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An April 23, 2012, Associated Press report revealed some troubling information regarding job opportunities for the Class of 2012. It said that half of recent college graduates are jobless or underemployed in positions that don’t use their skills and knowledge fully.

The figures were based on 2011 U.S. Census data analyzed by Andrew Sum, director of the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University.

While there are still many good job opportunities available for graduates with skills in sciences, technology, education and health care, prospects are dimmer for arts and humanities majors as well as…

According to the SHRM Leading Indicatiors of National Employment (LINE) Report for May 2012, job creation will continue in the manufacturing and service sectors in May 2012, although the rate of growth will not reach the level of a year ago. 

Manufacturing will continue to hire at a solid rate in May. About 40.5 percent of manufacturers will add jobs in May, while 30.4 percent of service sector companies will hire. The rate…

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about talent management in terms of the new workforce.  We’re starting to see the signs that the economy is going to rebound.  When that happens, the speculation centers around whether companies will go back to their old ways and just start hiring people or will the new workforce be a blend of freelancers and consultants along with employees. As you may guess, my bets are on the latter.  At least for a few years, I think we’ll see more permatemps in the workplace. …

There is an explosion happening all around us.  We are getting grayer as a society - much grayer.   As a result, organizations are faced with a diversity-related challenge.   Younger managers, on a much broader level than ever before, are finding themselves in the position of having to supervise older subordinates.  Early on in my career, I found myself in a similar position.   As a very young, first-time manager, I found myself with subordinates who were considerably older than me.   To be honest, I didn't think much of…

Meeting the evolving needs of employers, recruiters, and the emerging workforce, Monster.com, the worldwide leader in connecting job seekers to opportunities, has released BeKnown, a professional networking app for Facebook where users can create professional networks in a Monster-type environment, without ever leaving Facebook. The app allows for the sharing of…

I am just back from the SXSW Interactive Conference where I spent time with tens of thousands of geeks, nerds, dorks, and techie wizards. Not everyone at the conference was a Gen Y hipster — although it felt that way. I was tremendously fortunate to meet amazing men and women of all ages who had impressive resumes and interesting stories.

The one unifying theme? Everyone in attendance was passionate about technology, mobile devices and digital media.

It was a fun scene. I couldn’t help but…

According to the SHRM Leading Indicators of National Employment (LINE) Report for March 2012, the hiring rate will rise slightly in manufacturing, reaching the highest rate since 2006, yet the hiring rate will fall in the service sector. A net of 50.5 percent of manufacturers will add jobs in March and the sector’s index will rise in a year over year basis by a net of 4.8 points.

In the service…

In case you missed it, here’s what happened on We Know Next.

Mike Aitken, SHRM’s Vice President of Government Affairs, shares his thoughts on key issues surrounding the 2012 political landscape as they relate to HR and business professionals.

Meanwhile, U.S. military veterans are being hired, yet not targeted in recruitment, according to a recent military poll conducted by SHRM.

We saw text messages resurface in employment law litigation, reminding employees to be aware of the need for appropriate professional relationships in…

In an attempt to circumvent the keyword-laden resume game, job seekers are taking a more creative approach to captivating recruiters. Rather than dropping the resume altogether, the trend seems to be a breakaway from over-automation and a return to the heart of what makes a good hire. Laurie Barkman of The Resumator explains, “We’ve been told for a long time, ‘This is how you do recruiting, and here’s what matters,’ but organizations are now more interested in interactions that help to determine a good fit.…

French novelist Alphonse Karr once wrote, “the more things change, the more things stay the same,” which might explain why this same phrase shows up in Zeppelin lyrics a century after Karr’s death.     And nowhere is that more true than HR, which as a function seems often to be the business equivalent of the Amish – a quaintly anachronistic sect who shuns modern technology (with the possible exception of cute cat videos on YouTube, which, as we all know, really never gets old).   This is probably why we’re still talking about…