This week marks the release of Facebook's initial public offering (IPO). The company’s valuation is expected to sit at $104 billion, with its shares priced at $34-$38 each. Through a valuation this high, it makes Facebook the third-largest IPO offering in U.S. history, following Visa Inc. & General Motors (Reuters, 5/15/12).

Coincidentally, and at what most would perceive as terrible timing, General Motors just decided to pull their $10 million ad campaign from Facebook due to its perceived lack of effectiveness. Currently, Facebook ads generate 85% of Facebook’s revenue, with the other 15% coming from selling collected information and Facebook game applications; thus, GM’s action has caused some to speculate that Facebook’s future is shaky. Such a visible complaint regarding the site’s advertising capabilities, coupled with the fact that Facebook ads are geared toward desktop computer users in an age when visitors increasingly access the site on their mobile devices, has the potential to rock Facebook’s primary revenue stream.

On the flip side, Facebook’s ownership of the user-generated content that supplies them with demographic information and key trends to lifestyle choices has unlimited potential and great value. Facebook currently has 900 million users (almost half of all Internet users) and is expected to reach 1 billion users come August. Its large and engaged audience is extremely attractive to consumer marketers.

One has to wonder what will happen to the stock’s value in the coming months. Has all the hype created an all-too-high stock value that will depreciate once the initial build-up wears off? Or will the share price continue to climb due to demand from those who fear missing an opportunity to buy in on what could be the next “Google.”

One thing’s for sure: upon the market’s close on Friday, there will be 500-1000 new millionaires made up of early investors in Facebook and Facebook employees—an exciting case study for venture capitalism as well as a symbol of the opportunity available by investing in start-up companies.

Readers: will you be purchasing Facebook’s stock once it goes public?

This entry was posted on May 17, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 306 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

With summer just around the corner, internships are hot on the mind of job seekers and students alike, and there is no better time for businesses to start thinking about their own internship programs.

Internships are becoming increasingly popular, as they offer something valuable to both businesses and job seekers. Some might even say that they are becoming a bit of a game changer in the business world. That’s why knowing what internships can do for your business and how to provide a valuable program to your interns will serve as a strategic business move in the long run.

Why have an internship program

The obvious answer that comes to mind is that interns will lower labor costs while increasing productivity. Since most internships are either unpaid or only pay minimum wage, employers have the ability to increase their workforce at a relatively low cost and have more resources to work on projects and tasks.

However, inexpensive labor is not the only benefit to having internships in place and surely far from the most important. One of the biggest advantages to hiring an intern is that it gives businesses an edge up in recruitment. Through building rapport with talented individuals during an internship, it increases the likelihood that businesses will be able to transition internships into a full-time position at the end of the program — an impactful benefit for small businesses especially, which find it much harder to compete for top talent with larger companies.

Additionally, internships allow businesses to assess a job candidate’s fit for a long-term hire. By bringing on a person as an intern first, employers can evaluate the intern’s skills, abilities, and aptitude for a position. It’s important to hire someone who not only is well-suited for a position, but also fits into the culture and office environment. In the long run, hiring interns saves employers the high cost of turnover and allows them to make a more informed decision when bringing a new hire on long-term.

How to set up an a good internship program

In order to set up an internship program that will attract quality candidates, a lot of consideration should be given to the structure of the internship. Not only should the internship be given a set time period (usually around 3-6 months and extended upon mutual agreement), but the internship needs to be outlined with clear goals, expectations, and regular tasks in order for both the employer and intern to get the most out of it.

The internship should provide hands-on business experience for the intern and a clear view into what the industry is like. This means a lot of thought should be given to why the internship is in place, how can the intern benefit from the program, and how progress can be measured. Without a clearly defined way to measure progress, there is no way to assess the intern’s aptitude for a position and how the internship can be improved upon.

An all-too-common trap managers fall into is to not adequate plan work for their intern. This can frustrate the intern immediately – and the manager ultimately when the end of the internship arrives and the goals have not been met. A few suggestions for avoiding this trap are:

• Set the internship schedule for the same times and days every week so it becomes as routine as with full-time staffers.

