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Insala, a global provider of outplacement, career transition and recruiting software, is reporting a significant increase in usage among EmploymentTalk clients.

With more than 20% of the world’s outplacement firms powered by EmploymentTalk, Insala’s online outplacement solution, Insala’s U.K. clients have experienced a 30% increase in use when comparing October 2008 with October 2007. In the U.S., the increase during the same period is nearly 20%, mirroring the layoff news and redundancy announcements reported over the last 12 months.

“These numbers are an indicator for the outplacement industry as a whole when you look at the sharp increase among our users over the past year, and read the nearly daily announcements of redundancies and labor projections,” says Phillip Roark, Insala President and CEO.

“The positive element to be found here is that outplacement support is a responsible resource provided by organizations. Companies want to help exiting employees and are reaping the benefits in boomerang hiring, improved morale, motivation, productivity, and improved company reputation, to name a few.”

Reed Consulting reports in The Value of Outplacement, that 81% of employers engage help from external outplacement providers with 50% of surveyed employers using only external providers. With projections of more layoffs looming, outplacement firms stand a chance to streamline services and resources to clients while maintaining high touch personalized services with assistance from online outplacement solutions such as EmploymentTalk.

Insala partners with organizations to develop and deliver business strategy solutions and to maximize Human Capital in today’s competitive and changing social and economic environment. Insala’s powerful outplacement and career services technology solutions are utilized by organizations worldwide.

The Insala Solution Suite spans outplacement, succession planning, career development, performance management, leadership development, employee surveys, and mentoring software. Delivering unique solutions through advanced technology, content and consulting services, Insala solutions offer sustainable, measurable value, with long-term impact for organizations worldwide.

According to a recent press release, American Bankers Association (ABA) had decided to go with Accurate Background, Inc. for all of their pre-employment background check needs.

Through the Federal Deposit Insurance Act, the FDIC made it a requirement that all of the banks that they insurance follow specific guidelines when hiring new employees.  With that in mind the ABA and its affiliate, the Corporation for American Banking, decided to evaluate Accurate Background before choosing the company to handle the background checks on their employees.  Several factors played a huge part in their choice including functionality, user friendliness, regulatory compliance, training, customer service and satisfaction.

ABA took several months reviewing their options before deciding on Accurate Background, which offers a variety of services.  This background check company has special pre-employment screening services geared towards the banking industry.  Between government partnerships, public records and other sources, it is able to handle things like employment and education verification, certification validation and fingerprinting.  All of these services help to protect employers in the banking industry from the possibility of liability and employee theft.

“Through our dedication and commitment to our financial customer we have maintained longstanding partnerships and, in the process, gained extensive experience in the financial industry,” said Accurate Background Inc.’s president, Dave Dickerson in a recent statement.  “This unique understanding guides our development of tools and services specific to the financial industry, allowing us to better help banks protect their workplace, employees and customers.”

John Wolff, who is the president of the Corporation for American Banking, agrees that the Accurate Background, Inc. will benefit its members.

“Through this relationship, ABA members will have the opportunity to work with a company that has both knowledge of the industry and deep experience in personnel screening management,” said Wolff.  “Accurate Background’s comprehensive turnkey solution, along with ABA’s National Fingerprint Service has the capability to offer all financial institutions convenience and reliability in fulfilling this critical security responsibility.”

The Georgia Department of Labor (GDOL) has reported that the state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate rose to 7.0 percent in October, the highest rate in more than 16 years. The jobless rate was up 2.5 percentage points from 4.5 percent at this same time last year. The October unemployment rate was up six-tenths of one percentage point from a revised 6.4 percent in September. Atlanta jobs are not immune to the bad news.

“Georgia’s economy is being slammed by a deteriorating job market,” said State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond. “In each of the last three months, the state has experienced increasing job losses and 70-plus percent over-the-year increases in the number of workers filing initial unemployment insurance claims.”

The last time Georgia posted a seasonally adjusted unemployment rate at this level was in April of 1992 when the rate was also 7.0 percent. The state rate remained above the national rate of 6.5 percent for the ninth straight month. At present, 343,093 unemployed Georgians are looking for work.

Over the last year, the number of payroll jobs decreased 61,300 or 1.5 percent. This is the largest October-to-October decline in jobs ever recorded. The over-the-year job losses came across-the-board in all major sectors. But manufacturing, construction, retail trade, and private employment agencies were especially hard hit.

Florida’s Agency for Workforce Innovation has announced that state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for October 2008 at 7.0 percent. This represents 655,000 jobless out of a labor force of 9,361,000. The unemployment rate is 0.4 percentage point higher than the September rate of 6.6 percent and is up 2.7 percentage points from the October 2007 rate.

Florida’s October 2008 unemployment rate is the highest since December 1993, which was also 7.0 percent. The state’s current unemployment rate is 0.5 percentage point higher than the national unemployment rate of 6.5 percent.

