The bad news - this is one of those times! Scarce financial and human resources in almost every organization, skittish customers, volatile markets, returns lower than they have ever been in many sectors and too many people out of work for much too long.

The good news - becoming an EOC doesn't require throwing money at the problem. The principle distinction of an EOC is its culture - the collection of ingredients that creates the recipe for the way an organization gets things done.

To find work faster, remember that your goal with any gadgetry or software -- from smart phones and email to Linkedin and Twitter -- is to meet people who can hire you.

With that in mind, here are two ways to find a job -- one high-tech and the other very low -- from Australia. How can you adapt them to your search?

1) Tweet and Meet

Jade Craven (www.jadecraven.com), in Geelong, Australia, found work in August 2009 by doing a few smart things on Twitter.

Research shows that candidates respond well to hearing about companies from people who actually work there. A study done by the American Psychological Association (APA) discovered that job seekers responded better to video or audio testimonials than to text and pictures. The study also found that candidates like to use video testimonials to help them gauge whether or not they will be a good fit for a company and vice versa. With video testimonials, it's important to use employees who sincerely enjoy their jobs and who are representative of the company's culture.

Showing candidates the kind of challenges they could face, giving them a glimpse of where they might end up working and who they might end up working with could help employers attract desired candidates.

Attracting talented candidates in the current job market is easy, but attracting the right talented candidates is tough. Employers who are willing to spend the time and money on video testimonials for their companies' career sites could vastly improve their chances of attracting qualified candidates who will be good cultural fits, too.

• It is purposefully designed; or
• It happens by default - through the absence of planning..
• Either way, culture change happens. And for most organizations the culture has changed quite a bit in the past year or so since our economy tanked.

Most professionals know that changing the culture of an organization is the most difficult task anyone can attempt. However, as economically induced organizational upsets have occurred and been addressed often with organizational realignment or restructuring activities, organizational culture has been collateral damage. Because many changes have been unplanned, they may have been accompanied by some unintended and negative consequences.

Here's #9 . . .

$4 Million for Blood Test Retaliation

In Schumann v. Dianon Systems Inc., a pathologist sued his employer, a health care laboratory, for wrongful termination and retaliation.

Schumann was employed from January 1993 through April 2005 at a Dianon Systems lab in Connecticut. In February 2005, the lab started using a new blood test to detect kidney disorders. Schumann complained to a VP of the company that the test wasn't supported by the latest scientific research and could result in false positives that might endanger patient health. He contended that his continued opposition to the test resulted in his being fired on April 4, 2005.

The company denied the plaintiff's claims. It asserted that its laboratory methods were appropriate and that the pathologist was terminated for legitimate reasons unrelated to his opposition to the test.

The court sided with the plaintiff, awarding him $4 million in compensatory damages.

Lesson for Employers

Four of the top ten big-$$$ cases this past year were for retaliation. As discussed here yesterday, be very careful that any adverse employment action you take as an employer is based purely on concrete, job-related reasons 100% unrelated to employee actions protected by law. If an employee complains -- especially about company actions that could potentially endanger others -- be extremely, really, very careful before taking action against him or her.

Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower's North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.

"The pursuit of perfection is a powerful trend in the present job market," says Guy Nadivi in his article, Why You Shouldn't Hire a Perfect Job Candidate, "and it's rip tides are sweeping suitable job candidates off their feet and out to sea."

The median award for all types of employment claims rose a whopping 60% in the past year, from $204,000 to $326,640. Discrimination verdicts rose 16%, from $208,000 to $241,119.

Some other fascinating facts . . .

What are an employer's chances of winning at trial?

Employers won only 39% of discrimination lawsuits in the past year, tied for the worst win rate in the past decade. The lowest win rate (33%) was in age discrimination cases and the highest (52%) was in disability discrimination cases.

What are the most common discrimination claims?

Sex was #1 (35%), followed by race (26%), disability (16%), age (13%) and "other" (includes pregnancy, religion, national origin and sexual orientation) (10%).

