HRWatchSM HR's biggest asset If you are having difficulty seeing this mail or images in it, you can view it in your Web browser. Volume 9, Issue 7      In This Issue:   Top 10 job search & interview mistakes [out-going employees should avoid]   How assertive are you?   Your HR career: Develop the 3 business skills that CEOs want most   Self-audit checklist: Illegal content in job applications   No bucks for new benefits? Consider these freebies   Better heed Ledbetter: Audit pay policies [now] to ensure equal pay   The latest in e-mail tracking and notification technology   Could your employees be corporate thieves?   House panel approves 401(k) transparency bill   Mediating employee concerns   Filling the HR leadership development void   Tapping Top Talent in a Downturn   Personality profiles: Valuable or not?   SHRM, Democrats tangle over paid sick days bill   Our CFO is granting unequal pay and forgoing performance reviews. How do I persuade him to rethink this dangerous precedent?   Eleven ways to boost your energy Top 10 job search and interview mistakes your out-going employees should avoid    Winning Over an Interviewer With the national unemployment rate at 9.4 percent, and in the double digits in more than 100 U.S. metropolitan areas, it's important not to make a job-search or interview mistake, according to OI Partners, a global career transition and coaching firm. You might want to pass along that advice to employees you've let go. "Employers are being inundated with resumes and applicants, and competition for jobs is fierce. You only get one chance to make a good first impression in a normal job market. But in today's economy, you need to be certain you are doing everything perfectly—from the beginning of your job search to the interview and through to following up," says Tim Schoonover, chairman of OI Partners. OI Partners cautions job-seekers to beware of committing any of the following Top 10 Job Search and Interview Mistakes:... Read the article.  Back to top How assertive are you? 18 questions test your ability to be positively persuasive Summer staff get-togethers for every budget Giving employees critical feedback, negotiating with vendors, sticking up for your people (or your budget)—they’re all communications situations that require a certain amount of assertiveness. Some HR pros are naturally assertive; others may need to learn to be more assertive. The payoff can be significant: When people understand exactly what you’re saying or asking, you’re far more likely to get what you need. These 18 questions, developed by psychologist and business consultant Judith Tingley, can help you pinpoint areas of weakness in your ability to express yourself. Use your results to figure out where you can improve... Read the article.  Back to top Your HR career: Develop the 3 business skills that CEOs want most How strategic are you? An 8-question test Let’s say that one day the CEO or CFO asks you to look into outsourcing key HR functions to cut costs. He wants a proposal by next week. But you lack the business skills to negotiate and manage contracts or oversee relationships with vendors. Realizing this, the CFO then takes the helm on the project and your strategic influence takes a major hit. This isn’t an isolated case. More than ever, top execs are seeking HR professionals with business skills to help shape organizational strategy... Read the article.  Back to top Self-audit checklist: Illegal content in job applications 5 strategies for managing teleworkers Your job application may be a lawsuit waiting to happen if it includes questions asking about potentially discriminatory topics. What are the "hands-off" questions? Use our Job Applications self-audit to find out whether you're in trouble or in the clear... Read the article.  Back to top No bucks for new benefits? Consider these freebies Stretch your budget with 5 benefits-on-a-shoestring tactics You might not be able to pay for additional benefits during a recession, but some organizations are finding ways to plump their menu of perks at no cost. Here are some practical, easy-to-implement ideas for you to try:... Read the article.  Back to top Better heed Ledbetter: Audit pay policies [now] to ensure equal pay 10 ways to stay out of legal trouble while trimming staff THE LAW: Several federal employment laws bar discrimination in employee pay and benefits. Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination based on race, creed, color, gender, national origin, or religion. Congress also passed the Equal Pay Act, which reaffirms equal pay for equal work for men and women. The Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) of 1967 protects workers age 40 or older. Fearing employers might attempt to nudge or even push older workers out the door, Congress passed the ADEA to outlaw policies that give older workers less favorable pay and benefits than their younger counterparts. Congress has also consistently ruled employers may not pay disabled workers less than other workers performing the same work even if those workers require reasonable accommodations. The Rehabilitation Act holds government employers and government contractors accountable for discrimination against disabled workers. In 1990, Congress expanded these protections to private-sector workers when it passed the ADA. WHAT’S NEW: On Jan. 29, President Obama signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009 into law. Under the Ledbetter Act, each paycheck that unfairly pays a worker less than it should is a discriminatory act. That fresh discriminatory act gives the worker a fresh 180-day period (300 days in some states) to file a charge of discrimination with the EEOC. Congress passed the Ledbetter Act in response to a 2007 Supreme Court decision in which... Read the article.  