The BranchOut logo suggests the networking potential for Facebook users.

Social media is now a permanent part of the job market, there’s no getting around it. But for the majority of people in the workforce, there continues to be a disconnect between the two worlds that’s puzzling.

After writing about the subject a few times this year, I came up with a fairly simple theory: LinkedIn remains the best social media platform for business, but its doesn’t integrate into most user’s lives all that well. Meanwhile, Facebook has found a way to connect to millions of users’ daily lives, but most people still resist using it for their career pursuits.

Thus, people’s working lives and personal lives have become two separate worlds in the social media realm, with Facebook obviously towering over the competition. There are scores of social media users who are willing to spend hours posting pictures of themselves on Facebook, but still haven’t considered posting their resume online.

So when I saw the headline on TechCrunch, “BranchOut Unlocks the LinkedIn in Facebook,” I immediately took notice. Michael Arrington explains the basics of how BranchOut works:

The application unlocks massive amounts of career data about my friends and friends of friends that was just impossible to get to before. Search on a company name and see which of your Facebook friends work there (or used to). If those friends have installed the app, you can also see how many of their friends have worked at that company. You can then reach out to them for an introduction if you like. My network of 5,000 friends have worked at 4,664 unique companies. My 20,607 friends of friends have worked at 17,901 unique companies. Basically, someone I know or someone that they know works at any place I want access to. BranchOut tells me that 5 of my friends worked at Sun. 68 worked at Microsoft, and 53 worked at Google. I also have three friends who were in the Navy, apparently.

To me, BranchOut could be that missing piece that finally unites personal and working life in social media, and allows who knows how many people to finally make the leap to 21st century career networking. As Joe Grimm said about it at Poynter Online:

BranchOut is worth a look. I know you may have privacy concerns, but employment information seems to be relatively benign. The big take-away, though, should be that another company has built a tool that employers are using to look for help. Isn’t it time you got serious about how social media sites can help your career?

Indeed. I gave BranchOut a test drive. It’s not perfect, and its functionality is still somewhat limited, but there is an incredible amount of potential there.

Basically, it sends you to your Facebook account, and then gets to a page that will spook a lot of people, especially with all the furor over Facebook privacy. It asks for access to your profile and friends info, as well as access to your Wall, your email and “any information I’ve shared with everyone.”

It also wants to access that data at any time, even when you’re not on Facebook yourself. None of these things is particularly invasive, but it does look a little sinister all crammed into one list, and my guess is many people will chicken out, at least in the early going.

But they shouldn’t, as far as I can tell. What opens up is an extremely user-friendly, and potentially very valuable list of companies where all of your friends work (provided they have made that information public, of course). You can also invite your friends to join BranchOut, which allows you to see where their friends work. Lastly, there’s a job board to browse.

BranchOut may not be the be-all, end-all for career networking on Facebook. But it’s a big step.

Almost one-quarter of employers around the globe say they can't fill crucial positions.

From our Problems We Didn’t Expect to See in 2010 Department comes news that despite continuing layoffs, economic crashes and exorbitant unemployment numbers, there is still a huge talent shortage among employers worldwide. In fact, it’s only gotten worse.

Last week, Manpower released their 2010 Talent Shortage Survey, a study of more than 35,000 companies in 36 countries. In all, 31 percent of employers said they were having trouble filling critical positions in their company, up one percent from last year. The ten countries hardest hit were Japan (76%), Brazil (64%), Argentina (53%), Singapore (53%), Poland (51%), Australia (45%), Hong Kong (44%), Mexico (43%), Peru (42%) and Taiwan (41%), although China was right behind that with 40%. In the U.S., 14 percent of employers reported trouble filling positions.

So how exactly can there be a talent shortage when unemployment rates are so high around the globe? Manpower calls it a talent “mismatch”; in other words, job seekers aren’t well-suited for the available jobs.

The list of top unfillable jobs looks nearly identical to last year’s: 1. skilled trades; 2. sales representatives; 3. technicians; 4. engineers; 5. accounting and finance staff; 6. production operators; 7. administrative assistants and production assistants; 8. managers and executives; 9. drivers; 10. laborers.

“As the global economy slowly recovers, employers will remain focused on maintaining financial flexibility and doing more with less,” said Jeffrey A. Joerres, Manpower Inc. Chairman and CEO. “Applying the same mindset to their workforce, employers have gotten more specific about the combination of skill sets that they are looking for, not only seeking technical capabilities in a job match, but holding out for the person that possesses the additional qualities above and beyond that will help drive their organization forward. This conundrum is upsetting to the ubiquitous job seeker, who will need to take more responsibility for his/her skills development in order to find ways to remain relevant to the market.”

