RFL: Job Postings INCREASED in February!

I spent some time this morning pulling some data and analyzing our metrics from February. Though expecting to see a reflection of the economic status, I was very surprised to see actual growth in the number of job postings from Jan to Feb 2009. Trust me, I didn't believe it at first either. I went back and forth, looking over the numbers in various ways from various reports, but it's true. That being said, it doesn't mean the job search will now be easy.

New and recent college grads will need to re-evaluate their career plans. After looking at the data, my suggestion is to find work with a small business or non-profit where you can gain experience quickly, and see tangible results of your work. This market is up, and it makes for a great foundation for the rest of your career. Here are some more highlights from the job data in New England from the leading recruiting resources of JobsInTheUS...

While there's no doubt that this year's wave of college grads will have greater difficulty landing their dream jobs, the current economic situation is providing a new avenue of opportunity for them. In fact, the February data for New England has been very positive, with the number of job postings actually increasing by 30% from January. As has been widely reported, job growth in health care continues, particularly in nursing and medical practice, accounting for nearly 10% of all job postings in January and February 2009.

But what if you don't have a health care related degree? The best companies realize that during such economic times, it's absolutely critical to maintain positive client-facing activities. As such, there will continue to be strength in sales, marketing, and customer support positions. Unfortunately for new college grads, there is heavy competition for these positions, and experience in this sector is generally very important. One exception to that is social media marketing. Because of the nature of social media services, and the lack of costs normally associated with them, businesses are focusing more on developing a presence in this space. There is, and will continue to be, a market for the technically savvy and business oriented. If you're graduating with a marketing degree now, our advice is to read up on an explore the business value of social media. Every business sees the need, but very few have the in-house talent to develop these channels.

Another important trend to notice is the boom in job postings for non-profits. The number of postings for non-profits jumped an amazing 35% since January, representing over 5% of all jobs posted. These jobs, along with social and human services sector opportunities, provide an interesting view of the economy. With the rates of foreclosure and unemployment so high, the need for these services has grown. For new college grads, this may be an excellent opportunity to launch a career...in any field. With non-profits operating normally very thinly, employees often have opportunities to work in various aspects of the organization, providing a unique hands-on experience that is hard to find elsewhere. Additionally, with the federal support coming, the growth and impact of these organizations should be significant, providing great bullet points for your resume and talking points for future interviews.

Here are some of the numbers...

Nonprofit job postings increased 35% from Jan to Feb

Sales, mkt, c/s, social services, medical, nursing represent about 25% of all job postings in new england

Decline in large companies hiring

75% of job postings for companies with fewer than 500 ee's

2/3 of job postings for fewer than 250 ee's

In Feb 74% of jobs were for full time openings

However the number of part time postings increased 25% from Jan to Feb

Nearly 35% more job openings posted in Feb than in Jan

RFL: Joys of Laryngitis And Other Oddities

After complete laryngitis a couple weeks ago, I've been battling with a raspy halfway voice for two weeks now. That's right, I haven't been able to use my normal voice for just over three weeks now... and YES, IT'S KILLING ME! Finally, confronted with the fear of losing my voice permanently, I visited a doctor. Thankfully no complications. I just have to got two days without talking... simple, right?

Well, I've certainly learned a lesson about communication today, my first complete no talking day. It's true what they say- when you feel that you can't communicate, frustration sets in quickly. As I stepped out for lunch today with my pencil and paper to communicate, I realized quickly how much talking I really do. It was a pleasant surprise to see just how friendly and helpful strangers are, and make me think just how innate our desire to help is.

But I've made my way through one day, hoping to ease into the end of the week by completing some training presentations. Finally going to be delivering a structured LinkedIn training internally, should be fun.

Quick thanks to J. William Tincup, of Starr Tincup, for highlighting me on his blog. Here's a quick excerpt below, click here for the full version:


4 Questions With… Jason Blais
March 5th, 2009

Jason Blais

Twitter || LinkedIn || HRM Today

What’s your personal favorite blog post and why?

“I just found this through Twitter. Every time I start to question the value of microblogging services like this, I am smacked in the face with a truly valuable link to important and relevant info. This blog post goes above and beyond in providing volumes of knowledge in a very clear, well laid out, and quick to scan format.

Either that or a much more personal one that I posted recently. Sometimes it just feels good to put yourself out there and share some pride you work.”

What’s your favorite personal online brand and why?

“Without sounding like a suckup to the host, I think William Tincup has this hands down. I had thought of this before I met him in person recently, and our face to face on served to reinforce my feelings. The cigar-smoking photo he uses consistently, along with the images used on his blog really represent the man. Additionally, I’m always happy to see people with enough self-awareness and internal confidence to be who they are. Great job with your personal brand consistency Mr. Tincup!

Out of all the folks online, who would youl ike to meet in person and why?... continued at jpie.com.

RFL: 4 Keys to Internal Employment Branding In A Recession

Following up to my previous post, here are 4 keys to success for promoting your employment brand during hiring freezes or staffing reductions. Remember, in consumer markets, the effort you put into advertising and marketing during a downturn will directly affect your ability to capture market share when the economy turns.

The same applies to the labor market. If you want to sustain organizational excellence, you must be able to attract top talent in all positions in your company. You can greatly increase your ability to make good future hires by continuing to develop your employment brand during this recession. Here are 4 simple keys to remember as you go forward:

1. Whether your business is top-down, bottom-up, or organizationally flat, EMPLOYMENT BRANDING develops from the inside out. During these hard times, it may seem attractive to reduce spending on training, company events, and recognition programs. It will be up to HR professionals to fight to keep these activities in the budget. Further, if you are in a position to do so, now is the time to increase these types of activities.
   
   
2. Communicate, communicate, communicate! There is a great deal of anxiety in virtually every workplace in America right now. Be sure to over-communicate to your managers and to your employees. Go the extra mile to reinforce that communication is a two way street, and arm your front line supervisors with the knowledge and skill to handle employee concerns and questions constructively.
   
