Inc.com’s Job Applicants Fear Impact of Online Behavior offers this (my emphasis): Job Hunting in the Digital Age, a poll of about 600 current employees conducted by Harris Interactive for Adecco USA, found that 66 percent of workers in Generation Y (ages 18 to 29) are oblivious to the online background checks employers do to research potential employees. In comparison, only 40 percent of baby boomers (ages 43 to 61) are unaware of such searches. How can this be? Gen Y is oblivious to online background checks? Later in the article: Therefore, more baby boomers make the effort to keep up with the latest hiring trends, as opposed to those in… Read More
Continue ReadingSurvive The Drive – Telecommute
It seems these articles about the worst commutes come out every month. This month Forbes.com offers up The Most Unhealthy Commutes in America. First, the top 5 (with 2 California cities – no surprise): The Top 5 Most Unhealthy Commutes1. Riverside, Calif.2. Atlanta, GA3. Los Angeles, CA4. (tie) Houston, TX4. (tie) Washington, D.C. Then you get this interesting piece of data (emphasis mine): Not only do commuters in Southern California inhale the worst year-round particle pollution levels, but Riverside drivers also face the highest rate of fatal auto accidents per capita, and Los Angeles drivers spend the most time sitting in traffic. In 2003, the annual delay per traveler there was… Read More
Continue ReadingA Smaller Monster
It appears that Monster.com’s legal woes are impacting their bottom line. They are laying off 800 employees. From the Pioneer Press’ Monster to cut 800 jobs: Monster, which has been grappling with an investigation into its stock-option granting practices, said second-quarter operating expenses swelled by 34 percent, largely because of higher legal fees and severance payments. Profit fell 28 percent in the quarter, even as sales rose. Good lesson here – businesses grow on profit, not revenue. That should be obvious, but we still talk to salespeople who seem unaware of this truth.
Continue ReadingThe IM Wave
We had a rather robust discussion at Select Metrix yesterday regarding corporate uses of instant messaging (IM). I, being a self-proclaimed techno-geek, believe that IM will replace email in the near future. Well, according to a CareerJournal.com article titled Instant Messaging Is Invading And Changing the Workplace, that future may be now (emphasis mine): But tech consultant Gartner Inc. projects that instant messaging will be the “de facto tool for voice, video and text chat” for 95% of employees in big companies within five years.
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Is Becoming An Expected Perk
We have been discussing telecommuting in the sales world over the past year and have seen it appear in our sourcing efforts as a common topic. Inc.com looks into this trend in their article The Benefits of Telecommuting. The focus of the article is in the realm of IT professionals. That group is obviously an early adopter of technology trends so this isn’t surprising: In a survey of 1,400 chief information officers, 44 percent said their company’s IT workforce is telecommuting at a rate the same as or higher than five years ago, according to Robert Half Technology, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based technology-consulting firm. Many IT workers fall to the… Read More
Continue ReadingCandidates Are Discussing Benefits Earlier
I remember 5-6 years ago we would consider a benefits discussion from a sales candidate a bit of a red flag. If the candidate was asking about benefits early in the process, we became suspicious that they were looking to retire on the company’s payroll. Oh how times have changed. The fact that more of this cost is being pushed to the employee makes this topic a valid one for early in a hiring process. We still prefer to have candidates discuss the commission plan, market position and value proposition, but benefits are a real cost in the equation. From Inc.com comes this article with survey results that are not… Read More
Continue ReadingRecess For Adults
Salary.com released its annual poll regarding time wasted by employees. It appears that after 3 years of polling, 1.7 to 2.0 hours seems to be the steady average for an 8.5 hour day. The poll seems somewhat silly to me, but I did enjoy these closing graphs: Companies should look on wasted time as comparable to a recess for adults, which can make them more productive in the long run, he said. €œThere is always room for wasting time during the day,€ he said. €œAt some point, you have to step off the treadmill and recharge the batteries. €¦ Not all wasted time is a net loss.€
Continue ReadingMissing The Boat On Blogging
Inc.com’s article Business Owners Rank Internet as Most Important Marketing Tool speaks to the marketing efforts of small companies. The poll only involved 250 business owners so it is a small sample size, but let me unpack the article this way: While e-mail may top the list of Internet-related activities, many small businesses have begun implementing online advertising strategies. Of survey respondents, 59 percent use online ads and 68 percent utilize search engine optimization “sometimes” or “often.” Business owners are making efforts to increase their Internet presence. Forty-four percent say they plan on spending more on Internet tools this year compared to 2006, while 27 percent plan to spend the same amount… Read More
Continue ReadingThe Most Annoying Office Habits
From Yahoo! Finance comes this article – How Loud is too Loud? As you might guess, the loud phone talker topped the survey as the most annoying office habit. Being an auditory person, I can agree with that one. I’m always telling the Rock Star to use his indoor voice since his voice carries a country mile. Despite the laundry list of complaints, the loud talker wins the award for most annoying. Of 2,318 people surveyed in March 2006 by Harris Interactive and Randstad, 32% say an office loud talker is their biggest pet peeve. Coming in a close second at 30% is using an annoying cellphone ringtone; 22% said… Read More
Continue ReadingCorporate Blogging Violations
From Podcasting News – Nearly One Out Of Ten Companies Has Fired A Blogger: Nearly one out of ten large companies has fired an employee for violating corporate blogging or message board policies, according to a survey conducted by Proofpoint, a company that specializes in corporate messaging security. 19 percent of the companies have disciplined an employee for violating corporate blogging or message board policies. It would be interesting to know what some of the violations entailed. We’re not familiar with what companies use for their blogging policy but we would be most interesting to know what is a typical policy.
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