Schools are facing a crisis nationwide to recruit and retain qualified teachers, and the ripple effect is also being felt in a lack of substitute teachers to provide necessary back-up support and minimize disruptions in education.

For example, during the first week of December in Toledo, Ohio, the district had 182 substitutes, compared to 236 for the same period last year, the teachers' union told the district's Board of Education. As of mid-October, the district had 241 substitutes, compared to 393 for the same period last year.

Though the district recruits for substitute teachers and holds orientation programs, it has to contend with the fact that it can only offer substitute wages (currently between $79.09 and $90.49 a day, depending on experience) versus other school systems offering a regular teaching contract.

Staffing Agencies Fills the Gap

Recently, Eudora Public Schools in Eudora, Kansas, signed a staffing agreement with Morgan Hunter Companies, a Kansas City-based staffing agency.

If a faculty member is sick or needs an unexpected day off, the staffing agency will offer a replacement starting on a trial basis in February, running through May.

The contract marks the first time a Kansas school district has relied on a temp agency for substitute teaching services, though school districts in 48 other states have used similar programs, according to The Eudora News.

Substitute Teachers of the Semester

To combat current shortages and provide a means to preventing future gaps, Kelly Educational Staffing has started recognizing employees who have "demonstrated outstanding performance and service, and have made valuable contributions as substitute teachers."

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Foremost Farms USA, a dairy cooperative in Baraboo, Wisconsin, said this week in a state filing that its planned layoff at a cheese plant in Buffalo County will last more than four months.

The company announced December 14 that it is temporarily ceasing cheese production at a plant in the town of Waumandee, Wisconsin because of "shifting cheese production and market trends."

The layoffs are expected to occur around February 16, affecting 39 of the plant's 49 employees.

“The Waumandee employees have shown they can consistently produce quality American-style cheese for more than two decades. Even though it’s no longer feasible to make this type of product here, there are other options for this plant and we look forward to the day when we can announce a new role for this plant within the Foremost Farms production network,” company president Dave Fuhrmann said in a release.

The farm cooperative operates 20 dairy plants and one milk transfer station for dairy farmer-members in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. Products are marketed under the GG Golden Guernsey Dairy and Morning Glory brands.

Placing These Workers in New Opportunities

"We have what we call a dislocated worker unit. Their job is to work with the employees to get them to work as quickly as possible," says Rose Lynch, director of communications at the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development.

In addition, Lynch's office works in collaboration with Workforce Connections, Inc., a local non-profit that helps laid-off workers and runs job centers.

In a matter of weeks, a representative will visit Foremost Farms to meet with the affected employees. After the meetings, recruiters and staffing agencies can contact Workforce Connections to obtain detailed profiles on the dislocated workers' skills, goals, and education.

"We have a staff person assigned to these workers; our protocol is we go in and meet with the managers or union leader; then we arrange for an all-employee meeting. Then we survey employees to get a profile of transferable skills," says Jerry Hanoski, executive director of Workforce Connections.

"Typically, we say, 'If you let us meet with your employees, we can talk about unemployment compensation, COBRA, and training opportunities.' In close to 90% of the cases, the companies are very receptive to this on company time," he says.

"It's in the employees' best interests to fill out the survey, as many times we have temp agencies contacting our office about dislocated workers," he says.

Jobster may announce next week its plans to layoff up to half of its 145 employees, according to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

However, chief executive officer and founder Jason Goldberg posted on his blog last week that, "Truth is that jobster.com is taking off and we're about to launch some truly big-bang stuff there in January and beyond."

A Jobster spokesperson says the company is in the midst of a business planning meeting for 2007, "And part of the drive is to get Jobster profitable. There are no specific plans to lay off people," he says.

Expect a clearer view on the company's specifics early next week, once the company releases the outcome of its annual review of what is working and what is not working, according to the spokesperson.

"That process is going on now and the news will be shared on January 2," the spokesperson says.

He adds that, "At this point, any blog [rumors] are basically speculation."

