Getting Smart About Job Prospects

There may be a gap between the career outlook of the average American worker and his actual job qualifications as dependent on education level.

According to a survey conducted by eLearners.com, although three in four Americans who plan to work in 10 years report that they have the education to remain competitive, the U.S. Census Bureau would counter that fewer than 20 percent of Americans 25 years of age and older have a bachelor’s degree and fewer than 10 percent have an associate’s degree.

This means that many workers will not be able to stay competitive since 18 of the 30 fastest-growing job fields require at least an associate’s degree according to the Employment Projections Program (EPP) from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The survey also found that 29 percent of Americans who do not have a college degree and do not plan on retiring before 2020 do not feel they have the education to remain competitive as compared to 20 percent who graduated from college who feel the same way.

In addition, more working women (31 percent) as compared to men (20 percent) do not think they have the education they need to be competitive in their field.

Roughly 40 percent of survey respondents possessed a college degree and real world training of some kind.

While some of these statistics may seem troubling, online education and distance learning programs do afford many adults lacking time, money, or both the opportunity to go back to school.

Formal Evaluations Get a Positive Report

The performance review might not be something that employers and employees look forward to with excitement, but this type of assessment still prove to be a useful appraisal tool. Ninety-one percent of respondents thought that formal evaluations are valuable in improving job performance, according to a recent OfficeTeam survey of human resource managers.

Their confidence is perhaps testament to the investment they put into this type of measurement. Sixty percent reported that they conduct these performance review meetings once a year, while 18 percent said they conduct reviews at least two to four times a year. Only 5 percent said they never conducted this type of assessment.

OfficeTeam offers tips for making performance reviews successful such as employees asking their managers for a copy of their assessment forms to seek clarification on any points of doubt; making review meetings a two-way conversation between employer and employee, especially in the form of sharing ideas for improvement; having employees showcase their accomplishments both as a reminder to themselves as well as their supervisors; and providing follow through on goals for the sake of accountability and progress.

The survey was based on phone interviews with more than 500 HR managers at companies with 20 or more employees.

Worldwide Jobs in Demand Are Still Skills, Sales, and Techs

Unemployment might have reached record highs within the past year, but global talent shortages still run amok. According to an annual survey from Manpower Inc. that polled 35,000 employees from across 36 countries, 31 percent of employers have difficulty filling key positions within their organization. In addition, the seats for jobs that have been in demand for four years running remain tough to fill.

The top jobs for 2010 are skilled trades, sales representatives, technicians, and engineers, which are exactly the same as in 2009.

“As the global economy slowly recovers, employers will remain focused on maintaining financial flexibility and doing more with less,” says Jeffrey A. Joerres, CEO and chairman of Manpower Inc. “Applying the same mindset to their workforce, employers have gotten more specific about the combination of skill sets that they are looking for, not only seeking technical capabilities in a training jobs, but holding out for the person that possesses the additional qualities above and beyond that will help drive their organization forward. This conundrum is upsetting to the ubiquitous job seeker, who will need to take more responsibility for his/her skills development in order to find ways to remain relevant to the market.”

A copy of the survey, including additional information on the specific job shortages in different global regions, and a whitepaper on how employers can address the talent mismatch are available at Manpower Inc.’s Research Center.

Disks That Flop: Implementation of New Technology Prevented by IT Understaffing

Does your company computer run slower with every passing day? You might just be one of many employees in the same predicament.

Sixty-four percent of chief information officers (CIOs) reported that understaffing in their company’s IT department at least partially interfered with their ability to implement innovative or emerging technologies, according to a survey by Robert Half Technology.

The company offers the following tips for companies that may be facing an IT staffing shortage: asking IT employees to provide workload updates to ensure that their to-do lists are manageable; getting other employees involved and brainstorming creative solutions and workarounds; taking stock of current skills to see if employees have the necessary ones to implement an emerging technology; and finally, considering reinforcements, in the form of cost-effective project professionals and other types of independent contractors.

