Finance Jobs Indianapolis

Job Seeker Do's & Dont's

Tuesday, January 24, 2012 by Lisa Minter

As I discussed in a previous blog, I entered that big scary job search arena last year and I had to remind myself of all those pointers that I had shared with Central Indiana job seekers over the past 17 years. It was time to see if they worked for me (which I am happy to say they did!).

First, Make sure your personal email address is simple and professional. If your email address is partyallthetime@xyzdomain, you should pick something else. You don't want an Indianapolis staffing company or HR Manager to disregard you before even viewing your resume.

If you are entering an Indianapolis job search while still employed, do not submit your resume or correspond from your work email address. This tells prospective employers that instead of working, you are searching for jobs on your current employer's dime.

Make sure your resume is free of any grammatical or spelling errors. Check, double & triple check and then have somoene else review it. It is a red flag if you are searching for adminstrative jobs, accounting jobs, or HR jobs in Indianapolis where companies are looking for individuals with atention to detail, professional communication skills or maintaining databases only to receive a resume with errors.

Clean up your social networking pages. HR Managers and Executive Recruiters in Indianapolis do check Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, etc. for information about the person applying for their company's open position. Think about what you have posted. If you have Spring Break-Daytona Beach pictures from college, think about if that is the impression you want to give to a prospective employer.

Make sure the voicemail message on your phone is professional. If your message is currently intended for personal use, revise it. If your message says "It's me and you know what to do" or "Leave a message, I'll call ya back", that does not instill confidence in hiring managers that you will be portray a professional representation of their company.

Finally, be sure to check voicemail and email messages frequently. It's important to respond in a relatively short amount of time to prosective employers. When Indianapolis staffing companies, Executive Recruiters or any prospective employer contacts you, they likely want to discuss your skills and how they may be a good fit for their company!

Leadership Strengths - No Magic Bullet

Tuesday, January 3, 2012 by Karen Seketa

I a

m of the opinion that there is no secret recipe to being a great leader or identifying great leaders. There are many who study or have studied what makes a great leader and I too have been a student of this quest for knowledge. My studies have not been scientific, rather, I have held leadership roles in Indianapolis staffing in one capacity or another for nearly 2 decades. My focus has been leadership in the world of central Indiana jobs and local hiring trends for as long as I can remember. I have had the opportunity to lead teams both large and small, in large corporate and small private organizations, with paid employees and with volunteers and in good times and bad. I feel fairly confident that my exposure to extremes has only contributed to my development in a positive way.

Gallup is a research organization that holds a little (a lot, actually) more clout than I do on studies of leadership traits. Conveniently, their studies also seem to agree with my point of view. In conducting research for the book, "Strengths Based Leadership", Gallup researchers studied more than one million work teams, conducted more than 20,000 in-depth interviews with leaders, and even interviewed more than 10,000 followers. Their findings were vast, but just of few of them follow:

Of all the leaders surveyed, Gallup has yet to discover even one who has world-class strength in all of the four domains of leadership strength -- executing, influencing, relationship building, and strategic thinking.
Paradoxically, those who strive to be competent in all areas become the least effective leaders overall.

Further, their research found that the most effective leaders are not well rounded at all, but instead are acutely aware of their talents and use them to their best advantage. By focusing on those things that you know you do well and the areas where your strengths lie, you do not waste your time and efforts trying to be great at everything. Imagine the power of focusing on your strengths and developing true expertise in these areas. It seems that most people fail when they feel they have to be the best in everything they do and instead end up being mediocre at everything. Followers have four basic needs - trust, compassion, stability and hope. It is hard for people to follow mediocrity with enthusiasm and loyalty.

If you are not aware of what your strengths are, you should do some research and find out. Then take it a step further and identify the strengths of your team to ensure that you are working with a balanced team covering the four key domains of leadership strength.

Based again on Gallup's Strengths Based Leadership, here are the four domains of leadership strength - all of these are important in building well rounded teams. A great leader will surround themselves with team members who are strong in the areas where they are self aware that they are lacking.

Executing

Team members who have dominant strength in the Executing domain are those whom you turn to time and again to implement a solution. These are the people who will work tirelessly to get something done. People who are strong in the Executing domain have an ability to take an idea and transform it into reality within the organization they lead.

Influencing

People who are innately good at influencing are always selling the team's ideas inside and outside the organization. When you need someone to take charge, speak up, and make sure your group is heard, look to someone with the strength to influence.

Relationship Building

Relationship builders are the glue that holds a team together. Strengths associated with bringing people together -- whether it is by keeping distractions at bay or keeping the collective energy high -- transform a group of individuals into a team capable of carrying out complex projects and goals.

Strategic Thinking

Those who are able to keep people focused on what they could be are constantly pulling a team and its members into the future. They continually absorb and analyze information and help the team make better decisions.

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You will be amazed at the power that comes from a well balanced team of individuals who balance each other and perform within their greatest strengths. I have been fortunate to work with teams like this in my past and to this day I would work with that team anywhere, anytime, with confidence in our ability to succeed. In the competitive industry of indianapolis staffing it is crucial to have a sustainable competitive edge that comes only from a well balanced leadership team.

Let's Chat about Live Chat

Tuesday, December 20, 2011 by Karen Seketa

Over two decades of Indianapolis Staffing industry experience have transformed me into a demanding customer when I am in need of some good customer service myse

lf. I figure that Monday - Friday (and sometimes Sat and Sun too), I make sure I dish out the best possible customer service to my customers. All I am asking for is a little of the same from my own service providers. I have to admit, usually I am pleasantly surprised...but not always. Every once in awhile I need to TALK to someone about a problem I am having - but NO, instead I get caught up in customer service "please hold for the next available customer service rep while you listen to this crummy music" hell. This happened to me recently and after investing an embarrassing amount of time attempting to conquer the on hold circle of defeat, I decided to investigate the deep dark depths of their website to see if there was any hope of a live person I could reach to help me out.

This is where I stumbled across the "Live Chat" option. It was not prominently displayed on the site, but I found it and although pensive about pouring my heart out to a stranger on the Internet, I was desperate enough to use it. I am happy to report that my experience was pleasantly satisfying and the process of typing out my "problem" turned out to be rather cathartic. The customer service rep on the other end of my "chat" was polite, helpful and took care of my problem in 3 questions or less. Now, the emotional reactions and facial expressions demonstrated by my helper on the other side of the keyboard might have been frustration or exasperation about my issue, but as far as I was concerned, they passed the test of great customer service.

