Recruiters Hub - HR issues, Recruiting tools, Recruiter Tips, Industry News

Where do your candidates come from?

2008-12-04T22:26:00.000-08:00

Source: Web MarketingRecruiter.com

ExecuNet periodically surveys their members as to the methods they utilize to land that next great hire..

AMD, LinkedIn - Layoffs

2008-11-11T03:28:00.001-08:00

clipped from www.adotas.com

ADOTAS – Chipmaker AMD reduced its workforce by 3%, or roughly 500 staffers. In April, the company laid off 10% of its staff.

LinkedIn has announced that it’s cutting 10% of its staff (about 36 jobs). LinkedIn recently raised $22.7 million in funding (in June it raised $53 million).

Veoh, an online video-sharing site, also announced layoffs – roughly 20% of its staff, or 20 people. While revenue for the company is reportedly growing, the gloomy economic forecast was blamed on the cuts. In June, Veoh received a $30 million round of funding.

Fortune 500 Companies Slashing Raises, Planning Layoffs

2008-11-10T21:20:00.001-08:00

clipped from workforce.com

In coming weeks, a number of Fortune 500 companies are planning to cut merit
raises and conduct further layoffs as they continue to wrestle with the economic
downturn, according to recent polls conducted by the Corporate Executive
Board.

As of mid-October, 30 percent of the 100 compensation and benefits executives
polled said they were planning to reduce their 2009 merit budgets, while 45
percent weren’t sure yet, according to a poll conducted by the Corporate
Executive Board, a Washington-based organization that provides best practices
information and support to member companies.

“Based on conversations since that poll was conducted, it would seem that
more companies have decided to reduce their merit budgets or get rid of merit
raises altogether,” said Michal Kislevitz, managing director at the Corporate
Executive Board. “Things are changing quickly.”

Search Personal Homepages on Geocities

2008-11-06T04:35:00.000-08:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

Yahoo! Geocities is a popular Internet community. Personal home pages on this community will most often have a person’s resume posted as well. Using Google or Yahoo!, you can easily search for matching resumes from these homepages. The search syntax is as follows:

site:www.geocities.com (resume | homepage) Keyword (City, State)

For example, to search Geocities for resumes of java programmers in San Jose, CA, you can use

site:www.geocities.com (resume | homepage) java programmers (San Jose, CA )

You can use this technique to search resumes from popular online communities such as Angelfire, FortuneCity, Tripod, etc.

LinkedIn launches New Applications

2008-11-01T01:10:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.searchengineguide.com

This initial roll out features productivity applications that range from gathering information that professionals around you are generating to enhancing your abilities to collaborate and communicate more effectively. You'll be able to work much more closely with your contacts on LinkedIn with tools such as file sharing, project management, business trips and many more.

The nine applications that you see live today on LinkedIn include productivity enhancing applications from Amazon, Box.net, Google, Huddle, Six Apart, SlideShare, Tripit, and WordPress as well a Company Buzz application developed by LinkedIn. Each of these applications will help you stay current and competitive as a professional in today's rapidly changing business world.

Top 10 reasons that makes an Employee Unhappy

2008-10-29T02:47:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.rediff.com

Unfair rewards and recognition
Office politics
Un-cooperative team
Unreasonable boss
Insufficient compensation
Constant threat to job security
Lack of responsibility in the current job
No clear career path
Seating location
Lack of basic facilities at workplace

Use a "Forward-Thinking" Recruitment Approach

2008-10-22T21:46:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

An economic downturn may be the best time to get new recruits. With companies resorting to cost-cuts, corporate downsizing and layoffs are in the news everyday. This is a scenario where organizations actively release top talent into the job market; a rare opportunity with few or no job openings and a considerable pool of available top talent.

A "Forward-Thinking" recruitment approach lets you make the most out of talent that is without work in the market. This is the time to replace weak employees in your company (or at your clients') with the best in the market. Seek out departments or business units in your organization that have the potential to perform or grow during a recession and staff them with new hires. You should also look at long-term recruitment objectives and hire talent that will contribute to growth once the economy rebounds. Understand that it costs much less to hire during a downturn.

Yahoo to announce layoffs this Week

2008-10-20T01:22:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.alleyinsider.com

We heard whispers of this last week, and now the Merc is hearing them, too: Yahoo will reportedly announce its mass firings on the earnings call this week. A reader tells us the company has scheduled an all-hands meeting in Sunnyvale on Wednesday, presumably to deliver the message that all Yahoo employees already got from the Merc and Google News.

Let's just hope Yahoo isn't dumb enough to announce the firings now and then wait until mid-December to actually make them. Let's also hope the company doesn't cut too few people and then have to go through the same horrific process again in Q1.

AdBrite cuts 40% Staff to survive the downturn

2008-10-17T05:31:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.mediapost.com

Online ad network AdBrite is laying off 40% of staff, or about 40 employees, as it restructures amid an economic slowdown chilling both online and offline ad spending.

AdBrite is the second company backed by Sequoia Capital to make significant employee cutbacks following the now-famous meeting the venture firm held last week with portfolio company CEOs, stressing the need to control costs and become profitable to survive the downturn.

Increase in the % Workers participating in Employee Retirement Plans

2008-10-17T02:16:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

The percentage of all workers participating in employment-based retirement
plans was 41.5 percent in 2007, up from 39.7 percent a year earlier, according
to a study by the Employee Benefit Research Institute.

Among full-time workers 21 to 64 years old, 55.3 percent were in an
employment-based plan in 2007, up from 52.7 percent the previous year, according
to a news release on the study issued by EBRI in Washington.

Other findings in the study were:

• 63.9 percent of workers 55 to 64 were in a retirement plan in 2007,
compared with 28 percent of workers ages 21 to 24.

• 57 percent of full-time female workers participated in a plan in 2007,
compared with 54 percent of male workers.

• Florida had the lowest representation of workers participating in plans in
2007, at 42 percent. Wisconsin had the highest participation rate, at 68
percent.

eGrabber Forms Strategic Partnership with Zoho

2008-10-13T03:17:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Press Release

San Jose, CA, Oct 09, 2008 - eGrabber, the leading Silicon Valley-based provider of sales lead and resume data capture and processing solutions, announced ResumeGrabber Pro support for Zoho People. This integration will allow Zoho People users to auto-extract resumes from the Internet, Outlook inbox, PC folders, etc. and have them entered into Zoho People.

The partnership between eGrabber and Zoho will be a wide-ranging relationship that will leverage the complementary core strengths of both these organizations to the benefit of the customer.

"This collaboration with Zoho provides a combined scope with opportunities to significantly extend our solutions to a much wider audience" said Chandra Bodapati, CEO, eGrabber. "This partnership will benefit Zoho People users immensely as it will transform the way they source and process resumes."

eGrabber's solutions will completely eliminate the pain of having to manually screen every resume and copy-paste contact information from each selected resume into Zoho People. One has to simply select the resume or contact information and click on ResumeGrabber to enter resumes into Zoho People.

"This partnership will give recruiters exactly what they need to improve their productivity manifold" said Sridhar Vembu, CEO, AdventNet. "Combining eGrabber's patented data-capture solutions with Zoho People will add incredible efficiency to the workflow and maximize revenues."

ResumeGrabber for Zoho People is priced at an annual subscription fee of $495 only. For more information on the product, please visit http://www.egrabber.com/resumegrabberpro/

Information on all other products, including ResumeFinder, ResumeGrabber Professional and ListGrabber Professional, can be found at http://www.egrabber.com/

General Motors eyes more job cuts

2008-10-13T03:10:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.vindy.com

General Motors Corp. is likely to announce further production cuts and possible plant closures as early as next week as it deals with slumping sales and a collapse in its stock price, a person with knowledge of the company’s plans said Friday.

The person, who did not want to be identified because the plans are not finalized, said the cuts likely will hit engine, transmission and stamping operations to correspond with a June announcement that GM would close four truck and sport utility vehicle assembly plants.