Corporate Social Responsibility Is Alive and Well: Pepal’s Innovation in India Program

The freshest ideas in corporate social responsibility may come from uniting representatives from both the private and public sectors. At least, that’s what social enterprise Pepal believes. This past March, the organization launched its Innovation in India program, which offers a new take on executive development.

Innovation in India pairs private-sector professionals with senior staff from Indian non-profit organizations over a six month period to help create and execute community projects tackling problems such as HIV/AIDS, children’s health, youth unemployment, and women’s rights.

Partners will also receive joint training from London School of Economics Professor of Innovation and Management, Harry Barkema. This training will focus on two primary goals: how to build economically sustainable and scalable business models that address the needs of specific communities and exploring how building networks with partners (such as multinationals, local companies, NGOs, and governments) can create better business models.

"I expect this to be a life-changing journey for many of our private-sector participants. They will be working on challenging problems in new and often difficult circumstances," says Pepal’s Executive Director, Julie Saunders. She adds that it’s also equally beneficial for non-profit participants.

Younger People Have More Workplace Injuries

I found it ironic that while surfing the Internet I came across two articles that have more to do with each other than most people would think. The one article focused on OSHA's training compliance and the need to state that safety training should be conducted in a foreign language when there are people on the work site who do not speak or read English. And the second article examines workplace data that shows that younger people in America's workforce are twice as likely than older workers to suffer an injury on the job that requires treatment in an emergency room.

Younger Hispanic workers had a fatality rate (5.6 per 100,000) that was significantly higher than for non-Hispanic white workers (3.3 per 100,000), and also for non-Hispanic black workers (2.3 per 100,000).

This is a surprising fact because it seems logical that workers who are given safety training should be able to understand all of the training. Safe work sites save lives and money, so why is there such a disconnect between tailoring training to fit a student's language and education level?

What Would an Executive Do to Keep a Star Employee?

More than three-quarters of chief financial officers are willing to curry favor with their best employees to retain them once the recession dies down, according to a survey by Accountemps. In fact, 50 percent of CFOs plan to promote their top performers once the economy picks up while 48 percent plan to give raises.

These actions were chosen in response to the question: “Which of the following steps are you taking or do you plan to take to retain your employees as the economy improves?”

Other picks included increasing investment in professional development (41 percent); enhancing benefits (32 percent); and reinstating or increasing bonuses (26 percent). Only 24 percent of respondents chose “no steps.”

“Now is the time to re-recruit your standout employees,” says Max Messmer, CEO of Accountemps. "Let your top performers know they have a clear career path within the organization and re-evaluate compensation levels to make sure they're in line with what other firms in your industry are paying for similar positions."

What other measures do you think companies should take to keep high-performing employees?

The Disappearing Career Discussion

According to a recent survey by Right Management, more than one-third of all employees (37 percent) never discuss their career development with their managers and another 30 percent have that discussion just once a year.

Why are employees so hesitant to talk about their career aspirations with their managers? Is it because they are too busy to think about their future or do they lack the skills to ask the right questions?

Although individuals should take the responsibility to manage their own careers, managers should reach out to employees to discussion career objectives because that is a key step in keeping employees engaged in the workplace.

Are your managers equipped with the skills to discuss an employee's strengths, growth opportunities, and developmental needs? If not, do you have a strategy for how to teach those skills to your organization's managers?

Deloitte: The Future of Recruiting Is Social Media

Recruiting doesn’t have to be relegated to job fairs and visits to college campuses. Deloitte is taking a multifaceted digital approach to recruiting by using a blend of social networking resources and multimedia elements. A versatile introduction to their company is available at the click of a button.

The program integrates several interactive social media outlets including a micro-site, a Twitter feed, a Facebook page and LinkedIn group, and a YouTube channel.

