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This is a guest post by Bill Allred, VP of Sales & Marketing at HireVue.

Modern employers must be concerned with risk exposure in their hiring practices. Technology advancements provide efficiency, but does technology also increase litigation risk? Employers must answer this important question, and below you will find a starting point to your research. So, are video interviews discriminatory?

In 2006 the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) published the Internet Applicant Rule (IAR). The IAR defines the procedures that federal contractors must adhere to regarding applicant tracking in the information age. Although the IAR was written specifically for federal contractors, its standards are viewed as heuristics for all employers that seek to maintain anti-discriminatory practices. With particular focus on the video interview, this article will examine three parts of the IAR:

1. The IAR applies to any candidate who “submits an expression of interest in employment through the Internet or related electronic data technologies.” Specifically, the OFCCP lists the following “electronic data technologies”:

a. Electronic mail/email

b. Resume databases

c. Job banks

d. Electronic scanning technology

e. Applicant tracking systems/Applicant service providers

f. Applicant screeners

Although not named specifically, employers should assume that video interviews meet the definition of an electronic data technology in the eyes of the OFCCP (see footnote 1). Based on the assumption that applicants who perform video interviews do fall under the definition of the Internet Applicant Rule, what other sections of the IAR are relevant?

2. “The person’s application or resume shows that he or she has the basic qualifications for the position in question.” It continues, “The contractor considers the individual for employment in a particular position”. It’s important to note that the term “considers” is interpreted as “assesses the substantive information provided in the expression of interest with respect to any qualifications involved with a particular position.” The main difference between video interviews and the electronic data technologies named above – email, job banks, and resume databases – is that prior to a video interview, an initial resume screen has already been completed (see footnote 2). Only qualified applicants are invited to respond to a video interview, which asks the applicant about job related skills. Video interviews differ from video resumes on this point. In the case of a video resume, the candidate has not yet been screened for job-related qualifications, nor has the employer “considered” the candidate. Employers would be wise to carefully consider to risks of video resumes.

3. The Internet Applicant Rule “prescribes the records contractors must maintain about hiring done through use of the Internet or related electronic data technologies; for companies with fewer than 150 employees or a contract of at least $150,000, the record retention period is one year. Contractors with at least 150 employees and a contract of $150,000 are required to maintain the records for a period of two years.” It is recommended that employers ensure adequate archival from their video interview vendor.

In summary, video interviews comply with OFCCP requirements under the Internet Applicant Rule. When considering the legality of video interviews, the key points to remember are:

1. Conduct the video interview after considering the applicant’s job-related qualifications

2. Ensure the same equipment, process, and opportunity to similarly situated job seekers

3. Add transparency by archiving each video interview for two years

(1) In the FAQ of IAR, the OFCCP indicates that it will evaluate any technology employed in the recruitment process for the electronic transfer of data, and classify such technology as an “electronic data technology”.

(2) Regarding this detail the OFCCP explains, “The Internet Applicant rule does not specify how or when in the selection process a contractor may screen for a job seeker’s interest in the specific position, keeping in mind that the interest screens should be facially neutral and consistently and uniformly applied to similarly situated job seekers.” With regards to video interviews, “interest” is indicated when a candidate submits an application or resume, which are “facially neutral” media. After the indication of interest and “consideration” by the employer, recruitment tools that are not facially neutral – face-to-face interviews, video interviews, etc. – are appropriate to use.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

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One of the classic debates that many soon-to-be college graduates face is the decision to either continue with their education by moving directly on to graduate school, or to immediately join the workforce and worry about professional degrees after gaining some experience. It is a question, not unlike many other important choices we face, that doesn’t have one right answer and what’s good for one person may not be for another.

Recently, I was sent an article posted on FastWeb.com that discusses both sides of this issue, and thought I would share some of the advice with all of you as well as my own experience.

The article was written by Peter Vogt of Monster.com (where it originally appeared) and it chronicles the choices of two different women, Laurie Duffy and Carolyn Kaufman, who each made different decisions after graduation. Duffy decided to go straight to graduate school, while Kaufman spent some time in the workforce getting experience before she pursued a graduate degree.