The closure dates for those plants likely will be accelerated, the person said. GM announced last week that its Moraine, Ohio, SUV factory will close Dec. 23, and it has said it will idle assembly factories in Oshawa, Ontario; Toluca, Mexico; and Janesville, Wis., by 2010.

Micron planning to cut staff by 15%

2008-10-10T00:16:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.computerworld.com

Micron Technology Inc. and Intel Corp. plan to shut down their joint production of NAND flash memory from a plant in Boise, Idaho, and Micron plans to lay off about 15% of its workforce in another sign that the economic meltdown is taking its toll on some tech companies.

The moves are a result of a combination of lowered customer demand and product oversupply in the market, Micron said in a statement.

Intel and Micron, through their IM Flash Technologies joint venture, were supplying NAND flash memory from Micron's Boise facility. The shutdown will reduce the joint venture's NAND flash production by about 35,000 wafers per month, in the factory using 200-millimeter manufacturing lines per month. IM Flash Technologies also has a facility in Lehi, Utah, which has 300mm manufacturing lines.

Retirement Age 67 is the target for 48 percent of US Workers.

2008-10-09T22:19:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Only 48 percent of American workers plan to retire at age 67, with others
planning to work longer, according to a survey released by Sun Life Financial.

The data also showed that only 46 percent of those surveyed are “very
confident” they will have enough money to take care of basic living expenses at
67, and 28 percent are “very confident” they will be able to take care of
medical expenses.

Younger generations have little confidence that government benefit programs
such as Social Security and Medicare will be available when they retire, as 63
percent of workers 30 to 39 years old don’t believe Social Security will be
available. The same age group also noted the need for employer-sponsored health
care benefits as a reason to work past 67.

Search Profiles on MySpace

2008-10-08T21:01:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

MySpace, one of the most popular social networking sites, is no longer the exclusive domain of teenagers. The average age for people on this site is now about 35 years. There are millions of MySpace users and many of them are professionals (potential passive candidates).

The search syntax for finding profiles on MySpace is

site:www.myspace.com keyword

If you are looking for passive prospects from a geographic area, you can include the state code at the end of the search string. For, example, if you are looking for profiles of Certified Public Accountants from California, the search string will be

site:www.myspace.com Certified Public Accountant (California | CA)

Use the above search technique and explore the vast possibilities that MySpace can offer, especially to locate those hard-to-find candidates for your assignments.

MIT Study - Bias Creeps into Bonus Process

2008-10-03T06:21:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Employers generally believe they are being as fair as possible by rating
employees’ performance annually and basing their bonuses on those ratings.

But a recent study by a professor at MIT’s Sloan School of Management shows
that might not always be the case.

In the study “Gender, Race and Meritocracy in Organizational Careers,”
professor Emilio Castilla found that despite being in the same job with the same
supervisor and receiving the same performance ratings, white men often received
higher bonuses than minorities.

The study, which examined 9,000 exempt and nonexempt nonmanagement employees
at a U.S. company with a workforce of 20,000, compared white male and minority
employees who were in the same job and work unit. They also had the same
supervisor and experience and education levels.

Hiring in India affected by US economic slow down

2008-09-29T22:28:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Rising inflation and the downturn in the U.S. economy are forcing Indian
employers to slow hiring, freeze wages and fire underperformers to maintain
profit margins.

“Efficiency and output delivery will be the core mantras at play,” said brand
consultant Harish Bijoor.

The slowdown is tangible, as the number of information technology and
business process outsourcing deals dropped to 78 in the first quarter of 2008
from 109 in the first quarter of 2007, according to India-based research firm
Value Notes. By the second quarter of 2008, according to Value Notes CEO Arun
Jethmalani, the number of deals slid to 58, down from 101 a year earlier.

Use Multiple Websites for your Job Posting

2008-09-23T23:36:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

Surveys show that nearly 17% of recruits found their last job from an ad posted on an online job board. Internet resources are clearly effective as a key component of any effective recruitment strategy. Though most recruiters are unanimous in accepting the above fact, they are a bit pessimistic when it comes to increasing their Internet recruiting capability. They restrict their job postings to a handful of familiar sites.

There are more than 45,000 job boards and career portals in the U.S. alone. Successful recruiters are more open to exploring this pool to find sites that might be appropriate for their openings. Expand your sources to include at least 5 different sites for posting job ads. By including alternative sites in your online recruiting, you can widen your net and attract more number of prospects.

MphasiS reduces hiring plans by 50 per cent.

2008-09-19T20:28:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.rediff.com

Bengaluru-based IT outsourcing services provider MphasiS, an EDS company, is reducing hiring plans by almost 50 per cent.
At the beginning of this financial year, the company had guided the Street that it would recruit around 8,000 people. It now plans to recruit just 4,000.
MphasiS has historically been strong in the banking, financial services and insurance space. It derives over 40 per cent of its revenue from this sector. Two of the world's top five brokerage firms are its clients. AIG, which was recently bailed out by the US government, is also one among its customers.
Earlier this week, Hewlett-Packard -- which bought IT services company EDS last month -- said it would make 24,600 staff redundant over three years.

Build your Candidate Pipeline

2008-09-10T20:57:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

Finding the right candidate, for the right position, at the right time is the key to making you a successful recruiter. One of the ways to ensure that is by building a strong candidate pipeline. There are two strategies to achieve this - passive and active recruiting.

Most recruiters rely heavily on active strategies for building their candidate pipeline. This is done only when the need for manpower arises - job postings, campus visits, career fairs, etc.

A passive strategy on the other hand, is proactive. You look for prospective candidates even when there is no immediate need. You can passively hunt for candidates through

-	careers section on your company website
-	profile page on social networking sites
-	posting articles / blogs, and more...

By following both these methods to build your candidate pipeline, you can ensure that you get the right hires at the right time.

Labor Day - Less Optimism for Workers

2008-08-29T01:42:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

American workers will have little to celebrate this Labor Day, according to a
new report.

The study, from the liberal-leaning Economic Policy Institute, examines the
recession-recovery cycle that started in 2001 and finds that for
the first time on record, middle-class families are at or near the end of a
recovery without ever having regained the ground they lost during the recession
that preceded it. The study also said job growth has been slower and
unemployment stints longer.

“[Gross domestic product] and historically high productivity growth should
have raised paychecks up and down the income ladder, but instead, the benefits
of that growth have bypassed most of the people who made it possible,” the
institute said in a statement.

Pull Resumes from Google, Yahoo! and Live Search

2008-08-27T02:38:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.egrabber.com

Resumes are everywhere on the Internet and a simple search will return volumes of resumes. Manually sorting resumes and copy-pasting resume details into a database is a tedious and distracting task to busy recruiters.

A successful recruiter is distinguished by her ability to consistently source new candidates, screen & process resume volumes quickly and connect with more candidates within a short time. Well, ResumeGrabber Pro can help you do just that.

ResumeGrabber automatically extracts name, address, email, phone number and other candidate contact details and enters them, along with the resume, into your database. It can also screen resumes based on keywords (educational qualification, skill set, experience, location, etc).

Now, you can save 90% of the time you would normally spend on resume extraction and screening. Download your 10-day free-trial version of ResumeGrabber today.

CollegeRecruiter.com in Inc.5000 List

2008-08-25T03:46:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

The old college try is paying off for CollegeRecruiter.com.

The online job board focused on college students and recent graduates has
landed a spot on the Inc. 5,000 list of the fastest-growing privately held
companies in the United States.

In its 2008 list released Wednesday, August 20, business publication Inc.
said CollegeRecruiter.com was among its fastest-growing companies, finishing
1,403rd as revenue jumped from $660,424 in 2004 to $2.4 million last year.

