From the Career News newsletter (sorry, no link-my emphasis): And a growing number of employees have concluded that the best way to move up is to move around. According to international-employment-matchmaker Randstad’s latest World of Work Survey, more than half of today’s employed are searching the Internet for a better situation; yet most profess to be happy in their current jobs, despite a 41-to-60-hour work week. A just-released study by the Conference Board confirms that almost three-quarters of job-seekers are pounding virtual pavement. They’re scanning Internet job boards like Monster.com or CareerBuilder.com and networking with friends, acquaintances and friends of acquaintances on sites like Facebook and its business-networking predecessor LinkedIn.… Read More
Continue ReadingWhere NOT To Post Employment Ads
The local paper. Simple, right? We monitor sales employment ads on the major boards and the local papers (we have 2 here in the Twin Cities). We have been doing this for over 6 years now and have watched the gradual decline in ads. The only ads we tend to see now are placed by staffing firms and what I would characterize as “old guard” industries. The death rattle of this newspaper section is palpable.
Continue ReadingThermostat Wars
I was reading through the latest Herman Trend Report this morning about the new souped up cubicles that are being developed by IBM and Steelcase. Yes, it sounds similar to customizing a Yugo, but there actually are some interesting ideas geared towards Millennial workers. For instance: Two new technologies facilitate people working in collaboration: “MyTeam” uses sensor data to connect team members and to broadcast availability awareness. One touch opens the preferred communication channel, whether it is e-mail, phone, or instant message. Their Everywhere Displays projector transforms any surface into a touch-screen. Rather than gathering around a monitor, participants working together may project their work onto tables or walls. Users may… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Beginning Of Sales Mercenaries
Ok, this is more brainstorming than well-developed post (don’t touch that – they are all well-developed in my mind). Anyway, I read through an interesting piece on BusinessWeek.com titled Coping With the Talent Crunch. The article is from last year, but the author hits on a couple interesting points. First, this (my editing and emphasis): It may be that employers (especially large ones) are increasingly out of touch. True, for most of the past two decades employees have consistently said there are reasons more important than money that make a job attractive. The problem is, most of those reasons to stick around have gone the way of the manual typewriter.… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Or Cube Farm?
As a resident in many cube farms for many years of my career, I have a fondness for stories involving this topic. This article – Why Silicon Valley Firms Are Rethinking the Cubicle – provides probably more insight than the average person cares to know about this topic. But this caught my attention: Intel Corp. is often credited, or blamed, for popularizing the office cubicle. Now it is joining some prominent Silicon Valley peers in reconsidering the concept. I didn’t know that, but later in the article you find this statistic: Sun Microsystems Inc. is particularly aggressive about flexible work styles; the computer maker estimated that about 55% of its employees… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Most Annoying Coworker
It’s me. Well, I didn’t make the list, but I think I could have won it (Lee will confirm it). But this article in CareerJournal.com reports that SnagAJob.com went with their own list and came up with these answers: According to the 7,000 people who responded to the poll last month, the “slacker” and the “kiss-up” tied for the most annoying person to work with. Each type was selected as most annoying by 32.6% of those who responded to the one-question survey. … Third on the list of annoying co-workers was the “gossip hound,” which 18.4% said was the most annoying co-worker. The “loud talker” was deemed most annoying by… Read More
Continue ReadingNews Alert: Most Employees Faking Sick Days
Ok, it is a cheeky title to this post, but I recently read this Inc.com article – Big Surprise: Most Workers Faking Sick Days (see, Inc.com started it). In case you had any doubt: …most workers who call in sick at the last minute aren’t really sick. … The real reasons for employee absenteeism range from family issues to personal needs and stress. Indeed, a majority of workers tend to call in “sick” on Mondays or Fridays, with similar patterns appearing around major holidays, the survey found. So no surprises here but there is a very good point made towards the end of the article (emphasis mine): Still, Wolf doesn’t blame… Read More
Continue ReadingCompanies Offering "Voluntary" Benefits
We just lost a strong candidate at one of our customers this week because the company’s offer did not contain a well-defined benefits package. That always hurts. Now this morning I read the CareerJournal.com article titled Firms Increasingly Offer ‘Voluntary’ Benefits. I haven’t heard of this trend, but it is most intriguing. A growing number of businesses, large and small, are offering employees so-called voluntary benefits ranging from pet insurance to homeowners insurance to help with house closings and estate planning. The signature character of these voluntary benefits is that employees pay for them, but at a discounted rate obtained by the employer. Medical insurance will always be the top… Read More
Continue ReadingTalkin’ Trends Podcast
I mentioned the new Salesopedia JobsCentral board earlier today. As part of that board’s launch, I had the chance to record a podcast with Clayton Shold from Salesopedia and Jeremy Miller from LEAPJob.com. We talked about a handful of sales hiring trends, Generations X & Y and our predictions of where we see the market going in the next 5 years. It was a good, lively discussion and worth your time to listen. Please click here to listen to the entire podcast.
Continue ReadingThe Demise Of No Email Fridays?
I posted on No Email Fridays back in March of this year. Well, now it appears a revolt has occurred at that company. According to CareerJournal.com’s Employers Try ‘No Email’ Days, But Workers Are Fighting Back: When U.S. Cellular’s chief operating officer, Jay Ellison, imposed a “no email Friday” rule at his company, he thought it would ease workers’ overload. Instead, he got a rebellion. Among many irate responses, Kathy Volpi, a marketing director, confronted Mr. Ellison and “just ripped me,” he says. “She really gave me a piece of her mind.” This borders on hyperbole: But withdraw it even for a day, and some employees fight back like recovering smokers… Read More
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