Reveille and Hyperbole
Jobmeeters.com is an online referral web site launched in October 2005 for the French market.

Further demonstrating the completeness of its human resources management (HRM) vision, Kronos(R) Incorporated (KRON) today announced a deepened relationship with Microsoft Corp. (MSFT). Kronos and Microsoft plan to combine their respective strengths to pursue an HRM strategy for small- and mid-size enterprises.

Deck Chairs:
Holland & Knight recently announced the formation of a Diversity Council to oversee diversity initiatives and programs in its 18 offices nationwide. Holland & Knight partner Paul Thomas, an experienced counselor on corporate diversity issues, has been named Chief Diversity Officer and will also serve as the Firm Diversity Partner chairing the new council....

You Should Know
China:
More township enterprises face shortage of laborers
Village and township enterprises are facing problems of labor shortage, said an official with the Ministry of Agriculture recently. Some farmers are unwilling to work in factories because the pay is too low to be attractive, the official said. The government has implemented a series of favorable policies to encourage rural people to engage in agriculture, and many township enterprises want to hire more experienced and skilled workers, the official said. (www.chinaview.cn)

Duty of domestic universities to halt the brain drain
Excellent students in Shanghai are becoming increasingly hot cakes. Every year, many famous universities such as Harvard and Yale come to Shanghai to recruit top graduates from key senior high schools here. Following these steps, Yonsei University, one of the three best universities in South Korea, has also fixed their eyes on excellent students in Shanghai this year. (Shanghai Daily)

Global:
SaaS Players Jostle For Position
Software-as-a-service (SaaS) is ready to break out of its ghetto. With a few notable exceptions, vendors of on-demand software have been relegated to offering narrow point solutions to non-mission-critical functions in the small- and medium-sized business (SMB) arena. Randy Haykin, managing director of Outlook Ventures, noted that from an investment standpoint, "the most compelling aspect of software as a service is the ability to break into the SMB space." (internetnews.com)

Euro-zone unemployment down to 8.1 percent
Euro-zone seasonally-adjusted unemployment stood at 8.1 percent in March 2006, compared to 8.2 percent in February, Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, announced here on Wednesday. A year ago, the unemployment rate in the Euro-zone was 8.8 percent in March 2005, said Eurostat. For the EU25 as a whole, however, the unemployment rate was 8.4 percent in March 2006, unchanged compared to February. It was 8.9 percent in March 2005. (China Daily)

When Exploitation is Mutually Beneficial
"Exploitation is a word often used but rarely defined. In its most literal meaning -- I 'exploit' you if I in some way benefit from your existence -- it is the reason human society exists. We all benefit from one another's existence. We all exploit each other." -- David Friedman, The Machinery of Freedom
Let us say that I am poor and you are wealthy. I live a harsh life of bare subsistence farming, while you make several thousand dollars per day as a business owner in the widget industry. One day you hire me to make widgets for you at a rate of $1 per widget, which you then sell to make a profit of $2 per widget. Which of us has benefited the most from this exchange? If you answered that it must be you, this is wrong. It's true that you are still much, much better off than I am in absolute terms, and that in dollars, you have gained more than I have. But considering our relative starting points and the basic fact of diminishing marginal utility, this transaction has benefited me more than it has benefited you. Simply put, the principle of diminishing marginal utility states that each extra unit of a good provides less subjective benefit to an individual than the last one did: an extra dollar means much, much more to a pauper than to a millionaire. Thus I get much more subjective utility from the extra dollars I now have than you do from the extra dollars you have. (TCSDaily)

COBOL Brain Drain
Colleges aren't cranking out Cobol programmers anymore, and skills availability is one of the top three concerns in mainframe shops, says Dale Vecchio, an analyst at Gartner.  Some organizations say they are already having trouble hiring Cobol programmers. "It's difficult to find people to support it," says Bob DiAngelo, vice president and CIO at MIB Group. That's one reason why his company is migrating to a new application architecture built around Java and WebSphere.  Meanwhile, the ranks of experienced programmers are also thinning. "Many Cobol developers are entering retirement now ... so it's challenging around staffing," says Edward Mulligan, executive vice president of the technology services division at The Bank of New York. (ComputerWorld)