• Plan a weekly project list each Monday and meet with the intern (just as you would your staffer) to lay out the task and ensure clear understanding.

• During this planning meeting, review the work completed the previous week to ensure you’re on the right track.

To pay or not to pay?

Lastly, businesses need to ask the question — ‘to pay or not to pay?’ Despite the common standard that is held for internships to be unpaid, it often works out better for both the employer and the intern for the internship to be paid. Even if they only pay minimum wage, employers are still able to benefit from reduced labor costs and will not be limited to only candidates who can afford a non-paid internship. At the same time, interns will not feel taken advantage of, and employers will not have to cater to the rules and regulations associated with unpaid internships (New York Times 5/7/12). However, if it is not in the cards to provide a paid internship, the next best thing is to bring an intern on unpaid and transition the intern to a paid internship after a certain assessment period. Ultimately, whether paid or not, an intern can still benefit immensely from a wealth of both experience and industry knowledge if the internship is planned correctly.

Readers: How have successful internships you’ve participated in been structured?

This entry was posted on May 10, 2012 at 8:15 AM and has received 567 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

TradePost is proud to announce Twyla Grimes as the winner of our very first contest – soliciting the biggest workplace pet peeves! We selected Twyla’s submission as the best response:

“I hate it when I'm on the phone and someone walks into my office, notices I am on the phone, and then kindly waits in the door way- STARING! OK, my fault, I left the door open but do you really think I am going to get off the phone any faster because you are glaring at me as I'm handling business. As if "just wanted to let you know that we are out of copy paper" couldn't be emailed to me!”

Twyla is President & Owner of Grimes Placement Services and Vice-Chairman & Co-CEO of RecruiterBlast, a résumé distribution website launching soon. As a busy professional and a wife and mother of 5, Twyla gets how irksome it can be to have a pesky coworker.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our contest. To find out about our future contests and free giveaways, please make sure to follow us on Facebook. or subscribe to our weekly blogs by entering your email in the “subscribe” box located on the right hand-side of the TradePost site.

We look forward to having you as a participant in future contests!

This entry was posted on May 7, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 414 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Yet another disappointing jobs report was just released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for this past month. The numbers are in, and the U.S economy only added 115,000 jobs in April, which is less than the 165,000 economists had expected. April’s report displayed the worst job growth in the past six months, especially in comparison to December through February, which saw an average job growth of 252,000 jobs per month.

The unemployment rate did drop one-tenth of a percentage point to 8.1%, and the industries that saw job growth in April were professional and business services, retail trade, and health care. Transportation and warehousing trended down, losing 17,000 jobs over the course of the month. Despite the slowdown in job growth over the past couple of months, temporary help is still on the rise and added 21,000 jobs this past month to approximately 2.49 million jobs .

This entry was posted on May 4, 2012 at 10:30 AM and has received 576 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Slipping, tripping, and falling are nothing to laugh at. Each year, there are over 1 million law suits due to these types of injuries, and according to the National Safety Council, they are greatest cause of emergency room visits. Suffice it to say, these types of injuries make doing business a “slippery” venture. So when it comes to slips, trips, and falls……we have three key red flags to look out for.

1. Failing to recognize the hazard: When we get comfortable in our surroundings, our awareness commonly goes out the window. Don’t get so complacent that you ignore potentially dangerous obstacles.

2. Failing to control the hazard promptly: Even when hazards are identified, employees may fail to correct it promptly. They think someone else will clean it up or they’ll get to it later when they aren’t as busy. Pick it up immediately and post warning signs if the area remains slippery.

3. Failing to prevent the hazard from recurring: People often think that once they clean up a spill or move an obstruction, their job is done. However, the hazard may return if the root of the problem isn’t addressed. Determine what caused the problem and how to prevent it going forward.

Please keep these in mind both at work and at home. After all, approximately, 1,800 people die in their homes every year from slips, trips, and falls.

According to the U.S. Department of Labour’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA), slips, trips, and falls account for 15 percent of all accidental deaths and are second only to motor vehicles as a cause of fatalities.