   
3. Remember The Law of Seven when announcing layoffs or salary freezes. This law, taught to me by a VC and former VP of National Advertising for BF Goodrich, states that a customer who experiences a negative interaction with your company will tell 7 people about it. Conversely, only one in 7 people will share a positive interaction with others. What does it mean? You have to put in extra effort to generate positive internal messaging even when delivering bad news. If people feel treated fairly, they may pass on just how well you handled things. If they feel treated poorly, they will yell it from the mountaintops.
   
   
4. Utilize Press Release distribution services to reinforce positive employment related events. Consider announcing long-term anniversaries, promotions, completion of trainings, employee events, and internal employee survey results. This is a low cost way to keep your employment brand alive even when you have no job ads to post. It also reinforces the value of your work internally, provided you follow key number two above.

All of these keys are directly related to positive word of mouth campaigns developed by you and carried out by your employees. Remember, the reality of your employment brand is what your workforce says it is, regardless of what you want it to be. The more focus you can put into guiding that internal dialogue, the more long-term brand integrity and brand penetration you'll have.

That's all from now from the Recruiting Front Lines! Next time, I'll share a few keys about external branding during a recession. Please share any thoughts or comments, and remember, if you like what you read here, please pass it on!

Jason

The Recruiting Front Lines: RFL: We're Moving in the Right Direction!

The Recruiting Front Lines: RFL: We're Moving in the Right Direction!

RFL: Down Economy? Don't Just Sit On Your Hands!

Word of caution to all HR and staffing professionals. NOW is certainly NOT the time to ignore your recruiting strategies. I've spoken with a few companies recently who have expressed that due to the economy, and their hiring freeze or reductions, they aren't giving any attention to the employment brand or recruiting strategies at all. That line of thinking will only serve to position you to lose out on the best talent when the economy shifts or you simply need to fill a key position. Let me explain.

THE BEST COMPANIES INCREASE EXPOSURE IN DOWN ECONOMY
In a down economy, the strongest companies maintain or increase their advertising and marketing. You'll often see big name brands advertising during a downturn that you don't see during strong economic times. This is done to gain market share and reinforce brand awareness that will be leveraged when the economy does turnaround. Despite slowing or declining revenues, businesses promote the unique value of their products/services to remain top of mind with consumers. At the same time, some companies opt for cutting their advertising and marketing budgets and efforts, resulting in loss of market share and brand awareness, and negatively affecting their ability to rebound when the pendulum swings. They simply lose out to the companies with greatet TOMA- Top Of Mind Awareness.

CONSUMER BRANDING PRINCIPLES APPLY TO THE LABOR MARKET
This very same dynamic exists in the labor market. To be positioned to attract the best talent when you are hiring requires, businesses must apply the strategies of consumer branding to their employment branding practices. That's to say, a business looking to outperform others in the acquisition of key talent, must continue to promote and reinforce their employment brand despite hiring freezes or cutbacks. This is critical to your business's long term success. A business that fails to acquire key talent will fail to be as productive as those who do capture the best candidates, over the long term. Failing to pay attention to your employment brand is only slightly less detrimental to you business than failing to pay your electricity bill.

In my next post, I'll discuss 4 keys to promoting your employment brand during a recession.

That's how it looks today from the Recruiting Front Lines! Please feel free to share your comments, or shoot me an email if you have questions about any topics at jayblais@yahoo.com, or read more from me in the Recruiting Review Newsletter!

RFL: We're Moving in the Right Direction!

Set sail even though your friends stay in harbour. Know the route, know the soundness of your ship and the favour of the day
-Miyamoto Musashi, A Book Of Five Rings.

I'm happy to report that here at JobsInTheUS, we are moving in the right direction.... at least, I think so. I recently accepted a new role, or a slightly modified version of my previous roles, as the Director of Business Development. -that's not why I think we're moving in the right direction, though, of course, promoting me is the sign of a very intelligent business ;0).

In this new capacity, I'll be focusing on developing our brand and identifying new revenue streams. While many in our industry have taken the easy step for short term revenue gain- charging job seekers in some fashion or another-, we have remained focused on our long term prosperity and stability.

(Believe it or not, my writing this is truly just a strange coincidence of timing with the philosophy and message put forth by President Obama in his Address to Congress, which is really just sound business practice.)

We believe that counsel, confidence, and content are the most important things we can give to both job seekers and employers right now, and that through those efforts, we will maintain and grow our brand loyalty and remain the premier recruiting resource in the markets we serve.

My new role is one example of how we're backing up our brand promise with actual business practices. I have been a member of SHRM for 5 years now, am an active member of the Greater Monadnock SHRM chapter that meets in Keene, NH, and the HR Management Association of Central Massachusetts, and currently sit on the board for the Granite State HR Conference as the Information Management Chair. Over the past 4 years I have written and delivered numerous HR Certified internet recruiting seminars to employers in person across New England and New York, and via webinar to HR professionals across North America and Europe. During the past couple years, my focus has been on our Outreach and Education programs, providing PR, Marketing, and Sales support to our company, through experiential campaigns. These include exhibition at over 200 career oriented events in 2008, participation in B2B expos, and partnership development with trade associations and chambers of commerce. In addition, through this program, we presented dozens of Internet Job Hunting workshops directly to groups of job seekers through college career centers and state agencies.

As a company, my appointment as the Dir. of Business Development shows our commitment to growing our business through increased connection to our local markets, as opposed to selling more meaningless content on our web space or merely finding ways to capture revenue from job seekers. We have thoughtfully determined that our long term value and stability is based squarely on our ability to provide the best service to our customers, both employers and job seekers, and continue to establish our presence as thought-leaders in the world of recruiting and staffing management.

While we will continue to grow our base, developing our platform to connect the best in-state candidates with real in-state job opportunities, we will also expand to offer greater support to both job seekers and employers. Since 2004, we have hosted more real, in-state jobs in Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire than any other resource available, generating real content that attracts large numbers of the local job seekers. We have also successfully launched new markets in NY, CT, PA, LA, MS, and AL.

I'm proud of the brand loyalty and integrity we've established, but am even more proud of our continued decision to build on our success in thoughtful and valuable ways. I recently attended an HR meeting presented by the Central RI Chamber of Commerce which we sponsored. One of our long standing clients went out of her way to share with me that while they'll be cutting many of their recruitment advertising methods, they will continue to use JobsInRI. She continued to explain that they realize the best value from our site, and that the support that we give through our participation in the community and the expertise given by our Recruitment Specialists is unparalleled.