I was not sure how I would feel about giving credit to a pseudo-personal method of communicating with your customers. I am, after all, a tried and true student of the school of personal communication being the very best way to take care of your customers. Face to face is even better, but we all know that is an impossible dream with a large customer base that is geographically spread out. Phone communication is the next best way to take care of your customers with that personal touch. These days, email is the preferred method of communication for many, but it leaves so much open for interpretation that is is n

ot always the most effective method. Now I find myself sitting here pondering how cool it might be to have the "live chat" option for a service such as ours? I have not thought it fully through yet and have many potential challenges to this approach in the staffing industry already formulating in my head. That said, it might be the next thing on the list of "expected" service delivery options so it would be wise to mull it over.

At That's Good HR, I have to admit that we make ourselves available to our customers at all times. We try very hard to be proactive in our approach to talent management, but when you are working with the human element things come up, so it is critical to be available and ready to help. Our "live chat" option right now is the own mobile device that each of us carries which offers a personal touch to the support we provide. Not sure we are quite ready to give that up yet. More to come...

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - December 9, 2011

Thursday, December 8, 2011 by Harry Danz

Hiring, branding, workplace culture, health insurance and "a partridge in a pear tree". So many balls in the air, it can be a challenge just to choose which to catch first and which to just let fall for the time being. Can you catch them all? Not alone. This is the time of year when many companies review their human capital strategies and determine what changes to make for the coming year. It is important to make sure that all of the non-tangible aspects of your business are considered (like managing your brand or keeping up with social media) along with the obvious. This week there were some good news articles focusing on some of these key issues. Grab a cup of hot chocolate and read on....
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Health Insurance plan Choices Confusing for Many: As another open enrollment season comes to a close, millions of consumers are finalizing their benefits packages for 2012. Unfortunately, more than half of insured adults are confused with several important aspects related to choosing a health insurance plan, reveals a survey released Monday. (benefitnews.com)

The Importance of Paying Close Attention to Social Media: Imagine your company announces a major change to its service offering and suddenly, the company is being bombarded by negative social media comments about the change. Further, the leadership of the company ignores the negative comments thinking everything will simply blow over. In today’s world, things don’t blow over. Problems tend to spread virally in short order. (forbes.com)

Hiring Top Talent with Limited Resources: When clients that operate small to mid-sized businesses (SMBs) ask for help recruiting, hiring and retaining top talent, they often start the conversation by highlighting a huge human resources challenge: How can they compete with larger, deeper-pocketed competitors to recruit their industry’s best performers? (financialpost.com)

What Motivates Employees more then Money? The ability to motivate employees is one of the greatest skills an entrepreneur can possess. Two years ago, I realized I didn’t have this skill. So I hired a CEO who did. (linkedin.com)

Let's Agree to Drop these Worst Corporate Jargon Offenders: Hey! It’s mission-critical that we circle back on this very important matter of corporate jargon in the workplace. Let’s focus on the low-hanging fruit with a small group first and then loop everyone in. Being proactive about our learnings will really incentivize the group to focus on the most critical action items and value-add for maximum impact. Let’s start high level, drill down from there, and circle back after lunch to figure out next steps. (thehiringsite.com)

Talent and skills shortage-one of the top business risks for 2012: Despite high levels of unemployment, U.S. business leaders say one of the biggest risks they’re facing is a talent and skills shortage, according to the 2011 Lloyd’s Risk Index. (benefitnews.com)

How to Manage workplace culture: The Christmas season is here. Many non-Christians participate in the commercial aspects of Christmas. Some non-Christians are offended by its religious foundations and any reference to Christmas in the workplace, at school or in the stores. Many employees have no strong opinion. (newsobserver.com)

Employer Branding - Spread the Word: “I heard that’s a great place to work.” When employer branding efforts are successful, any mention of a company should trigger that exact statement. And when a company effectively communicates its brand internally and obtains employee buy-in, “Yes, it is!” should become the automatic response. (recruiter.com)

11 Favorite recruiting strategies for hiring new college grads: A new report from Michigan State University gives college students a road map on how to connect with employers. The survey, which was completed by roughly 3,300 employers across the country, clearly indicates that internships are the No. 1 recruiting strategy. (cbsnews.com)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - December 2, 2011

Thursday, December 1, 2011 by Harry Danz

With the first snowfall of the year we are reminded of the importance of being prepared as the weather takes a turn for the worse. I thought I was prepared, as I pro-actively purchased yet another snow scraper for my car well over a month ago. This is a fancy one with a retractable handle and double brush. This would be the shining star of my snow scraper collection. Yesterday, upon emerging from my warm office at the end of the day to brave the snowy drive home; it occurred to me that while was proactive in the purchase of the snow scraper, my failure to leave it in my car rendered it useless to me in my time of need. Lesson learned.

My hope for you is that my weekly news updates contribute to your ability to be prepared for HR and legal issues and challenges as they develop. Preparing for a storm is one thing, but staying on top of the daily maintenance of small issues before they become big ones is just as important (if not more important). Here are some of the top HR and legal news updates I came across this week.
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20 States to See Tax Hike on Employers: Federal unemployment taxes will rise for employers in 20 states and the Virgin Islands. Those employers are losing part of a credit on federal unemployment taxes in 2011 because their state governments have unpaid balances for two or more years on federal funds borrowed to pay state unemployment claims. (Staffing Industry.com)

Checking Social Media on a Potential New Hire? Here are some Tips: According to this recent SHRM survey, only 18 percent of companies have used social media to screen job candidates. Most cite the legal risks of screening candidates as the reason for not implementing a social-media background check. (tlnt.com)

Bill to extend payroll tax cust to be introduced by Democrats: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Monday that he plans to introduce legislation this week that would extend the payroll tax cut that is due to expire at the end of the year. (benefitnews.com)

Why more folds are waiting to Retire: A recent Wells Fargo survey of 1,500 Americans between the ages of 20 and 70 reveals that 20% of them believe that they will “need to work until at least age 80” to live comfortably into retirement. (recruiter.com)

A current snapshot of the Indianapolis/Marion County economy is now available for you to view. Inside you will find current economic indicators including: Employment Statistics, Current Real Estate Statistics , Recent Jobs Announcements (developindy.org)

Good Tips here on How NOT to fire someone: 5 common mistakes: Unless you're a natural bully, firing someone is never fun. It is, of course, a necessary part of being a manager, and it's a skill that can be honed. (cbsnews.com)

Employer Reactions to Internet Use at Work: Though it’s expected that workers will use the Internet for non-work purposes during breaks, lunch hours, and in moderation, Web activity spilling into work time is when many employers put their collective feet (adorned with 50 percent off Black Friday Blowout shoes, thankyouverymuch) down. (thehiringsite.careerbuilder.com)

Do you Measure Performance? Some: Management gurus like Peter Drucker have long since put to bed the idea that measuring performance really does improve performance significantly more than if you don’t measure. But this isn’t the reason driving most people’s participation in performance measurement. Let’s look at a few of the most common reasons, and see how compelling they are. (staceybarr.com)

Office Distractions - 6 of the Biggest: When productivity is high, your business provides better service and you are most likely making more money. But when it is low, or there are distractions among your staff, it can have a big impact not only on productivity, but on customer service, team morale and the overall state of your business. (openforum.com)

Free Guide by the NLRB Teaches Employers about Social Media Policies in the Workplace: A new employer guide entitled, “Can I Fire This Twit Over That Tweet?. Theisguide will assist HR managers in understanding social media labor laws and what behaviors at work constitute employee misconduct. (recruiter.com)

You Get What You Give...Most of the time.

