April 30, 2007

Mass. economy surging, say two different reports
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:57 PM

It's been awhile since Massachusetts has received two pieces of stunningly good economic news like this, especially back to back.

First, a report came out from UMass saying that the state's economy grew at a rate quadruple that of the nation as a whole during the first quarter of the year:

The Massachusetts economy surged in the first quarter, nearly quadrupling the national growth rate and recalling the technology-driven expansion of the 1990s.

The state's economy grew at a 4.7 percent annual rate in the first quarter, the fastest pace in nearly 7 years, according to a report yesterday from the University of Massachusetts. The US economy grew at a 1.3 percent rate, its worst performance since early 2003, the Commerce Department said.

Then, today the news came out from the US Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics that Massachusetts' unemployment rate dropped the most of any state in the country in March:

Massachusetts had an unemployment rate of 4.4 percent, down 0.9 percent from February, said the bureau. . . The jobless rate in Massachusetts had been in the 4.8- to 5.3-percent range since April 2004, the bureau said.

Welcome news indeed. Mass. is back!

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April 27, 2007

The changing face of Boston and the Commonwealth
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 2:03 PM

With an African-American governor in the State House on Beacon Hill, diversity has a new look - both in Boston and throughout the state:

Nothing is more emblematic of the change in attitude toward and among black professionals than the election last fall of Deval Patrick, the first African-American governor of the Commonwealth.

"How bad can it be here," asks [African-American Brigham and Women's internist Dr. Lisa] Owens, "when we have the second black governor in the country?" In fact, she knows black professionals who have moved to less expensive, and supposedly more welcoming, cities who regret leaving the dynamism of Boston behind.

"There's a buzz, an energy in Boston," says Dr. Owens, who grew up in Washington, D.C. "It's an intangible that people have not found, that they realize retrospectively when they leave."

Another such face is that of famed new Red Sox pitcher Daisuke Matzusaka from Japan.

Dice-K and Deval are among the most visible representatives of the growing diversity in the Hub, where minorites, in aggregate, have outnumbered whites for several years.

Read about both of these phenomena in the Spring, 2007 DiversityBoston magazine, found exclusively online here on BostonWorks.

In addition to the above stories, you will find profiles of three second generation immigrant families carrying on the American Dream, as well as pieces on jobs for the disabled, the experience of Asian Indians in the region, and more.

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On Call now online
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 12:09 PM

Many of you in the Greater Boston healthcare community are familiar with BostonWorks' On Call magazine, which we published bi-monthly for healthcare professionals in the region.

Well, as of this week, On Call has moved to a new home - online. The magazine, still edited by the renowned Joe Saling, will continue to provide all the same great stories, columns (In Other Words, Perspective), interviews, event listings, and other features known to regular readers.

The inaugural edition, for instance, launches with a feature on "Art and the art of healing":

. . .[senior social-work supervisor Lissa Robbins] Kapust's use of poetry in a clinical setting is part of the burgeoning field of the medical humanities, a varied discipline that has emerged from the blending of humanities, social sciences, and the arts as they apply to professional medical education and clinical practice. Medical students discuss literature and philosophy as part of their process for understanding the illness experience. Patients are invited to give readings of their poetry and personal essays about living with serious disease at medical grand rounds. Nursing and social-work students keep journals of their responses to the clients they care for, seeking to understand the universal issues behind individual experience. Paintings and photographs by staff members are exhibited prominently in the entrance lobbies of hospitals. And on inpatient units, musicians perform, offering vitality and peace in a setting that is often overwhelming.

All the stories are available online, accessible from anywhere 24/7, with links to more info. And instead of six times a year, On Call will now be updated weekly.

So check it out and let us know what you think. For feedback, Joe's e-mail is provided on the site.

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April 25, 2007

Mommy Book Wars
Posted by Diane Danielson at 9:18 PM

Perhaps we should just forget about the "Mommy Wars" as it's now become the "Mommy Book Wars."  This morning Motoko Rich of the New York Times fired the first salvo with her article about Mommy Books creating controversy but not book sales.  Then, Leslie Bennetts, author of the "Feminine Mistake," responds on the Huffington Post, claiming that Rich left out some pertinent sales figures, and brings to light the New York Times' often controversial stance on working women's issues.

And to add to the fun, Linda Hirshman, the author of “Get to Work: A Manifesto for Women of the World," also had an op-ed piece in the New York Times this morning.

Should we care if women leave the work force? Yes, because participation in public life allows women to use their talents and to powerfully affect society. And once they leave, they usually cannot regain the income or status they had. The Center for Work-Life Policy, a research organization founded by Sylvia Ann Hewlett of Columbia, found that women lose an average of 18 percent of their earning power when they temporarily leave the work force. Women in business sectors lose 28 percent.

And despite the happy talk of “on ramps” back in, only 40 percent of even high-powered professionals get back to full-time work at all.

