Spotlight on Recruiting & Retention

• Why social media won't eliminate recruiters
  Calls for the death of the recruiting industry are premature, says Kris Dunn at Fistful of Talent. Recruiters still will find plenty of work despite a study that suggests young professionals will shun headhunters in favor of social networking recommendations. Next-gen managers will not have time to surf social networks to recruit and track talent. "And that's why good recruiters will always have a job," Dunn says. Fistful of Talent (12/15)

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• Why first, last impressions matter
  With more job losses looming in the months ahead, Tammy Erickson advises workers to keep in mind their reputations often depend on the impressions they make coming into or exiting an organization. "Both of these are times when the phrases 'What do you need?' and 'How can I help?' should be the questions that everyone hears most clearly," she says. "Neither are times to talk about yourself and what you want. They are both times to give back." Harvard Business Review online/Across the Ages blog (12/12)

• Fixes for low-performing employees
  When dealing with workers who underperform, managers should investigate the cause of the trouble before pointing toward the exit sign, Susan Tonkin writes in Talent Management. Some of the most common causes of subpar work -- lack of engagement in tasks, gaps in skills or focus on the wrong priorities -- can be corrected with better communication and best practices, she says. Talent Management (12/2008)

• California debate focuses on rules for overtime, breaks
  How to calculate overtime pay and enforce rules for unpaid breaks are at the heart of a debate over California's budget, which is $14.8 billion short for the current fiscal year. Republicans and businesses want reforms they say will bring more jobs to the state and generate more tax revenue, but Democrats are opposed to changing laws they said were "hard-fought gains" for workers. Los Angeles Times (12/15)

• Harmonious workplace improves employee potential
  People can find passion for their work and develop their potential when their environment is dynamic, says Jane Anderson, co-founder of 8 Elements in Phoenix. Anderson recently launched the company with her husband, Allen, drawing on their expertise in performance training and feng shui to help small- and midsize businesses improve productivity. American City Business Journals/Phoenix (12/12)

• Follow-up reinforces training goals
  A key to making training effective is to continue support of employees after they walk out the conference room door. Two ways to do this are to have employees write a plan on how to put their new skills to use and to have follow-up meetings between peers and supervisors on the new skills. The Wall Street Journal (tiered subscription model) (12/14)

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• The obnoxious champion
  New ideas meet so much resistance that they're often smothered at birth -- unless a hero steps in to press the cause. The corporate champion is a credit to innovation but frequently not the most popular in the room. "The champion is obnoxious, impatient, egotistic and perhaps a bit irrational in organizational terms," says James Brian Quinn, a professor at Dartmouth's Tuck School of Business. The Economist (12/15)

Learning and Organizational Specialist Kaiser Permanente Atlanta, Georgia HR Business Partner Philips Healthcare Andover, Massachusetts Trainer CPA Global Alexandria, VA

• Federal workers get extra day off after Christmas
  Federal employees have been given the day after Christmas as a vacation day. No announcement has been made yet about Jan. 2. Postal workers and some federal workers whose jobs are considered essential still might be required to work Dec. 26. OhMyGov! (12/13)

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Top five news stories selected by SmartBrief on Workforce readers in the past week.

• 10 skills leaders are best at are not always the most appreciated (DO NOT USE Sales & Marketing Management)

• 5 tips for rewarding outstanding performance (Manage Smarter)

• Interview tips from a "harsh" recruiter (the mbti blog)

• Cheap ways to tune up stressed-out workers (Workforce Management Online)

• Kind bosses get better results than bullies (BBC)

• Results based on number of times each story was clicked by readers.

The call that the recruiter will fade as younger generations rise into the professional class is a lame, academic prediction that's intellectually lazy." --Kris Dunn, editor of Fistful of Talent