Resumes
Concept:
Organization use resumes to get information about several different job applicants in order to create a starting point for the job search process. This is an inexpensive way of doing it but it can become very biased in favor of the applicant. The reason for this is because the applicant has all the say in the favorable information presented about themselves. No matter how many great things the applicant writes about themselves it becomes very evident to the hiring manager through the way the applicant writes, communicates, and presents them self. Resumes allow an applicant to highlight accomplishments that are most valid when the content is compared to the job description.
Emotional Hook:
As a job seeker applying for a position for a company what would be some important steps to take to ensure that your resume will reflect who you are and why you are the best candidate for the position? On the other hand what are important things to watch for as a hiring manager to ensure the best possible candidates are selected to go forward to the interview process?
Key Points:
As a prospective employee it is important for the candidate to care review their resume for errors and grammar mistakes and to ensure that have been completely honest without downing playing their abilities and proving to the employer that they are the best candidate to move forward in the interviewing process and eventually be the new hire for that position.
Facilitative Question:
What are some of the essentials to creating a winning resume and would you look for in a winning resume?
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Chapter 5 Reflection
This past week in class we have been learning about different laws that a business is governed by and it is important that the human resource department ensures they are followed. This past weekend I have been working on taxes and noticed that my wife’s work did not take out any federal or state tax during the year 2009. Although they did for the first two pay periods and then they ran into financial troubles. So did they do this to ease their financial status? I hope not and I am curious to know if they paid their payroll tax, FICA, and other taxes that are required. Now this issues is not a big deal for my wife and I but it could imposes charges from the IRS because they will probably want the interest in which that money would have made, had it been paid when it should. So as a HR manager these types of things are important they don’t get over looked. I will post more as I find out more as to what will happen.
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Chapter 5 Summary
Overtime and Expanded Hours
Concept:
Many companies find themselves in situations where the work is not coming in during a slow part of the year or a company may find during certain months they are swamped and can barely keep up on the work. Where these situations may only be temporary, organizations may find its best to reduce positions to part-time or in the case of a heavy work load to work overtime. The downside to paying overtime though is that the company must pay the employee one and a half times their wage. Often times though this cost is cheaper than hiring and training a new employee, and the expense of having a layoff. For a short time many employees welcome the extra hours and extra money always helps. Overtime therefore is the best option for short-term labor shortage.
Emotional Hook:
Sometimes it’s easy for employees to feel over loaded when there is a labor shortage. I leaves the employees feeling overwork and having to take on extra tasks at work for the same amount of pay leaves unfair feelings and disgruntled employees. How can management make extra wok a positive experience?
Key Points:
Overtime can be a great way for a short period of time for employees to receive extra pay while the company gets through the labor shortage. It always feels nice as an employee to receive extra pay for doing the same job and usually I like my job better when I am getting overtime hours.
Facilitative Question:
What are some other ways for a company to deal with labor shortages and how can this be a opportunity to build unity at the work place?
Concept:
Many companies find themselves in situations where the work is not coming in during a slow part of the year or a company may find during certain months they are swamped and can barely keep up on the work. Where these situations may only be temporary, organizations may find its best to reduce positions to part-time or in the case of a heavy work load to work overtime. The downside to paying overtime though is that the company must pay the employee one and a half times their wage. Often times though this cost is cheaper than hiring and training a new employee, and the expense of having a layoff. For a short time many employees welcome the extra hours and extra money always helps. Overtime therefore is the best option for short-term labor shortage.
Emotional Hook:
Sometimes it’s easy for employees to feel over loaded when there is a labor shortage. I leaves the employees feeling overwork and having to take on extra tasks at work for the same amount of pay leaves unfair feelings and disgruntled employees. How can management make extra wok a positive experience?
Key Points:
Overtime can be a great way for a short period of time for employees to receive extra pay while the company gets through the labor shortage. It always feels nice as an employee to receive extra pay for doing the same job and usually I like my job better when I am getting overtime hours.
Facilitative Question:
What are some other ways for a company to deal with labor shortages and how can this be a opportunity to build unity at the work place?
Chapter 4 Reflection
The topic in my group today all centered around employee empowerment and how and HR manager or a business owner can make their work environment a place that is desired to work at. It really got me thinking about my job and how there are a couple of people who make all the decisions and if you are not in that group you are left out on a lot of what’s going on. There is a great lack of training and especially communication that cause many problems within the office and possibly is leading to lost revenue. Now if this company I am with involved others and showed them that we are trusted it would change the whole attitude at work and would build greater team unity.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Chapter 4 Summary
Job Enrichment
Concept:
The idea behind job enrichment is to allow your employees more responsibility and showing them you trust them by giving them the opportunity to make decisions related to their job. This trust brings energy and motivation to the team. There are five factors associated with motivating jobs; first, achievement, then recognition, growth, responsibility, and performance.
Emotional Hook:
As an employee sometimes it is easy to feel unimportant or that your just a body there to collect a check. As a business owner or HR manager what type of privileges can be given to empower the employees and help them be part of the team.
Key Points:
Job enrichment would be for an employee to have the authority to resolve a customer’s problem and then have the power to decide either to give the customer a full refund, store credit, or store credit.
Facilitative Question:
How can a business owner change his way of thinking in order to trust his employees with decision making abilities?
Concept:
The idea behind job enrichment is to allow your employees more responsibility and showing them you trust them by giving them the opportunity to make decisions related to their job. This trust brings energy and motivation to the team. There are five factors associated with motivating jobs; first, achievement, then recognition, growth, responsibility, and performance.
Emotional Hook:
As an employee sometimes it is easy to feel unimportant or that your just a body there to collect a check. As a business owner or HR manager what type of privileges can be given to empower the employees and help them be part of the team.
