Archive for May, 2009

Sorry, Lance Armstrong, but your “Livestrong” bracelets are yesterday’s news.

Earlier this week, my colleagues over at TheWorkBuzz drew my attention to this Chicago Tribune article about the latest job seeker trend: sporting “I need a job” bracelets.

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on May 29, 2009
• There are 28 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Talent Acquisition

Do you count yourself as a survivor? No, I’m not talking about your obsession with the Beyoncé video (and you should probably keep that to yourself), but about company layoffs. As a leader, if you are a survivor of a layoff, you have a unique perspective on its effects on the employees who remain — after the employee boxes have been packed up, goodbyes have been exchanged (if that’s even an option) and the dust has settled.

Results of a new CareerBuilder survey of more than 4,400 workers nationwide have revealed that workers who have survived layoffs within their organizations are facing new challenges in the forms of increased workloads and heightened stress.

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Amy Chulik on May 28, 2009
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Economy, Employee Engagement, Generational Hiring, Leadership Development, Retention, Talent Acquisition

Experiencing a little withdrawal now that season eight of “American Idol” has ended? Not that tweeting @RyanSeacrest every half hour isn’t a constructive use of your time…but might I suggest channeling some of that lingering “Idol” fan energy into something a wee bit more productive?

Say, uncovering the hidden employee management lessons Paula, Simon, Randy and Kara unknowingly provided us all season? Yes? Okay, then.

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on May 26, 2009
• There are 4 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Engagement, Retention

You may have noticed (if you are following us on Twitter, which you of course are, right? Riiiight?) that our Twitter handle changed yesterday from @thehiringsite to @cbforemployers. We sent out some tweets explaining the change, but I’m writing this post just to fill in those of you who didn’t see the change.

We decided to switch to @cbforemployers because we were already covering employer-related issues, and it made sense to change our name and cover even more ground for our followers. By representing CareerBuilder on behalf of employers, we will still discuss news from The Hiring Site–and all employer-related issues/news/topics on behalf of CareerBuilder as well.

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Amy Chulik on May 21, 2009
• There are 0 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Social Media, Technology

CareerBuilder released its annual vacation survey yesterday, which revealed that, sadly, over a third of American workers don’t plan to take a vacation this year – naming lack of funds and feelings of guilt and anxiety as the reasons for staying home.

(On the upside, they’re sparing themselves the possible disappointment of making it all the way to Wally World only to find that it’s closed….Right?)

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on May 19, 2009
• There are 7 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Engagement, Survey Results

Does your company have a standardized e-mail policy? If you have to stop and think about it, then it’s probably safe to assume that, if there is one, it’s not strictly enforced.  And that could be a problem – especially if your company has had layoffs recently, which can open the door to wrongful termination lawsuits from ex-employees. 

That’s the reality an HR professional who wrote into this recent “Ask Annie” column is facing:  The company where the manager works is being sued by an ex-employee, whose lawyers are demanding that management turn over its e-mails as part of the discovery investigation, which “has got the whole place in an uproar.”

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on May 12, 2009
• There are 3 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Economy, Employee Engagement

Summer jobs can’t all be all Summer Rental-esque boat-racing, resort dancing/noboby-puts-Baby-in-the-cornering, and running off to space camp (don’t we wish), but job seekers have had their share of jobs at which they’ve had the time of their life unusual jobs. And as tradition would have it, summer jobs, a crucial source of income for many, is thriving. Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Amy Chulik on May 12, 2009
• There is 1 Comment. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Economy, Survey Results, Talent Acquisition

Yep, it’s that time of year again: College Graduation. Parties, celebrations, awards, a sense of accomplishment — and, oh, figuring out a place to live! Many college graduates-to-be are considering relocation to new cities to find a fresh start, a fresh career, and a fresh place to mount their shiny new college diploma. Continue reading

• 
• Posted by: Amy Chulik on May 8, 2009
• There are 2 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Building a Best Place to Work, Economy, Employment Branding, Generational Hiring, Leadership Development, Survey Results, Talent Acquisition

The following is a re-post from our colleagues over at The Work Buzz, CareerBuilder’s job seeker blog:

While the BLS reported this morning that nonfarm payroll employment continued to decline in April (-539,000) and the unemployment rate rose from 8.5 to 8.9 percent, a closer look shows some positive indicators. Yes, 5.7 million jobs have been lost since the recession began in December 2007.  And yes, nearly all major private-sector industries lost jobs again in April.

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on May 8, 2009
• There is 1 Comment. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Economy

With yesterday’s sad confirmation that the first U.S. resident has died while infected with (though not necessarily directly because of) swine H1N1 flu, your employees may be more anxious than ever to come in to work, or let their children go to school, forcing them to stay home.

According to a Wall Street Journal online article, should cases of swine flu penetrate the workplace, and it does in fact, become the global pandemic once feared, U.S. businesses could face a major challenge in maintaining operations, with up to 30 percent of the work force possibly becoming ill.

Continue Reading…

• 
• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on May 6, 2009
• There are 2 Comments. Join the discussion.
• Categories: Employee Engagement, Retention