Recruiting: What makes a perfect job? Applicants answer

When people were asked what’s required for a job to be “perfect” — meaning, the one they’d choose over others — five common answers popped up.

Good pay, not surprisingly is the most important element, ranked as necessary by 81% of respondents, according to a recent survey by Randstad. Also high on people’s lists were “interesting, challenging work” (66%) and health insurance (65%).

Also important to many people are free lunch (56%) and a lifetime gym membership (40%).

One item that doesn’t factor into most employees’ vision of a perfect job: corporate social responsibility, which was was only list by 32% of respondents.

Source: http://www.hrmorning.com/recruiting-what-makes-a-perfect-job-applicants-answer/

The sought-after skill that actually hurts productivity

Your managers probably think it’s great that employees can juggle several things at the same and still get their work done. But a new study says they should hold their applause.

Many employees, especially younger ones, see no problem with listening to an iPod, reading e-mail and browsing the Web while working. Managers may call it time-wasting, but the employees refer to it as multitasking.

Turns out that multitasking might be horrible for productivity.

That’s the word from a recent study out of Stanford University. Researchers had students fill out a questionnaire asking them how many tasks they usually perform simultaneously, then observed them taking three cognitive tests. They found that multitaskers:

were much more easily distracted than others
had more trouble remembering certain things, and
were even worse than others at switching from one task to another.

That’s bad news for many departments these days, when over-taxed employees could try to use multitasking as a way to get all their work done.

But as this study shows, that strategy could backfire — and that’s before you even factor in all those non-work distractions, which can only multiply the problem.

Bottom line: Multitasking may not be the efficiency answer or desirable skill we all thought it was. Managers might want to recommend staffers get into the habit of focusing on one job at a time.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/hrmorning/~3/3izsQCFe9o0/

Survey: Staffing Firms to See Slight Uptick in Permanent Placements

The use of staffing firms for permanent placements is expected to increase in the 4th quarter compared to more cautious expectations over the last three months, according to CareerBuilder’s quarterly Staffing Supply and Demand Outlook, which tracks current and projected use of staffing firms by employers and job candidates.

Nearly 15% of hiring managers expect to use a staffing firm in the 4th quarter, compared to only 13% in the 3rd quarter.

Just over 10% of hiring managers expect to use a staffing or recruiting firm to help them search for permanent employees in the 4th quarter, compared to only 9% during the 3rd quarter. Hiring managers at companies between 20 and 99 employees showed the largest gain, increasing by nearly 1.5 percentage points compared to last quarter.

More than 7% of hiring managers and HR professionals expect to use a staffing firm to help fill temporary or contract positions in the upcoming quarter, up slightly from 6% last quarter.

Turning Tides?

So is the market turning? Will you “catch the wave” and be ready?

Here’s an idea for one potential way to make more money in 2010…join industry trainer Mike Ramer and PR expert Susan Young in a new webinar on social networking and media strategies. They will share insider secrets, tested strategies, and effective tools for today’s market. The webinar will be offered on your choice of two dates, either Friday, December 4 or Thursday, December 10. For more information on this webinar, approved by NAPS, visit www.prtoolbox.net/Recruiting_PR_Teleseminar.htm.

Source: http://www.fordyceletter.com/2009/11/10/survey-staffing-firms-to-see-slight-upti