“Graduate school is difficult and very much not the traditional college experience,” says Duffy, now an assistant account executive for the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, office of PR firm Mullen. The workload alone leaves little time for relationships or a career, she says. “So I chose to get my master’s right away, before I had a job I loved and couldn’t leave, or before I had a family to take care of.”

Duffy’s experience illustrates one of the most common arguments for pursuing graduate school sooner versus later. Other commitments can get into the way of furthering your education. And particularly once you start a family, it can be difficult to fit grad school into your life, says Nancy Stamp, dean of the graduate school at Binghamton University.

As you can see, there are some solid arguments for heading straight into graduate school so work or family obligations don’t sidetrack you. Additionally you are able to relocate easier if the school you want to attend doesn’t happen to be nearby to where you went to undergrad. However, there are numerous reasons why many people head straight into the workforce, like I did, and Ms. Kaufman outlines some of them in the article.

[Kaufman] intended to go to graduate school immediately after finishing her undergraduate degree in English and psychology in 1995 but put it off, because she couldn’t decide where to go.

“That was the best thing that could have happened,” says Kaufman, who teaches psychology full-time at Columbus State Community College and part-time at Otterbein College. “Developing my confidence and sense of competence, learning new skills and contemplating whether I really wanted to go back or continue what I was doing…was priceless and has helped me make better decisions after graduate school.”

My main reason for not going straight into graduate school was similar, in that I didn’t know what I wanted to do for a career so it didn’t make sense to me to spend more time and money on a degree I may not even use. I wanted to get some experience, try some different things out and see what interested me enough to pursue further. As career expert Anna Ivey, author of The Ivey Guide to Law School Admissions, says: “Grad school isn’t going anywhere. Take some time to figure out who you are outside of school.”

No matter which way you decide to go, make sure you are doing it for the right reasons and that you will be happy with your decision a few years down the road. If you are likely to have trouble getting back into the swing of things academically after a hiatus, maybe you should plow right on through to grad school. If you are unsure of what you want to do, or need more experience to fully flesh out your interests then perhaps getting your feet wet in the workforce is the right move for you. Either way, good luck to you all.

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In case you missed it, Jeremy over at Generation X Finance wrote a post today full of job hunting tips for the new college grad (how fitting, right?). It’s definitely a great read (as most of the stuff at Gen X Finance is) worth the time it takes to check it out. He breaks the job hunting tips down into three super categories:

1. Experience Matters:

Those with real-world work experience in their field will have a significant edge over those without such experience. If you have done any work in your field while in school, either through an internship, summer job, or work-study program, this will be a great asset.

2. Start Early and Plan Ahead

Even if your friends and classmates haven’t begun searching for jobs yet, don’t delay. You’ll want to begin looking for opportunities as soon as possible. Not only will this give you a head-start, but it may provide flexibility. Getting an early start will put you in the position of being able to turn down jobs without the potential you’re looking for and holding out for a job with more promise.

3. Networking

Networking is one of the most powerful methods of finding a great job. Make a list of your contacts and how they might be able to help you. Talk to people who are working in the field you’re interested in and in the companies you’d like to work for. Don’t limit yourself to newspaper help wanted ads or online job postings. This is where it can be a good idea to begin building a LinkedIn profile so that you can begin to network with others in your field. There are also a lot of recruiters and HR personnel who use the service to find talent.

Definitely all good things to think about - especially as graduation looms (and thus so do millions of recent grads across the country descending on an ever-tightening job market). For more tips, check out the rest of Jeremy’s post here or read some of the “getting a job” tips & tricks we’ve covered here at Real World Really.

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A very important piece of finding a job, be it your first or not, is submitting a good resume. This simple document briefly sums up your qualifications and compactly and concisely tells a prospective employer what you can do. This is great, and still a very valid part of the equation in finding a job; but that equation is changing. While having a good resume will make sure you get past the first round of cuts, it won’t ensure you get hired.

