After several years of layoffs, many companies are either standing pat with their current workforce sizes or even adding employees here and there.

Others, however, continue to make cuts where needed in order to stabilize their losses and try and position themselves for a positive 2012 as we sit a quarter of the way into the year.

In the event you have found yourself the victim of a job layoff recently or just do not look forward to going to work each and every day, could your…

Why is the performance down, why is the enthusiasm down to present new ideas or to work on the present ones? Are the employees just doing their job on “as told” basis? Is there new input and a stream of ideas coming in from different teams? These are some of the questions that the employers have to answer and revisit more than once in a year when they talk about identify areas of incompetence.

Though your own performance management must be your priority and responsibility, it…

Compensation plays an important role in global, complex organizations, is used to differentiate an organization from its competitors, to drive performance of the organization during economic downturns, compensation’s role will continue to evolve and expand.

Some Global Compensation Practices reveals that companies are evenly split between a centralized and decentralized approach to their companies’ global compensation structure.…

Remember before all this online technology shenanigans when we just turned up to work - to work? Did we insist that we had access to Pac Man, Pong or Space Invaders, or any of the other trivial pursuits you care to name, during working hours? Of course not. Then, when the good old 'Messenger' came along - Yahoo, AOL etc. - and enabled us to chat with strangers at our will - did we insist that our new distraction of choice be installed on our PCs in the office? No. So why, pray tell, is there…

Having spent a couple of days of my holidays reading the Steve Jobs biography I couldn't help but reflect on the remarkable accomplishments of the man and the lessons applicable for business owners everywhere, big or small.

This could have been a very long list, but here are the seven things that are most strongly front of mind for me (text is paraphrased and quoted from the book Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson, Simon & Schuster, 2011).

1)   …

There has been a lot of buzz and confusion lately in the recruiting industry about Talent Networks vs. Talent Communities. Not only are people unsure how to distinguish between the two, but the task of building and nurturing a Talent Network seems insurmountable for most organizations. 

We're happy to bring you Susan Strayer, talent strategy expert and founder of Exaqueo, in a webcast to learn how to Build Your…

Did you know that traditional job searches leave you at a disadvantage? Why? Simply put, there are a lot of unadvertised jobs that you are overlooking everyday. If you do not know about these hidden jobs. its because you have been looking in the wrong places. Its time to do something different!

IN VIDEO

00:26 - Thank you National…

Arkansas fired coach Bobby Petrino and the CEO of Best Buy is under investigation by the board the "personal conduct"; this is after he stepped down as CEO. And who could forget the CEO of HP debacle that too place back in 2010 when Mark Hurd was fired for sexual harassment.

As a recruiter this is something that no hiring team can foresee...or can they. What can recruiters and hiring managers do to stave off this kind of behavior that can tarnish and otherwise great…

How do you help your employees take ownership of their work?

Workflow technology can erase excuses for missing the mark, and help your employees to excel without a manager breathing down their back.

Erase these flimsy employee justifications for not meeting objectives with workflow technology:

I don’t know where I stand. Workflow technology tracks employee progress. So whether they’re…

Politicians in the United States continue to perpetuate highly complex policies that are anything but simple. Taxation, energy policy, and campaign finance reform are just few examples of how masterful Washington is in its propensity towards complexity in governing the country. While there is often talk of simplification, talk has not become results as policies have become more convoluted with each administration. The U.S. tax code alone has expanded to more than 72,000…

How many times has this happened? You open a job to your agencies and they begin submitting candidates. One by one you review the résumés, separating the candidates into “yes” and “no” piles, but quickly the flow of applicants turns to a trickle and the quality of candidates seems to stagnate--or even worse--decline. Your boss and HR is pressing you to fill the position and you throw up your hands, saying, "I need better agencies.” Your first reaction may be to put the job out to more…

You know how essential your employee referral program is to sourcing candidates – but do your employees?

Referral programs are an integral internal sourcing tool for any company: the existing relationship between employees and potential candidates adds to candidates' positive perspective of the work environment, which…

Another installment in my series of UnModerated blogs:

By and large I reject the notion of Talent Community all together. The very idea that people are inclined to "connect" with a company over a long period of time - hanging out backstage like groupies at a Rolling Stones concert, hoping to get the call to join the team, is nonsense.

Sorry - but this is primarily a pipe dream for most employers. Most employers are not cool, hip spots like Google or Starbucks.…

The recruitment marketing funnel is like any other funnel, it’s wide at the top and continually narrows with each step of the apply process.  From reading the initial job ad to clicking to apply to finishing the job application, there are a number of key steps where a candidate has to either move forward with the process or lose interest and drop out.

It’s at these steps in the process that you have…

With the current job markets unprecedented demand for specialists in healthcare, IT Professionals have a new challenge to face as they re-evaluate their expertise and prepare to embrace a career change andplay an important role in U.S. healthcare history. In this blog, I am going to take a brief look at Healthcare IT and the likelihood of long term growth in this segment of the employment market.

In order to provide better health care at lower cost,…

I really wish I had given it a name, the act of calling a client with the express intention of enhancing your business relationship. The simple act of picking up a phone, and giving someone a call, for no other purpose than to improve your relationship.

I’ve been doing it all my working life, but didn’t name it. Hank Paulson, the ex-boss of Goldman Sachs had the good…

We have all been there:

You have spent too long trying to fill a key position. At long last, someone emerges who appears to be an ideal fit. You are certain that she meets all of the technical qualifications. She has spent her career with an industry leader in your space where she gained ideal experience. She presents as very intelligent, capable and even has a sense of humour. She seems genuinely excited about all aspects of the business and is very happy with how you describe the…

This post originally appeared on the SkillStorm blog: www.skillstorm.com/blog

A Lemon That Makes Managing Finances Sweet

Tax time is upon us and if you’re scrambling to track down your expensive, you may wish that you had downloaded the Lemon app from Google Play Store at the beginning of the year. This free tool does more…

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…

Forbes.com came out with an article on 10 of the toughest interview questions. Topping its list was, “Why should I hire you?” This is understandably one of the most unnerving questions to be thrown at you; but consider why it’s being asked at most interviews, and…