What forms of discrimination generate the biggest verdicts?

Age discrimination was #1, followed by disability, sex and race.

What employers took the biggest hit?

Manufacturing/industrial had the biggest verdicts, followed by government, service/retail and then transportation.

Are employers better off in federal or state court?

Employers are better off in federal court, where they won 43% of the cases, versus only 37% in state court. In addition, the median federal award was 39% lower than the median state award ($164,925 versus $270,000).

What about settlements?

The median settlement amount was the highest in the past decade at $90,000 -- a 20% jump over the previous year.

Where can I get more?

For the full report - required reading for all HR professionals, business owners and employment lawyers - click here.

Article by Mark Toth, Chief Legal Officer of Manpower's North American operations, and courtesy of Manpower Employment Blawg. Mark also serve as Chief Compliance Officer and Vice President of Franchise Relations and serve on our Global Leadership Team, North American Lead Team, Executive Diversity Steering Committee and Sarbanes-Oxley Steering Committee.

Coming in at #10 . . .

$3.6 Million for Alleged Post-testimony Retaliation

In Bender v. City of Los Angeles, a male police officer claimed that the city retaliated against him after he testified in a sex harassment case on behalf of a female police officer.

Recruiters at Stanton Chase, a global executive search firm, offer this advice for how candidates can become "The Perfect Fit" for the jobs they desire:

• Those in transition need to change the game. They need to know their most valued skills and where they have a track record of delivering surefire results in a business environment.
• They need to target companies and leaders that might need what they have.
• They need to sell into that situation - the promise of help, growth, turnaround, relief, profitability, and improved processes.
• The goal is that someone might create a role for you. A good "in" could also be to ask them to access your offerings on a consulting basis - which is paid prospecting for a permanent opportunity.
• Relate your successes to the open position. Don't make the focus of your accomplishments and knowledge specific to that previous role, make it known how you can transition it and make it work in this new position.

Finding the right job in today's market is tougher than ever because employers have the luxury to be choosy. Job seekers must be certain that they are the right fit for the jobs for which they apply, otherwise they could find themselves on the slippery slope of rejection that could end in discouragement.

HR Management can help you to understand employee satisfaction, retain key team members and improve productivity. In every organisation, employees will fit into one of the following categories:

1. Employees most satisfied with the organisation
2. Employees satisfied with the organisation
3. Employees content to stay with the organisation
4. Employees dissatisfied with the organisation
5. Employees looking to leave the organisation

Perhaps it's time to move on. But where? And will you be successful in your new job? Or would it be a case of "out of the frying pan into the fire"?

You can minimize that risk. You should find a job that fires you with hwyl--the Celtic concept of passion, fervor, and spirit that can lift you to extremes of success. Then you need to check that market conditions at this job are favorable, and that you will be at least reasonably well placed to succeed in the job. But first things first.

Find a Job with Hwyl (pronounced h-wale)

To find a job you feel passionate about, you need a process. Make three columns on a sheet of paper or on the computer. In column one, write down all the names of people who have jobs that inspire you. In the middle column, write down the type of work they do. In the third column, put 1-5 tick marks according to how passionate you feel about these jobs, where 1 = okay job, and 5 = truly inspired.

Wonderful for the reporter's ego. Terrible for journalism.

Of course, favored journalists have always enjoyed special access to US Presidents, but that doesn't mean the problem is any less of a threat to media independence simply because it has always been a fact of political life.

But it's not only political life that is at the heart of this issue. Powerful people, whether they hold forth in the White House or the boardroom, attract worshipers. And that is where the system, any system, breaks down.

As we observe the tiny creatures racing for a dose of pleasure, we think of ourselves as vastly superior to this lower form of life. To these virtually mindless rodents.

But I wonder: how different are we really? Yes, we create computers, the Internet, vaccines, space probes, behavioral experiments. But are we in a Skinner box of our own?

• We don't know why we live and die.
• We have no idea where we go after we leave the living.
• We don't understand how the universe works, how it got started or if and when it will end.