More and more employers want to see some evidence of things you’ve done, in addition to what your GPA says you should be able to do. Articles like this one demonstrate that having a good academic track record is only a step in the right direction towards getting that lucrative job. You need to bolster your credentials by having some sort of portfolio or record of things that you have done. This poor guy has a 4.0 GPA in his master’s program and a 3.9 in his doctoral program and still relies on his mother for support. Odds are he is just letting his resume do the talking with no additional work to support it.

Depending on what you want to do for a job, any additional submissions you want to make with your resume will vary. If you want to be a financial analyst, show your employer your own portfolio or pick some stocks and track them for a 6-month period, providing analysis along the way. Submitting your personal blog about bird watching probably won’t be relevant here. If you want to be in digital media, graphics design or a similar field, why not have a personal website to display your work?

What if you don’t have a blog or a website to demonstrate the things you’ve been doing? Go register yourname.com, or yourname.org if it is still available and even if you have no real web-building experience, with a little persistence you can get the basics up there. Maybe your resume looks similar to 15 other candidates for a journalism job, but you’ve had a blog you’ve been operating for 3 years – show your employer!

Even if you don’t have a lot of experience on the web, or don’t think a blog would be relevant to your intended career, do something that shows initiative and passion. Spending a few hours on a Saturday afternoon setting up a personal website or beginning a stock tracking project could be all you need to separate yourself from the pack. Doesn’t that sound worth it?

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This is a guest post from the folks at slickricky.com - Affordable Website Design & Maintenance

Many people want to break away from the traditional 9 – 5 desk job so that they can work flexible hours out of their home. The web offers many opportunities especially for freelance web designers, developers and copy writers.

There are so many opportunities available that it can be difficult to know where to start looking. The problem you will find is that a lot of freelance job opportunities that are posted online do not compensate well. Others, you have to pay for (and it’s hard to know which services are worth paying for and which are not).

Since all time spent weeding through jobs board postings is time you are not able to bill we’ve narrowed your search. Here are our top freelance job board picks, based on number of projects available, pay scale and quality of jobs.

odesk.com
Jobs are constantly being posted to this website. Some jobs pay a fixed price, and others pay an hourly rate. Either way, you bid on the jobs that you are interested in. You can also showcase your skills by taking tests that validate your knowledge and capabilities. ODesk also has software that monitors your work activity to make timekeeping a breeze for your hourly projects.

elance.com
Elance has an amazing amount of opportunities available for web designers and programmers.

freelanceswitch.com
Freelance Switch requires $7 a month in order to apply for jobs. You can browse a list of available jobs before deciding whether or not to subscribe.

authenticjobs.com
Authentic Jobs is a job board for “standards-aware designers and developers” and “the companies seeking to hire them.” There is no cost to apply for these jobs. Most of the time the employers post their direct email addresses on the project announcements.

sologig.com
SoloGig is excellent for finding any kind of freelance work, whether it be for web design, or nursing. There are no project fees, and there is no bidding. You just choose which projects you are interested in and negotiate the pricing directly with the employer.

guru.com
Guru.com lists a ton of freelance opportunities on anything from web development to illustration or accounting. As a basic free member you are only allowed to apply for 10 jobs a month, but as a subscriber (between $29.95 and $99.95 a quarter) you are allowed to apply for 100 jobs a month, and Guru.com charges you a smaller project fee.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

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I think by now it’s pretty obvious that America is in a recession (seriously, if you think otherwise just take a look around; I dare you), but is it affecting the workplace as much as the wallet? For those of us in Generation Y (people born between 1978 and 1990), it’s unlikely. According to Penelope Trunk, author of The Brazen Careerist,

The health of today’s job market is not so much a function of economic indicators as it is a function of demographic trends. There is a huge shortage of employees. Baby Boomers are retiring and Generation X and Y are less able to replace the Baby Boomers than had been anticipated; employers receive fewer hours of work per person from post-Boomers because of their focus on family (Generation X) and entrepreneurship (Generation Y). Due to these factors, the employee shortage is increasing, and only a knock-down-drag-out recession will change this sunshine outlook for employees.

