The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing a post about job hunting from June Owensboro, a staff researcher and writer for TermLifeInsurance.org.  We’ve held onto this post while we excerpted 14 chapters of  ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management,” a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO)

But now we’re ready to go with June’s article – “Job Hunting Requires a License, Too.”  Enjoy.

Thinking about getting a job flipping burgers?  Heads up — you’re competing against a guy with credit card bills, a car payment, mortgage, and four kids who lost his job last year. Though the economy and housing market have seen encouraging signs of improvement, unemployment rates have seen little of the same positive growth.

The Current Population Survey (CPS) released a news report about employment on May 14 of this year. According to the report, the 8.1 percent unemployment rate changed little since April.  In January 2011, that number was marginally worse at nine percent.

The message is clear for all those looking for employment right now: the competition is stiff and things are not getting any easier.

Given the state of today’s economy, people are desperate for employment.  But when it comes to competing with the rest of unemployed America for the limited positions available, it takes more than luck to land a solid job.  Monster.com, a leading expert website in the job advice field, recommends starting your job search with a positive, patient, proactive mindset.

Strategy

The first step in the hunting process is to start with a well-thought-through strategy for approaching your searches. Figure out – based on your experience, education and goals – how to narrow down the field of jobs for which you’re applying.

For starters, jobseekers without degrees are extremely limited in their options. The Chronicle of Higher Education stated last June that an estimated 59 percent of all jobs require at least some amount of post-secondary education.

Next, location.  It may not be the wisest choice to find a job in your city and you may have to adjust your scope to include moving to another city or state for the sake of opportunity.  On the other hand, it might be unrealistic to even consider uprooting your family or losing the support of friends and the community.

Maybe your car can’t handle a long commute or perhaps you are still pursuing your education and need to work abnormal hours. Some people enter college with a dream of what they will do for a living, but compare your degree choice to the current demand for your expertise. No matter what the specifics are, carefully compare the costs to benefits and make a rational choice about what career to aim for.

Resume

Once you have established which kinds of work you want to apply for, you will know how to build your resume accordingly. The Rockport Institute outlines specific ways to construct a resume that effectively and efficiently represent your employment and will set you apart from the competition.

The most important thing to remember when writing and submitting your resume to a potential employer is to customize it every time. Granted, it takes a little more time to adapt each resume to each position you’re applying for, but the results are much more effective than the one-size-fits-all approach.

Consider the fact that for every position offered right now about 100 to 1,000 resumes are submitted. Imagine being the poor soul trying to wade through all of those and decide on a handful to investigate further. Impact Hiring Solutions suggests the average time spent glancing over a resume at 10 to 20 seconds.

Part of the reason so little time is spent evaluating resumes is that most employers have a checklist of “must-haves” and if after a 10-second scan the resume does not include these qualifications, the resume is discarded. Given this knowledge, a wise resume writer will start with a strategy that gives the reader the details they need to know first. This is why it’s important to customize your resume to each specific position and highlight only the most relevant experience.

Searching

Once you have established which kinds of work you want to apply for and have your job-specific resumes ready, you can begin searching.

Aside from the well-known search engines like indeed.com, monster.com, and careerbuilder.com, a few innovative sources are available for hunting that are not as widely known.

Reuters recently highlighted the effectiveness of social media as a rising force in job hunting. Facebook and Twitter provide a unique outlet for discovering potential career openings primarily because of the networking opportunities they create. The more you advertise yourself, the more likely you are to find the jobs that most apply to you.

Craigslist is another great option, especially for those looking for entry-level positions or part-time employment. You can search for employment opportunities by city and type, or post an advertisement for yourself with your resume attached.

Networking

Quintessential Careers, a site dedicated since 1996 to helping job-seekers, asserts that networking is one of the most crucial ways you can be successful in your employment hunting. The more you put out your information to potential employers and organizations that can help direct you to possible job matches, the more likely you will be to find something that is an optimal fit for you.

