Congressman Dan Burton is trying to connect Central Indiana employers who are hiring with qualified candidates.

The 2011 H.I.R.E. (Help Indiana Regain Employment) Job Fair will take place on Friday Oct. 7 from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at ITT Technical Institute, 9511 Angola Court in Indianapolis).  The event is free. 

Registration is available for employers and job seekers. Additional information is available from Alicia Hazelwood at (877) 846-2936. 

Telecommuters are more ethical than those toiling in the office every day — or maybe being at home or another remote location simply offers fewer opportunities to get oneself into trouble.

Those are the less than clear conclusions from a recent study.

In a survey of 200 firms by the Ethisphere Institute and Jones Lang LaSalle, only 11 percent said work-from-home employees had committed ethics violations in the past two years.

But 36 percent reported "visible ethics violations" by employees who don’t work from home regularly, and 43 percent reported non-visible violations for this group, such as expense account fraud or bribery, MarketWatch reports.

Those of us who usually work from home would like to think this is because of our high ethical standards.

But it turns out we are nothing special. We’re just isolated.

"You can see why someone working from home wouldn’t get embroiled in some of the things that lead to trouble," Mark Ohringer, executive vice president and global general counsel for Jones Lang LaSalle, was quoted as saying.

When a worker isn’t in the office, the opportunity to tell inappropriate jokes or harass people diminishes (much to our annoyance).

Other misconduct includes theft, expense-report abuse and misusing social media, other experts say. In fact, the employee’s eagerness to maintain his or her work-from-home privilege may make that person extra careful to comply with a company’s ethics policy, MarketWatch says.

Telecommuting is becoming increasingly popular, and some employees may also behave well because they’re afraid of losing their work-from-home privileges, MarketWatch states.

Despite the attention placed on Congress and its apparent inability to work together or with the White House, more than a few people in the business world lose more sleep because of the work of agencies in our nation’s capital.

Two expected examples on the union organizing front (where Congress has at least stepped up to stop the so-called "card check" legislation):

• The National Labor Relations Board is looking to shorten union elections from approximately 40 days to as few as 10. The result would be employers having less time to make their case to employees against unionizing (in other words, counteract the pro-union efforts that have been going on prior to the scheduling of the election).
• The Labor Department is expected to require enhanced reporting of consulting arrangements by companies that use outside guidance to oppose union organizing efforts.

In Indiana, we make things. Engage in a discussion about that topic today, and it’s typically referred to as advanced manufacturing. No matter the name, it’s important.

On a national level, the State Science & Technology Institute summarizes a recent study by Booz & Co. and the University of Michigan’s Tauber Institute for Global Operations.

The authors point out three significant findings that emerged from the study. First, contrary to popular belief, U.S. manufacturing has been much more productive. Currently, U.S. companies produce about 75 percent of the products consumed by the nation. Second, manufacturing will remain largely regional. According to the authors, no single country will become "the factory of the world." Instead, manufacturers will increasingly locate factories close to major markets, including the U.S., Europe and Southeast Asia. Third, labor costs and currency rates are playing a decreasing role in decisions by manufacturing executives. Instead, four other factors are driving manufacturers’ choices:

• The skill level and quality of factory employees, especially for high-tech facilities;

• The presence of high-impact clusters;

• Access to nearby countries with emerging consumer markets and lower-cost labor; and,

• A reasonably competitive regulatory and tax environment.

The authors contend that if U.S. business leaders, educators and policymakers make "a series of identifiable smart actions and choices" that a manufacturing-driven economy could produce up to 95 percent of all products consumed by the nation. According to the report, the series of actions and choices includes recommendations in four policy areas:

• Attract the best workers — currently, the U.S. faces a shortage of qualified manufacturing employees. To address this problem, policy makers must develop educational initiatives that promote engineering, relax federal immigration regulations for trained knowledge workers (e.g., H-1B visas) and establish state manufacturing education initiatives (e.g., scholarships and other programs). Manufacturing companies must also offer a more collaborative workplace experience, attract workers by attending campus recruitment events and industry job fairs, increase college internships, form partnerships with local colleges and universities and partner with other manufacturers to jointly support specialized training programs.

• Invest in high-impact clusters — In the context of manufacturing, clusters are essential to grow geographic concentrations of interconnected companies, suppliers, service providers and associated institutions. State and local governments can encourage clusters by investing in infrastructure—roads, ports, rail lines and communication links—for centers that have begun to form organically. However, studies have shown that governments should not seek to micromanage cluster creation.

• Build a future with Mexico — Mexico offers a cost-conscious and attractive alternative to China and other distant offshoring sites. By developing production facilities there, manufacturers can tap a relatively low-cost labor pool and maintain tight links with R&D talent and facilities in the United States.