Recruiting industry analyst Peter Weddle says CollegeRecruiter.com has been
at the forefront of experimenting with the social and viral aspects of the
Internet. The Minneapolis-based firm has tapped blogging, podcasts and cell
phone text messaging.

“They are a good template for how job boards are evolving to be more a part
of people’s lives on a daily basis,” Weddle says.

An Interview with Chandra Bodapati - CEO, eGrabber

2008-08-13T03:52:00.000-07:00

Source: RecruitersLounge

Chandra Bodapati, CEO, eGrabber, was interviewed by Jim Stroud, a leading Internet Searchologist and Proprietor of The Recruiters Lounge.

Excerpts of the interview can be found at The Recruiters Lounge

Externally hired CEO's paid more than internally hired

2008-08-07T22:52:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Chief executives hired externally made far more than their counterparts with
at least two years’ tenure as CEO, according to an analysis conducted by
executive compensation research firm Equilar. At small-cap firms, externally
hired CEOs received a median pay package that was 79.8 percent higher than that
of tenured CEOs. Large-cap companies paid external hires 51.1 percent more and
midcap companies paid 10.2 percent more.

By contrast, CEOs who were promoted from within at mid-cap companies received
median pay packages worth 22.5 percent less than chief executives with at least
two years’ tenure. Internally hired CEOs were paid 19.6 percent less at
small-cap companies and 14.2 percent less at large-cap companies, the
researchers said.

The difference in compensation reflects the premium that companies must pay
when they don’t have a solid pool of internal candidates ready to step in and
run the company, said Equilar research manager Alexander Cwirko-Godycki.

Connecticut-based Insurance Company eyes on Staffing Firms

2008-07-30T03:33:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

American Staffing Assurance Co. has entered a risk-sharing agreement with
Hartford, Connecticut-based Sparta Insurance Co. and raised $4 million from
private investors, enabling it to begin selling workers’ compensation and other
insurance to staffing firms nationwide.

American Staffing, based in Grosse Pointe Park, Michigan, is offering the
insurance, underwritten by Sparta, through its newly licensed affiliate,
American Staffing Assurance Co. of Washington, D.C.

“Assuming all goes well, we will accept more investment dollars,” said
president James Farber, one of 11 investors in the deal and founder of Executive
Strategies Inc. in Grosse Pointe Park, which will serve as program
administrator.

Five years from now, American Staffing hopes to have raised $250 million to
fund the acquisition and operation of a shell insurance company licensed in all
states, he said.

“[But] at this time, the greatest return on investment is generated by
partnering with Sparta,” said Farber.

Gas Price Crisis leading to revolution in US WorkPlace

2008-07-18T21:54:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.workforce.com

Soaring gas prices top economic and political agendas, so it’s natural that they also are a topic of conversation at the Society for Human Resource Management Annual Conference & Exposition in Chicago.

The buzz portends a fundamental change in the U.S. workplace, according to John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outplacement firm.

Challenger overheard some people talking about their pain at the pump while riding in an elevator at the show. The thrust of the chat: “How are we going to get around this gas situation?”

Such worry is more than a transient concern.

“The country is coming to terms with permanently higher gas prices,” Challenger says.

Employees are hurting, and companies are responding by offering compressed work schedules, four-day weeks, telecommuting, gas cards and car-pooling.

General Motors to Cut Jobs Bonuses, Dividends

2008-07-15T23:55:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

General Motors said Tuesday, July 15, that it will improve its finances
through 2009 by laying off salaried workers, making more cuts in truck
production, suspending its dividend and borrowing at least $2 billion as it
rides out its worst U.S. sales in a decade.

Those moves, combined with several other initiatives, are expected to improve
GM's cash position by $15 billion through the end of 2009.

The No. 1 U.S. automaker was compelled to cut costs and raise capital because
of a deepening slump in U.S. auto sales. Through the first half of the year,
GM’s total U.S. light vehicle sales are off 16.3 percent.

GM said it will save $1.5 billion, or 20 percent of its cash costs, in 2009
through layoffs and changes in benefits to salaried employees and
executives.

HR software market keeps Growing this year

2008-07-09T03:01:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Two new studies that speak to the state of the HR software market agree that
spending on HR technology is likely to keep growing this year.

The reports, from advisory firms Towers Perrin and AMR Research, indicate
that a tumultuous, sluggish economy isn’t crimping sales of applications for
such tasks as tracking basic employee data, recruiting new workers and managing
compensation.

Thomas Keebler, leader of Towers Perrin’s global HR function effectiveness
practice, was surprised to see that just 15 percent of organizations surveyed by
his firm expect to reduce spending this year on HR technology—a category that
includes HR software expenses plus internal and external staffing costs. Last
year, that figure was 18 percent.

Dan Finnigan becomes the CEO of Jobvite

2008-07-03T21:48:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Dan Finnigan, former head of Yahoo HotJobs’ online recruiting business and
more recently entrepreneur-in-residence at a Silicon Valley venture firm,
replaces Jobvite founder Jesper Schultz, who stepped into the role of chief
product officer.
“We have a lot of things we want to do on the product side, and we needed to
get talent to build the company,” Shultz said. Finnigan “has experience in
recruiting and has run big companies, which is why I’m excited to have him on
board.”

Taleo Begins Vurv Acquisiton By Job Cuts

2008-07-02T04:53:00.001-07:00

clipped from humancapitalist.com

On Friday, Taleo announced eliminating approximately 160 jobs at Vurv as part of the acquisition integration. Based on my most recent estimates, that is over 50% of Vurv’s total workforce.

Monster Rolling Out New Job Sites

2008-06-30T02:48:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.workforce.com

Career site operator Monster Worldwide announced Monday, June 23, that it
will launch co-branded recruitment Web sites with more than a dozen local
newspapers, part of the company’s effort to push its brand in specific
markets.

The recruitment Web sites will include ventures with The Columbus Dispatch in
Ohio, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Union Leader in New
Hampshire, Rutland Herald in Vermont, Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday
Telegram, The Post and Courier in South Carolina, The Blade in Ohio, San
Francisco Examiner, Baltimore Examiner and Puerto Rico’s El Nuevo Dia.

At least four other co-branded sites are also in the works.

Exec Searches Increase Despite Q1 Decline

2008-06-17T02:11:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Demand for senior executive talent increased during the first quarter of 2008
despite a slight dip in the tumultuous financial sector, according to a newly
released state-of-the-industry survey from the Association of Executive Search
Consultants.

The number of searches for financial services executives was flat compared
with the preceding quarter, but down 7.2 percent from the first quarter of 2007.
The technology sector was also down year over year, falling 5.1 percent.

Financial services is typically the largest executive search sector, but it
dropped to second during the quarter with a 22 percent market share, trailing
the industrial sector’s 24 percent.

Searches for manufacturing executives saw the biggest year-over-year gain, at
10.1 percent.

Ford to lay off Salaried Employees

2008-05-29T03:30:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Ford Motor Co. will lay off an undisclosed number of salaried employees this
summer and hopes to complete the reductions by August 1, a spokesman said
Wednesday, May 28.

Earlier in the day, Detroit media reported that Ford will cut 10 percent to
12 percent of its salaried workforce, or more than 2,000 employees.

“We’re not going to comment on internal discussions we’re having with our
employees,” Ford spokesman Mark Truby said. “As soon as we finalize some of
these details, we’re going to tell our employees as quickly as we can.”

Because Ford wants the cuts made by August, the

eGrabber to showcase Social Network Grabber at Fordyce Forum 2008.

2008-05-27T03:45:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber.com

eGrabber™ will showcase its custom solution to import resumes from social networking sites into Excel at Fordyce Forum 2008, to be held in Las Vegas from June 4-6, at Booth #201.