We take the responsibility of providing value to the employers that advertise with us very seriously- and will continue to develop the counsel, confidence, and content we provide to help businesses make great hires. We also take great care in our engagement with the job seekers who rely on our service to find career opportunities, and will continue to develop the counsel, confidence, and content they need to find their next great career.

Because of this dedication to provide value, knowledge, and positive experiences in our markets, we believe the future is bright.

Set sail even though your friends stay in harbour. Know the route, know the soundness of your ship and the favour of the day.

Thanks to all of those who have utilized our resource over the years. We hope we can continue to meet your expectations and provide you with valuable counsel, confidence, and content.

Best Regards,

Jason C. Blais

RFL: Forget Corporate Social Responsibility

Forget Corporate Social Responsibility, What About CONSUMER Social Responsibility!

I believe it's time for us all to take a step back, and remember the value of human interaction both in life and in business. Businesses shouldn't simply depend on automation solutions or online applications or e-commerce strategies to grow and build market share. Unfortunately, it's up to consumers to demand more, and it seems that the majority are just too busy with their mobile devices listening to music, watching videos, texting, and calling, or going online to see how popular they can be on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or a Ning network. If, as a country, we've already given away our status as a producer of goods, then the burden of our domestic value and economic strength falls on the shoulders of our consumers. That being the case, we must all become smarter and more thoughtful as we consume.

Somehow, online businesses have succeeded in convincing the masses that avoiding human interaction and local contact is a GOOD thing. And that we're better off not having a local insurance carrier or bank or anything else for that matter. For a few dollar savings, we've allowed ourselves to accept that it's in our best interest to pay less and receive less service.

In the world I operate in, recruitment advertising, this issue is growing out of control. Some larger employers have become to time-sensitive, they've removed human contact from parts of the recruiting process, relying solely on applicant screening applications. Try speaking with a hiring manager at a Borders, Sears, or other multi-national giant. It's likely that you can't even hand in a paper resume any more, let alone speak with someone about the job opening to find out more. Not too long ago I asked the store manager at a Sears who looked at the applications once they were completed at the in-store kiosk. Surprise! She had no idea. If the applicant was cleared by someone "at the home office", the store would get a call to let them know when the applicant would be coming in for an interview.

Ever have a question about the validity of job postings on an internet job board? Who did you ask to get more information or confirm that the job was legitimate? I didn't think so. While I am truly proud of the success of the job boards I work with, I am most proud of our focus on the local markets we serve. I'm almost embarrassed to share this, but once I was told that the only reason an employer used our site, was that when she called, she spoke with a live person who was familiar with her account, and that we gave her assistance over the phone to help ensure her recruiting success. Since when did answering the phone and giving advice to your customers become a unique sales proposition?!

Anyway, I'm getting off track. Today I just wanted to ask everyone to be thoughtful about how you consume.

Is it good or bad to pay $10 more for a running shoe that's made in the USA (yes, there's still one company making shoes on US soil- keep up the good work New Balance!)?

It it better to physically go to the bank that employs 20 or so of your neighbors who, in turn, buy from the local grocers, attend local theater, and pay taxes to support the local schools, than it is to get an extra tenth of a % on your savings account and enjoy the convenience of using an online bank?

The decisions we make do matter, in life and in business. Whether you're buying goods, or recruiting staff, remember this: There are always unintended consequences for every action. Will your actions more likely produces positive unintended consequences, or negative?

Slide Show for New England Job Seekers

With our focus on providing higher level resources for job seekers, we've updated our job hunting workshop to include content on identifying and promoting your transferable skills. For many who have been laid off, you may need to branch out to find new types of career opportunities. Take a look at the presentation below this post. Feel free to share feedback via the comment link below.

Hope this helps!

Jason

RFL:Guest Author Julie Poland Discusses Staff Development Pt.2

Part two of guest author Julie Poland's "The Down-Market Case for Staff Development", in which she discusses Retention of Talent and Quantifying the Value of Training, Coaching, and Development. In part one of this two-part series, Julie discussed Retention of Talent and Managing When One Shoe Has Already Dropped. Click here to view part one.

The Down-Market Case for Staff Development

Part 2 of 2

By Julie Poland, Certified Business Coach

The Impact of Attitudes

Attitudes can be defined as assumptions and habits of thought. They are extremely important in any market condition because they determine the extent to which skills and knowledge are applied effectively, or at all. In a down market the role of attitudes can be compounded. For instance, if an employee assumes he or she is going to be downsized no matter how well they perform they are not likely to be at their productive and innovative best. If defeatist attitudes get the best of them they’re likely to create the very performance that makes them the best choice not to survive the next downsizing.

Compounding this issue is the stream of conversation and media attention heaping bad news on top of bad. It’s not exactly an environment that breeds a “can-do” way of thinking or a willingness to take risks in order to progress. Employees can really benefit in the attitude department when their development process includes information on how attitudes are formed, how they change, and what steps to take to maintain one that’s beneficial to peace of mind and productivity.

Quantifying the Value of Training, Coaching, and Development

Lack of an evident return on investment is one of the reasons why training efforts are considered by many to be an expense rather than an investment. When an outside provider is involved and hard dollar investment is needed the potential ROI becomes a more consistent part of the conversation.

If you want to be able to better quantify the value of proposed training, coaching, or other development you should be working with your in-house customers (usually line managers) and finding out:

· What are the specific outcomes (in terms of results and behaviors) that you want to see?

· What will be the benefits of those outcomes?

· What will be the ramifications if you don’t get the results you want and/or need?

· How will you measure success?

Decision makers who don’t have the answers to these questions will often decide not to do training because they won’t be conscious about looking at the return. This is not the time when they will want to involve people in training because it’s “nice to do.” They will have to be able to see a business case for doing so.

Last, there has to be a link between training and the “real world” of the job. Implementation of skills and knowledge is necessary. This usually means involving the manager overseeing the participants to “double team” with the trainer, coach or facilitator to ensure on-the-job implementation of content learned and to measure actual results.