However, some believe that the whole idea of the talent shortfall is a myth. Kevin Wheeler of the recruiting site ere.net writes:

Even in this recession, everyone I speak with is moaning about not being able to find the quality candidates they think they need. Maybe they have caused their own problem by narrowly defining jobs, by using yesterday’s criteria to solve today’s problems, and by a lack of imagination. We (hiring managers, executives, HR folks, and recruiters) set up expectations and define jobs based on what is traditional. We work from habit and past experience. This is not necessarily bad, but may not match our current needs or the available supply.

Wheeler believes there are two keys to correcting the “mismatch”: better training that will allow employers to mold the skill sets of their employees better, and expansion of the pool of candidates, which he sees as widening job expectations and definitions. Recruitment and outplacement services are another resource for “matching up” talent with openings.

Wheeler’s main point is that whether or not there is a talent shortage in 2010, there doesn’t have to be one; whatever mismatches exist, they can be fixed. That’s the best thing for both employers and employees, and his conclusion—while admittedly idealistic—is a reassuring thought: “There are no labor shortages or surpluses — there are just shortages of imagination and an unwillingness to accept responsibility for filling our own needs.”

When the E-Verify system made headlines last year, many people went into a panic. 

The federal government had debuted the electronic system for verifying the legal U.S. citizenship of employees over a decade earlier, but by 2007, companies around the country were running three million inquiries through E-Verify. The next year, the number was double that.

Some states made E-Verify mandatory for employers, and by 2009 President Obama was calling for it to be federal law. At the time, supporters said E-Verify had proven its usefulness for combating illegal immigration and curbing document fraud, but opponents of the program went into overdrive:

Critics — including business and labor groups and civil libertarians — say that the system remains fraught with error and could lead to wrongful layoffs. They say it encourages discrimination against workers who appear foreign and promotes more under-the-table hiring.

“We have not taken the effort to go through and fix the errors in people’s files before we use this as an enforcement tool,” said Timothy Sparapani, senior legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union. “Until we do, this system will be nothing more than a fanciful wish.”

Now, it’s much more than that. An estimated 170,000 employers currently use the system, with more than 1,200 more signing up every week. The widespread abuses that critics warned against have not materialized. And yet, most of the companies signing up are doing it because they have to—though the system remains voluntary for most companies, it is mandatory in some areas and for any company contracting with the federal government.

The Department of Homeland Security recently debuted “I E-Verify,” a program aimed at promoting its use. Though the growth of E-Verify is impressive, the government clearly is disappointed that more employers haven’t voluntarily signed on, and at the heart of the “I E-Verify” is an attempt to calm HR nerves about using it:

Director Alejandro Mayorkas to announce a trio of initiatives to strengthen the efficiency and accuracy of the E-Verify system.These initiatives include a new agreement with the Department of Justice that will streamline the adjudication process in cases of E-Verify misuse and discrimination; an informational telephone hotline for employees to provide a more timely, effective and seamless customer experience for workers seeking E-Verify information; and new training videos focusing on E-Verify procedures and policies, employee rights and employer responsibilities in English and Spanish.

It’s a solution to a problem that doesn’t seem to have arisen in the first place. So why are so many companies giving E-Verify the cold shoulder? Eric Ledbetter has a thorough analysis of employer fears.

Ledbetter warns that since the system doesn’t actually replace the traditional method of verifying citizenship, the Form I-9, E-Verify puts an extra burden on employers, both in terms of cost and effort. Though the federal databases can be accessed free of charge, training, set-up and supervision are taxing HR resources.

And there are legal issues:

[Another] problem with E-Verify is its potential for creating unintended privacy and discrimination violations. Employers that use E-Verify are under various federal and state obligations to safeguard the data contained on the Form I-9 and in the E-Verify databases.

Once an employer enrolls in E-Verify, it must make certain that employees with access to the company’s E-Verify account are properly trained and supervised so as not to use it at the wrong time, for the wrong purpose or on the wrong person. A poorly trained or poorly supervised HR worker can create significant liability for a company through misuse of the E-Verify system.

