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2012 Linux Job Forecast: Demand is on the Rise

2012 Linux Job Forecast: Demand is on the Rise »

NEW YORK and SAN FRANCISCO, Feb. 14, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — The first-ever report forecasting the Linux job market shows demand for Linux skills is on the rise but that finding talent is difficult. This is triggering better salaries and bonuses for Linux professionals.

The 2012 Linux Jobs Report released today shares the results of a recent survey of more than 2,000 hiring managers. The survey was conducted by Dice, the leading career site for technology and engineering professionals, and The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the growth of Linux.

Key statistics from the report include:

Eighty-one percent of survey respondents say that hiring Linux talent is a priority in 2012. This urgency is driving a substantial increase in recruiting activity, with nearly half (47%) of hiring managers expecting to add more Linux professionals to their firms in early 2012 and 63 percent noting Linux hires are increasing relative to jobs created in other skill areas.

But, a full 85 percent report having difficulty finding qualified Linux professionals to fill these positions, pointing to the need for more skilled Linux talent.

In an economy where contract and temp-to-hire positions have become more prevalent, Linux professionals garner more full-time positions and better salaries, bonuses and perks. While average pay increase for tech professionals averaged just two percent in 2011, professionals with Linux skills have seen a five percent increase in salaries and a 15 percent jump in bonus payouts over the same timeframe.

Seventy-five percent of respondents cited the mid-level professional with three to five years of experience as their most-sought hires, especially those with development or systems administration skills.

“Linux jobs have become some of the hottest jobs in all of tech,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “Clearly, hiring managers throughout the IT tech sector understand this and are aggressively seeking Linux professionals. It is our job to meet this demand by ensuring developers and systems admins have access to the community networking opportunities and Linux training they need to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity.”

With the tech industry having twice as many openings as professionals who can do the job[1], college grads to mid-career professionals are considering how to take advantage of that opportunity. Software programming has been highly touted as a lucrative area of technology, and with the increasing use of Linux and open source software across industries, Linux know-how is topping the list of most highly sought expertise in this area.

“In the last ten years, there’s been no tech skill that matches Linux in terms of growth in hiring requests and size of demand and clearly it’s not done,” said Alice Hill, Managing Director, Dice.com. “The best Linux candidates have options and we need more talented professionals to join the community. Linux is simply a core skill for anyone pursuing a career in software development or systems administration.”

To download the complete report, please visit: http://www.linuxfoundation.org/publications/linux-foundation/2012-linux-jobs-report

Read 2012 Linux Job Forecast: Demand is on the Rise now »

SearchPath HCS Announces Major Restructuring, While Reporting 30% Revenue Growth

SearchPath HCS Announces Major Restructuring, While Reporting 30% Revenue Growth »

Cleveland, OH (PRWEB) February 13, 2012 SearchPath HCS, Inc. (Pink Sheets: SRCP), announced today a major restructuring of the company and that our active offices, year over year, have seen a 30% increase in revenue.

Founded in 2005, the company has evolved and adapted its service offering to reflect the changing market conditions. “The difficult financial markets that we have experienced over the last several years forced us to reevaluate and restructure our franchising operations,” stated, Thomas Johnston, President and CEO of SearchPath HCS. “Due to the strengthening market, as reflected by the substantial increase (30%) in revenue in our active offices, and because of increased demand for a low cost, highly profitable, professional services franchise offering focused on helping top companies identify and recruit top talent, we felt that we needed a complete overhaul of our original platform. We have a significant number of our SearchPath International franchises that have failed to meet our stringent performance and compliance criteria. Over the next couple of quarters, we will be working closely with each of our underperforming units to either improve performance or, if they do not become compliant, to terminate their franchise agreements.”

Johnston continued, “In an effort to best prepare our organization for continued growth and to build a platform to capture market share and leverage the increasing demand for top performing talent, we will build on the SearchPath brand and leverage our reputation of being one of the most aggressive and successful headhunting organizations in the industry.”

