No Joke: 70% of Your Employees Are Job Hunting

No Joke: 70% of Your Employees Are Job Hunting:
A new survey offers tough medicine for bosses. How can you thrive in a grass-is-always-greener world?
The Internet has made it easier to find nearly anything, whether it's that perfect picture for your new apartment, the coolest new restaurant in town, a rare collectible or--apparently--a new job.
And, according to a new CareerBuilder survey, that means companies need to face some stark realities about the behavior of today's employees and job seekers--namely, that the two groups are one and the same.
The job search site polled more than 1,000 Americans to ask about their job-hunting habits. What the company learned is that the idea of contented employees toiling away without a thought to their next gig versus "active" jobseekers poised over the classifieds red pen in hand is as dead as in-store movie rentals and celluloid camera film.
Everyone, it seems, is basically always looking for a job. And that includes your employees. The survey found:

• 74% of people are either actively searching for a new job or are open to new opportunities.
• Nearly 35% of people begin preparing for their next job within weeks of starting a new one.
• 24% say job searching is a regular part of their weekly activities.
• 69% of workers say searching for new opportunities is part of their "regular routine," with 24% searching as frequently as once a week.

Obviously, these results have much to offer recruiters who traditionally have distinguished between 'active' and 'passive' candidates. "Kill the idea of the passive candidate--passive candidates don't exist," comments CareerBuilder's managing director of social and mobile strategy Eric Owski. But what lessons does the survey offer for small business owners?
In short, don't get complacent, not about retaining your doubtlessly restless talent, or about cultivating your image as an employer for the many already employed folks who are nevertheless on the lookout for their next opportunity.
"Candidates are likely researching companies in some form or another before they even apply. Employers need to make sure they have a presence on the various platforms candidates are using as information resources - such as their career sites, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn - in order to connect with candidates and control their message," says CareerBuilder's vice president of corporate marketing and branding, Jamie Womack, for example.
Are you overestimating the loyalty of your employees?

Are You at Risk of Employee Fraud?

Are You at Risk of Employee Fraud?:
No matter what business you're in, it can happen. Don't get blindsided by fraud: Know when employees are likeliest to steal.
Do you wonder whether you could ever be the victim of employee fraud? Stop wondering--you could. "Something like three out of every 10 businesses will have employees who steal," reports Janine Driver, author of You Can't Lie to Me, who spent years training FBI, CIA, and ATF agents in how to spot dishonesty.
No matter what business you're in it can happen, she says. "One dentist worked with the same assistant for 30 years," she says. "Then her house was being foreclosed, so she forged his signature cosigning a loan." The woman paid her loan and the fraud would have gone undetected--except that the bank sent the dentist a congratulatory note when it was paid off. "It's not the homeless person out on the street stealing from us, but the person we trust," Driver says.
In spite of her expertise, it's even happened to her. With a busy speaking schedule, Driver had a management company handle her bookings, as well as invoicing and processing payments. One day, out of curiosity, she followed up a text from her bank acknowledging a deposit--and discovered that the payment had come from a booking several months earlier. Come to find out, the company had been withholding money, often depositing it long after the payment was received. "At the time, they owed me about $8,000, but they'd been borrowing and paying back for years," she says. When she consulted an attorney about it, he told her she was the sixth fraud victim to contact him that month.
The fraud 'triangle'
If fraud is widespread and even the smartest pros don't always see it coming, how can you hope to protect yourself? Begin by being aware of what Driver calls the fraud triangle. In the fraud triangle:
1. The employee has access to money, valuable goods, or other assets;
2. The employee is facing some financial pressure, such as a child in college or a looming home foreclosure;
3. The employee can somehow justify his or her actions, perhaps feeling that he or she deserves higher pay or should be compensated for extra time on the job.
If all three elements are present, Driver says, the likelihood of an employee committing fraud are very high. Protect yourself by making sure you're aware if any employees are facing financial difficulties. You want to know so you can be understanding and helpful, but you should also keep in mind that an employee in this situation is likelier to turn to crime. Obviously, you need to be especially vigilant of anyone who has access to your company's bank accounts.
How much of this résumé is true?
Though you can never completely screen for fraud, Driver says careful hiring can help reduce the risk. For one thing, she recommends getting a credit report before signing someone on, a step that more and more employers, including the federal government, are taking. If someone's facing the sort of financial trouble that might lead him or her to steal, chances are it'll turn up.
She also recommends asking job-seekers to certify that all their answers will be true at the top of an application--before they fill out the rest--rather than at the bottom where it's traditionally found. "If people have already lied, they'll mentally justify it and sign," she says.
You can take that method a step further by having a two-part interview process, she adds. Begin by having a preliminary interview with an associate. At the end of the interview, the associate tells the applicant that while he or she seems like a good candidate for the job, you're meticulous and will check every single item--so any inaccuracies should be corrected before the person's résumé gets passed along to you. And then the associate should ask: "On a scale of 1 to 100, how accurate is it?"
The answer will be illuminating, Driver promises. "Almost no one will say 100%. They'll say 90%, so you ask about the other 10%." The answer might be that the applicant can't remember whether a job started in May or June. Or it could be that he or she was fired from a previous position.
This tactic can be surprisingly effective. "We see it in law enforcement," Driver says. In one interview, an agent asked a suspect how much of his statement had been true. "99%" came the answer. So the agent asked which 1% was inaccurate. Answer: "My involvement in the crime."

Recruiting Star Talent? Do This First

Recruiting Star Talent? Do This First:
When it comes to top hires, the questions people ask tell you far more than the answers they give.
When I interview, I don't ask many questions. Instead, I simply open with, "What can I tell you about the company?" It forces candidates to think of questions to ask me, rather than inviting them to recite canned, rehearsed responses about their background and goals.
When the interviewee finishes answering my first question, I continue, "What else can I tell you?" I do this over and over again for most of the interview.
Probably for this reason, a current employee told me he felt intimidated during his interview with me. But I was surprised. I'm not trying to be tricky. It's a legitimate question. I learn a lot more about someone--and his thought processes--from the questions he asks.
I have found that the smartest, most agile and innovative people are those who ask a lot of questions. I pay careful attention to the quality of the questions job candidates ask, the way they ask them and listen to the answers, and then construct follow-up questions. This process tells me if candidates are good learners, and gives me an idea of how they navigate the unknown.
It also tells me a lot about what's important to my interviewees. For example, if someone asks me about technology, she's likely a person who thinks most about the product and innovation. If the first questions she asks are about vacation policies, that's also very telling.
I usually wrap up my interviews with two simple questions. The first is: "What are you not good at?" This often throws people off. They're used to giving a "pitch" about their strengths. But I explain that I need to know what they're not good at because, as a manager, I need to help them develop. And I need to make sure I can either help them develop in that area of need or surround them with other people who can.
My final question is: "Do you want this job and would you be successful doing it?" I explain that I hate firing people, so I need them to be honest with themselves and with me about whether or not they truly feel they could be superb in the role.
To summarize, here are my questions:

What can I tell you about the company? What else can I tell you? What else can I tell you?

What are you not good at?

Do you want this job and would you be successful doing it?

Remember, you learn a lot more from the questions people ask than the answers they give.