Tuesday, November 29, 2011 by Karen Seketa

In the post-Thanksgiving spirit, I thought I would share some thoughts on the very topic of giving thanks. This time of year makes us all a little more sensitive to taking the time to appreciate what we do have and less tolerance for those who use this opportunity to simply complain about what they don't have. For example, don't you just love people who go through life "expecting" things to go their way regardless of how they treat those around them? "Thanks for nothing", they say. "Right back at you", I say. You get what you give. Plain and simple. It is not guaranteed but as a general rule, it all works out in the end.

In a bad situation? Do something to make it better rather than waiting for someone else to fix it for you. Help yourself and then help someone else while you are at it instead of spending your time wallowing in your unhappiness. Every single day should have in it, somewhere, your chance to do good in big and small ways. Smile at someone. Not hard, right? Maybe you will make their day a little brighter. Hold the elevator for someone. Easy. Let someone go first. Hard for some, but really so easy.

I am not talking monumental, sell all your stuff and give the money to charity kind of things. The simple stuff can lead to bigger stuff and one day it will come back to you in unexpected ways. This is not all simply for the touchy-feely outcome of it all. It actually does have practical applications in the workplace as well.

This lesson works especially well in the workplace and these are the building blocks for opportunities to have an individual impact at work that could later translate to great STARs (Situation, Task, Action, Results). Building your resume is one thing, but building great examples for behavioral interview questions is just as important. When you do something to make someone else's job better, you are contributing to the productivity of the company overall.

For example: Your coworker is struggling with a particular assignment working with a software that you have some proficiency with. Find some time to help them out, give them a mini tutorial. Don't do the work for them - rather teach them how to do it themselves. No skin off your back and you don't even need to take credit for it. They get the project completed and you have a good story to tell one day down the road when an interviewer ask you: "Tell me about a time when you used your knowledge to help someone else at work". You also now have a friend at the office who may be willing to help you out one day when you need it.

Sounds trite, I know. So simple and obvious that it is ridiculous to waste a blog post on the subject. I disagree. It is never a waste to remind others of the fundamentals around being decent human beings. Sometimes we get busy and forget and the holiday season just seems like a good time to put it out there one more time.

Soft Skills Gap and Effective Communication

Wednesday, November 23, 2011 by Tiffany Moore

I hit a milestone birthday a few months ago and am trying not to let that big day make me feel old. I have to admit, however, that I am seeing a growing gap between myself and the younger generation coming into the workforce. Am I the only one that is having a hard time communicating with the younger generation? I see it at work as well as with my teenage son who will soon be 18 yrs old.

Those of you who know me well know that my son is actually my stepson but he has been in my life since he was 3 and he calls me “Mom”. He has been raised by his father and myself so if I want to point any fingers at anyone, I might as well point to myself. He and I have such a difficult time communicating and I simply chalk it up to him being a teenager. I have found recently, however, that when I talk to some young adults in their 20’s, I have a similar conversation challenges. I believe the reason the younger generation does not communicate effectively has a lot to do with Facebook, Twitter, texting, etc.

This younger generation has been brought up by technology rather than with face to face conversation which means they answer questions in short, disjointed sentence fragments full of abbreviations and code words. They are used to interrupting so they can be heard when they have something to say. Many times, I find they don’t listen long enough for me to articulate my point. This generation is comfortable throwing their words out to the other person via text without considering how the words will make the other person feel. It is missing the non verbal clues that are given off in a normal conversation so it doesn’t allow our younger generation to learn the basics of effective communication. So, what happens during conversations with my son and some of the younger generation? Either their voice jumps up several pitches because they are starting to get frustrated after a couple of sentences or they start to shut down and don’t say anything at all.

I recently came across a video segment that made me feel like I am not alone in my point of view. J. Michelle Sybesma was featured on Inside INdiana Business Television on November 14th to discuss an issue many Hoosier companies are facing: lack of "soft skills" in job candidates. She says the ability to communicate, work in teams and show up for work on time seem to be in short supply. You can see the video clip here: http://link.backlight.tv/growindian/videos/soft-skills-gap-1400.html

So what am I doing about it personally? I try to explain to my son every day that he isn’t communicating effectively and try to teach him how to do so. I am not sure it will work, but at least I am going to try. As a matter of fact, every person that does not work out on an assignment is an example that I give to him of what not to do when he enters the workforce. I am keeping my fingers crossed that effective communication is one of many things I can successfully teach my children!

So here is the question, do you think I am just venting about my soon to be 18 yr old, or do you have the same struggles?

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - November 11, 2011

Thursday, November 10, 2011 by Harry Danz

This week focuses on Talent. Don't think I am crazy giving away trade secrets here. Engaging a staffing resource to support you in these efforts will always give you a leg up, but we are also here to support and educate our clients on how to find the best talent. While we are at it, we are also here to support them in their efforts to retain the top talent. Some might think that is counter-productive to our business, but I beg to differ. The more value we provide to our customers around the investments they make in talent acquisition that will stick around, the more loyal those customers are. Besides, some of our best customers have been some of our best placements who moved up to become hiring managers. I also threw in at least one hard core HR news article just to give you some variety. With open enrollment coming up, we could all use a little advice. Have any questions or ideas about what you read in this week's news update? Send me a comment, would love to hear from you!
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Look for These Five Signs to Retain Your Top Talent: Highly skilled engaged employees are invaluable to an organization’s bottom line. With the costs to hire and train new workers soaring through the roof, it’s important for businesses to retain valued employees. (recruiter.com)

Don't Overlook Veterans in Your Talent Search: New research by RightManagement, the talent and career management experts within ManpowerGroup, suggests that many employers largely disregard the unique skills and experiences of military veterans when considering a candidate for a position. This unfortunate oversight leads to missed opportunities in acquiring top talent. (Recruiter.com)

Monthly Expenses keeping Employees up at Night more than retirement savings: Keeping up with monthly expenses was the biggest financial worry, cited by 21% of those surveyed, followed by saving enough for retirement, which was cited by 18% of employees as their biggest financial concern. (Benefitnews.com)

Picasso never went to meetings: You're going to way too many meetings.: And yes, I do mean you. In fact, I'm thinking about you as I'm writing this. It's exactly 5.27am and I can picture your schedule for the rest of the day. All those meetings - in your office, in their office, in meeting rooms, 'conferenced in', synchronous, asynchronous, vital, tedious, overlapping and running long...always running long. (Predictablesuccess.com)