The new Social Network Grabber for Excel is specifically designed to help search and placement professionals who prospect for potential candidates on social and professional networking sites. With Social Network Grabber for Excel, recruiters can quickly import profiles from networking sites into an Excel database. Manually extracting resume details from these sites is a tedious and distracting task for busy recruiting professionals. Instead, recruiters can now do a search for matching profiles on the network and with a single click, import all of them into Excel. eGrabber's solution will automatically open each individual profile, copy all relevant details and transfer it, along with the resume, into columns in an Excel spreadsheet.

eGrabber will also exhibit the new and updated versions of its passive candidate sourcing tool and resume import tool - ResumeFinder and ResumeGrabber Pro, respectively.

Select Group merge with Randstad

2008-05-22T02:44:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.personneltoday.com

The new company will employ 34,000 people worldwide and generate estimated annual revenues of £14bn.

In the UK, Select Group, the staffing arm of Vedior, will combine with Randstad. The new company will operate under the Randstad brand, and continue to support its franchise business under the Select Appointments, Parkhouse Recruitment and Select Hospitality brands.

The newly-created Randstad UK will employ almost 1,000 people and secure jobs for about 20,000 temporary candidates per week and about 9,000 permanent positions every year.

Diane Martyn, former chief executive of Select Group, will be leading the new Randstad UK. She said: "I am very proud to lead our new company, and am looking forward to building for the future and shaping the business as we compete for growth and position in the UK marketplace."

Search Resumes on Blogs

2008-05-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

Blogs are better sources for passive candidates. Blogs contain detailed posts about specific project tasks, candidate's thoughts on industry trends, documented experiences, photos, links to Technorati and LinkedIn profiles, and personal preferences too.

The Google search syntax to display relevant profiles from Blogger.com is

site:blogger.com (inurl:profile | intitle:profile) keywords

The search string to display resumes from WordPress is

site:wordpress.com (intitle:"about me" | inurl:resume -intitle:sample -intitle:write -intitle:how -intitle:writing) keywords

Use these search strings, by filling keywords of your choice, and gain access to new candidate leads.

Search Resumes on Internet Service Providers (ISPs)

2008-05-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Newsletters

When someone signs up with an ISP, they often get some free disk space. Users tend to place personal information in this space, including resumes as well. The Google search syntax to display resumes from an ISP is

site:site-name (resume | homepage) keyword

To search for resumes of software project management professionals from AT&T (an ISP):

site:home.att.net (resume | homepage) software project manager

You can also use this simple technique to search local and regional ISPs that will have resumes in a specific geographic area.

Experts say Excellerate HRO would now be a competitor for HR Outsourcing Providers

2008-05-15T04:59:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Hewlett-Packard has announced that it is acquiring EDS, a move that may mean
good news for ExcellerateHRO.
On Tuesday, May 13, HP and EDS announced they had signed an
agreement for HP to acquire the Plano,Texas-based technology company for $13.9
billion, or $25 per share.
Industry observers say that if the merger goes through it would
provide a swath of new resources and potential clients for ExcellerateHRO, the
jointly owned HR outsourcing business shared by EDS and Towers Perrin.
ExcellerateHRO was formed in 2005, but hasn’t amassed many deals
in the past three years—causing many to wonder about the fate of the company.
But now that HP is buying EDS, the company could revamp
ExcellerateHRO into an HR outsourcing provider that would be competitive with the top
players in the market, experts say.

eGrabber announces new features to eGrabber ResumeFinder

2008-05-04T22:04:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Press Release

eGrabber Inc., a leading Silicon Valley-based provider of sales lead and resume data capture and processing solutions, today announced new features to its search automation tool - eGrabber ResumeFinder. Recruiting professionals can now leverage the enhanced capabilities of the new ResumeFinder to find resumes from the databases of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft Live, AltaVista and AlltheWeb.

eGrabber ResumeFinder is specifically designed to assist HR professionals who use search engines to locate resumes on the Internet. ResumeFinder uses expert search commands and techniques, encompassed in the product, to program search engines to quickly locate resumes from:

Networking sites such as MySpace and LinkedIn
Personal homepages from Internet Communities such as GeoCities, Angelfire, etc.
Free resume sites including Craigslist, Free-For, Recruiters and others
Largest ISP’s such as ATT, Earthlink, AOL and others
Popular blog hosts such as blogspot.com and others

The 10 Hardest Jobs To Fill

2008-04-28T23:10:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Because of an aging workforce and a new generation of workers entering other
professions, engineers, machinists and skilled trade workers are the three most
difficult positions to recruit for, according to Manpower’s annual list of “The
10 Hardest Jobs to Fill.”

Baby boomers are starting to retire,
which means many workers with traditional blue-collar skills are leaving the
workforce, says Melanie Holmes, vice president of corporate affairs for the
Milwaukee-based staffing giant. The survey, released Tuesday, April 22, covered
42,500 employers from 32 countries.

The retiring boomers are compounded by fewer young people entering these
fields. Less than 10 percent of college students in America are getting
engineering degrees, Holmes says.

The 10 Hardest Jobs to Fill

1. Engineers

2. Machinists/machine operators

3. Skilled trades

4. Technicians

5. Sales representatives

6. Accounting and finance staff

7. Mechanics

8. Laborers

9. IT staff

10. Production operators

eGrabber announces new features to ResumeGrabber Pro

2008-04-22T05:02:00.000-07:00

Source: eGrabber Press Release

eGrabber updated the features of ResumeGrabber Pro to enable import of resumes from the search results of all major search engines including Google, Yahoo, and Microsoft Live. In addition to supporting search engines, ResumeGrabber can also import resumes from Job Boards, Outlook Email (attachments) and PC Folders. It auto-extracts name, address, email and phone number of candidates and enters it, along with the resume, into databases. The ResumeGrabber grid, in-built, allows recruiters to screen and shortlist resumes based on keywords. The product completely eliminates the pain of having to manually screen every resume and copy-paste contact information from each selected resume into your database.

Some of the other exciting features in the new release include:

* Additional data fields to enable capture of comprehensive information on candidates
* Automatic calculation of the geographic distance between the recruiter's location and the candidate's
* Direct transfer of resumes into Big Biller, a leading online ATS

"The new ResumeGrabber Pro will be a shot in the arm for recruiters. The recent enhancements to the product will benefit its users immensely since recruiters can now import resumes from all major search engines", said Chandra Bodapati, CEO, eGrabber. "The array of new features incorporated in the product will not only improve recruiting productivity, but also create exciting user experiences"

The new ResumeGrabber Pro is available for immediate release and is priced at a annual subscription fee of only $495. To get more information on ResumeGrabber product, please visit http://www.egrabber.com/resumegrabberpro/

Information on all other eGrabber products including ResumeGrabber Professional, can be found at http://www.egrabber.com/

Citigroup posts $5.11 bn loss, to cut 9k jobs

2008-04-19T02:28:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.financialexpress.com

Citigroup Inc posted its second straight quarterly loss on Friday, hurt by more than $16 billion of write-downs and costs related to credit losses, and said it will cut another 9,000 jobs.
Though the $5.11 billion first-quarter loss was larger than expected, analysts and investors expressed optimism that the largest U.S. bank and its new chief executive, Vikram Pandit, were taking necessary steps to move past credit problems and drive down costs.

CEO and CFO Pay Down in '07

2008-04-16T05:03:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Most chief executives and chief financial officers saw their cash
compensation decrease last year, but executives at top performing companies
raked in substantially higher cash bonuses, according to an analysis of 2008
proxies by compensation consultant Steven Hall & Partners.

Among the 522 companies that have filed proxies this year, the median cash
compensation paid to CEOs was $1.23 million, a 4.3 percent decrease from the
previous year. CFOs, meanwhile, took home total cash compensation of $550,000,
1.4 percent less than they were paid last year

Google back to No:1 - Best Companies to Work For 2008

2008-04-10T02:44:00.001-07:00

clipped from money.cnn.com

Google

Best Companies rank: 1
2006 Revenues (millions): $10,605
Headquarters: Mountain View, CA
Get quote: GOOG

What makes it so great? Back in our No. 1 spot, Google continued to mint millionaires as the stock cracked $700. The company gives stock options to 99% of employees.

