Social media sites give you insight into a candidate’s job history and interests, and LinkedIn can even provide you with detailed information about the candidate’s professional experience and education. It’s not easy to find such detailed information through the traditional recruiting channels. This makes LinkedIn a great source for reaching passives. Users can post a profile without announcing that they are looking for a job, and recruiters can then seek out these candidates as well as actively searching candidates.

A recent Jobvite survey found that 64% of organizations have hired through social networks in 2011, compared to the 58% that hired through social networks in 2010. In addition, 55% will increase their budget for social recruiting, and only 16% will spend more on job boards[3].

In addition to simply posting jobs, companies can engage job-seekers and passive candidates on social media sites through information. Companies can start discussions, provide job-hunting hints, or provide information about a particular industry.

Other components of recruiting will continue to play a role; however a social media program needs to fit with a firm’s overall marketing strategy. Companies need to communicate their goals and message to their specific target audience, and social media provides a perfect platform to do this. For more information and tips about social media recruiting, feel free to contact CWS.

[1] ERE.net http://www.ere.net/2011/07/15/save-your-cold-calls-use-social-media-and-go-where-your-candidates-already-are/
[2] Johnson, Craig. Connect with Candidates. Staffing Industry Review. XVI.8

[3] ERE.net, Jobvite, http://www.ere.net/2011/07/12/more-employers-than-ever-recruit-on-social-networks/

Many companies are willing to admit that their most important resource is their people, but few are willing to put this belief in practice and fully integrate their Human Resources strategy with their business strategy. Aberdeen found that 54% of Best-in-Class organizations had aligned employee goals and development activities with business priorities in 2008. This amounts to only a small percentage of all companies; however it displays that aligning the human element with business goals results in overall success.

The good news is that this is changing. The 2009 Aberdeen HR Executive’s agenda report found that 75% of executives surveyed indicated that HR had become more or significantly more strategic over a two year period.

By the same study, Aberdeen found that that economic instability and uncertainty posed by the economic downturn were their biggest pressures for best in class HR executives. In order to overcome these pressures, HR executives need to align their Human capital management priorities with the overall business goals. The study found that Best-in-Class organizations implemented programs that aligned the workforce with organizational objectives. In order to do this, they must collaborate with business managers to understand business success criteria.

HR needs to integrate with business managers in order to determine the best HR strategy in order to have the necessary resources for strong business results. This includes full time hires, and contract and temporary workers. Contract and temporary workers are often highly skilled and can be useful to an organization when specific skills are needed for a particular project, but these skills will not be needed in the long term. During difficult economic times, this is one of the most effective ways for an organization to gain the necessary skills without compromising costs.

HR is one of the most important departments in the organization, because HR provides the human capital that the business rests upon. HR needs to be integrated into the overall business strategy so that businesses can acquire the full time and contract staff that they need.

For more information about how to implement an MSP as part of your Human Resources strategy, click here or contact:

US News reported that since the end of the recession, 54% of new jobs in the USA have been temp work. This statistic comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which also indicated that roughly one in every 50 Americans held a temporary or contingent position as of the end of October.

While you may think that these trends are reflective of the uncertain economy, and that employers are hiring temporary labour because they are unsure that they will have the resources to hire full time staff, you may not be seeing the whole picture. The uncertainty in the economy is certainly driving employers to hire temporary or contract workers; however many employers are beginning to see that their contingent workforce allows them to be agile in the marketplace. They can hire highly skilled workers for specific projects, and when the project is over, they are not forced to find other tasks and roles for these individuals. US News reported that a survey issued by the consulting firm McKinsey 58% of employers said that they plan to hire more “part-time, contract, and temporary workers” over the next five years.

Labour market experts are also saying that a fundamental shift is taking place in the workforce, as temporary and contract workers can now be found across all industries and job functions. Before, temporary and contract labour was primarily limited to manufacturing, construction, clerical and other relatively low paid job functions. However, now contract workers can be found in Information Technology, Engineering, Accounting, Health Care and many other industries.

People are turning to contract work for various reasons. Some people have been laid off, and find that temporary and contract work is the best way to gain income while searching for full time work, and many are finding that contract work often leads to full time positions at those companies. Many find that they prefer the freedom and flexibility of contract work. They are able to choose when and how much they work, and they are able to be their own boss. Still others have found that they would like to work after retirement; however they want to be able to choose their own projects and how much they work. Contract work provides the perfect balance for those looking to work after retirement.

Employers that traditionally had 100% full time core workforce are now looking to migrate to an 80% full time, 20% contingent core workforce. The 20% are usually perpetual contractors, with no expectation to move these people back to full time. This gives employers the flexibility to adjust to changing business demands. However, employers need to be wary of the legal and tax risks that come with employing contract workers, especially on a long-term basis. The laws around contingent workers are complex, and many organizations do not have the necessary resources or competencies to manage these workers in house. For that reason, many employers are also using an MSP provider in order to mitigate risk and save money.

For more information about how your organization can employ contract workers and benefit from an MSP, click here or contact:

SimplicityVMS is unique because it is the most configurable, and it has the fastest implementation time of any VMS on the market. This system can easily be customized to suit customer needs, and, because implementation time is greatly reduced, clients save money. SimplicityVMS is also white-labelled, allowing clients to implement their own brand and create a common user-interface. SimplicityVMS is a low cost solution that provides Small to Medium size businesses with the necessary tools to manage their contract labour.

Spend under management is a term that refers to the contingent labour spend that is managed by a technology or alternative service. Spend under management grew from $66 billion in 2009 to $83.7 billion in 2010, which was a 26.8% increase. This reflects the strong growth that providers have experienced. Staffing Industry Analysts’ research shows that companies of all sizes, in almost every industry, are using MSP and VMS providers to manage their contingent workforce programs, and the penetration of MSP and VMS spend in the staffing market continues to increase. The report covers spend across the globe including the U.S., Germany, the Netherlands and France as developing markets such as Brazil, India or China; some of the largest staffing markets in the world.

Staffing Industry Analysts’ VMS and MSP 2011 Competitive Landscape report reveals that organizations are recognizing that they need to employ VMS and MSP programs in order to manage their contingent workforce and remain competitive. SimplicityVMS can give organizations the management tools they require to gain an advantage.