RSSIssue 8:7 – Sunday, July 1, 2007
www.vetjobs.com
The VetJobs Early Eagle is for member employers, recruiters, friends and supporters of VetJobs.
VetJobs is exclusively sponsored and partially owned by the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States (www.vfw.org)
VetJobs is the only job board endorsed by:
The Vietnam Veterans of America (www.vva.org)
The Naval Reserve Association (www.navy-reserve.org)
The Veterans of Modern Warfare (www.modernveterans.com)
This month’s Early Eagle is sponsored by: ONREC
Contents:
1. Message from the Top
2. Be a Guest on VetJobs’ Career Call on Radio Sandy Springs
3. WEDDLE’s Survey Results
4. National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of June 27, 2007
5. Significant Events this Month in Military History
Thank you for reading the VetJobs Early Eagle employer newsletter. If you like this newsletter and what VetJobs and the VFW do to assist veterans and their family member find employment, please go to www.weddles.com/recruitpol.cfm and vote VetJobs for the WEDDLE’s User’s Choice Award!
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1. Message from the Top
Last month VetJobs exhibited at the 59th Annual Society of Human Resource Management (SHRM) Conference in Las Vegas, NV. It was a pleasure to meet old friends and make new acquaintances at the conference. I was also excited to hear how many of you are ratcheting up your hiring! Of course, being a veteran advocate, I want to see you hiring veterans! This is the seventh year that VetJobs has represented veterans at the SHRM Annual Conference. In fact, VetJobs is the longest exhibiting military job board at the SHRM conferences.
Two over riding themes seem to be in the conversations. One is the tough time many are having finding qualified candidates in this time of labor shortages. The other was compliance issues, notably the new OFCCP rules.
The labor shortage is NOT going away anytime soon. I think many employers became docile during the 2001 to 2005 hiring recession as they were able to find the candidates they needed with relative ease. The exceptions were healthcare and security clearance candidates. Everyone now recognizes that it is a seller’s market in every discipline, from unskilled labor to positions requiring extensive education and experience. Companies now have to advertise to reach the candidates they seek. And for some, getting the necessary budget is an internal challenge given how easy it was during the recession.
The OFCCP issue for human resource professionals is going to be worse than Sarbanes-Oxley is for finance and accounting professionals! Employers need to be wary of any resume database that can not provide on-demand, real time OFCCP compliance support. If you are dealing with a job board site that says it will gather the information you need for compliance and send it to you (some sites want a two week notice), beware! When the OFCCP auditors show up at your door, they want to see the data during their visit, not two weeks later. You could find your company being hit with a heavy ASSESSMENT (the politically correct way of saying fines) if you can not produce the information immediately.
Many companies used America’s Job Bank (AJB) to meet EEOC, VEVRAA and OFCCP compliance. With AJB now closed down, DOL issued a new FAQ located at: http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/ofccp/AJB%20FAQ%206-2007.htm
In this most recent FAQ, DOL/OFCCP recommends that companies take the following affirmative steps as regards veteran recruiting compliance:
-Create partnership arrangements with local and national recruiting sources for referral of qualified covered veteran applicants;
-Establish a relationship with the Local Veterans’ Employment Representative or his or her designee;
-Recruit covered student veterans at educational institutions;
-Create partnership arrangements with veterans’ service organizations to employ qualified covered veterans;
-Establish relationships with the Veterans Administration Medical Center job placement programs;
-Advertise job openings and recruit qualified covered veterans during company career days and/or related activities in the local community;
-Encourage subcontractors to seek qualified covered veterans for employment opportunities; and
-Contact the Local Veterans’ Employment Representative when new Federal contracts are obtained, or when significant hiring will occur.
In essence, the employer must show it has acted in good faith to advertise jobs to those demographic populations they need to reach using “an appropriate employment service delivery system”. I am happy to note that VetJobs is an appropriate employment service delivery system to meet EEOC and VEVRAA compliance issues. As VetJobs is the only site endorsed by the Vietnam Veterans of America, VetJobs is a preferred site for VEVRAA compliance. Note that no one site can claim to replace AJB! DOL has been very specific about that issue.
Finally, those companies who are going to win in the competition for talent will be those companies who develop a strong employment brand. An employment brand is NOT the same as a marketing brand. But like a marketing brand, it will take money and talent to create.
Additionally, companies need to focus on creating a powerful career site. Most candidates that find their way to your corporate career site already have a job in mind – they are just determining what the company’s image is as an employer and whether they would be a good fit in the organization or want to apply. These candidates also tend to be more qualified individuals. This is why it’s critical to have a robust career site rather than just a list of open positions. Because they usually already have a job in mind, it’s the company history, culture, benefits and location information that these candidates find most helpful. Career sites should treat candidates as customers, just as the rest of your web site targets your key purchasing audience. Developing an employment brand with these factors in mind will assist you in the competition for talent.
As always, if there is anything we at VetJobs can do for you, please do not hesitate to call or email.
And remember, Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans!
Best regards,
Ted Daywalt
President
/—–July Early Eagle sponsor is Onrec.com—–\
VetJobs is participating in The Onrec.com Conference and Expo, to be held on the 18th and 19th September 2007 in San Francisco, CA. We would love to see you there!!
This leading industry event is jam packed with informative, cost-saving advice and innovative ideas on how to improve your recruitment strategy, including the chance to:
-Discover new ways of reaching the best candidates, whilst reducing your cost-per-hire spend.
-Learn how the online recruitment market is developing and how to keep ahead of the game.