Compiling a list of people you can talk to about all things job related will give you a broader realm of possibilities as well. They can critique your resume, suggest places that might be looking for your skills, or refer you to head-hunters who can share your information even more.

June Owensboro is a Staff Researcher/Writer for TermLifeInsurance.org.  She can be reached at juneowensboro@gmail.com.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 11 – How to Deal with the Unions

Unions today make up a very small part of the workforce.  In the 1950s, union membership stood at around 35 percent of the working population.  Today, the number is less than 12 percent, with most of these in the public sector.  Why the fall?

I would like to say it is because you have all ready my book and are using excellent HR practices that keep people from wanting to join unions.  Wishful thinking.  In fact, there are a number of reasons, including these:

• Many of the issues that originally brought unions to the workplace, such as minimum wages, child labor and workplace safety, have all been legislated both federally and located.
• A number of industries where unions once dominated, such as textiles and steel, have moved offshore.
• The old concept of “personnel” evolved into the practice of human resources (HR), and companies made a much greater effort to meet the needs of their employees, thus giving them much less reason to organize.

Given the above, I would suggest that in the 21^st century, if you wake up one morning to find a union at your door, it will constitute a failure of management…not of the employees.

Unfortunately, if you do wake up that morning with this new problem, your work is really cut out for you.

Labor Relations Management

Like most things in HR, labor-relations management is a process consisting of three steps:

1. Union organizing
2. Collective bargaining
3. Contract administration

Union Organizing

The union organizing process is the attempt by the union to convince a sufficient number (30 percent) of employees to sign authorization cards allowing for an election.  The election campaign will be a lively one, and there are a number of things you should remember regarding your conduct – the dos and don’ts.  These include:

• You can give your opinion, telling them why you think the union is NOT good for them, and why.
• You can tell them if they strike, they may be replaced.
• You can tell employees that they don’t have to talk to union representatives if they don’t want to.

There are also a number of things you cannot do, including:

• You cannot question employees about the union.
• You cannot spy on their meetings.
• You cannot visit them at their homes to discuss union issues.

Collective Bargaining

This is the phase where you must negotiate in good faith toward the goal of reaching a collective-bargaining agreement or union contract.  Generally, you must negotiate things like rates of pay, overtime, grievance procedures, etc.

I would suggest that you always hire a professional to assist you in this process.  The union will certainly be using one, and you should as well.

Contract Administration

Administering the contract once it has been negotiated is by far the most time-consuming element of the union relationship.  Most of this effort will involve interpretation of the contract.  There will likely be issues that come up that were not anticipated at the time of the negotiation.  When this occurs, there is typically a grievance and arbitration procedure, which I discuss in detail in the book.

At the end of the day, the best policy is to pay attention to your employees’ needs, provide a safe workplace for them, and pay them competitively.

Next: Chapter 12 – How to Manage Them Internationally.

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Chapter 5: How to Select the Proper Benefits Program

When I sat down to write this chapter, I felt a cold wave of nausea rush over me.  I have been designing benefit plans for companies since 1994, and never have I felt so utterly helpless.  As I started to tear up, I realized that Obamacare is and will continue to be a game-changer.

Regardless of your political point of view, there is no denying that the next five to ten years will be a pivotal time in the design and administration of employee benefit programs, particularly health insurance.

So, rather than assigning blame and living in denial, I decided to approach this subject as objectively as I could.  I hope I have succeeded.

How did we get to this point?

A look at medical inflation over the last ten years says a lot about the current health care crisis.

I am not an accountant nor am I an economist, but common sense tells me that clearly the inflation in this area is unsustainable.  Let’s take a look at the reasons why:

• High consumer utilization – 50 percent of healthcare costs are behavior based.
• Aging population – As we age, we require more and costlier health care.
• High-cost technology – New and better diagnostic, treatment, pharmaceutical, therapeutic, etc. products.
• Unnecessary care – Some authorities contend that insurance fraud alone constitutes a $100 billion-a-year- problem.

So what to do?

