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Reveille and Hyperbole
HEALTHeCAREERS Network and MedHunters, two leading Web-based employment services for physicians, nurses, allied health and other healthcare professionals, have merged.

Deck Chairs:
Euro RSCG Riley, an HR communications agency, has appointed Drew Spencer as head of digital strategy.

You Should Know
Global:
McClatchy's mini-Google strategy
In an era of multimedia platforms and participatory journalism, being the No. 2 newspaper company in the nation won't count for much without a deep commitment to an Internet strategy.That challenge has not gone unnoticed by McClatchy Company (MNI) which in mid-March agreed to buy Knight Ridder for $6.5 billion in cash, stock and debt.  For Christian Hendricks, who will oversee the combined company's Internet operations and some 500 staffers (before layoffs), the Internet strategy is very much local.  Take a look at some of the local sites that McClatchy is starting to roll out and essentially you'll see that they're a Craigslist meets CitySearch-like service, behind a Google-like façade. (MarketWatch)

Advertising chimps get fat raises: Primate actor retirements plus high demand push costs skyward
Screen Actors Guild members take note: A group of commercial actors secured an across-the-board, 25 percent-to-30 percent pay increase last year without so much as a union meeting or strike threat.  Chimp compensation is on the rise, animal trainers and ad agency creatives said, because a recent surge of retirements has created a primate shortage. And that — paired with marketers' still-potent urge to tap chimps and orangutans to hawk job listings, light beer and stock brokerages — is driving prices up. (Crain's)

Gray-Hairs to Get Online Space
Looking to cash in on the MySpace hysteria, book and music company Bertelsmann is planning on a community website for older folks. "People are getting older...and older people are getting lonelier and they will need communities where they can share their interests" Chief Executive Gunter Thielen told Reuters. "Thielen said Bertelsmann had been studying the demographic trends of the Western world, which point to a future with aging populations, many of them likely to have no or few children and larger disposable incomes than before." (Marketing Shift)

Egypt touted as offshore outsourcing location
Experts say that Egypt offers a cheaper alternative to rival locations. Egypt has become the latest country to tout for outsourcing business and some experts say it offers a cheaper alternative to rival locations. (ITWeek)

AP picks up its slack in digital age
Responding to demands of more digital integration, the Associated Press is introducing news video for the Web, a multimedia young readers' service, more sports and financial information, expanded choice in photos and new formats like blogs and podcasts, said Tom Curley, AP's president and CEO. "We know the digital era requires more content, not less," Curley told executives representing AP member newspapers and broadcast companies, at the cooperative's annual meeting. "And it requires content edited and packaged in ways that help user access and allow for advertising placement." The AP gathering was held on the opening day of the annual convention of the Newspaper Association of America. (editorsweblog)

Stupid Newspaper Publishers, Search Engines Are Your Friends
I left newspaper reporting about ten years ago because it was clear the industry had no idea how to transition to an online world, and I didn't want to be stuck behind. Today's Chicago Tribune article, Papers, Web sites in scrape on stories, just tells me things don't appear to have improved much. Search engines, including Google, get a fresh dose of being leeches for using content. Except publishers, they don't reprint your content. They reprint summaries and link to your articles. And if you'd get a clue, you'd understand that brings you traffic, which should make you money. (SearchEngineWatch)

India:
Deep talent pool in India? Bah!
Both India and China have profited handsomely from their young, able, and seemingly unlimited workforces over the past two decades. India has built itself into a global services powerhouse, moving from simple customer help lines to more complex tasks such as software design, investment banking research, and medical diagnosis.  And while far more Chinese work in factories than services operations, a number of pharmaceutical companies and software houses have recently set up research operations on the mainland.  The legions of college grads in both countries suggests they can meet demand for services for years to come -- to the delight of multinationals wanting to buy those services, and to the alarm of white-collar workers in North America and Europe. But a closer look at the numbers tells a somewhat different story. (Rediff)

Fake CVs give recruiters a headache
Even as India Inc continues its hiring spree, it is having to cope with the growing menace of smart alecks fudging their CV.  The problem is not restricted to the IT and BPO industry, which adds about 100,000 new staff every year, but has spread across retail, banking, insurance and other sectors. These sectors hire about 200,000 employees a year.  According to industry estimates, 10-12 percent of the recruits submit fake CVs, fake reference letters, fake certificates or are simply overstating skills and experience. (TMCNet)

