Hearing that the FOX network may announce on May 17 that it is recruiting Conan O’Brien (who famously severed ties with former employer NBC recently) for a new TV gig perked our ears over here at The Hiring Site for two reasons…

One, we’ve been going through serious “Celebrity Secrets” withdrawal, and two (because we always have talent recruitment on the brain…don’t be jealous), FOX’s move actually mirrors two current recruiting trends, which, just for a little hump-day fun, I thought I’d point out…

1. Recruiting Candidates Going Through Career Transitions: Of course, while Conan’s departure from NBC wasn’t exactly a layoff, it was a case of NBC failing to recognize a good thing while it had it find the right fit for someone with Conan’s skills. By jumping on the opportunity to negotiate a deal with the newly unemployed Conan, FOX seems to be going the same route as many employers and recruiters lately and sourcing talent that other companies were forced to let go.  While it might not be as simple as picking up the latest issue of Variety to find that a coveted candidate is suddenly available, many recruiters have found luck by going to outplacement firms to look for quality candidates with real-world work experience and transferrable skills who are making the transition to new jobs or careers.

Read More…

The renowned Center for Effective Organizations, at USC’s Marshall School of Business, is partnering with the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) to conduct a critical new study on the evolving state of HR practices and the future of human resources. Prof. Ed Lawler, author of Achieving Excellence in Human Resources Management, and i4cp’s Jay Jamrog, winner of the Walker Prize for “Building a Strategic HR Function,” will be conducting an exclusive webinar for those who complete the survey. In addition, those who complete the survey will receive the preliminary results reports once it’s available.

Estimated survey length: 20 minutes
You’ll receive: Preliminary results report and
access to an exclusive webinar that reveals the findings
Survey closes: Thursday, March 25

Please take this survey now!

Receive a complimentary results report and access to an exclusive webinar
In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a copy of these valuable results, which otherwise are exclusive to i4cp members and CEO sponsors. You’ll also receive an invitation in April to an exclusive webinar that will reveal findings from the study.

i4cp research has not only shown that having a customer-focused workforce is the most important issue facing companies in 2010, but that high-performance organizations are more customer-focused than others. But what practices separate these firms from the rest? What workforce strategies are companies taking to make their employees more customer centric?

To get answers to these and other questions, i4cp is conducting an important new study. The findings will be used by many of the largest and most respected companies in the world to identify next practices on the topic. As always, in exchange for completing the study, we’ll give you a copy of the preliminary results once the data has been compiled.

The survey will remain open until February 10, 2010. To start the survey, follow the link below.

Take the survey now!

As with all surveys conducted by i4cp, your response will remain confidential. No company or name will be associated with your response.

Do mentoring programs help boost corporate performance? And, should employees be compensated for their participation in such programs? To get answers to these and other questions, i4cp is partnering with one of its member companies in this short survey. As SVP of Research at i4cp, I invite you to participate. In return, we’ll give you a copy of the preliminary results once the benchmarking data has been collected so that you can see how your organization compares.

The survey will take only 10 minutes to complete, and will remain open until end of day Wednesday, February 3, 2010.

Take the mentorship programs survey now.

Receive a complimentary copy of the results
In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a copy of these valuable results, which otherwise are exclusive to our members. Thank you for your participation.

A recent i4cp study found that one of the most important leadership competencies in this day and age is agility: the ability to anticipate and respond effectively to the conditions of accelerating change and increasing interdependence, so prevalent in today’s marketplace. Agile organizations enjoy more sustained success in this environment, and, not surprisingly, leadership agility is key to organizational agility.

We invite you to participate in this groundbreaking survey, which i4cp has designed in collaboration with Bill Joiner, co-author of the award-winning book, Leadership Agility. The survey is intended to reveal the practices now being used to increase both leadership and organizational agility. The findings will be used by many of the largest and most respected organizations in the world to refine their leadership development strategies. The survey will take only 10 minutes to complete, and will remain open until end of day Wednesday, January 27, 2010.

TAKE THE SURVEY NOW

Receive a complimentary copy of the results
In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a copy of these valuable results, which otherwise are exclusive to i4cp members. Thank you for your participation.

With a volatile 2009 behind them, many companies are looking forward to 2010 with cautious optimism. Still, this new year is guaranteed to be filled with uncertainty, as economic predictions range from “mildly good” to “still bad.” What does this mean for leaders looking to gain or maintain a competitive advantage? And what are high-performance organizations already doing to capitalize on the months ahead?

In December 2009, i4cp conducted its Major Issues study, which examined the human capital challenges seen as most important to business leaders in the coming year – and the extent to which organizations are addressing those challenges. The results reveal that many of the biggest issues facing organizations today have yet to be solved, presenting significant opportunities for companies looking to outpace competitors.

In this webinar, presented by Jay Jamrog, i4cp’s SVP of Research, and Kevin Oakes, i4cp’s CEO, we’ll reveal this new research into high-performance organizations, talk about predictions for the 2010 workplace and provide some solutions to the biggest, most impactful human capital issues organizations must confront in the coming year.

The webinar takes place on Thursday, January 28 at 1pm EST – register now!