Seattle-based Jobster currently stands as a $48 million-backed consumer Internet startup. In July, Jobster added an additional $18 million in venture capital, led by Reed Elsevier, Harcourt Education, and other businesses. This was less than a year after it closed a $19 million financing round backed by U.S. venture capital firms.

"Well, $48 million is an investment in the company and does not accrue to profitability numbers. They are working toward profitability; they just want to make sure they are able to do that. That is separate from venture capital; think of it as a savings account and a checking account," the spokesperson says.

Too Big, Too Soon?

One analyst notes that Jobster might be ahead of its time.

Ernest Feiteira, regional manager, Human Capital Specialist at NAS Recruitment Communications, says the jewel of Jobster is "its concept, and one that should be used more frequently by HR; sometimes they are laggards and it's hard to persuade them to embrace technology," he says.

"Their candidate relationship marketing to me is a competitive tool for companies that embrace it. With the job market getting tighter, being able to reach candidates, the passive especially, is going to be critical," he says.

"Sometimes companies are so focused on today and don't plan ahead enough, or do enough upfront to determine the return on investment, and are too focused on the price tag of an item versus what that investment will result in."

Feiteira says he can see substantial barriers of entry for this type of service, an indicator that employers are slow to adopt the technology.

"Jobster is looking to use new sourcing tools that go beyond the job board, but there are 40,000-plus job boards, between niche sites and general sites. On those, all you do is post the job and wait for the candidate to find it, or search a resume database. Jobster is taking it to a new level, integrating referral products and tracking it, which is one of the most important things," he says.

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The Mass Layoff Statistics program, a division of the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics, says data among the four census regions shows that the highest number of initial unemployment insurance claims in November 2006 due to mass layoffs was in the Midwest (49,067).

According to the BLS, transportation equipment manufacturing and administrative and support services accounted for 33% of all mass layoff initial claims in that region.

Meanwhile, the West had the second-largest number of initial claims (38,860), followed by the South (27,536), and the Northeast (20,723).

The BLS says three of the four regions experienced an increase in layoff claims since the same time last year. The Midwest added 14,166 claims, the West added 8,196 claims, and the Northeast added 1,598 claims.

However, the only decrease compared to last year was in the South, at negative 3,901 claims.

For recruiters who deal with employment planning in the United Kingdom, organizational development and training got a whole lot tougher when the country imposed new age-discrimination regulations earlier this year.

Though resources abound (consultants, books, etc.) to help employers deal with issues such as working with disillusioned staff who might need help with finding their focus at work and motivating older employees, there is one employer who certainly won't need any help managing its older worker.

As of last week, the New Inn pub in Dorset, England, now employs the U.K.'s oldest worker.

The New Inn's gardener just celebrated his 104th birthday, says he has no plans to retire soon, and relies on "a drop of whisky" to cure any ailments that might prevent him from working up to five hours a day.

Jim Webber has worked part time for the past 20 years at the New Inn, and he earns a self-imposed wage of £3 per hour (about $5.87, more than the U.S. federal minimum wage).

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Monster and Times Publishing Co. have announced their plans to create a print and online recruitment service in Tampa, Florida, beginning in January.

Monster will work with the Times Publishing Co.'s St. Petersburg Times, TampaBay.com and tbt (a free daily newspaper) to create the service, which focuses on a co-branded Web site.

Monster's move into Florida follows its recent efforts at establishing a greater presence in local markets. The company now has relationships with seven media companies that represent 45 daily newspapers and eight television properties, as well as enhanced telesales efforts and e-commerce channels, around the country.

Monster says the small- and medium-sized business market is one of its major focus areas. Tampa is the country's 12th-largest news market.

"Our journalism, print classifieds, and customer service -- coupled with Monster's brand awareness, superior technology, national reach, and expansive database -- will create the most comprehensive and compelling job site in the Tampa Bay market," said Christine Montgomery, director of electronic publishing for the Times, in a release.

(The newspaper recently debuted a new, in-depth "Working" section as well.)

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

The results of two surveys released this week indicate that workers are optimistic about job prospects in 2007 -- a confidence that may translate to more and more of your hard workers heading to the nearest competitor.

