While employers across the nation are grumbling about healthcare reform, you may just end up rejoicing if you are working the healthcare niche.

A recent Staffing Industry Analysts report predicts that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), better known as…

Everyone who is anyone is offering their predictions for what the biggest trends in recruiting and hiring will be in 2013, so we figured we might as well throw our hat in the ring.  Based on what we have read and discussions we have had with recruiters over the past year, here are our predictions for 2013:

1. Employers will remain cautious about hiring. Although the fiscal cliff has been resolved, there is still a lot of economic uncertainty out there that is…

Everyone makes mistakes, but when it comes to hiring, those mistakes can be quite expensive.

Citing a CareerBuilder survey, J.J. Keller reported that 69% of businesses experienced a bad hire in 2012. Forty-one percent estimated the cost of that bad hire to be at least $25,000…

In a general sense, the Employer of Record is simply the entity that serves as the employer for tax purposes while the employee performs work for a different company.  The Employer of Record, often referred to as the W-2 Employer of Record because they are responsible for issuing W-2s to the employee, shoulders the responsibility for all the traditional employment tasks and liabilities.

When applied to a contract staffing situation, the Employer of…

Every communication you have with potential and current clients is an opportunity to solicit contract staffing job orders.  Here are several places you could add your contract staffing message:

1. Your firm's Web site
2. Your email signature
3. Your firm's phone book listing
4. Your Business card
5. Your Standard fee schedule
6. Brochures
7. Your Client Newsletter
8. LinkedIn Profiles - both yours and your firm's…

The new year is bringing new pay requirements for exempt computer professionals in California.

State law allows certain computer software employees to be exempt from state overtime requirements if they receive a minimum hourly, monthly, or yearly pay rate.  The required rates are based on the California Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical workers and are evaluated on a yearly basis, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

The index…

The American economy is teetering on the edge of the fiscal cliff, but that doesn't mean your job orders have to go over with it.

If Congress can't come to an agreement by December 31, across the board tax increases and government funding cuts will automatically go into effect. Many experts are predicting that if something isn't done by December 31, the United States could go into another recession.  With that threat looming, many employers are taking a wait-and-see-approach…

When it comes to contract staffing, the mechanics of getting a job order and finding a candidate are the same as making direct placements.  What is different about contract staffing is that you must have a back-office to handle the legal, financial, and administrative issues. You have two options for a back-office: Outsourcing it or doing it in-house. Let's examine the differences between the two methods.…

The IRS recently announced a one-cent increase to the standard mileage rate for 2013.

Effective January 1, 2013, employees can be reimbursed 56.5 cents per mile driven with their personal vehicles for business purposes. The previous mileage rate had been 55.5 cents per mile since 2011.

The standard rate for miles driven for medical or moving…

You think you've found the perfect candidate for your client's tough job order.  He passed the phone interview and the following three in-person interviews with flying colors.  He aced all of the skills and assessment tests. He has all of the qualifications and seems to be a perfect cultural fit. But while your client deliberates over whether this is really the BEST they can do, your candidate takes another job.

A slow hiring process wears candidates down and…

If you have never had to E-Verify a contractor before, you may have to start in the New Year.

E-Verify is an online federal system that checks information from Form I-9 (Employment Eligibility Verification) against records from the Social Security Administration and Department of Homeland Security to verify that they are eligible to work in the United States. The federal government only requires employers under federal contracts to use E-Verify, but many employers are…

There has been a lot of talk about skills shortages in certain industries. This is especially true in the engineering consulting specialties, and it's causing many companies to take a more serious look at utilizing contractors, according to Bulldog Recrutiers Vice-President Chuck Szajkovics, who places candidates in those positions.

“The niches we work are key industries for the…

Forget about ghosts and goblins. When it comes to running your own contract staffing back-office, there are very real risks that can keep any recruiter up at night.

Handling the back-office duties associated with contract placements becomes more complicated each year as employment regulations continue to increase. 

Here are just some of the scary details to fear:

1. IRS audits — The IRS seems to be cracking down on…

The leaves may be changing, but for the time being, the High-Low per diem rates are not.

The IRS has determined that High-Low Substantiation Method per diem rates for Fiscal Year (FY) 2013, which began on October 1, will remain the same as FY2012, according to Notice 2012-63.

Employers can pay a per diem rate to an employee on business travel…

If you are only targeting younger people for contract positions, you may be missing the boat.

According to a recent Reuters article citing an MBO Partners survey, 40% of temporary/contract workers are ages 50 and over. Ten percent are over 65.

According to the article, contract staffing is providing a…

Healthcare professionals are going to need more than just medical knowledge to get many of today's jobs.

In fact, the most common skill requested in healthcare job ads has little to do with medicine.  It's the ability to manage Electronic Medical Records…

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) takes over the enforcement of the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), employers will be required to use a new version of the FCRA Summary of Rights when conducting background checks, according to…

Demand for temporary/contract workers in the professional sector is expected to exceed previous records in 2012 and 2013, according to Staffing Industry Analysts' U.S. Staffing Industry Forecast.

Specifically, the IT Staffing and Engineering/Design industry…

How important is workplace flexibility to working adults? It's important enough that 45% would sacrifice a portion of their salary to get it, according to a Staffing Industry Analysts article citing a Moms Corps survey.

They are also willing to give up increasingly large percentages of their…

The myth that workers only become contractors to obtain a direct hire position has been officially debunked by a recent Randstad study.

Over 2,000 employed adults were surveyed for the Randstad Workforce360 Study. The study found that 78% of the…