That the most educated have opted out the most should raise questions about how our society allocates scarce educational resources. The next generation of girls will have a greatly reduced pool of role models.

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April 23, 2007

Ladies, it's time to wake up and smell the pay gap
Posted by Diane Danielson at 9:42 PM

Do you think the gender wage gap doesn't affect you?  Think again.  According to the newly released report by the American Association of University Women, the pay gap affects women the day they start their first job (despite having better grades in college!)  And, the news gets even worse after that.

In the report, Behind the Pay Gap, the AAUW Educational Foundation found that just one year after college graduation, women earn only 80 percent of what their male counterparts earn. Ten years after graduation, women fall further behind, earning only 69 percent of what men earn. Even after controlling for hours, occupation, parenthood, and other factors known to affect earnings, the research indicates that one-quarter of the pay gap remains unexplained and is likely due to sex discrimination. Over time, the unexplained portion of the pay gap grows.

The research also shows that ten years after graduation, college-educated men working full time have more authority in the workplace than do their female counterparts. Men are more likely to be involved in hiring and firing, supervising others, and setting pay.

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April 17, 2007

Virginia Tech: time for proactive, gentle care
Posted by Maureen Crawford Hentz at 2:00 PM

Like all of us, I am watching the information spool out from Virginia Tech in light of the killings on campus yesterday. As a former campus administrator and a current recruiter who works with collegians, I wanted to offer some basic advice to recruiters who may have current recruits at Virginia Tech.

1. As a company, you are not on the top of a student's notification list. Students may not think to contact you to let you know they are all right. You should be proactive: check your applicant tracking system for Virginia Tech new hires (intern and full time) and your current active interviewing roster.

2. Every student at Virginia Tech will be affected by this---not just those in the two buildings where the shootings occurred. I encourage you to contact your Virginia Tech students via email, express your condolences and let them know you care about them as people.

3. Change interview schedules as necessary. Students react to circumstances differently. Some may want to get off campus and continue as if nothing has happened, while some may be in shock and not able to process any information except that related to the incident. Be flexible and responsive.

4. Consider the students at nearby schools as well. Students at other colleges may also be directly impacted by these events. Be prepared for students from schools other than Virginia Tech to need to cancel interviews and phone calls.

As recruiters of collegians, we can't do much to help, but we can reach out proactively to our students impacted by this violence. In this very small way, at least in the next few weeks, we can provide more breathing space and take any potential worry about 'what about my interview/resume/phone call?' away from students to allow them room to better come to grips with yesterday's events.

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Recruiting success: use these tips and prosper
Posted by Maureen Crawford Hentz at 1:42 PM

Hallelujah! Allison Boyce's blog post today on ere.net is called 10 Things Candidates Hate; 10 Things They Love is one of those hit-the-nail-right-on-the-head-posts that are the best of the blogosphere.

Two of my favorites from the what candidates hate section (this section could also be called ways to lose perfectly good candidates you have sourced):

Walking in to an interview with a person more junior than themselves to discover that said Bozo is reading the resume for the first time and is asking impossibly inane questions such as, "So, why do you need a job with our company?" when they were headhunted.

Enduring a background check that is conducted by hourly workers on a different continent who raise red flags on your background because your university verified your degree as a B.S. in Sociology and Anthropology instead of a B.S. in Women's Studies (which is no longer offered). Did I mention that the candidate has already resigned, given their start date, and had their goodbye party? Yes, no kidding.

The article finishes up with 10 strategies for happy candidates. I'm a member of the treat candidates nicely school of thought myself, and think it's important for recruiters to remember that every piece of paper, every computer record, every phone call is a person. As Ms. Boyce says, "If the worst outcome you get is that every candidate that you interact with wants you to represent them as their Agent for Life, that's not a bad thing."

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April 16, 2007

Overhauling the recruiting process: a case study
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 10:20 AM

Is your recruiting function working well? Are you meeting your corporate goals for new hires, and not just new hires but quality hires?

Maybe you can take some tips from Illinois-based CDW Corp., whose workforce is growing at 15% per annum while they still make the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For list year after year:

In the first three months of 2007, CDW met its recruiting goals and hired more than 300 new account managers, using a new recruiting process launched in December 2006. The new process is the result of more than a year of hard work to restructure the company’s approach to sourcing, assessment, onboarding, training and retention.

CDW has long benefited from a solid employment brand and a strong total rewards program. As a member of Fortune’s "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" for nine consecutive years and one of Fortune’s "America’s Most Admired Companies," CDW pulls in more than 20,000 applications a year.
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"We took a deep dive into our process for selecting talent," [senior vice president of co-worker services Dennis] Berger recalls. "We found that it was very recruiter heavy—a lot of muscle but not very smart."

To find out what CDW's doing right, read the full piece from Workforce Management online.