What this means for recent grads (and current students alike) is that, as the trickle of retiring Baby Boomers picks up steam and the Gen Xers aren’t there en mass to replace the vacancies the Boomers leave behind, employers will be forced to turn to recent grads to fill positions. Assuming you’ve done your part to prepare to enter the workplace, and your wallet can weather the recession storm then look on the bright side - landing a good job might get a little easier.

(image via citizen.co.za)

Technorati Tags: Generation Y, career, career planning, college, graduation, real world

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Just wanted to give you a head’s up that ResumeEdge has activated a new coupon for $10 off any Professional and Executive level resume service. This coupon is good from March 18 - 29, 2008. To take advantage of this great offer, use the coupon code RE200803 at checkout. And also, for a limited time, ResumeEdge is offering a savings of $20 when you purchase a Resume and Cover Letter combination at ResumeEdge.com. ResumeEdge,

specializes in 40 different industries to provide the highest quality resume and cover letter services available, bar none. ResumeEdge is the leading provider of Resume Writing Services online and the chosen resume partner of Yahoo! HotJobs, CareerJournal, and Dice.com. Our website provides industry-leading resources for job seekers.

If you need resume writing help, check out ResumeEdge today!

Technorati Tags: resume, career, getting a job, college, real world, graduation

Popularity: 22% [?]

photo credit: PhotoFusion

When considering a job application, interview or offer there are many factors at play — the location, the commute, the atmosphere, etc. The truth is that there are as many variables as there are types of jobs a recent grad can take on. But, there are three true factors, three types of jobs to consider and weigh against one another when deciding what path to take. Whichever is best for you is entirely up to you and is unique to everyone’s situation, but — if you’re lucky enough to be able to choose between one job and another — think about each category closely and decide which is right for you (unless the perfect job — a combination of some or all of the three — awaits you, in which case - I’m jealous):

1. Taking a position due to money

There is certainly nothing wrong with accepting a position based solely on the attractiveness of the salary offered, especially with the heavy burden of debt many grads find themselves under. Taking a position with a high pay rate would go far to alleviate such a debt and quickly. Jobs with very high pay are also rarely offered to recent grads, so jumping at the chance might certainly be a good idea.

2. Taking a position due to passion

The second option is to take a job which is in a field you’re passionate about - either a cause you care about or hobby-turned-career you enjoy. Rarely will the second option coincide with the first (unless of course you really, really like hedge funds) but when can you do something you’re really passionate about if you can’t do it when you’re young?

3. Taking a position due to position

The third option is to accept a job that really doesn’t fall into either of the first two categories but will hopefully lead to one or the other (or both) somewhere down the line. Maybe it’s a job that you’re not too excited about but it’s in a company that you really want to be a part of — taking a secretarial job in a firm you really want to work for so you can get your foot in the door, for instance, or working for a company or job that you don’t really like for a year or two so that it will be very beneficial on your resume down the road.

In conclusion:

Again, if you’re lucky enough to be considering more than one job offer (or interview, or even application) than chances are that you will need to take each of the scenarios into consideration and weigh them all heavily. Ideally, however, you will be able to settle on a combination of some or all of these options; or you find yourself young (and flexible) enough to be able to try out each possibility at different jobs in the coming years. Already have a job — which route did you take? why? Please, share.

Technorati Tags: getting a job, college, graduation, career, income

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There was an article featured on the front page of entrepreneur.com today debunking the myths behind employees from Generation Y — people born between 1978 and 1990 — and their attitudes in the work place. The three common myths the article touched on were #1 that Gen Y employees are disloyal: that the days of working in the same office for 30 or 40 years are long gone and instead we will bounce from company-to-company on a whim. The article refuted this fact (and I agree) saying that, despite this common misconception, Generation Y employees really do want to have a long-term relationship with a company; but they also want to trust that the company wants to have a long-term relationship with them. Gen Yers need companies to prove to them that they’re wanted there and that their staying with a company is worth it. As Entrepreneur explained,

In today’s environment, nobody trusts the system to take care of them long term. From the collapse of Social Security to the fall of major companies during the dot-com era and, more recently, the Enron scandal, millennials are acutely aware that nothing is a “sure thing.” These events have created a generation skeptical of loyalty.