82% of Recruiters, Hiring Managers, HR, Find Evidence Of Discrimination Against the Unemployed: “I am very disturbed when I hear that employers don’t want to even look at resumes of people that have been out of work for 6 months or just (are) unemployed,” said Department of Labor Secretary Hilda Solis at Facebook’s announcement for their Social Jobs Partnership with the US Department of Labor, N.A.C.E., State Work Force, and Direct Employers. “It’s as though people have created this problem themselves, and that’s just not true.” (Recruiter.com)

18 of Your Burning Social Media Questions, Answered: Great follow up questions following a webinar all answered here. Valuable insights for any company engaged in social media...or even those just thinking about it. (The Hiring Site)

Wondering Why you are not able to Hire Effectively?: The problem might be you. To be sure, not every candidate is a rock star. But if you keep turning up dud after dud, the problem may not be the applicant pool. In a quest to find the best workers, entrepreneurs sometimes wind up adopting hiring practices that are actually detrimental to their companies. (inc.com)

Open Enrollment making you Sick?- Seven lessons this benefits pro has learned about staying healthy at the most stressful time of year: Open enrollment is often one of the busiest times of the year for most benefit professionals. After finishing all of the plan updates, budgets and the communication strategy, we have the open enrollment meetings. With any luck, you won't find yourself in a crowded room of people at the height of flu season. (Benefitnews.com)

Think you Know What Job Seekers Want? Think Again.: Is your recruitment process based on what you know about job seekers…or what you think you know about job seekers? (thehiringsite.com)

Tips for a new hire’s first 90 days on the job : The first 90 days are crucial when it comes to a new hire. If the fit is right, it can be the beginning of a successful long-term work relationship that benefits both employee and employer. If the fit is wrong, it can cost a company a great deal – both in time and money. (theglobeandmail.com)

Careerbuilder’s Q4 Hiring Forecast: Caution and seasonality are influencing hiring expectations for the fourth quarter as employers assess ongoing barriers to economic growth and wrap up 2011. Consistent with trends typically seen in the tail end of the calendar, employers anticipate a moderate slowdown in hiring. Twenty-one percent of hiring managers reported that they plan to hire full-time, permanent employees in Q4, down from Q3, but on par with 2010. (Careerbuilder)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - October 28, 2011

Thursday, October 27, 2011 by Harry Danz

Trick or Treat?

This question can apply to many of the hottest HR and employment issues I came across this week. Social Media, Social Security, Healthcare, Unions, Benefits, Hiring trends and Productivity killers. Tricky? You better believe it. Treats? Only if you mange them correctly. How to do it right? Back to being Tricky. Makes you want to just bury your head in a big bag of Halloween candy, doesn't it. Well, hopefully some of the news of the week will help you chase some of those HR ghosts away this weekend.

Happy Haunting!
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Make sure you Manage your Online Profile: Why do employers conduct background checks? Employers are concerned with negligent hiring practices. They confirm potentially false or inflated information, abide by federal and state laws and acknowledge the age in which we live – the ‘information age.’ (womenofhr.com)

Social Security Rigor Mortis - through the eyes of the Millenials: According to a poll of 642 18- to 29-year-olds conducted by the Strategic Research Institute at St. Norbert College in De Pere, Wis., 50% don’t believe Social Security will exist by the time they become age-eligible for the program at 67. Another 28% think the program will be around, but will provide a much smaller benefit. Just 5% expect benefits to be the same as they are to current beneficiaries. (benefitnews.com)

Shifting Costs of Perks and Benefits: As the economy sputters and health-care costs rise, businesses large and small are eliminating benefits they consider nonessential and shifting more costs to employees for the benefits that are offered. (wsj.com)

Soon-to-be Retirees get some Good News: Social Security benefits to rise 3.6% next year: Social Security retirement benefits for about 55 million people will go up by 3.6% next year, the first cost-of-living increase since 2009, the U.S. Social Security Administration said last week. (benefitnews.com)

Indiana panel recommends right-to-work legislation: A committee of Indiana lawmakers is recommending their colleagues approve "right-to-work" legislation when they return in January for their 2012 session. (ibj.com)

DOL issues final rules on 401(k) investment advice: Defined contribution plans may offer advice from a third-party as long as that entity receives level fees regardless of their recommendations, or through a certified computer model. (benefitnews.com)

Hiring Activity for October Appears Weak: Continuing a recent pattern of weak job growth in the United States, hiring in October will be limited in the manufacturing sector and will fall in the service sector compared with a year ago, according to the Society for Human Resource Management’s (SHRM) Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey for October 2011. (shrm.org)

Hire With Purpose: Q&A With Small Business Expert Jay Goltz: “I’m not looking for great storytellers. I want to figure out what makes people tick and how they operate on the job.” (thehiringsite.com)

Skilled Worker Shortage or Training Shortage?: Even with unemployment hovering around 9%, companies are grousing that they can’t find skilled workers, and filling a job can take months of hunting. Employers are quick to lay blame. Schools aren’t giving kids the right kind of training. The government isn’t letting in enough high-skill immigrants. The list goes on and on. But I believe that the real culprits are the employers themselves. (tlnt.com)

Productivity Killers at Work: Americans may be spending more time at work, but they're also becoming much less productive. Workplace productivity dropped 0.3% in the second quarter, following a decline of 0.6% in the first three months of the year, according to the Labor Department. It was the first back-to-back decline in productivity since the second half of 2008. (The Street)

Rising Government Layoffs Overshadow Private-sector job growth: Crippled by plunging tax revenues, state and local governments have shed over a half million jobs since the recession began in December 2007. And, after adding jobs early in the downturn, the federal government is now cutting them as well.

Unemployment Discrimination: Monster.com Has It Right, People (Job Boards are PLATFORMS)...: Repeat after me: Job Boards are PLATFORMS, not arbitrators of quality, fairness or morality. What's a platform? A platform is where the masses can come and use technology in a variety of ways. Think Facebook, think Amazon. (hrcapitalist.com)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - October 7, 2011

Thursday, October 6, 2011 by Harry Danz

Fall is officially upon us. As the days get shorter and the air cooler, we all just want to pick some apples, carve a pumpkin or wrap up in a blanket by a fire and take a big nap. My job is to free up some time to allow you to do just that by boiling down the news of the week to a few pertinent items that will make you sound like a genius. This week I have focused on some interesting HR recruiting, interviewing, on boarding and development tips. Of course, there has to be some social media focused news in there too. So, get out those marshmallow roasting sticks because this will be a great weekend to use them.