When the Society for Human Resource Management and CareerJournal.com conducted a poll to determine opinions about the effectiveness of retention strategies from the perspective of both HR professionals and employees, the results showed that more than 75% of employees are looking for new jobs.

Another poll this week -- this time from Hudson quizzing U.S. workers -- found that 78% expect their job prospects to be as good as, if not better than, this year.

However, based on workers' expectations, this poll suggests that only 39% will be actively seeking a new job in 2007.

In terms of salaries, the Hudson survey shows that 21% of workers believe they will earn significantly more in 2007 than in 2006. Another 42% expect to earn a little bit more, for a total of 63% having a positive outlook regarding their financial situations next year.

Challenges for HR Professionals

Elevated energy prices and rising interest rates experienced earlier this year were "not enough to dampen workers' spirits, which were in fact encouraged by the stability in the market," said Steve Wolfe, senior vice president of Hudson, in a news release.

The Careerjournal poll also suggested that, in 2006, HR professionals:

• Had 12% of the workforce voluntarily resign since the beginning of 2006
• Noted that non-management employees were the most likely to resign (71%)
• Were concerned about voluntary resignations (73%)
• Implemented special retention processes (50%)

"As the economy and job market continue to improve, employee retention poses a greater challenge for HR professionals,” said Gail Griffin, CareerJournal.com's general manager, in a news release.

The Careerjournal survey shows that employees and HR professionals tend to agree on the top reasons employees choose to leave their organizations: better compensation elsewhere (30% of employees, 40% of HR professionals); career opportunity elsewhere (27% of employees, 48% of HR professionals); and dissatisfaction with potential for career development (21% of employees, 29% of HR professionals).

If you are looking for a few good books this holiday season for yourself or others, ERE has assembled a collection of recommended business books to sharpen your skills in recruiting, leadership, and management. The list is in no particular order, and includes both newly published books and older gems:

• Growing big in the New Year? Lucky or Smart? is a first-person narrative written for the leaders and entrepreneurs among us. Likewise, Small Giants: Companies That Choose to Be Great Instead of Big is a collection of 14 small companies that focused on their passion, not the bottom line, to grow into profitable companies.

• Struggling with how to manage a supply chain in today's global environment? For examples from all segments of industries and companies, pick up Supply Chain Management Best Practices.

• For a light-hearted look at handling "problem" employees, read A Survival Guide to Managing Employees from Hell: Handling Idiots, Whiners, Slackers, And Other Workplace Demons.

• Are you sick of riding the meeting carousel? Death by Meeting will help you examine whether your meetings are more passive than interactive, or sloppy instead of structured. This book will give you some much-needed guidance on making the most of your time.

• Do you ever feel like a chronic people-pleaser? Review When I Say No, I Feel Guilty Vol. II, For Managers and Executives for firm reminders on how to be an effective leader.

• If you are trying to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of the United Kingdom's 2006 age-discrimination legislation and its effect on current retirement practices around the world, read Age Matters: Employing, Motivating And Managing Older Employees.

• Wondering how to integrate the immigrant worker? Recruiting, Retaining and Promoting Culturally Different Employees looks at various immigrant groups, shows how their degrees can apply to U.S. requirements, and reminds you how you can make full use of this talented labor pool.

• In promoting a more balanced workforce, review To Recruit and Advance Women Students and Faculty in U.S. Science and Engineering, which explores best practices in recruitment, retention, and promotion for women scientists and engineers in academia.

The majority of the 1,000 largest law firms and corporations in the United States and Canada are not prepared for the eventual departure of partners or senior attorneys, according to a recent Robert Half Legal survey that casts light on the lack of formal succession plans.

When 300 experienced lawyers were asked whether their law firm/corporate legal department currently has a formal succession plan in place for key leaders, 53% said no, 41% said yes, and 6% did not know.

This survey echoes an earlier report from Altman Weil, a legal management consultancy, which said that since 1977 the number of bar admissions has been dwindling each year. As current lawyers reach retirement age between 2010 and 2015, the lawyer labor market will suffer.

It is critical that law firms consider the labor and client relationship challenges that will occur in the coming decade, and also ensure that management has the tools to deal effectively with a variety of succession issues. 

