Monster Pairs With Tech Company to Increase Newspaper Ties: Under the deal, newspapers using Adicio’s service will have several options to increase their ties with Monster, including having their own employment ads co-listed in Monster’s database and giving online advertisers an easy way to buy print ads in the paper. A good move by the fading newspapers for sure. The traditional newspaper help-wanted ad is just about toast, as it should be. Surprisingly, we still encounter companies that only advertise in the local newspaper (at confiscatory rates). The trend is clearly towards a handful of major online job boards and a myriad of niche online job boards serving specific industries… Read More
Continue ReadingSelling With A Pierced Tongue
We’ve been on the tattoo and piercing topic for a while and it has generated many discussions at our shop. BusinessWeek.com offers A Pierced Tongue: Too Edgy for Sales? which is a Q&A article. Here is the set-up: There is a young woman in our office who has done a great job in sales support. We are considering her for an outside sales position, but some of the managers are concerned because the employee has a pierced tongue and a little silver barbell ornament in it. Good question – one we have never faced before. I would personally have reservations about the pierced tongue with an outside salesperson. The article mentions… Read More
Continue ReadingFlexible Hours Expected
CareerJournal.com’s Bend Without Breaking: Women Execs Discuss Flex Schedules is an interesting take on a woman’s leadership challenges. This quote is what caught my attention: Michele Coleman Mayes, senior vice president and general counsel of Pitney Bowes, says one of the main rules she learned early in her career — to never leave the office at the end of the day before her boss — is considered outdated by her 20- and 30-something employees. “We baby boomers were driven by face time, but younger employees say ‘what’s the point of that when everyone is wired and always reachable?’” says Ms. Mayes, who is 57. Some women executives Ms. Mayes’s age… Read More
Continue ReadingMe Time Is Vital
Gen Y or Millennial candidates take a different approach to their job search. If you weren’t sure of this or have yet to experience it, I give you the Pioneer Press’ The choosy generation: They want to work for companies that offer nice salaries and clear career paths for advancement. But many are pushing for more. Work isn’t their life, they’re saying before they even begin working, and they’re searching for employers who offer flexible work schedules that allow them to maintain their personal pursuits. “Me time” is vital. So is volunteering in the community €” on company time. We can attest to this trend as we have seen it first-hand. … Read More
Continue ReadingTattoos and Piercings – Part 2
I posted on this subject last December, but a recent article in SHRM’s newsletter touched on this subject and got my attention. Here are a few interesting stats: Dr. Anne E. Laumann, associate professor of dermatology at the Feinberg School of Medicine, and co-researcher Dr. Amy Derick, of the University of Chicago, found that tattoos were more common among younger individuals: 36 percent of people aged 18 to 29 had tattoos, while only 24 percent of those aged 30 to 40 and 15 percent of those aged 40 to 50 reported body art. Tattoos were seen in all ethnic groups studied but were more common among those with Hispanic ancestry… Read More
Continue ReadingGen Y Workers Want…
This: “a high level of connectivity and collaboration with employees at all levels of the organization – but especially with young, like-minded professionals.” According to a short article in Managesmarter.com’s What Gen Y Wants At Work. The one item we have seen the most in this generation: Connection. This is often lacking. Just over 80 percent of Gen Y workers say they feel disconnected from the information flow, politics and career opportunities in their organization. We have seen some fairly brash Gen Y candidates, but I think the confidence many of them exude is valuable. This generation has an incredibly flattened hierarchical mindset. They view the company org chart in… Read More
Continue ReadingMost Valuable Tool For Hiring Gen Y
Your website. Straight from Selling Power’s article Hiring Generation Y: The most powerful recruiting tool for Generation Y is a company’s Website, says Lloyd. Websites need to be up-to-date, engaging, and constantly evolving. “If you demonstrate the latest technology, you will impress this group,” says Lloyd. We just placed a salesperson for a customer who did not have a live website. They were reworking the site to tie in with their other companies and I can tell you it was a real stretch. Not only did this company not have a website, they did not have any noticable digital identity. They appeared to be ethereal. Thankfully they brought their new… Read More
Continue ReadingSoft Skills Development
An encouraging sign from M.B.A. programs as reported by CareerJournal.com – M.B.A. Programs Hone ‘Soft Skills’. From the article: The schools are responding to employers’ growing interest in soft skills. Executive suites are increasingly composed of managers running far-flung operations who must attract and retain knowledgeable workers. That puts a premium on skills such as communicating and brokering compromises, says Warren Bennis, a professor at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and author of a best-selling book on leadership. “It isn’t just nice — these interpersonal skills,” Mr. Bennis says. “It’s about stuff that’s necessary to lead a complex organization.” We’ve been observing this shift first hand… Read More
Continue ReadingHow Many Jobs Is Too Many?
This week I have been reading a lot of different posts and articles that try to answer the question how many jobs is too much on an applicant’s resume? I run into this topic all the time with our clients. Some clients will even try to disqualify a candidate if they feel they have held too many jobs based on their resume. Let me be clear, I am not saying that you should ignore their work history, but don’t use it as the sole means for disqualifying. That statement usually leads me to answering this question from our clients — How many jobs is too many? I never really had… Read More
Continue ReadingWhat Candidates Look For By Generation
Last week I put up a second post, What Candidates Look For In A Job on a webinar conducted by Monster and DDI. In that post I highlighted the disconnect between what the candidate is looking for and what the employer believes they are looking for. Age is a factor in the responses and I promised to share that information with you. So here you go, the top 4 reasons by age group in order of importance: Less than 20 Years Old A creative/fun workplace culture. A compatible work group/team. A good manager/boss. Opportunities to learn and grow. 21 to 30 Years Old Opportunities to learn and grow. Opportunity to… Read More
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