Read SearchPath HCS Announces Major Restructuring, While Reporting 30% Revenue Growth now »

SmartRecruiters’ No Brainer Program Entices Customers to Change Recruiting Solutions

SmartRecruiters’ No Brainer Program Entices Customers to Change Recruiting Solutions »

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) February 13, 2012 SmartRecruiters, the free social recruiting platform, today announced offerings aimed at Taleo (TLEO) customers seeking to switch in the wake of the company being acquired by Oracle. SmartRecruiters No Brainer Program targets small to medium sized companies and features an entire free suite of commitment-less incentives for them to change to SmartRecruiters.

“Employers of all sizes, but especially small and medium-sized companies, need an easy, open and social recruiting solution to hire the best talent,” said Jerome Ternynck, Founder and CEO at SmartRecruiters. “A large public company like Taleo or Oracle simply cannot match the ease of use or industry specific innovation of SmartRecruiters. Clean recruiting SaaS is SmartRecruiters’ business. We announced this No Brainer Program because it’s a No Brainer.”

SmartRecruiters’s No Brainer Program includes the following offerings, for those who switch before or after April 1 2012:

Full Access to SmartRecruiters Awesome Recruiting Platform

Permanently Waiving All Subscription Fees

Allowing Unlimited Users Forever

No Commitment Lengths of Any Kind

Easy Hiring Ever After

Read SmartRecruiters’ No Brainer Program Entices Customers to Change Recruiting Solutions now »

Finally, an Uncensored Career Site for Company Insiders and Job Seekers Alike: theFIT

Finally, an Uncensored Career Site for Company Insiders and Job Seekers Alike: theFIT »

BOSTON, Mass. (February 7, 2012) – theFIT debuted today, a career site that finally fulfills the needs of job seekers and the 80 percent of people who are not looking for a new job. Developed by Bullhorn, Inc., theFIT helps you get inside the heads of current or prospective co-workers by asking burning questions that reveal the true story of a workplace. Because life is short and the workday is long, theFIT is on a mission to make your office a place you want to work.

“Until now, career sites have been places where job seekers mingle with other job seekers. That is a waste of time. And job boards and the interview process do very little to show you a company’s true culture,” said Art Papas, CEO of theFIT. “We designed theFIT to be a place where employees and job seekers alike will visit day after day. It’s not filled with boring surveys about what you like about your job, but rather fun questions that foster authentic answers and reveal the true culture of a workplace.”

Key Features:

– Answers to Burning Questions. Did everyone else get a small bonus last year? Am I the only one who’s gay here? Did the boss steal one of your brilliant ideas, too? Now anyone can find out. Initial data from the 5,000 people who have contributed to theFIT shows that people are three and half times more likely to be dissatisfied at work if a boss has taken credit for their ideas. This kind of information is virtually impossible to glean based on an interview or a job posting.

– At-a-glance Company Culture Snapshot. theFIT provides an uncensored snapshot inside a company through ranks of cultural attributes – according to the people who work there. Each company is assigned badges such as Amazing Perks, Play Hard, Incredible Mentors and Earning Potential.

– Social Connectivity. Users can login through LinkedIn or Facebook and engage their co-workers to compare notes, commiserate or just goof off. Job seekers can also browse job openings and leverage their LinkedIn and Facebook connections to get a foot in the door of a potential workplace.

“For the past 10 years, we’ve worked with recruiters to develop technology solutions to better match candidates with employers. But, the biggest hurdle in the hiring process is always fit, and there is absolutely no way to screen for it,” continued Papas. “In fact, 46 percent of employees who quit do so within 18 months of being hired. It’s a gaping hole in the employment process and we designed theFIT to fill the void and prevent such a rapid turnover.”

theFIT debuts today for Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, Oakland, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington, D.C.

Read Finally, an Uncensored Career Site for Company Insiders and Job Seekers Alike: theFIT now »

Recruiters Rejoice: Gradspring Launches Career Resource Aimed at Recent Graduates

Recruiters Rejoice: Gradspring Launches Career Resource Aimed at Recent Graduates »

NASHVILLE, Tenn.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Gradspring, a free tool for the HR community, announced the West Coast regional launch of their new career resource service today. Gradspring caters to top companies, providing connections to a qualified pool of enthusiastic entry-level professionals.

