Massachusetts became the second state, after Hawaii, to ban the box and prohibit prospective employers from inquiring about an applicant’s criminal history on an initial written application. Employers in Massachusetts need to take notice now and change their internal policies quickly to make sure they are complying with the new regulations when they go into effect November 4, 2010.

On July 12, 2010 the Wall Street Journal published an article about how the Federal Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act is being underutilized by employers. The program is designed to spur hiring by exempting wages paid to qualifying workers from the employer's 6.2% share of Social Security payroll taxes for the remainder of this year, and gives an additional $1,000 tax credit to employers for every worker they retain for 52 weeks. The government expected the program to cost approximately $13 Billion yet the treasury department estimates the program has cost less than $8.5 billion so far, although that number could still go up.

On March 18, 2010 President Obama signed the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act in an effort to combat unemployment in the US (9.7% for February 2010). Under the rules of this new legislation businesses would be offered an exemption from social security payroll taxes for every worker hired in 2010 that has been unemployed for at least 60 days (up to 6.2% of wages up to the FICA wage cap of $106,800). In addition there will be a $1,000 income tax credit for every new employee retained for 52 weeks to be taken on the employer’s 2011 income tax return. 

Pre-Employment Background Checks can uncover the criminal history your applicants aren’t always telling you about, a history that could open your organization to negligent hiring lawsuits.

In Y-Size Your Business, author Jason Ryan Dorsey describes how K&N Management, a JobApp Client, uses the JobApp Network system to successfully engage Gen Y applicants.

While doing a search for our company name “JobApp Network” on Google last week, our marketing team discovered that Taleo (NASD: TLEO), a California-based competitor of JobApp, had purchased the Google keyword "JobApp Network."

In an effort to spur job creation Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) plans to propose a bill this week that would give companies that add workers to their payrolls a one year tax credit according to NACS Online. 

On November 20, 2009 US Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) issued 1000 Notices of Inspection (NOI) to employers nationwide in an effort to root out businesses that are hiring undocumented workers.  I-9 compliance is more important now than ever.

With unemployment at the highest level in decades employers should be having no problem filling open positions with top quality applicants, right? Not necessarily.