Whats on the web
Monster mashwww.monster.co.uk
Monster UK is the local content and language web site for Monster, a leading global online careers and recruitment resource. Monster Global Network consists of 26 local language and content sites worldwide and is committed to “connecting the most progressive companies with high-calibre, career-minded individuals”.
For jobseekers thinking about a new job, new career, a new city or a new direction, Monster could help explore possibilities and find opportunities without a huge search effort.
For employers looking to recruit the most qualified candidates, Monster offers innovative technology and appropriate services to streamline the entire hiring process. The site has sister sites in a number of other countries (35 in fact so presumably some double up) and is simple to use. There are a few errors on some of the deeper pages but overall this is a useful resource.
Alpha sitewww.alphameasure.com
Any tool that tells you how content employees are, how committed to the company and how likely to stay is likely to be worth a visit. AlphaMeasure provides organisations of all sizes with a web-based method for measuring employee satisfaction, determining employee engagement, and increasing employee retention.
On their site, the AlphaMeasure Employee Survey System is fully customisable and allows HR managers to target the organisational topics and challenges facing staff. Designed by HR professionals from the ground up, the AlphaMeasure Employee Survey System “provides an affordable, feature rich solution for deploying fully-customized employee surveys, employee satisfaction surveys,staff opinion surveys, and employee engagement surveys”.
AlphaMeasure does seem to offer organisations the ability to facilitate honest communication between management and employees in a safe, secure environment that protects the anonymity of staff members. Certainly the site looks tidy enough and the useful links are quick and easily accessed. America-centric but worth checking out.
Good for somewww.hr2all.com
HR2all is not “to all” at all, rather it is aimed at small to medium businesses and claims to, “provide products and services that get the best from people, streamline processes, grow business and improve profitability”. They offer free seminars and a free 15 day trial of their services. However it is rather difficult to access these – the links to them seem to be going nowhere fast.
Having said this, though, the site is quite user friendly and the sections on legislation are comprehensive and detailed with some interesting case studies. They offer a business coaching and mentoring service which is clearly laid out.
The specialist consultants the company provides are listed along with their experience and credentials (as is a price list for this service). They make the claim that they can relate to many different business models due to the variety of backgrounds their staff are from (although you would hope this is the case when dealing with any HR company). The articles link is definitely worth following as it has some excellent articles written by the MD of HR2all,Jean-Bertrand de Lartigue.
Visit todaywww.personneltoday.com
It is worth a fresh look at the Personnel Today site as it is constantly reinventing itself (no bad thing, other magazines please note).
It claims the title of “Interactive business and professional magazine of the year, 2006”, and from the web site you can see why. The homepage is excellent, with the latest HR news headlines as the main focal point. The pull down list of internal pages gives easy access to the various components of the site, and the articles are conveniently arranged under topic sub-headings. The“In Depth” page contains some particularly interesting articles,along with a search box to find information on specific topics.
It has a well organised networking forum where users can offer and receive advice, and debate on current HR issues. The links are easy to follow, and it has some nice touches such as the “fun stuff” link which has a few lighthearted quizzes, and a very funny “guru” section.
And finallySome splendid examples of unusual experiences that a selection of HR Directors of large corporations have come across at interview:
A job applicant challenged the interviewer to arm wrestle.
The interviewee wore a Walkman, explaining that she could listen to the interviewer and the music at the same time.
The candidate announced she hadn’t had lunch and proceeded to eat a hamburger and fries in the interviewer’s office.
The candidate explained that her long-term goal was to replace the interviewer.
The candidate said he never finished school because he was kidnapped and kept in a closet in a foreign country.
A bald candidate excused himself and returned to the office a few minutes later wearing a hairpiece.
An applicant said if he was hired he would demonstrate his loyalty by having the company logo tattooed on his forearm.
An applicant interrupted interview to phone her therapist for advice on how to answer specific interview questions (we think this was in an American company)
A candidate brought large dog to interview – “for protection”.More of these gems in the next issue.
Contact uswww.emeraldinsight.com
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try the Emerald one! And if you have any favourite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, please drop us an e-mail and we will submit them to our reviewers’ usual rigorous analysis.
