Blog: LivePerson – A culture-based approach to recruitment
This is my tweet (see below) from Thursday afternoon after I got a glimpse of LivePerson’s campaign to find a new CTO. “A CTO with heart” does not quite fit into my mind when I think of a CTO. I know numerous Chief Technical Officers, but I would be hard pressed to figure out which […]
Case Study: JT bases leadership development scheme on ideal boss profile
JT (formerly known as Jersey Telecom) has introduced a leadership development initiative centred on an aspirational profile of a senior manager in a bid to encourage proactive organisational change. The company undertook a rebranding exercise last year as part of a new five-year growth strategy intended to take it beyond its civil service background, beyond […]
Blog: Three tips for enhancing your online job pages
With a background in web design, I’ve heard it all. "Make my site pop!" "I want this page to really grab people’s attention." "Can you make the logo smaller?" "I want one of those rotating .gifs, and it’ll ideally be on fire" (mostly joking about that one). Anyone with a background in any sort of […]
Case Study: Pernod Ricard standardises global talent management
Pernod Ricard is in the process of standardising its talent management processes across the world in a bid to support business growth more effectively. The multinational supplier of wines and spirits plans to consolidate a fragmented assortment of talent management procedures and applications into a single Software-as-a-Service-based system from Taleo that will operate across its […]
UK to be 450,000 technicians short by 2020
An 18-month review has revealed that the UK will be 450,000 skilled technicians short by 2020 unless action is taken to remedy the situation immediately. Technicians, who are skilled to a professional level, will be needed to fill roles in engineering, science, medicine and other technical occupations, but there are currently only 1,500 people who […]
Talent Spot: Jo Webb, talent director at The Marketing Store
“It’s right I’ve ended up in HR. I’ve found my home,” says Jo Webb, talent director at brand consultancy, The Marketing Store. But it took her a lot of travelling and a few career false starts before she found it. Like so many graduates before her, Webb went travelling when she finished her studies. But […]
European eSkills Week: Europe to be 700,000 ICT professionals short by 2015
Convinced ICT is a strong part of our national economy and a great destination for young people? Brussels agrees – hence its European e-Skills Week campaign, which is trying to accentuate the positive in terms of the sector. Kicking off in Brussels yesterday, the closing event will take place on 30 March in Copenhagen. […]
Diplomat and influencer: The emerging ‘head of talent’ role
A perfect storm is brewing in the talent management arena due to the cumulative impact of demographics and global mobility challenges. The problem is that, despite record levels of unemployment and ongoing economic difficulties, there is still a shortage of leaders, and specifically, people with the skills required to help large companies meet the demands […]
National Science and Engineering Week: Plugging the specialist skills gap
It is unsurprising that the ongoing spectre of a double-dip recession and sovereign debt crisis continue to spook world markets. As such, one could be forgiven for thinking that Europe is something of a black hole when it comes to employment opportunities these days. To make matters worse, the European Union’s controversial Agency Worker […]
International Women’s Day: Only 19% of IT professionals are female
Despite years of IT industry initiatives to boost female representation, a mere 19% of technology professionals are currently women. A poll conducted among 2,000 respondents by recruitment website, The IT Job Board, to coincide with International Women’s Day, indicated that the figure had risen 3% on last year, but it also pointed out that half […]
International Women’s Day: Making gender diversity a workplace reality
The aim of International Women’s Day today is to inspire women, celebrate their achievements and find ways of creating brighter and more rewarding opportunities for future generations. But in terms of the workplace, just how far has gender diversity actually come? The media is full of reports about the need for greater female equality. […]
Blog: Spotting hidden talent
Recognise This! – Every organisation has critical, but hidden, talent. Finding and utilizing them creates significant competitive advantage. The U.S. sports world has been abuzz with “Linsanity” – hype about the excellent performance of Jeremy Lin, an NBA-league basketball player who came off the bench and immediately displayed stunning numbers. Regular readers of my […]
Cloud becomes the default for SAP’s HR applications
Since purchasing SuccessFactors, SAP has designated Software-as-a-Service as its default mode of delivering HR applications. The enterprise applications vendor has already moved its talent management software into maintenance mode, although it still plans to support the modules until 2020. It also intends to provide customers with selective enhancements over that period. As for its […]
Blog: The necessity of developing management resilience
The resilience theme is continuing in my blog posts, this time due to a recent news item I’ve read. According to the latest Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development‘s (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey, UK middle managers are feeling the squeeze as a result of the economic downturn. The results highlighted that almost half […]
CEO Insight: LinkedIn’s Jeff Weiner on the site’s recruitment ambitions
In the wake of much consolidation in the HR applications space, it is easy to lose sight of the fact that the world’s most popular HR system in the space of online recruitment anyway is, in fact, LinkedIn. And if LinkedIn chief executive Jeff Weiner gets his way, this is something that more and more […]
Analysis: Oracle’s Taleo buy marks tipping point in talent management sector
Oracle’s takeover of Taleo yesterday could mark a tipping point in the evolution of the talent management software sector, analysts believe. The story so far is this: SAP buys Software-as-a-Service vendor, SuccessFactors, to beef up its next generation human capital and talent management offerings. Newcomer Workday, which is also an SaaS provider, readies itself […]
Blog: Why learning should never end
I will be glad when this is over. I will never have to study again". That was a statement from my daughter during finals week in her senior year of college at Penn State. She sounded worn out. As I listened on the other end of the phone, I looked at my watch and […]
Blog: Breaking the taboo – How to tackle redundancy and redeployment
Redundancy and redeployment are taboo words which the HR industry is trying to avoid at the moment, but there are times when, unfortunately, we have to face these processes. Obviously this is not something which we take lightly, and alternatives should be considered in the first instance. But if you do have to take the […]
Book Review: Assessment centres and global talent management by Nigel Povah and George Thornton
Although an important book, it was the most difficult I have ever had to read for review. It took the format of a collection of articles and papers by some 45 contributors, most of whom are psychologists and who drew from their wide experience of working in assessment centres across five continents. But this […]
Blog: Employee stress equals financial risk
Recognise This! –If employee retention is important enough to list as a substantial risk factor to meeting financial expectations, then it should be important enough to find ways to reduce employee stress. I just read an interesting story in Forbes, which noted that a common phrase included in the risk factors on 10-Q forms for […]
