Archive for the 'Survey Results' Category

Actually, many of you already are – and to your benefit, too. 

According to a recent CareerBuilder survey on military veterans re-entering the workforce, 41 percent of employers reported that they have hired U.S. veterans or members of the National Guard in the last six months.  Just over 20 percent said they are actively recruiting veterans and members of the National Guard for open positions today – most commonly in the areas of information technology, engineering, management and sales.    

Continue Reading…

• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on September 14, 2009
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• Categories: Survey Results

Employers who want to retain top talent over the next 12 months had better be willing to pay up – at least that’s what the results of the annual Employment Dynamics and Growth Expectations (EDGE) Report indicate.

Released today, the report, conducted by CareerBuilder and Robert Half International, provides an overview of the current employment situation, as well as a glimpse of the future hiring landscape.  More than 500 hiring managers and 500 workers nationwide participated in the study, now in its fifth year.

Looking at the results of the report, it looks like employers are going to have to pull out all the financial stops to retain their high performers as the economy turns around: Continue Reading…

• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on August 25, 2009
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• Categories: Employee Retention, Survey Results

Some current trends may seem obvious–possible Mad Men spoilers or First Lady Michelle Obama in shorts (oh my gosh!), but there’s another that may surprise you: small business. You heard me right. As workers find their way around one of the toughest economies and job markets in the nation’s history, more and more of them are seeking out–and finding–new job positions with small businesses, according to a new CareerBuilder survey.

One in five workers (22 percent) surveyed who were laid off from full-time jobs in the last 12 months landed new jobs with small businesses. Another 59 percent said they are interested in working for a small business. And 29 percent of workers are getting the entrepreneurial bug and considering starting a small business of their own. With those kinds of numbers, it’s not a surprise that small businesses account for most of the nation’s new job creation, according to the U.S. Small Business Administration. Continue Reading…

• Posted by: Amy Chulik on August 20, 2009
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• Categories: Economy, Employee Attraction, Survey Results

Wow…according to CareerBuilder’s latest survey, the number of employers using social networking sites to screen candidates has more than doubled in the last year.  

Out of more than 2,600 hiring managers, 45 percent reported using social networking sites to research job candidates’ backgrounds for information that verified – or supplemented – the information on their resumes.  This finding represents a huge increase from the 22 percent of hiring managers who said the same thing last year.

The most popular site to search, not surprisingly, is Facebook, followed closely by LinkedIn and MySpace. Searching blogs and following candidates on Twitter were also popular means of screening. (Looks like you’re safe, Friendster users.)

(Side note/shameless plug: As of yesterday, hiring managers have a new social networking site on which to research candidates: Brightfuse, CareerBuilder’s new professional networking site. Check out the press release here.)

Of those who searched social networking sites to screen candidates, as many as 35 percent found content on that caused them not to hire the candidate, such as: Continue Reading…

• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on August 20, 2009
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• Categories: Employee Attraction, Employee Engagement, Social Media, Survey Results

Remember that time you thought your co-worker was a pimp? Me, neither.  But anyway…

In efforts to “bring a little levity to the workplace,” CareerBuilder recently surveyed 2,600 hiring managers nationwide about the oddest complaints they’ve ever received from employees.  Today, it released the results of that survey, and below is the cream of the creepy crop: 

1. Employee is too sun-tanned.
2. Employee has big hair.
3. Employee eats all the good cookies.
4. Employee is so polite, it’s infuriating.
5. Employee suspected co-worker is a pimp.
6. Employee is trying to poison me.
7. Employee’s body is magnetic and keeps de-activating my magnetic access card.
8. Employee is personally responsible for a federally-mandated tax increase.
9. Employee was annoyed the company didn’t provide a place for naps during break time.
10. Employee only wears slippers or socks at work.
11. Employee’s aura is wrong.
12. Employee smells like road ramps.
13. Employee breathes too loudly.
14. Employee wants to check a co-worker for ticks.
15. 8:00 a.m. is too early to get up for work.
16. Employee wore pajamas to work.
17. Employee has bells on her shoes and it’s not the holidays.
18. Co-worker reminded the employee too much of Bambi.
19. Employee spends too much time caring for stray cats around the building.
20. A male employee keeps using the ladies’ room because the men’s room is not as tidy.

First, looking at this list, I have to say that not all of these complaints are completely unfounded. I mean, I’d be pretty peeved too if my co-worker got to wear pajamas to work (no matter how fancy they might be). And – while I don’t know that I’d go to HR about it – c’mon…eating all the good cookies? That’s not cool.

As for the employee who complained that the company doesn’t provide a place for naps during break time? That person might actually be on to something, according to a recent Harvard Business article that says that naps are effective workplace productivity boosters.

Second, I think the question we really need to ask here is: How did these hiring managers respond to these complaints?

Because, honestly, what do you say when someone complains that a co-worker’s aura is wrong? (Do you have to then prove this? Is it grounds for dismissal? Is anyone’s aura ever really right? So many questions!) …or that someone smells like road maps? (Road maps? Really?) …or that a co-worker reminds them of Bambi? (What’s wrong with Bambi?!)

Would love to hear your input here…What’s the strangest complaint you’ve ever heard (and how did you handle it)? Continue Reading…

• Posted by: Mary Lorenz on August 12, 2009
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• Categories: Survey Results

Temperatures here in Chicago are finally expected to creep around the 90s this weekend (you know, just to give us a glimpse of summer). Of course, sweltering heat also falls squarely on the city’s annual Lollapalooza festival at Grant Park. I’ll be bringing my BFF, water, in full force. On the non-music front, it looks like things are also heating up — for staffing firms in the health care field, according to CareerBuilder’s newly released Staffing Supply and Demand Outlook. This report tracks current and projected use of staffing firms by employers and job candidates.  Here are some highlights from what will be a quarterly release:

Industry Expectations
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• Posted by: Amy Chulik on August 6, 2009
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• Categories: Economy, Employee Attraction, Survey Results