IT cos on a hiring spree
Private firms and multi- national companies have been on a hiring spree in almost all leading sectors especially IT in recent years.  Wipro is contemplating vast expansion in Andhra Pradesh with proposed investment of Rs 950 crore that could generate employment for nearly 29,000 people.  The company plans to pump in Rs 750 crore with a projected employment of 15,000 in Hyderabad and an investment of Rs 200 crore with a projected employment of 13,500 in Visakhapatnam respectively, sources said. (EconomicTimes)

Taiwan:
Gov't urged to step up foreign talent recruitment efforts
Lawmakers from the ruling and opposition parties demanded yesterday that the government step up its efforts to recruit hi-tech talent from overseas in view of fierce competition from neighboring countries. Lawmakers Hung Wei-cher and Kuo Chun-ming of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, as well as Lee Jih-chu and Tsao Shou-min of the main opposition Kuomintang, issued the call during an interpellation session at the legislative Technology and Information Committee after officials from the National Science Council (NSC) , the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Mainland Affairs Council reported on the issue. Citing the success enjoyed by Singapore and South Korea, the lawmakers said that the government should offer more handsome incentives to lure foreign talent, including providing residence permits and education for their children, along with Taiwan's other advantages. (Taiwan)

US:
UMDNJ hired connected job candidates
Political pressure gripped the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey so tightly that when politicians or the university's president wanted a job for a friend or someone politically connected, jobs were created and unqualified people hired, a report issued Monday by the institution's federal monitor alleges. The report details a ranking system created by former university President John J. Petillo to denote applicants with political connections. The system was used for six months through last spring. (Asbury Park Press)

Make longevity a plus
In today's workplace, employees tend to move from employer to employer more than they did in the past. According to U.S. Department of Labor statistics, about one in five employees change jobs every year. Many do so for career advancement and to increase income, while others do so because of employment circumstances.  At first glance it may appear that employers like employees to change jobs frequently, but in fact many employers like loyalty and try to reward productive and loyal employees.  What do you do after you have spent your career, or most of your career, with one employer and want or need to find another job? How do you show a possible new employer that you have what it takes to do the job? The answer is really simple: Show them that not only are you a loyal employee, but that you have the skills necessary to do the job in the modern work environment. (SHNS)

U.S. Needs More H-1B Workers Or More Offshore Outsourcing: Take Your Pick
As Congress considers a massive expansion of the H-1B visa worker program, opponents of the plan should consider this: Failure by federal lawmakers to allow more skilled IT workers into the country will result in more U.S. corporations simply outsourcing their computer work to India or some other offshore locale where skilled help is plentiful and cheap. Is that what you really want? The equation is pretty simple. The U.S. is facing a shortage of IT workers that will only get worse over time as boomers retire. Meanwhile, emerging countries like India and China will continue to enjoy large surpluses of such workers for the foreseeable future. So we can either bring those workers here, or send our IT jobs overseas. Those are the two options. (InformationWeek)

More companies forming outsourcing joint ventures
Most companies who outsource farm out the work to independent providers, but a growing number are taking an ownership stake in the relationship. According to consulting firm DiamondCluster International Inc.'s 2005 Global IT Outsourcing Study, the number of buyers that have taken on some ownership position in an outsourced relationship has doubled to 34 percent from 17 percent in 2004. Ownership can take the form of a joint venture, fully owned subsidiary or build-operate-transfer, or BOT, arrangement. (Merc)

Deep Release:
Genesys Human Capital Management Trends Survey Reveals What Will Shape Strategies for 2006; Companies Continue to Outsource HR and Payroll Services

Genesys, a provider of outsourcing services and software for human resources (HR) management, payroll, benefit administration and payments, self-service, learning, performance management, recruitment and time and attendance, today announced the results of its Human Capital Management (HCM) trends survey for 2006.