Julie Poland, CBC, is a business and personal coach with 19 years of experience working with all levels of leaders and employees, from Mom and/or Pop firms to international corporations. Find more information at www.summithrd.com.

Julie Poland

www.summithrd.com

subscribe FREE to Julie's blog at http://www.thesummitblog.blogspot.com

If you accept the expectations of others, especially negative ones, then you never will change the outcome.
- Michael Jordan

RFL: SHRM, Employment Branding, and Trade Mixer

In the last 24 hours, I participated in a board meeting for the Granite State HR Conference, Exhibited at the New Hampshire Lodging and Restaurant Association mixer, attended the monthly Monadnock SHRM meeting, and met with the Director of Organizational Development and Training at The Main Street America Group in Keene, NH, to learn about their employment brand practices. While exhausting, it's great to get out to so many events in a short time because it truly gives me a vivid snapshot of what's going on at the Recruiting Front Lines and JobsInNH. Here's what I've learned in the last day:

GSHRC Board Meeting
We have been tirelessly focused on building the value within the annual state conference for 2009. The programs we've chosen will help all business managers, not just HR professionals, become more valuable to their businesses. We have programs on developing sustainability practices, efficient use of technology, recruiting more effectively, and many more. Having attended these conferences in ME and NH for the past 5 years, I find it very disappointing that many businesses still don't understand the value of professional development in regard to human capital. During this meeting, however, I was happy to hear we're off to a tremendous start, and believe the continued buzz we're creating will lead to a record attendance. I'm very glad to be part of this.

NHLRA Member Mixer
JobsInNH was one of 5 or 6 companies on display at the February member mixer held at the Radisson in Nashua. A good turnout of around 60 or so folks, mostly vendors for restaurants and hotels. It was great to connect with the director of NH Businesses for Social Responsibility, and hear how they're getting their message out.

As an aside, there are some that say that socially responsible companies have an upper hand in recruiting top talent. People are more and more focused on the culture of their environment. The bottom line is this: If you're not developing socially or environmentally responsible programs at your workplace, start. If you are, be sure to scream it from the top of the mountains to leverage your work into attracting great talent.

It also became apparent through discussions with members and with our JobsInNH Outreach Consultant Caleb Wolfe, that one business segment seems to be doing very well in this economy... at least for now. As all businesses are looking to "do more with less", they are looking for ways to cut their overhead. This is leading to business for smaller vendors that operate in larger markets. Telecommunications, Internet Service Providers, Insurance Providers, Computer Networking, Consulting, Credit Unions and other businesses that normally compete for the scraps left by large corporations, are beginning to see an increase in business as people bargain hunt and look for local stability.

Monadnock SHRM
I attended the monthly meeting and heard a great deal about the oddly named Employee Free Choice Act that has passed through the House in Washington DC, and is being looked at by the Senate. It was an interesting presentation from Mark Broth, and attorney with Devine Millimet. He was outlining the concerns and issues that are built into this act that would do away with private ballots in the process to organize a labor union. I'll write an entirely separate post on the EFCA, so will refrain from getting too far into it. The meeting was fairly well attended, by the usual group, and provided a great opportunity to connect with HR friends. The Chapter President, Priscilla Brisson (also Director of Human Resources for Monadnock Developmental Services), was gracious enough to let me plug the HR Conference and solicit nominations for the HR Hero Award. No one indicated any hiring or growth from this group.

Meeting with Deb Jansen at Main Street America
Deb Jansen volunteered her lunch to meet with me and Caleb to talk about the employment brand that MSA has developed. We are exploring the world of Employment Branding, and Deb happily agreed to share what works for them and give feedback about what we're promoting. They have a turnover rate below the industry average, have an amazing average tenure, and make concerted efforts to bring people in and make them feel part of something. We discussed the value of presenting your business as a career move, right from the first interview, instead of a place to work. They have done an excellent job in ongoing development and training programs, and regularly review their practices. One thing that really stood out was that their CEO makes an effort to regularly and formally solicit input/feedback/suggestions from employees in a collegial setting. They are doing a great job if internal branding, and are having success spreading their message through word of mouth. Keene is a very small town, after all.

I've accepted a new role with JobsInTheUS | JobsInME | JobsInNH | JobsInVT | JobsInRI, as Director of Business Development. As we seek out new programs and initiatives to reinforce our service to job seekers and employers, these types of activities help me understand the needs and wants that are out there. I'm glad to be part of a business that believes in the "feet on the street" philosophy, and supports efforts to build knowledge and expand expertise. In these troubled economic times, a focus on building and growign, even if only in our intelligence and understanding, helps to keep focus and sustain optimism.

That's how it looks today from the Recruiting Front Lines!

RFL: Letter of Support for Employers and Job Seekers

Twenty thousand business leaders and managers in ME, NH, VT, and RI will arrive to work on Tuesday to find a letter of support from the leading recruiting resource in those states: JobsInME, JobsInNH, JobsInVT, and JobsInRI.

I am proud of the initiative that we have taken to support employers and employees who will be among the workforce reductions in 2009. I am proud that JobsInTheUS is willing to support such an endeavor, and our willingness to accept short term costs to provide a free service to the communities in which we operate. As the old saying goes, we believe we will do well by doing good.

Here's an early look at the letter hitting email inboxes on Tuesday morning:

Dear Business Leaders and Managers,

While I am hopeful this note finds you all well - happy, healthy, and prosperous - I understand that our current economic condition has many of you ill at ease. In the past few months, the state and national economies have seen a drastic decline. It seems clear now that the ripple effect of the global financial crisis is reaching all corners of our lives.

In times like these, as business leaders we must evaluate ourselves and our organizations. While we are all wondering what we can do to help, many are facing the solemn reality of staffing reductions and layoffs. We understand the difficulty and burden that these decisions bring, and today we offer our support to those facing this hardship.

If you are forced to reduce your staff this year, JobsInME.com will provide a free workshop to your employees that have been laid off. These workshops will present internet job hunting skills and education about creating effective e-resumes. The staff at JobsInME.com has worked with thousands of job seekers, and presented this workshop at numerous state and college career centers over the years.

