May 17, 2012

Bank of America Buys up Domain Names to Keep Offline

Shareholders carry a lot of clout in any company, especially when it comes to getting approval. Company executives will do most anything to appeal to shareholders, sometimes creating highly complicated accounting strategies to make it seem like more of a profit is being made.
Some will do everything they can to keep the shareholders from seeing bad news about the company. Brian Moynihan is the most hated BOA exec and he’s drawing a lot of fire from the populations.
BOA executives are scrambling to buy up domain names that put BOA in a bad light. It’s almost comical, as they snap up such domains as brianmoynihansucks.com and brianmoynihanblows.com and even names like brianmoynihanisugly.com. Any domain name that can make a derogatory remark about BOA or its executives is being figured out and purchased.
Domain Name Wire Gets Jackpot

Domain Name Wire, an Internet company who often buys domain names for big corporations just bought hundreds of domain names in hopes of keeping them offline. It’s a last-ditch effort to keep clean the name of the company that was just convicted of putting people out of their homes illegally during a recession.
Also, one BOA customer alleged that a bank employee broke into her home (after an illegal foreclosure) and stole the ashes of her dead husband (and other items) during the illegal foreclosure process. BOA isn’t just disliked, it’s becoming hated.
BOA bought all the domains they could think of that have anything to do with the bank, Brian Moynihan or Charles Noski and other members of the board.
As if that isn’t enough of a problem for the BOA, there is now a rumor that the bank will be the subject of another release by WikiLeaks, the Internet‘s national tattler.  If anything is known about WikiLeaks it’s that they’re thorough when they rake someone over the coals, so it doesn’t sound good for BOA.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Recruiters Need Marketing Skills to get Good Help

Recruiters today have to fill openings and put out notices for the help wanted. They’ll get a glut of applications, with possibly all of them being wrong for the job, or not skilled as wanted. They then must pick through a stack of applications looking for someone they can fit into the hole.
A pharmacy might need technicians, and those are a dime a dozen in the US. However, not all pharmacy technicians will qualify for the spot if the recruiter is looking for someone with more skills than just pharmacology. A qualified applicant might be one who likes working in the health care field and has experience working with the public.
Fish Out the Necessary Information, Then Hire Accordingly
More data is needed to find out the hidden qualities a person has that aren’t listed on their resume. They may enjoy working their job, but hate working with the public, for example. A good potential applicant would want to demonstrate their previous success working with the public by listing those jobs and skills, even if they don’t relate to the position being offered.
A recruiter hiring for the pharmacy position can market the job by using adjectives that describe the whole attitude of the person needed; good communication skills, good organization, good attention to detail and good interpersonal skills, etc.  Then, there’s the fact that most pharmacy customers are ill or in pain, so having compassion for the sick and being able to comfort them is also something a recruiter might require.
How does a recruiter find good quality candidates? Interview top performers in the position. Find out what they like or dislike about their jobs, what motivates them and what they like best about doing their work. Find a common ground between them. What do they find particularly satisfying? Or, dissatisfying? With more information a recruiter can find who is best for the position, and not just choose someone to fill a spot.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

The Potential Employee

In the cutthroat business world, there is so much riding on the resume and interview. It is very difficult to land a great job, so there will be many different applicants for open positions. Here are a few things to look for when interviewing potential candidates.

Resume

When looking for a potential employee, the first thing you will see is their resume. It’s not just an outline of their work history or their education, it’s also a glimpse into their personality. If you receive a beat up, poorly printed resume full of misspelled words and outdated information, you probably aren’t looking at the next great employee. Only let the applicants through that meet the meticulous standards your company warrants.

Education

While looking at resumes, you will also be looking into the applicants education history. You first want to make sure that they meet the minimum education requirements that the position needs. It doesn’t matter whether it’s from junior colleges, online schools, or even ivy league schools, a commitment to education shows a lot about your applicant. A couple of red flags you want to look out for may be if they changed their major a lot, never finished, or got horrible grades, because indecisiveness, lack of commitment, or doing the absolute minimum required are all qualities you want to avoid in an employee.

Interview

You can learn so much about a person when you meet them face to face. When interviewing potential employees, you want to try and absorb as much about them as you possibly can. The person you want working for you will exude confidence, look you right in the eye when speaking to you, and seem comfortable around you. Although, you may want to be a bit understanding when it comes to nerves, because you don’t want to miss out on a great employee because they were a little nervous in the interview.