“Last year, there were 822 occupational deaths due to falls,” says Don Ostrander, CSP, director of consulting services occupational safety and health at the National Safety Council in Itasca, Illinois. “The large majority of those were due to falls from one level to another.”

Readers: What stories can YOU share about slipping and falling in the workplace?

This entry was posted on May 3, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 553 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

The California Supreme Court recently ruled that Employers are no longer responsible for ensuring that employees take their lunch breaks. The case, which was brought to court over 9 years ago, consisted of workers suing Brinker International (owner of several restaurant chains, including Chili's) over missed breaks. The lawsuit questioned whether employers had an obligation to make sure that employees take their lunch break, or whether employees had the right to work through their lunch. The court ruled in favor of the latter option—employees now can work through lunch breaks if they choose to.

Up until now, California has imposed monetary penalties on employers when workers missed breaks because of the historical mistreatment of employees. Industries, especially the restaurant industry, have notoriously discouraged employees from taking their breaks during peak business hours.

The decision over California lunch breaks was unanimous. In the opinion, Supreme Court Justice Kathryn Werdegar argued that state law only requires employers to provide a break to their workers, not to ensure that it is being taken. However, employers may not impede or prevent employees from taking a 30-minute break after 5 hours of work. The court ruled in favor of Brinker International because they felt that it was an unmanageable for employers to ensure that breaks are being taken.

Many workers' rights advocates worry this ruling will open the door to more workers being deterred from taking breaks, despite the high correlation between missed breaks and meals and more work-related accidents (MSNBC, 4/13/12). Alternatively, others say this ruling favors both employers and workers. Employers are now relieved of the burden of monitoring their workers' break periods and thus might see fewer class action lawsuits, while employees will have the flexibility to work through lunch periods and leave earlier than their scheduled shift-end or receive overtime hours.

The option to allow employees to work through break periods remains at employers' discretion; employers need to be aware, however, that they will be on the hook for paying for their employees' time if they knowingly allow employees to work through their break periods.

Readers: What do you think the positive and negative ramifications will be of the Supreme Court's ruling about lunch breaks?

This entry was posted on April 26, 2012 at 8:00 AM and has received 882 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

Part 1 of our series on gender differences in the workplace looked at what women can do differently to become better leaders ( TradePost, 4/12/12 ). For part 2, we look at ways women can juggle professional ambition with motherhood.

Finding the appropriate work-life balance can be difficult for most professionals – and working mothers in particular struggle with proving themselves both intellectually and professionally, while also raising a family. As a mother of two and accomplished professional, Facebook’s COO Sheryl Sandberg knows all about the challenges of juggling work and a family. In her TED video about why female leadership is lacking, she gives two suggestions to help women balance having a successful career while maintaining a personal life:

Make your partner a partner

Sandberg’s argument revolves entirely around professional women’s home life. She argues that “women have made more progress in the workforce than they have in the home.” And to support this theory, she estimates that:

In households comprising of full-time working parents, woman do twice the amount of household chores and three times the amount of childcare than the man does.

According to Sandberg, the reason for this disparity is deeply rooted in our societal structure—not only is there more emphasis on men to succeed and become bread winners, but our culture is slow to support men stepping into roles women have traditionally possessed. Instead, our culture needs to evolve to a place where both men and women share equal responsibilities at home, so women can succeed as professionals and move toward fuller equality in the workplace.

Don’t leave before you leave

Sandberg wraps up her talk with the argument that women should not “leave before they leave” — referring to the notion that professional women often turn down advancement opportunities in their careers as soon as they start thinking about starting a family. Sandberg believes that women need to keep their foot on the gas pedal in their careers as long as they are working; they need to keep opening the doors to opportunities and looking for ways to advance themselves. To drive her argument home, Sandberg speaks about the difficulty of returning to work after maternity leave—if women do not have a thriving career to return to because they have stopped looking for ways to advance themselves, leaving their child at home will become an impossible undertaking.

We want to hear from YOU. Please add a comment below to get a discussion going (we will be checking regularly to approve new comments).

Women, can you relate to Sandberg’s message? How do you balance raising a family with your professional ambitions? And men, in what ways do you support your partner so that she can be successful in both the home and her career?