We feel confident that we understand the world of internet job-hunting here in Maine better than anyone else, and we believe we can help.

For more information, please contact me at jblais@JobsInME.com or
toll-free at 877-374-1088 x2069.

Respectfully Yours,
Jason C. Blais
Director of Business Development

JobsInME.com
Your Recruiting Partner
8jbl77-374-1088 x 2069
jblais@JobsInME.com

RFL: Guest Author Julie Poland Discusses Professional Development

Today on the Recruiting Front Lines, another terrific guest author! Follow this two part article from Julie Poland of Summit HRD, discussing professional development in a down economy!

The Down-Market Case for Staff Development

Part 1 of 2

By Julie Poland, Certified Business Coach

Right now in some organizations training is viewed as a luxury, one of the first things to be cut out of the budget out of a view toward cutting costs. That, however, is a shortsighted approach. Now, more than ever, is the time to be investing in developing leaders and employees.

Retention of Talent

Everyone feels a bit insecure during down markets – vendors get a little bit worried about whether order levels will stay at last year’s levels, and when things get really ugly employees at every level wonder whether they will be able to keep their jobs.

The challenge to your company is that your best and brightest employees and leaders have the best opportunities to jump out of what they fear is a threatened role and into a new one in a different company. They might be thinking about it right now, when you need their contributions to keep your ship on the right course. If you choose to develop them during times of challenge you’re not only helping to keep them interested and growing, you’re demonstrating to them that they are a valued player on the team.

Even mid-level performers and fence-sitters have a new motivation to perform at a higher level when outside opportunities may be scarce. While fear is not an effective motivator over the long term, it may provide just the level of openness needed for them to learn new skills or new habits of behavior.

Managing When One Shoe Has Already Dropped

Perhaps your company has already downsized somewhat due to current market conditions. The people who are remaining are feeling the fear mentioned above, and are also most likely feeling some survivor guilt. Both factors can interfere with productivity. Keeping training, coaching, and development functions active can help your employees stay focused and ultimately help the organization accomplish more with fewer resources.

Stay Tuned for Part II which will post later this week, including "The Impact of Attitudes" and "Quantifying the Value of Training, Coaching, and Development"

Julie Poland, CBC, is a business and personal coach with 19 years of experience working with all levels of leaders and employees, from Mom and/or Pop firms to international corporations. Find more information at www.summithrd.com.

Subscribe FREE to Julie's blog at http://www.thesummitblog.blogspot.com

RFL: Guest Author Margaret Hansen - Reducing Anxiety!

Another great read from guest poster, and RecruitingReview author for JobsInTheUS, Margaret Hansen! This is a reprint from the January 29 RecruitingReview:

How To Reduce Employee Anxiety In A Downward Economy

Page 1 | 2 | 3 | All

By Margaret Hansen, JobsInME.com

Calming The Storm

With nearly 3 million jobs lost in 2008 and more to come, a new bag of management tricks is needed in today's workplace to calm the storm.

According to the American Psychological Association, today's employees face obstacles that increase stress and bog down productivity, including:

• Shifting to unfamiliar tasks within their companies
• The uncertainty of how much longer they will be employed
• New bosses
• Computer surveillance of production
• Fewer health and retirement benefits
• The feeling they have to work longer and harder just to maintain their current economic status

Tension and uncertainty are affecting workers at all levels, and most are updating their resumes.

Whether these conditions are real or perceived in your workplace, there are some ways you can change your work environment to keep stress at bay and improve productivity in a recession.

Keep lines of communication open with your staff

Know what's bugging them on the job and take steps to remove those roadblocks and other stressors.

Create written job descriptions for every employee

A specific, written job description creates clear, agreed-upon expectations and provides a sense of pride and respect in one's work. Reviews and raises should be tied to this.

Provide self-help opportunities

According to Forbes magazine, forecasts predict that the self-help industry will experience a 6.2% annual growth rate through 2012. Why? They offer hope. Securing a few dollars to provide financial counseling, career counseling, ways to budget, or weight loss strategies can offer solutions that reduce stress. If your budget is dry, try seeking out volunteers within the company who'll offer helpful sessions to your team.

Use empathetic responses when talking about problems

Just a few words of empathy can take the pressure off of someone whose spouse has been laid off, or who is going through a financial crisis.

Encourage staff to use their vacation time

According to Mel Borins, M.D. and author of Go Away Just for the Health of It, taking a vacation can improve physical ailments and, in turn, improve self-motivation, job interest and job efficiency while lowering absenteeism.

Recruit for keeps

Effective recruiting and retention means ensuring employees are the right "fit" for the job and the work environment. Job hunting can be stressful, particularly in times of high unemployment, but being ground down day after day by work is far worse, says Lyle H. Miller, Ph.D. and Alma Dell Smith, Ph.D., authors of The Stress Solution.

Make sure you don't have any square pegs in round holes on staff. Hiring superstars may seem like a good idea in a downward economy, but retaining them on the way up may prove to be more difficult than originally thought.

Deal with Trauma

Post-layoff workplaces are vulnerable to more stress. Be sure to give those remaining time to grieve and digest the news, perhaps in an off-site meeting/luncheon to come together for support and some time off.

Remember, everyone in your organization will go through the same stages of loss, but since management will undoubtedly know about disruptive events in advance, they may be beyond denial, and anger before the news hits the floor.

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Recruiting Review Newsletter

RFL: Staffing Strategies for a Recession

Another reprint from the RecruitingReview and from an earlier RFL post...

Employer Bright Spots

Staffing Strategies for a Recession

By Jason Blais, JobsInMA.com

Battling The Storm

Recruiting may seem like a low priority for businesses today facing hiring freezes, or worse. But a recession requires a different way of thinking. Employers who take advantage of this market will come out stronger and more diverse when the economy finally turns around. In an environment where companies are forced to do more with less, it is critical that employers leverage the skills and talents of their existing workforce, and make sound hiring decisions based on this new climate.

Provide Key Strategic Input

April 2008 saw total employment reach its highest level ever in many areas. In the second half of 2008, everything changed. It's no surprise that the instability of the economy will continue to have dramatic affects on the labor market for the next several months as businesses tighten their belts.