India:
There's a hole in your cr-rupee pay packet
Are you one of those who has been left out of this salary boom and still not made it to the crorepati club? Just relax. Even for a good chunk of those crorepati CEOs, a pay cheque of Rs 1 crore is still out of reach. Call it the effect of consumerism or pressure on employers to be counted among the top, companies have decided to get innovative with their pay packets. As a result, salaries are being dressed up with more variables than earlier and in some cases, it even includes retention bonus (severance package). "It's all about packaging. Companies want to show they are out to give. So every benefit like car, driver, accommodation and travel is measured, factored and tagged. HR experts are happy to go an extra mile to make the pay pack look bigger, better and attractive,"says BS Murthy, CEO of Human Capital, a hiring firm. (TIMES NEWS NETWORK)

Korea:
Manufacturing Workforce Dips Below 4.2 Million
The number of manufacturing workers in Korea dipped below 4.2 million at the end of the first quarter, according to the National Statistical Office (NSO) on Friday. The NSO said the number of Koreans engaged in the manufacturing industry numbered 4.19 million in the first quarter, down 1.7 percent from 4.26 million a year earlier. The decrease is primarily attributed to the slowed growth of the manufacturing industry and a greater labor demand by the service sector, the agency said. (Korea Times)

US:
Wendy's Adds Gays, Transgenders To Employment Policy
Fast food chain Wendy's International has agreed to amend its employment nondiscrimination policy by adding new written protections based on sexual orientation and gender identity for all employees. The change came after lobbying by the LGBT civil rights group Equality Project and one of the company's biggest shareholders. The New York City Employees Retirement Fund filed a shareholders resolution with the Securities and Exchange Commission calling for the policy change. After the company agreed to the changes the resolution was withdrawn without needing to go to stock holders at the next Annual Meeting. (365Gay)

Ford shareholders to vote on LGBT employment protections
One gnat is a mild annoyance, but a cloud of them can make even the sunniest trail seem temporarily like a gauntlet. Unfortunately for Ford Motor Company, the gnats have come thickly during a particularly dark and rocky time in the company's history. Just as the anti-gay American Family Association and their cohorts have renewed a boycott against the struggling automaker, shareholder Dr. Robert Hurley of Alton, Ill., submitted a resolution that would require the company to exclude sexual orientation from its employment non-discrimination policy. (Pridesource)

Job market for graduates looks brighter
Dave Warwick's good fortune has made college graduation that much sweeter. The Marshall University theater graduate already has landed a job, joining the cast of the theatrical production "Tecumseh" in Chillicothe, Ohio. After his summer acting stint ends, Warwick plans to attend graduate school at the University of Southern Mississippi. The Pittsburgh, Pa., resident said he landed the role in "Tecumseh" through networking and perseverance.  Valerie Bernard, director of Career Services at Marshall, said networking accounts for nearly 90 percent of college graduates landing a job directly out of school. ....Furthermore, the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) reports that starting salaries have increased for college graduates. NACE's Spring 2006 Salary Survey reveals that starting salary for some disciplines exceed those offered in recent years because of increased competition for college graduates. (The Herald-Dispatch)

Job-Watcher Watchers
If tradition holds, today's jobs report will give investors new opportunities to roll their eyes about monthly economic forecasting. On average, economists surveyed by Dow Jones Newswires and CNBC say the economy gained 205,000 payroll jobs in April, compared with 211,000 in March. According to Lehman Brothers, economists' estimates have, on average, missed the payrolls number by about 56,000 jobs over the past year. In an economy that employs roughly 135 million people, that is not a bad margin of error, especially after the huge misses economists posted a couple of years ago. The estimates of Wall Street economists apparently aren't enough to satisfy the hunger of a bond-and-stock-market beast that craves clues -- even ones of limited value -- about what today's report might say.

