Romance is in the air today. Love is everywhere. Just look around the office. Those two in the lunchroom giggling like lovestruck teenagers very probably are. Love struck, that is.

Just in time for Valentine’s Day CareerBuilder confirms what you’ve been suspecting all along: your office mates are mating up. If the survey is to be believed — and why not?; they surveyed 7,780 people who all can’t be pranking us — then almost 4 in 10 workers have dated someone they met on the job.

Awkward, if one of them thinks it’s going places and the other one … you get the idea. Fortunately, 31% of those relationships lead to marriage. (Which is no guarantee things won’t get even more awkward a little down the road. But this is the season for love, so ignore our dose of ugly reality. Or read on to the part where we tell you how Challenger, Gray, & Christmas snuck in a warning about office violence.)

Now here’s a stat that will give the HR people out there all kinds of fits.  CareerBuilder says 18% of office dating is between boss and direct report. Women were more likely to date up than men, 35% to 23% respectively.

Of the industries singled out in the report you just had to know that hospitality by far (47%) has the most co-dating co-workers. (They are a hospitable lot after all.)

Healthcare also made the top five list, which, considering how many parents hoped their offspring would marry a doctor, is no surprise. But financial services (40%)? And transportation and utilities (43%t)? And IT (40%)? These also made the top five? Really?

Now moving on to that warning about workers pulling a Valentine’s Day Massacre  from Challenger, Gray & Christmas (hereinafter CG&C). “Some companies are facing an entirely different problem: their workers have lost that loving feeling and the consequences can be dire,” reads a press release sent by the global outplacement firm.

“Often in situations where managers are aware of a problem between two or more coworkers, they merely look the other way, letting the employees work it out amongst themselves.  This may work in some situations, but in others, this hands-off approach can have disastrous results,” says CG&C CEO John Challenger.

The press release offers a whole bunch of ideas to increase civility and reduce animosity. Missing from the list, and very conspicuously absent considering Valentine’s Day started this whole thing, is the free supply of large amounts of chocolate that no civil office should be without.

Have you considered becoming a recruiter? Hardly anyone does when they begin their working life. But as so many who enter the profession from other careers have discovered, recruiting can be enormously rewarding.

Take Tricia Trimble. She graduated with a degree in accounting and went to work for one of the leading accounting and management consulting firms in the world. She earned her CPAthere before moving on to Sony.

Her career was on the way up, but Tricia found that being a corporate auditor just wasn’t what she wanted. Meeting with a recruiter, she found herself drawn to the profession.

“I thought the job sounded exciting and much more in line with my personality, so I took a chance and tried it out. It was the best career move I ever made!”

As anyone working in the field will tell you, they didn’t set out to be a recruiter. Some came to recruiting the way Tricia Trimble did. Others recruited as part of their other duties only to discover they had a knack for matching people to jobs. Still others simply fell into the job and never left.

All, however, share the same love of working with people. Not only do recruiters take satisfaction from helping employers find great people and helping great people find great jobs, but committed recruiters can easily earn into the six-figures. The most recent survey– now three years old – found half of all recruiters earn more than $55,000.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics says that the need for recruiters will grow overall by 28% in the next few years. Some industries — computers, healthcare, and technical and engineering, for example — will grow by 50% and more.

Because recruiting is not a skill taught in most schools, businesses with strong recruiting department, and especially search and staffing  firms like us here at Green Key, all offer training programs. FPC Personnel Consultants, an executive search firm, has an enlightening video look at what it takes to be a successful recruiter. As the video explains, regardless of what they did before, the people who become successful share four traits:

• They work hard;
• Spend much of their day talking with candidates and employers;
• They enjoy working independtly;
• They are willing to learn from others.

With so many graduating seniors facing the prospect of not finding a job in their academic field, recruiting should be on their radar, says John Kreiss, owner of a recruiting firm specializing in human resources, marketing, and business development, professionals.

“One profession,” he blogged recently, “that I would absolutely encourage new college graduates to consider, is the recruiting profession for a number of reasons.”