• Simplify and streamline the tax and regulatory structure — Policymakers should reduce taxation levels and tax code complexity. In the Booz & Company survey, 61 percent of respondents cited government regulations and policies as having a negative impact on their companies’ U.S. manufacturing output.

Avoiding distractions at work has almost become a job unto itself. An online survey (wouldn’t this contribute to the lack of focus on the task at hand) of IT users at U.S. and global companies revealed the following:

• The majority (57%) of work interruptions now involve either using collaboration and social tools like e-mail, social networks, text messaging and IM, or switching windows among disparate standalone tools and applications. In fact, 45% of employees work only 15 minutes or less without getting interrupted, and 53% waste at least one hour a day due to all types of distractions.That hour per day translates into $10,375 of wasted productivity per person per year, assuming an average salary of $30/hour.
• That is more than the average U.S. driver will spend this year to own and maintain a car, according to the Automobile Association of America (AAA). That means that for businesses with 1,000 employees, the cost of employee interruptions exceeds $10 million per year.   The actual cost of distraction is even higher in terms of negative impacts on work output, work quality, and relationships with clients and co-workers.
• The increasingly common addiction to web-based activity – which psychologists call ‘online compulsive disorder’ – is pervasive in the workplace.  For example, two out of three people will tune out of face-to-face meetings to communicate digitally with someone else.  The addiction is also taking over people’s personal lives.  Case in point:  the majority of people under the age of 40 stay digitally connected in bed, and 44% of people under 30 stay connected during a night out at the movies.
• Two-thirds of companies and technology users are pursuing tools and strategies to minimize digital distractions, reflecting an understanding of the need to restore productivity that is being sapped by misuse of digital applications.

Dr. Charles Xavier must be really good at getting hired for employment, since he can read minds and everything. (That would be Professor X, from the X-Men comics, if you don’t recognize the name.)

He probably wouldn’t benefit from this latest advice from staffing service OfficeTeam. But, you might want to read further (unless you can also read minds, which I kind of doubt) about the five things that every job seeker should know about the interview from the employer’s point of view.

Coming to an interview prepared, having researched the company and being armed with a list of questions about the organization can be a big help. However, potential employees should also know these few things that employers aren’t saying out loud.

First, not all employers come as prepared to an interview as the interviewee. You should have a copy of your resume on hand in case the hiring manager doesn’t remember anything about you (especially if the person seems lost for questions to ask).

Another important thing to remember is that inauthentic responses to questions are a red flag. Take a cue from “The Office’s” Michael Scott: When asked his greatest strengths in an interview, he responds, “Why don’t I tell you what my greatest weaknesses are? I work too hard, I care too much and sometimes I can be too invested in my job.” The manager doesn’t even understand his response, as he asked for Scott’s greatest strengths. Scott had to explain that his greatest weaknesses are also his strengths. Funny, but not effective.

The interviewer also wants the chance to talk about themselves and the company. Remember that list of questions you’re armed with? Make sure to ask about the company, but also about the person hiring you and their experience with professional development and advancement within the company. Not only will you learn more about the organization, but it’ll help you get the conversation going.

Sometimes, interviewers will try to make you uncomfortable. They do this to see how you’ll handle pressure and because they know by allowing you to ramble on you’re bound to reveal more about who you are as a person. It’s also becoming a common practice to ask off-the-wall questions to see how you’ll react and evaluate your thought process. Keep your responses concise and to the point of the question; don’t feel the need to fill every empty pause and silence.

It’s also important to remember that the first person you’re likely to see upon arrival is the receptionist or an assistant. Be respectful of the person – more than likely the employer is planning to ask that person about your interaction. That person will potentially be your co-worker, so they’ll be honest of what they thought of you in their response to the manager.

Now you have a bit of insight into what hiring managers are thinking (and you don’t even have to read their minds). Keep these in mind next time you’re in the hot seat.
 

It’s not news that union relevance in the private sector has been on a decades-long decline. But here are a few numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, based on 2010 data:

• 6.9% of private sector workers were union members
• Overall, 11.9% of U.S. workers were union members, down from 12.3% in 2009
• About half of the 14.7 million union members lived in six states: California, New York, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New Jersey
• Top union membership rates by percentage: New York (24.2%), Alaska (22.9%), Hawaii (21.8%), Washington (19.4%), California (17.5%) and New Jersey (17.1%)
• Eight states had membership rates below 5%: North Carolina (3.2%), Arkansas and Georgia (4% each), Louisiana (4.3%), Mississippi (4.5%), South Carolina and Virginia (4.6% each) and Tennessee (4.7%)