We are in the process of updated some of the technology side of The Hire Sense so our posting has been non-existent. We should be completely upgraded today and plan to be back on the beat on Thursday. In the meantime, I give you this story from foxnews.com – Personalized Bobbleheads Catching On Among Regular Folks. Seriously, you can order a bobblehead in your own likeness.

Bobbleheads, those shaky-headed 3-D caricatures, have jiggled free of their mass-produced roots of an earlier generation. Once merely featureless figures decked out in team colors and handed out on game day, they now depict just about anyone who wants one.Even Trumbo, a Des Moines letter carrier.

“It’s really cool,” he said. “I take it to work and they say ‘It’s you.’ It looks just like me.”

Don’t you just love America?

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Merry Christmas

from all of us at Select Metrix and The Hire Sense.

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Having been a manager of 100+ employees, I always seem to get drawn in by articles like these, especially when they give it in a top 10 list (they hit on 2 of my weaknesses).

This CareerBuilder article came through my RSS reader late yesterday. Most of you have probably completed your office gift-giving, but today may be the day for many of you.

Fifty-six percent of the 1,150 hiring managers polled said they would be giving gifts to their employees this year. Of those 56%, about one-third plan to spend $10 or less, one-in-five expect to spend more than $25 and nearly one-in-ten expect to spend more than $50 per employee.

Here is the definitive list of top 10 items:

• Apple iPod
• Cash
• Gift Card
• Fruit-of-the-Month
• Candy
• Ornament or Decoration
• Book
• Food Basket
• Wine/Alcohol
• Gag Gift

One note on the gag gift – they caution you to make sure you know the employee before attempting to pull it off. I need to put in my 2 cents on this topic, I strongly urge you to not even go there. I have seen some well-conceived gag gifts that were not well received. Oh is that uncomfortable to observe.

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From Fortune/CNN Money.com:

A market research firm called Borrell Associates is now claiming that in 2006, online ad spending for employee recruitment – a.k.a., help wanted – has for the first time surpassed comparable spending in newspapers. The actual amounts are $5.9 billion on the Web vs. $5.4 billion for newspapers.We haven’t seen the full report, but in a thorough post, Alan Mutter quotes this nugget:

“When the history of Internet advertising is written, recruitment sites will undoubtedly dominate the first chapter,” says Borrell. “In 12 years, these sites have grown from a few job boards to hundreds of niche competitors. Online recruitment now accounts for 25% of Internet advertising.”

It’s definitely a major milestone. Moreover, the report predicts that online recruitment will grow to $10 billion by 2011.

Newspapers are bleeding readers fast and should not be used for printed employment ads. Our success with their online offerings have been marginal. I remember when we first started sourcing, we would submit ads and receive the press check (or whatever it is called) via fax machine to proof. Those days seem long ago.

Today, our preference is to use a combination of major online job boards and niche online job boards for employment ads. The newspapers just don’t have the juice they used to have. But we are watching the Yahoo development to see how that develops.

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From our local Pioneer Press:

A specialist veterinarian in Eden Prairie, Goullaud regularly receives letters from faraway clinics imploring him to “join our team.” Glossy recruiting brochures breathlessly promise him the chance to practice veterinary medicine “the way it could be the way it should be” if he would just relocate.The age of high-tech, big-bucks veterinary care has arrived, and specialists like Goullaud are riding high. With pet owners willing to pay more than $3,000 for canine pacemaker surgery, $1,250 for a stent and $600 for a CT scan, clinics are clamoring to add upscale services.

I’m stunned at the fact a canine pacemaker even exists let alone the cost. And now I am wondering if our sales-focused selection services have missed a grossly under served market:

“It is the greatest time of our lives to be a specialist,” he said. “We are in demand.”The specialty focus also has a financial dimension. General practice veterinarians earned a median salary of $77,500 in 2003, while the median pay for specialists hit $137,500, according to the veterinary medical association.