The recruiting micro-site offers visitors an in-depth look into the lives of Deloitte’s Gen Y workers, by showcasing a series of profiles and short films about working in the company’s different practice areas. The site also highlights the personal and professional pursuits of its youngest workers such as hobbies, community activities, favorite music, and TV shows.

The "Life at Deloitte" Twitter feed, offers daily tweets with a different business leaders (that rotate weekly) about their day-to-day lives inside and outside of the organization. Followers can study what’s on a senior professional’s mind and gain an understanding of the company’s different practice areas and latest hot topics.

The “Your Future at Deloitte (U.S.)” Facebook page, displays up-to-date information on initiatives and developments in progress at the company. It also has event photos, videos, and interactive message boards where potential candidates can join in the discussion. Deloitte also has a campus-focused LinkedIn group to help connect college students with employees and recruiters.

Finally, the "Your Future at Deloitte" YouTube channel has video testimonies from employees on why they chose to work at Deloitte and what working there means to them. The videos follow employees’ day-to-day roles, including working on site at a technology client and participating in a sustainability project.

Deloitte was recently ranked first on BusinessWeek’s 2009 “Best Places to Intern” and “Best Places to Launch a Career” lists and is also included on the DiversityInc “Top 50 Companies for Diversity” as well as the Fortune “100 Best Companies to Work For” lists. The company plans to hire roughly 4,800 employees for both full-time employment and internship positions this year.

Employees Are Full of Feedback

If you have a suggestion to make in the workplace, do you make it or do you keep your mouth shut? Many people take advantage of their right to express themselves.

Fifty-seven percent of employees say they regularly make suggestions in the workplace, according to a survey by Right Management. In fact, 27 percent of employees report that they make more than 20 suggestions per year. Another 30 percent made at least 10 suggestions per year. Only 6 percent made no suggestions at all.

The poll, which was conducted on LinkedIn and included 614 participants from all over North America, found that the most vocal employees are those in management and C-level executives.

Other interesting findings were that number of suggestions does not vary by company size and sales people were the most likely to make suggestions at 50 percent followed by those in HR at 28 percent. In addition, workers ages 55 and over were more likely to make 10 or more suggestions at 76 percent as compared to their colleagues ages 25 to 34 at 51 percent. Women, at 61 percent, were also likely to make 10 or more suggestions as compared to men, at 46 percent.

"Our findings suggest a surprising number of employees go the extra mile by making suggestions in the workplace," says Deborah Schroeder-Saulnier, senior vice president of global solutions at Right Management. "At the same time, however, in our experience there is little evidence that companies really listen to employee suggestions—or, more important, try to benefit from their perspective and enthusiasm."

She advises that companies should not only listen to their employees, but make sure their ideas are acknowledged and acted upon.

Businesses need to remember that communication is a two-way street.

What Will the New Workplace Look Like?

The economy changed the face of the workplace in 2009. More boomers continued working, delaying their retirement; organizations focused on performance and efficiency, expecting workers to do more with less; and technology made more mobile, 24/7 employees.

Expectations for learning changed also. Workplace learning and performance professionals were charged with the task of getting employee skills up to date, finding the company's key competitive advantage, and keeping employees engaged.

What will the workplace look like when the economic recession ends? What efficiencies gained during this cost-cutting economic downturn will emerge as new ways to do business in learning and development?

Age Is Just a Number, Not a Title, Right?

How would you handle the fact that your boss is younger than you?

The question is one to ponder considering that 43 percent of workers ages 35 and older reported that they currently work for someone younger than them, according to a CareerBuilder survey.

Similar circumstances abound with different age groups. Fifty-three percent of workers ages 45 and older and 69 percent of workers ages 55 and older say their boss is younger than them.

Occasionally, this situation can create some friction between older and younger workers. Sixteen percent of workers ages 25 to 34 reported that they find it difficult to take direction from a boss younger than them.

However, the percentages go down as the ages go up. Only 13 percent of workers ages 35 to 44, 7 percent of workers 45 to 54, and a mere 5 percent of workers ages 55 and up agreed with the same statement.

