Recruiting

Microvolunteerism, designed to let employees help out a little here and a little there via phone or computer, appears to be a win-win for all involved -- so long as it's managed properly.

Jeanne Meister pointed to the death of the resume in her July 23, 2012 piece for Forbes. "Forget the resume," she said, "today, employers pay more attention to candidates' web presence . . .."

Though employers have had a few months now to become familiar with the U.S. Equal Employment Occupation Commission's guidance on the use of criminal background checks, questions and confusion about how best to respond have only grown.

As a journalist who has written for both a glossy national magazine and a small-town daily local newspaper, I'm no stranger to a difficult interview. In fact, I have found that difficult interviews can sometimes uncover the most compelling information.

Years of across-the-board cuts during the recession and its aftermath have left companies' business-services departments -- such as IT, finance and procurement -- badly weakened in terms of talent and skills, says the latest HR Book of Numbers report from the Hackett Group. Even HR itself has not been spared in this regard, according to the report, titled "Cracks in the Foundation: Closing the Critical Skills Gap Undermining Business Capabilities."

A spot of good news -- for men, at least -- coming from Challenger, Gray & Christmas. According to the Chicago-based provider of executive outplacement services, the man-cession, as it has been called by some, saw employment among men plummet by more than 5.2 million between November 2007 and December 2009.

As the economy trends up, so too will companies' hiring and recruiting practices, but will they be poised and properly equipped to meet the demand?

The Internet -- along with the advent of social-media tools like LinkedIn -- have markedly changed the recruitment landscape. But the resume remains prominent for the vast majority of HR professionals and recruiters, experts say.

More and more high-school graduates who aren't attending college are feeling ill-equipped for the working world, according to a Rutgers University study.

There used to be a time in America when the term "middle manager" was an aspirational position.

Recent ethical debacles underscore the need for closer scrutiny and screening when it comes to C-suite positions.

Ability tests can be exceptional predictors of job performance for job applicants, but a recent settlement by the Department of Labor should spur employers to ensure that such tests do not adversely affect minority applicants, experts say.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention look for what people search for on Google to spot outbreaks of diseases, says one expert, while people are using Twitter to accurately predict the opening box-office revenue for movies. Take a look at how Big Data is also changing the role of HR in employment screening, recruiting and building great companies.

In reference to your March cover story, "The Feminization of HR," you must have had your head in the sand for the past 30 years. I am really astonished that HRE would publish a lead story like that when it is so obvious that the HR field is and, for the most part, has always been dominated by women. The only major change in the last 20 years is that women have started to dominate the top-level positions. And since this writing, I would guess that they dominate top spots today. 

While most HR leaders would agree those first days on a job can make or break the overall employment experience, a recent study finds orientation program for new hires lacking.

The consequences of an uneven recovery are continuing to make themselves evident. According to USA Today, recent government data that finds worker productivity fell by "the largest amount in a year" from January to March of this year.

I took issue with the sidebar entitled "White Out" that ran with your March cover story, "The Feminization of HR." You quote Atul Shah, CEO and founder of Diverse Ethics, as saying that, if HR professionals are "not from a particular culture, they are unlikely to have that sensitivity and [cultural] intelligence [that is important for HR professionals to understand and appreciate]."