  As an applicant, what if you are one of many resumes that company receives?  How do you get to the top of the pile?  As an employer how do you sort through the pile and find the best?  That is the art form.

Networking is one of the best ways to find good jobs or talent.  It is also a good way to get over some of the early hurdles to the goal.  Ideally both sides have had some information that highlights the candidate and the opportunity.  Companies look to employees and colleagues.  The applicant’s challenge then is to meet the right person to help them get noticed.  (See the blog on “Job Hunting in New Mexico”.)

Large companies with busy recruiters have started using pre-screening aptitude and attitude testing to sort through the pile.  I believe the jury is still out on the value of that versus the roadblocks that the company presents to the good applicant.    In addition, not just anyone can interpret the results of these tests, so now you have to employ or contract with a good test administrator to get your answers.  Finally, if you don’t ask the right questions to identify your target candidate, you’ve wasted everyone’s time.Another issue: if there is a star out there, putting them through a lot of hassle just to apply for the position may cause them to look elsewhere, in a company with a friendlier system.

Recruiting right is so important for both parties in the exchange.  Planning and preparation for the hiring process is the best way to reach the right decision for the applicant and the hiring entity.
Good Luck!

Tags: applications, candidates, For Employers, hiring process, hiring talent, Hiring Trends, job seeker

The March online job fair provided an excellent opportunity for job seekers to access some great jobs.  It also had an impressive list of company participants, including Ball Aerospace, Sandia and Los Alamos laboratories, ZTEC, TEAM, Emcore and many more (see “New Mexico Virtual Job Fair Highlights Technology Jobs” 3/15/2010). 

We hope you all had a chance to visit our fair and get the latest information on job opportunities in the technology sector in New Mexico.  This venue is a fairly new concept, but one that provides a much more intimate setting and interaction between the job seeker and the employer.  It is easy to get lost on the “big boards” and stressful to stand in long lines to be able to meet the company representatives.  We set out to provide a similar venue without a physical site, and it has worked well so far.

 
We’ll be doing more of these in the future, and will keep you posted. In the meantime, please visit our free high tech job site, www.nmtechjobs.org, and see what is out there!

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