Employees Aren’t Engaged by Wellness Programs - Hewitt Associates

2008-04-04T05:11:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Employers still have a lot of work to do to make their wellness programs more
effective, according to a study released Thursday, April 3, by Hewitt
Associates.

While companies are devoting more time and money into helping employees live
healthier lifestyles, employees aren’t sure they want their employers taking on
this role, according to Hewitt.

Eighty-eight percent of employers surveyed plan to invest in ways to improve
the health and productivity of their workforces, up from 66 percent last
year.

But only 12 percent of employees believe that it’s appropriate for their
employer to play this role. This presents a huge challenge for companies, says
Jim Winkler, leader of Hewitt’s health management consulting practice.

Don't call the head of HR a "skank ho" [pic]

2008-04-03T22:13:00.001-07:00

Funny reply to a job applicant.

read more | digg story

Corporate manslaughter law causing headaches for HR

2008-04-01T02:21:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.personneltoday.com

he Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act, which comes into effect on 6 April, will make organisations answerable for the actions or omissions of any senior manager if a death occurs.

Anyone who plays a significant role in decision-making or managing a large chunk of the organisation's activities could make their company responsible for their actions under the Act for corporate killing.

Previously only one individual, identified by the company, could cause the company to be guilty of gross negligence or manslaughter. But Gillian Hibberd, HR director at Buckinghamshire County Council, told Employers' Law: "It's causing headaches among HR colleagues and we all need to be preparing now for its introduction.

Departing HR Chief Laymon Leaving Ford ‘in Great Shape’

2008-03-28T00:09:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Ford Motor Co. group vice president Joe Laymon has resigned and will be
replaced as head of human resources by Felicia Fields, the automaker said
Tuesday, March 25.

Laymon, 55, has been with the company since 2000. Laymon was named vice
president of human resources and medical services at Chevron Corp., effective
immediately.

Marty Mulloy will continue to lead labor relations at Ford, but now will have
global responsibilities. He’ll report to manufacturing chief Joe Hinrichs.
Fields will report to CEO Alan Mulally.

The move comes one day after Automotive News published a story in which
Laymon named six possible successors to Mulally.

Mulally told Automotive News that Laymon notified Ford of his decision to
leave Friday, March 21. It was Laymon’s decision to leave, Mulally said.

“He’s leaving us in great shape,” Mulally said.

Free Webinar by Mark.E.Berger on Search Passive Candidates on Google using Automated Tools

2008-03-26T05:46:00.000-07:00

Today, finding passive candidates on Google requires recruiters to master and apply advanced search commands and techniques that require time, effort and expertise that many may not have. But being able to quickly zero in on relevant passive resumes on Google, without being a search expert, will be a tremendous competitive advantage for busy recruiters.

This free webinar will introduce you to

1) Automated tools that quickly find passive resumes on Google

2) Automated tools that import, organize, screen and transfer resumes
3) Recruiting best practices that will raise the value you provide to your clients

Spending just 60 minutes on this webinar will open your eyes to simple solutions that will help you source and manage resumes in 1/5th of the time you normally spend. Webinar attendees will receive exclusive offers on eGrabber's power tools- ResumeFinder and ResumeGrabber

Presenter:

Mark E.Berger, CPC, AIRS CIR
Internet Sourcing Expert

Date: Thursday, March 27, 2008

Time: 10:00 AM PDT
(1:00 PM EDT | 12:00 PM CDT)

Duration : 60 mins

HR Data Breaches Can Leave Holes in Corporate Pockets - Workforce.com

2008-03-24T05:26:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.workforce.com

mployee data breaches are becoming like leaky roofs for companies—frustrating but familiar. And as such, experts say, organizations are getting smarter about preventing the kind of personal information exposures that can anger workers and damage a firm’s reputation.
Some employers have faced lawsuits related to breaches. And challenges persist when it comes to protecting employees’ privacy, including the difficulty of safeguarding sensitive information when so many workers take computers home or on the road. But through steps such as training and data encryption, organizations are finding ways to keep a tight grasp on employee information.

“It is now a routine concern,” says Doug Rosinski, an attorney with law firm Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart.

Working From Home Reduces Stress levels - Survey Results

2008-03-21T05:15:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.personneltoday.com

Working from home reduces stress in office workers, but leads to fears about career progression, according to research.

A survey of 749 staff in managerial or professional positions conducted by Durham Business School showed that homeworkers worried about missing-out on 'water-cooler networking' - where potential opportunities for moving up the ladder are discussed informally in the office.

Despite these concerns, the study also found that working from home generally had a positive effect on an employee's work-life balance, giving them more time with the family and leading to less stress and less chance of burnout.

Starbucks Terminates with Convergys

2008-03-20T03:14:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Starbucks has terminated its HRO contract with Convergys.

In a March 13 analyst presentation, John Gibson, president of Convergys’
employee care business, announced that the two companies had mutually agreed to
terminate the contract because of “Starbucks’ shifting priorities to focus on
short-term initiatives unrelated to HR management.”

Gibson’s presentation cites a quote attributed to Starbucks saying, “The
decision to discontinue the contract was made based on the changing needs of the
business and in no way reflects on the quality of the work Convergys has done
for Starbucks.”

Starbucks had signed the multi-year HRO agreement with Convergys in July.
Under the deal, the Cincinnati-based HRO provider was to handle HR
administration and payroll for all of Starbucks’ employees in Canada and the
U.S. and take over benefits administration for the company’s Canadian workforce.
While terms of the deal were not disclosed, analysts estimated it to be valued
at $350 million to $400 million.

HR Leader Libby Sartain Leaving Yahoo

2008-03-18T20:46:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Libby Sartain, the head of HR at troubled Internet company Yahoo, plans to
resign at the end of the month.
Sartain, among the highest-profile human
resources leaders in the nation, said her decision to step down after roughly
seven years at Yahoo was not prompted by pressures on the job but fulfills a
long-discussed plan to spend time on her Texas ranch.

The 53-year-old intends to take off the rest of 2008 and then consider other
options including non-profit work.

“My work is done here,” Sartain told Workforce Management in an interview
Tuesday, March 18. “I’m just taking a little bit of a break.”
Sartain says she will be replaced as “chief
people Yahoo” by David Windley, who has served as a Yahoo vice president of
HR.

Yahoo, a pioneer on the Internet, has weathered tough
times over the past year, including slumping profits. It reportedly has laid off
more than 1,000 employees this year. And the company recently was targeted by
Microsoft in an unsolicited takeover bid.

Barclays launches New HR Software

2008-03-17T04:34:00.001-07:00

clipped from www.personneltoday.com

High street bank Barclays has rolled out new software which enables it to scan 800 paper-based HR documents daily before sending them on to a centralised SAP system.

The bank is using Hewlett-Packard's Open Text Livelink Archive Server and Livelink ECM to scan, archive and manage 80,000 paper-based staff files annually. These include references, contracts, pensions and grievances.

Simon Wheeler, service manager technology at Barclays UK, said since the bank centralised all of its HR information from legacy systems onto an SAP system, there was a requirement to put all paper documents onto it.

Bill Gates Seeks Rise in Immigration of Highly Skilled Workers

2008-03-13T22:36:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

If Congress does not allow more highly skilled foreign students to work in
the country after they graduate from U.S. universities, American high-tech
companies will lose their ability to develop innovative products, Microsoft
chairman Bill Gates told a congressional committee on Wednesday, March 12.

At a hearing of the House Science and Technology Committee, Gates outlined
immigration reforms that he said would help fill “a critical shortfall of
skilled scientists and engineers.”

He also advocated improving science and math education and increasing federal
funding for basic research.

