April 28, 2004

Manufacturing - and hiring - on the rebound in Massachusetts
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:09 AM

Great news from today's Boston Globe:

The region's battered manufacturing sector is finally making a comeback as surging demand for technology products boosts orders, profits, and payrolls.

After a long lull, business activity is accelerating to levels not seen since the boom of the late 1990s, executives at Massachusetts and southern New Hampshire manufacturers said in interviews. With orders pouring in, companies are not only gaining confidence that the recovery is at last here, but also doing what they haven't done in years: hire.

--------

...

 

April 27, 2004

Top ten things leaders do
Posted by Sean Kenney at 2:54 PM

When GE's CEO Jeff Immelt teaches up-and-coming leaders at the company's famed management-development center, he runs through a checklist of what he calls "Things Leaders Do." In an interview with Fast Company , Immelt reveals his own leadership checklist.

--------

...

Lesson from tragedy: always plan ahead
Posted by Jason Butler at 9:55 AM

The Wall Street Journal examines the sudden death of McDonald's Chairman and CEO, addressing the importance of succession planning.

Most companies have only an interim succession plan for dealing with the sudden death of top executives. In what is sometimes referred to as the "bus crash envelope," directors typically name a longtime director, retired CEO or a rising star who can step in on an interim basis if a CEO dies suddenly, giving them time to choose a permanent successor. But temporary leaders may stall a company's ability to move forward or recover from the cultural shock of a former chief's death.

Is your succession plan ready to deal with tragedy?
--------

...

 

April 23, 2004

Are you getting résumé spam?
Posted by Sean Kenney at 3:20 PM

Employers beset by spammed résumés might finally get a break--at least from the EEOC. Filling out a paper application for a specific job is an obvious interest. But what about someone who sends out dozens of electronic résumés without particular jobs in mind? A new proposal would redefine the term "job applicant" in language that makes it clear that simply sending out a résumé doesn't turn someone into one.

One of the proposed solutions to résumé spam is to charge an online application fee for processing the resume. That approach may cut down on spammed résumés, but will it also turn off some desirable candidates? See "A Plan for Spam"
--------

...

 

April 22, 2004

How to create postings top talent can't resist
Posted by at 10:13 AM

Re-purposing job profiles for print ads and online ads is an art. Simply posting the job profile verbatim is not an effective use of your posting, your time, or your money. Your job needs to rise above the rest in order to attract the top talent. What if writing quipy, edgy, catchy copy isn't your bag? I suggest taking a copy writing course, engaging your marketing department, or your ad agency to assist in the task. Careerjounal.com also has a very good suggestion on how to write that winning posting....

An effective job posting acknowledges these attributes. It doesn't look like or serve the purpose of a classified ad. It functions, instead, as an electronic sales brochure. It provides a complete, persuasive "can't put it down" and "simply can't resist it" expression of an organization's value proposition as an employer.

To accomplish this feat, the job posting must have five sections. You can use the acronym S-ABC-S to remember them.

--------

...

Hiring outlook is bleak for banking professionals
Posted by at 8:29 AM

Bank of America merged with Fleet Boston Financial and now, as expected, many will be out of a job in the coming months. That is only one of many mergers happening in banking and because of the merger phenomenon, many bank executives are reluctant to make moves fearing that their new employer could be swept up in a merger. Could all this turmoil and bleakness be temporary? Well, the answer depends on your specific function.

Still, despite the current turmoil, by 2012, the Bureau of Labor Statistics expects that the number of executive-level banking jobs -- 445,000 in 2002 -- will swell by 11.2%. The greatest growth -- nearly 30% -- is expected to be in the personal financial advisory category, which includes professionals at financial-services firms such as Merrill Lynch and at private banks.

"The retail wealth-management market is in growth mode," says Mark Esposito, a New York-based managing director and head of the financial-services practice at search firm Christian & Timbers LLC. "Institutions of all sizes are looking for people with a book of clients who can advise on everything from insurance to financial planning and estate- and tax-planning needs. Straightaway, people with the right skills and experience enter at the vice president level."

--------

...

 

April 20, 2004

Expanding the scope of your retention efforts
Posted by at 10:17 AM

You have read the reports and stories warning you of mass attrition once jobs recover. If your employees are overworked or unhappy in anyway, they probably will leave if they have the opportunity. Now is the time to look at the goal of your retention program ( You do have one, right?), and update it so that it is effective.

From Electronic Recruiting Exchange:

The approach many firms take is doomed during the initial goal-setting period, when managers and HR professionals alike define the goals of the retention program to narrowly. If, for example, your firm defines the goal as merely to "keep good people," you are automatically dooming the effort by failing to identify specifics that can be measured. I recommend that you identify a broad set of goals that cover additional areas, including identifying why people leave, where they go, and whether the separations could have been prevented

--------

...

 

April 18, 2004

Hire people who aren't just like you
Posted by at 3:57 PM

In her fine article, Hire Great People: 10 Simple Rules Barbara Reinhold supplies 10 rules for hiring in a environment that allows for risk. If you're in a risk-averse environment, read the article anyway and see what you can adapt.