Some of the reasons that were cited as creating tension between an older worker and a younger boss included micromanagement; playing favorites with younger workers; having a sense of entitlement; giving a lack of direction; and acting like they know more than the employee when, in fact, they don’t.

Visions of Better Vision

Employees may be thinking clearly about their work, but they may not be seeing quite as clearly. A WellPoint survey found that 40 percent of American workers have trouble with their eyesight while on the job. As a result, mistakes occur, and some of them are not caught right away and can cause unfortunate errors.

For example, 1 in 10 respondents reported sending emails to the wrong person or misreading a text message or a caller ID. According to the Vision Council of America, uncorrected vision can decrease employee performance by as much as 20 percent, and vision disorders can account for more than 8 billion dollars in lost productivity per year.

Making sure employees have the option of vision benefits so that they can get their vision checked regularly is a smart and easy way to manage this problem within the workplace.

Skills Gap

Does your organization have a skills gap? If so, you're not alone. In a recent American Society for Training & Development survey that was published in the new white paper Bridging the Skills Gap, 79.2 percent of organizations admitted that the skills of their current workforce did not match the changes in their business strategy.

The education system and organizations in the United States, along with the local, state, and federal government, bear equal responsibility in closing this skills gap. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, almost 75 percent of the job growth in the future will come from three occupations: computer and math, healthcare practictioners and technical, and education, training, and library.

Have you assessed the skills and compentencies needed by your workforce now and in the future? Do you know how to bridge that gap?

There is no time to waste. Organizations will be left behind if they can't drive their business strategies forward.

What Does IT Have to Do with Corporate Responsibility?

Apparently everything, according to some workers. A Deloitte online poll showed that more than 40 percent of employees believe their company’s IT department is very involved in corporate responsibility and sustainability efforts. They aren’t so far off the mark in their expectations, but as far as actual demonstration of proof, there is still a ways to go.

The survey showed that 25 percent of companies have a green IT program in place while another 9 percent plan to have one within the next year. In addition, close to 17 percent reported that IT is directly involved in their corporate responsibility and sustainability strategies, programs, and activities throughout their company, rather than just limited to carbon management.

The poll was conducted during a Deloitte webcast called “Competing in the Low-Carbon Economy: The Essential Dialog [sic] between the CIO and C-suite.”

“Companies today are relying more on CIOs to help drive business strategies and innovation, and our polling indicates that IT is becoming recognized as an essential enabler of sustainability efforts throughout the enterprise,” said Lee Dittmar, principal of Deloitte Consulting LLP.

Dittmar advised that CIOs need to be prepared to make a business case for IT in evolving sustainability strategies and programs. Points of preparation he suggested include knowing how to establish baseline measurements; aligning with corporate responsibility and sustainability goals and investments; determining information needs to measure progress at all levels; ensuring information availability and accessibility; and evaluating IT capabilities to measure, monitor, and report corporate responsibility and sustainability.

Moving Employee Mobility Programs Forward

The 2009 Total Employee Mobility Benchmarking Report, released by Runzheimer International in early October, shows that though businesses are investing in remote workforce programs, they do not have control over the associated risks, costs, or benefits.

Some of the major report findings included that 51 percent of the workforce is mobile on any given day, whether that means traveling, working from a virtual office, or driving for business. This number has gone up by 31 percent since 2006.

The total investment in workforce mobility has also gone up considerably in the past four years, and the number per-employee, per-year is $7,426, a figure that has gone up three percent year by year.

Despite this steady growth in investment, 73 percent of respondents have no policies in place when it comes to virtual office programs while another 56 percent are unaware if the programs they have instituted are productive. Sixty-four percent of companies reported that corporate travel costs are loosely managed.

One possible reason behind this lack of metrics could be that mobile workforce programs often involve multiple departments. For example, 80 percent of employees full into multiple categories of drivers, travelers, and virtual offices, and often have to interact with more than one department in order to fulfill their job responsibilities.