According to respondents of the survey sponsored by Genesys, the top HCM priorities for 2006 include:

-- Talent and leadership development combined with talent acquisition and retention - 45%
-- Performance management - 21%
-- Streamlining processes - 18%

In addition, 18% of respondents also indicated that aligning people and business goals would be an important priority in the coming year. Moreover, 38% of respondents indicated that budget expectations over the next 12 months for HR technology and outsourced solutions would increase, by as much as 9% in some cases, thereby enabling funding of the services and tools required to support these top priorities.

Of the many solutions in the human capital arena, respondents identified outsourcing the following functions as among the most predominant:

-- Payroll processing - 32%
-- Employee assistance programs - 29%
-- Payroll tax filing - 25%
-- Background screening - 24%

In addition, and consistent with the findings of The Outsourcing Institute's Annual Survey of Outsourcing End Users, were the results of the Genesys study which demonstrated the following benefits of outsourcing were most appealing to respondents:

-- Streamline operations - 40%
-- Access to world-class capabilities and industry expertise combined - 40%
-- Free-up internal staff - 32%
-- Reduce labor costs - 25%
-- Accurate and predictable monthly costs - 21%

With respect to self-service initiatives, when asked about adopting employee/manager self-service, 43% of respondents said it was not a priority. And yet respondents saw the greatest benefits of self-service as: employee ownership of general data, online open enrollment, reduction of calls placed to HR and overall cost savings, respectively.

When asked to describe the reasons for choosing an outsourcing vendor, Genesys survey respondents indicated price was key. Again, this is consistent with the results of The Outsourcing Institute's Annual Survey. Other important factors in vendor selection were breadth and depth of product line, financial stability and references/reputation.

"HRO has indeed proved to be more complex than industry veterans first thought. Nonetheless, vast business benefits can be gained by organizations who embrace the HRO model," said Ruth Ladner, Chief Operating Officer, Genesys. "We are pleased to see the results of our survey confirm that organizations are embracing the need for strategic human resources outsourcing to streamline operations, reduce administrative overhead and gain economies of scale."

About Genesys

Founded in 1981, Genesys is a proven Human Capital Management leader, providing solutions that transform the workplace and accelerate growth.

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Coming Soon

IHRIM: HRM Strategies 2006 April 9-12, 2006 Washington, DC $1,265 More Info Register	Lucas Group and The Wall Street Journal: Executive Diversity Career Fair April 19, 2006 Chicago , IL - Embassy Suites, Chicago Downtown For details:awasson@lucasgroup.com
NYHR Week 06 New York Hilton April 25 - 28< 2006 $1,695 Register	Kennedy Information's Recruiting 2006 Conference and Expo May 10 - 11 Las Vegas $1,195 Register
HR Shared Services Summit Optimizing HR Shared Services to Achieve Excellence in Your Organization $1,999 May 22 - 24, 2006 · Sonesta Hotel - Coconut Grove, FL	NACE National Meeting & Expo Anaheim Marriott/ Anaheim Convention Center May 30 - June 2, 2006 More Info Register
3rd Annual Best Practices in Talent Management, Leadership Development and Succession Planning Conference 25th - 26th May 2006 Barcelona, Spain £2006.57 Register	Hunt Scanlon Advisors present Generating Higher ROI on Human Capital June 7, 2006 Chicago
OnRec Online Recruitment Conference Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre June 20 Westminster, London contact: Chris@OnRec.com More Info	2006 EREC 21-22 June 2006 ExCel London, UK Register
SHRM's 2006 Annual Conference & Exposition June 25-28 Washington, D.C. $1,350 Read more Register	OnRec Expo 2006 12-13 September 2006 Donald E. Stephens Convention Center Chicago Register
2006 Strategic HR Conference October 4-6, 2006 Westin Kierland Resort Phoenix, Arizona	Human Resource Executive's 9th Annual HR Technology® Conference Oct. 4-6, 2006 Navy Pier in Chicago, IL $!095 Register
2006 SHRM Workplace Diversity Conference October 16-18, 2006 Century Plaza Hotel and Spa Los Angeles, California	Hunt Scanlon Advisors present "Defining Leaders" New York city October 18 - 20, 2006 New York Palace
HR.com's Employers of Excellence 2006 October 25 - 27, 2006 Red Rock Resort Las Vegas, Nevada Register

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 




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