Economic pressures on workers combined with a higher unemployment rate might lead you to assume that recruiting and hiring are easier during a downturn. Depending on the nature of your job openings, recruiting is not necessarily easier in a downturn, but it is different. Some of the challenges we are used to are still there and are easier to meet (e.g. fewer demands and less negotiating from candidates) but there are new challenges too. Such as: Continue reading
If Unemployment Is So High, Why Is Hiring So Hard?
by Robert Moritz
Why aren’t U.S. businesses leading the global economy to recovery? Erratic capital markets, systemic risk, tax policy, and regulatory uncertainty have all been offered as culprits, and all play their parts. But another factor is lurking that may eclipse the rest and, if left unaddressed, will continue to put the U.S. at a severe global disadvantage — the great mismatch between skilled jobs and the talent needed to fill them. The failure to find and nurture this talent is preventing U.S. companies from innovating their way to competitive advantage. Continue reading
Job interviewing, to the extreme
By Tiffany Hsu for the Los Angeles Times
Some firms are using offbeat interview practices to get a real-time look at how prospects tackle problems, think on their feet and work as part of a team.
Danielle Bemoras showed up for her job interview with a social networking company prepared for some tough questions. Instead, she found herself in the middle of a psychology experiment.
The company had invited a fellow job seeker to the dinner meeting in Chicago, looking to see how the rivals would handle the pressure of a joint interview.
Awkward? No question. But Bemoras just rolled with it. She avoided alcohol to keep her head clear. She skipped the sushi to prevent chopsticks mishaps. And rather than try to upstage her competitor, she was respectful and collegial.
“I was in a sorority and had gone through that type of thing during rush,” said Bemoras, now 22. Her clutch performance won her a marketing internship followed by a full-time position with SceneTap, a digital night-life guide headquartered in Austin, Texas. Continue reading
Hard work
“The trouble with unemployment is that the minute you wake up in the morning you’re on the job.”
Slappy White
The new jobseekers
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XGJq8wrw5I