With the population aging and new medical advances to assure that people live longer, it's easy to see why hospitals are struggling to employ enough nurses. Existing nursing staff often have to deal with longer hours and more patients per employ than would be desired due to the shortage.
When a profession is in high demand, employees have their pick of places to work for. As a result, nurses often gravitate toward private practices that can afford to pay more instead of working for the local government funded medical centers.
The city of San Francisco understands this and has a solution to area's nursing shortage, focusing on those searching San Francisco jobs. On June 19th the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave their OK to a labor contract that aims at increasing local nurses' salaries by 19 percent over the course of the next three years.
Though approving this contract they aim to increasing the total number of registered nurses at San Francisco public hospitals, meet patient demands and provide a better level of service. At this time, an entry level nurse in San Francisco has an average starting salary of $98,410. Once the contract is put into action this number will increase to $100,255 within the first year.
The city hopes to entice nurses from surrounding counties with these pay raises. Competition for nurses is high and therefore larger salaries are required. These pay raises will add approximately $39 million to the city's budget.
Still working in the public sector of health care has it's disadvantages. According to the SFGate.com, individuals who seek medical attention from the areas two major public hospitals, San Francisco General and Laguna Honda Hospital, “tend to be sicker and can be more challenging to care for than those arriving at private medical facilities.”
Never the less, the city of San Francisco believes the pay raises will make up for the more difficult work. Individuals with nursing degrees in the surrounding area should compare their current salaries to the Bay Area's and decide for themselves. Aside from salaries, one should also consider the available benefits of both locations so that they might be able to make the best decision possible.
There are several other labor contracts currently trying to be passed in San Francisco, including one aimed at raising the salaries of both police and firemen.
In the high paced world of business the old cliché is true: time is money. The less time an employer takes to find a qualified individual to fill a position, the sooner they can begin to reap the benefits from that person's productivity. Recruiting software can assist hiring managers in this process, making it a valuable resource to most companies. With several different features, such software will make it much easier to find the best candidates for a job based on skills, experience, and geographical location.
Recruiting software eliminates to needless hours spent shifting through resumes. Highly skilled employees are always in demand and, therefore, the sooner a hiring manager is able to locate such an individual, the less likely it is that the talented person has already been snapped up by another company, maybe even a competitor.
The auto-matching feature found in recruitment software takes a company's expectations of the employee they are searching for and cross references applications to yield only those employees who seem a likely fit. Some of the categories that the resumes of potential employees are searched for are: salary expectations, job location, title(s), years of experience in the industry, education, time spent on previous jobs, responsibilities, accomplishments, technical skills, and managerial experience (if applicable).
Other major features include resume parsing, scheduling tools to keep interviews and tasks straight, remote access, keyword searches, the ability to save one's job search results, e-mail, and the ability to promote job openings.
With plenty of options, it can often be difficult for a company to decide which software program to go with. Contemplating the choices in regards to several key questions can help eliminate unworthy software. As the goal to find new candidates or manage ones that have already been located? Would an ASP (vendor ran) program or in-house software fit one's company's needs more efficiently?
Can the recruiting software adapt to the company in question as it continues to grow? Does the company marketing the software provide full training? What format of customer service is available for the software? Also, can the software vendor provide references in the same industry that the company considering purchasing it deals in.
These questions help a potential recruiting software buyer to identify exactly what they may or may not need from a product. What may work for one company, may not be the best choice for another.
And remember, it never hurts to ask for a free trial of the software one feels is most likely the best choice for their business. This helps to avoid paying for and being stuck with a product that is not as useful as one had hoped.
More businesses are now running background checks on potential employees than ever before. This in part has to do with the numerous companies that make it easier for the information to be obtained. Some states, such as Tennessee, actually sell this information to the public through their Bureau of Investigations.
Despite the fact that most individuals will have to submit to some sort of background check in their lifetime, many people do not know what can legally be included and what may not be reported to potential employers.
A background checkduring the process of a job search may be as simple as verifying the social security or tax payer identification number given. Many more include some form of criminal records search or a questioning of personal references. Still almost anything that can be found in public records could show up on a background check.
Legally any of the following information may be included; driving records, vehicle registrations, credit records, criminal records, one's social security number, records pertaining to one's education, court records, workers' compensation, records of bankruptcy, character references, medical records, property records, military records, state licensing records, drug test records, a record of past employers, personal references, records of incarceration, and whether or not an individual is a registered sex offender. In some cases, one's neighbors may even be interviewed.
The list of what can effect one's ability to secure employment may seem daunting, but there are laws regarding how a company may use such information to protect those who are applying for a job. These rules differ from state to state, so it is important for any concerned party to find out how their area handles such matters.
In some states, such as California, it is illegal for employers to try to obtain arrest records unless the arrest resulted in a conviction. In regards to workers' compensation, most states have made it legal for an employer to use this information only if the injury in question will interfere with one's ability to complete their required duties. Also, although employers maybe able to see that a potential employee has filed for bankruptcy, it is illegal for a company to discriminate against an individual who has.
As mentioned before, many states have variations on privacy laws and what may be reported in a background check. Still it is important to know how the information that may show up can effect one's ability to find employment.
