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Are you an extraordinary boss?

That might as well be one of those rhetorical questions, since who would answer ‘No?’ Truth is, most of would fall into the average group. We’re pretty good at some things; not so good at others.

But business writer and sales guru Geoffrey James has a different take on what it means to be “average,” and “extraordinary.” In a recent post on Inc., James lists eight “core beliefs” of extraordinary bosses. Drawn from his years interviewing countless CEOs (including, presumably, many who are merely “average”), James paints a stark picture of the difference between average and extraordinary. Read the rest of this entry »

Attention bosses: Today is Administrative Professionals Day. Do we have to spell out what that means?

It means today is the day that bosses — and office workers supported by an admin — say thank you to the hard working administrative assistants, clerks, receptionists, support staff, and other administrative professionals for the countless tasks they handle day in and day out. Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s an unexpected finding about job interviews that makes sense once it’s explained. Narcissists do better in interviews than the rest of us.

How can it be that a trait most of us consider obnoxious can actually improve the chances of someone acing an interview?

Simple, says Peter Harms, assistant professor of management at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and a co-author of a study being published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week’s disappointing jobs report, showed  the U.S. economy added only 120,000 new non-farm jobs in March. That was a surprise to economists and labor analysts, nearly all of whom were expecting the number to be over 200,000.

It was the lowest job growth in five months, and the first time since November the number was below 200,000.Even the usually robust growth in temp jobs seems to have taken a breather in March. Temp jobs dipped by 7,500 during the month, the first time the Labor Department registered a decline in the category since last June.

But even with the blip, there were 8% more temp and contract jobs in March than a year ago. That’s well ahead of the overall jobs growth rate, which in a year-over-year comparison is just under 1.4%. Read the rest of this entry »

When new hires fail, it’s not because they don’t have the skills or the know-how. It’s attitude, says bestselling business author Mark Murphy. Of 20,000 new hires, 46% of them failed within 18 months. The reason in almost 90% of the cases had nothing to do with their ability to do the work. “The attitudinal deficits that doomed these failed hires,” he maintains, “included a lack of coachability, low levels of emotional intelligence, motivation and temperament.” To reduce the turnover of new hires, companies are using a battery of methods to find workers with the right attitude for their culture, Murphy says. One method he doesn’t mention is temp-to-hire where employers make offers to the best of their temp workers.  Forbes

That whole brouhaha about employers demanding Facebook passwords has been overblown — and not by a little. Demanding social media access from employees and potential hires and is most definitely the exception and not the rule, says attorney Eric Meyer, a labor and employment specialist. What’s more, all the articles and recent excitement about nosy employers comes, not from dozens of examples, but two dated situations involving a city government in Montana and the Maryland Department of Corrections. And why wouldn’t employers want access to employee Facebook accounts? Because it’s probably not legal, Meyer says. TLNT

Young workers prefer to live in urban areas, so they naturally gravitate to the downtowns of larger cities. What’s more, 65% of the people in the 25-34 age group first find a place they want to live, and then go look for a job.

That’s the kind of data that recruitment marketers are beginning to embrace as they develop strategies for attracting talent in an increasingly competitive marketplace. Marketing Meets Staffing addresses the importance of data, and especially demographic data in spotting workforce trends.

One critical trend, the article notes, is the mobility of the workforce, and the willingness of the most educated workers to relocate for a job. “That workers are migrating to where work is comes as no surprise. What may surprise, however, is the extent and character of the migration. Movement is occurring on an unprecedented scale and the primary driver is economic opportunity,” the article notes

Even way back in Biblical times they knew that,” Man doth not live by bread alone.” Somehow employers seem to have missed the point.

Anyone who thinks that a paycheck should be enough of a thank you is someone who has a workforce full of less than satisfied workers, many of whom would bolt if the right opportunity came along

Now we shouldn’t need a survey to alert us that offering a little praise, a thank you for a job well done, is an important ingredient for a happy crew. Yet thee are plenty of them out there saying the same thing: Workers who got recognition and praise along with a paycheck don’t typically go looking for a new job. Read the rest of this entry »

With temporary workers swelling the hiring numbers, the evidence continues to grow that this is not just a response to an uncertain economy, but a permanent shift in the American workforce. The latest word on this comes from a survey in which 69 percent of independent consultants say the flexible workforce is a permanent change in the way employers do business. Staffing Industry Analysts

With nearly one-in-seven inhabitants of planet Earth now on Facebook alone, there’s no question social media is a potent force. No surprise, then, that recruiters, employers, and job seekers — and those who think they might be interested in a new opportunity — have embraced social networking the way the last generation turned to the Sunday Help Wanted ads. Even though the actual number of hires directly attributable to social sites is small, the recruiting leaders at some of America’s largest companies say they are responsible for leading untold thousands of others hires to their door. ERE