Her first rule, Don't ever, ever hire somebody just like yourself is critical for companies who are building themselves for long-term success. Hiring people just like yourself is the fastest way to reinforce all your blind spots. The riskier your work, the more time-critical it is, the less you can afford to stumble, the more you need to hire people who are not just like you.

--------

...

 

April 16, 2004

The hidden secret to better recruiting
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:22 AM

More words of wisdom from our friend Lou Adler at ERE:

Hiring is not a perfect science. It requires as much judgment as it does skill to get it right. Unfortunately, the lack of a regulated hiring process — combined with too much emotion, reliance on intuition and gut feelings, and the need to fill positions quickly — often means common sense is ignored. To be effective, recruiters need to bring order to this chaos, rather than fall prey to it. This is where courage comes into play.

--------

...

 

April 15, 2004

US jobless claims up by 30,000
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:10 AM

From today's Globe, the DOL's report on last week's unemployment figures:

The number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits, after having fallen to the lowest level in four years, shot up last week by the biggest amount since late 2002. The new report dealt a setback to hopes that the economy is finally beginning to produce a sustained recovery in jobs.
- - - - -
The increase was far above the rise of 7,000 that economists had been expecting, but analysts cautioned against reading too much into a single week's change in the volatile series. Labor Department analysts noted that the period covered was the first week in a new quarter, a time when the jobless claims can be even more volatile.

--------

...

 

April 14, 2004

Wired at work
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 1:28 PM

Any coffee drinkers out there? I bet just a few. . . Here's an interesting piece from the WSJ via HR.BLR on caffeine consumption on the job, and which chain's brew packs the biggest punch:

If there's a Starbucks or similar gourmet coffee shop near your workplace, there's an excellent chance that you and your co-workers are a lot more jittery than the rest of us—in fact, 56 percent more jittery.

--------

...

 

April 12, 2004

U.S. Navy prepares to fight talent war
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 6:09 AM

Sounding more like Dell than Dept of Defense, the Chief of Naval Operations Administration has called for a 21st century human resources strategy for the Navy that includes a focus on attracting and retaining critical talent, as well as outsourcing and successfully managing non-essential tasks.

The article underscores the notion that the HR challenges of any organization are more similar than different. Military readiness and corporate competitiveness sound the same when CNO Vern Clark says, "Human resources readiness is about combat readiness. What I'm really interested in is, how are we going to acquire the human resources that we need for our Navy? I'm interested in what we believe about those individuals and what kind of opportunities they are going to demand to be a part of us."
--------

...

 

April 9, 2004

Tomorrow's talent . . . today
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:46 AM

Get out your headphones for this audio blog, an amazing piece from PRI's Marketplace radio show, about recruiters seeking the best talent now reaching all the way down to the high school level:

. . .If you're one of those companies looking to hire - and hiring seems to be picking up - where do you turn to recruit the hotshots of tomorrow?

To hear the segment, click here and scroll down to the story "Tomorrow's talent. . .today" and hit the link or speaker icon. Happy listening.
--------

...

 

April 8, 2004

Keys to strong leadership; communication = fully engaged employees
Posted by at 6:48 PM

Fully engaged employees not only feel better about themselves and their job, they also have a direct impact on the company's bottom line. In a letter/report from The L Group the author identifies the key to fully engaging your employees: communication.

A Gallup poll revealed that only 26% of U.S. employees are fully engaged at any time. On the other end of the spectrum, 19% of employees are actively disengaged, meaning they intentionally act in ways that negatively impact their organizations. The annual cost nationwide to employ this actively disengaged group exceeds $300 billion....
Communication is the primary tool a leader uses to engage the minds and hearts of employees. In fact, an employee opinion survey conducted by a worldwide accounting firm found that communication was the single best predictor of employee engagement. In other words, the degree and quality of communication with employees, more than another factor, predicted the engagement level of employees....
The most critical and influential communication occurs between a leader and an employee. As a leader, you can connect hearts and minds by using a simple three-step process in all your interpersonal interactions:

Explain

Ask

Engage

Read the full text from The L Group Letter: Engaging Minds and Hearts through Communication.
(Via Fast Company's Blog)

--------

...

 

April 7, 2004

Number of women in higher-paying jobs surges
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 9:32 AM

As reported in today's Globe, a new study by the Washington-based Employment Policy Foundation shows strong pay gains for women in the upper echelons:

Women are making significant gains in vying for higher paying managerial and technical positions.

A study released yesterday said the number of women earning $100,000 a year or better more than tripled during the past decade.

- - - - -

''I'm not trying to tell you that we've got 50-50" equality with men, she [foundation economist Regina Powers] said, ''but the point is that from '91 to 2001 women made great strides." Almost one in three women who entered the labor force during the 1990s earned more than $60,000, Powers said.

This is strong evidence that the playing field may be leveling - or is at least starting to - which should be welcome news to the Savvy Manager .

--------

...

 

April 5, 2004

Leadership and soft skills
Posted by at 11:08 AM

Take a look at Paul Glen's Selecting New IT Leaders. Make sure you've thought of the soft skills (the ever-so-necessary) non-technical skills when you think about defining roles for project managers, functional managers, and especially senior managers. Managers aren't always leaders, but they need to exhibit many of these soft-skill behaviors.
--------

...