GORING, WEST SUSSEX, U.K. (26 December, 2006) – Bond International, the global leader in staffing and recruiting software, has taken the next strategic step toward its goal of creating a fully integrated human capital supply chain with the acquisition of Gowi Group Plc.

The groundbreaking move, announced today, expands Bond reach into several key new areas, including traditional human resource software, payroll processing and Web services.

“Bond has gone further than any other company in fully integrating the human capital supply chain,” says Bond CEO Steve Russell. “Human capital supply chains don’t just deal with recruitment – getting people in the door; they’re also concerned with retaining those people and reassigning them – the ‘three Rs.’ We’re bringing all those different technologies together under one roof.”

The Gowi acquisition, for £8.9m ($17.5 million), is Bond’s largest to date. Established in 2001, privately owned Gowi employs more than 140 people in five U.K. locations, with a customer base of more than 850 companies and annual revenues of more than £8.5m ($16.7 million). The existing management will stay on to run the business.

“The merger with Bond will enable Gowi to accelerate our growth plans,” says Gowi CEO Mike Smart. “Through their international network, we can access customers on a global scale and take advantage of shared skills in product development, process mapping and customer support.”

“Gowi’s strong presence in the HR software market will enable us to now offer a totally integrated solution,” says Russell. “As we’ve said before, our strategy is to increase our presence in the wider Human Capital Management arena by a combination of software development and acquisition.

“Our goal is to be the world leader in HCM solutions, so that we can make the flow of human capital more efficient by using our integrated technology to link our corporate customers with all of their staffing suppliers.”

It's right around the corner...Convergence 2007. For anyone who sells or uses Microsoft Dynamics GP, it's the event of the year to attend. Last year more than 7,000 people attended, and even more are expected this year.

Convergence 2007 will take place in San Diego, California, March 11-14. This is your opportunity to participate in an exceptional program including a variety of speakers, detailed product demonstrations and hands-on learning sessions. You will learn how to enhance your Microsoft investment now and in the future, and gain a stronger sense of community through interacting with industry leaders, Microsoft team members, partners and other customers.

Take some time to browse through the Expo and stop by the StarSearcher booth to learn more about our Microsoft-based Applicant Tracking System which now integrates with the human resource module of Dynamics GP. We look forward to seeing you there!

By Fay Hansen. Reprinted from Workforce Management Online.

Crime is booming in South Africa, and so is the security services industry, where double-digit growth rates in demand persistently outstrip the supply of trained guards and managerial talent.

Despite the shortage of skilled labor, Stallion Security, a South African-owned security services firm based in Johannesburg, is recruiting 15 to 20 managers and 150 non-managerial employees every month to meet client needs.

Five hundred of Stallion’s 4,000 employees fall into skilled or managerial classifications, and the company places a particular emphasis on recruiting top talent for these positions.

"We concentrate on getting the right management in place for everything from recruiting to quality control," says Clive Zullberg, Stallion Security’s managing director. "If we have effective managers, they can shape the rest of the workforce."

Two years ago, Stallion overhauled its recruiting process to deal more effectively with the extremely uneven labor markets that characterize the South African economy. Stallion’s new approach includes tools designed to ensure that candidates fit the jobs, plus extensive training and promoting from within. To keep new hires on the job, the company has built a culture of loyalty underpinned by competitive compensation and a retention policy that bans re- employment for workers who leave the firm.

Stallion’s new recruitment process has allowed the company to meet its hiring goals under difficult conditions. The company competes...

1. California
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. New York
5. Virginia
6. Illinois
7. Pennsylvania
8. New Jersey
9. Ohio
10. Georgia

By: Kevin Wheeler, ERE.net

I am always looking for trends and emerging practices that are changing, or at least influencing, the way we source and recruit talent. The Internet is the engine that drives all the innovation we are seeing and has already, in little more than a decade, revolutionized how we attract, find, assess, and even communicate with candidates and how they interact with organizations.

Over the past year, several applications and new tools have appeared that are both exciting and a little frightening. Some of them will most likely go nowhere. They are just too edgy to ever become mainstream. Others may turn out to be the dominant tools of the next few decades.

Here is a look at some that I see as significant. Please send me your ideas on what other tools, applications, or practices may emerge as key.

Candidate screening and assessment. Defining who is a candidate and who isn't hinges more and more on being able to quantitatively define qualifications. Efforts to reduce turnover and improve retention...