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The unemployment rate nudged down, but new jobs in October fell short of what economists expected, according to numbers released this morning by the U.S. Department of Labor.

Economists were expecting at least 100,000 new jobs to have been created last month. Instead, the numbers show only 80,000 new non-farm jobs, all of them coming from the private sector. Government at every level cut a total of 24,000 positions, continuing a trend that began mid-2008 at the state and local levels.

The New York Times described the increase as “mediocre,” and said the report offers little guidance about the direction of the U.S. employment outlook.

Despite the minor drop in the unemployment rate — from the 9.1 percent where it’s been since July, to 9.0 percent — the Labor Department’s Bureau of Labor Statistics said the total number of unemployed barely changed. In October, there were 13.9 million Americans out of work. In October, the number was almost 14 million. keep reading…

You’ve heard quite a few different suggestions as how to take a dent out of the hefty U.S. unemployment rate, but here’s one you may not have heard: pay people less, and more. Kevin Kruse says paying people a lower base salary and a bigger performance bonus would do wonders for the job market.

Kruse is the co-author of We: How to Increase Performance and Profit Through Full Engagement. Our conversation lasts about seven minutes, below. keep reading…

The OnRec and Kennedy conferences, operated jointly as “The Recruiting Conference,” which just ended today in Chicago, have been acquired by an investment group led by two brothers who previously owned Kennedy Information.

Greenhaven Partners bought the annual conference and RecruitingTrends.com, the online successor to the venerable Kennedy Information print newsletter of the same name. The price was not disclosed. The conference and the website were owned by Tarsus Group, a publicly held U.K.-based international business-to-business media and conference firm. Tarsus bought OnRec several years ago, just as it was beginning to hold its first North American conference. OnRec was founded in the United Kingdom, and has a strong presence there with its website, print magazine, and conferences.  OnRec’s UK assets were not part of the sale. keep reading…

LinkedIn lost money, but still beat analyst estimates, blowing through the most optimistic projections by millions and ending the quarter with $139.5 million in revenue. The company also announced it would sell $100 million more of its shares to finance its aggressive expansion.

The company told investors and analysts during a conference call after the markets closed this afternoon that it would add some 500 to 600 more employees by the end of the year. CEO Jeff Weiner said the rapid expansion would give LinkedIn a jump on 2012. keep reading…

… the last two candidates you have sent me are terrible! The agreement you sent me prior to engaging in this search requires me to pay you 25% of the individual’s first-year salary if I hire one of your presented candidates. In my case, that would be in the neighborhood of $17,000, which is a good sum of money.

I am feeling a little confused at the moment, as I was under the impression that you are to provide me the top 1% of talent available in the field of which I am seeking talent. Or, at least that is what you told me in your initial presentation of why we should use you.

Instead I opened both of the resumes you have sent me this morning, only to find the first individual, who has already applied to this position no less than eight times and we have already rejected, and the second individual has changed jobs more times in the past fiv years than runway models change outfits; am I to think this individual will stay with us any amount of time to learn our business and be a strong contributor?

When I signed up for this “executive search/recruiting” service, I was under the impression that you were going to bring me the best of the best, a game changer or an “A” player who can bring significant value and contributions to my business unit. But all I see here are average professionals and not the caliber that warrants me paying you $17,000.

I know it’s your business on how you operate, but I feel as if I need to share some suggestions for you and for what I really need in a search partner… keep reading…

Strong demand for IT and finance helped propel job board operator Dice Holdings to a 36 percent increase in revenue and a 51 percent jump in earnings.

The company this morning reported earning $9.3 million on revenue of $46.8 million in the 3rd quarter, yielding per share earning of 13 cents. Last year for the same quarter the company earned 9 cents per share.

The company said growth was driven by its flagship site, Dice.com, which saw an 18 percent increase in its recruitment-package customers whose average monthly spend grew by 12 percent. The eFinancialCareers operations also saw strong growth with a 29 percent increase over the same quarter last year.

Overall, the numbers were in line with analysts’ expectations. Revenue, in fact, slightly exceeded the estimates.