Gradspring works because it’s different. Unlike other job boards, Gradspring adheres to a stringent screening process for candidates and potential professional opportunities. Entry-level professionals on Gradspring are personally invested in finding new careers, creating an ideal environment for higher retention rates and mutually beneficial professional partnerships.

“We help our business partners search for top candidates by providing a unique database of searchable, motivated recent graduates,” said Sean Clem, CEO and founder of Gradspring. “At Gradspring recruiters can showcase potential careers without getting lost in a sea of marketing schemes, job scams and blatant advertisements.”

By focusing on the unique niche of entry-level employment, Gradspring zeros in on the fundamental building blocks for successful recruitment. Currently, companies registered to post jobs on Gradspring include industry leaders such as Cadence Design Systems, Walt Disney Company, National Hot Rod Association, Enterprise Holdings, Northrop Grumman, CareerScribe.com, Silicon Valley Bank, John Deere, Relief International, Nordstrom, Discover Financial Services and many others.

Gradspring is currently accepting career postings in Arizona, California, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming. Businesses are invited to post at no cost, positions that

– Are true entry-level positions, requiring fewer than 2 years of experience.
– Offer salaries commensurate with industry standards.
– Require a bachelor’s degree as an educational minimum.
– Are connected to a physical place of employment.

With Gradspring, finding the right candidate for entry-level opportunities has never been easier. During 2012 Gradspring will be expanding nationally, connecting recruiters with students via the latest social media technology, targeted online marketing and ground-level guerilla strategies. A recent marketing agreement with the North American Interfraternity Conference gives Gradspring partners a direct line to the NIC’s 76 member fraternities and their 350,000 undergraduate members, in addition to a growing member base.

Read Recruiters Rejoice: Gradspring Launches Career Resource Aimed at Recent Graduates now »

More than a Third of IT Leaders Expect IT Hiring to Increase

More than a Third of IT Leaders Expect IT Hiring to Increase »

HANOVER, Md.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–TEKsystems®, a leading provider of IT staffing solutions, human capital management expertise and IT services, today announced findings from its quarterly IT Executive Outlook survey, conducted in partnership with the Inavero Institute.

While nearly half of IT leaders anticipate their temporary (55%) and permanent (57%) IT headcount to stay the same in the first quarter of 2012, more than a third also expect to hire temporary (34%) and permanent (35%) IT workers during the first three months of the year. Approximately 30% of those respondents expecting to increase hiring in the first quarter anticipate 10% increases to temporary and permanent IT headcount.

IT leaders report Enterprise Architects, Cloud Architects and Data/Master Data Management Architects are among the most difficult positions to fill. On a scale of one to 10, over 60% of IT leaders rate these skills a seven or higher. More than 50% of leaders express difficulty finding Security Specialists (56%), Business Intelligence Specialists (55%) and Mobile Application Developers (53%).

“IT leaders are hiring because businesses realize the vital role skilled IT professionals play in competitive success. Many organizations are simultaneously implementing major IT projects to help achieve business objectives, including mobile applications, business intelligence, virtualization and security initiatives. As a result, the market for IT professionals with relevant skills is extremely tight,” says TEKsystems Director, Rachel Russell. “One way to combat this challenge is to build proactive and strategic recruiting programs that attract necessary skills and prevent you from becoming short armed or stretched too thin.”

2012 Salary Expectations

Forty-four percent of respondents report that IT staffs can expect to receive raises in 2012. The majority of anticipated raises are between one and five percent. Cloud Architects, Enterprise Architects and Data/Master Data Management Architects, however, could see raises that exceed 10%.

“Given the current economic conditions, a raise of any size is very positive for IT workers,” comments Russell. “While compensation is always important, however, it’s not all that skilled IT professionals seek from their employers and prospective employers. IT professionals consistently tell us that other job attributes like opportunities for career advancement and skill development, location and commute and overall benefits are equally, if not more, important to their overall job satisfaction.”

Read More than a Third of IT Leaders Expect IT Hiring to Increase now »

Zoho Recruit Links up with LinkedIn

Zoho Recruit Links up with LinkedIn »

PLEASANTON, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Helping people work online, Zoho today announced it has integrated Zoho Recruit with LinkedIn, the popular social network for professionals. Just one of the new features of Zoho’s applicant tracking system and recruitment software, LinkedIn integration highlights the company’s efforts to simplify recruiters’ workflow — and give recruiters more opportunities to actually engage with candidates — by bringing together multiple tools in a single user interface.