At the end of the day, there are still a number of areas you can address to contain costs:

• Employee contribution to the premium cost.
• Raising deductibles.
• Changing the percentage that the company covers.
• Changing co-pays.
• Considering tiering drug plans.
• Moving to a consumerism model.

Decisions about which benefits to include should take into account:

• Your organization’s goals.
• Your organization’s budget.
• The expectations of your organization’s current employees and those it wishes to recruit in the future.

A logical place to begin selecting employee benefits is to establish objectives for the benefits package.

Whatever package you eventually choose needs to include a well thought out communication plan.  Communication is essential so that the benefits can achieve their objective of attracting, motivating and retaining employees.

Next: Chapter 6 – How to Keep Them Safe

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team is sharing some hard-won business insights directly from the source.

 ”A Practical Guide to Human Resources Management” is a 266-page guidebook to the intricacies of the world of employment from Jeff Stinson, founder and president of Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO).

Introduction

In this video – A Practical Guide To Human Resources Management – Introduction – Jeff Stinson, author of “A Practical Guide To Human Resources Management,” discuss his experience as an HR expert and what you can expect from his book.  Are you trying to attain human resources management skills?  his could be the perfect book for you.

There are a number of good “self help” management books on the market which explore one area of human resources or another. Books helping you hire, fire, etc. are all great and very useful and I hope you will find this one equally so when you have finished.  I have organized the book more or less in the same sequence as the employment experience.

Chapter 1 – “How to Hire Them

In this video – A Practical Guide To Human Resources Management – Chapter 1 – HR expert Jeff Stinson discusses how to hire the perfect employee. He covers the opening of the meeting, candidate discussion, determining what skills are needed, and creating a position profile.

Jeff Stinson writes:

Chapter 1 looks at the subject of how to hire the right person.  From defining the job to recruiting to interviewing to making the final offer, I believe this is the cornerstone of what any leader does in their organization.  In President George W. Bush’s latest autobiography, Chapter Three is entitled simply “Personnel.”

The first section of that chapter dealt with the various hiring decisions he was faced with and how he made those decisions.  While none of us is likely to hire the next Secretary of State, all hiring decisions are important and provide for your organization’s future success or failure and in many ways reflects on your decision-making ability.

Most of us who have experience with hiring people understand that there is more to finding the right person than placing a newspaper ad (well, Internet these days), conducting an interview, making an offer, and hoping for the best.  To hire successfully, you need to follow a process like this one:

1. Decide what skills the employee will need to be successful.
2. Write those skills down so you can refer to them later.
3. Recruit for the position in places where the right people hang out.
4. Test and/or interview candidates for the skills you need.
5. Make them an offer they can’t refuse.

Next: Chapter 2 – “How to Make them Feel at Home”

Does the free market’s creative destruction create more than it destroys?  Do oligopoly conditions (a small number of sellers dominating an industry) undermine free market theory?

The Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team would like to know the answers to these and related questions, so we’re sharing a discussion of the issue, which is on the agenda at The HRO Today Forum, currently taking place in Washington, D.C. at the Gaylord National.

“A Workforce Congress: Insourcing, Outsourcing, & Job Creation” is the title of a panel headed up by Richard Crespin, Global Executive Director of the HR Outsourcing Association (HROA).

Free markets contrast with controlled markets in which prices, supply or demand is directly controlled.

In a recession, existing businesses shed jobs in an effort to cut costs and hoard cash for the lean months ahead, Crespin argues.  As the economy recovers, they start to add these jobs back.  It’s “economic churn,” not new economic growth.

To move the conversation beyond economic churn, the HROA convened HR Officers from large and small companies to discuss how to can create a more competitive workforce for companies, for America, and for the world.

The HROA also hosted a debate on “Is outsourcing good for America?”  This debate directly takes on the question of whether the free market’s creative destruction creates more than it destroys.

Oligopoly is at the heart of the counter-argument about the free markets concept.  The term “free market” itself reflects an idealized mathematical notion of how people behave, in that the emergent prices are a natural “push and pull” of supply and demand. In economic theory this is called “perfect competition,” because it occurs only when there are a large number of customers and a large number of suppliers in a market for goods which are optional purchases. In a perfectly competitive market, the ideals of a free market essentially exist. This was the economic theory of the 1960s to 1980s.