There is also Monster Worldwide's Monster Employment Index, based on Monster.com job postings, and the old Help Wanted Index, based on newspaper want ads. Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a recruiting firm, tracks layoff announcements, while Hudson, another recruiting firm, polls workers on their companies' hiring plans. The Institute for Supply Management asks midlevel managers what they think. And the Conference Board asks consumers. The way things are going, says Brown Brothers Harriman portfolio strategist Richard Koss, economists will be forecasting the forecast of the jobs report soon. (WSJ)

Hudson Index: Sector Confidence Up in April
More accounting and finance workers are expecting hiring, though the sector did express some concerns regarding personal finances and job satisfaction, according to the Hudson Employment Index. The index for workers in the industry rose two points, to 110.8, while the national average increased 1.5 points, to 107.7. A year ago, the reading for accounting and finance workers was only 103.7. The index measures employee confidence monthly in a survey of approximately 9,000 workers nationwide across all industries. The survey also revealed that w hile 25 percent of employees expected lay-offs in March (a record-high), the concern leveled off in April, with 20 percent of workers expecting cuts. The number of workers reporting their organizations had plans to hire, rose from 31 percent in March, to 37 percent in April. (WebCPA)

The Net job search: Line up and leave us alone
"Please do not respond to this e-mail."
Those of you not looking for a job may not recognize this subject line. Those of you who are, however, may cringe at the site of the familiar automated response to a job application. Welcome to the world of Internet job search. Back in the day, hiring managers viewed follow-up from applicants as a sign of real interest and persistence -- qualities companies sought in a candidate. If you really wanted a job, you pursued it with letters and phone calls, demonstrating the same commitment you would to the position itself. Not today. Call a company and you'll reach a CIA-like switchboard operator who implies the HR people are hiding in a bunker somewhere, safe from ''job stalkers." Without a name, the operator won't connect you. She won't even tell you where to mail your resume. Instead, she will direct you to the Internet, where you can get the e-mail you can't respond to. (BostonWorks)








Deep Release:
Sallie Mae Provides A Financial 'To Do' List for Class of 2006

As another graduating class of college seniors prepares to transition from school to the workforce, Sallie Mae offers a checklist for student loan borrowers to maintain healthy credit post- college, and to manage their repayment in an efficient and cost-effective manner.

A Financial "To Do" List for Graduating Seniors:

* Notify all of your student loan servicers and other important parties every time you change your address, telephone number, or e-mail address. Your loan servicer can help you manage your student loans, but they cannot help if they cannot find you.

* Get a copy of your credit report now and each year, and review it carefully for inaccuracies. Adverse information on your credit report may result in your paying higher interest rates when you purchase something on credit. One free credit report per year is available at http://www.SallieMae.com/CreditReport.

* Get the facts on student loan consolidation. Sallie Mae's Web site, http://www.SallieMae.com/LoanConsolidation can help you decide if consolidation is right for you. Sallie Mae is the nation's largest consolidator of federal education loans, with more than $19 billion consolidated in the last federal fiscal year; and the company recently announced the availability of its new Private Consolidation Loan (http://www.SallieMae.com/privateconsolidation). Consolidation allows student loan customers to combine eligible education loans into a new loan, a potentially lower monthly payment amount and an extended repayment term.

* Mark your calendar so you know when the grace period on your student loans expires. This is when you must begin making payments on your student loans.

* Make a budget and stick to it. You should track your monthly income and expenses to create a budget. Sallie Mae recommends that you periodically re-evaluate the budget as your income grows and your expenses change. Students should also be sure to select the repayment option that best meets their financial situation (interest-only plans are sometimes available, for example) and consider the possibility of accelerating payments, as there is no penalty for early repayment on either private or federal loans through Sallie Mae. In addition, student loan borrowers having trouble making payments should contact their lender immediately to explore other repayment options, deferment or forbearance. Sallie Mae borrowers can use Manage Your Loans on http://www.SallieMae.com/manage to track account information, make loan payments online, postpone payments, update personal profiles, send secure e- mails to Sallie Mae and more.

SLM Corporation (SLM), commonly known as Sallie Mae, is the nation's leading provider of education funding, managing nearly $127 billion in student loans for 9 million borrowers.

Coming Soon

	Kennedy Information's Recruiting 2006 Conference and Expo May 10 - 11 Las Vegas $1,195 Register
Whats next for online job posting? Free Webcast (earn 1.5 SHRM credits) Thursday, May 11 / 12:00 PM 1:30 PM ET Register Online	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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