Citation
(2008), "Whats on the web", Human Resource Management International Digest, Vol. 16 No. 6. https://doi.org/10.1108/hrmid.2008.04416fag.001
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2008, Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Whats on the web
Article Type: What’s on the web From: Human Resource Management International Digest, Volume 16, Issue 6
Everything and more
HR.BLR.com provides advice and answers to HR professionals in order to help them complete their human resources tasks faster and easier. They do it by offering the following HR features on their website: library, daily news, time savers, salary centre and a community. Based in Connecticut, USA the site has an all-American feel. HR.BLR.com say they are committed to making the site the most practical and comprehensive source of HR information available in North America, and it certainly has an accessible feel to it along with plenty of useful information. It’s designed and managed for the users and has a new forum to discuss international HR issues, thus giving it the global perspective. Although it’s a busy site, bordering on information overload, there is a mass of interesting and useful HR information available.
Global HR jobs
With the concept of the “global village” now firmly etched in the minds of business professionals around the world, opportunities exist to expand career options by working abroad. This site is a well-managed resource for anyone who wants to know what job opportunities exist beyond the reach of the town or city where they are currently employed. Run by the Dutch company Vedior NV, based in Amsterdam, the site offers access to 50 markets worldwide, with a network spanning Europe, North and South America, Australasia, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Easy on the eye and simple to navigate, Dova Jobs provides browsers with immediate information on HR jobs at all levels throughout the UK and beyond. Even as an exercise in window shopping it is well worth a visit to check out the jobs market, although the information may be replicated in other recruitment journals currently available.
HR bible
No self-respecting HR professional can afford to be without, or at least be aware of and have access to, the HR bible – The Personnel Manager’s Yearbook. Now in its twenty-third edition, the directory claims to be the UK and Ireland’s prime source to find contact details of business professionals working in HR, Personnel or a variety of other associated senior positions. At a cost of £165.00, the Yearbook doesn’t come cheap, but it is an invaluable resource offering all the up to date information that HR professionals require about the profession they work in. Claiming to provide much needed market intelligence, and with testimonials confirming the value of the resource, The Personnel Manager’s Yearbook is a must have for any HR department. AP Information Services Ltd specialize in new business contact information, helping companies build business by supplying highly accurate and targeted contact information in key markets for over 30 years.
The law’s the law
Employment law can be a minefield, even for the most organized, experienced and committed HR professional. But help is at hand in the form of organizations like Deminos – employment law specialists. For a fixed monthly fee this site operates as a HR department, providing all the relevant and necessary information, expertise and support required to manage the myriad issues around employment law. With a clean, crisp website, Deminos outline in plain English why their services are a must for HR managers. The “Why choose Deminos” page neatly and succinctly explains why they are worth registering with, particularly in terms of economics. Employment law can cost organizations substantially by way of tribunals and Deminos outline what they have to offer to prevent disputes going to tribunal, and/or ensuring a tribunal does not end up being overly costly to an organization. Like a monthly dental plan that doesn’t seem to be worth it until major work is required, this site might seem like an unnecessary expense – until an employment tribunal looms, confusion reigns and panic ensues!
Lighten up
If the stresses and strains of work are getting on top of you – and let’s face it, you’d need to be subhuman for them not to sometimes – here’s a website that would be useful to bookmark and turn to when it all seems too much. CartoonStock is a searchable database of over 100,000 quality gag cartoons, political cartoons, cartoon pictures and illustrations by over 350 of the world’s best cartoonists. Their work appears in leading newspapers and magazines including Reader’s Digest, The New Yorker, Maxim, Punch, Private Eye, The Spectator, The Times, The Guardian and many others. Obviously CartoonStock operates on a commercial basis, so the intention is for you to purchase one or more cartoons from their database. But you don’t need to go that far to benefit. With a healthy stock of cartoons directed at HR, all you need to do is flick through the database and get a lighter look at life.
And finally
This taken verbatim from a Russian business site (ideas4biz), which is written in English (well we think so). Here they are discussing creative problem solving using fishing analogies:
“Method of creative problems solving according to ‘supporting nets’ can be compared with net fishing: the holes should be of a proper size and one should be fishing in the proper place. Small net will help to capture only small fishes, the large one will make the process harder but the catch can be more serious.
Method of associative search. It is not necessary to give any examples because brainstorming is the part of these methods. It gives good results while solving tasks of low and medium difficulty level – especially those ones without contradictions. The techniques suit well enough ‘human-human’ areas, including publicity and advertising. The advantage of the methods are simplicity and universality, productivity, reliability (for simple tasks) and low demands for the qualification of searchers. Weak points are low reliability for complex tasks, group working preferably (sometimes it becomes a strong point), low demands to the solutions on the generation stage and too high productivity. Among the methods of this group I can recommend brainwriting (more strict type of brainstorming) and attributes listing.
In compare with fishing these techniques are similar to chaotic jumping in the lake – in creative problems solving chaos and jumping are not as bed and useless as in fishing.”
Best of all
For a particularly interesting and useful site you could always try the Emerald one!
If you have any favorite (or otherwise) sites that you would like us to review on these pages, or wish us to consider your own site, please drop us an e-mail and we will ask our reviewers to check them out.