Towers Watson Offers Resolutions to Retain Talent, Engage Workers in 2011

NEW YORK, January 27, 2011 ¾ With signs that hiring activity in the United States is beginning to pick up, companies could soon face a challenge they haven’t experienced in a few years ¾ retaining the talented employees they need to move from recovery to growth, according to experts at Towers Watson, a global professional services company.

Retaining key employees is one of the greatest challenges companies will address this year for them to grow and succeed, according to quarterly trends in employee opinion tracked in Towers Watson’s global employee opinion database. In fact, fewer than half of employees (48%) surveyed in late 2010 say that their employers do a good job retaining top talent, the lowest level since the end of 2008. In addition, employees’ intentions to leave their current organization are on the rise, climbing back to pre-recession levels.

SkillSurvey Records Revenue Growth of 80-Percent Over 2009

Wayne, PA – January 25, 2011 – SkillSurvey, Inc., the leading provider of Web 2.0 reference assessment solutions, has announced that in 2010, the company’s revenue grew by 80-percent over the prior year. Growth was mainly fueled by subscriptions secured from hundreds of organizations representing the healthcare, retail, finance, manufacturing and professional services sectors.

“The appeal of Pre-Hire 360R, our enterprise solution that improves hiring decisions and increases efficiency, cuts across many industries, even in a sluggish job market,” noted Ray Bixler, president and chief executive officer of SkillSurvey. “The fact that it is currently an employer’s market makes it even harder for hiring managers to assess and differentiate job candidates. With better insight into candidates’ on-the-job behaviors and skills that reflect directly to job performance, our clients can hire for improved productivity and reduced turnover.”

The company’s performance was buoyed by hundreds of new clients, with notable employers like eBay, Molson Coors Brewing Company, Sempra Energy and over 300 hospitals across the country (including HealthSouth, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center).

Sorry Dude – You Met All Your Goals but You’re Not Getting Your Bonus

Johnson & Johnson announced they won’t give full bonuses to employees who, according to their guidelines, otherwise deserve them. Why? Because J&J had about the worst year ever. Not in terms of sales – sales have actually been OK – but in terms of horrendous quality and safety issues that threaten to destroy what had been one of the most vaunted brands in the world. Just last month, over 40 million products recalled. And that, coming on the heels of 288 million items recalled during 2010. It’s not about one plant or one region or one product line – quality control problems…

Insight into Recruiting the New Candidate – RecruitingTrends.com Webinar

(January 31, 2011 – Peterborough, NH) Join RecruitingTrends.com’s great line-up of experts on Tuesday, February 1st when Jason Warner, Melyssa Bernstein and Eric Burd share their deep knowledge and walk us through the dos and don’ts in recruiting the right person for the right job, today.

The role of recruiting has changed in the last couple of years, due in part to the recession, the emergence of social media, and transparency through employer review sites, the new candidate is more informed, more cautious, and more determined than ever before to land ‘The Right Job’. In addition, we are still facing a multi-generational workforce which in itself requires a multi-faceted approach to how you recruit, onboard and retain great employees.

Sales Recruitment Shows Strong Potential for 2011

RecruitmentGenius.com — January 28, 2011 — Sales recruitment in the UK is being predicted to have a healthy 2011, after new industry data showed that sales job vacancies have seen a 16 per cent increase in the last year.

The statistics were compiled and published by data company BTA, which also said that sales recruitment in the IT sector showed particularly strong potential, with vacancies showing a 19 per cent year-on-year rise.

BTA’s director, Ian Harwood, said that the figures were an indicator of the steadily progressing recovery of the British economy, and that the business service sector in particular was providing a rapidly growing demand for new employees.

Geoff Newman, CEO of online recruiter Recruitment Genius said “The statistics don’t really surprise me as companies always recruit sales people as they become more confident that we are exiting the recession. Therefore this is not just great for the sales industry, but also for wider UK economy.”