The second myth: #2 Gen Yers don’t want to pay their dues. Bruce Tulgan, co-author of Managing Generation Y, however says that this myth is utter nonsense. But that it goes hand-in-hand with the realities associated with the first myth,

It’s nonsense to think they don’t want to do lots of work. In fact, I think that Gen Yers will absolutely do grunt work–they just want to know, ‘OK, I did all this grunt work; what do I get?’

Employees from Generation Y will do any work asked of them as long as they understand the point of the work and its benefit to the greater good (both their’s and the company’s).

And the third and final myth is one that I personally have heard a ton: Myth #3: They need constant praise. This isn’t entirely inaccurate - we have grown up in a time and culture of constant praise and support. After all, I think it’s because of my generation that now every player in Rec Basketball and every girl on the pee-wee cheer squad now gets a trophy just for showing up. But does that translate into the workplace? I’m not sure. And, if an employer is failing victim to praising their employees every five minutes, they’re just as much to blame. If you let an employee get away with not meeting expectations and praise them anyway, they’ll continue to do it — no matter how old they are.

While I don’t entirely believe that any of these myths are anything more than that - myths, stereotypes have to come from somewhere. It may be a good idea to keep each of these myths in mind when interviewing for a job, or during your first week on a new job, and go out of your way to debunk them as soon as possible. As Tulgan explained,

This is going to be the most high-maintenance workforce in history–but I think they’re also going to be the most high-performing workforce in history.

Source: “Gen Y Myths Debunked: Getting the Most from Gen Y Employees” [entrepreneur.com]
[image via boomers.typepad.com]

Technorati Tags: Generation Y, getting a job, on the job, college, graduation, real world

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This is a guest post from the folks at slickricky.com: Affordable Website Design, Site Maintenance & Management

No matter where your specialties lie, or whatever your background may be, you have no doubt had a taste of the changing workplace. What was the job to have last year may well be the most overpopulated field next year. Technology and information have had an amazing affect on the marketplace, and with change in the media being marketed, it naturally follows to find change in the need for experienced niche market employees and consultants to control and support the media at hand. In the past decade, most of the job markets that you have seen on the rise are technology based positions.

photo credit: guiguis

Programmers

In the 60s when the first operating systems were being produced for mainframes, it was a very simple thing to choose what type of programming you should study as there were so few to be found. Today the sheer number of programming languages is amazing, and the professional coder today will most often have more than one specialty. Programming languages govern so much more than the basic operations of your computer now. Programmers are needed to create automated tasks for office applications and factory machines, to personalize the operating system and network for campuses that are countries apart, and to create a dizzying number of simple and complex promotional video games for marketing purposes. For those pursuing a position in this field, where to start is the most daunting question.

Market Analysis

Used to be that, demographics had no science, you simply brought your wares with you and knocked on doors. Today there are millions of dollars spent on targeting customers. You can find a job in demographic research, product placement and labelling, market trend research, and trend analysis for the launching of new products. Marketing based on this analysis is honed directly toward the target audience. The modern tools and data gathering techniques employed to discover this target audience are then focused into producing an effective advertising campaign.

Internet Marketing

Selling products and services has always been a tricky field, but with the right amount of information we are much more able to find the end user for products and services. The forms of advertising that is available today is limitless. Companies are not bound by paper advertising or television and radio air time. Today we hire contracted or permanent marketing specialists that understand the new forms of advertising, such as Search Engine Optimization and affiliate networking. Email campaigns are launched, electronic newsletters and brochures are dispatched by Graphic Designers, Web Page Designers produce advanced websites with interactive entertainment and information for your customers to ensure return business.

By looking only briefly at three separate, yet related industries that are affected by recent developments in media we have identified several new jobs that the workforce of tomorrow is preparing for. With open minds and ready hands we keep ourselves educated on the next best opportunity, for who can say what the next new media revolution has in store for us?

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

Technorati Tags: new media, job search, job listings, online jobs

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