Back to top Make sure your message got through: The latest in e-mail tracking and notification technology    Up ‘shift’: 9 tricks to turbocharge your computer skills I’m sure everybody at some time has experienced the frustration of sending an important email and wondered if it was actually received, read, forwarded or simply deleted. Sure, there are some rudimentary capabilities within Outlook that may slightly ease your concerns, but what if there were flexible and easy-to-use software applications that could really give you insight into what was occurring with that ever so critical email? What if you could determine not only if your email was received, but you could also receive a notification alerting you at the exact moment it was actually read? Wow, that certainly would make the timing of that follow-up call or email easier to determine! Believe it or not, there are a number of technology solutions currently on the market that can provide you with this information, as well as... Read the article.  Back to top Could your employees be corporate thieves? Employers, workers clash over social networks Increased layoffs heighten risk of information theft. Corporate information is at a heightened risk as mass layoffs continue to leave disgruntled former employees desperate for money on top of diminished company investment in safeguarding personal data. These factors could cause massive destruction, whether with malicious intent or not, to company reputations and bank accounts. "Layoffs and mergers create new challenges when it comes to keeping data secure.To make matters worse, tightening budgets are causing many organizations to cut back on security spending just when they really need to be upping the ante in terms of data security measures," presses Jeremiah Miller, director of the Investigation and Restoration Center at Tennessee-based Kroll Fraud Solutions. Despite the growing risk, many employers still insist that a firewall makes them immune from outside threats and inside negligence. [EBN compiled the top eight tips from industry experts and concerned HR/benefits pros on minimizing information theft risk and what to do if the worst comes to pass.]... Read the article.  Back to top House panel approves 401(k) transparency bill A bill advanced by a House subcommittee seeks to make 401(k) participants more aware of plan fees and, hopefully, rebuild confidence in their retirement programs. The 401(k) Fair Disclosure for Retirement Security Act (H.R. 1984) will aid employees in managing their investment options by giving them access to information previously sealed or difficult to obtain. Action is heating up on Capitol Hill because, despite recent market setbacks, two-thirds of workers with retirement plans still rely on 401(k)s as their primary retirement safety net and need help understanding their returns. "When a worker spends most of their lifetime investing their hard-earned dollars into an account for their retirement and later discover they were being charged fees that contributed to a significant loss of their nest egg, they understandably lose trust and confidence in the system,” said U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews... Read the article.  Back to top Mediating employee concerns The EEOC's mediation process is not utilized enough by employers -- for a variety of reasons. But they should think twice. Even when it doesn't result in a settlement of the worker's charges, it can result in valuable insight into the underlying workplace problems that gave rise to the complaint. For employers who are not in the know, mediation can be seen as a bad word. However, employers facing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints may want to consider mediation, which can save everyone time -- and money! This month, we explore the ins and outs of EEOC mediation as well as the hidden benefits to mediation that employers should know... Read the article.  Back to top Filling the HR leadership development void Every industry has its version of the old adage, the cobbler's children never have shoes. For talent acquisition, this plays out when the function of an organization tasked with supporting and cultivating leaders fails to provide development opportunities for members of its own ranks. Unfortunately, within recruiting and staffing, promotion often is based on tenure rather than demonstrated leadership prowess. But acquisition of a new title doesn't necessarily confer the skills and abilities needed to lead effectively. The qualities that produce a good salesperson don't automatically make a good manager of salespeople. When employees are promoted to higher roles within an organization, they often don't receive the training and development needed to successfully fulfill their new roles as recruiting managers, directors, HR managers or directors of talent management. Knowing how to navigate the upper echelons of recruiting and staffing management requires... Read the article.  