AfterCollege Introduces the Employer Popularity Index

SAN FRANCISCO, CA – January 26, 2011 – AfterCollege, the largest online career network for students and recent graduates, has launched the Employer Popularity Index (http://www.aftercollege.com/popularity/), a real-time, visual representation of employer popularity on hundreds of college campuses.

AfterCollege launched the solution just before winter break on college campuses, asking students one of the most important career-related questions: who do you want to work for? Despite being live for only one month, the Index has already collected nearly 30,000 responses, providing an accurate depiction of which companies are the most wanted by students.

As the Index drums up more interest on campuses, participation is expected to dramatically increase. Brian Heifferon, COO of AfterCollege, said he expects more than 100,000 students to register their employment interest by the end of this semester.

U.S. New College Grad Salaries Held Steady in 2010; Peers Abroad Saw Salaries Fluctuate

January 27, 2011 — BETHLEHEM, PA—New college graduates in the United States saw their base annual salary hold steady in 2010, while their peers in other countries saw theirs waver, according to a new study conducted by INGRADA, the International Network of Graduate Recruitment and Development Associations.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) provided data for the United States.

According to INGRADA’s Global Graduate Recruitment Survey, U.S. college graduates from the Class of 2010 saw base annual pay fall less than 1 percent (0.70 percent) to $48,288 from the average base salary of $48,663 reported for the Class of 2009. Their counterparts in the United Kingdom shared that experience: Their average base pay held steady at £25,000.

In contrast, new grads in Canada experienced a decrease: Their average base salary fell 3.6 percent from $50,628 for the Class of 2009 to $48,817 in 2010. Australian graduates, however, posted an increase; their average base pay rose 5.2 percent from $51,350 to $54,000 in 2010.

Recovery Already Evident in Tech Sector

While economists debate whether jobs are on the rebound there has been a notable slowdown in the pace of downsizing across many industries. At the same time – even though the vast majority of organizations slowed their hiring and continued to cut jobs throughout the recession – one sector has fared far better than others. This becomes especially evident when comparing 2010 to 2009. The sector is the one CyberCoders predicted would host the 2011 Jobs of the Year: technology. In 2009, the total number of job cuts in the tech sector was 174,629, but in 2010 the job cut numbers dropped by 73%.

Although this is extremely impressive in itself, 2010 also marks the year with the lowest total job cuts since 2000. The total number of annual job cuts for 2000, the lowest year until last year, was 103,266. The 2000 number now seems extremely high in comparison to 2010, which saw only 46,825.

Get Smart: Prepare Before You Hire

No general would ever go into battle without a battle plan. In fact, much planning goes into developing battle strategies, which prepare troops to respond tactically to the opposing army’s reactions. These strategies and tactics ensure that the general’s troops go into battle fully prepared and give them the best chance for success. The same is true in the hiring process.

Whether you are the hiring manager or the human resources manager you need to organize, communicate, and prepare your hiring team with strategies and tactics that ensure the best hire possible for your organization. If your hiring team is on time, fully prepared, and welcoming during the interview, with clear…

Aiming at Market Leadership Creative Search Becomes AIMS International Sweden

January 25, 2011 – Stockholm, Sweden/ Vienna, Austria – The Board of Creative Search Sweden AB has taken the decision to change the name of the company to AIMS International Sweden valid from 1st of February 2011. By this consequent move AIMS International Sweden expects to fully benefit from all aspects of being partner of this top 5 global organization for executive search and talent management.

Expectations from several sides are high. “I am extremely happy by this move”, says AIMS International President Rolf Heeb “as we regard AIMS International Sweden as one of the key partners in the Nordics and hope that their contribution to AIMS Internationals´ global business will further increase”. Daniel Ekberg, General Manager of AIMS International Sweden is convinced that he has the right support and ambitions to become the market leader in Sweden in the next few years. “AIMS International is the natural partner for any multinational customer in Sweden and abroad” says Ekberg.