However, company officials estimated revenue for the current 4th quarter would come in at $47.5 million, $1 million below what Wall Street was projecting. The guidance pushed Dice’s stock to a low of $8.50 after opening at $9.50.

Dice CEO Scot Melland said, “Recruitment activity did improve in September after a seasonally slower summer; however, the magnitude was less than what we traditionally experience. As expected, recruitment activity slowed in financial services and economic uncertainty is impacting the urgency some companies place on recruiting.’

His comments echoed those of Monster Worldwide executives who noted an apparent slowdown in hiring activity beginning in September. Monster officials said the slowdown appeared to be extending into October.

More private sector jobs than expected were created in the U.S. last month. However, it was barely enough to ward off the doomsayers predicting a double-dip recession.

Payroll processor and HR services company ADP, and its partner, Macroeconomic Advisers, said 110,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy in October. That was more than the 100,000 average expected by economists. The monthly report released this morning also revised to 116,000 the number of new jobs added in September. Originally, ADP reported 91,000 jobs were created.

The report helped move stocks into positive territory today, after two days of global meltdown over the Greek decision to send its bailout plan to a referendum. It also offered more evidence that the U.S. may not be headed into another downturn, even if the recovery is sluggish. keep reading…

Look around at most any HR conference and one of the profession’s little secrets is instantly obvious: HR is the domain of white, middle-aged women.

A little harder to see is that they are better educated than most of the population, and far better off financially.

Catbert notwithstanding, human resources is a pink-collar profession that looks very different from the rest of the corporate workforce, let alone the U.S. as a whole.

More than a few surveys have noted the gender imbalance in human resources. A dozen years ago the federal Office of Personnel Management reported the dramatic change in its own workforce. In 1969, 30 percent of the HR jobs were held by women. By 1998, the percentages were reversed, with men holding 29 percent of the jobs. A SHRM survey from 2007 came up with similar numbers.

Now, one of the most extensive profiles of HR professionals ever conducted not only confirms that what the OPM found in the federal workforce applies to the private sector, but the diversity there is just what you would expect from eyeballing conference attendees. keep reading…

There’ve been comments about how the role of the HR professional is to protect the organization, not the individual. Whether the complaint is regarding budgets, restructuring, or harassment, HR staff members are typically charged with being the facilitator who shields the organization through tumultuous times. Aligning with the mission of serve and protect the organization, recruiters can be a front line which can prevent the bully from invading a workplace environment.

Different workplace arenas tend to attract different personality types. While educators and social organizations tend to attract those with “helping” personalities, corporate cultures tend to reward a more “assertive” personality.

With this in mind, recruiters can keep an eye out for the appropriate personalities for open positions, as well as learn some of the characteristics of a bully, ultimately avoiding recruiting them into an organization in the first place.

keep reading…

Who doesn’t love writing Boolean search strings?

There’s nothing like crafting a Boolean equation to find a software engineer with every single requirement and a few of the “nice-to-haves” only to discover that somewhere in those 193 characters you’ve got a tilde instead of a minus and now your list includes tons of coffee industry IT professionals, who may also know Java.

Even writing a perfect Boolean string the first time isn’t quite so satisfying when you consider the time it took.

Scavado (nee AutoSearch) shortcuts all that string writing to cut to the chase, which, (need it be pointed out?) is to find prospects who meet your hiring manager’s needs. keep reading…

The experience was exceptional.

I was impressed with the high level of professionalism.

Very professional interviews that provided me an environment in which I could be myself.

It made me want to work there even more.

Let’s hope that’s what your candidates are saying about your organization. Let’s hope that’s what they’re saying about your recruiting processes. But they may be saying stuff like this:

The worst and most unprofessional experience I’ve had.

You’ve yet to follow up with me.

The interviewer had absolutely no idea of what the position called for.

The reality is that candidates are probably saying things that cover both ends of the spectrum about your organization. What’s important is whether the first set of statements is more prevalent, or the second set is – and what you are doing about it.

There’s a lot of focus in our industry on finding and engaging passive candidates, developing a strong employment brand, using social media, and building talent communities, but a poor candidate experience can derail and minimize the impact of each of those efforts. My company did something about the problem. keep reading…