“The Agency for Workforce Innovation and our partners throughout the workforce system are reinforcing our efforts to provide a wide array of programs and specialized assistance to help Florida job seekers gain meaningful employment,” said Monesia T. Brown, Director of the Agency for Workforce Innovation.

The state’s 24 Regional Workforce Boards are working hard to serve the employment needs of the people of their communities by working closely with local economic development, education, and business partners to help employ Floridians.

Just a few recent examples of their specialized efforts include the following:

• The South Florida Workforce Board, which serves Miami-Dade and Monroe counties, recently helped more than 70 transportation employees remain employed when faced with possible layoffs. The Workforce Board provided on-site assistance to help place the workers in new employment opportunities with another local transportation business.
• One-Stop Career Centers – Florida’s 88 One-Stop Career Centers, locally operated by Regional Workforce Boards, provide local access to job placement services, local workforce information and job training opportunities.
• Mobile One-Stop Career Centers – Florida’s Mobile One-Stop Career Centers allow citizens in rural areas, at job fairs and during emergency situations to access critical workforce information and services.
• Labor Market Information – The Agency for Workforce Innovation’s Labor Market Statistics Center produces data, such as employment, unemployment and wage information, that assist workforce/economic development, education, employers and job seekers. These statistics assist with economic analysis, business recruitment, career counseling and other critical business decision-making.
• Work Opportunity Tax Credit - The Work Opportunity Tax Credit offers a financial incentive to private, for-profit employers to hire individuals from certain targeted groups, who experience high rates of unemployment due to a variety of employment barriers.

Since employers can be held accountable for hiring individuals that have a history of certain criminal acts or drug usage, conducting background checks is a great way to avoid many problems in the workforce.

When getting information for a background check, hiring managers should make sure that applicants feel out all necessary fields. Since the results of the investigation are based on the data given by a job seeker, this is extremely important.

According to easyBackgrounds.com, if the individual in question leaves out something like the last city they worked in or the university they attended, then the background check may take even longer. The most important piece of information in such an investigation is the applicants social security number. Without this, it may be a lot harder to gather all the data out there.

Several experts say that if an employer decides to handle the background check, then one of the first things they need to do is get a list of addresses that the applicant has lived at. This can be ordered through a variety of websites. By doing this, the employer can find out which county records will have relevant information. Since many people live and work all of the country, employers should be prepared to have to gather data from other states.

If the position in question will involve handling large sums of money, many employers are now including an investigation of credit reports in their background checks. Some experts believe that if the results show a history of unpaid bills or extreme debt, then the individual in question will either be unreliable or be tempted to steal. At this time, there are no studies that prove or disprove this theory.

When dealing with a background check that includes a credit report, employers should be aware that there is always the chance that the applicant in question could be victim of identity theft. If this happens to be the chance, then the hiring manger should give the job seeker a chance to correct their records.

In the summer of 2006, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa created an employment recruitment program for youth, asking private and public corporations and nonprofits in the area to commit to 10,000 summer jobs for young people.

“When Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa made his call to action, Kaiser Permanente enthusiastically answered,” said Vicki Bittle, Kaiser Permanente’s representative on the Los Angeles Workforce Investment Board. “Our program provides underserved high school students with supportive and meaningful employment experiences in the health care field. This community benefit program employs young people during the summer months throughout the organization.”

Kaiser Permanente’s Summer Youth Employment Program (SYEP) can be a young person’s foray into a meaningful healthcare job. Kaiser Permanente is one of the nation’s leading integrated health plans. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with Southern California headquarters in Pasadena, California.

“The Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce applauds Kaiser Permanente for participating in the HIRE LA’s Youth program,” said Gary Toebben, president and CEO, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce. “By providing youth with employment opportunities, Kaiser Permanente is helping to develop the 21st century workforce.”

The students gained experience in various departments in the hospital and accompanied nurses and physicians on their morning rounds. In addition to their work assignments, the youth participated in educational sessions and motivational workshops that introduced students to pursuing a career at Kaiser Permanente in addition to enhancing their job skills and work performance. Many former students are now employed with the organization as nurses, department administrators, lab technicians, opticians and engineers.

“Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center has been involved with the SYEP for nine years now, but this was our first year working with the HIRE LA’s Youth Program,” said Kathleen McIntire, who is both the medical center’s Director of Volunteer Services and the Kaiser Permanente L.A.U.N.C.H. On-Site Coordinator for the SYEP. “This was my first graduating class of summer youth and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of kids,” adds McIntire. “We continue to keep in touch and give them advice and guidance.”

To encourage the students to continue their path for higher education, five of the students received a $1,000 scholarship from Kaiser Permanente’s Los Angeles Medical Center.

The recipients met the following criteria: attendance, test scores, team participation, and final presentation score. Kaiser Permanente Southern California has pledged to hire 40 youth in 2009.