What’s happening now? The current trend in economics observes that big markets rarely operate in this perfect competition – because human beings are conscious of markets, they seek profits, they shut out competitors, and they corner markets as monopolies and oligopolies.  The result: fewer jobs all around.

Let us know what you think by commenting below.

The old fashioned online job board has gotten nimble and smart, according to author Brent Skinner writing in the March issue of HRO Today.  In his article “Job Board Stiff?”  Skinner writes that search and social media are challenging large boards to adapt and evolve their models to accommodate new realities.

Skinner’s recommendations get the “Good Job Hunting Seal of Approval” from the Global Human Resources Outsourcing (GHRO) team.

Organizations seeking to hire top talent now have the responsibility for owning their online career advertising presence through syndication and one-to-one engagement via social media, notably Facebook and LinkedIn. A savvy organization, employing social media intelligently, can quickly get in front of highly targeted passive talent. For instance, setting up an employment page on Facebook means that every time a new opening posts to the page, it will display in all fans’ home feeds.

Old job boards are boring. They’re one-way, mass communication devices largely bereft of personalization and interactivity, attractive only to the most desperate of job seekers.

“Old-think” job boards are on the wrong side of history. But job boards are anything but becoming extinct. “New-think” boards just look a lot different from their predecessors.

Simply Hired and other job boards fall under the category of aggregators. These, along with Monster, are large boards that display job ads pertaining to as many industries as possible. Their scope is national, even international, and they have countless regional counterparts.

Then there are the niche job boards—narrowly focused on single industries, professions, or needs. For example, this category includes FlexJobs, which posts to its board only jobs that are work-from-home friendly—a larger and more dynamic constellation of jobs than conventional wisdom might suggest.

The future of job boards requires that they integrate social media, help hiring companies leverage search engine marketing to optimize postings for a longer shelf life, and build a talent community wherein they help candidates grow and evolve in their jobs.

Managers of the job boards that will flourish must understand that they reside at a confluence of variables, all exerting an influence on the changing nature of the job hunt. These factors include employer brand, job seeker engagement, search engine-driven sourcing and more.

In the end, they’re all seeking the Good Job Hunting Seal of Approval.

In local news, eyes are focused on Costa Mesa, California, a city neighboring GHRO’s headquarter city of Irvine.  The City of Costa Mesa faces a budgetary dilemma: a dilemma it plans to solve through outsourcing many city services.  On the list to be outsourced are in-house information technology, maintenance services, employee benefits administration, and payroll staff, among others.  In six months, these employees will be looking for jobs.  It’s tough news and a tough lesson about how outsourcing has long kept the government afloat.

According to an article in Federal Computer Week, outside contractors have proved a long-indispensible government resource.  Outsourcing allows the government to perform work beyond its typical staffing, equipment, or monetary resources. It also creates a more efficient government through reduced costs and increased productivity.  In a time of budgetary concerns, outsourcing may be the only way the public sector, and even small private-sector businesses, can maintain necessary service levels.

Cost-savings occurs, in part, because contractors cost less than permanent employees.  Last year, USA Today reported that government employees received roughly $28,000 in annual benefits—over $12,000 more than their private-sector counterparts.  Data has also shown that pay rates in state and local government increase faster than private-sector rates.  Total compensation at all levels of government tends to be higher.

But lower pricing isn’t the only benefit of outsourcing services.  Outsourcing to private companies often results in new, fresh ideas beyond the government status quo.  Outsourcing is a great resource for small, private businesses, too!  It allows businesses to receive services they may not otherwise have been able to maintain or afford.  For instance, outsourcing human resources tasks to GHRO allows businesses to meet their HR needs, from hiring, payroll, employee benefits, to the latest in HR regulations and trends, at a fraction of the cost of maintaining an in-house HR department.  It is low-cost efficiency at its best.

