Let me apologize upfront for this “rant” on HR’s failure regarding workforce planning, but I can’t think of another time where human resources as a profession appeared to be floundering to the point where it’s embarrassing itself. All you have to do is read the paper on a regular basis …

Economic downturns, mergers, and acquisitions all place pressure on organizations to curb labor costs. No time in the last decade has that tenet been more apparent than right now. Layoffs, large or small, force organizations to cut loose the talent in which they have invested salary and training dollars. While …

What’s hot in talent management changes quite often.  Right now, there’s no hotter topic within the talent management community than workforce planning. The reasons are simple: with the current economy driving revenues down dramatically, many senior executives are examining how to plan ahead in order to increase their firms’ capabilities, …

Questions & Answers How do you make the business case to managers who believe now is not the time to be recruiting college grads/interns, etc.? What are the long-term consequences of stopping college recruiting? Any time you make a business case you need to address the concerns of your audience …

You can’t read a newspaper these days without reading about organizations that are implementing employee furloughs in order to save money and to avoid layoffs. They might seem like a good idea but they might end up not saving money at all and could cause more turmoil than they are …

Lesson #1 -“Minor colleges” produce some of the best players on Super Bowl teams. It’s clear from examining the player rosters that most Super Bowl players don’t come from powerhouse football colleges. Some examples include: The Star Players. The four most notable star players in the game all come from …

Hiring For Tendencies Is a Common Practice It is common to design recruiting and hiring processes to select individuals with certain mindsets or behavioral tendencies. Southwest Airlines, for example, has been written up in numerous books and articles for how they successfully attract and hire individuals who naturally behave and …

Impacting Business Results Makes You a Hero During tough times, there is increased pressure on every business function to demonstrate a direct (positive) impact on business performance. The functions that successfully demonstrate business measures like revenue, time-to-market, market share, and profit receive the majority of the attention and available resources. …

The Referral Concept The basic premise of all employee referral programs is that “the very best” know other top individuals. They get to know them because top performers learn from and compare themselves to other top performers. Professionals are constantly talking to each other on the phone, through text messaging, …

Things to Do Offer rewards. Surprisingly, many people associated with a university are willing to make referrals with no promise of a reward. Why? Because they really believe in the abilities of the students they know and work with. You don’t need to give away a flat-screen TV in order …