Take a slow, deep breath in, and let out a long, collective sigh of relief. That's right, relief. We can stop hiding from the issue and begin to tackle it head on, together. After all, it's not just your business experiencing hard times.

As an HR professional, you're truly on the front lines of this battle, balancing productivity, quality control and consumer confidence with slashed overheads, reduced staff and increasing costs of employee benefits.

Don't be discouraged. You can unveil the true power and business acumen hidden within Human Resource Management. Use your knowledge and experience to provide key strategic input to the rest of the management team and you'll navigate your business successfully through these dangerous waters.

Adaptive Staffing

In the months to come, employee productivity and personnel decisions will weigh heavily on bottom lines. Through better recruiting and staffing techniques, businesses can significantly reduce turnover costs, resulting in increased quality of work, productivity, and, ultimately, profitability.

Get Creative

You can survive the recession while positioning your company for tremendous success when the economy rebounds. Analyze and organize your labor force to increase quality, productivity, and flexibility. Install processes to increase your employee retention, engagement, and job satisfaction through new and innovative methods.

Do More with Less

With a potentially shrinking workforce and tightening budget, it's more important than ever to make sure you have the right people to keep your company thriving. In most cases, that will mean expanding job descriptions, increasing responsibilities, and cashing in on a greater variety of skill sets required to fulfill those needs.

It's easy to see the negative ramifications of the situation: over-burdened staff with no potential increase in compensation, resulting in a lack of employee engagement. But there is another perspective.

Give Employees What They Want

• As the many colors of a kaleidoscope mix to create beautiful combinations of light, a variety of job functions can create a fulfilling and rewarding combination of experiences to keep your employees engaged and growing.
• Don't just heap the workload left behind by reduced staff onto department survivors. Consider exploring opportunities for cross-departmental and cross-functional solutions and roles.
• Take a skills inventory of your entire labor force and uncover latent talents. Identify occasions to distribute job functions across the company, beyond the traditional departmental structure.
• There are countless reports and studies that indicate job satisfaction and employee engagement are directly affected by boredom, variety of job function, and interdepartmental involvement.
• By applying your own knowledge, talent, and experience in an innovative way, you'll develop organizational excellence despite the economy.
• Talk with peers at local HR Association chapter meetings, find social networking sites for like-minded professionals, and use the research and case studies provided by The Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) to increase your knowledge base.
• Now is not the time to give up - now is the time to step up.

Staffing Expertise

JobsInMA.com assists local businesses in leveraging their workforce and identifying internal solutions to seize these opportunities, by offering educational webinars and seminars through JobsInMA.com University.

For several years, JobsInMA.com has presented internet recruiting and employment advertising workshops across the state. Accredited by the Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI), these programs help businesses to better understand the recruiting market, providing timely content and pragmatic approaches to identify, attract, and retain the best employees.

In 2009, employers will have access to several new accredited programs developed and presented exclusively by JobsInMA.com University. From understanding social media's impact on the workforce, to developing strategies to optimize staffing during a recession, employers can choose from an array of educational content.

One session, Employment Branding 20/20, was recently presented. It provided HR professionals with techniques to decrease recruiting costs while increasing employee retention by creating best in class employment branding. All of the programs presented by JobsInMA.com University will give employers the specific tools and guidance they need to achieve results using their own in-house resources.

Employers can find more detailed information about these programs, and register for upcoming sessions at JobsInMA.com.

Recruitment Review Newsletter

RFL: Recruiting Metrics- Beyond Cost Per Hire

Reprinted from an article in the RecruitingReview and an earlier post in RFL... (but it's much prettier now!)

Recruiting Metrics:
Beyond Cost Per Hire

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By Jason Blais, JobsInNH.com

Cost Per Hire

It's no surprise that a recent JobsInNH.com poll showed Cost Per Hire as the most commonly analyzed recruiting metric. It's easy to count the number of applicants and hires per advertising source. It's also a relatively easy process to calculate how many advertising dollars were spent to fill a position.

But these are second-level metrics, focused on the actual process itself. And they can often be short-sighted.

Measuring Value

A better recruiting analysis question is: how valuable are the hires to the business? To answer this, you have to look at how long it takes for each hire to become productive and how long they stay with your company. Employee retention affects quality of the work being done by your company and your turnover costs.

Example

Let's assume that an entry level position at your company earns $25,000 in wages, and has an average annual turnover of 30%. While the costs related to turnover vary greatly, a conservative estimate is approximately 1.5 times the employee’s salary. Therefore, each time you have to fill that entry level job, it costs the company $37,500.

If you can reduce your turnover to 15% annually by attracting better candidates, then the potential value of your recruitment advertising is significant. In a department of 10 (of these entry level positions), you're reducing your average annual turnover costs from $112,500 to $56,250.

Improving Your Bottom Line

Defining the success of recruitment advertising is an important first step to developing more effective strategies for talent acquisition. Ensuring that you're attracting the best person for your company for all of your job openings is absolutely critical to your long term success, particularly when employers are forced to do more with less.

In 2009, I fear that more employers will be too focused on bottom line or second level metrics, such as Cost Per Hire. Through this strategy, businesses will end up sacrificing future growth opportunities as they focus on costs only. The most successful companies, however, will refuse to compromise their long term goals for short term gains, and will continue to analyze and invest in their recruitment advertising, adhering to the principles that great businesses are built by great people.

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Recruiting Review Newsletter

JobAngels on Twitter

Thanks to Mark Stelzner for passing this on and for everyone else with the RT's for this noble effort. For those who haven't joined the initiative yet, there's a new profile on Twitter, called JobAngels. By joining them, you're joining a "movement where we ask you to simply help one person find a job."

I'm all in, and started today to make a difference. Here's my story of how I'm trying to be a JobAngel:

After seeing the tweet from Mark this morning, and the following retweets, I really began to feel the value and power of this type of initiative. I decided to throw my cards on the table and see if I could help one person find a job. This may sound like a strange goal for someone who works for the largest job boards in Northern New England. Indeed, we attract hundreds of thousands of job seekers to our sites, and help thousands of people find work every month. But this movement is different. It's about people. It's about connecting with one person at a time to build a better community.

