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Corporate social responsibility is one result of corporations going global, with about 80% of the businesses surveyed in seven countries developing some type of strategy or program, according to the 2007 Corporate Social Responsibility Pilot Study.

The Society for Human Resource Management’s study found that practices ranged from donating to local charities to monitoring global fair labor standards.

“Organizations are increasingly assessing the social and environmental impact of their business decisions,” president and CEO Susan R. Meisinger said in a statement.

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Limbo Time for Minimum Wage…

Will they or won’t they? The proposed two-year increase in the federal minimum-wage pay hike faces another possible delay.

It did get a boost last week, when House and Senate negotiators reached a deal on business-tax incentives to help raise the minimum wage to $7.25 an hour from $5.15.

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Hiring for a current need is actually pretty simple. The hiring manager defines some specific skills they need, recruiters then discount that profile by 30%, and then begins the process of sourcing, assessing, selecting, and closing an offer to an individual with the current skills and competencies.

Historically, most organizations have focused on hiring individuals based solely on current need (i.e., “this job”). However, for a growing number of organizations, hiring solely for “this job” is a model that no longer yields a workforce capable of executing in an era of rapid change.

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How does your company’s corporate career website stack up? Does it inspire potential candidates to really want to work for your company? Does it convey an environment that the company worries about its people before they even enter?

And once on board, does the site offer new employees information on other roles within the company and networking opportunities?

If you’re looking for some real-world examples, check out Deutsche Bank’s corporate career website.

According to a new survey by research and consulting firm Potentialpark, Deutsche Bank’s site is a true leader.

The Sweden-based consulting firm, which specializes in recruitment communication, says it picked Deutsche because it includes interactive videos of employees discussing their various experiences working at the company.

While the actual online application seems cumbersome to navigate (options include applications for undergraduate, graduate, MBAs, professionals), the overall site is chock-full of recruiting information.

For example, under “Application FAQs,” sample questions include “What should a candidate expect in a typical interview?,” “What’s the biggest mistake a candidate can make in an interview?,” and “What are the most effective ways for a candidate to follow up after an interview?” among others.

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There is no longer a hidden job market. The line between active and passive candidates is blurring. Turnover is on the rise. Workforce mobility is increasing. It’s easy to look for a new job, apply, and be interviewed from your desktop. The barriers to entry and exit are falling.

The cost of looking for a new job (taking time off, making a physical presence, time investment, etc.) is dropping. Candidates are shopping offers with abandon. Counter-offers are commonplace. No one has to make a commitment. Offers are nothing more than inflated currency.

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Daily nine-minute staff meetings are the norm for all employees at Toronto-based I Love Rewards.

The incentive marketing company — with the tag line “Reward, redeem, receive” — says its formal meetings are aimed at preventing turnover, since they would rather deal with smoke than fire.

In addition, each week the senior leadership team holds a separate meeting, with part of the agenda focused on “employees at risk” to identify problems early on.

The company says this helps employees get the attention of the right people, including their direct manager, to address any concerns of the employee.

It’s no surprise that the company would keep such a close watch on how employees are performing, given that the company’s mission is all about helping other companies reward workers.

It works with large corporations, such as Sony and Microsoft, to institute ways to reward and recognize peers. The company’s various incentive programs cover everything from increasing sales and motivating staff to simplifying fundraising and building loyalty.

Fortune 1000 clients use the Web-based points program to set their own business goals, with I Love Rewards managing points earned and the delivery of prizes (i.e., plasma televisions, spa packages, small gadgets).

The Rewards Company Rewards Within

The company also hosts a monthly recognition lunch, geared toward acknowledging colleagues who are contributing to the company’s success.

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Being able to find a single perfect candidate quickly is the holy grail of recruiting.

Those who can do it consistently are much in demand and highly paid. Those who can’t are dependent on others and less compensated. Those who teach how to find good people are also highly sought and well paid. It seems an elusive skill, yet there are principles we can all learn.

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A large number of readers recently rushed in to confirm that military hires were “slam-dunk” employees. Almost every story was backed with a personal anecdote and criticism was branded downright unpatriotic.

I spent a few years in the military and have the highest respect for those who put their lives on the line. I encourage every employer, if given a choice between two equally qualified candidates, to hire the vet.