"It's understandable that succession planning may sometimes take a back seat to billable work or urgent legal matters, but law offices should not wait until a leader departs to begin the process," said Charles Volkert, executive director of Robert Half Legal, in a news release.

Creating and implementing a succession plan may take many years to identify and groom an attorney for an advanced leadership role, according to Volkert

He recommends that law offices mentor high-potential employees, and include them in strategy discussions relating to the operation of the firm or department. This will provide succession candidates the opportunity to build their skills and leadership abilities in practice management, new business development, marketing, strategic planning, and client service.

Fresh from its acquisition of U.S.-based Computerjobs.com, U.K.-based JobServe announced it will acquire JobShark, a nine-year-old Canadian firm with 10 employees.

This is JobServe's fourth acquisition in North America this year, and the first recent acquisition of a major Canadian online recruiter by a foreign buyer. Financial terms were not disclosed. In May 2006, JobServe purchased CareerBoard.com and Computerwork.com.

"I am never satisfied with the status quo, and our acquisition of ComputerJobs.com along with our previous purchase of ComputerWork.com and CareerBoard.com provides us with the ideal platform and user base for our expansion into the U.S.," JobServe founder Robbie Cowling stated in a news release.

JobServe, formed in 1993, is the second-largest IT job site in Australia and is quickly expanding into the U.S. market.

Meanwhile, the Carlisle Group has acquired Chadwick Nott, a U.K.-based legal recruitment specialist, for an estimated £2 million comprising cash and loan notes.

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Monster has recently added six companies to its roster of HR Alliance Program members and expanded the program's scope to include two new categories, job wrapping and consultant services.

New premier members include:

• APS - SmartSearch Online. Uses different databases to support both corporate employers and staffing firms.
• HRsmart. Offers applicant tracking, performance appraisal, learning management, and succession planning from a single shared database.
• MrTed. MrTedTalentLink is a Web-based solution supported in over 25 languages.

Through its certified members, Monster moves into the job wrapping and applicant tracking system consultant categories. New certified members include:

• JobAps. An ATS for the public sector, JobAps automates hiring for government agencies.
• KBACE. Enables Monster to offer real-time posting to customers who use Oracle's iRecruitment ATS.
• Propellum (division of Zycus). "Job wrapping" offers customers the ability to have their job advertisements simultaneously posted on Monster and through Zycus.

"The continued expansion of Monster's HR Alliance program underscores our commitment to providing customers with a variety of integrated recruitment solutions aimed at enhancing their overall efficiencies and operational processes," Neal Bruce, vice president of alliances, said in a news release.

"Additional expansion and integration of ATS products is one of the top requests we receive from our customers, and we remain focused on broadening the number of integrated products available to them," he said.

Monster, which established the alliance in 2004 to integrate recruitment products and services, now has 18 organizations in its program.

see the poll results...

To compare how easy it is for applicants to apply for jobs through companies' online job boards, one company decided to put a new online spin on "mystery shopping."

Bernard Hodes Group, a talent-solutions provider, chose two major companies within five major industries (retail, banking, high tech, restaurants, and hotels) to track over the course of 10 working days.

On the first day, each applicant submitted a resume to one of the 10 companies.

The resumes were developed "to ensure our paper candidates would look like the Michael Jordans of their industries," says Karen Hart, senior vice president of Bernard Hodes' healthcare division.

Next, the company had the applicants follow up with a phone call to each company. Finally, the company audited the online candidate experience for ease of use and click ability from the perspective of a job seeker.

Although some of these encounters were positive, the overall results suggest the intent is to keep human contact to a minimum.

"While technological savvy is almost a prerequisite to life in the 21st century, one would hope that one of the most important goals of a company -- the sourcing, recruitment and hiring of the employees, on whom its future depends, would be more human," says Hart.

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A comprehensive six-year study from the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth University, which analyzed 10,000 high-ranking executives at Fortune 1000 companies, paints a much clearer picture about why there are so few female CEOs in major companies.