Since the mobile workforce is a growing body, and not an issue that will disappear anytime soon from organizational agendas, what are steps companies can take to better harness employee mobility programs?

When Your Boss Is Too Boss to Keep It a Secret

Do you wish other people outside your company could know about your boss who goes above and beyond his responsibilities? Well, now there’s a new website for that very purpose. GetaGreatBoss.com is a recently launched site that reviews employers and highlights jobs that have great bosses. Potential candidates can read the reviews which are completed by current employees.

The website rating system is composed of professional online profiles with an employee review element. All reviewer responses are kept anonymous and all employers can follow up on any anonymous comment by starting a private online chat with the relevant employee in order to receive helpful feedback and improve upon their management styles.

Furthermore, if the boss likes the review, she can link it to a job ad for prospective applicants to read, or also to her resume for executive recruiters or head-hunters. If a boss does not like her results, she can choose not to share them with anyone.

“We're not here to penalize bad bosses but rather to celebrate great ones,” notes the site’s CEO Gavin Symanowitz.

Job applicants may also be more willing to be financially flexible if they know that they will be in good hands at their prospective place of employment.

"High-quality career-seekers are far more negotiable on salary if they know they will be working for a high-quality boss," says Symanowitz. "By showcasing their management skills, great bosses are therefore able to keep their staff costs down.”

Australians Value Work Culture

What is more important to you: workplace culture or salary.

According to a recent study by the Sloan Center on Aging & Work at Boston College, 96percent of Australian employers use engagement activities, flexible work options, or incentives to create a quality work environment.

Family and caregiver leave, and part-time work are the most common flexible work options available. More than half of all employees surveyed consider flexible work arrangements as one of the five most important contributors to job satisfaction.

As we slowly move out of this economic recession, organizations are going to need to evaluate employee engagement and really find out what makes employees satisfied and engaged with their work. Myriad studies are finding that many employees will jump ship when the economy turns around, so how can you as workplace learning and performance professionals engage and retain your high potential employees?

What matters to your employees? If you don't know the answers, you better not waste time before finding out because sooner rather than later, it's going to be too late.

Career Resolutions May Mean Pursuing Ambitions Elsewhere

The impending arrival of a new year may mean the desire for a new job for many employees. Sixty percent of respondents intend to pursue new job opportunities as the economy improves in 2010, according to a survey of more than 900 North American workers by Right Management.

In addition, 21 percent self-identified as “maybes” that have been networking in case something sparkly and better might come along.

“Employees are clearly expressing their pent up frustration with how they have been treated through the downturn,” says Douglas J. Matthews, president and CEO of Right Management. “While employers may have taken the necessary steps to streamline operations to remain viable, it appears many employees may have felt neglected in the process. The result is a disengaged and disgruntled workforce."

Only 13 percent of workers indicated that they intended to stay at their jobs, with another 6 percent saying a job change was unlikely though they updated their resumes to be safe.

“A segmented, customized and flexible talent strategy is critical to stem the alarming levels of employee turnover anticipated next year,” says Matthews.

I guess it’s not so far-fetched to say that as the recession reluctantly makes its way out of the hot buzzword arena, it just might bump into talent management brashly pushing its way back in.

Getting the Most out of Your Meetings

Have you ever been sitting in a meeting just watching the clock tick?

Well, now there’s a product that measures exactly just how much money is being wasted during unproductive meetings.

From Bring TIM! LLC comes Bring TIM!®, a time management cost calculator and clock. Users simply enter the number of attendees and the average hourly rate, and then press the start button to begin calculating.

Brad Johnson, president and founder of Bring TIM! LLC, created this device out of his own experience with meetings that ran four hours or longer.

A light-hearted gift with a valuable lesson, this machine literally demonstrates the meaning of the expression, “Time is money.”

Bring TIM!® is available for order now from BringTim.com for $24.95 plus shipping and handling.