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Just in time for law-school graduation season, Monster is offering a newly revamped area on how to negotiate salary trends, ace an interview, and of course, land that first full-time legal job.

While Monster has had a legal section for quite some time, it says this revamped site has new features and allows companies to sponsor certain sections of the site.

In this case, Hudson Legal, which focuses on legal staffing and outsourced projects for law firms and corporate legal departments, is the sponsor.

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Applying for a job isn’t very satisfying for many an applicant. Application processes are often shrouded in mystery because they represent a one-way flow of information that requires the candidate to provide information to a potential employer without receiving much in return.

It’s too bad, because both research and common sense indicate that the manner in which applicants are treated during the hiring and on-boarding process can have an impact on long-term outcomes such as organizational commitment and turnover.

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Do consumers need help sifting through job boards to determine which are committed to high standards of business and those that, well, are not as committed?

According to Peter Weddle, industry consultant and executive director of The International Association of Employment Web Sites, the answer is a resounding yes.

To fix this, the IAWES, the trade organization for the global online employment services industry, has introduced a code of ethics for job boards and career portals.

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When times are good and recruiting is booming, invariably recruiters wonder why there is no bonus plan for internal corporate recruiters. The impetus for their proposal stems from the fact that external third-party recruiters routinely receive bonuses based on their performance.

In my experience, it is the incentive system that makes these recruiters superior to the typical corporate recruiter, just as the most successful sales professionals seek out opportunities with rewarding pay-at-risk models.

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Once upon a time there was a recruiter who was bored at his desk and lacking candidates. To amuse himself, he went on to a resume website and typed in a few random keywords to find some lost-sheep candidates.

Once he found a few repeat offenders, he called out to all of his hiring managers and sang out, “Wolf! Wolf! Here’s a candidate who is great and probably has multiple offers awaiting him!”

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The Net Generation is doing it their way, says Kevin Wheeler. And in the next two to five years, social networking is going to be the backbone of recruiting, he promises.

Wheeler also predicts he is “almost 100% certain people will be designing their own jobs” in the coming years.

Yet another reason that companies desperately need to fix their corporate career sites to catch on to future talent.

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“How much would I have to pay you if I told you tomorrow you were going to die?” asks U.S. Army Col. Donald Bartholomew, director for marketing and strategic outreach for recruiting command.

With a question like that, it really puts the “typical” recruiting challenges in perspective. That’s the takeaway message after listening to how recruiters in the U.S. Army are working to recruit soldiers.

Col. Bartholomew spoke at the ERE Expo 2007 in San Diego, noting that Army recruiting has plenty of its own special challenges. For starters, about 70% of people are ineligible because of medical, “moral,” weight, or other issues such as asthma, flat feet, eye or hearing loss, and color-blindness.

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I recently finished reading a few of almost 600 pages of postings on MSN’s message board concerning an article by Scott Burns, entitled Is Home Depot Shafting Shoppers?

In a very short period, this article received confirmation that indeed Home Depot was shafting its customers, at least that’s what over 5,000 authors believed when I last looked. MSN Money reports an additional 10,000 emails.

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How does a company that doesn’t even believe in a corporate handbook manage to expand globally? It’s not easy, but it is attainable, according to Barbara Pizzala, global leader of recruiting at GORE-TEX manufacturer W.L. Gore. Pizzala gave a morning presentation at ERE Expo 2007 in San Diego. Her topic was how unique companies can build a global recruiting organization. The short answer to that challenge is trusting your hires and keeping employees responsible for their commitments.

The Cheesman-Goldberg debate at the ERE Expo in San Diego is over. The winner? Definitely the audience.

Today’s entrepreneur is finding that it’s harder than ever to attract top talent. In the early days of the dot-com bubble of the 1990s, big employers were rightfully scared of startups hiring their people away with promises of unimagined riches, half-day ping-pong tournaments, and lavish parties. It was like summer camp with stock options.

Yet one day the bubble popped, and now startups are feeling the pain. To many employees, working for an established bigger company just makes a lot more sense. And this isn’t just a stability issue anymore. Big companies pay better, on average, and the potential jackpots of an IPO or merger/acquisition now rarely exceed the typical pay disparity.

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ERE caught up with search-engine guru and blogger Joel Cheesman a day before his scheduled public conversation with Jobster’s Jason Goldberg at the San Diego ERE Expo.