The study revealed that nearly 50% of the largest U.S. firms lack female top executives, 7.2% had more than two women in the top ranks, and a mere 2.6% had more than three.

As judged by the number of female CFOs and other female executives with direct profit-and-loss responsibility, the authors estimate that the proportion of female CEOs will increase from the current level of about 1.7% to about 4.9% in 2010 and 6.2% in 2016.

"Even though 6.2% is more than triple the current percentage, it doesn't seem very impressive when one considers that by 2016 it will have been about 40 years since women entered corporate management in force," the study's authors wrote in the report.

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A new survey from HR services company Hewitt Associates shows that 66% of companies will not award holiday bonuses this year, instead favoring performance-based bonuses.

Nearly 80% of organizations currently offer this type of variable pay program, according to Hewitt's 2006 holiday study of more than 300 organizations

The survey suggests that there is a definite "variable payoff" since variable pay can help make up where base salary increases and holiday bonuses fall short, and for those employees who meet or exceed goals, the bonus payout could be more than a traditional holiday bonus.

"The majority of companies have realized that only through performance-based awards can an organization effectively motivate and reward employees for helping achieve their goals," Hewitt consultant Ken Abosch said in a news release.

Abosch suggests that variable pay plans, as opposed to holiday bonuses, clearly connect employees to company performance.

The survey notes that in 2006, actual company spending on variable pay as a percentage of payroll is 11.2%. Spending on variable pay in 2007 is projected to remain at 11%.

The Bonus Breakdown

The survey reveals that 52% of companies have never offered a holiday bonus. Reasons include 45% linking rewards to performance, 36% citing cost, and 30% noting that they never considered such a program.

For the 34% of companies that are offering a bonus this year, 39% will award cash, 37% will provide retailer gift certificates, and 27% will give employees a gift of food (i.e, turkey or ham).

Meanwhile, the remaining 14% of companies surveyed have recently discontinued their bonus programs. Sixty-one percent cite cost, 35% say employees did not value it, 33% cite entitlement issues, and 21% say the development of pay-for-performance programs.

In its amended annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Monster Worldwide claims it overstated its profit from 1997 to 2005 by a total of $271.9 million.

A committee of independent directors analyzed the company's stock options and accounting practices after the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York subpoenaed the company in June.

In the amended report, the company notes that the committee "has determined that the exercise price of a substantial number of stock option grants during the periods between 1997 through March 31, 2003, differed from the fair market value of the underlying shares on the measurement date."

In the SEC filing, the company recorded a net charge of $9.2 million for 2005, $14.4 million for 2004, $27 million for 2003, $44.9 million for 2002, $65.6 million for 2001, and $110.8 million for the cumulative period of 1997 through 2000.

The company also says it has "incurred material expenses in 2006 as a direct result of the investigation into our stock option grant practices and related accounting. These costs primarily relate to professional services for legal, accounting, and tax guidance."

In addition, it has incurred costs related to litigation, the informal investigation by the SEC, the investigation by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and the review of restated financial statements. The company says it expects to continue to incur costs associated with these matters.

"They did what a lot of large companies tried to do," notes Barbara Ling, president of RiseTrends. "But now there is a whole new way of trying to bring accountability to these firms."

"Two days ago they announced they were accepting PayPal, which is a remarkably smart move because it opens the door for smaller businesses to buy their product. This is yet another step toward making it easier for them to make money," says Ling.

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A new Manpower employment survey suggests that employers expect weaker hiring activities in the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector in the first three months of 2007 versus the final quarter of 2006.

While the Finance/Insurance/Real Estate sector was one of the strongest performers in the survey throughout most of 2006, employers in this sector now report weaker hiring expectations, making job prospects tighter than in recent years.

"The Q1 forecast is steady and similar to the last quarter of a year ago, but a subtle downward shift has occurred," says Jeanne Farmer, Manpower's regional director for Ohio. "That is the trend we saw based on overall results, with four out of 10 expecting weaker hiring activities."

Of the 10 industries surveyed, employers also say they expect weaker hiring activity in Construction, Durable Goods Manufacturing, and Transportation/Public Utilities.

