Human Resource Management

Career path critical for employees HR

Employees in the US are saying that knowing their career path is critical to attaining overall job satisfaction, according to a new survey.

The survey revealed that more than half of respondents (54%) said that knowing their career path is very important and 31% said that it is somewhat important for job satisfaction.

"Employees want to know how to get to that next rung on the career ladder," said Max Messmer, chairman of Accountemps and author of Human Resources Kit For Dummies®. “Managers should ensure their staff see their potential to advance."

But workers need to make their interests known, too. "Employees should ask their managers what steps it will take to reach the next level at the organization," he added.

Accountemps also highlighted five essential questions that employees can ask of their managers to find out about their career path within the organisation.

The survey was developed by Accountemps, specialised staffing service for temporary accounting, finance and bookkeeping professionals.

Most creative job evaluations by HR

For HR professionals who are bored with the usual employee performance evaluations, these are some great lines from Halife Office Humour that would bring some life to your standard reports.

1. I would not allow this employee to breed.

2. Works well when under constant supervision and cornered like a rat in a trap.

3. When she opens her mouth, it seems it is only to change whatever foot was previously there.

4. He would be out of his depth in a parking lot puddle.

5. He set low personal standards and then consistently fails to achieve them.

6. This employee should go far, and the sooner he starts, the better.

7. A room temperature IQ.

8. His men would follow him anywhere, but only out of morbid curiosity.

9. If you give him a penny for his thoughts, you will get change.

10. Since my last report, this employee has reached rock bottom and has started to dig.

Recruitment goes social in China

The rapid growth of Chinese social networking sites, in addition to inadequate recruitment platforms has led to more companies turning to social media as a hiring strategy.

"Traditional recruitment processes, as they are understood in the West, only really started to be used in China after 1978, with the gradual liberalising of China's economy," said Mike Tims, the president of Asia, Middle East and Africa for global HR consultancy SHL Group, in a report by the Wall Street Journal. "This has made it easier for China to 'leapfrog' these traditional approaches and embrace new recruitment methods more easily."

The impetus for China to try new recruiting methods comes from the challenges companies face there. Recruiting experts say online job boards in China often attract many unqualified candidates for well-known companies and none for smaller firms. There are also too many headhunters with varying degrees of credibility, making the market chaotic.

"In China we are jealous of our HR co-workers in the US where online recruiting platforms are more mature and can attract qualified candidates,” Willa Wang, talent acquisition director at Lenovo China, was quoted as saying.

Making the environment tougher, both MNCs and local companies with global ambitions tend to fight for the same small pool of talent.

"There is intense competition for what turns out to be a narrow segment that has the skills we are looking for," said Jim Pilarski, the head of HR for Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa for hotel chain operator Marriot International.

One company that is utilising social media in China is Marriott, which launched a promotional campaign in China using Sina's Weibo, a Twitter-like web messaging service. More than 30 of its Chinese hotels made videos about them, and shortlisted videos were featured on the company's Weibo page. By July, the company had received about 1,000 more applications for Chinese jobs than it does in a normal month, said Bill Lu, Marriott's director of talent acquisition.