13 Ways to Identify the Best Interns If you can’t find the best students for your internship slots, obviously the other elements of your internship program will make little difference. Some of the most effective approaches for identifying top-quality interns include: Grad assistants know the best. Because grad assistants are …

The Downturn is Coming, But When? Many HR individuals I’ve met do not even like to discuss the topic of economic downturns. I presume this avoidance is based on the premise that even “talking” about them somehow will make them happen. Unfortunately, the consequences of not discussing or preparing for …

Recruiting Factors That Impact Future Retention If you're interested in reducing turnover, here are some of the hiring-related factors that impact future retention: Hiring candidates who are focused on money. Every candidate has his or her own set of motivators for taking and remaining in a job, and a significant …

Most career sales professionals have learned that it is easier to sell reluctant customers face-to-face versus remotely via phone calls and emails. As recruiters are essentially professionals selling career opportunities, it makes sense that nearly every recruiting strategy should leverage one or more face-to-face approaches such as an invited open …

Smaller organizations face a vast array of unique recruiting challenges. While some may assume that recruiting in a smaller organization is easier than in a large organization, those who have worked in both would attest that it’s not easier, just different. While some of the challenges are the same, just …

I am an unabashed follower of the HR philosophy of Jack Welch, former CEO of GE. He is a proponent of a “business-like” approach to HR that emphasizes its critical role in impacting organizational results. Welch is certainly controversial in HR circles because he advocates many things that “softies” in …

Over the course of my nearly 40-year career in human resources, I have witnessed almost a dozen recruiting booms (where recruiting budgets ballooned) and busts (where there were sharp and painful drops in the need for recruiters and for recruiting). While the primary factor driving each differed, all were attributable …

There is nothing more important in the business world than demonstrating the dollar impact of what you do. Every major business function from marketing, sales, finance, supply chain, customer service, and production routinely demonstrate their return on investment. However, as with many aspects of corporate life, HR tends to be …

Most of us have read about upcoming workforce trends like decreasing employee loyalty, differing generational expectations, and the impending retirement of the baby boom generation, but surprisingly few organizational leaders are fully aware of how those issues will impact them. Several of the organizations I have worked with in recent …

Over the course of the last three years, employment branding has grown from a concept a few organizations were spending a little money on to a full-blown discipline that many large and small organizations alike are investing heavily in.   As of April 2007, more than 57% of the Fortune …