On his list is the sense of accomplishment from placing candidates in a new job, the earnings potential, and the new, highly marketable skills recruiters master. “One of the best skills, that recruiters obtain, is networking.  Learn how to build, and manager relationships, and position yourself to be successful over the long haul,” says Kreiss.

And, he says, recruiting offers a comfotable work / life balance, that is once new recruiters learn their craft and build their client base. “It is possible to make a very good living, and not have to be a slave to the job,” he says.

If you want to learn more about the profession and how to become a recruiter, you’ll find a number of useful sources here.

Just because you’re a reader of this blog, we have a special gift for you: An extra day next month to catch up on things.

OK, OK. Caught us. It’s leap year, so everyone will get that extra day. But hey, if you’d rather use it for fun, then stop doing stuff that only offers the illusion of working.

You know what we’re talking about. Things like checking your email every time that message icon pops up, or dropping what you’re doing to respond. Or actually reading every article on a Reply All list.

Author, business strategist, and consultant Dorie Clark has five suggestions for becoming more productive this year. These aren’t the usual time management yadda, yadda. None of those “finish one task before going on to another” kind of tips. Though, and here is a brief digression, it’s worthwhile to keep those routine efficiency tips in mind. And to actually practice what the experts preach. For instance:

• Make a daily list of key tasks and check each off when completed.
• Don’t just sort paperwork; handle it, then file it.
• Prioritize tasks. Important things first.

No less an authority on work and gens X & Y than Penelope Trunk says most multitasking reduces productivity. So, to be most productive, don’t multitask.

Now, back to Dorie Clark, whose time suck avoidance list reads like a list of secret sins. There’s the “Reading Annoying Things” ban, she proposes after confessing  to having “a dozen newspaper and magazine subscriptions, the result of alluring specials ($10 for an entire year!) and the compulsion not to miss out on crucial information.”

For your amusement, here’s a time wasting video addressing the very point Clark makes.

Her list (blogged on the Harvard Business Review, no less) provides ammunition to ignore “Mindless Traditions” and to eschew doing “Work That’s Not Worth It.”

Sure, it’s hard to break old habits, which is what makes taking Clark’s suggestion a good workplace resolution.

With 2012 mere hours old, there’s a budding sense of optimism about the coming year.

Consumer confidence is at the highest level in months. There’s a cautious willingness among employers to add staff. And the economy added jobs in every one of the 12 months through the end of November. (December 2011 numbers aren’t out yet, but they are expected to also be positive.)

CareerBuilder says one-in-four employers plans to add permanent staff this year, about the same number the job board reported for 2011. But another 11% are unsure what they’ll be doing during the year, an indication that can be read to mean that if the economy improves — as the rising consumer confidence measures suggest the country expects — then even more hiring could be coming.

Last year, hesitant employers turned to temporary workers and staffing agencies for help, before adding permanent workers. In it’s December report, the American Staffing Association reported that its staffing index has been climbing, slowly, but steadily, since February 2011. The index is now pretty much where it was at the end of last year.

That’s much the same economic picture that measures from The Conference Board and the Bureau of Labor Statistics show. At the beginning of last year, the Consumer Confidence Index was rising. It would reach a high of 72 in February, before plunging by 30 points during the year as confidence in the recovery waned.

Now, the Index has climbed almost 25 points since October. The Conference Board’s employment trends index is also on the rise, up 6.4% in November compared to the year before.

Since June, the number of new jobs being created each month has been above 100,000. It’s still a slow growth rate, but it’s a significant improvement over 2010 when six out of the 12 months showed job cuts.

“We continue to hear people say that the U.S. recovery is fragile, and that’s the wrong word,” says Michael Gapen, an economist with Barclays Capital. “It’s durable. It’s just not robust. It’s a moderate expansion.”

That’s one reason companies have been hesitant to add permanent staff. It’s also likely that employers recall that after a strong start to 2011, the recovery stalled as the financial markets began recognizing the seriousness of the European debt crises. In the first four months of 2011, some 714,000  jobs were created. Less than half that were created in the next four months.