Are Prospective Employers Looking at your Facebook page? You bet they are.. Creativity, Well-Roundedness, & 'Chastity‘: We all know that employers Facebook stalk us before hiring us (or before deciding not to hire us). In an oft-cited survey released by Microsoft Research in 2010, 70% of recruiters said they’d rejected applicants based on info they found online. (forbes.com)

The Importance of Social Media from the perspective of Richard Branson: Where most corporate blogs still house formal announcements, the Virgin Group website hosts a blog written with Branson’s first-person flair. Many of them read like diary entries. (mashable.com)

How Companies Utilize Telecommuting as a Retention Tool: Companies that allow or encourage their employees to telecommute rather than come to the office are more interested in maintaining a happy workforce than achieving any direct cost savings, experts and corporate executives say. (cnbc.com)

"Pay For Performance" May not be what Generation Y is Looking for: Many money-motivated Millennials (and they do exist) will bolt to new opportunities as soon as the great recession of 2007-20?? eases up...unless you happen to be an organization that recognizes their potential. (fastcompany.com)

The Best Recruits May Not Be Who You Think: When I hired him, Shaq was barely qualified to use a computer, let alone conduct detailed forensic examinations on hard drives that later had to stand up in court and pass the rigors of cross examination. (wsj.com)

Job Interview putting you to Sleep? Try asking about their Dreams: Sometimes all it takes is one question to spring the lid open and let the personality fly out. As someone who interviews people for a living, I have a few favorites. And this one is my all-time, absolute, works-every time, ace up my sleeve: “What dream came true for you when you said ‘yes’ to your last job offer?” (hrcsuite.com)

Helping new hires adjust to your unique culture: New hires may fail because of unrealistic expectations. But there’s another big reason some don’t make the grade: They just can’t grasp your organization’s culture, so they never learn to operate successfully in it. (rapidlearninginstitute.com)

HR Needs To Be The Department of Errors and Corrections...: To be successful HR needs to move from the department of enforcement to the department of corrections. I’m cereal folks, super cereal. (fistfuloftalent)

US Labor Department launches economic and employment statistics app: The most up-to-date employment data and economic news releases from the U.S. Department of Labor's Bureau of Labor Statistics and its Employment and Training Administration now can be viewed using a new mobile application. (dol)

October Employment Outlook from Simply Hired: Today, SimplyHired.com released its October employment outlook highlighting national and local market forecasts, and industry and employer trends. (simplyhired.com)

Problem Employees: Keep them or Kick them to the Curb? We call an unmanageable employee (UE) an employee who exhibits constant, repeated, unproductive behavior. Everyone has a bad day, a bad week, sometimes even a bad month, depending on what’s going on in their life. But we’re talking about someone who’s constantly, repeatedly – on a fairly long-term basis – unproductive. This book is about helping managers uncover what they need to put UEs back on track. (thehiringsite)

Have you noticed the Indianapolis job market changing?

Tuesday, October 4, 2011 by Tiffany Moore

First of all I want to apologize if you haven’t heard from me during these last few months. The reason? The market is changing and we have been extremely busy. I know this may come as a shock to you if you have seen the recent unemployment rates but it is true! We noticed the market changing at the beginning of the summer when the candidates who registered were getting positions quickly after registering and our contract workers started turning in their notice because they found permanent employment.

The industry information that we receive on a monthly basis shows that in April 2011, it became more difficult to find the candidate than the job. What that means is that it could be returning to a “candidate’s market.” There is no question from our perspective that hiring managers cannot continue to do the things they have been doing the past few years. As a hiring manager, you need to move quickly on candidates that you are interested in. You cannot wait as long as you have in the past to make hiring decisions. Also, now that you are up against competition, you will have to pay more competitive salaries because the candidates have more opportunities to choose from and often the highest bidder wins.

Let’s add some fuel to the fire. If you are targeting candidates that have a college degree, the unemployment rate is below 4.5% (see this illustration from the Bureau of Labor Statistics). There is a good article addressing this topic that states:

"To put it another way, more than 95 percent of college graduates in the United States are working – in the aftermath of one of the worst recessions in living memory." ibtimes.com

So even though you have probably heard that unemployment rates are close to 9%, that isn’t an accurate number when you are targeting a degreed Accountant. Inside Indiana Business reported last week that only 33 out of every 100 Indiana public college students graduate with a four year degree within eight years. This helps create the shortage of candidates in Indiana that have a college degree.

I have spoken to several of my HR hiring managers and they have communicated that they are seeing the things mentioned above. I would love to hear your thoughts, please sound in by posting a comment on my blog and let me know your thoughts!

Filling a Chair or Positioning Your Company For Long Term Sustainable Growth?

Tuesday, September 27, 2011 by Harry Danz

This blog post is from an article posted on Inside Indiana Business this week. You can access the article here.

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I have long been a proponent and a fan of the Marcus Buckingham school of thought around building a productive team by focusing on the strengths of individuals rather than by simply matching people and experiences with specific roles.

For those of you not familiar with Marcus Buckingham or strengths based hiring the basic premise is that each of us has natural strengths and that more attention should be paid on leveraging one’s strengths versus spending time on or worrying about one’s weaknesses. At That’s Good HR, our whole staff participates in the Clifton Stengthsfinder assessment and our internal roles have been customized to focus as much as possible on the strengths each person has. I have found that when employees come to work each day and spend the majority of their time doing the things they like to do (or even things they don’t particularly like to do in a way they like to do them), the result is a highly productive and positive work environment.

Truth be told, this has not been easy to maintain over the past 24 months. The economy has been brutal to our industry just as it has to most others. When times are tough and companies must get lean, managing a business that allows employees to work within their strengths requires a whole new management strategy. The reality of our recent past is that you have to have a team that is willing to take on the crappy stuff now and then as you navigate the choppy and uncharted waters. Your short term strategy may very well include everyone working at whatever you need done to stay afloat, strengths or not. Now, if you do it right, you will always have tasks that can be distributed based on who does them best or likes doing them the most and the rest will simply require a divide and conquer methodology.

Notice I said this was a short term strategy. This is important because if you ask people to take on work that is in no way interesting or exciting to them for the short term, you will find people willing to take one for the team. If this turns into your long term strategy, you are going to end up with an all out mutiny or a quiet rebellion at a minimum. Once you begin to recover, you need to shift your talent back to focusing in areas where their strengths lie as much as you possibly can. Innovation and productivity will be your pay off as well as a workforce that is generally happy to come to work. Surround yourself with people who have varied strengths to optimize the outcome no matter what the task at hand.

Nearly two decades in the search and placement industry have taught me many things. One of the most important of these being that forcing the square peg into the round hole for short term personal gain is bad business 100% of the time. The pressure to fill critical roles in an organization leads to bad hiring decisions and costly mistakes all too often. You can build a very compelling business case for taking the time necessary to fill important roles with the right person rather than just filling it fast. Finding the right person requires time and energy focused on truly understanding the strengths of the individual and if/how they are compatible with the role you are filling. The success of your business depends on this kind of focus on your most valuable asset…human capital. Be sure to give it the attention it deserves, not only for high level critical positions, but for roles at all levels of your organization. If you teach your hiring managers how to do this correctly, the return will be well worth the investment to both your employees and your company.