Employers are also obligated by anti-discrimination laws to treat all similarly situated employees alike and not to ask employees for more documentation than is legally required. The use of E-Verify may create certain situations that are likely to lead well-meaning employers into trouble because of the problem of false negatives.

None of this means there aren’t plenty of reasons to use E-Verify, but it may take more than a promotional campaign to convince skeptical companies.

Social media diagrams well, but how can a business make it work?

A lot of employers are still asking themselves if they need to get on to Facebook and other social media. A new study will either make them feel a lot better about it, or a lot worse; it turns out their employees are using social media at work anyway. The study by Network Box surveyed 13 billion URLs visited by businesses, and studied businesses bandwith, as well.

The conclusion: 6.8 percent of all business Internet traffic goes to Facebook.

You might think this would end the debate over the importance of social media. But instead, a new debate has sprung up: should the response to this news be to cut off all access to social media?

TechRepublic dug into this question, polling IT executives about whether access to social media should be blocked.

Most of them felt they shouldn’t be blocked (with some qualifications), but some of the responses were particularly surprising, like one IT director who said: “We block all social networking sites. There is no company or work related value in these sites whatsoever.”

Really? It’s a shock to see that that sentiment still prevails in some businesses. It wasn’t that the anti-blocking contingent wasn’t concerned about productivity or proper use of the sites. But they recognized that establishing that at a technology level is impossible; this is clearly a matter of policy and an HR issue.

Some of those who supported blocking social media sites said basically that there might be a reason for a business to be using these sites, but they weren’t clear on what it is. And that points to a much bigger problem: the business potential of social media sites is often going untapped.

Laurie Ruettimann nailed the heart of the problem on her Punk Rock HR site. The issue is not quantity, it’s quality:

From a selfish standpoint, I would like to discuss the inability for most companies to do something amazing with these social tools. If you’re going to adopt a social strategy within your organization, be bold. Most companies are acting like fake Jesus spammers and barfing out information on coupons, products, and discounted services. Where’s the real interaction? Where are the discussions between constituencies that matter the most?

I don’t want 25% off my meal for being the mayor of a burger joint. I want to talk to the owner, get to know the employees, and establish a relationship with the business. I want to know that the workers are happy, they feel financially rewarded for their hard work, and that everyone is happy to see me when I walk through the door. I want my feedback to matter. I want the burger joint to adapt and change when the market changes…I have a simple message to those companies who are in the middle of developing a social strategy: give me something bigger and more meaningful or get the heck off these social networking sites. You should know that my loyalty and my commitment to your brand can’t be bought with a coupon.

Well said, but of course the question of exactly how to create meaningful business content on social media sites is a huge one. There is an explosion of conferences and seminars on the topic around the world, as evidenced by this one coming up Friday in India.

The outline for the workshop actually does a good job of pointing employers towards issues they should be addressing when trying to craft a social media presence, such as: understanding your business objectives, understanding your audience, defining your strategy and selecting specific social channels in which to then craft and implement a plan.

One area in which social media has become invaluable to companies is recruiting. Whether for HR, outplacement services or headhunters, Twitter, Facebook and the like are now a must. Gautam Ghosh writes about how networking sites have become a powerful force in recruiting on his blog:

The first question the recruiter needs to answer is - who is my top talent and what is he/she interested in? Primarily they are interested in the content and knowledge component of the job, followed by organizational culture and the mechanics of the job. The recruiting firm needs to reach out to the community where top talent is likely to be present and present the above - by way of blog posts, youtube videos, pictures and discussion forums.

In the end, business traffic to these sites is only going to go way, way up. Blocking them is pointless, embracing them is crucial.

Will the much-hyped employee mass exit be Exodus 2.0?

What if they had an employee exodus and nobody came? That’s what we’re seeing so far, as dire forecasts of a massive number of dissatisfied employees walking away from their jobs have yet to materialize. Some experts predicted it would happen as early as February, others said March, still others left the possibility open for any time in 2010.

In some ways, this prediction didn’t seem too far-fetched. As Megaforce’s Megablog put it:

It’s not unusual for employees to leave a job after a downturn, quite simply because improving conditions typically result in more job opportunities opening up. However, many factors point to the strong possibility of massive employee turnover in 2010. According to the CareerBuilder survey, about 1 in 5 workers plan to leave their current job this year. OK, we all know the 80-20 rule. Which 20% of your workers do you think is planning on leaving? It’s a good bet that the ones leaving are the ones you’d like to keep.