Survey Hints Drop in Hiring

2008-03-11T21:18:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

Survey Hints at Drop in Hiring

Manpower’s latest quarterly employment outlook survey showed its weakest
hiring projections in four years.

The report, released Tuesday, March 11, revealed 9 percent of the 14,000 U.S.
companies responding to the survey expect reductions in staff levels between
April and June, according to Melanie Holmes, vice president of corporate affairs
for the Milwaukee-based staffing giant. A majority of respondents—60
percent—expect no change in their workforce levels, and 26 percent plan to
increase hiring.

By comparison, during the first quarter of 2004, 13 percent of employers
anticipated cuts in staffing, while 61 percent thought headcount would remain
the same and 20 percent projected increases.

Manpower’s outlook at the same time last year was somewhat stronger, with 7
percent of respondents anticipating staffing cuts.

Compensation Gap Continues - WorkForce.com

2008-03-10T02:04:00.001-07:00

clipped from workforce.com

In the survey, conducted among the association’s 259 members, 96 percent said
women are paid less than men for comparable work. Nearly two-thirds consider
their gender a factor that holds them back in their careers, and many cited a
lack of access to decision-makers, mentors or types of assignments critical for
career advancement. Entrepreneurs also felt they had limited access to funding
sources need to start a business.

“The FWA study indicates that women in finance-related careers continue to
find themselves hindered in their treatment as equal partners in the workplace,”
says Lily Klebanoff Blake, the group’s president.

When asked whether certain business conditions were better today than three
years ago, only 10 percent of women said issues of pay parity had improved,
compared with 20 percent of women in the association’s 2002 survey.

The World's Billionaires List - Forbes.com

2008-03-07T04:13:00.001-08:00

clipped from www.forbes.com

Warren Buffett

Carlos Slim Helu

William Gates III

Lakshmi Mittal

Mukesh Ambani

Anil Ambani

Ingvar Kamprad

KP Singh

Oleg Deripaska

Karl Albrecht

Li Ka-shing

Sheldon Adelson

Bernard Arnault

Lawrence Ellison

Roman Abramovich

Theo Albrecht

Liliane Bettencourt

Alexei Mordashov

Prince Alwaleed

Mikhail Fridman

View The Complete List

FORD Rewards Employees

2008-03-06T03:33:00.001-08:00

clipped from www.workforce.com

Ford Motor Co. is paying every U.S. and Canadian employee a $1,000 bonus even
though the automaker lost $2.7 billion last year.

In a companywide e-mail to all employees on Wednesday, March 5, CEO Alan
Mulally said that although Ford fell short of its sales goals for 2007, the
automaker “met or exceeded” its objectives in every other category.

The bonus also will be paid to managers outside the U.S. and Canada. Mulally
said the “performance awards” are based on improvements in cost performance,
quality, automotive cash flow and financial results.

“The board of directors believe it is important to reward employees for
delivering significant results and keeping the company on track to become
profitable again by 2009,” Mulally’s e-mail said.

The bonuses will be paid this month.

2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey

2008-03-05T01:31:00.001-08:00

clipped from workforce.com

I get a lot of surveys sent my way in the course of a week. Most of them aren’t all that surprising or newsworthy. This one was different.

Here’s the headline that grabbed my attention: More than half of all employers have fired workers either for e-mail or Internet abuse, according to the 2007 Electronic Monitoring & Surveillance Survey from the American Management Association and the ePolicy Institute. It went on to list these other highlights from the study:

• 66 percent of employers are monitoring Internet connections.
• 45 percent of employers are tracking content, keystrokes, and time spent at the keyboard.
• Another 43 percent store and review computer files.
• Of the 43 percent of companies that monitor e-mail, 73 percent use technology tools to automatically monitor e-mail and 40 percent assign an individual to manually read and review e-mail.

Wall Street's Top Earners

2008-03-03T01:17:00.001-08:00

clipped from www.forbes.com

#1 James Simons

Age: 69
Firm: Renaissance Technologies
Headquarters: East Setaucket, N.Y.

Earnings: $1,500 million

Primary source of earnings: Simon's Medallion fund returned 44% after fees on average assets of $6.4 billion, while the fast-growing Renaissance Institutional fund returned 21% on $9.1 billion. By owning an estimated 40% of the firm and reaping investor fees of more than twice the typical hedge fund, Simons ran away with the top spot.

Did you know?

Simons worked as a code breaker for the U.S. Department of Defense during the Vietnam War

Wachovia Takes HR Process Back From Hewitt - Workforce.com

2008-02-29T03:57:00.001-08:00

clipped from workforce.com

Wachovia Takes HR Process Back From Hewitt

Wachovia is taking back a number of HR processes it had outsourced to Hewitt
Associates, a potential blow for the Lincolnshire, Illinois-based HRO
provider.

In 2005, Wachovia signed a seven-year deal with Hewitt to oversee payroll,
call center, benefits administration and various learning processes for its
90,000 employees. The contract, which was one of a slew of wins for Hewitt in
the wake of its Exult acquisition, was valued at $450 million, according to
research firm IDC.

Now the Charlotte, North Carolina-based financial services company will take
everything but benefits administration and customer service back in-house or to
other vendors.

Top Job Boards Where Top Candidates Seek Career Oppurtunities

2008-02-28T20:15:00.001-08:00

clipped from www.interbiznet.com

TopUSAJobs.com: Guide to
Top Specialty Boards
Where Top Candidates Seek Career Opportunites
Accounting / Finance
JobsintheMoney.com
Call Center
CallCenterJobs.com
Drivers / Trucking
JobsInTrucks.com
Employee Benefits
EmployeeBenefitsJobs.com
Enviro/Occup. Health &
Safety
EHSCareers.com
Executive RiteSite.com
Executive NETSHARE.com
Health / Medical
HealthJobsUSA.com
Hispanic / Bilingual LatPro.com
Hotels / Hospitality
HOTELScareers.com
Logistics
JobsInLogistics.com
Manufacturing
JobsInManufacturing.com
Mechanical/Electrical/Plumbing
MEPJobs.com
Retail
AllRetailJobs.com
Security Clearance
ClearanceJobs.com
Tax Specialists TaxTalent.com
Telecom / Wireless
TelecomCareers.net
For more Specialty
Boards, visit:
The
Employer's Corner on
TopUSAJobs.com
marketing@TopUSAJobs.com

CitiGroup to cut 400 jobs

2008-02-27T02:12:00.000-08:00

CitiGroup which was affected by the subprime crisis is planning to cut 400 employees in UK and job cuts in India to follow.

Text bits from Economic Times

Reeling under huge subprime-related losses, Citigroup is planning to axe close to 400 employees in its UK investment banking business, which it might soon follow with job cuts at other places including India, a report said.

"Citigroup is to cut about 400 of its investment banking staff in the UK as part of the US bank's plan to reduce the headcount by 4,200 globally," Financial Times reported.

"The remaining 3,800 of Citi's proposed cuts are likely to fall in its US consumer finance business, as well as in Asia and India," the report added.

To read the full story, Visit Economic Times

Good HR Practices Boost Company Profits - Research Facts

2008-02-25T20:58:00.000-08:00

Good human resources will boost your company profits

2008-02-25T01:48:00.000-08:00

Source: Personnel Today

This article appeared in Personnel Today. The article is about a research which shows that business with good HR practices enjoys high profits.

Find below the text clips from the article

People and the Bottom Line, an in-depth two-year study by the Work Foundation and the Institute for Employment Studies, tested a range of people management practices with almost 3,000 employers to assess their impact on organisational performance.

It found that businesses with good HR practices - from resourcing to employee engagement and skills development, enjoyed higher profit margins and productivity than those without. The study concluded that if an organisation increased its investment in HR by just 10% it would boost gross profits by £1,500 per employee per year.

Penny Tamkin, associate director of the Work Foundation and lead researcher on the project, told Personnel Today: "The report found that it was the intensity of the HR practice that makes a difference - for example, not just whether companies do employee engagement, but how much and how often."