“We want to reverse that trend. The new features we’re adding to Zoho Recruit are designed to enhance recruiters’ productivity and to give them more ways to engage candidates from within the application.”

Zoho will be exhibiting Zoho Recruit in stand #80 at the Recruitment Agency Expo, running February 14-15 at the Olympia Conference Center in London.

“When it comes to recruiting and applicant tracking, a lot of recruitment agencies and HR departments spend more time juggling applications than communicating with their candidates,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho evangelist. “We want to reverse that trend. The new features we’re adding to Zoho Recruit are designed to enhance recruiters’ productivity and to give them more ways to engage candidates from within the application.”

Refining Zoho Recruit

Zoho Recruit is an easy-to-use Applicant Tracking System and Recruitment Software that helps staffing agencies and recruiting departments track job openings, resumes, candidates and contacts more quickly and efficiently. To help recruiters spend less time on processes and more time on getting the right candidate, Zoho Recruit now features:

– LinkedIn integration lets users link candidate and client contacts with their LinkedIn profiles. In turn, users can see candidate and client information such as position, company, city, and business and professional activity. Users can also send notes and invitations to candidate and client contacts, via LinkedIn, from the Zoho Recruit UI.

– Custom reports give users 20 standard reports — and tools for customizing or creating new reports — to help visually analyze recruiting and applicant tracking information.

– Mail merge lets users send personalized messages to thousands of candidates and clients at the click of a button.

– Integration with Glassdoor.com, your free inside look at jobs and companies, helps you post jobs directly from Zoho Recruit. Once the candidate applies to the job opening, the candidate details are captured inside Zoho Recruit.

– Candidate and client contact sync helps track candidate and client contact information, automatically synchronizing information for clients that become contacts and vice versa.

Pricing and Availability

The features announced today are available immediately in both editions of Zoho Recruit. Pricing for Zoho Recruit Standard Edition is $19 per recruiter per month. Zoho Recruit Free Edition is offered at no charge for one recruiter.

For more information on Zoho, please visit www.zoho.com and watch “What is Zoho?” To get breaking Zoho news, visit and subscribe to the RSS feed at http://blogs.zoho.com, and follow the company on Twitter at @zoho and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/zoho.

Read Zoho Recruit Links up with LinkedIn now »

Adecco Staffing US Releases Annual Job Market Perspectives Report

Adecco Staffing US Releases Annual Job Market Perspectives Report »

MELVILLE, N.Y., Feb. 6, 2012 /PRNewswire/ — Adecco Staffing US, part of the world’s largest recruitment and workforce solutions provider, is pleased to announce the release of its annual Job Market Perspectives white paper following the distribution of 2012’s first Bureau of Labor Statistics jobs report which indicated a gain of 243,000 jobs, a decreased unemployment of 8.3% for the month of January– the fifth consecutive month the rate has fallen.

While 2011 started with cautious optimism for job growth and the risk of a double-dip recession, the economy was still able to average an additional 130,000 jobs a month and close out the year with the national unemployment rate at 8.5%. Based on this, 2012 will have to be marked with consistent job growth to continue the economic and labor market recovery.

Adecco’s 2012 Job Market Perspectives report examines both the current and future state of the labor market while also exploring how trends in U.S. economic development, as well as the upcoming presidential election, will impact America’s workforce.

Topics discussed in the 2012 Job Market Perspectives report include:

Significant workforce trends of 2011 and 2012 including the unemployment rate, sector growth and the global economic impact on the US workforce
The role of the labor market on the 2012 presidential election
Insight into anticipated job trends for 2012 by geography and industry

“As we turn the corner on past economic troubles, we are optimistic about the potential of the job market in 2012,” said Joyce Russell, EVP & President of Adecco Staffing US. “At Adecco, our mission is to help people find jobs and offer strategic guidance to both large and small employers, and we hope this report will provide a unique and comprehensive view into today’s workforce and economy and how to best leverage these insights in the year to come.”