That last bit strikes the same chord that much of the arm-waving on this matter has hit over and over again: “Watch out, employers, if your workers are unhappy, they’re about to revolt!”

Back in January, a study by the Australian recruitment firm Chandler Macleod Group found about 95 percent of the survey’s 930 participants were looking for work, with 73 percent actively looking and 57 percent believing they were within about 90 days of finding a new job.

“Employee exodus” became the watchword across countries and industries, triggering alarm in the U.S., Britain, Australia, India and other countries , and leading outlets as far-flung as Lawyers Weekly to project the possible effects on their field.

The gist for those who subscribe to this mass exodus theory is that employees have been beaten down by the recession and beaten up by their employers, and want a fresh start. Yahoo! Hotjobs conducted their own survey back in December with 806 hiring managers and recruiters, 44 percent of whom predicted a rush to the exits by workers. Wrote Larry Buhl:

As an example of how hard it may be to keep top talent in 2010, Mark Anderson, president and chief economist for ExecuNet, told Yahoo HotJobs that 90% of executives will now take calls from executive recruiters, a sign that more of them are now considering other options.

In an article for LiveCareer, Maria Hanson referred to a survey by Harris Interactive that found most workers are unhappy with their job, with 66 percent dissatisfied with their pay and benefits, 76 percent dissatisfied with their current opportunity for growth in their job, and 78 percent dissatisfied with their employer’s effort to keep them. Hanson sees the coming shake-up as a great opportunity for workers, advising them to aim for promotions and raises, and move on if they don’t feel they’re getting what they deserve. She has a warning for employers, too:

Career experts anticipate that this job dissatisfaction will translate into a mass exodus once the economy turns around. When more jobs become available, employees will be more than happy to leave behind job stagnation and flagging wages to hunt for better employment opportunities. Companies that don’t make changes now should be prepared to lose even their top employees. “We’re surprised to see how many companies have not improved [employee relations] during the recession, but have become more Draconian,” says HR specialist Glen Earl. “Those types of companies will see massive turnover.”

But why haven’t we seen any indication of this shake-up yet? The obvious answer is that the economic recovery simply hasn’t materialized as quickly as many expected, and much of the gains so far have been infamously “jobless.” But another possibility may be that while the recession has caused workers around the world no end of frustration and worry, they may be more sympathetic to their employers’ own tough situation than their current level of stated dissatisfaction indicates.

None of this is to say that the Great Employee Exodus of 2010 isn’t still yet to come. But for right now, it’s still no more than a fantasy for a recession-battered workforce.

It's a small world for a lot of analysts looking at the hiring outlook.

Four times a year, the release of Manpower Inc.’s Employment Outlook Survey defines the mood on hiring trends around the world. Based on interviews with 61,000 employers, the survey has become possibly the most trusted barometer on the worldwide job market over its nearly half a century in existence.

The key word there is “worldwide.” The EOS takes a snapshot of employer attitudes in 36 countries and territories around the globe. And yet, for some reason, most of the analysis of the survey is still remarkably provincial, and with the release this month of the newest numbers, it’s more of the same.

American news outlets tend to zero in on the news for their own metropolitan market, or at best the U.S. outlook as a whole, sometimes completely ignoring the data from other parts of the world. And it’s not just a Yankee ego thing—other countries are just as guilty of ignoring the bigger picture in favor of the hometown stats.

That’s understandable to some degree; we all have a natural inclination to care more about what’s going on in our own backyard. And providing a breakdown to the local level can be especially useful due to the sheer amount of data packed into this report.

There are so many competing numbers, in fact, that different analysts can paint entirely different pictures of the hiring outlook. Daniele Sahr of The Huffington Post, for instance, writes of the U.S. employment picture: “Are we nearing a rebound in hiring? If the anecdotal evidence is any indication, we certainly are. According to Manpower’s quarterly Employment Outlook Survey, hiring in almost every sector is about to get better.” That’s because employers in 12 out of 13 industry sectors reported that they will add staff in the second quarter of 2010. (Once again, it was bad news for the government sector, which was the unlucky thirteenth.)

But others, like Mark Fightmaster at bloggingstocks.com, had a far less exuberant take on the U.S. numbers, writing of the current hiring outlook that: “While this percentage is better than the same quarter a year ago, it is virtually flat from the first quarter. In fact, it is down slightly, as a net 6% of firms hired in the first quarter.” That’s because about two-thirds of U.S. employers said they plan to keep staffing levels flat.