With all that baggage causing employers to be especially cautious about hiring, Monster says temp hiring is likely to be strong well into 2012. Indeed Manpower, one of the largest staffing and temp agencies in the world, says employment in the first quarter of this year will be the most positive since 2008.

CareerBuilder’s CEO Matt Ferguson predicts a somewhat brighter employment picture for 2012 than the numbers imply.

“Historically, our surveys have shown that employers are more conservative in their predictions than actual hiring,” says Ferguson. “Barring any major economic upsets, we expect 2012 to bring a better hiring picture than 2011, especially in the second half of the year.”

If you’re in line for a bonus this month don’t expect it’s going to be any bigger than what you got last year. Half of the executives in a Robert Half survey said they anticipate that year-end bonuses will be unchanged from 2010.

Most certain of that are the executives of law firms and legal groups; 72 percent expect no change. They’re also the most pessimistic about the prospects for bigger bonuses. Only 12 percent of the surveyed leaders expect more money.

Who do you think are most optimistic? No, not petroleum executives. Robert Half only reported on some industries, mainly those in which it provides professional staffing.  It did break out the responses of one group of senior executives, and it turns out that HR professionals are the most optimistic that 2011 bonuses will be bigger.

About as many HR executives expect bigger company bonuses (42 percent) as anticipate they will be unchanged (43 percent). Only 10 percent expect smaller bonuses.

Finance and accounting executives, like the lawyers but not quite as convinced (60 percent), expect to change in bonuses this year. Unlike the lawyers, 21 percent expect more. Some of them, in that case, are going to be disappointed when they get coal instead of cash, which, according to New York comp consultants, Johnson Associates, Inc., is what Wall Street is likely to dole out.

The firm’s compensation analysis, a barometer for the financial industry, has year-end incentives, declining by an average 20 to 30 percent this year compared to 2010.

Alan Johnson, managing director of Johnson Associates, said, “The lack of economic recovery, combined with ongoing uncertainty in the world markets, and global and regional regulation are driving most financial services firms to significantly reduce the size of their bonus pools. As a result, most, but not all, professionals will receive smaller payouts this year.”

The analysis and his comments came prior to the market’s burst of enthusiasm. If the next few weeks don’t spoil the party, Wall Street firms might suddenly decide to be more generous. Either way, for most accounting and finance professionals, this year is likely to look like last year when the bonus checks get handed out.

For years the rules about which computer professionals have to be paid overtime and which are exempt have been, shall we say, confusing, if not downright odd.

If you’re a software engineer, and make at least $23,660 annually or are paid at least $27.63 hourly, you can officially be classified as exempt. But if your job is maintaining the equipment, even if you’re paid at least the same, chances are you’re an hourly worker subject to all the provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

So far, so good. The situation gets dicier if, as is the case in smaller shops, you manage the system, maintain and repair the equipment, run cable, and help the boss figure out her new smartphone. If you get paid more than the magic amounts, are you exempt from the overtime rules?

This is where a classification issue arises. The government says the employee’s  primary responsibilities determine status. In the complicated, if not uncommon scenario above, deciding what the primary responsibilities are is  anything but easy.

Just take a look at the rules as laid out by the Department of Labor and you get some idea of the challenges posed by the computer employee exemption.

This confusing state of affairs has lead to situations where system administrators have been classified in some places as exempt and in others as non-exempt. For employers who misclassify a worker, the consequences can be financially crippling when they’re forced to pay for accrued overtime.

That might seem like a windfall if you’re the beneficiary of a big check. But being classified as an hourly worker can result in compulsory shift schedules, a lack of flexibility in work hours, and, for some, a hit to their personal status.

Congress, which has a way of making matters worse, this time is actually considering legislation that would help. The Computer Professionals Update Act, introduced in the Senate in October and now wending its way through the legislative process, exempts any employee who works in any “computer or information technology occupation (including but not limited to, work related to computers, information systems, components, networks, software, hardware, databases, security, internet, intranet, or websites) as an analyst, programmer, engineer, designer, developer, administrator, or other similarly skilled worker.”