Tamkin stressed there was no one-size-fits-all approach to investment in people management. However, she said the key to success was HR departments working closely with managers to achieve results.

To read the complete article, Visit Personnel Today

Monster Investigated for Data Security

2008-02-24T21:42:00.000-08:00

Monster.com was hacked in 2007 that resulted in illegal downloading of contact information for job seekers.

The US Federal trade commission launched an investigation into security practices at Monster.com

Find below the text bits from WorkForce Management Online

Monster disclosed the probe in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, and said the inquiry stemmed from a computer attack announced last year that resulted in the illegal downloading of contact information for 1.3 million job seekers.

“On October 29, 2007, the Company was requested to voluntarily provide information to the staff of the Federal Trade Commission in connection with a non public inquiry into certain information security practices of Monster.com,” Monster disclosed in an SEC filing. “The inquiry arises as a result of the attack.”

FTC investigations as a rule are nonpublic unless the firm under investigation acknowledges the probe. The agency in recent years has been going after companies with alleged failures related to the protection of sensitive consumer information. In a number of cases, organizations have settled FTC charges and agreed to new data security policies.

Monster’s admission of the FTC probe underscores concerns about possible identity theft and data breaches in the use of online job boards.

FTC spokeswoman Claudia Bourne Farrell confirmed that the agency had an open investigation of Monster under way last year. She declined to comment on whether the investigation has been closed.

To read the full story, Visit WorkForce Management Online

Capgemini plans to move internal support services to India - Economic Times

2008-02-21T22:33:00.000-08:00

Source: Economic Times

The slowdown in US economy has begun to drive more outsourcing work India’s way. Capgemini, Europe’s largest consulting and computer services firm, has reduced hiring in the United States to ‘a bare minimum’, increased the portion of offshoring in its contracts there from 40% to 60% and is moving internal support services to India, a company official said.

Six signs your new job is lousy - Source CNN.com

2008-02-21T00:37:00.000-08:00

Source: CNN.com

Story Highlights

You may land in a mess if you leap into a new job
Sign of lousy job is that you get no training or orientation
Every day, someone runs out of boss's office crying

Read the full story from CNN.com

Mphasis cuts 200 Jobs - Economic Times

2008-02-19T22:55:00.000-08:00

Indian IT industry has started responding to US Economy Crisis. Following TCS, IBM & Yahoo! Mphasis a part of EDS has cut 200 people.

Economic Times reported this morning about the job cuts.

Text clips from the news:

According to sources, MphasiS has retrenched 200 employees at its Chennai centre and all this in a span of two days last week.

It was not clear whether this retrenchment was restricted to the Chennai centre or covered other locations. Sources said the retrenchment was largely centered around the performance issue and it has probably affected those who were on the bench.

Read the full story from Economic Times.

Vurv Technology soon to release "Pay for Potential" Performance Management Software

2008-02-17T19:25:00.000-08:00

Vurv Technology - A HR Software Company is hoping high on its soon to be released performance management software. It's been reported that some analysts has applauded for wrapping in the concept of "Pay for Potential" in the application. An article on the Vurv was featured in WorkForce.com

Find below the text bits from the article

Kevin Marasco, senior vice president of marketing for Vurv, declined to discuss any possible plans for an initial public offering or additional venture funding. But he said the 330-employee company is determined to get to the head of the pack. "We’re absolutely committed to being a leader in the talent management technology space," Marasco says. "We’re poised to leapfrog competitors in the market."

The talent management software market refers to tools for key HR duties such as recruiting, performance management, compensation and employee development. Talent management applications are among the fastest-growing products in HR software, which is itself the fastest-growing category of business software.

Thanks to factors including fear of talent shortages, revenue from human capital management applications is slated to rise from $6.3 billion in 2006 to $10.6 billion in 2011, according to AMR Research.

To read the full story, Visit WorkForce.com

Questions Job Candidates May Ask Your Company

2008-02-15T20:13:00.000-08:00

This was one of the top articles in WorkForce.com. The article has listed down the questions that applicants may ask recruiters & HR pros.

I have given the links to few questions:

To read the full story, Visit WorkForce.com

Yahoo! India layoffs - Emotional Burst Out

2008-02-14T20:17:00.001-08:00

Yahoo! India sacked 40 employees in Bangalore this week. And the employees were given just 30 minutes to clean up and leave the office. Some employees broke down as this news came shocking.

Yahoo! India sacks poor performers

2008-02-13T22:49:00.000-08:00

Yahoo! India has a headcount of 1500 for its R&D operations. It asked 45 employees to quit. However Yahoo India claimed that it was a routine process and more would be sacked from Job.

Chicago Tribune will cut 3.5% of Workforce by end of March - HR, Finance & Technology will be the target

2008-02-13T20:20:00.000-08:00

Source: WorkForce.com

The Chicago Tribune will cut about 100 jobs, or roughly 3.5 percent of its workforce, by the end of March, the paper’s publisher told employees on Wednesday, February 13.

Most of the affected positions across the company would be in so-called support areas, such as finance, human resources and technology. The cuts are part of a companywide staff reduction—the first since Sam Zell took over the media conglomerate late last year in an $8.2 billion buyout, the Tribune reported on its Web site.

To read the full story, Visit WorkForce.com

Web Rules - Capitola Survey Results on HR Marketing Trends

2008-02-12T21:53:00.000-08:00

I was reading through a featured article from WorkForce.com. This article is based on the survey by Capitola, California based HR Marketer. The survey showed that one-fourth of small HR product and service suppliers use Web 2.0 tactics such as PPC advertising,blogging,podcasting & press releases for the first time.

Some interesting survey findings from the article

A majority of suppliers plan to increase their budgets this year for search engine optimization, the practice of a company giving search engines like Google coding and key words for its Web site that will lead customers using the search engines to the site. Other budget increases have been slated for direct e-mail marketing and white-paper publishing to help improve access to customers. The report notes that white papers are seen as effective components of direct e-mails as marketing tools. Meanwhile, blogging, while not a major line item on most budgets, is gaining a large role in marketing for many suppliers.

Nearly half of HR and employee benefit suppliers contract with an outside public relations or marketing firm, and only 15 percent reported they were not satisfied with their contractors’ work. Sixty-one percent using an outside firm pay a monthly retainer, and 28 percent pay $5,000 or more.However, 33 percent of the large suppliers were not satisfied with outside marketers. A surprising finding was that 51 percent of all suppliers do not send any press releases via a wire service, and 64 percent don’t optimize their releases for better search results.

To read the complete survey results, Visit workforce.com

Pill for Motivational Deficiency Disorder - Interesting Post from KnowHR blog

2008-02-11T20:04:00.000-08:00

I was browsing KnowHR blog this morning,I came across this humorous post. Frank Roche has written a post for employees suffering from Motivational Deficiency Disorder.

Few text bits from his post

If your employees are suffering from Motivational Deficiency Disorder, there’s always Strivor. (Click to see video if it doesn’t show above.) One little pill can stand in for excruciating hours of “engagement” training. One little pill can make bad managers into Harvard Business School case studies for managerial greatness. One little pill can make profits big, and one pill can make problems small.

To read more, Visit KnowHR blog.

ResumeGrabber Pro - Recruiting Software Review

2008-02-10T21:33:00.001-08:00

This software is useful for recruiters & hiring managers who receive most of the resumes through emails and who use Job boards to search for potential candidates.

ResumeGrabber Pro captures and screens resumes from the Internet, emails and PC folders. Sort resumes according to keywords, experience, skill sets, location etc. Quickly and easily import these resumes into respective CRM/ ATS

This recruiting software is useful for the recruiters who need a quick way to import resumes from anywhere into their database.

Product Details:

Manufacturer: eGrabber Inc
Version: 2008

Price Details:

1 yr subscription - $499.95
Version License - $749.95

To download the free trial version of ResumeGrabber Pro, click here.