Overall, the consensus is that hiring levels are inching up in the U.S. At a seasonally adjusted five percent, there’s a moderate uptick in expectations for hiring in the U.S., as the adjusted outlook at this time last year was –2 percent.

However, that’s only in the U.S. What is far less reported is that if we take a look at the bigger global picture, there is some interesting information about new markets around the world.

The strongest year-over-year outlooks are coming from India, which reports a whopping net employment outlook of 39 percent, with hiring expected across all geographic regions and industrial sectors.

Brazil, Taiwan, Singapore, Australia, Peru and Costa Rica are also reporting very strong hiring expectations. The entire Asia Pacific region (with the exception of Japan) looks strong for job growth, and a modest improvement is projected throughout the Americas.

Overall, employers in 27 of 36 countries and territories expect some positive hiring activity in the second quarter, with only eight reporting negative hiring expectations. Last year, 18 countries and territories were reporting negative outlooks. Based on Manpower’s latest, it’s clear that the global job picture is improving.

Sometimes a small change can mean big change for the employment market. That’s what analysts are saying about the January unemployment numbers released last Friday by the Department of Labor.

Is the news all good for jobseekers? No, but it’s much better than anyone expected. Consider this: After losing 150,000 jobs in December, the U.S. economy lost only 20,000 jobs last month, a small statistical change that could signal much bigger things—most notably, that after a string of brutal jobs reports, the worst may be over. After revising its numbers from the end of last year, the Labor Department determined that unemployment fell to 9.7 percent last month from 10 percent.

Job-market watchers have jumped all over the unexpected good news. On the White House blog, Council of Economic Advisers chair Christina Romer wrote that “while unemployment remains a severe problem, today’s employment report contains encouraging signs of gradual labor market healing.”

Employment did rise in a few areas, including retail trade and temporary help employment, as well as manufacturing. The results of the Labor Department’s survey of households showed that 541,000 more Americans had work in January. But Romer’s choice of words may be an even bigger indicator in itself, as it marks the first time anyone analyzing the labor market has really talked about “healing” for the jobs outlook. Could the jobless recovery finally be getting back its jobs?

There are several caveats, of course. First of all, as Romer herself notes, the DOL’s revised numbers revealed that more than a million more jobs than previously thought have been lost in this recession. The new numbers suggest 8.4 million jobs have been lost in this recession, and it will likely take several years for all of those jobs to be restored to the economy.

But let’s look at that in a different light. Economic analysts believe we could add as many as 1.5 million jobs to the U.S. economy this year. For proof that 2010 is beginning to show signs of an improved outlook, look no further than CNN/Fortune’s new list of the best companies to work for in 2010. Out of those, almost a quarter have at least 500 openings each, which equals almost 88,000 jobs. In other words, Fortune’s top companies are hiring.

The top rankings this year, by the way, went to:

1. SAS
2. Edward Jones
3. Wegmans
4. Google
5. Nugget Market
6. DreamWorks Animation
7. NetApp
8. Boston Consulting Group
9. Qualcomm
10. Camden Property Trust

To some degree, this year’s list of top companies is just a reshuffling of last year’s, but it’s interesting to consider who moved and who didn’t. North-Carolina-based software firm SAS jumped all the way from #20 to #1, while Edward Jones remained at #2 and Google held at #4. Camden Property Trust made the biggest upward move in the top 10, from #41 to #10. Meanwhile, Cisco Systems, Genentech and Goldman Sachs all fell out of the top 10.

Unlike 2009’s list, not all of the top 10 companies had positive job growth this year, and the upticks were generally small in any case.

However, judging from what the companies are saying about their hiring for this year — and all of those openings — expect that to change on next year’s list.

The impact of social media cannot be denied. The 2009 word of the year was “tweet,” and the word of the decade was “google,” according to the American Dialect Society. Social media such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Flickr, and YouTube—which are defined by their user-generated content—have wiggled their way into most people’s working hours, and thus onto many workplace computers.

In the field of Human Resources, most talk of social media has to do with pre-employment: talent sourcing, advertising job openings, and performing background checks. But social media is now integrated with each stage of the employee lifecycle: before, during, and after. HR practitioners should study their proper use (and possible misuse), and learn what steps to take now to maximize their benefit while heading off potential legal problems.

An excellent article on this topic was just published in The National Law Journal. In “Social media permeate the employment life cycle: Employers must address their use and misuse before, during and after an employee’s tenure,” labor and employment attorney Renee M. Jackson writes about the simultaneous opportunities and risk presented by social media. Here are some of her top thoughts, as well as those of HR pros, on points you should consider at each stage of the employee lifecycle.