Key Points:
Job enrichment would be for an employee to have the authority to resolve a customer’s problem and then have the power to decide either to give the customer a full refund, store credit, or store credit.
Facilitative Question:
How can a business owner change his way of thinking in order to trust his employees with decision making abilities?
Chapter 3 Reflection
I guess something I found interesting was how many different laws and regulations pertain to protecting employees and also employers. I knew of the basic ones like discrimination but the less obvious ones like “pregnant workers” probably gets violated more often and goes unknown to the employee/victim. An HR manager has to be very careful when dealing with this topic and choose their words very wisely when hiring a woman who is or may become pregnant.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Article Summary
Source: HRhero.com
Legal Issues When Hiring Employees:
Concept / brief description:
Because of our nations high unemployment rate, companies have number of issues to consider to avoid legal troubles. When a company has an open position in today's market human resource offices have hundreds if not thousands of resumes pouring in each each day in large corporations and hundreds per week in small businesses.
Employers must be careful that they do not discriminate against those applying for employment based on age, race, sex, origin, religion, and disability. Any indication of bias in the hiring process could lead to serious legal issues.
Emotional Hook:
You company is in need of two new employees and it is your responsibility to hire them. In what ways can you and your HR team prepare for upcoming interviews and ensure that your company is protected against illegal accusations?
Key Points to Discussion:
Discrimination can be perceived in many different ways by different individuals. It is crucial for a human resource team and company management understand the laws and regulations involved in the hiring process.
Facilitative Question:
How can hiring managers better avoid legal problems when dealing with the hiring process?
Legal Issues When Hiring Employees:
Concept / brief description:
Because of our nations high unemployment rate, companies have number of issues to consider to avoid legal troubles. When a company has an open position in today's market human resource offices have hundreds if not thousands of resumes pouring in each each day in large corporations and hundreds per week in small businesses.
Employers must be careful that they do not discriminate against those applying for employment based on age, race, sex, origin, religion, and disability. Any indication of bias in the hiring process could lead to serious legal issues.
Emotional Hook:
You company is in need of two new employees and it is your responsibility to hire them. In what ways can you and your HR team prepare for upcoming interviews and ensure that your company is protected against illegal accusations?
Key Points to Discussion:
Discrimination can be perceived in many different ways by different individuals. It is crucial for a human resource team and company management understand the laws and regulations involved in the hiring process.
Facilitative Question:
How can hiring managers better avoid legal problems when dealing with the hiring process?
Chapter 3 Reflection
OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was developed in 1970 when there became an apparent need for stricter rules and regulations. The year before OSHA began there was a reported 15,000 work related deaths in the United States. This horrific number was vastly reduced immediately in part because of new safety guidelines and steep monetary penalties. Human Resource Managers are a great resource to learn more about the regulations and to become better informed on safety issues.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) was developed in 1970 when there became an apparent need for stricter rules and regulations. The year before OSHA began there was a reported 15,000 work related deaths in the United States. This horrific number was vastly reduced immediately in part because of new safety guidelines and steep monetary penalties. Human Resource Managers are a great resource to learn more about the regulations and to become better informed on safety issues.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Chapter 3 Summary
Concept / brief description:
Preventing Sexual Harassment - The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) defines sexual and the behavior that constitutes it as; "unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature"(p.72-73). Through this definition I understood that any type of discrimination, threat or intimidation to gain sexual favors or advancement is morally and ethically wrong and also illegal. In today's society sexual harassment is a growing issue but often times go unreported. Leading types of claims filed are the posting of pictures with sexual content, touching of intimate body parts, sexual jokes, and I seen at my work a growing problem with text messaging material by way of cell phones.
Emotional Hook:
You have been asked as the Human Resource Manager to prepare a presentation for your companies employees on sexual harassment. What are the key points you want the employees to get from your meeting, and what could be said to better educate them to reduce incidents?
Key Points to Discussion:
Sexual harassment is a subject that every individuals behavior is different in respect to upbringing and culture. It is important for management to address this topic and have company policies in place that are in line with local and federal laws. With better awareness of punishments, hopefully the number of cases and law suites will decrease.
Facilitative Question:
How can management be better prepared to handle such situations as the arise?
Preventing Sexual Harassment - The EEOC (Equal Employment Opportunity Commission) defines sexual and the behavior that constitutes it as; "unwelcome sexual advances, request for sexual favors, and other verbal or physical contact of a sexual nature"(p.72-73). Through this definition I understood that any type of discrimination, threat or intimidation to gain sexual favors or advancement is morally and ethically wrong and also illegal. In today's society sexual harassment is a growing issue but often times go unreported. Leading types of claims filed are the posting of pictures with sexual content, touching of intimate body parts, sexual jokes, and I seen at my work a growing problem with text messaging material by way of cell phones.
Emotional Hook:
You have been asked as the Human Resource Manager to prepare a presentation for your companies employees on sexual harassment. What are the key points you want the employees to get from your meeting, and what could be said to better educate them to reduce incidents?
Key Points to Discussion:
Sexual harassment is a subject that every individuals behavior is different in respect to upbringing and culture. It is important for management to address this topic and have company policies in place that are in line with local and federal laws. With better awareness of punishments, hopefully the number of cases and law suites will decrease.
Facilitative Question:
How can management be better prepared to handle such situations as the arise?
Chapter 2 Reflection
I found many of my groups findings interesting, but one really caught my attention. This member of my group was posting on outsourcing products to other countries to cut costs. Not only does this hurt our economy, but takes advantage of and sometimes is subject to abuse of less fortunate countries. The fact that really caught my attention and upset me was that Walmart cost U.S. tax payers $250,000 per storebecause the pay their employees such low wages. The low income is tough for people to get by on so they turn to the government for help, thus tapping into the welfare systems.
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