Filed Under: Business, Employee Relationships Tagged With: , ,

Employee Morale too Low in the UK

Workplace dissatisfaction is running high in the world, with employees being overworked due to shortages in revenue, stagnating the hiring process and creating a workload too heavy for the current employees. The workers who are left have all the work piled upon them, making them tired and discouraged as other jobs are given to them on top of what they‘ve always done, and they aren‘t being fully compensated for it.
King’s College in London recently took a survey of over 500 HR managers and found that over 46% of employees experienced or witnessed stress-related problems on the job and 42% expect the situation to worsen in 2011. The survey shows there’s been a direct link between higher levels of stress and stress-related illness and absence in the workplace.
Over half of the survey respondents indicated working overtime due to staff shortages and although they’re doing more work, they aren’t getting raises or bonuses like they should. This causes stress for the managers as well as the employees, and the survey also shows that poor relations with managers are responsible for the higher number of grievances being reported. This also results in growing levels of employee absence.
Everybody needs their jobs, but overworked people don’t produce as much and unhappy people add to workplace unrest, which raises turnover levels. The thing is, not all companies can afford to replace and train people, so when some quit they aren’t replaced, adding to the already heavy workload on those that are left.
The survey revealed that workers anticipate seeing a further deterioration in employee relations and the number of employee grievances will climb even higher. Morale is just too low.
Employers and HR managers that try to involve their workers in workplace events and offer a light at the end of the tunnel or at least open communication have workers with less stress-related absence and less open unrest. Employers must remember that without these workers their business could not run at the current pace, so making a more comfortable place to work can only behoove them.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Cautious Hiring to Begin in 2011

Hiring is predicted to be up in 2011. During the last several years there have been more hiring freezes and layoffs due to the slow economy, and it looks like that may be lifting for some cities. Slowly, people are starting to get jobs and it’s beginning to look a little better – but we aren’t out of the recession woods just yet. To err on the side of caution can’t hurt.
CareerBuilder.com did a survey of 1350 businesses with 500 employees or less, and found that over half of small businesses are expecting to hire permanent, full time staff in 2011 to keep up with production and demand, even if they are being cautious about it. Nobody trusts it when the job market looks up a little, but acting carefully can make it possible to navigate toward success.
Hiring in 2011 Will Improve, but Cautiously

Just 14% of those small businesses surveyed said they wouldn’t be able to keep up with current demand, so hiring more temporary and contract workers to help them get caught up is all they plan to do. However, 31% of those small businesses said they would take those temporary new hires and convert them into contracted or full time employees. That is good news.
Many small businesses expressed frustration at not being able to get the credit they need to support their businesses during 2010, and a quarter of those said they were unable to add more employees because of it.
Another 66% of businesses that were able to get credit did hire on new permanent employees, and survey responders indicated dissatisfaction with the associated costs. A full 50% cited higher costs in healthcare benefits, 27% cited marketing expenditures and brand-building, 26% indicated a lack of qualified applicants and 19% cited the relative challenges of hiring new people.
Six percent of the small businesses will actually downsize this year, reducing full time jobs by 6% and part time jobs by 3%. Between 64% and 66% will make no changes at all.
Filed Under: Business, Business Costs Tagged With: , ,

Are Former Employees Sharing Your Information?

Hilton Worldwide

Image via Wikipedia

In light of the latest scandal between Hilton Worldwide and Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, business managers all over should pay attention. When people move from one job to another they often take  knowledge and clients with them, even if they signed a nondisclosure contract. A person cannot “un” know something, and chances are, they were hired at the new position because of what they know.
Hilton hired two of Starwood’s management people who took proprietary information with them. New projects of Starwood’s not only became knowledge to Hilton, but even pertinent details of the new project came out in Hilton’s version of the same idea.  Of course, a lawsuit was born and then settled in December of 2010.
HR managers take note: there are things that can be done to minimize the conflict that’s naturally created between the new hire’s old job and the new job. There are steps that can be taken to ensure a smoother transition without litigation.
HR Managers can Prevent Proprietary Information Dissemination

  • 1.) There has to be a thorough background check, first to avoid criminals and second to get an idea of what the person knows. This includes showing old contracts to potential employers, talking about experiences and sharing the policies and procedures about clientele lists, among other things.
  • 2.) All new hires must go through a process of orientation where they learn policies about confidentiality of information and procedures. They need to know how secret that information should be kept, and that the company has a zero-tolerance policy for sharing or reproducing information.
  • 3.) When an employee states an intention to leave the company, the HR department needs to act right away. Considerations are locking the person out of computer files and servers, collecting property like computers, rolodexes, etc. Take inventory and do an exit interview where the person is reminded of the legal ramifications of information sharing.
Filed Under: Business, Employee Relationships Tagged With: , ,

The Training Session

The training of your employees in the way that things are done at your particular business is a very important part of making your business run smoothly.  Well trained employees are less likely to get frustrated and quit before they even know the ropes, and more likely to incorporate themselves into the daily workings of your business properly.  Creating the proper atmosphere for learning is important, as well as keeping the material relevant to what you want to teach.

