Last week I spoke at a boardroom breakfast to a group of leaders from infrastructure, mining, legal and local government.  The topic was on my blog “technical competence without people skills –  what is it costing you”? I was a little apprehensive prior…

Contrary to popular belief a Unions power is not enshrined within the confines of the Fair Work Act. 

For months now employers and public have been bombarded with statements of "inflexible" legislation. The "unfair dismissal monkey riding our backs". "Where has our productivity gone?".

My question is simple. How many lawyers, HR and IR Managers, Business Managers, Business owners and the like, have taken the time to learn what they CAN do, instead of simply listening to what…

Every year, at around this time, a common theme in my conversations with HR professionals is their desire to follow through on a New Year's resolution to move onto a new role. 2012 has started out a little differently, though, with a number of these practitioners, mostly senior and highly experienced, considering a shift to working for themselves.

In the HR profession, especially in the learning and training arena, this is certainly an…

There are some things we just can’t do.  Turn on a country music station and before long you’re likely to hear a song about unrequited love.   It pains to be in love and not have that love returned.  But the fact is you can’t make someone love you. 

Neither can you make someone ready for change.  You can force people to change, but you can’t make them ready.   Readiness, like love, is a product of how someone sees the world, how they operate, what they want, how they think, how they…

Note: This post originally appeared on the RecruitLoop Blog.

Job ads in Australia increased 6.4% from December to January, according to …

In recent years, there has been widespread interest in books recommending “fierce” or “…

Leading a business has long been about displaying our personal strengths in the workplace. But today’s working environment requires managers to also display a raft of ‘softer skills’ when dealing with people. 

Soft skills can be quite a revelation for business leaders, who are beginning to understand that leading with an iron fist doesn’t yield the best results. 

Taking a softer approach refers to learning how to effectively relate to people, showing empathy and optimism and…

The cost of attracting top talent is scary enough. Recruitment fees alone can start at 12% of  your new employee’s salary and head north depending on how much you pay them. The real cost however, of losing your staff in the early days of hire, is much higher than you think.

If you flunked out in maths class, don’t despair.  Here’s a quick lesson by Shiraz Contractor-Papas (our Product Manager - Asia Pacific) on how to calculate the true costs of employee…

When it comes to recruiting a new staff member, most organisations focus heavily on attracting and then selecting the best possible candidate for their team. A great deal of time and effort goes into selling the organisation, and then once a strong pool of candidates have applied for the role, the focus moves to interviewing, reference checking and finally making an offer of employment to the preferred candidate.

Once the preferred candidate has accepted the job offer,…