To view the Adecco Staffing US 2012 Job Market Perspectives report, please visit:
http://www.adeccousa.com/Documents/flipbook/2012-job-market-perspectives/index.html

For the most up to date job market analysis and information, please visit:
http://www.workplaceeconomy.com

Read Adecco Staffing US Releases Annual Job Market Perspectives Report now »

‘Imagineering’ Recruitment Software at #TruLondon – Supported by Colleague Software

‘Imagineering’ Recruitment Software at #TruLondon – Supported by Colleague Software »

Colleague Software is excited to announce its support for @BillBoorman’s #TruLondon Unconference and its sponsorship of the ‘Imagineering Recruitment Software’ track on 22nd February in central London.

#TruLondon is ‘a gathering of minds, experiences and opinions where the attendees lead the conversation’, offering a great opportunity for Colleague to learn from and share with leading innovators in the recruitment industry.

Colleague Software wants to find out what recruiters and candidates really want and need recruitment software to do in 2012 – especially in light of the rise of social and mobile recruiting and the consequent need to adapt and evolve technology to meet new ways of recruiting.

This innovative, unique research opportunity will be shared with the recruitment industry in a post-event white paper and a webinar on what recruiters think the recruitment software of tomorrow needs.

In the spirit of research and innovation Colleague Software is currently giving away a free #TruLondon ticket worth £200 from a draw of participants who take 2 minutes of their time to complete the ‘Little Recruitment Software Survey 2012′. Other prizes also include tickets to a Recruitment International RPO Event, a UK Recrutier Practioner Only Event and a free digital book ‘Inbound Recruiter: Headhunter and Headhunted’ by Brian Johnston.

Bill Boorman, #TruLondon organiser, said:

“Colleague want to look at how recruiting software could be with a little Imagineering, and will be running a track to see what recruiters and candidates really want, and they want to learn by listening rather than talking. It’s going to be a lot of fun! Thanks to the team at Colleague for supporting #trulondon.”

Read ‘Imagineering’ Recruitment Software at #TruLondon – Supported by Colleague Software now »

VISTA Promotes Lori Douglas to Senior Vice President of Operations

VISTA Promotes Lori Douglas to Senior Vice President of Operations »

SALT LAKE CITY–(BUSINESS WIRE)–VISTA Staffing Solutions has promoted Lori Douglas to the position of Senior Vice President of Operations, President Christian Rutherford announced today. The move expands Douglas’ role to include overseeing the company’s locum tenens (temporary physician staffing) divisions serving surgery, anesthesiology, family medicine, and internal medicine subspecialties. She will also continue to oversee the company’s physician licensing and credentialing divisions.

“She represents the versatile and scalable talent that is critical to our future success,” explains Christian Rutherford, president of VISTA Staffing Solutions. “Her skills and deep experience in the industry will help us sharpen our focus and maintain our position of leadership.”

“Lori joined VISTA in 1990, our first year of operation, and has worked her way up,” adds Executive Vice President Clarke Shaw, to whom she reports. She was named Vice President of Operations in 2005, which added licensing, credentialing, quality assurance/risk management, and coordination with VISTA medical directors to her scope. “She is also an extraordinary coach and mentor,” Shaw says, “and she has maintained relationships with doctors and client healthcare facilities that span more than two decades.”

Douglas is a member of the legislative committee of the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO), and past chair of the organization’s arbitration committee.

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Job.com Integrates The Who? Button To Provide Social Tool for Job Seekers

Job.com Integrates The Who? Button To Provide Social Tool for Job Seekers »

FREDERICKSBURG, Va.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Job.com, an industry-leading career site with more than 33 million members, and TweetMyJobs, the leading social recruiting platform, today announced the integration of the Who? button, a new social tool empowering job seekers with the ability to tap into their social network, on Job.com. TweetMyJobs developed this powerful Facebook application to accelerate referral-based job searching and social recruiting. The “Who?” button utilizes a user’s Facebook friends to alert a job seeker when they have a connection at a hiring company.

“We’re excited to be adding a social networking element to our job search to help job seekers realize the potential in the social and professional relationships they’ve already built,” said Brian Alden, President and CEO of Job.com. “The Who? button is a great way to increase a job seeker’s leverage in a competitive job market by allowing them to instantly tap into the resources available through their social connections.”

