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This is the second most popular post from the first six months of this year and a topic that gets brought up a lot between job seekers and recruiters. Unfortunately, dishonesty can run rampant on both sides. I would love to hear your thoughts.

Jay Forte, author, speaker and The Greatness Coach at Humanetrics LLC, explains the importance of HR advocating for a seat at the C-Suite table and how HR can effectively do so. Jay Forte, a former financial executive and corporate educator,and is a nationally ranked Thought Leader.

The Obama administration issued three new proposed rules to implement provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

The rules, released on Nov. 20, 2012, and published in the Federal Register on Nov. 26, pertain to guaranteed issuance of coverage regardless of pre-existing conditions; essential health benefits that nongrandfathered plans in the individual and small group markets will be required to cover; and an increase in maximum allowable wellness program incentives.

I wanted to point out a super piece last week on the Smashing Magazine blog, (a site about and for Web Designers), titled 'The Difference Between Good and Bad Job Requirements', that provides a great look into what technical, (and often hard to find) talent thinks about the typical job descriptions they encounter online.

You walk into your building and you see that holiday decorations are everywhere. You pass by a beautiful pine Christmas tree eloquently decorated. A co-worker responds: "The tree is inappropriate to the workplace."

Segal: WRONG. It is beautiful and Christmas can and should be acknowledged (says the Jewish guy who wears his grandmother’s Chai). Don’t remove Christmas from the holiday season. But recognize other holidays, too. A Hanukkah menorah and a Kwanzaa harvest basket would be nice additions.

You’re introducing a new software solution for…performance management, rewards and recognition, time and attendance management…your choice.  The solution will impact every employee.  You’re heading up the change management project.  What’s next?  Check out this post before you join us on the next #NextChat:  http://chinagorman.com/2012/11/20/competence-enemy-of-change

Change management model?  What’s your favorite?

The National Football League (NFL) has launched several diversity initiatives designed to improve the representation of racial and ethnic minorities and women in the league headquarters and among the teams. Generally, sports diversity experts give the league high marks for improving racial diversity, but progress for women lags.
While the ranks of players are racially and ethnically diverse, the team owners, executives and coaches are less so. The league is trying to leverage its brand to make it more attractive to a wider array of job candidates.

Since this month’s We Know Next theme is HR Advocacy and several SHRM members have been “heading to the Hill” in Washington, D.C., I wanted to take this opportunity to encourage the need for thinking differently as it relates to hiring veterans.

We’ve been behind closed doors discussing what it would be like to bring a potential threat to our culture into our organizations by hiring those who may have PTSD. We’ve looked at it as something that might upset the apple cart and make our lives more difficult.

A poll of U.S.-based HR managers conducted just after Election Day found that many respondents had delayed enacting health care plan changes required by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA).

Just after the nation endured one “superstorm,” it now faces another: the fiscal cliff.

There’s a veritable goldmine of tips for intern etiquette out there, but on the employer side—not so much. In a perfect world, hiring managers treat interns with the same professionalism, consideration, and respect they use with full-time employees. We at InternMatch, however, know that this isn’t always the case. Plenty of students who use our services are seeking internships to offset less-than-ideal experiences; we spill the beans on their most common complaints.

1. Inflexibility with Scheduling

There are some lessons that HR professionals can draw from the saga of Gen. David Petraeus, who resigned as head of the CIA after an FBI investigation found that he had an extramarital affair with his biographer, Paula Broadwell.

Amendments to the California Labor Code impose new wage reporting requirements on “temporary services employers” and allow all employees to recover statutory penalties for violations, even where they suffer no actual loss in wages as a result of a deficiency in a wage statement.

Wage Statements

When Tammy Erickson, author of What’s Next, Gen X? (Harvard Business School Press, 2010) and a self-described Baby Boomer, began interviewing members of Generation X for her book, she was “stunned” by how different their perspectives were from her own.

It’s that time of year again.  The annual opportunity to plan, scheme, and build a budget.  Generally, this is the time of year when we think about what new programs or technologies we could add in the upcoming year.  We dream of slick technology or powerful new programs that we could implement if we are lucky enough to be given the budget to do it.  It’s a fun time of year.  Planning and thinking big thoughts is important.

But, this year, while you plan and dream and budget, set aside a little time for another powerful exercise that we often overlook.

Tuition assistance programs (or TAPs) can close employees’ skill gaps in the near term, and strengthen your internal pipeline of leadership candidates in the long term. The challenge is to manage investments in employee education in a way that maximizes returns–both for the employer and the employee.

In case you missed it, here’s what happened on We Know Next this week.

New research pinpoints personality traits successful leaders must emphasize and de-emphasize as they progress in their careers. Specifically, the PDI Ninth House Pulse on Leaders survey research found that certain traits that facilitate advancement to the business unit leader level actually inhibit progression to the CEO level.

Americans are less confident now than just three years ago that they will have enough financial resources to last through their retirement years, according to a Pew Research Center survey on retirement planning conducted in the latter half of 2012.

You do not have to clean up your social media profile to get a job. 

Look, I understand taking off the “I hate my boss” posts, the mug shot of your wild weekend in Vegas or the rants about your disdain for baby seals.

But the weekend pictures where you are having a beer or a glass of wine and a great time? Those funny cat memes? Where is the harm? 

Election 2012 is over. It could be weeks until you hear anyone “approve this message” again. That’s the good news.

The ominous news is that the fiscal cliff is dead ahead. Both the short- and long-term fates of the economy may be altered by what Congress does in the coming months.

“Fiscal cliff” was first coined by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. It refers to the combination of automatic tax increases and spending reductions that will occur on or around Jan. 2, 2013, if Congress does nothing.

A recent survey of corporate CFOs highlighted financial executives' concerns about rising health and pension benefits costs, while a poll of HR managers showed their top rewards priority to be helping employees to better understand their benefits.

Hurricane Sandy raises questions regarding leave-taking under the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act  

Natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy raise a host of issues for employers: how do you pay your employees during suspended operations? Whether and to what extent should health benefits and other benefits be offered?

In last month’s blog, we discussed the importance of providing skilled coaching during experiential learning activities to produce desired developmental results.  It is essentially an insurance policy for making experiential learning successful.  Since these activities typically involve a high degree of personal and organizational investment of time and resources, their design is critical for return on investment.  So let’s examine how to structure coaching throughout these experiences.

#NEXTCHAT: The Inescapable World of Office Politics

Office politics.  They’re a reality in the workplace and a necessary skill.  Whether you know it or not, you engage in office politics, every day, and they are impossible to avoid.  Even if you choose not to interact with others, you are still engaging in politics and it’s probably not helping your career.

As U.S. employers gear up for holiday season hiring so, too, do scammers.

The fall seasonal hiring period likely will lead to a surge in identity fraud targeting job applicants, according to employee screening and consumer fraud experts.

Fake job listings and bogus websites are among their most common tools. Legitimate employers also are being warned to take extra precautions. Unscrupulous employees can steal personal information of applicants or employees. And personal data left unguarded can tempt even hitherto honest employees, experts say.

Don’t look now, but very soon the U.S. presidential election will no longer be a valid excuse for holding off on hiring. When and how much the level of post-election hiring might affect the unemployment rate will continue to be tracked closely into the new year.