Okay, so it's a tough economy for some industries and for others things are starting to pick up a bit. Don't get me wrong; it will take till 2014 till we can recover some of the jobs that we lost (at least here in the Capital area) during the 2008 and 2009 time frame. I listened to a presentation about a month ago given by Dr. Stephen S. Fuller which substantiates this in…

A note of thanks to Julie Keeter, PHR for her guest blog entry on Terminations in the USA: Part 1 & 2 – Red, White and Grey?

Terminations in the USA: Part 1 – Red, White, and Grey?

By: Julie Keeter, PHR

I wish I could say that employment standards in the United States are far less…

On a flight home last Friday a raven-haired girl, whose adorable face a cherub would envy, provided an ongoing commentary on the wondrous sights she beheld outside her window:

“Mommy, look at how fast we’re going.”

“Wow, is that the ocean? It’s so bigggggg!”

“Whoaaaa…look at how puffy the clouds are. That’s cool.”

This organic behavior of children reminds us to reconnect with things we take for granted, and we can apply this to our work to gain a fresh…

For the more than 108,000 certified human resource professionals, maintaining their Human Resource Certification Institute (HRCI) certification may have gotten a little easier.  Earlier today, HRCI announced that the organization has updated their recertification policy allowing HR professionals the opportunity to receive up to 2 credits…

2010 is a year of many trend setting activities not to differentiate from previous years. If we didn’t show signs of change then we would not have so many end of the year periodicals, lists, blogs and opinions about the year that was. In a world overshadowed by economic turmoil, housing collapses, unemployment levels reaching record highs and tension mounting, one of the trends that has come out of this pile of uncertainty is the need for strong efforts in networking.

What is…

“We’ll take a pass, too much turnover.” If I had a $100 for every time I hear that I would probably be retired or at least self-employed by now. Of course that is a double entendre joke – I do work for myself and $100 is an adjusted rate due to inflation. I apologize for immediately digressing. My point is that it is up to us as recruiters to educate our clients what is an acceptable or average amount of turnover.

From this point forward, any statistic I quote will be taken…

I've given several presentations on behavioral interviewing and I'm passionate about this topic. As a recruiter, I've seen firsthand the success and failure of interviewing. Here are 7 tips for conducting an interview that showcases your company and friendly corporate culture.



1. Show appreciation. Treating a candidate poorly by not greeting then…

Here is our weekly feature in which we share the top articles we enjoyed from the past week about recruitment marketing. This week we’ll be talking about a new category in recruiting technology, ways to prevent bad hires in 2011, workforce flexibility, 2011 hiring predictions, treating employees well, 20 useful Twitter blog posts and why social media is now a mass medium.

Here are the articles our that interested us this…

Human beings are social animals and they always like to be in groups. In the new web 2.0 world – this also holds very much true. The social networking has provided people a life 2.0 where they can create their own groups, be part of them and engage people – without actually having a trouble to meet them (!).

This time, I am talking about professional networking groups - LinkedIn Groups. Groups provide a great platform for like-minded people to discuss and share…

The latest Dice report on IT hiring reveals that six in 10 hiring managers and technology recruiters expect to hire more in the first half of 2011 than in the previous six months. Jobs involving network or database security are particularly in high demand, but finding top talent with the right skill sets to fill these positions will be…

Here’s your peek into the job titles your competition is currently seeking.

Our data comes from 15,276 staffing and recruiting firms, from which, we’ve listed the top 25 candidates being sought and the number of jobs posted for each in the past 60 days.…

It 5am, and of course you are up!  As an entrepreneur these 5am, 4am (or my personal favorite: 2am) wake up call times quickly turn into regular patterns.  The two little demons, "Fear" and "Worry," are quite happy to push that buzzer for you today.  As an entrepreneur, over time you will develop the stamina to simply use these nasty little wake-up calls as a way to…

I placed a candidate recently who was struggling about how to give proper notice to his employer. He is an incredibly loyal person who was terrified that he was letting his manager, team, and company down after spending the last six years trying to impress, support, and inspire them. He asked me for many different drafts of resignation letters, advice on whether he should take his boss/team…

This is the time of the year best spent reflecting on the year passed, On our various successes, on our family, on our chosen career, and to re-commit to the coming year, thankful that for us there will be a tomorrow and a second chance to make the all important first-impression.

Personally, I’m happy that I made it through this transitional year no worse for wear. I’ve had many challenges over the course of the last 12 months, from “finding myself” and my place in this new world, to…

In the world of recruiting, anything can happen . . . just ask a recruiter.  Which is what we at Top Echelon are doing right now.

We’re currently accepting submissions for your craziest recruiting story of 2010.  It could be a story about clients.  It could be a story about candidates.  It could be a story about another recruiter.  It could…