Unleash The Monster

The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data related to education in the United States, recently released their 2010 Condition of Education Report. This annual report is designed to provide data for monitoring the progress of education in our country. [More]

There is one thing that we’ve learned since the start of establishing the Unleash the Monster community.  Despite all of the buzz about Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social networks, most HR professionals in the government are unsure of where to start

Agencies are just starting to put policies in place that outline how employees can engage within these new social circles, but many still have not decided if they should even offer their employees the option of participating. [More]

The Obama administration recently announced a $250 million public-private effort aimed at improving Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education in America’s schools. This public-private partnership will provide funding from businesses, universities and foundations to prepare more than 10,000 new math and science teachers and train 100,000 additional teachers in STEM subjects. [More]

The start of the New Year has our team contemplating what 2010 will bring to HR departments across the government. Here are a couple of areas where we are sure to see a focus on in the coming year:

• The hiring process. For a number of agencies the hiring process continues to be a challenge and one that many are working to address. Recent OPM mandates require a certain level of communication to candidates who are somewhere in the pipeline. This is the number one complaint with candidates in the federal hiring process.
• Automation of the recruitment process. Most agencies have already incorporated a level of automation into the process. Now they are struggling with how to make this process even more effective. The quality of candidates getting into the hiring pool continues to be a problem and agencies are looking for solutions to improve the talent pool and ask the right questions to identify just the right talent. We addressed this topic last month on our blog in, “Asking the Right Questions.”
• BRAC is also going to continue to make a huge impact on the recruiting and retention of civilian government employees. By 2011 it is mandated for the transition of all bases and units. Each geographical area that is faced with a closure or realignment will continue to struggle with branding, recruiting and retaining.
• In 2010, with the end of the recession, there is hope that the country is rebuilding its economic structure and with that there is a need for continued training to meet the demands of the job market. Education, training and work with economic development authorities will continue to be a top priority.
• Baby Boomer Retirement. The delayed departure of the initial retirement bubble has allowed for the creation of a second bubble of potential retirees. Now there is a huge concern on how to capture the knowledge of these potential retirees and transfer that knowledge throughout the agency.

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It is hard to believe that the year is coming to an end and soon we’ll be in 2010. As 2009 comes to a close, we thought now would be a good time to take a look back and reflect on the issues that impacted government HR practices both on the federal and public sector and education sectors.

Here are the highlights from the year that stood out to us from this past year: [More]

In high school, we thought guidance counselors were the lucky folks who had to work hard for a few months at the beginning and end of the school year, setting course schedules and dealing with graduation. The rest of the school year? Mostly soap operas in the teachers’ lounge sprinkled with a few kids dropping classes and meetings with parents, right? [More]

As we work to get our economy back on the right track, President Obama has job placement high on his list. In fact, he is calling on America’s CEOs to share lessons learned and offer up their insight into how to accelerate job growth.

We couldn’t ignore a call to action from our fearless leader. In fact, just last week, our CEO, Sal Iannuzzi, took part in a White House forum on jobs and economic growth. Agreeing with President Obama, we at Monster believe that we have a responsibility to help in accelerating job creation in our country. [More]

Candidate 1 Candidate 2 [More]

By Beverly Wheeler

As a part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, President Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan have unveiled the Race to the Top initiative. The $4.35 billion fund is intended to help revitalize and reform the American education system and challenge states to address the four following areas: [More]

Most customers have made the decision – it is time to go automated. This is a decision that not only impacts the recruiting process but also has HR managers scratching their heads about developing just the right questions to determine a candidate’s level of competencies. Using an automated process for candidates can be very effective, as long as you are able to ask the right questions to determine a candidate’s true ability to get the job done. [More]