Looking Ahead

Only one-in-five employees considers their job rewarding and gratifying, according to research conducted by Right Management, while finding good candidates remains the top recruiting challenge for organizations, according to a new survey from Talent Technology Corporation, which also finds the more specific and higher skilled the job requirements, the harder it is to find qualified candidates – it’s been taking an average of 45 days for recruiters to fill a position. Survey results offer other insight: 63.4% of respondents see signs of economic pressure being relieved within their organization, and 51.4% expect to increase in size within the next 12 months (by about 12%) – suggesting new job requisitions, as well as corporate and economic growth, are possible in 2012.

The Leadership Vacuum

In one of his classes, Deepak Chopra, the founder of the Chopra Foundation, talks about what he calls “the soul of leadership” and says “that leaders appear when awareness meets need.” He goes on to suggest that there is a hierarchy of needs that contributes to what roles a leader has to address once that person steps into this void. Even though this premise feels reasonable and pragmatically comforting I am not at all convinced in the practicality of this theory in real terms. Are leaders really made not born? In the midst of chaos and stress can someone who knows what a group needs really prioritize and fill the Leadership Vacuum?

How Tough Love and Pizza Changed My Career

Whoever came up with the term “tough love” clearly met my father.

I never had any doubt that my dad loved me. He would always plan family vacations and would give my sister and me anything we ever wanted. There was a saying in my house that the Davis children weren’t spoiled, just well taken care of.

And sometimes being well taken care of meant going to live theater. I was completely taken with the magic of theater and the arts but, as my father found out as I got older and started to think of a career, cultivating my love of the arts had some undesired consequences.

Are Resumes Still Relevant or Has the Web Replaced Them?

With a weak job market and tools which allow applicants to apply for jobs almost instantly, recruiters and hiring managers are becoming more overwhelmed with the volume of resumes pouring in – yes, even with utilization of applicant tracking systems (above 90%) designed to filter out unlikely candidates (screening out about half of all resumes). Job boards and networking websites help companies broadcast their job openings to a wide audience they normally wouldn’t have access to, which results in an increase of unqualified or unwanted candidates. According to a recent survey from The Wall Street Journal, most recruiters report at least 50% of job hunters don’t possess the basic qualifications for the jobs they are pursuing.

According to other information from The Wall Street Journal, in order to stem the number of duds companies receive, many have begun to seek alternative methods of hiring – and/or finding the right “fit” for their organization’s needs.

Critical Corporate Interviewing Improves Retention

When trusted employees are promoted into management, generally what is their first task? Replace themselves. How do they interview candidates for their replacement? Go to HR and ask for a list of acceptable questions to ask. If they are lucky, HR has a list of “approved questions.” Are the questions targeting the skills required to be successful in the position? Generally not, they are simply acceptable interview questions.

Top 5 Industries for Remote and Flexible Jobs

2.8 million Americans now consider their home offices to be their primary workplace and 27 million Americans have flexible schedules. Between 2005 and 2009, telecommuting grew 61 percent and is expected to grow another 69 percent by 2016. Despite the rapid growth of remote work and flexible jobs, they continue to be discussed by many employers as though they are a scarce, and perhaps even scary, way of working.

Succession Management Value Proposition (SMVP): How to Propel Leaders & Organizations to Greatness

The “Stealth Fighter” Model offers a compelling, symbolic way to understand the predictive relationships that exist between critical human capital/succession management processes (the 4 D’s), critical “leading indicators” (capability, commitment and alignment—more on these later), intermediate outcomes and ultimate outcomes. The 4 D’s essentially act as the 4 turbo-charged engines that propel the “Stealth Fighter” towards its target—defined as an organization’s “Future Desired State” and the required leadership competencies to execute both the current and future business strategy.

Prep Your Hiring Authorities

The competition for top talent will continue to increase as the job market improves. Most hiring authorities have been in the driver’s seat for the past two years and have not had to sell their opportunity or company. This is not reflective of today’s reality. It is important for you to attract, interview and present the best talent available. Part of your job is to excite the job seeker about your company and opportunity. It is also important that you begin to prep your hiring authorities.

Trends in Recruiting v1.01 Social Technology Experiments

Social technology has been evolving for nearly a decade (LinkedIn opened for business in 2003). For that entire time (more if you count the emergence of blogging in 1997), we have been trying to harness social technology for Recruiting purposes. All manner of company has emerged to aggregate data, introduce people to each other, harness referrals, post job ads, augment resumes and smooth out the hiring process.

Signs of Recovery: More Voluntary Turnover

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers added 200,000 jobs last month – contributing to the lowest unemployment rate in about three years (8.5%). It’s the sixth straight month the economy has added at least 100,000 jobs. Although seasonal hiring contributes to the job total, other evidence of some form of recovery comes from a report on CEO turnover compiled by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc., which finds the economy saw 1,178 CEO changes for the year – the lowest since 2004. Among those departing CEOs, 341 cited resignation as the reason for departure; another 245 CEOs retired from their companies; while 223 stepped down from their positions but stayed on the board.