Friday, September 25, 2009

Recruiting Software Company Considers Acquisitions

One popular recruiting software company is planning to undertake more acquisitions while continuing to better its new line of products.

Taleo Corp, a recruiting and workforce management software provider, currently targets 15 percent to 20 percent of the recruiting software market share, but hopes to increase that number to 20 percent to 55 percent by next year.

Earlier this week, Taleo agreed to acquire Worldwide Compensation Inc., a strategic partner that offers software to handle performance-based compensation, for $16 million in cash.

And that is most likely not the last acquisition planned for the company, as officials have said they plan to help the company reach double-digit revenue growth through more acquisitions during the next two to three years.

"In the performance management market we are relatively nascent and have less than 1 percent market," Chief Executive Mike Gregoire told Reuters. "We would like to see ourselves (increasing the share) to mid to high single digits over the next couple of years."

Currently, Taleo's biggest competitors include Oracle Corp, SuccessFactors Inc and Kenexa Corp. Companies use software like Taleo's for recruitment, performance management and other human resources functions. Taleo's shares have more than doubled in value during the last six months.

Taleo recently released a software to help businesses access its talent-management products through mobile phones and social networking sites. The company has already signed three customers, including El Paso Electric Co and InfoPrint Solutions Co. Taleo's enterprise customers include Hewlett-Packard Co and Garmin International Inc.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Houston Healthcare Jobs

If you're looking for a career in the medical field, you may want to consider one of the many Houston healthcare jobs available.

During July, the Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown area's education and health services industry employed 291,700 workers, according to the United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is up from 291,600 workers during June and a 1.8 percent increase from last year.

The Houston metropolitan area is home to more than 85 hospitals and is considered to be a leader in medicine.

Houston is home to the Texas Medical Center, which contains the largest concentration of research and healthcare institutions in the world. All of the 47 nonprofit member institutions provide patient and preventative care, research, education and local, national and international community well-being.

The center employs more than 73,000 workers at its 13 hospitals, two specialty institutions, two medical schools, four nursing schools and schools of dentistry, public health, pharmacy and other health-related careers. About 5.2 million patients are treated at the center each year.

The center was where Life Flight, one of the first and largest air emergency services, was created. It also has implemented a successful inter-institutional transplant program and accounts for more heart surgeries than any other place in the world.

The center includes such academic and research health institutions as Baylor College of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, The Methodist Hospital, Texas Children's Hospital and The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

The Baylor College of Medicine has been considered within the top 10 medical schools in the country. The University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center has ranked as one of the top two American hospitals specializing in cancer care by U.S. News & World Report since 1990.

Houston also is home to the Institute for Rehabilitation and Research and the Menniger Clinic, a well-known psychiactric treatment center affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine and The Methodist Hospital System.

Wednesday, September 2, 2009

Paid Internships for those with Disabilities

A new round of funding will help those with disabilities in Minnesota secure paid internships.

The Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development's Vocational Rehabilitation Services will pay for internships using part of the $6.3 million it received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The organization will make $1.5 million available to finance as many as 169 paid internships.

"We believe it's an exemplary use of economic stimulus dollars," DEED Commissioner Dan McElroy told the Hutchison Leader. "These internships will be available for virtually any job, with any employer, anywhere in the state, and they offer valuable work experience to Minnesotans whose disabilities might otherwise be viewed as barriers to employment."

Interns will be paid the minimum wage of $7.25 per hour, although employers may increase that wage if they wish. Employers will have considerable scheduling flexibility for any interns they hire under the program. The only restrictions are that each intern must work between 10 and 40 hours per week up to a minimum total of 260 hours and a maximum total of 520 hours.

The internship program will operate under an agreement between Vocational Rehabilitation Services and several of Minnesota's Community Rehabilitation Providers, a network of nonprofit organizations that provide services for people with disabilities.

Under the agreement, any current client of Vocational Rehabilitation Services is eligible to participate, but the internship position must match the employment goal on his or her employment plan.

The CRPs will manage the program, provide direct services and handle the payroll. Vocational Rehabilitation Services will reimburse the CRPs for interns' wages, as well as for services such as intake fees, employer taxes, site development and other costs associated with the internship program.