I had recently joined a few new LinkedIn Groups, and throught that, the opportunity to do something actually found me. Just after reading the twitter message, I saw an email update of discussions for the STC-NNE group. Coincidentally enough, there was a new discussion to post job openings to help group members find work. I immediately went to the job boards I work for and searched for matching posts. I identified and posted 4 links to jobs that would be relevant to members of this group. A few minutes later, I recieved an emial with a resume specific to one of the jobs.

I'd actually done business with that employer before, so was pretty familiar with them. I decided to go ahead and call the HR director. I told her about the initiative, and what I was doing, and asked how I could send along this resume to ensure someone would take a good look at it. She agreed to take a look, and gave me her direct email. I forwarded on the email to her, and replied to the contact in LinkedIn.

The total amount of time that this took me was less than 15 minutes. I have asked my contact at LI to let me know what happens next. Best case scenario: I helped one person find a job today. Worst case scenario: I let someone out there know I was trying to help.

Thanks to JobAngels for the push.

RFL: The Recruiter / HR Relationship

Let's go everyone. The current is against us, and it's time to make sure we're all paddling in the same direction. No more name calling. No more insidious comments behind each others' backs. No more jokes at the other's expense. Now more than ever, HR Professionals and Recruiters must get along for the betterment of our businesses and our economy. If, as a whole, business in the United States cannot become proficient at doing more with less, we are all in grave danger. This starts with our people.

Attracting the right people. Hiring the right people. Managing the right people the right way. This is how we become adaptive, flexible, and powerful. This is how we build sustainable businesses. Your sheet-fed, 2 color printing press is not going to adapt and become a digital laser printer. Your gravel sorter is not going to adapt and become a concrete mixer. Your blood pressure monitors aren't going to adapt and become CT scanners. However, your press operator can become a graphic designer; your gravel sorter mechanic can become a concrete mixer tech; your CNA can become a Radiology Technician. The ability for businesses to grow and survive is dependent upon their ability to evolve and adapt to the changing environment. Change is a human aptitude.

As we embark in the most difficult labor environment of this generation, we must have cohesion between Recruiters and HR Professionals. While both sides must work a little harder to come together, I believe the first big step must be taken by the Human Resources side. While I work in recruitment advertising, I somehow feel more closely aligned with HR Pro's than Recruiters, so I hope this doesn't come across as HR-bashing. HR must take responsibility for educating recruiters on our businesses and our needs. It's important to understand and remember that recruiters inherently want to deliver the best candidates to us. Often, failure on their end to do so can be traced back to vague, porous, or simply false information provided by HR. This can sometimes be attributed to our view of what we want our business to be, instead of what it truly is. We must take a hard look at the ugly truth of our business, with all our foibles and all our hidden treasures. Only when we face the hard reality of who we are, can we hope to identify and attract the best long-term candidates for our business.

Now, HR friends, please don't vilify me yet. Recruiters also have a very big part to play in this paradigm. Recruiters must be willing to put themselves in the seat of the student, asking questions, and constantly increasing their knowledge. This can be done by pushing further with your clients, and working a little harder to uncover the essence of their business and culture. Meanwhile it's also important to delve further into the core of your candidates- what makes them tick, which environment are they better suited to work in, where do they derive pleasure and satisfaction from? Delivering the right candidates for a company, as I know you all know, requires more than simply matching sets of required skills. When you dig further into an employee's long term value, you invariably run into employee retention and engagement. Two immensely important factors that are connected to SOFT skills. For those who are Dale Carnegie Training graduates, you may be familiar with the concept of the Innerview, in place of the Interview. While I don't exactly drink the Carnegie Coolaid, my experience has shown me that this practice reaps substantial rewards.

Together, HR Professionals and Recruiters can and must take steps to build stronger relationships for the betterment of our employers, our workforce, and our economy.

HR Professionals, are you willing to make a promise to yourself to engage more deeply with recruiters? If so, read this out loud:

I, (state your name here), will make a good faith effort to educate both internal corporate recruiters and third party recruiters about the reality of our business and our needs. I acknowledge and will remember that these recruiters have my best interests in mind, and that their goals are aligned with my goals. Starting today, I will see them as partners and as peers, working toward connecting the right people with the right career opportunities.

(now doesn't that feel better?)

Recruiters, that's right. It's your turn. Are you willing to make a promise to yourself to engage more deeply with the HR Professionals you work with? If so, read this out loud:

I, (state your name here), will make a good faith effort to learn more about the businesses and candidates that I work for. I acknowledge that the businesses that I work with are looking for the best people for their company and that their hiring decisions are made with great care. Starting today, I will see them as partners and as peers, working toward connecting the right people with the right career opportunities.

Now, let's do our part to get America working.

RFL: Which Recruiting Metrics Matter?

With employers across the United States tightening their belts, more and more HR and Recruiting professionals are focused on the value of their talent acquisition practices. Recently, the largest job boards in New England posted a micropoll for employers, asking them which recruiting metrics they were analyzing...

The following poll results were aggregated from JobsInMA, JobsInME, JobsInNH, JobsInRI, and JobsInVT. This poll and other information can be found in their monthly newsletters, which you can view by clicking the following links:
MA Recruiting Review | ME Recruiting Review | NH Recruiting Review | RI Recruiting Review | VT Recruiting Review

I don't think it's a surprise to anyone that Cost Per Hire is the most commonly analyzed recruiting metric. What we see from this graph, in my opinion, is that most people are looking at the metrics which are most easily measured. It's very easy to count the number of applicants and hires you get per advertising source. It's also a relatively easy process to calculate how many advertising dollars were spent to fill a position.

Unfortunately, those are second level metrics, focused on the actual process itself, which don't actually reflect the value of your recruitment advertising. First level metrics, which measure the results of the processes, provide a much more accurate analysis. As is the case in many situations, the more valuable information is generally the harder to capture. When the success or failure of recruitment advertising is boiled down to a dollar amount or a number of hires, you are left with a very short-sighted analysis.