-Explore new techniques in attracting candidates using web 2.0 technologies
-Hear about new employment regulations and how they affect YOU
-Network with the leading authorities in online recruitment and take part in engaging panel debates about the future of online recruitment
-Meet suppliers that have solutions and packages to solve your recruitment problems
Check out the full conference programme at http://www.onrec.com/conferences/180907/speakers.html
As an exhibitor, VetJobs has secured discounted tickets to the event. You can take advantage of this special, time-limited offer by simply entering the following code when you register at https://www.cteusa.com/onrec2/ (CODE to QUOTE: 9CPX3)
Book now to take advantage of the special offer! We look forward to seeing you there!
\—–Please visit the July Early Eagle sponsor www.onrec.com —–/
2. Be a Guest on VetJobs’ Career Call on Radio Sandy Springs
Career Call is aired Sundays at 3:00 PM EST on Radio Sandy Springs in North Atlanta. It is broadcast on 1620 AM, and simulcast on the Internet at www.radiosandysprings.com. The show reaches thousands of veterans each week. If your company would like to sponsor a show or you would like to be a guest on the program, email info@vetjobs.com. Career Call gives your company the opportunity to tell its story to veterans world wide!
3. WEDDLE’s Survey Results
WEDDLE’s continuously conducts both primary and secondary research on the Best Practices in employment and HR leadership. Recently, WEDDLE’s began to explore what kind of results recruiters are actually achieving online. Previous WEDDLE’s research revealed that that over half of all employers now fill over a quarter of their openings with candidates sourced on the Internet. But, how good are those hires? How do they stack up against employees acquired from other sources? The responses below were collected between March 10 and June 20, 2007 for the following question: “How would you rate the caliber of your new hires sourced online?”
- 31.3% said they were among their best employees
- 47.9% said they were above average employees
- 16.7% said they were average employees
- 2.1% said they were below average employees
- 2.0% had no opinion
What the Findings Mean
For some years now, there’s been a debate about whether the Internet actually delivers new hires. Pundits and bloggers have opined, one way or the other, about the efficacy of online sourcing and recruiting methods, especially job posting, datamining and electronic networking. The issue is important, of course, given the limitations that continue to be imposed on staffing budgets and resources. The key question, however, is not if the Internet delivers, but rather, how well it does so. The survey results indicate that the Internet is among the most effective methods recruiters now have for acquiring top talent and, ultimately, for winning the War for the Best Talent.
-Almost eight-out-of-ten (79.2%) of our respondents rated the new hires they sourced online as above average or better.
-Online recruiting typically requires a financial investment (at least for job posting) and a commitment of both recruiter time and effort. While this input is typically less than that required by other sourcing methods, it is not insignificant. As these findings indicate, however, the return that online recruiting yields–the superior employees it delivers to the organization–more than justifies the investment. They provide the empirical data necessary for making the business case to continue investing in the Internet.
-These results also pose an important question: If Internet recruiting is so effective, should we ignore other sourcing methods? The answer, of course, is absolutely not. The Internet performs best as a source when it’s integrated into a multifaceted strategy that enables you to reach into the prospect population from a number of different but mutually reinforcing access points.
-Finally, these findings also testify to the growing expertise and sophistication of recruiters online.
4. National Guard and Reserve Mobilized as of June 27, 2007
Total number currently on active duty in support of the partial mobilization for the Army National Guard and Army Reserve is 76,518; Navy Reserve, 4,961; Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, 5,893; Marine Corps Reserve, 5,986; and the Coast Guard Reserve, 358. This brings the total National Guard and Reserve personnel, who have been mobilized, to 93,716, including both units and individual augmentees. A cumulative roster of all National Guard and Reserve personnel, who are currently mobilized, can be found at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2007/d20070627ngr.pdf .
5. Significant Events this Month in Military History
1775 – George Washington took command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, MA. (American Revolutionary War).
1814 – American force led by GEN Jacob Brown defeated British force led by GEN Phineas Riall at Chippewa River, just north of British Fort Erie (near Niagara Falls, NY). A gray-uniformed Brigade led by young American BG Winfield Scott drove the British back. Scott’s men wore gray because Army contractors had run out of blue cloth. To this day, West Point cadets wear gray to commemorate this victory (War of 1812).
1863 – Confederate forces under GEN Robert E. Lee, defeated after three days of fighting at the battle of Gettysburg, PA, began their withdrawal to the South (American Civil War).
1898 – American naval victory over the Spanish at Santiago, Cuba (Spanish-American War).
1907 – Founding of the Aeronautical Division of the US Army Signal Office; the forerunner of the US Army Air Force and later the U.S. Air Force
1915 – U.S. Marines landed in Haiti following the assassination of the Haitian president Vilbrun Guillaume. The Marines remained as occupation forces for nine years.
1918 – Beginning of the Second Battle of the Marne in Northern France between German forces on one side and French, American, British, and Italian troops on the other side. The battle ended on 4 August (World War I).
1926 – U.S. Army Air Corps established.
1943 – The U.S. Army’s Fourth Division, part of General Omar Bradley’s II Corps, captured San Stefano in Sicily (World War II).
1944 – The island of Saipan in the Marianas (Western Pacific) fell to U.S. troops following their defeat of Japanese defenders (World War II). Napalm was used for the first time during the American invasion of Tinian in the Marianas.
1950 – General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was named commander of all UN forces in Korea (Korean Conflict).
1953 – The Korean War ended.
1970 – Siege of Fire Base Ripcord began (Vietnam War)
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Thank you for reading the VetJobs Early Eagle employer newsletter. If you like this newsletter, please go to www.weddles.com/recruitpoll.cfm and vote VetJobs for the WEDDLE’s User’s Choice Award.
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Veterans make the best employees!
Freedom Is Never Free – Support Our Armed Forces and Veterans!
2004, 2005, 2006 & 2007 WEDDLE’s User’s Choice Award