Of the 14,000 U.S. employers surveyed, 23% expect to add to their payrolls during the first quarter of 2007, while 11% expect to reduce staff levels. Sixty percent expect no change in the hiring pace, and 6% are undecided.

Meanwhile, employers in the Non-Durable Goods Manufacturing, Wholesale/Retail Trade, and Services sectors expect few hiring changes compared to the fourth quarter.

Hiring in the Education and Public Administration sectors may improve slightly, with a modest improvement also expected in the Mining industry.

Regional Forecast

The survey indicates that employers in the South and West have slightly weaker hiring plans compared to the first quarter of 2006.

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Last week the 109th session of Congress paved the way to renew the Work Opportunity and Welfare-to-Work tax credits with a sweeping bill reviving many previously shelved bills.

"Certainly, this is a great thing," says Beth Henricks, president of the First Advantage Tax Consulting Services Division, which offers domestic and international recruiting services, applicant tracking software, skills assessments and testing, and tax credits screening.

"The business community had been told by Congress they would extend this; it's a welcome piece of legislation," says Henricks.

The tax credit, which had expired at the end of 2005, provides an incentive to employers to hire individuals from the following eight groups.

• families eligible to receive benefits under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program
• high-risk youth
• qualified ex-felons
• vocational rehabilitation referrals
• qualified summer-youth employees (max credit of $1,200, or 40% of the first $3,000 of qualified first-year wages)
• qualified veterans
• families receiving food stamps
• persons receiving certain Supplemental Security Income benefits

If a company is interested in participating in this program, they need to use federal Form 8850 as part of all screening and application systems.

"In a more automated world, companies will [automatically] incorporate those screening questions," Henricks says.

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see the poll results...

"There is a leadership revolution coming that will leave the victors with outstanding performance and the vanquished with under-developed talent," says Marc Effron, vice president of talent management at Avon Products Corporation.

The forces that are driving this revolution, according to Effron, are well-organized and include a few key forces. He theorizes that the revolutionary threat is not only the loss of your company's leaders; it's the loss of your company.

Part of the problem, he contends, is that "we have developed an educated consumer marketplace. They read the '100 Best Companies to Work For' lists and have the backgrounds to make a smart decision," he says.

Employees have a remarkable ease of movement and "retention packages won't hold key executives," he adds.

Another struggle is that lower-cost competitors are building leaders faster than most companies can keep up with.

"These are our 2.5 billion new competitors with an ability to completely replicate what we do in our marketplace," he says.

For example, he points to international workers who have attended American universities or have spent time in Silicon Valley.

"They have learned what good leadership is about and return back home with a skill-set to compete against those who trained them. Avon does not need high-paid executives in NYC; we can do that in Mumbai for one-tenth of the cost."

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Headquartered in Benton Harbor, Michigan, Whirlpool grew from a $2 billion company in 1987 to a nearly $20 billion company today.

Now, the company wants to grow to a $25 billion company and says its global strategic priorities include building on organizational capabilities; improving its leadership pipeline; and eliminating cultural barriers to growth.

The company's mission -- "Everyone passionately creating loyal customers for life" -- means that everyone from receptionists to vice presidents have to be a part of that equation. And it's these "human elements" that keep the company thinking late into the night, well after board-room strategy meetings.

Its plans by 2010 are to have developed a "deep innovation core" and by 2015 to be a leading domestic goods company, according to Bill Garagiulo, global director of talent management.

"Our focus is brand focus and customer loyalty, and HR is incredibly important to the strategic direction of a corporation," Garagiulo explained to attendees at the Marcus Evans conference in Miami on Thursday.

Whirlpool's chief executive officer agrees, having stated previously that he "expects the HR leadership group to significantly impact value creation and direct accountability" for many of the critical elements of a global plan.

According to John Havenaar, global director of talent acquisition, "every HR leaders' entrance point to identifying long-term talent solutions is through performance. Great people do not work for poorly performing companies," he notes.

For a company to succeed, it comes down to revenue, rigor, and results. Relevance, he says, drives great value. Rigor keeps things simple with "minimal scrap," while results deliver the great values.
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Private sector employment increased by 158,000 in November, according to a report from ADP Employer Services, a division of Automatic Data Processing.

