As if the stock market crash a few years ago wasn't enough to ruin many older workers' retirement, USA Today is now reporting that many have not saved enough to cover the massive cost of healthcare they will have in their retirement years.

According to the USA Todayarticle,…

Summer is nearly upon us, and with it comes a whole new crop of college graduates. That means that many of your clients may be considering offering internships.  In fact, according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers, companies are planning to…

The
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that most of the contractors you place be paid at a rate of 1.5 times the regular pay rate for hours worked over 40 in a work week.  Many clients balk at paying extra for these hours. They may argue that overtime does not apply because the worker is in a
 …

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) is still accepting
 petitions for H-1B visas but won't be for long, according to MU Visa Advisor.

As of May 11, 
the USCIS had received 36,700 petitions, which is more than half of the 65,000 petitions that are subject to the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 cap.…

An interesting article on the
 www.ERE.net blog titled 
"5 Reasons Traditional Employment is in Trouble" raises issues that both employers and recruiters should be concerned about.  The gist of the article is that employees have had it with traditional employment and are opting…

One of the beauties of contract staffing is the opportunity to earn a
 conversion fee 
on top of your hourly recruiter income if your client decides to hire the contractor direct.  In order to get that conversion fee, you need to have a Conversion Fee Agreement in place from the start of the contract assignment.  But how do you know when to include a Conversion Fee Agreement in the client contract?

It is a good idea to have one in place for
 every contract…

Even as the economy is starting to brighten up, client companies are still watching their budgets closely. So it's no surprise that many of them are balking at the recruiting fees that come with direct placements.  As a result, some recruiters may be losing placements from client companies that are just not prepared for the large initial payout.

Other recruiters have found a creative way around this.  They
 offer to place candidates on a contract-to-direct hire basis…

If you are conducting background checks on contractors,you may want to check out the new Enforcement Guidance the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) recently published on the use of criminal records in employment decisions.

The guidance does not necessarily contain any new rules, but it consolidates over 30 years of court and EEOC precedent for Title VII discrimination claims into one document. You can read the entire guidance at …

The looming problem of mass retirements may have taken a backseat during the recession, but now that the recovery finally seems to be taking hold, companies should be very concerned about losing their experienced older workers, according to a joint survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) and AARP.

Citing 2010 U.S. Census data, SHRM reports that the number of Americans ages 55 and over in the workforce increased from 32.4 percent to 40.2 percent.  In the next two…

It's no secret that there is a huge need for IT talent right now.  A recent PC World article analyzes how many corporate IT departments are turning…

If you're running your own back-office and offering benefits to your contractors, it is critical that you are familiar and compliant with COBRA. COBRA, which stands for The Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, was enacted in 1986. It requires employers with more than 20 employees to offer continuation of health care coverage when an employee loses coverage due to status changes, such as resigning, losing a job, or having hours…

Contract staffing revenue increased by 14% to $117.2 million in 2011, which is higher than experts had expected, according to a Staffing Industry Analysts forecast.

Part of the reason for this higher-than-expected increase is the government's crackdown on…

If you have contractors in your home state, it may not be a big deal for you to run your own back-office, particularly if you are already processing payroll and handling taxes, unemployment,  Workers' Compensation, benefits, etc. for your own staff.

But before you can take placements in other states, you're going to have to do a lot of legwork and homework. Every state has different laws and requirements you will have to follow for the contractors you have placed…

As the demand for contractors continues to increase, clients are getting more picky about the vendors they select to supply them with the help they need. One issue we are seeing companies scrutinize more closely is the Certificate of Insurance.  

A Certificate of Insurance is a document that proves that the vendor is insured to take on the liability associated with employing the contractors.  When you place contract candidates, most major clients will want to…

While some employers have intentionally, and most likely illegally, shed their older workers in an effort to reduce costs, some companies are struggling to find experienced talent and are finding creative ways to find and retain it, according to a recent Washington Post article.

Older workers come with…

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS) began accepting H-1B visa petitions subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2013 cap today, April 2, 2012.  H-1B visas are commonly used in contract staffing to place…

A recent article by Harvard Business Review focuses on how employers can retain their Generation X talent, but it appears that many workers from this generation may be better suited for contract assignments.

According to the article, 70% of Gen Xers surveyed by the Center for Talent Innovation stated that…

Ever wonder what is meant by the term "contingent worker?"  If so, a recent blog post by Staffing Industry Analysts does a good job of defining it.

According to the blog post, contingent worker is a term used to refer collectively to the different types of individuals in…

Do your clients know how to hire for attitude?

According to Mark Murphy, author of Hiring for Attitude, employers' inability to successfully assess candidates' attitudes during the hiring process is the reason why so many fail so quickly.  In a recent Forbes interview, he said that of the 200,000…

Most people in recruitment expect that when the economy recovers from a recession, there will be a spike in the use of contractors.  But is contract staffing's current growth just a knee-jerk reaction to the recession, or is it something more?

Well, a recent Washington Post article suggests that it could actually…