PRE-EMPLOYMENT

The networking power of social media is undeniably helping people find jobs, and helping companies find talent. If you’re ready to take full advantage of it, check out an article like Fistful of HR’s “5 Must-Use Social Media Tools For HR & Recruiting Professionals In 2009.”

Know this, though: because people now publicly disclose much more information than they did in the past, organizations must take care, writes Jackson in The National Law Journal:

… Applicants may reveal more information about themselves through social media than they normally would during the hiring process. In making hiring decisions, employers can lawfully use information relating to an applicant’s illegal drug use, poor work ethic, poor writing or communications skills, feelings about previous employers and racist or other discriminatory tendencies. Employers may also lawfully consider an applicant’s general poor judgment in maintenance of his or her public online persona.

Employers, however, may face liability under federal, state and local law for using any information learned from social media about an applicant’s protected class status — race, age, disability, religion, sexual orientation, etc. — in a hiring decision. It may be hard for the employer to prove in later litigation that it only viewed, but didn’t actually use, the information obtained in a social medium when making its hiring decision.

Your organization must seriously consider whether you want to use social media in your talent searches at all. If you do, Jackson recommends that you follow these guidelines:

• Conduct uniform searches that are just and consistent
• Use a non-biased third party to perform social media research
• Do not “friend” applicants to gain access to non-public information
• And other important points

DURING EMPLOYMENT

One of the biggest issues caused by social media during an employee tenure is the simple theft of working time. There are also matters of privacy, nondisclosure, taboo topics and hostile work environment, brand protection, and many more. The good news is, this is the stage when you have the most control over the situation. Most organizations would benefit from a well-researched, clear, and fairly applied social media policy. To research the matter, I recommend  beginning with “10 Must-Haves for Your Social Media Policy” by Sharlyn Lauby, who you may know as The HR Bartender, or “How to Develop a Social Media Policy” from About.com. There are a wide range of policies, but one thing all the experts agree on is that a successful policy is not arbitrary, but is a genuine expression of the needs of an organization which has considered both the risks and rewards of this new media.

Some of Jackson’s top recommendations for points to include in a policy are:

• A prohibition on disclosure of the employer’s confidential, trade secret or proprietary information
• A request that employees keep company logos or trademarks off their blogs and profiles and not mention the company in commentary, unless for business purposes
• An instruction that employees not post or blog during business hours, unless for business purposes
• A request that employees bring work-related complaints to human resources before blogging or posting about such complaints
• And others

AFTER EMPLOYMENT

Then, there are the former employees. Some will be nice, and some will be not-so-nice.

The best defense against nightmare scenarios like this and like this is a having had a good social media policy in the first place—one that lasts beyond employment, if at all possible. But if you are dealing with a situation that falls outside of that, you might want to read an article such as “Dealing with Disgruntled Ex-employees via Social Media.”

Another huge issue is recommendations. Increasingly, people are asking former colleagues to write them recommendations on social media such as LinkedIn. Is that the same as an official post-employment recommendation? Jackson says yes—although it’s difficult to define when people are speaking for themselves, and when they are speaking on behalf of the organization. It’s a good reason to have a solid policy in place.

The warmest and fuzziest scenario is positive relations through social media in the form of corporate alumni networks. In Computer World’s article, “The new word for tech’s ex-employees is ‘alum’” large, successful sites catering to groups of ex-employees are examined. Microsoft’s alumni network, for example, has 10,000 members—what an incredible opportunity for networking and goodwill!

THE TAKEAWAY

What HR should take away from this, writes Jackson, is that the risks of social media are too great to be ignored any longer.

First, employers must understand the myriad issues surrounding social media in the workplace in order to strike the appropriate balance in the eyes of their employees and the law. Then, employers must craft appropriate policies and procedures regarding social media that are consistent with their industry and firm culture, and apply such policies in a consistent, objective and nondiscriminatory way.

Workers are tweeting, googling, and friending, and they’re doing it at all stages of employment. We need to acknowledge this, and craft good policies in response.

“Career transition” is on a lot of minds these days. The U.S. has more than 15 million unemployed — and if you count the discouraged and underemployed, the number is more like 27 million. You may be one of these people seeking a new job, or you may be one of millions of others who are employed, but trying to strategize a major career change in a tough market. No matter the specifics, the economic downturn is probably affecting your career.