Back to top Tapping Top Talent in a Downturn Reluctant Relocation: Recruiting in a Soft Market HR leaders often are faced with the task of downsizing in one business unit and recruiting highly skilled professionals in another. They have to cope with an exponential increase in applicants for a much smaller number of open jobs, maintain morale in constantly shifting external and internal environments and help their organizations retain key employees. This must be done with reduced recruiting and HR staffs and slashed budgets, at a time when brand image is a critical success factor. Today, more than ever, organizations must recruit and select the best talent where they have openings and upgrade talent in areas where it will advantage the business. Change in the business environment has happened so fast, many organizations have been slow to adjust and take action. In the current economic climate, it is necessary to take a step back and evaluate workforce plans, as well as talent acquisition processes and enabling technology and determine a strategy that works for the organization in the new recruiting reality... Read the article.  Back to top Personality profiles: Valuable or not? Personality assessments take a beating from skeptics and supporters. The detractors make a case for fallacies and dangers. Notably, Annie Murphy Paul's 2004 book, Cult of Personality: How Personality Tests Are Leading Us to Miseducate Our Children, Mismanage Our Companies, and Misunderstand Ourselves, challenged their prevailing use: "They cannot specify how we will act in particular roles or situations. They cannot predict how we will change over time." This is partially true. In many cases, personality inventories are presumed to predict comprehensive performance when they can't. The other beating comes from the most devout acolytes of personality assessments: the talent managers who misuse the tools. As management demands faster results, HR often is seduced by marketing promises and distributor claims. Myriad management consultant Web sites tout amazing solutions and advertisements for instruments such as Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI), Hogan HPI or FIRO-B and DiSC. Personality instruments are good at predicting two main categories... Read the article.  Back to top SHRM, Democrats tangle over paid sick days bill The HR organization’s China Miner Gorman warns that the legislation mandating paid sick days would foist new requirements on employers that could turn out to be as difficult and costly to administer as the Family and Medical Leave Act—whose 200 pages of regulations she held up at the hearing. After the first hearing in its legislative history, it’s unclear whether a bill that would require companies to offer paid sick days will take a path toward reconciliation or strife between business and advocacy groups. But at a June 11 meeting of a House Education and Labor subcommittee, the Healthy Families Act created tension between the panel’s Democratic chairwoman and an official of the Society for Human Resource Management. Rep. Lynn Woolsey, D-California, said the bill, which would allow employees to accrue up to seven paid sick days each year, would provide economic security for workers who cannot take time off for themselves or loved ones during an illness because they are afraid of losing their jobs. Woolsey asserted that... Read the article.  Back to top Our CFO is granting unequal pay and forgoing performance reviews. How do I persuade him to rethink this dangerous precedent? You must make a case for how HR can help manage cost by being in charge of salary administration. Q Dear Workforce: My new CFO tells me to have “nothing to do with salary administration because it’s not an HR function.” I told him it definitely is an HR function, but he disagrees. His assertion surprises me. My belief is that HR and salary/compensation are an integral part of HR responsibilities. He is now giving raises and unequal pay treatment for various favorites, with no performance reviews to back it up. I am concerned and am not certain what to do. What advice do you have? —Stymied by the Boss, VP of HR, services, Westlake Village, California A Dear Stymied: It is certainly true that salary administration is included in the HR function in most organizations. However, I have a feeling your boss is not going to be convinced by such an argument. Since he is a CFO, I think your best bet is to make a case for how HR can help manage cost by participating in a very direct way in salary administration. There are two arguments you can use to do this... Read the article.  Back to top Eleven ways to boost your energy In Depth: 11 Ways To Boost Your Energy How to use nutrition, exercise, and stress relief to refuel your body and energize your mind. Fatigue is one of the biggest problems of modern life. But most of us deal with the problem in all the wrong ways. We want a magic bullet--an energy bar or supplement or tonic that will make us feel like a superhero. So is there an easy and quick solution to our energy crisis? Yes and no... Read the article.  Back to top Forward to a Friend: Do you have a friend that would like to receive HRWatchsm? Perhaps you know a peer within your organization, or associate at a partner company that would benefit from applying to receive this publication. Inviting a friend to experience the benefits of joining the BusinessWatch Network is easy! Just FW: this newsletter to the person you know who may have an interest and ask them to click here http://www.businesswatchnetwork.com Your friend will be glad you did! If at any time you would like to unsubscribe from HRWatchsm simply change your status, or send a letter requesting opt-off to: The BusinessWatch Network Privacy Mailbox, 1321, Marblehead, MA. 01945 DISCLAIMER: HRWatchsm and the BusinessWatch Networksm are service marks of DMS. All other trademarks or service marks contained in this email are the property of their respective owners. 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