Does it make any difference to you if your company is based in the United States or not? The Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) invites you to take part in a short study about the differences and similarities between working for companies headquartered in the U.S. compared to companies based outside of the U.S. but having locations within U.S. borders.

This “Taking the Pulse” survey should take less than 5 minutes to complete, so please participate now. Upon completion, you’ll receive a copy of the preliminary results once they become available.

Start the Survey

The survey will remain open until end of day Wednesday, January 13, 2010. As with all surveys conducted by i4cp, your response will remain confidential. No company or name will be associated with your response.

What keeps you up at night when you think about the critical business issues that will emerge in 2010? We’d like to invite you to take part in a future-looking study regarding the importance of leadership, culture, market, strategy and talent issues in the upcoming year, as well as how effective companies are at managing those issues.

This survey should take fewer than 10 minutes to complete, so please participate now. In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a preliminary copy of the results once available.

Take the survey now!

As with all surveys conducted by i4cp, your response will remain confidential. No company or name will be associated with your response.

“Productivity isn’t everything, but in the long run it is almost everything.”
- Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman

i4cp’s Productivity Confidence Index is increasingly known as a way to gauge future productivity trends, which have a tremendous influence over the health of the economy. In exchange for taking the time to fill out this short survey, you will be sent the full survey results in PDF format. This will not only provide you with a productivity forecast, it will help you see which strategies are most highly associated with confidence in rising levels of productivity.

In addition, during this holiday season, you will also be entered into a drawing to win an iPod Shuffle!

Take the survey now (only takes 5 minutes!)

Receive the results – you could also win an iPod!
In exchange for completing the survey, you’ll receive a copy of the results, which otherwise is exclusive to our members, and will also be entered into a drawing to win an iPod Shuffle.

Take the survey now – only the first 500 respondents are eligible! (U.S. and Canadian residents only)

HRM Today and Crimcheck.com iPod Contest Comes to an End

It was a tough road filled with a lot of interesting stories but there could only be one winner. Check out this video to see the winner:

Congratulations! Thanks to our sponsor Crimcheck and to our video hosts Laurie and Scrubby. The winner can send their address to lance@hrmtoday.com so we can send over that sweet iPod touch.

Win an iPod Touch For Your Hiring Horror Stories

Sponsored by Crimcheck.com and HRMToday.com.

For the next two weeks, we are taking your entries for a drawing for a 16gb iPod touch. If you don’t know about the iPod touch, it is a super cool media player. It has a music and video player, web browser, wifi, touch screen, games…the thing is loaded!

What do we want? Simple: we want your hiring horror stories. The creepy guy with the lazy eye who stole all of the purple paperclips. The lady who seemed like a diamond in the rough when you hired her but turned out just plain rough. The guy who asked for the week off so he could serve his jail time. The lady that probably should have been committed.

If you’ve been in HR (or just hiring people) for a while, you have these sort of stories. We want to hear them. Here are the details:

• Submit your entry by commenting on this post with your story by 11:59PM PST on March 20th
• Your story can be short or long, it doesn’t matter
• Your story can be a link to your blog about the story (or you can copy and paste).
• You have to be a member of HRM Today to participate (you can sign up here if you aren’t a member)
• On March 23rd, the winner will be picked randomly out of a hat by Laurie (or one of her cats) by video and posted on HRM Today.
• Please protect the innocent and guilty and don’t include names, company, etc…

Crimcheck.com has been an early sponsor of HRM Today as well as other HR bloggers. They provide nationwide background checks in addition to all of your pre-employment screening needs. We’ve been extremely appreciative of their sponsorship that helped us get our community launched. If you are interested in learning more about them, you can check out their website or you can talk to Todd Moss or Pat Murphy right here on HRM Today. Thank you for sponsoring the iPod touch!

Jennifer McClure is a social media maven and (now) a HRM Today featured member. She is all over the blogs, the twitters, the facebooks… Check out her profile today!

What’s your blog URL or website?

http://www.cincyrecruiter.com

What is your Twitter URL?

http://twitter.com/CincyRecruiter

What is your HR area of expertise?

18 years of HR leadership experience in food manufacturing, automotive and consumer products. Since 2006, an Executive Recruiter and Executive Coach partnering with clients to find, attract, retain and develop talented leaders.

What is your current title?

Vice President

Do you currently manage other HR professionals?

Yes

How did you hear about HRM Today?

Laurie Ruettirmann & Jenn Barnes

What’s your Hometown?

Cleveland, TN

Michael was one of the initial members of HRM Today’s social network (back in those days, it was called HR Bloggers). He is a prolific blogger (and contributor to our blog)! Thanks Michael!

Name – Michael VanDevort (See Profile)

Do you have a Human Resources blog? – Yes

What’s your blog URL or website? – http://humanracehorses.blogspot.com

What is your Twitter URL? – http://www.twitter.com/mvndrvrt

What is your HR area of expertise? – HR Manager/Generalist/Consultant with specific current expertise in web research and labor relations, including industry segment research, labor union trends, union avoidance, Employee Free Choice Act, and Great Place to Work companies.

What is your current title? – Labor Relations Specialist

How did you hear about HRM Today? – I joined it the day it was created.

What’s your Hometown? – Detroit Michigan

Why do you work in Human Resources? – Because I couldn’t live without it