A Heartfelt THANK YOU!!

Tuesday, September 13, 2011 by Karen Seketa

I hear our That's Good HR recruiters thanking our candidates on the phone multiple times everyday. Yet as we celebrate National Staffing Employee Week this week, it seems like a more robust Thank You is in order. Of course, my first instinct in writing this post was to do some research and look up suggestions on how to best express appreciation and some clever ways to say Thank You. Then I realized that none of them would be sincere because I would have borrowed them from someone else. So, I have abandoned that idea and instead, from the bottom of our hearts, our entire staff here at That's Good HR would like to simply say...

Without you, our temporary employees and candidates, we would not exist. Plain and simple. We could have all of the jobs in the world and the best sales people money can buy and it would not matter. We could have the best technology and the coolest marketing campaigns and it would not matter. Without you, the employees who come to us for work, take the responsibility to go to work and to do the very best job you can do, we would all be working someplace else....and how sad would that be? To our That's Good HR employees who go above and beyond and represent us so well, we THANK YOU! We salute you this week as the American Staffing Association recognizes National Staffing Employee Week and we are proud to have you on our team. If you have a story to tell during this week of celebration, we ask you to share with us on our blog. It is easy to do by clicking here. We would love to hear from you. Oh, and one more time, in case you did not hear us before....THANK YOU!

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - 9/9/11

Thursday, September 8, 2011 by Harry Danz

I hope everyone enjoyed the Labor Day weekend as we paused to recognize the importance of those who work and worked so hard to make this country what it is today. I came back to so much going on in the news that is was difficult to keep the length of this update reasonable.

There are several employment trend updates that have good information for HR professionals. Wish the news was brighter, but it looks like hiring is still expected to be slow for Q3 2011. Don't let that stifle your innovation, however, because Thomas Friedman tells you in his new book that this could be fatal to your business. The number of independent workers in the US is on the rise as employee confidence declines and people strive to take control of their career options. There is some great information about who HR professionals should be working closely with in your organization and why these relationships are so important. If you are outsourcing your payroll function in any way, be sure to read the article about some red flags to look out for.

Enjoy the update and feel free to post a comment about your point of view on any of these topics, we would love to hear from you!
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New Book by Thomas Friedman Says "Innovate Or Else": The blockbuster author and New York Times columnist talks with Fast Company about his new book, "That Used To Be Us," which contends that prioritizing innovation can turn around America's free-fall from superpower status. (Fastcompany)

More Layoffs, Slow Hiring Expected at Close of Third-Quarter 2011: Job growth for September 2011 will fall behind the rate recorded for September 2010 in the manufacturing and service sectors, according to the results of the latest Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) survey released Sept. 1, 2011, by the Society for Human Resource Management. (SHRM.org)

IRS warns employers about payroll outsourcing fraud: In a tax tips email, the IRS referred to recent prosecutions of individuals and companies that pretended to be payroll service providers and instead stole funds intended for payment of employment taxes. (Benefit News)

16 Million Independent Workers in the US: There are some 16 million independent workers in the U.S. today and 28 million Americans are considering becoming independent within the next two years, according to a report released today by MBO Partners Inc. (Staffing Industry)

The Importance of Working closely with Legal: An attorney offers eight rules for HR leaders for working with outside counsel. In short, the HR/counsel relationship can and should be effective, rewarding and mutually beneficial. (HREonline)

Are you Leaving Job Candidates with a Negative Impression? Over the past few years there seems to be a change in the candidate experience, and it isn’t a positive one. (ERE.net)

On Vacation? Tips for Transitioning Back to Work: Here's what I've done in the past: Stay up late the night I return, trying to go through everything, answer all my emails, and create a long to-do list of everything that accumulated while I was away. But that's a mistake. (hbr.org)

Why Government Incentives Won't Spur Much Hiring: Small business owner Bill Thompson says he doesn't need a government plan to get him to hire more workers—what he needs is for the economy to get back on track. (cnbc.com)

HR and the CEO Should Be Joined at the Hip. Here's Why: Today, with declining loyalty and greater job hopping, it is critical that CEOs partner with HR. Four good reasons. (weknownext)

Statement by Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis on August employment numbers: The private sector added 17,000 jobs in August, but those gains were offset by the loss of 17,000 government jobs. Total non-farm unemployment, therefore, was unchanged last month. The unemployment rate also remained unchanged at 9.1 percent. (dol.gov)

Employee confidence dropped 6.8 points in August, its third monthly decline, according to survey results from SFN Group Inc. (NYSE: SFN), released today. (staffingindustry)

Why We Love What We Do...

Tuesday, September 6, 2011 by Karen Seketa

Next week is National Staffing Employee week, sponsored by the American Staffing Association. While a day does not go by when we don't recognize the importance of our temporary employees, this time of year provides an opportunity to stop and really reflect on what our employees mean to us. As we gear up for this celebration next week, I would like to share with you one of the things we love about our jobs here at That's Good HR. Our temporary employees are not afraid to share their stories with us. We love to hear from our employees...the good, the bad and the ugly. We really love it when one of our stars is successful in pursuit of their career goals and we can play a part in it. Here is a blog submitted by one of our recent temporary employees who came to us right out of college and he made us proud. I would like to introduce Mr. Camron Humphreys from Greencastle, Indiana. Here is what he had to say:

"I had just graduated from college. Like many recent grads I had no idea what I wanted to do and no real job opportunities. Enter That’s Good HR. I heard about That’s Good HR from a friend of mine who had had previous success finding a job. Not having any options I quickly saw the value in having help finding career opportunities. I applied and was introduced to Jessica who immediately started helping me find a job. It was summer time and I was still living in my college home with a multitude of distractions. I would usually spend a couple of hours a day looking for jobs then get distracted by roommates wanting to play basketball or myriad other diversions. Jessica, however, was constantly looking for a job for me, which was invaluable. I would receive numerous calls throughout the day as opportunities would pop up. It was really nice knowing that someone had my back and that they were genuinely interested in helping me start a career. Eventually Jessica found me a temporary job, and although it wasn’t in my field of study it gave me a solid source of income and some real world experience that proved to be invaluable as my job search continued. Having a temporary job also afforded me the comfort and opportunity to search for jobs that were more aligned with my field of study. I eventually found such a position and was on my way. My experience with That’s Good HR was crucial to finding the job that was perfect for me."

Thank you to Camron for taking the time to tell his story and thank you to all of our outstanding That's Good HR employees as we come off of Labor Day weekend and approach National Staffing Employee Week. Do you have a story to tell? We would love to hear from you! Just visit our Share Your Success page by clicking this link and send us your thoughts.

