With the unemployment rate still hovering around 9 percent, it may seem like an odd time to talk about worker shortages. But many companies are fearing an upcoming technically skilled worker shortage, and others are already struggling to fill certain positions, according to a recent article by…

We asked recruiters who are successfully doing contracting to share some of their best marketing tips. The main thing to keep in mind when trying to get contracting job orders is that, while you may be used to dealing with human resources when filling direct-hire job orders, contracting job orders are more often coordinated through the hiring manager. 

Here are just a few things recruiters can do to sweep hiring managers off their…

United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) appears to be on a big technology kick lately. Earlier this week, we reported on the agency's proposed advanced registration system for filing H-IB petitions. Now the agency is pursuing technologies aimed at making…

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has proposed a new rule that could prove to be a time-saver for businesses seeking to file H-1B petitions in the coming years. 

H-1B visas allow employers to temporarily…

A while back, we did a few blog posts on how recruiters placing contractors are using social media to aid their recruiting efforts. Most of the recruiters we work with have found LinkedIn to be the most useful social media tool for recruiting.  With that in mind, we thought our readers might find the…

The Department of Labor (DOL) recently recovered more than $219,000 in back wages and liquidated damages on behalf of 44 workers who were misclassified as independent contractors, providing a real-life example of how serious the government's crackdown on misclassification is.

The employer had moved a…

The recent trend we have reported on where companies refuse to consider unemployed candidates for their job openings has now caught the attention of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

While the practice of preferring currently employed candidates is nothing new, it gained national attention after several employers…

You would think with all the workers still out on the unemployment line, it would take companies less time to fill a position.  But recruiters recently told The Wall Street Journal that it is taking hiring managers up to four times longer to fill positions now than it does when there are fewer…

The times they are a-changing, and so are the workers previously known as temps.

A recent article by The Ithaca (New York) Journal talks about the rise in temporary hiring, stating that U.S. employers added 300,000 temporary jobs in 2010.  And that's just one of the recent changes the article reports in temporary…

Some of the most frequent questions we get at Top Echelon Contracting revolve around the proper classification of workers: When is it OK to classify them as 1099 independent contractors? What are the ramifications of misclassifying workers? When should they be W-2 employees? What triggers an IRS audit?

If you get these same types of questions from your clients, you may want to check out my video chat with…

As if employers didn't have enough trouble in 2010, the number of retaliation and discrimination claims and class action lawsuits increased, according to a recent article by Human Resources Executive Online.

Many employers that had never experienced any type of discrimination complaint in the past were hit for the first time in…

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has reached its H-1B Visa cap for Fiscal Year 2011, according to a USCIS Press Release.

H-1B Visas enable employers to hire foreign workers in areas of specialized knowledge or technical…

When the phrase "Lost Time" is brought up in referrence to Workers' Compensation claims, it usually refers to the money that must be paid to a worker injured on the job to make up for the wages they lose while they are unable to work.  The longer workers are out, the more lost time benefits that must be paid, which results in higher Workers' Comp premiums for your clients at renewal time. But there is another form of "Lost Time" that can be just as costly to your clients.

That is the…