This entry was posted on April 19, 2012 at 7:00 AM and has received 775 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

We’ve all been there. All of us have had THAT coworker. Yes, you know the one we are talking about. The one who drives you mad with those annoying little things they do—chewing their gum too loudly, showing up late, and so on—yet, somehow you still manage to get all of your work done. Bravo! So fittingly, we are holding a contest this week… listen up!

What: Tell us what YOUR pet peeves are with your coworkers

How: Leave a comment on this post or email us at tradepost@selectfamily.com

When: Wednesday April, 18th-Wednesday, April 25th

What you will win: A $10 gift card to Starbucks (who doesn’t love coffee?)

You have until next Wednesday to tell us what your worst pet peeve(s) are about your coworkers or office environment. We will choose the best response next Friday, April 27th and send the winner their prize. Good luck!

This entry was posted on April 18, 2012 at 1:15 PM and has received 775 views. There are currently 10 comments. Print this entry.

When gender equality comes to the mind, most people think about the remarkable strides women have made over the past century. After all, women have fought long and hard to earn their right to vote, equal access to education, and the ability to stand alongside men in the workplace. Yet, what many people often do not realize is the extent to which gender inequality still exists, and how far women still need to go to stand shoulder-to-shoulder alongside men.

This week’s issue features part one of two articles that examine gender differences in the workplace. In today’s entry, we will take a look at the differences that still exist between men and women, and how women can combat these differences to become more successful at work.

The Problem…

Today, women currently earn 77.4 cents for every dollar that a man does. To put this into perspective, that’s only a 3.6 cent difference since 1998, indicating the slow and long trek women are on to wage equality.

And what’s more? The disparity women experience goes far beyond differences in wage rates. To shed some light on the gender gap that still exists, we have some current statistics for you…

• Women occupy fewer than 20 percent of the seats in Congress

• As of 2011, there are only 12 female Fortune 500 CEOs

• Women represent only 35% of start-up business owners

These statistics represent just a few of the gender differences that exist in the workplace. And in light of these differences, next Tuesday, April 17 is Equal Pay Day— a day that marks the amount of time a woman needs to work into the following year to earn what a man has earned in one year (TradePost, 4/14/11). In other words, women currently have to work more than 16 months to earn the same amount as men do in 12 months.

So how do we change this? How do we speed up the progress that women are making, so that women have equal opportunity in the work place?

The Solution…

Addressing part of the gender inequality problem, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg recently released a video about why very few women reach leadership roles in their companies. She lists three reasons as the cause.

1. “Women need to sit at the table”

In her TED talk, Sandberg discusses the phenomenon of women who are willing to be sidelined instead of joining discussions with their male counterparts and presenting their own ideas. Part of the problem, according to Sandburg, is that women fail to recognize their own capabilities. Whereas men will attribute their success to internal skill sets, women will find external reasons beyond themselves to explain their achievements.

As a result, we see more male leaders gaining attention as thought leaders. In addition, men are often more willing to ask for a promotion and/or raise. Sandberg explains that women need to be more confident in their abilities so they too will receive recognition for their contributions and be compensated appropriately for them.

In Part 2 of this topic, we discuss Sandberg’s second and third points, which revolve more around women’s ability to successfully juggle professional ambition with motherhood.

Readers: Do you see gender inequality impacting your workplace, and if so, how?

This entry was posted on April 12, 2012 at 7:15 AM and has received 834 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.

After months of marked improvement, March’s Economic Situation Summary is in, and the results don’t look good. While the unemployment rate dropped to 8.2% (down from 8.3%), only 120,000 jobs were created, despite expectations of over 200,000 jobs. The manufacturing, healthcare & professional and business services industries trended up, adding around 30,000 jobs each, while job growth in retail trade over the past month looked relatively bleak. As a result of the feeble economic report, stocks plunged and the S & P futures fell by 16.20 points, and Nasdaq futures were down by 1.1 percent (Reuters, 3/6/12). March’s jobs report is a good indicator that we have a long road ahead of us to an economic recovery.

This entry was posted on April 6, 2012 at 10:30 AM and has received 596 views. There are currently 0 comments. Print this entry.