“Effective networking can be a time-consuming process, but the ‘Who?’ button promotes a streamlined approach that lets job seekers take advantage of a social platform where they already have extensive ‘friend’ networks,” said Robin D Richards, Chairman & CEO of TweetMyJobs. “We are excited to partner with one of the largest career sites to provide job seekers with a key advantage in a competitive job market.”

When a job seeker views a positing on Job.com, they will now see a red “Who?” button graphic above the description, which will allow them to install the Facebook application. The Who? button lets the job seeker instantly see if they have any first or second degree Facebook connections at the hiring company and then to directly request a referral through Facebook. Job seekers can tap into their contacts to request introductions at the hiring company, gain tips on how to apply, or to simply build their professional network –all of which allow job seekers on Job.com to be better positioned to get the job.

For more information on the “Who” button, please visit http://apps.facebook.com/thewhobutton/.

Read Job.com Integrates The Who? Button To Provide Social Tool for Job Seekers now »

Pacific Crest Group Recruiting Services Offer End-to-End Staffing Support for Bay Area SMBs

Pacific Crest Group Recruiting Services Offer End-to-End Staffing Support for Bay Area SMBs »

PRLog (Press Release) – Feb 05, 2012 – LARKSPUR, Calif. — Pacific Crest Group (PCG, http://www.pcg-services.com), the Bay Area accounting and human resources service firm, has launched a new corporate placement service structured for Bay Area businesses. The new recruiting service offers end-to-end staff management support, helping businesses assess their personnel needs, identify traits that suit the company culture, develop accurate job descriptions and competitive compensation packages, and find the right employees.

The new recruiting offering is part of PCG’s outsourced services, designed to help clients focus on their core operations rather than back office distractions. To free business owners from having to deal with expensive staffing problems, Pacific Crest Group offers workforce planning help, organizational structure evaluation, job description development, and compensation analysis as part of its recruiting process. It also includes a cultural evaluation strategy that identifies the personality traits needed to succeed at the company, and what values and traits are required to be a top performer. And, of course, PCG will conduct methodical candidate searches and evaluations. The hourly billing structure makes PCG’s recruiting services ideal for smaller businesses, since the work can be scaled to clients’ specific needs for a fraction of what it would cost to retain a corporate recruiter.

“Our HR and accounting services put us in the unique position to get to intimately know our clients and their cultures, which makes our recruiting services better focused as well as more cost-effective,” said Gail Merz, Director of Business Consulting for Pacific Crest Group. “Staffing has to be considered in light of larger business objectives, and our recruiting service is designed to function as an extension of our client’s strategy. We can assist with staff pre-planning, assessing cultural fit, developing the right job description, and taking charge of as much or as little of the recruiting process as the client requires. We save companies a lot of money and free senior managers’ time for more important tasks.”

As part of its service, PCG employs the most advanced recruiting and evaluation techniques. PCG works with Accolo, a state-of-the-market, cloud-based recruiting and candidate management platform. PCG also uses tools such as DISC® personality assessments to assess an individual’s communication style, motivators and cultural fit.

“Accolo has built a highly predictive recruiting process that uses collective intelligence to assure successful hires, and we use crowd sourcing techniques to expand our market reach to attract more qualified job seekers. And our prescreening and scoring tools help narrow the field for a more perfect match,” said John Younger, CEO of Accolo. “As a result, we can support companies like Pacific Crest Group so they can deliver the most qualified candidates to their clients.”

“We consider PCG a key part in helping us build our staff,” said John Campbell, M.D., CEO of MarinEyes, a medical practice with offices in San Rafael and Novato, California. “Four of our key employees were hired with PCG’s assistance. Not only was PCG instrumental in finding the right candidates, but they helped us improve job delineation and create a culture of accountability. Every new hire adds to the quality of our staff, and we now have higher productivity and better employee retention than ever before.”

Companies can contact Pacific Crest Group for a free recruiting consultation. For more information, contact Pacific Crest Group or visit http://www.pcg-services.com.