According to the ADP National Employment Report, the findings suggest a modest acceleration of employment in November, following three months during which gains in private nonfarm employment averaged a slower 104,000.

The U.S. Labor Department's employment report will be released on Friday on November nonfarm payrolls. According to Reuters, it expected to show 110,000 nonfarm payroll jobs were created in November, up from 92,000 in October. The report counts government as well as private jobs.

Also, the Federal Reserve's policy-making group meets December 12 to decide interest-rate policy.

The ADP National Employment Report is a measure of employment based on a large, anonymous subset of ADP payroll data that represents employees working in all 19 of the major North American Industrial Classification private industrial sectors.

The December 2006 ADP National Employment Report will be released January 3, 2007.

Monster and National Career Fairs have teamed up to bring 288 career fairs to 76 cities across the country in 2007.

"We're committed to making it easy for recruiters to make connections that are best for them. Whether that is at a job fair or online, it is a strong commitment from Monster," says Diana Nicholson, Monster's senior vice president of consumer products.

Monster claims this new partnership will allow employers to balance their online approach to recruiting qualified candidates and gets the Monster brand out in a different way.

(The first event is scheduled in Chicago on January 8; check out the job-fair calendar to see when an event will be held in other cities.)

Nicholson explains that Monster job fairs will offer a personalized experience for job seekers who prefer to directly interact with employers in their local markets.

"It's kind of the next phase; the Internet has gone big and broad, and now it's getting more local. Now it's about access to things that are near to you and being able to leverage that. I see a trend along big, online businesses and trying to localize that information. It's a trend in general," says Nicholson.

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Shares of Manpower and Robert Half International declined Tuesday after Morgan Stanley downgraded both companies' stocks.

In a research note, a Morgan Stanley analyst downgraded Manpower to "Equal Weight" from "Underweight" and said it "is trading modestly above its intrinsic value." In addition, the analyst said growth in Europe may hold up but said the "U.S. macro environment is a bit soft, with plenty of forward-looking uncertainties, especially related to housing, consumer confidence, and therefore labor markets. This is especially true on the manufacturing side of the economy, and particularly with auto manufacturers."

(Also on Tuesday, Manpower subsidiary Right Management Consultants, Inc. completed the acquisition of Grow Talent Co. Ltd., an organizational and individual consulting firm with offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, and Bangalore.)

The analyst downgraded Robert Half International to "Equal Weight" from "Overweight," citing a softening housing market and sluggish consumer confidence, which "reduces the visibility regarding macro prospects."

However, the analyst said Robert Half is still "one of the best positioned and best-managed temporary staffing companies in the world, as evidenced by the company's track record of high organic revenue growth, industry-leading margins, and excellent free cash flow."

Manpower dropped $1.16 to $71.70, while Robert Half International shares lost 98 cents to $37.42. Also on Tuesday, Labor Ready, Inc. lost 7 cents to $19.32. All three companies are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.

Over on the Nasdaq, Paychex, Inc. lost 21 cents to $39.47; Kelly Services, Inc. declined 13 cents to $29.49; and Monster Worldwide lost 30 cents to $42.40.

Government: Wage Pressures Eased

A new government report says wage pressures were eased in the third quarter. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported unit labor costs, which measure the impact of wages and benefits per unit of output, grew at an annual rate of 2.3% in the third quarter, which was less than the 3.8% estimated rate the department released last month.

However, the productivity of U.S. workers rose by a weaker-than-expected 0.2%.

The country's second-largest automaker announced that 38,000 hourly workers, including 6,000 hourly employees at former Visteon Corp. plants, have agreed to accept early retirement or buyout packages.

The workers who accepted the various severance or retirement packages will begin to leave the company starting in January, with the remainder staying through September 2007.

Though many are retiring from the workforce, many other skilled workers will be seeking new career opportunities.

For some, this may result in some workers seeking temporary assignments to hone their training, notes Dennis Lynn, senior corporate recruiter at Kelly Services in Troy, Michigan.