As you craft your long-term plans, you’ll want to consider where the jobs are — and where they are going. Consumption drives these patterns, but so does technology. Don’t forget to account for older generations retiring and leaving needed jobs open, either. All of these elements affect which jobs are available.

Then, to maximize your future demand, think about adapting your strategy — be it higher education, government re-training, or developing a new area of expertise — to a field that is projected to grow.

To help you with your planning, we peeked into our “crystal ball” (actually, government projections) to share the latest statistics for the industries growing the most, and the occupations that will be adding the largest amount of workers, now through 2018.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics recently published its 2010-11 edition of  the Occupational Outlook Handbook, a report on occupations and employment growth trends that is updated every two years. This particular update covers 2008-2018 — meaning it has data through the end of 2008, and projects out to 2018. This is notable because it does cover one full year of the downturn (2008), which began in December 2007. Nationwide, employment is projected to increase by 15.3 million (approximately 10%) over the decade between 2008 and 2018, and the OOH describes exactly where the growth will be. Here is the OOH’s list of the 20 “fastest-growing” professions through 2018, as measured by percentage of growth.

1. Biomedical engineers: Slated to add 11,600 jobs, a 72% increase
2. Network systems and data communication analysts: Will add 155,800 jobs, a 53% increase
3. Home health aides: Set to add 460,900 jobs, an increase of 50%
4. Personal and home care aides: Will grow by 375,800 openings, or 46%
5. Financial examiners: Slated to add 11,100 jobs, an increase of 41%
6. Medical scientists, except epidemiologists: 44,200 jobs will be added, a 40% growth rate
7. Physician assistants: This field will add 29,200 jobs, growing by 39%
8. Skin care specialists: Set to add 14,700 positions, growing by 38%
9. Biochemists and biophysicists: Will grow by 8,700 positions, or 37%
10. Athletic trainers: Set to add 6,000 jobs, a gain of 37%
11. Physical therapist aides: 16,700 jobs will be added, a gain of 36%
12. Dental hygienists: The workforce will add 62,900 jobs, an increase of 36%
13. Veterinary technologists and technicians:  Slated to add 28,500 jobs, a 36% increase
14. Dental assistants: Will be adding 105,600 jobs, growing by 36%
15. Computer software engineers, applications: Set to add 175,100 jobs, a growth rate of 34%
16. Medical assistants: Will grow by 163,900 personnel, an increase of 34%
17. Physical therapist assistants: 21,200 jobs will be added, growing by 33%
18. Veterinarians: Will add 19,700 jobs, an increase of 33%
19. Self-enrichment education teachers: Slated to add 81,300 positions, an increase of 32%
20. Compliance officers, except agriculture, construction, health and safety, and transportation: Will add 80,800 jobs, growing by 31%

The first thing to note about this list is that a smaller industry can show an explosive rate of growth, yet still add fewer jobs in total than a huge industry that is growing more slowly. This is shown by the top occupation, biomedical engineer, which is going up steeply (72%!), but in spite of this is still only adding one job for every 39 added of the #3 job, home health assistant.

Examining the above list, here are some big trends I observe in the fastest-growing industries:

Biological sciences: In the Top 20, we see a high demand for biomedical engineers (#1) and biochemists and biophysicists ( #9), which reflects medicine’s growing interest in genetic research and biologic drugs. If you are inclined toward the sciences, biology would be a strategic area to explore.

IT: Don’t overlook the second-fastest-growing job, network systems and data communication analysts, which is set to add more than 150,000 new jobs, while computer software engineers, applications, #15, is adding another 175,000. Together, this is 325,000 jobs, so people who can run networks and write software will definitely continue to be needed.

Health assistance: Home health aide is #3, while personal and home care aides are right behind at #4. It makes sense: our increasingly aging population has an independent spirit, values their health, and would like help with it at home rather than at an institution. Physician assistants (#7), dental hygienists (#12), dental assistants (#14) also reflect these demographics, plus increased access to and demand for medical and dental services. Could you grow a career around this?

Veterinary sciences: The pet is of ever-increasing importance in the U.S.: people devote more of their money to a pet’s needs than before, and rates of pet ownership are up. So it’s not surprising to see veterinarians at #18 and veterinary technologists and technicians at #13. If you love animals, veterinary medicine may be the path for you.