About eGrabber Inc:

eGrabber is headquartered in Silicon Valley, USA. Found in 1997, eGrabber is a developer of software products providing solutions for Lead Management and e-Business. eGrabber tools enable sales and recruiting professionals to quickly capture and process Internet sales leads & resumes.

eGrabber recruiting solutions include :

TUC reports "Employers undervalue the skills of migrant workers"

2008-02-10T20:05:00.000-08:00

I came across this article titled "Employers fail to make full use of migrant worker's skills" in Personnel Today

This report by TUC analyzes on how the migrant workers can contribute to the UK economy. However the report also highlighted that most of the migrant workers were trapped in low-skill and low-paid jobs.

Find below the text clips from the article

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: "For too long the skills and qualifications of migrant workers have been desperately undervalued.

"Unions are working hard to develop learning and training strategies to persuade employers to recognise the qualifications of migrant workers, and employers need to wake up to the skills and potential these workers can offer."

Read the full story from Personnel Today

New Blame Game - Directors Blame Compensation Consultants

2008-02-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

A new study revealed that atleast two out of ten directors believe that CEO compensation is "too high".

Find below the interesting study facts from WorkForce.com

Roughly three out of 10 directors believe that CEO compensation is “too high in most cases,” according to a new study by recruiter Heidrick & Struggles and the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business.

The study polled 227 directors of U.S. public companies.

The findings of the USC study beg the question: Why are these board members signing off on excessive pay packages? After all, a board’s compensation committee is charged with setting the level and type of compensation given to chief executives.

Ed Lawler, a professor of business at the USC and co-author of the study, says that board members swear it’s not their fault; compensation consultants, they claim, are the major reason CEO pay is so out of control.

“Directors are saying that in the interest of making more money, compensation consultants keep coming up with new incentive products that boards have to buy to stay competitive with their peers,” Lawler says. “So in some ways, yes, they contribute.”

Read the full story from WorkForce.com

Funtoon - Ceridian Survey Results

2008-02-06T21:44:00.001-08:00

HR teams make no difference - Survey Results by Ceridian

2008-02-06T20:21:00.000-08:00

Ceridian - HR Service provider conducted a survey of 1000 workers. Personnel Today published an article on survey results.

Find below the text clips from the article.

Half of office-based employees believe that human resource teams make no difference to their jobs.

The survey heaps further criticism on the HR function, following scathing remarks by Luke Johnson in the Financial Times earlier this week.

Johnson argued that HR – like IT, legal and marketing departments – doesn't sell produce, it just consumes.

Read the fully story from Personnel Today

CareerBuilder - Poor Show in USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter

2008-02-05T21:43:00.000-08:00

CareerBuilder new adcampaign dubbed 'Start Building' was ranked 39th & 47th in USA Today's annual popularity contest.

A weak showing in last year’s USA Today Super Bowl Ad Meter got (or, depending on whom you believe, contributed to getting) CareerBuilder’s agency, Cramer-Krasselt, fired. So, does a significantly worse showing in this year’s survey mean that the online job site’s new agency, Wieden & Kennedy, ought to be worried?
Asked about the Ad Meter results, a CareerBuilder spokeswoman said Wieden was safe, adding: “We’re very excited about this campaign.”

She also maintained that the Ad Meter was not the sole criterion in C-K’s firing last year. “The whole decision wasn’t based on the poll or any single factor.”

To read the full story, Visit WorkForce Management Online

PHR/SPHR not required for HR positions - HRCapitalist

2008-02-03T20:26:00.000-08:00

A recent academic study tried to determine the impact of being certified by examining the Demand for Certified Human Resources Professionals in Internet-Based Job Announcements. The study, chaired by Herman Aquinis at the University of Colorado at Denver, found weaker than expected demand for the PHR and SPHR in postings from 2005.

To read the full story, Visit HR Capitalist

Layoffs Coming, and in Large Numbers - Article from WorkForce Management

2008-01-31T23:42:00.000-08:00

Career Protection - employment consulting and legal firm took a survey with more than 1,300 corporate executives and senior-level officials earlier this month.

In fact, the firm is predicting a 37 percent increase in layoffs this year compared with last year, based on a survey of more than 1,300 corporate executives and senior-level officials that was conducted earlier this month.

The layoff forecast is the worst in the past five years, according to Career Protection officials. They also showed that the firm has already been “inundated” with inquiries from employees at a number of companies that announced layoffs earlier this month, including Bear Stearns, Chrysler, Citigroup, Ford, Covidien, General Motors, IndyMac and Sprint Nextel.

To read the full story, Visit WORKFORCE MANAGEMENT ONLINE

Interesting HR Survey - "No love for the ladies of tech"

2008-01-31T22:31:00.000-08:00

Women in IT feel let down by the lack of support from their HR departments, according to a UK survey by Microsoft and networking portal womenintechnology.co.uk.

When asked to rate the support given to them as female employees, HR’s reputation fared significantly worse than other members of the workforce. More than a quarter (28%) of respondents rated HR departments as less than okay, compared with just 19% of line managers and bosses, and 11% of colleagues.

To read the full story, Visit JimStroud Blog

Life of a Recruiter - After posting a Job AD

2008-01-31T02:13:00.000-08:00

TCS cuts Staff Salaries

2008-01-30T21:26:00.000-08:00

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), India’s largest software exporter has cut a portion of the variable pay linked to its performance,reducing an employee’s salary by about 1.5% for the Q1,2008.

On Tuesday, TCS in an email communique to its 100,000 plus employees said a combination of internal and external factors saw it failing to meet its Economic Value Added target—a financial performance method calculated as the net operating after taxes profit minus a charge for the opportunity cost of capital invested.

Infosys Technologies, the closest Indian rival of TCS, chose not to read anything into the missive. “It is not an industry issue,” said Infosys Chief Financial Officer V Balakrishnan.

On its part, TCS said, though it met its revenues targets, the EVA target forms the basis for the variable pay computation and has been given in advance, each month during Oct-Dec period.

Based on the audited results, the EVA-based variable payout amounts to Rs 293 crore for the quarter. The actual variable payout based on expected EVA given in advance amounts to Rs 376 crore.

Therefore, the advance payment that has to be adjusted amounting to Rs 83 crore, will be recovered during the current quarter from the employees.

The recovery would be reflected in employee wages in the months of February and March 2008.

To read more, Visit Business Standard

Best Practices in Candidate Sourcing - Free White Paper from WorkForce Management Online

2008-01-30T21:12:00.000-08:00

Source: workforce.com

The white paper on Talent Acquisition in a Tight Market briefs on talent acquisition strategies need to be followed in future to reach both active & passive job seekers and the practices that can help improve the company's recruitment planning process.

The white paper is free for download. To download click here

Naukri's Insta Hire

2008-01-29T20:26:00.000-08:00

Naukri.com - India's leading Job portal introduced Instahire-recruitment solutions made available on mobile phone!

This service enables the recruiters to view,select & shortlist the candidates and send an SMS to the prospective candidates. If the candidate is interested in the job, they can reply to the SMS to get the details of job profile.

Instahire aims at convenient, effective & instant recruitment - all on your mobile phone.

Virtual Candidate Asseessment Tests

2008-01-28T21:31:00.000-08:00

The Multi-State banking firm National City Corp adopts Virtual tools for Candidate assessment purposes.

We were looking for ways to differentiate ourselves among our competitors," says Cheryl Goodman, National City’s assessment consultant vice president.

It was among the reasons National City adopted Shaker Consulting Group’s Virtual Job Tryout in early 2007. The system does what its name suggests—allows companies to audition candidates by measuring how they react to computerized simulations of specific job-related tasks.

Beyond assessment, Goodman is counting on it to give National City a leg up on competitors by creating a distinctive recruiting experience.

Read the full story from Work Force Management Online