"There are a whole array of issues based on so many people, but one of the issues is going to be about what salaries they have been offered at Ford. Other companies may not be able to offer the same thing. I don't know exactly what the salaries were, but I know there are some pretty hefty salaries out there," says Lynn.

In fact, when it announced its staff-cutting plans in September, Ford said it would offer all 75,000 U.S. hourly workers cash incentives as high as $140,000 if they give up some promised benefits and leave the company.

"The layoff includes a wide array of people -- not only in manufacturing but administrative positions as well," says Preston Harden, owner and chief executive officer of Magna Consulting Group, Inc., which helps company personnel develop strategies to achieve successful re-employment.

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Which player is the most likely to become the topic of discussion in the merger and acquisition space? According to Inside Recruiting readers, it's a neck-and-neck race between Monster (39%) and Yahoo! HotJobs (31%). While Careerbuilder came in third (21%), only a slim acknowledgement (9%) was made of an outside competitor to the trifecta of online job boards.

Each company seems to be taking steps to keep its top spot, however, and only time will tell whether one of the major players will make a merger announcement any time soon.

In mid-November, Yahoo! announced its new media partnership with more than 150 newspapers to deliver search, graphical, and classified advertising to consumers in the communities where they live and work.

Just last week, Monster announced a new media partnership with 40 daily newspapers and eight television stations, only a few months after its first such partnership with three daily papers (Akron Beacon Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and Philadelphia Daily News).

Another healthcare staffing firm made news this week, after it won the American Academy of Nursing's 2006 Media Award.

Access Nurses, a national travel nurse company, picked up the honor for its Web-based docudrama, 13 Weeks, which features six nurses from all over the country working in an intense hospital environment in Southern California.

"The review committee thought that the show was a highly creative and effective way to recruit traveling nurses into hospitals," said Gail Powell-Cope of the American Academy of Nursing, in a news release.

"The committee liked the portrayal of nurses on the show as skilled and caring professionals in a variety of clinical settings, as well as real people who enjoy the company of each other during rest, relaxation and recreation."

The objective in creating the show is to highlight nursing as a rewarding career choice and encourage more people to enter the profession, according to Access Nurses, which services over 1,500 healthcare facilities in the United States. The company recruits domestic and international nurses and allied health professionals and places them on contract, temporary, and permanent positions throughout the United States.

According to the Department of Health & Human Services, there will be over 800,000 unfilled nursing positions by the year 2020.

Complete Medical Staffing has been awarded a federal supply schedule contract to provide nurse and therapy staffing services to government facilities nationwide.

The contract allows Complete Medical Staffing to provide nurse and therapy staffing services to all Veteran Administration facilities, Department of Defense facilities, all federal prisons, and all Tribal and Indian Health facilities in approved states throughout the nation.

The company says the five-year contract will simplify the staffing process at more than 1,200 VA hospitals, outpatient clinics, and nursing homes. Services awarded in the contract include physical therapy, occupational therapy, speech language pathology, and nursing.

"Our healthcare professionals will be pleased with the additional assignment options that we will be able to offer to them with this contract," says Jeremy Gilmore, recruiter and staffing coordinator of Complete Medical Staffing.

"It opens up a lot more opportunities for different agencies to use those services."

The company says it offers 24/7 availability to its workers -- not an on-call service but an actual employee who answers the phone at midnight -- which also benefits client satisfaction levels.

"We check on all our healthcare professionals on a weekly basis. Employees are with us well over five years; we're able to retain our employees a lot longer than most," Gilmore adds.

The Coca-Cola Company's Valerie Kennerson says the war for talent is nothing more than a constant because "there has been and always will be far fewer A players than the demand needs."

As the Director of Global Strategic Sourcing and Selection, Kennerson urges all recruiters to get to know their company's current A players and then get to know the people they know.

In fact, she claims these tactics do not need to include buying A players a fancy lunch or scheduling a meeting ahead of time.

"It's about taking that opportunity in the moment. If you see them in the elevator, you have to be on; seize the moment. You always have to be prepared with that 30-second elevator speech," she says.

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