A truer indicator of the value of recruitment advertising is how valuable the hires are to the business, given their prospective roles. To understand this value, you have to look at how long it takes for this person to become productive, and how long they stay with your company. Employee retention affects quality of the work being done by your company and your turnover costs.

For example, let's assume that an entry level position at your company earns $25,000 in wages, and has an average annual turnover of 30%. While the costs related to turnover vary greatly, a conservative estimate is approximately 1.5 times the employees salary. Therefore, each time you have to fill that entry level job, it costs the company $37,500, when all is said and done. If you can reduce your turnover to 15% annually by attracting better candidates, then the potential value of your recruitment advertising is significant. In a department of ten of these entry level positions, you're reducing your average annual turnover costs from $112,500 to $56,250.

I include this example as an illustration of the importance of recruitment advertising to your bottom line. Defining the success of recruitment advertising is an important first step to developing more effective strategies for talent acquisition. Ensuring that you're attracting the best person for your company for all your job openings is absolutely critical to your long term success, particularly when employers are forced to do more with less.

In 2009, I fear that more employers will be too focused on bottom line or second level metrics. Through this strategy, businesses will end up sacrificing future growth opportunities as they focus on costs only. The most successful companies, however, will refuse to compromise their long term goals for short term gains, and will continue to analyze and invest in their recruitment advertising, adhering to the principles that great businesses are built by great people.

RFL: Your Recruitment Advertising is Failing If...

I just can't hold it in any longer. Through dealing with hundreds of employers over the last few years, providing guidance and education on recruitment advertising and employment branding, I have become a rather tough critic of the job ads that I see. I've developed and presented programs on these topics to employers, providing very specific steps to build more effective postings and sharing data we capture from surveying job seeker. I can't tell you how many times the audience members have come up to me and told he how much they've learned and how they're looking forward to rewriting their postings, then a week or two later I see one of their ads online somewhere and it looks like this:

Mech engineer. 5 yrs exp. req'd, project management a plus. Competitive benefits and salary. Send resume to Human Resources, XYZ Company, 123 Commercial St, whoville, USA, or email to hr @ xyzcompany.com.

So, what's so wrong this ad? Here's just a cursory summary: abbreviations, "competitive benefits and salary", no contact person, a lack of key words, no discussion of perks, no content for culture or environment, no salary info, and no promotion of the company itself. I've come to understand that while creating a compelling and effective recruitment ad doesn't require any special talent or skill, it DOES take a little extra time, focus, and effort. So, in the midst of a busy day, it's natural for humans to neglect this activity.

So, after reviewing another swath of poor attempts that I have no doubt will fail to generate any quality candidates, I couldn't help but to jot down the following list. If you're not certain how successful your recruitment advertising is, here are some of indicators that your online recruitment advertising is FAILING.

1. 1/3 or more of the applicants you receive are completely unqualified for the job you're trying to fill.
2. More than half of the applicants you contact fail to return your call.
3. Your ads are being opened fewer than 200 times in a week (no matter what the job is!).
4. More than half of the people you invite for interviews are unwilling to work for the salary you're willing to offer.
5. More than 1/3 of the people you make job offers to decline them.
6. On average, your hires stay with the company less than 2 years.
7. The onboarding process is getting longer and/or more expensive.
8. No applicants come in when you aren't posting job openings.
9. Your turnover rate is not decreasing over time.

That's where I'll draw the line for now. Poor recruitment advertising affects virtually every aspect of your business. Despite the advances and maturation of technology in our business processes, the foundation of sound businesses will always be your people. More time, care, and focus needs to be placed on identifying and attracting the right people, than choosing which equipment to buy, which vendors to work with, 0r even which property to buy. If you have better people than your competition, your company will be successful.

That's how it looks today from the Recruiting Front Lines!

Think some of those indicators are wrong? Did I miss any indicators that you feel are results of bad recruitment advertising? Share your comments here!

RFL: Guest Poster Steve Balzac

I recently posted a question about the business case of cutting management training budgets during economic downturns. A number of excellent responses came back from experienced professionals across the country. Through this discussion, I decided to invite a few guest posters from the training region of the Human Capital ecosystem. Enjoy this read from Steve Balzac, "Business Sensei" and President of 7 Steps Ahead, LLC in Stow, MA, as he discusses how well trained staff can ensure that your business can take advantage of lucky situations...

Just Lucky I Guess...

A great deal has already been said about the plane landing in the Hudson River last Thursday. What's amazing to me is how many people have ascribed to luck the happy ending to what could have been a major disaster.

Was luck involved? Certainly!

It was lucky that the plane went down at a time of day when there was very little commercial shipping on the river.

It was lucky that the ferries were out at the time the plane went down.

It was lucky that the particular pilot just happened to have the necessary and appropriate training to recognize what had happened and not panic. Instead, he remained calm and relied on his training to glide a passenger jet down to the river.

As the old saying goes, luck is when 10,000 hours of preparation meets a moment of opportunity.

The lack of shipping and the presence of ferries wouldn't have helped much if the pilot had lacked the skill to bring the plane down safely. It's doubtful that he ever really believed that all that time he spent training, flying, and in a simulator would matter, other than for his own growth and development. What are the odds of a double-bird strike? What are the odds that just the right person was in the right place at the right time? Who could have known what would happen?

No one.

And this is the lesson for businesses. It's easy to see what skills and knowledge are useful today. No one knows what skills or knowledge will prove useful tomorrow. Trends can change in a metaphorical heartbeat. When businesses cut training and development, or restrict the courses an employee can take (refusing to pay for a course unless a "clear" business need exists), that business is focusing entirely on the problems of today. It is not creating a workforce that is ready for the problems of tomorrow. Ready, in other words, to face unpredictable situations, unexpected problems, and unplanned for or unlikely circumstances.

On the other hand, those who have had the opportunity train and develop their skills, who have the freedom to explore their interests and learn the things that may or may not be obviously useful, are the most likely to come up with a good solution to an unexpected problem.

In the end, luck really does favor the prepared mind.

"The Business Sensei"

URL: http://www.7stepsahead.com
Blog: http://blog.7stepsahead.com
RSS: http://www.7stepsahead.com/7saarticles.xml