If you are planning to train a large group of employees it is a good idea to start out with what all of the employees need to know.  Maybe a video presentation or a talk from your Human Resources representative on hours, time off, break time, lunch time, benefits, etc.  Laying out in clear terms what is acceptable and what is not will alleviate problems later.  Having done that, it is probably a good idea to break the training session up into groups.  The training can then be concentrated on each different department or job.  The employees need only learn what is needed by them.

One of the most important parts of the training session is the question and answers.  Listen to the questions, ask some yourself.  Let your employees know that at any time if they have further questions they will be directed to the proper channel and make sure the question is answered.  Make sure that everything you have gone over is either accessible on the employee’s desktop or hand out a folder or packet with all the necessary information, as well as contact names and numbers.  Make sure the contact people are aware that they may be contacted.

Proper, thorough training benefits the boss as well as the employee.  The employee feels confident that he has learned what he needs and the boss gets confident employees right from the start.

Filed Under: Human Resources, Training Tagged With: ,

Before You Call A Contractor

There are times when you will require the work of a contractor for your business.  You may need to have someone else come in and do a part of your work.  These are the days of specialized everything.  The family doctor sends the patient to a specialist, the specialist sends the patient to as surgeon and so on.  As in business, you are either the guy who oversees the project or you are the guy who has been contracted by the guy who oversees the contract  to do a certain part of the job.  For the sake of argument we will say the business is construction.  The contractor is an every day event in this business.

The general contractor is the guy who oversees the entire project.  He has limited knowledge of each part of the job, and his major area of expertise is making it all come together.  He does this by contracting out certain parts of the work.  If plumbing is needed, a plumber will be contracted to do his part of the job.  The electrician will be contracted for the electrical work, right down to the plasterer and painter who will be contracted for their expertise.  The general contractor has a crew of his own, who probably started the construction.  Obviously everybody is getting their fee.  The general contractor commands a fee, as well as each individual contractor.  The general contractor can save money on the job as well as make more for himself is he has reliable people in his crew with at least a general knowledge of all parts of the construction.  Maybe the painting and plastering part of the job is just a quick fix, something that can be done by a general contracting crew.  By not calling in a separate contractor for this job and using his own crew, the general contractor has saved money for the client, as well as made some extra for himself.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: ,

Hiring Tips

All bosses know what they are looking for in new employees.  Once you are actually meeting with the person, you have already seen a resume and have spoken to the prospective employee via telephone.  Make sure that by the time you are asking a person to come in to speak with you for an interview you have chosen the right person.  Check the resume thoroughly.  On line job sites have people post their resumes so that prospective employers can search through them, learning the skills that an employee possesses and seeing if they want to pursue this relationship further.  Read through the resume.  Make sure that what the person stated is true, and that it can be verified.  If references are given, call them.  Make sure that the person represented on this application is truly who they say they are.

Continue to get to know the person when you call to set up an interview.  Make the call yourself.  You can have an impression of the person through their voice and the way they present themselves.  Did you like their voice?  Were they articulate?  Were they able to answer your questions without hesitation and with confidence?  The answers to these questions will help you decide if indeed, you want to have the person come in for a face to face interview.  If you found anything questionable on the submitted resume, straighten out.  Ask the person to clarify any misunderstandings or explain something to you.

When you do see the person face to face, read their body language.  All employees on interviews are nervous.  This could be the career they have been searching for.  Put the person at ease and you will get much more information than if they feel intimidated.  Give them the opportunity to ask you questions.  You may learn exactly what they are looking for in this business relationship.

Filed Under: Hiring, Human Resources Tagged With: ,

The Termination Crisis

There are many times in your business where you have to let employees go, terminate your relationship with them.  Sometimes it is a matter of realizing they are not the right person for the job.  There could also be incidences of insubordination.  You may have an employee who takes advantage and calls out sick too often.  You may have someone whose production is not what it should be, even after many talks and chances to right the wrongs.  These are all reasons to terminate an employee.  There are definitely more serious infractions and unfortunately they are all too common.  Employees have been caught outright stealing from the company.  Books have been doctored and accounts are open in names they should not be.  These more serious infractions are cause for immediate termination.  If not caught, these infractions can and will be traced back to you.  You could lose your business or even face criminal charges.

You need to deal with an employee in this situation very carefully. This person may have a personal grudge against you or your business.  He may be someone who just needed the money and knew he was good with the books.  Whatever the reason, terminating a disgruntled employee can go badly very quickly.  Hopefully your business has rules about weapons and/or firearms and is diligent in making sure those rules are followed.  You just never know.  If you have to confront an employee who is breaking the law, make sure you have legal back up.  Call the local law enforcement if you need to.  Consult your attorneys on what should be done.

While you know this employee needs to leave, you have other employees and their safety to consider.  Take every precaution when terminating someone who has done something illegal.  If they are capable of that, you do not know what else they are capable of doing.

Filed Under: Business Tagged With: ,
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