The August Team Player

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Happy August

We have some exciting news to tell you. The HR Team office will close at noon on August 17th and reopen on Monday August 20th. Phones and e-mail will be down at that time as well. Why are we closing? We are moving our office from Suite 303 to Suite 215 that day. If you are in the neighborhood, please stop by and visit our new slightly larger digs.

Recruiting a Recruiter
By Beth A. Berk, CPA, Independent Recruiter

There are some professions that are regulated, and there are many that are not governed at all, such as recruiting. As a result, there are no rules or regulations to be broken, nor guidelines about assessing a recruiter's expertise.

There are assumptions that if a recruiter works for a well known company, that the recruiter must know what they are doing and be somewhat of an "expert". Overall, the more well known companies tend to be large companies with advertising budgets to match. However, this is where perception doesn't necessarily match reality.

Regardless of the company a recruiter works for, whether you are a candidate or an employer, there is nothing wrong in interviewing the recruiter to see if they are the right fit for your search. My tips to check for:

1. The basics: Ask them about their education, training, certifications, and the like for the firm.
2. Longevity. The larger firms also have large volumes of turnover of their own staff. So it is important to know how long the recruiter you are working with has been with their firm, not just how long they have been recruiting.
3. Candidate embellishment: I have heard stories of recruiters who are "looking out for the candidate" and have told applicants to take a job off of their resume (if they weren't there for very long), or to change their job title (if they are overqualified for a position). So ask what their process is for resumes.
4. Candidate prepping: How do recruiters prep candidates? There are those recruiters that rationalize that if they could only get their candidate's foot in the door, prep the applicant thoroughly on potential questions, and then sell the client hard, it will all work out. So be sure to ask how they verify what a candidate tells them and what their screening process is.

So next time you need to use a recruiter, don't be afraid to ask the tough questions.

Beth A. Berk, CPA is a licensed CPA and Independent Recruiter and can be reached at BethABerk at msn.com or at 301-767-0670.

Government Contractors

Currently, the regulation at 41 CFR 60-250.5 requires contractors to list job openings with the appropriate local employment service office. Listing openings with America's Job Bank was expressly recognized as a method for satisfying the obligation. However, this July America's Job Bank was phased out.

Accordingly, until further guidance is provided by OFCCP, the agency, as a matter of enforcement discretion, will not cite a contractor for non-compliance solely because it has failed to list all of its employment openings with the appropriate employment service delivery system or the appropriate local employment service office, provided that it continues to make good faith efforts to recruit and employ qualified covered veterans. In order to ensure the continuation of both an effective job referral system for veterans and the recruitment of qualified veterans by Federal contractors, the agency will provide guidance as soon as possible.

OFCCP recommends that contractors take the following affirmative steps:

• Create partnership arrangements with local and national recruiting sources for referral of qualified covered veteran applicants;
• Establish a relationship with the Local Veterans' Employment Representative or his or her designee;
• Recruit covered student veterans at educational institutions;
• Create partnership arrangements with veterans' service organizations to employ qualified covered veterans;
• Establish relationships with the Veterans Administration Medical Center job placement programs;
• Advertise job openings and recruit qualified covered veterans during company career days and/or related activities in the local community;
• Encourage subcontractors to seek qualified covered veterans for employment opportunities; and
• Contact the Local Veterans' Employment Representative when new Federal contracts are obtained, or when significant hiring will occur.

Contractors also are encouraged to continue listing employment openings, whenever possible, during this interim period. To assist you in identifying an alternative job bank, the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Division has provided a list of hyperlinks to state job banks, which can be found at http://careeronestop.org/ajbprsjbl/

Quotes and Comments from and about Bosses (from jokesnjokes.net)

• A direct quote from the Boss: "We passed over a lot of good people to get the ones we hired."
• My Boss needs a surge protector. That way his mouth would be buffered from surprise spikes in his brain.
• Quote from telephone inquiry: "We're only hiring one summer intern this year and we won't start interviewing candidates for that position until the Boss' daughter finishes her summer classes."

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