The bill has other clarifying language about the various job responsibilities and it also is much more specific about the exemption for employees who direct the work of exempt IT  people. While they were already likely to be considered exempt as managers, some confusion always existed over the role of team leaders, particularly if had performance review responsibilities.

The bill still has a long way to go before getting to a vote, which is unlikely to  come until late winter. The bill has some opposition from sysadmins. An informal, online survey, showed the large majority are salaried. Only 26 percent are hourly workers.

If the bill does pass, states can still have different rules.

With every good intention, American employers are honoring the nation’s military veterans today with promises of jobs and redoubled recruiting efforts.

From Washington, where Michelle Obama announced yesterday that corporate leaders will hire 100,000 vets and military spouses in the next two years, to a Phoenix job fair today where Chase Bank is encouraging veterans to attend its job fair, the focus has been on addressing veteran hiring. Late Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed a veterans jobs bill.

Without a doubt, it is a worthy effort. But it is also one that faces challenges very much like those plaguing the civilian employment situation. The fact of the matter is that unemployed veterans look a whole lot like unemployed civilians: young and undereducated.

A second, smaller, but still substantial problem, is the one facing Reservists and the National Guard: multiple call-ups and the legal obligation to rehire them when they return from duty, makes many employers reluctant to hire them in the first place.

Testifying before Congress four years ago, Ted Daywalt, CEO and president of Vetjobs.com and himself a veteran, said, “The military knows that returning members of the National Guard and Reserve are having civilian re-employment problems.” He told a Congressional committee back then that VetJobs received several calls a month from veterans telling how they were asked about their interest in the Guard or the reserves. “While the question is illegal, it is occurring.”

“Most disturbing,” he added, “as this trend grows, returning National Guard and Reserve personnel — the very people who have been fighting to keep the United States free — will find it harder to obtain meaningful employment equal to their education and experience.”

Little has changed, Daywalt says, since his testimony to Congress. “If you are leaving the military today,” he told me just a few months ago, “companies want to hire you, until they find out you’ve joined the Reserves or are in the Guard.” The call-ups of Reservists and the National Guard may have abated, but employers who had to endure the loss of people in key positions they couldn’t fill or, if they did, had to figure out what to do when the employee returned from service, those employers are reluctant risk it again.

That may explain why the rate of unemployment for the Guard and Reservist veterans of this century’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan was 14 percent last year. For all veterans, including the Guard and Reserves, the rate was 11.5 percent.

Under federal law, ”returning service members are to be reemployed in the job that they would have attained had they not been absent for military service, with the same seniority, status and pay, as well as other rights and benefits determined by seniority.”

Officially the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act and known by its initials, USERRA, the law is supposed to protect returning vets from being penalized for their active duty service. But, Daywalt says, small and mid-sized employers in particular have found ways to game the system, out of necessity, he adds, not malice. One of the examples he offered in our discussion was of a company where the HR department laid off workers before the acutal call-up orders were issued, thus circumventing the USERRA rules.

According to the Department of Labor, in fiscal 2010, there were 34,612 calls to the customer service center run by the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve. ESGR is typically the first place employers and veterans turn for help with the requirements of USERRA. Of those contacts, 3,202 resulted in actual cases that required mediation.

When a formal complaint is filed by a veteran, an investigation is launched, which can, though rarely does, lead to a federal prosecution. In fiscal 2010, there were 1,438 new cases; 117 were referred to the Justice Department. Five resulted in DOJ complaints.

Just this month the Justice Department settled a case against Lowe’s, which fired a National Guardsman without cause within a year of his reemployment. Lowe’s paid $45,000 to the fired veteran.

Although, as Daywalt’s Congressional testimony points out, the Guard is also subject to being called out with some frequency for natural disasters, the reemployment and discrimination problems should diminish with the reduction of overseas forces. Less tractable is the high unemployment of young veterans.

