Anticipated Turnaround Prompts Development Of Aggressive Recruiting Plans

Todd Dawson, a managing partner for MRINetwork affiliate WorldBridge Partners sees a similar trend in insurance where for the last decade, firms have been looking to recruiters to find top sales people and staff to develop new types of policies—like credit default swaps. "Today, it is a very different story," says Dawson. "Over the last 18 months demand for people who actually make insurance policies work—risk managers and actuaries—has skyrocketed as everyone reevaluates their risk portfolios."

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Every industry is green, not just energy!

Are there green job opportunities out there? You bet! Most people think in terms of jobs in “energy” industries like biofuels, wind, solar and hydro. Without question, job opportunities exist in those industries. However, just about every industry is thinking green, which opens up green jobs within those industries.

Dave Sanders, managing partner of global search firm WorldBridge Partners and practice leader for clean technology, said that there is an emerging need in major corporations for people who understand the business issues surrounding “going green” and who can help identify ways those companies can maximize profits and mitigate risks. Opportunities abound for energy-efficient data centers and lighting, and companies want to eliminate processes that waste energy. Here is just one simple example: accountants. Can “bean counters” really be green? Absolutely! With emerging emphasis and growth on “cap-and-trade” initiatives, there is a demand for accountants who can perform the internal environmental audits within every company and industry.

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Life Insurance Activity Falls

U.S. life insurers received 3% fewer requests for individual coverage in May than they received in May 2008 – but about 11% more for applicants ages 60 and older.
The MIB Group Inc., Braintree, Mass., is basing that figure on an analysis of North American life insurers’ use of MIB databases to check individually underwritten life applications.

MIB U.S. activity volume has fallen in most months since early 2006.
Activity has been especially weak for applicants under age 60.
In May, MIB U.S. application volume was down 7% for U.S. applicants ages 0 to 44, and it was down 1.1% for applicants ages 45 to 59.

Source: www.lifeandhealthinsurancenews.com

How to Choose and Implement an ATS

It sometimes seems as if recruiters and technology are like oil and water ? almost impossible to mix. I am rarely at a client for very long before the "issue" of technology comes up. Usually, it's in the form of a complaint. I hear things like, "Our ATS can't do what?" or, "I wish I could get better metrics, but my ATS can't create the reports I need," or, "The recruiters here never bother to enter the right data or they don't use the system at all."

When I talk with finance groups or engineering departments, technology is never an issue. They seem to live together in harmony, albeit with a few blips here and there. While a few people I know have said that they feel computers are just too impersonal for people-oriented recruiters to be comfortable with, I know many very warm and successful recruiters who are advocates and users of very sophisticated systems.

There are several reasons why these systems are hard to sell, poorly utilized, and rarely praised.

Poor Understanding of Current Processes

No system can do what you want if you don't know what you want to do. Many recruiters cannot tell me the entire process of getting a new employee hired. When I ask them to pretend they are a candidate or a job requisition and then take me through the various steps to get to a hire, they can only get through those steps they play a part in.

Many pieces of the recruiting process are vague or ill-defined, even to those who do them. Often, many people do a small part of a process and no one really knows it all. Just as often, the processes themselves are not efficient.

Employees in manufacturing environments have had process improvement goals for years. Consultants and academics have been hired to analyze and probe into every aspect of producing a product, until today we are able to produce products of all types with fewer people and greater quality and at lower cost than ever before in history. The spotlight is now being turned on to the "soft" processes, such as recruiting, and these processes will be examined and streamlined immensely over the next several years.

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Source: By Kevin Wheeler – Published Mar 25, 2005
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