Read Pacific Crest Group Recruiting Services Offer End-to-End Staffing Support for Bay Area SMBs now »

CEO of The Select Group Named to Top 50 Entrepreneurs List

CEO of The Select Group Named to Top 50 Entrepreneurs List »

Raleigh, NC, February 03, 2012 –(PR.com)– Sheldon Wolitski, founder and CEO of The Select Group, a full-service recruiting firm in Raleigh, has been named among Business Leader magazine’s Top 50 Entrepreneurs for 2012.

Wolitski was selected for creating an innovative, high-achieving company that contributes to its industry and the local business community. He founded The Select Group 13 years ago in Raleigh and since that time has successfully opened additional offices in San Diego, Charlotte, and Washington, D.C. In addition to running The Select Group, Wolitski is involved with both UNC Children’s Hospital and the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

“I am humbled to be recognized among some of the most successful entrepreneurs in North Carolina, and I am honored to be ranked on such an esteemed list,” Wolitski says.

Business Leader will honor Wolitski and his peers during the Top 50 Entrepreneurs dinner Feb. 22 at Brier Creek Country Club in Raleigh. Winners also will be featured in the magazine’s February issue.

Read CEO of The Select Group Named to Top 50 Entrepreneurs List now »

Randstad U.S. Employment Report: U.S. Worker Confidence Jumps Five Points; Biggest Increase on Record

Randstad U.S. Employment Report: U.S. Worker Confidence Jumps Five Points; Biggest Increase on Record »

NEW YORK, Feb. 3, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ — Recording its biggest climb since the survey’s inception, the Randstad Employee Confidence Index was 52.4 in January 2012 from 47.4 in December 2011. According to a recent online survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad, the Index, which measures workers’ confidence in their personal employment situation and optimism in the economic environment, confirms U.S. workers continue to be optimistic about the economy and job market. In fact, workers’ macroeconomic confidence increased 8.5 points this month to 40.1.

“Economists’ expectation of a stronger and more stable U.S. job market created a strong jump start for this first Employee Confidence Index of 2012,” says Joanie Ruge, senior vice president and chief employment analyst of Randstad Holding US. “We remain very encouraged that our latest U.S. Employee Confidence Index rose 5.0 points–the biggest increase since the survey began over seven years ago. Coupled with this strong report, January U.S. payrolls surpassed estimates, with employers adding 243,000 jobs. There is no denying that this economic recovery has been volatile, but as we head into 2012, various U.S. economic reports are pointing to what many hope and believe will be an improving job market. And, given our latest Employee Confidence Index, we would expect optimism to increase to coincide with this–which we believe may have already started to happen late last year.”

The online survey was conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Randstad. It surveyed 1,489 employed U.S. adults, aged 18 and over between January 9 and 11, 2012.

A Look Inside the Report:

Confidence in Overall Situation:

Employee confidence rose 5.0 points from December 2011 to January 2012, indicating that employees are increasingly confident in their personal job situation and optimistic towards the job market and economic environment. This is the biggest jump to date.

Confidence in Macroeconomic Environment:

Overall, more U.S. workers were more confident about the macroeconomic environment in January 2012 than in December 2011 (8.5 point increase)

Twenty-five percent of U.S. workers believe the economy is getting stronger, a seven percent increase from December 2011 findings

Fifty-two percent of workers believe fewer jobs are available, representing an eight percentage point decrease from the previous month

Confidence in Personal Employment Situation:

Worker confidence in the ability to find a new job in the next 12 months slightly decreased for the second month, with 37 percent optimistic in January versus 38 percent in December (40 percent in November)

The number of U.S. workers indicating that they are confident in the future of their employer increased by two percentage points to 61 percent in January 2012

Job Security:

Similar to December 2011, 72 percent of U.S. workers believe they are unlikely to lose their jobs in the next 12 months

Job Transition:

Thirty-three percent of workers are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months. This is up one percentage point from the previous month

Read Randstad U.S. Employment Report: U.S. Worker Confidence Jumps Five Points; Biggest Increase on Record now »

Ciklum Presents Forecasts for the 2012 European IT Outsourcing Market

Ciklum Presents Forecasts for the 2012 European IT Outsourcing Market »

Kiev, Ukraine, February 02, 2012 –(PR.com)– Ciklum, a Danish innovative IT outsourcing company specializing in nearshore software development in Eastern Europe, presents a general review of the most thought-provoking predictions for the European IT Outsourcing Industry in 2012.