Those were the occupations with steep growth. If you’re more interested in which occupations will be adding the most jobs in terms of sheer numbers, the following list (also from the new edition of the Occupational Outlook Handbook) delivers that. Here are the 20 occupations that will be adding the most new jobs, in individual openings:

1. Registered nurses (581,500)
2. Home health aides (460,900)
3. Customer service representatives (399,500)
4. Combined food preparation and serving workers, including fast food (394,300)
5. Personal and home care aides (375,800)
6. Retail salespersons (374,700)
7. Office clerks, general (358,700)
8. Accountants and auditors (279,400)
9. Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants (276,000)
10. Postsecondary teachers (256,900)
11. Construction laborers (255,900)
12. Elementary school teachers, except special education (244,200)
13. Truck drivers, heavy and tractor-trailer (232,900)
14. Landscaping and groundskeeping workers (217,100)
15. Bookkeeping, accounting, and auditing clerks (212,400)
16. Executive secretaries and administrative assistants (204,400)
17. Management analysts (178,300)
18. Computer software engineers, applications (175,100)
19. Receptionists and information clerks (172,900)
20. Carpenters (165,400)

Observations on the list of occupations that are growing the most:

Healthcare: The need for registered nurses is #1. Although they didn’t make the Top 20, you should know that licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses came in at #24 on the list, and physicians and surgeons ranked #28. Being a doctor or nurse has always been an in-demand profession, and the demand will continue.

Services: The service sector is adding millions of jobs in the coming eight years. A large portion of them are adjacent to healthcare; home health aides are #2, while nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants is #9, and personal and home care aides is #5. Other growth areas in service are food preparation and landscaping.

Construction and carpentry: Good news! Building is projected to come back from its current slump, making construction laborer #11 on this list, and carpenter #20.

For more planning resources, be sure to visit the OOH website. There, you can read up on hundreds of jobs. For each job, you will find descriptions of the duties and working conditions, the skills and experience needed, projected earnings, and even information on the job in your region. It is a valuable resource for imagining, planning, and implementing your successful career transition.

Although the U.S. closed out 2009 with steep unemployment, some recently announced year-end data indicates that hiring is set to rebound in 2010. The encouraging news comes from this 2010 Job Forecast, which surveyed more than 2,700 hiring managers and human resource professionals about their staffing plans for the coming year.

While the forecast warns that employers are still keeping a cautious eye on the economy, their general reluctance to hire seems to be abating. Fully 20% of the employers surveyed said they plan to add permanent full-time employees in 2010 — up from 14% in 2009. Meanwhile, on the job-loss side, just 9% of the respondents said they plan to cut headcount, which is down from 16% in 2009.

These numbers, taken together, show plans for a 11% net gain in companies that are hiring full-time workers, which would bring welcome relief to our unemployment situation.

The sunny news is not confined to the U.S. According to The Wall Street Journal, a similar survey of our northern neighbor offered even better numbers: 29% of employers indicated that they plan to increase permanent full-time employment in 2010 — up from 18% in 2009. Only 9% plan to cut positions in 2010, making their “net hirers” number hit 20%.

Here are some other hiring practices the survey identified as growing trends for 2010:

• Rehiring laid-off workers
• Replacing low-performing employees
• Rehiring retirees / delaying retirement
• Continuing to hire contract workers to mitigate risk
• Increased need for bilingual workers

Not every field will see gains equally. Fields that the survey found were most likely to increase hiring were:

• 32%   Information technology
• 27%   Manufacturing
• 23%   Financial services
• 22%   Professional and business services
• 21%   Sales
• 21%   Healthcare
• 18%   Transportation
• 15%   Retail

In a related article, “The most secure jobs for 2010” describes careers likely to be in high demand in 2010 and beyond. While some made perfect sense — occupational therapist to our growing population of senior citizens is a needed specialty, and being a gas/electric/utilities strategic planning analyst in a time of energy crisis is surely secure — others came as an interesting surprise to me (for instance, I was not aware that there is a projected demand for more interior designers in spite of economic pressures, but the profession is on the rise). Check out the whole article to read their take on the most recession-proof jobs for the coming year.

What’s your sense of these numbers and trends? Will 2010 be the year we turn unemployment around? Do these “more companies hiring than firing” predictions seem feasible to you, based on what you’re seeing out in the field? Let us know in the comments, and please be sure to note your location, too. Not all regions are suffering unemployment equally, nor will they recover at the exact same pace. We’re interested in your eyewitness reports.