I had no idea this recruiting demand existed in our society. I love dogs but am still astounded by the canine pacemaker. If you read the article, someone paid $3,200 to have one implanted in a 14 year-old toy poodle.

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Sales success is often achieved by consistent actions over an extended period of time. Many people have experienced the salesperson who starts out strong but eventually flame out. It seems the best salespeople have the ability to maintain success over an extended period of time.

Consistency & Reliability
This is the salesperson’s capacity to feel an internal need to be conscientious, consistent and reliable in their personal and/or professional efforts (life roles). This is an internal motivation as opposed to being motivated by external forces such as job, peer or supervisory pressures.

A salesperson with strength in this trait will be dependable and reliable – tending to perform in most situations with little or no direct supervision.

Weakness in this trait may result in a salesperson who is not dependable. Their work performance and schedules might be erratic. They might work very hard for a period of time. However, without external motivation or supervision, they might lack the internal desire to maintain this level of performance throughout the duration of the task at hand.

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Less than 4% just like the past few years according to Fortune. That is unless you have

specialized skills in office administration, the law, IT, and accounting and finance.

In the case of an office administrator, you can expect:

Senior executive assistants’ pay range in 2007 is expected to rise 6.5 percent, while senior office managers’ salaries are projected to run 8.2 percent higher than in 2006, reaching $52,000 a year at the high end.The salary guide also suggests ways to boost your market value: Add 9 percent to the salaries listed in the guide if you are bilingual, up to 10 percent if you hold a Microsoft Office Specialist certification, and 10 percent if you are a senior assistant supporting a C-level honcho in a large company.

One of the most significant factors that led me into a sales career out of college was the wonderful concept of a commission. The beauty of sales is a simple concept – sell more, earn more.

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From salary.com:

82% of managers believe they provide clear goals to their employees prior to their formal performance review, but only 46% of employees say the same.

Nearly half of the employees surveyed said their performance has at some time been reviewed against goals that were not previously communicated.

A bit of an indictment of manager’s communication skills. Of course, employees have been known to hear only what they want to hear also.

Whatever the reason, may I suggest assessing your existing team to ensure you are communicating with them in the most effective manner? Part of our business is solving these problems for companies by identifying the ideal communication pattern for both the manager and the employee.

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If you think your job is tough, check out this article from CareerJournal.com – Santa-Shift Workers Wrestle Perfectionists. The article provides a glimpse into the Vermonters (is that correct?) who come down to New York City every Christmas season to sell their Christmas trees.

A day in the life:

But unlike full-time jobs, the Santa shift poses a unique challenge: working for a perfectionist — the customer — each with an exacting calculus on what amounts to a perfect Christmas purchase. Nothing seems to conjure a desire for perfection more than a Christmas tree. It has to be tall enough, small enough, full enough, sparse enough for ornaments, and shaped but natural.

To be successful, these salespeople had best be solid qualifiers. More from their sales world:

Complicating matters for the workers are the 15-hour days (they don’t stay open all night anymore). They typically sleep on the floor at St. Ann’s whose yard they rent. They often don’t have access to a shower to wash the pitch blackening their hands. They come to New York City more than three weeks before Christmas and don’t return until Christmas Eve, working seven days a week.The Vermonters, to whom complaining isn’t the art form it is to New Yorkers, work cheerfully despite the fact that when they disrobe, they’ll find pine needles in places God didn’t intend.

Great line at the end. I always enjoy these types of stories – it gives me a real appreciation for just how easy my sales world really is.

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Apparently yes. From a recent poll conducted by Career Journal of nearly 500 employees:

• 41% of respondents admitted they are actively searching for a new job
• 35% considered themselves passive jobseekers
• 21% indicated they were not looking for a job at all

So the obvious question is what are you doing to change those numbers within your organization? With 3 out of 4 of your employees potentially leaving, are you properly rewarding and motivating them on an individual basis? No two employees are the same so understanding their rewards and motivations will help ensure that your team is happy and content.

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