How can HR outsourcing benefit you?  Contact GHRO today for a free quote!

This week’s record-breaking winter weather has walloped over 30 states and affected one in three Americans.  In weather this severe, emergency officials advised people not to travel unless absolutely necessary, lest they get stuck in blinding conditions or massive snow drifts.  To many, the thought of curling up under a blanket beats going out in a blizzard any day.  So the kids get to stay home on snow days, but when do their parents get to stay home from work?

The truth is, employment law doesn’t dictate when a business must close for weather—closing a business is solely the employer’s judgment call.  Many businesses may choose to stay open in severe weather, depending on demand for their goods and services.  This is especially true of grocery stores, gas stations, hotels, and public-service industries like police and fire departments, hospitals, and snow plow operations.  It makes business sense to stay operational if there is legitimate work to be done, even in a blizzard.  Plus, businesses in areas that are used to winter snow will be less inclined to close due to weather, thanks to efficient snow removal.

But what happens to employees when businesses make the call to close?  From a human resources standpoint, businesses that close for weather are not required to pay hourly or non-exempt workers.  Like any other workday, these employees must be compensated only for the hours actually worked.  Exempt employees are another matter.  Businesses that close for a few days due to weather must pay their exempt employees who were ready and able to report to work.  On the flip side, businesses do not have to pay exempt employees who were unavailable to report to work, for example, due to the weather, transportation, or child care issues.  An exception occurs when businesses close for an entire payroll week because of weather, flood, or power outage.  Under these circumstances, exempt employees who perform no work for the week—not even checking e-mail from home—are not required to be paid.

It’s 2011, and with a new year brings a new way to steer your small business toward success!  One strategy you might not have considered: enlisting a professional employer organization (PEO) like Global Human Resources Outsourcing to take care of your business’ Human Resources needs.  By partnering with a PEO like GHRO, your business will benefit from a skilled and efficient Human Resources team at a fraction of the cost of maintaining an internal HR department.

So what can GHRO do for your business?  Our experienced specialists provide all the services of complete HR and payroll departments.  We’ll act as your personal staffing agency; start to finish, from developing a customized recruitment strategy, to screening potential candidates, to assisting with employee selection and negotiations.  Additionally, we’ll function as your payroll department, keeping abreast of the latest payroll laws and regulations.  We’ll also act as HR consultants and risk managers, monitoring safety and workers’ compensation law, government compliance, and employee benefits.  We can also help you establish an employee wellness plan, an employee handbook, and other strategies to best fit your business’ unique needs and goals.  With GHRO, you can efficiently outsource the employee relations that can stress your business’ time and budget.

With GHRO on your side, you’ll be gaining a trusted business advisor, just like your CPA or attorney.  So let us assume the risks and responsibilities of maintaining your employees while you concentrate on your core business.  We have a package to meet the needs of any small business.  Contact us today to see how your business can benefit from GHRO!

When someone mentions human resources, often times an image of someone in a dull cubicle such as Toby from the office.. What many don’t know is human resources exist everywhere, even in the extreme conditions of a war-zone such as Iraq.

On October 16th, soldiers from the aptly titled 387th Human Resources Co. (HR Co.) returned home. The 30 soldiers, which were deployed August 31st have been to Iraq a total of four times. The unit, which was first deployed in 2003 as part of Operation Iraqi freedom, helped manage Human Resources and postal services for Camp Liberty, just outside of Baghdad.

Human Resources play a valuable role in maintaining a structure of employees whether it’s a small business, corporate office or even the military. While you might be shocked that a Human Resources department would be deployed in Iraq, it’s no different from a large company and can help maintain a strong “chain of command” in the operation of a military deployment.

Military outfits need to work methodically and a Human Resources department can help accomplish this goal by interacting with troops and solving issues within a division. Human Resource departments help create structure and in a war zone or in a country with little stability in addition to their role of understanding people and helping them solve personal issues or acting as a mediator to solve conflicts.

Via: http://www.heartlandconnection.com/news/story.aspx?list=194787&id=527856