The comScore Media Matrix US Consumer Activity at Top Online Properties for January 2008 finds that the month saw increased visits to tax, politics, career, real estate and travel-related sites. As many Americans reevaluated their current career situations with the New Year, the career services and development category experienced a 31-percent gain for the month. The category was led by CareerBuilder LLC with 24.8 million visitors, followed by Yahoo! HotJobs with 17.4 million visitors, and Monster with 17.1 million visitors.

In partnership with SmartCEO magazine and Washington metropolitan chapters of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), HeliosHR announced the 2008 Helios Apollo Awards.. The Apollo Awards recognize Washington-area organizations that promote employee growth and development as an integral part of their organizational culture. Winners of the 2007 Helios HR Apollo Awards are Market Connections, Inc. , SPADAC, Inc ., Dimension Data North America, and ICF International. The deadline for submission of nominations for 2008 is Friday, March 14, 2008. Award finalists and winners will be recognized at a breakfast ceremony on Friday, June 6 at the Fairview Park Marriott in Falls Church. Nominations can be submitted online.

JobScience, an automated workforce management firm, has been awarded a first place finish in the eHealthcare Leadership Awards presented by eHealthcare Strategy and Trends. Jobscience was awarded the gold for Business/Process Improvement Applications or Products within the Best Employee Recruitment site category.

Some companies take extra steps to engage and reward their employees by Creating An Enriching Workplace.

Job Seeker Confidence Index for February 2008 from CollegeRecruiter.com finds that job seekers are less optiministic than they were in January or December. Due to factors, such as the continuing flat stock market, subprime mortgage scandals, fears of recession, and uncertainty in the political arena, college students and recent graduates are increasingly pessimistic about the prospects they face in the job market. In February, 65 percent expected that it would take them only 3 or fewer months and almost 6% believed that it would take them longer than a year. In January, it was 69 % with slightly over 8% believing that it would take them longer than a year.

Valtera, a provider of human capital consulting solutions, was recently selected by Crain's Chicago Business, the region's pre-eminent business newspaper, to conduct survey research for its inaugural list of the "Best Places to Work in Chicago." Chicago-area companies with more than 100 employees were invited to participate in the process.