Glassdoor Launches “Inside Connections,” Leveraging Users’ Facebook Networks for Career and Job Hunting

SAUSALITO, Calif. – (February 2, 2012) ­– Glassdoor, a jobs and career community where people share job and workplace insights, today announced the launch of Inside Connections, a new product that leverages Facebook to help job seekers quickly uncover if they know someone at a company where they want to work.

To access Inside Connections, job seekers simply sign in to Glassdoor (www.glassdoor.com) using Facebook Connect to instantly see where they have an “in” at more than 150,000 companies around the globe. For example, if you are interested in working for Google, simply sign in to Glassdoor using Facebook and visit the Google profile page to discover who within your Facebook friend network, including friends of friends, currently works or has worked there. From there, you can browse the deep content Glassdoor maintains about each company, including job listings, anonymous reviews and ratings, salary reports and interview questions and reviews – all for specific job titles from current and past employees and job candidates.

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.

Why Substantive Job Growth Remains Elusive

GREAT BARRINGTON, MA – The U.S. economy is now producing about the same amount of goods and services as in 2007, the year before the recession hit. Unfortunately, it is doing so with 6.3 million fewer workers.

The American Institute for Economic Research (AIER), a nonprofit economic research organization, recently compared production and employment across various industries in 2007 and 2010 (the latest data available). Their findings are charted and explained below.

AIER FINDINGS:

While production totals are similar in 2010 as in 2007, the mix of goods and services is different. Underlying the country’s current economic expansion is a radically reallocated market.

The industries that are growing are not the ones that lost the most jobs during the recession.

Dwindling employment in nearly every industry signals that the economy has become more efficient in using labor. Nearly all industries need fewer workers to produce the same amount of goods and services.

Recruiting Trends Announces 2012 Spring Sourcing Summit

Peterborough, NH – January 31, 2012 – Recruiting Trends, a leading resource for the employee recruitment industry, will hold its 2012 Sourcing Summit on March 14th at Sentry Centers in New York City.

Aimed at helping recruiters, sourcers, and HR professionals acquire fast and effective techniques for sourcing candidates on social networks and other platforms, the convenient, one-day event provides an opportunity to acquire the latest tips, tools, and tactics needed to overcome sourcing and recruiting challenges. It also provides an opportunity to network with peers and earn HRCI credits.

SkillSurvey® Records Bookings Growth of 73-Percent Over 2010

Wayne, PA – January 30, 2012 – SkillSurvey®, Inc., the leading provider of reference-checking solutions, has announced that the company’s bookings in 2011 grew by 73-percent over the prior year. Growth was mainly fueled by subscriptions to its core Pre-Hire 360® reference-checking software that hundreds of organizations leverage to improve their hiring.

“Our solution provides a best practice for line managers, such as sales directors and customer service leaders, and recruiters to use in assessing their candidates before hiring them,” noted Ray Bixler, president and chief executive officer of SkillSurvey®. “The behavioral feedback and open comments that a candidate’s references provide makes the reference-checking step a strategic component of the hiring process that predicts the long-term success of an organization’s new hires.”

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.

Novo Shares Tips for Identifying and Recruiting Top Talent In 2012

MILWAUKEE, Jan 25, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — “In 2012, companies looking to successfully add top talent to their company need to be aware of the shifting dynamics in the recruiting arena and become even more strategic in their approach,” said Cindy Lu, CEO of The Novo Group, a national managed recruitment outsourcing firm.

Global Economy Shaky but HR Consulting Firm People First HR Services Thinks Canada Will Remain Steadfast

Winnipeg, MB (PRWEB) January 25, 2012 – With a looming recession swirling over the euro-zone, the global economy continues to seem shaky. But despite the stress to markets being seen around the globe, countries like Canada are experiencing a slight rebound. And according to recent surveys published by Manitoba HR consulting and career management firm People First HR Services, and national firm Manpower Canada, there seems to be an upward trend in employment and recruitment metrics throughout the country. Canada, it seems, will remain steady in 2012.

Personal Financial Stress Affecting Employee Performance and Retirement Savings Shows SHRM Survey

Alexandria, Va. – Jan. 24, 2012 – A survey of employer-sponsored financial education initiatives shows that U.S. workers’ money worries are impacting their work performance and retirement savings plans. (Survey BITLY: bit.ly/wPi89A)

The survey from the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) asked HR professionals key questions, including, “In the past 12 months, have employees been more likely to dip into their employer-sponsored retirement savings plans compared with previous years?” More than half-55 percent-of HR professionals agreed while 17 percent strongly agreed. A little less than a quarter, or 24 percent, disagreed, and three percent strongly disagreed.