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April 9, 2007

Who's graduating with engineering degrees?
Posted by Maureen Crawford Hentz at 11:16 AM

In many critical disciplines, particularly in math, science and engineering, 50% or more of the post-graduate degrees at U.S. universities are awarded to foreign nationals.

In doing research about how the early reach of the H1B cap is going to affect my company's current and future applicant pools, I came across the quote above on the Compete America website. This site has a number of resources, including one that breaks down by state the number of engineering and technical degrees awarded to foreign nationals each year. For Massachusetts' page, click here. The site also gives a granular view of specific universities and the numbers of domestic and international graduates.

This data, coupled with the precedent-setting early reach on the H1B cap for 2008, indicates just how competitive science, engineering and technology recruiting is going to be in the future. It's going to be a busy next few years as we all try to recruit from the ever-diminishing pool of technically savvy workers with the ability to work legally in the US. See you out there!

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April 5, 2007

Immigrant impact
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 11:34 AM

According to population estimates to be released today by the US Census Bureau, immigrants are the critical if not only source of population growth for many of the nation's cities:

Without immigrants pouring into the nation's big metro areas, places such as New York, Los Angeles and Boston would be shrinking as native-born Americans move farther out.
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Immigrants long have flocked to major metropolitan areas and helped them grow. But increasingly, native-born Americans are moving from those areas and leaving immigrants to provide the only source of growth.

Read the "Daily Business Update."

As previously reported in the Globe, the immigrant labor force is now an important part of the Greater Boston economy - but not without its headaches:

. . .[The] Massachusetts Institute for a New Commonwealth, a nonpartisan think tank, along with the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University, warn of serious challenges as the immigrants -- many of them with poor English ability and low skill levels -- seek to thrive in the state's increasingly complex job market.

Is this your experience? And if so, what has been your response? Here's one idea, on the training front.

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April 4, 2007

Which is harder to hit: MassCash or the 2008 H1B raffle?
Posted by Maureen Crawford Hentz at 3:16 PM

Yesterday, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that it had already received more H1B visa petitions than can be granted under the 2008 cap. Read the full announcement from USCIS here. This is an unprecedented event, and one that undoubtedly takes many companies by surprise. Petitions received from today on will be rejected. Those petitions received by the 'final receipt date' will be put into a lottery. Results are expected in a few weeks.

What is truly amazing is that these high numbers-- over 150,000 applications for 65,000 spots---- were received in the first two days of the process. Last year, the cap wasn't reached until late May/early June.

The serious implication of this situation upon companies with currently-petitioning employees is clear. In addition, I fear that this will have a future chilling effect on employers' willingness to hire applicants who are eligible to petition for the H1B, but who do not yet have the visa in hand.

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April 3, 2007

Would-be AJB successor gets backing
Posted by Douglas Eisenhart at 4:14 PM

One of the largest online job banks, the US DOL's America's Job Bank, is slated to shut down operations at the end of June.

But now a new group has emerged to pick up the reins and keep a major, national, government-run online jobs clearinghouse available as an option to both employers and the job-seeking public:

Last week, the National Association of State Workforce Agencies announced it is backing and will help run the JobCentral National Labor Exchange. The exchange is a service designed to take the place of America’s Job Bank, the U.S. Labor Department’s free online job site set to expire June 30.

The association is a group of state administrators who focus on programs and services provided through publicly funded state workforce systems. The exchange is owned and managed by the DirectEmployers Association, a nonprofit consortium of U.S. employers.

While numeorus private sector boards, such as BostonWorks and other newspaper-based boards, and the major national job sites such as Monster.com, Yahoo/Hot Jobs, and CareerBuilder have emerged to provide a plethora of online listings, many in the employment community feel there is still an important role to be played by the government in this central function - job listings - in the employment arena.

Read the full piece from Workforce Management magazine.

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April 2, 2007

Keeping out the obese?
Posted by Maureen Crawford Hentz at 6:41 PM

A thought provoking article has been posted on the Fisher Phillips website addressing

the legal risks of eliminating job applicants who could potentially increase a company’s healthcare costs from consideration for employment without becoming a “test case” in litigation. The two primary indicators that an applicant may eventually contribute to an increase in healthcare costs are smoking and obesity.

How many companies are actually making employment decisions based on these factors? This kind of article takes the conversation about obesity to a level entirely different from that of appearance-related discrimination. For further information on obesity-based appearance discrimination, I direct you to Bias, Discrimination, and Obesity research by Rebecca Puhl and Kelly D. Brownell

The issue of obesity and obesity discrimination is one unaddressed in most companies. Many organizations still struggle with 'primary' diversity issues of race and gender and a conversation about appearance-related discrimination may simply be overchallenging. These conversations are important ones to begin as more and more Americans fall into the clinical category of morbid obesity. If we don't start talking about it now, how will be handle it in the future?

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