Despite what seems to be a prevalent theme that veterans can’t find jobs, the reality is that it is veterans under 25 who are having the most problems finding work.

For all veterans, regardless of age, the unemployment rate last year was 8.7 percent. For the nation, it was 8.8 percent. (The percentages are not seasonally adjusted.) But as you drill down, as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics did in a special report on veterans, it becomes obvious quickly that veterans 18-24 are faring the worst. Last year, 20.9 percent of them were unemployed. Those 25-34 had an unemployment rate of 12.6 percent.

Not to minimize the problem, but young vets aren’t much worse off than the youth population generally, especially when you consider the participation rates: more vets are in the labor force than civilians their age. The BLS data for 2010 says the unemployment rate for all 16-24 year-olds was 18.4 percent. (The data for just the 18-24 year group isn’t available. However, the BLS rates for 18-19 year olds in 2010 was 24.2, and 15.5 percent for 20-24 year olds.)

Says the BLS, “In general, Gulf War-era II (Iraq and Afghanistan this century) veterans had unemployment rates that were not statistically different from those of non-veterans of the same gender and age group.” The BlS might also have added educational level to that statement.

Gulf War II vets older than 24 had an overall unemployment rate of 10.2 percent. Those with only a high school degree had a rate of 12.7 percent and about the same for those with some college. However, only 3.9 percent of vets with a college degree were unemployed.  Last month, 4.2 percent of the U.S. labor force with a college degree was unemployed. (The number of vets who didn’t graduate high school was too small to include.)

Thursday, the U.S. Senate approved a bill giving employers tax breaks for hiring disabled and unemployed veterans, and, of particular importance to younger veterans,  providing education and job training benefits.

Credit the Chinese for coming up with the latest trend in recruiting: The micro-resume.

Not those qualifications on a business card that made the rounds of networking events a few years ago, but a resume reduced to 140 characters.

Does your workspace look like something out of a reality TV show? Are you forever telling colleagues who come looking for a report, “It’s in here somewhere?” Have you ever stacked stuff under your desk just so you could have a place to work?

Then you’re a hoarder. You’re among the hundreds of thousands, make that millions, of American workers who have so much stuff on their desk they’re in danger of a visit from the EPA.

And if we were to dig deep into the piles, what would we find? Six percent of the workforce says somewhere in their collection there are papers or files 10 years old.  More than a third — 36% — have have files a year old.

How prevalent is office hoarding? According to the CareerBuilder survey that unearthed these details, a  third of America’s workforce admits to hoarding. More are guilty of hoarding, but like the souls on the A&E series, they’re in denial about their “collection.” What else can you think when 38% of workers admit having so much stuff it covers more than half their desk.

Besides making it hard to find things, a messy workspace can hurt your chances at promotion. Bosses may call your office domain cluttery, but nearly 40% of them say it reflects poorly on you. For 28% of the bosses, a messy work space means they are less likely to promote you.

What’s to be done? First, as any time management professional will tell you, handle paper once. Deal with it when it comes in. Ditto for emails. Clean up your inbox with a single stroke of that delete key.

Next, tackle the stacks. Anything you haven’t touched in more than six months gets tossed. Now. (We are being generous here, some would say anything more than a few weeks.) If you just can’t bear to part with it, then file it. If you can’t figure out where to file it as, toss it. Chances are (about the same chance as getting hit by a meteorite) that should you go looking for it someday, you’ll never remember where you filed it.

Now go through the remaining stacks and toss anything that exists digitally, or that exists in a file elsewhere, or that you can get from the hoarder a few cubicles away.

Need more help? The Internet is full of tips and advice on getting organized, and staying decluttered.

One more thing: When we say toss, we do mean into the recycling bin.

“Tell me about a mistake you made and what you learned from it?” Who hasn’t been asked that question, or some version, in an interview? The always amusing, sometimes contrarian, but invariably insightful Tim Sackett explains why his biggest mistake was telling someone to leave a job they love for more money and a better title. “You can’t even come close to measuring the value of truly liking the job you have,” he says.  Tim Sackett Project