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - September 2, 2011

Thursday, September 1, 2011 by Harry Danz

It has been a big week for gathering great HR information if you were fortunate enough to attend the Annual Indiana HR Conference held in Downtown Indianapolis. If you were unable to participate in this educational and social event, be sure to get it on your calendar for 2012! I decided to mix it up a bit this week with some business news as well as some articles that might be personally interesting to you. We have to lighten it up a bit here and there and as we are heading into a holiday weekend, here is some reading material to keep you sharp. Happy Labor Day!
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Is Less Really More? It Seems Some Think so: How keeping things simple can bring success. (fastcompany)

Look out for these LinkedIn Mistakes you should not make: I see many people making fundamental mistakes as job seekers that actually work against them in this aspect. If you’re going to spend time putting together a LinkedIn profile, I assume you want to maximize your chances of being contacted by the right people, right? (New Grad Life)

NLRB Sides With Unions In Three Cases: The National Labor Relations Board sided with unions in several cases involving rules for organizing workers, in a set of decisions likely to further rile business groups and Republicans. (Wall Street Journal)

It is Good For you to Work with People you Like: Social support at work leads to a longer life, according to a new study. HR can help facilitate that by adding a little levity to the workplace and allow people to socialize with one another -- within reason, of course. (hreonline)

The Best Opportunities You Aren’t Taking Advantage Of: Job seeker behavior has changed remarkably in the past few years. So why hasn’t your recruitment strategy? (The Hiring Site)

How To Handle the Grumpy Employee: In a volatile world, anxiety and uncertainty make people a little testy. Cranky people can drag everyone else down by spreading negativity and sowing seeds of doubt just when leaders need commitment. (Harvard Business Review)

Employment, training & the economy: At a briefing Monday, Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis spoke about the need for more employment opportunities for the 9.1% of Americans out of work and the role government can play in facilitating job creation. (Benefit News)

Social Networking and Retention: Staffing Industry Analyst Blog: Here is what we know; people are using social networking sites, meaning your employees are on those sites regularly. (Staffing Industry Analyst)

What Perks Do Employees Really Want?: Making us all more productive at work can be hard for employers—but perks and benefits often ease the battle. (Forbes)

Organize Your Inbox In 10 Simple Steps: Be honest. Are you ruled by your e-mail inbox? How many minutes a day do you spend a checking your e-mail, sorting your inbox and deleting spam? (Open Forum)

Healthier Workplace = Lower costs: Creating a culture of health in the workplace isn’t easy, but the results that can be obtained — both a personal benefit to the individual and a cost and productivity benefit to the organization — are making value-based health care an appealing initiative for employers across the country. (Benefit News)

The Quiet Worker should not be Ignored: There's an unnoticed population of employees in business today. Strangely enough, they're also the majority. (hbr.org)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - August 26, 2011

Thursday, August 25, 2011 by Harry Danz

If you have not seen at least 600 articles about Steve Jobs this week than I am sorry to disappoint, but you will not see one here. I assume you are up to date on the "Jobs" topic, but there was a lot of other important business and HR news out there this week that you might have missed. I hope you consider this news update your "apple a week" to keep the mind healthy and strong. Health care (always in the news), Social Media, Economic news (not so good), EEOC (interesting stuff), local business updates and of course some cool stuff about staffing and recruitment are all hot this week. Speaking of "jobs", things have been exceptionally BUSY here at That's Good HR this week so if you have any friends or family seeking employment, be sure to send them our way.

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Survey says... Big shift in health coverage could be coming: Nearly one in 10 midsized or big employers expects to stop offering health coverage to workers after insurance exchanges begin operating in 2014 as part of President Barack Obama's health care overhaul. (business week)

Social Media policies and the Government...what are they watching?: The U.S. Chamber just released a new study that analyzes 129 SM-related NLRB cases. Check it out to see what exactly the government is targeting when it comes to employer social media (SM) policies.

EEOC loses bid to limit credit histories in hiring: Our recent story—“Employer beats EEOC in credit-history fight”—describes a major victory for employers. Now, perhaps, we can expect more courts to look skeptically on some of the EEOC’s tactics, giving employers more tools to build the workforces they need. (business mgmt daily)

Fragile economy fuels demand for temporary workers: Employers have stepped up their use of flexible staffing while downgrading their plans to increase their permanent workforce, as economic uncertainty continues.(Personnel today)

Enterprise Social Networking: What's The Worst Case Scenario? Experts weigh in on some of the biggest social security risks that threaten enterprises and how to thwart them. (information week)

Seven Indiana companies make latest Inc. 500 list: Indianapolis-based Slingshot SEO ranked 58th, tops among the seven Indiana firms on the list announced Tuesday morning by Inc. magazine. (IBJ)

Do not dismiss the importance of engagement in your success: Research is confirming the interconnectedness of engaged employees and profitable companies, although it may be impossible to determine which comes first -- the engagement or the productivity. Too many companies, however, put up roadblocks that hamper engagement. (HRE online)

Don't Worry, Be prepared to be Happy: I both love and believe in serendipity—which is defined as the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way. (Open Forum)

Good Advice for your Hiring managers: A recent article on Recruiter.com discussed Brook’s Law and its implications for recruiting and hiring. Brook’s Law states that adding manpower to a late software project makes it later. The gist of Brook’s Law is that you can’t throw manpower at any project and expect to experience the same labor productivity. (recruiter.com)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - August 12, 2011

Thursday, August 11, 2011 by Harry Danz

When was the last time you went on vacation and actually tried to disconnect for a week, a day, a minute? It is almost impossible and while I tried my very best, I found myself sneaking looks at my email, my news feeds and even my investments. While I skimmed the news, my mind was automatically thinking "this would be a good article for the That's Good HR weekly news update". You just cannot get away completely unless you take a trip to a place where there is absolutely not connectivity to the outside world. Needless to say, I am back and have spent much of this week catching up on the news so I could once again share with you some relevant items from the week. If you are on vacation this week, my hope is that if you are reading this, you appreciate the summary of the news and it will allow more time for relaxing!
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How Toxic are your Coworkers? The first thing the researchers discovered is that office conditions matter. A lot. In particular, the risk of death seemed to be correlated with the perceived niceness of co-workers, as less friendly colleagues were associated with a higher risk of dying. (Wired.com)

Bring your Attorney to Work?: Employees have no explicit right to bring their own attorneys to an internal-investigation interview, but companies should not reject such requests out-of-hand. And in some cases, having an employee's attorney present could be helpful to the company. (hreonline)

Great Info For HR Pros to make sure you know What's Up Re: Recession/American Debt Situation... Let's face it, no one really expects most HR pros to have an opinion on the Debt Ceiling crisis or the Recession, which at this point seems like it is still going. (hrcapitalist)