The year 2011 has seen both an extensive use of ITO services in traditional niches such as IT and Telecom, and a rapid penetration of ITO into the innovative lucrative niches such as digital media, mobile computing, online gaming and others.

While it is yet too early to make any forecasts for the 2012 European ITO market volume, increase or decrease in outsourcing activity and the overall IT spending, it is still possible to identify some of the trends that will most likely be ruling the market throughout this year:

1. Lack of domestic resources will boost sourcing decisions
Recent European ITO research conducted by IT Sourcing Europe reports lack of domestic resources and slow time to market (TTM) as some of the key factors that are likely to influence corporate sourcing decisions in 2012. The latest Report on the European STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) skills by BusinessEurope generally supports IT Sourcing Europe’s findings. For instance, Germany was lacking around 88,000 employees with ICT skills in 2011 and 77% of the Austrian companies reported difficulties in recruiting talent in the technology field in 2010. On the pan-European scale, the estimated shortage of qualified ICT staff is expected to reach almost 400,000 jobs by 2015.

2. Nearshoring will continue attracting Western European companies
IT Sourcing Europe’s latest surveys of the European non-outsourcers demonstrate that in most of the EU countries companies would transfer their IT support / development rather nearshore than offshore if they make such a decision in the near future.

3. ITO service providers will be challenged to offer their clients innovative business models
According to IT Sourcing Europe’s research, cumulative 56% of today’s in-house development companies polled admitted that innovative engagement models were very important or somewhat important determinants in their future choice of the ITO partners.

By offering innovative service delivery models, ITO providers will be able to fix some of the most critical issues that faced the European ITO buyers in 2011, such as insufficient communication, hidden agenda and delayed delivery.

As more innovative models such as Own Agile Development Team show up, the entire outsourcing concept will most likely change: ITO buyers will be able to in-source innovation and technology expertise while outsourcing processes. This will allow them to enhance and update in-house knowledge and capabilities and nurture own pool of highly motivated and loyal cross-border IT staff. In addition, ITO buyers will finally get rid of the concerns related to the loss of managerial control of own IT projects (which is the case in many traditional project-based ITO models).

4. The buzz around cloud will most likely die out
According to CIO.com’s predictions, IT leaders will be looking more critically at the risks and value of cloud-sourcing in 2012. It is expected that more rigid firm policies on cloud regulation will be developed, and companies willing to cloud-source their solutions will scrutinize the privacy laws in the countries to house the data. This will undoubtedly force Central and Eastern European nearshoring hubs to considerably revise and modify their existing data safety laws, but it will not happen in the foreseeable future as if by magic. That being said, no major progress towards cloud-sourcing will be seen throughout 2012.

5. Progressive ITO providers will take over infrastructure outsourcing
Central and Eastern European ITO providers focused on winning the market share rather than “skimming the cream” off short-term Service Level Agreements will slowly but surely be building the strong infrastructure capabilities in order to move beyond application development and maintenance work. As a result, 2012 will see more EU companies setting up their IT departments nearshore with ITO providers able to offer the EU-level IT infrastructure and a mutually beneficial networking with other clients. That being said, ITO providers acting as separate High-Tech parks and/or customer-specific Innovation Labs will have a better chance to win clients in 2012 than their “old school” competitors.

6. Increased Backsourcing activity will be observed
More than 10% (cumulative) of the EU IT outsourcers polled reported backsourcing (i.e. bringing outsourced operations back in-house or to a different service provider onshore and/or nearshore) their operations in 2011, according to the “Pan-European IT Outsourcing Intelligence Report 2011.” In 2012, more companies are expected to pull the trigger on this in search of more transparent pricing options, better access to resources and engagement models’ maturity. This generally suggests that the European ITO service providers should be on the watch for backsourcing companies as they can be a good addition to their client portfolio.

Read Ciklum Presents Forecasts for the 2012 European IT Outsourcing Market now »