When most people think of Hawaii, vacation imagery comes to mind, like sandy beaches, pineapples and palm trees. The thing is, while it maybe a recreational hotspot, many people live and work there. With the economy struggling, tourism is down. Because of this, jobs in Hawaii have taken a hit.

One industry in the state that depends on tourists for a large portion of its profits, is the retail sector. Vacationers looking for souvenirs often spend a good chunk of change, which in turn creates jobs in Hawaii, but fewer tourists means fewer jobs.

One retailer that has cut jobs in Hawaii because of failing sales is the DFS Group. This company operates around 40 duty-free stores, mostly situated in airports, geared toward visitors to the Aloha State. The retailer recently did away with 130 jobs in Hawaii.

According to Hawaiian newspaper The Star Bulletin, one of the largest decreases in tourism has been from Japan, with a 20 percent decrease in visitors for this country during September and a 9 percent total decrease since last year. The state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism found that there has been around 91,000 fewer tourist visiting Hawaii from Japan.

“Certainly, you can see from the decline in arrivals from Japan that there has been a significant decline in our business,” said DFS’ vice president of global communication and government relations Sharon Weiner to the same newspaper.

Weiner went on to say that half of the Hawaiian jobs cuts had to deal with “a global corporate restructuring of warehousing, purchasing, management and other areas.” Despite this, she told the Star Bulletin that tourism and the current economy was also to blame.

“There’s a lack of consumer confidence in Japan,” said Weiner. “They have uncertainties in their own economy and have endured the same kind of severe shifts in their stock market.”

One large communications company will soon be cutting more Atlanta jobs.

Cox Communications, which is based in the Atlanta area, has announced its plan to cut 460 jobs, or 2 percent of its workforce. According to an article by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the cuts will be achieved through retirement, attrition and layoffs. The company has not yet announced what positions will be cut.

“There could be a small number of involuntary actions, but things have not happened yet, and we are very early in the process,” Spokesman David Grabert said in the article.

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People tend to chose a job based on several criteria; salary, location, security and benefits. Many would think that money would be the most important, but, according to a recent press release from Monster.com, a large portion of the population reports that they would be willing to accept less money in order to have their “dream job”.

The job search engine conducted a poll and found that 82 percent of U.S. workers and 76 percent of the rest of the world would go for the job they’ve always wanted, even if it means a smaller pay check.

“We see a general consensus among workers around the globe that people are open to pursuing more fulfilling careers, not just a fuller wallet,” said Norma Gaffin, who is Monster’s director of career content, in the same press release. “It’s interesting to note that despite some notions of a skittish economy, U.S. workers are still willing to be compensated less for a job that they are really passionate about.”

Although every country reported that a majority would take their dream job despite less pay, Ireland had the highest percentage of residents that would take satisfaction at work over money. Approximately 84 percent of those in this country said happiness meant more than cash. According to the poll, respondents from the U.S., Switzerland and Italy came in second in a three way tie, with 82 percent agreeing with the Irish majority.

Other nations aren’t as willing to give up money for the job they always hoped for. Workers in Germany, France and Hungary valued job satisfaction the least. Hungary had the highest percentage of participants who wanted money more, with 38 percent saying they turn down their dream job for more pay. French came in second, with 34 percent preferring higher salaries. Twenty-seven percent of German workers agreed.

According to a company press release, HealthCareerWeb.com, a division of Dominion Enterprises, has profiled the top profession-based search engine queries that health care job seekers used to find the Web site in the past three months. The most popular requests for medical jobs were queries for nursing positions at 22.43% - an energizing response to the widespread nursing shortage nationwide.

The next most popular queries were for pharmacy technician jobs at 17.40%, followed closely by medical assistant jobs at 16.76% and home health care jobs at 15.45%. Trailing behind, in consecutive order, were dental assistant jobs at 6.09%, health care management jobs at 4.32%, medical billing jobs at 2.17%, nuclear medicine jobs at 1.83%, art therapy jobs at 1.74% and phlebotomy jobs at 1.65%.

This popularity of nursing job searches supports an observation from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook 2008-09 ed., “Enrollments in nursing programs at all levels have increased more rapidly in the past few years as students seek jobs with stable employment.” Another statement from the same source continues, “Employment of registered nurses is expected to grow 23 percent from 2006 to 2016, much faster than the average for all occupations.”

According to Denise Tanner, business development manager at HealthCareerWeb.com, “We often see requests for nursing jobs by region. For example, ‘nursing jobs in Michigan’ and even requests by discipline, such as ‘pediatric nursing jobs.’ We do our best to offer online nursing-job seekers a variety of employer ads from across the nation.”

HealthCareerWeb.com is a leading healthcare job board and social network for nurses, surgeons, physicians, and others in the medical field. The Web site provides a space for medical professionals to search for careers in the health care field, as well as gather information and exchange ideas with others in the medical industry through its MedCom community.