July’s Job Numbers: The Sky Isn’t Falling! Yet...Despite this growth and landing above Wall Street expectations, we’re still below the number needed to really make a dent in the unemployment rate — but it’s an improvement. (The Hiring Site)

Looking for work? You might want to try smaller businesses, which are doing the heavy lifting when it comes to job growth, according to a new report from payroll processor ADP. (LA Times)

Your Vacation Request ... Denied? If you offer your employees vacation time, you may be wondering whether and when you can deny a vacation request. (Benefit News)

10 Ways to curb subtle FMLA Abuse: Rooting out the more subtle types of FMLA abuse takes diligence and tracking leave patterns can be time consuming and expensive. (HR news)

Ascension Health Ministry Service Center Officially Opens in Indianapolis: "We are excited to welcome Ascension Health's new professional service center and its 500 new jobs to Indianapolis.We are fortunate Indianapolis was chosen over a number of options as the location for this important business operation and we look forward to a strong partnership with them as they make our city their home," said Mayor Greg Ballard. (DevelopIndy)

Social Media Processes for the workplace - Cool Infographic: This is an interesting infographic on corporate social media policies. It’s a pretty interesting graphic but, as with most social media policy conversations it only focuses on either brand protection, promoting the brand, or employee freedom. (marketingtechblog)

How are Workers Finances looking Post Recession? Forty-two percent of workers in the survey of more than 5,200 workers say they usually or always live paycheck to paycheck, an improvement from 43 percent in 2010 and in line with levels seen back in 2007, pre-recession. (thehiringsite)

Five problem employees and how to handle them: The poor fit, the disappearing act, the scofflaw, the sour apple, the filcher. (Benefit news)

That's Good HR Weekly News Update - July 29, 2011

Thursday, July 28, 2011 by Harry Danz

This is a week for some "hot" tips...pun intended. Tips about how not to handle FMLA, what job seekers are looking for, cool Google tips and tricks, why not to panic about the debt ceiling deadline, trends in Healthcare and a glimpse of the future of HR. Hot this week is the story around the "Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act" so be sure to check that out too. I would love to hear if you find some of these tips useful so drop me and line and let me know. NOTE: Next week I will be on vacation so we will not have a weekly news update. Tune in the next week so we can catch up!
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Here's a hint about FMLA - When an employee returns, don't do this: Telling an employee to find another job on her first day back from FMLA leave probably isn’t the best idea. (HR Morning)

Hiring Plans for Small Businesses Moving in the Right Direction: According to CareerBuilder’s nationwide survey of more than 1,400 small businesses, while small business hiring in the coming months is expected to be better than 2010, caution continues to steer the pace of job creation post-recession (The Hiring Site)

Job security scores high according to Survey: A recent survey shows that both employed and unemployed job seekers look beyond the money, to the benefits (Benefit News)

Here are some Cool Google Tricks Worth Knowing: When it comes to researching and finding things on the web, Google is your best friend. You can find just about anything on Google with a little time and effort. Some things might take longer than others to find, but nothing is impossible with Google (Kyle Lacy)

Don't panic yet...Fallout from debt ceiling deadline might be overblown: There is a lot of concern among investors about the looming Aug. 2 debt ceiling crisis, with investors wondering whether they should take steps to protect their assets in the event of a major crisis such as soaring interest rates and a decline in bond prices or even a stock market crash. (Benefit News)

Pay Attention to your Top Talent Before they Decide to Leave: According to a recent survey by Right Management, three out of four organizations lost high performance employees last year (Recruiter.com)

Trends in Healthcare to be Aware of: While attending UnitedHealthcare's Customer Forum, I made note of some trends that were discussed. Here are seven that I think will have significant impact in the near future. (insideworkplacewellness.com)

"Unemployed need not apply", becoming a Growing Problem. That is the message being broadcast by many of the nation’s employers, making it even more difficult for 14 million jobless Americans to get back to work. (NY Times)

A Glimpse of the Future for Human Resources Professionals? My predictions center on Millenials in the workplace, length of training sessions, social networking, compensation and benefits reviews, bullying in the workplace, public image and workplace trust and connection (WomenofHR.com)

Diversity and Inclusion - Keeping it Real: Here are some of the things that we did to improve diversity and inclusion in our workforce. Perhaps these steps can be helpful to your company, too. (Harvard Business Review)

Capitol Hill Reacts to NLRB Boeing Charge: The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote later this week on H.R. 2587, the “Protecting Jobs from Government Interference Act.” The bill would curb the National Labor Relations Board’s authority to inhibit employers from relocating or transferring employees. (SHRM.org)

What Is REALLY Going On In The Indianapolis Job Market?

Tuesday, July 26, 2011 by Stacy Rouse

I was recently contacted by Ed Wenck with WIBC to give our company's viewpoint on the

current "pulse" of the Indianapolis job market. Wow...what a tough question to answer. This is literally the million dollar question that we get asked every day. I knew I couldn't respond with, "It depends", but that is honestly what I wanted to say. The current hiring trends and overall health of the Indianapolis job market vary greatly based on industry and functional area. I prefaced my comments to Ed by saying that my viewpoint is exclusive to what we see, hear, and experience through our clients and candidates. Although not all-inclusive, I do feel like we interact with a variety of industries and functional areas to give a sound response.

In summary, we feel as though things are still continuing to improve...especially when compared to the job market this time last year. The majority of the Indianapolis direct hire job openings that are coming through our doors are in accounting, finance, human resources and operations. On the contract side of our business, there seems to be a good mix of accounting and administrative/customer service opportunities. The majority of the Indianapolis job openings (and really Indiana as a whole) seem to be focused in the following industries: manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, and financial services/public accounting. However, there isn't a consistent theme on the level of positions that are opening up. One month we might have mostly mid level type positions and the next month we have mostly senior level positions, and then the cycles continues. Because of this, it does make it difficult to predict the market to that degree. The job market and one's abillity to make a career move is still going to be a matter of timing. And unfortunately one statistic that isn't changing is the speed in which companies are getting through their hiring proces. But, this post is focused on the positive aspect of the job market, so I'm going to move on and not dwell on that last comment. So although we still can't predict the market as well as we might've been able to a couple of years ago, we're definitely gaining momentum and that's a great start!

If you are interested in having an Indianapolis Recruiter assist with managing your career, please contact of one our recruiters here at That's Good HR. We can be your extra eyes and ears on the job market and make you aware of positions that are opening up that might not ever make it to the job boards. We can also be your advisor on new positions and help you through the process of weighing the opportunity against your key criteria in making a change.

P.S. Yahoo! Finance posted an article entitled "5 Places With Good Jobs And Cheap Housing".... and Indy made the list! How exciting! As the article mentions, our state has a very strong job outlook and low cost of living that makes it enticing to keep our top talent within state lines.