JobTarget has announced service agreements with First Advantage Recruiting Solutions, Bayard Advertising, and Graystone Group Advertising. These leading recruitment advertising firms have all outsourced their job posting activity to JobTarget. (Read more.)

Peopleclick, Inc., a global talent acquisition solutions provider, and CareerBuilder.com, one of largest online job sites, have partnered to offer clients a streamlined application process through the new Shared Application feature. This latest feature is one of the several enhancements included in the upcoming release of Peopleclick RMS™ version 4.8, a key component of Peopleclick's Talent Acquisition Suite.

HRsmart, an HR software company with the fully integrated talent management suit, unveiled new collaboration and efficiency tools within its Talent Management Suite that improves usability and further increases open workforce planning. The added features provide users with vision into the entire life cycle of an employee.

The Employment Guide, a division of Dominion Enterprises, has announced a partnership with applicant tracking system myStaffingPro for over the truck driver career site CareersInGear.com. This partnership expands the service offerings for both companies servicing employers of transportation professionals. The integration allows employers to easily distribute their jobs to Web sites powered by The Employment Guide, including EmploymentGuide.com, CareersInGear.com, WiserWorker.com, and HealthCareerWeb.com. The result is a more efficient hiring process, which will save companies time and money.

PreVisor, employment assessments and selection solutions that connect hiring decisions to business results, released its 2nd annual report today summarizing more than 33 business outcomes studies. Each study measures the impact on workforce performance following the use of pre-employment testing in the hiring process across different industries. The 2008 Business Outcomes Study was completed in conjunction with U.S. and Global 500 organizations.

Kenexa a global provider of talent management and retention solutions, unveiled SimSJT (Situational Judgment Tests)Customer Service, a new online simulation platform designed to assess customer service aptitude. SimSJT engages candidates in a virtual 3D environment that measures knowledge of roles associated with excellent customer service -greeting, anticipating, information exchange, task performance, empathy, solving problems, adding value/upgrading, and follow-up.

Talent Technology Corporation, provider of award-winning Resume Mirror resume parsing and extraction software for corporate HR departments, announced the Version 2.0 release of its Oracle iRecruitment Connector for Resume Mirror Extraction Enterprise (RMX Enterprise). The comprehensive system administration module and enhanced error log handling capabilities of version 2.0 of the Oracle iRecruitment connector enables HR departments to use and maintain their Resume Mirror solution while respecting the workflows, rules and controls that protect the integrity of the core enterprise database.

Survey Says
Contrary to recent focus on the lack of workforce readiness among first-time employees, human resources professionals report that most workplace skills are of greater importance today for experienced workers than for new entrants to the workforce. However, no more than half of their organizations' employees have participated in skills training -- perhaps because they don't think it meets their needs.

In Critical Skills Needs and Resources for the Changing Workforce, a poll released today by the Society for Human Resource Management in conjunction with Wall Street Journal/CareerJournal, HR professionals say 20 out of 23 critical workplace skills are now more important for experienced employees than for new workers.

Workplace skills that HR professionals rated as more important on average for experienced employees than new workers include:
-- Critical thinking/problem solving
-- Leadership
-- Professionalism/work ethic
-- Teamwork/collaboration
-- Adaptability/flexibility percent.

On a related issue, the survey revealed a disconnect between what employers offer and what employees feel are the most effective professional development methods. Most commonly offered by employers are instructor-led workshops (83%), on-the-job training (82 percent) and continuing education courses (80%). But employees said the most effective formats were on-the-job training (69%) and coaching or mentoring (52%). University or college courses (43%) trailed the top three.

Other notable study findings include:
-- A school's reputation affects HR professionals' perception of employee skill levels. Almost two-thirds (62 percent) report that employees from the most well-regarded colleges or universities have higher skill levels than employees from other institutions.
-- Only 31% of employees reported an increased preference for online tutorials and guided programs. In contrast, one-half of HR professionals report an increased use of online tutorials for skills training.
-- Domestic employers were more likely to provide skills training to their employees (44%) than organizations with international locations (34%).