Wendy Weber on Executive Recruiting

Well, our intentions were good.

For years we have been sending an e-holiday card to our network of candidates. It was a pleasant way to reconnect at the end of the year. We have thousands of registered candidates, some of whom we are in touch with more frequently than others, so it was a way to let those that we hadn’t spoken to lately that they had not been forgotten.

Our card has always been well received. Many of the recipients pinged us back a holiday greeting of their own.

This year we were reported to our email provider’s abuse department. Apparently several recipients reported our holiday greeting as spam.

That seems to me to be an extreme reaction to a holiday e-card. We only send them to people who have taken the action of opting in by registering with us. But the damage has been done, and we will no longer send these cards.

To those of you that enjoyed hearing from us at the holidays, please know that you remain in our thoughts (and database), and that we look forward to being in touch throughout the coming years with exciting new career opportunities. To those of you that reported us as spammers, Bah Humbug.

If it isn’t hard enough securing employment in this difficult economy, many job seekers are experiencing a bias against the very fact that they are unemployed: click here.

Many unemployed workers are finding that employers only want to hire people who already have jobs, and that there’s a view that there must be something wrong with you if you’re unemployed.

As with many myths, there is a kernel of truth behind this one. After all, when a company is considering a layoff, there must certainly be some consideration as to who the “best” workers are, and who can be spared. Even when laying off their most “expensive” workers, the expense of a high salary must be weighed against the benefit that worker brings to the organization.

However, this economy has resulted in companies being forced to make decisions that are more extreme than usual. Many good people have found themselves unemployed, through no fault of their own. Given the massive layoffs in the economy, the chances of finding top performers in the current pool of unemployed workers is probably higher than at any time in memory.

Once someone who endured a difficult period of unemployment is hired, they are likely to be doubly committed to proving their worth to their new employer, and unlikely to be initiating a job search any time soon. The newly employed member of your team will fully appreciate the value of employment with your organization. That is why it is important to look beyond the fact that they may currently be out of work, and to carefully review their track record of prior achievement and compatibility with your open position.

U.S. law enforcement officials have shut down dozens of websites selling counterfeit and pirated goods since Cyber Monday.

The law enforcement effort, known as “Operation In Our Sites II” targeted online retailers of a diverse array of counterfeit goods, including sports equipment, shoes, handbags, athletic apparel, sunglasses, and illegal copies of DVDs, music and software, according U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

Visitors to the websites will see a banner saying the domain name has been seized by federal law enforcement officials and warning that dealing in counterfeit goods is a federal crime.

Cyber Monday – the first Monday after Thanksgiving, and typically described as the launch of the online shopping season – saw spending climb 16% from 2009, when sales rose 4%.

According to comScore, a marketing research company that provides marketing data and services to many of the Internet’s largest businesses, this year Cyber Monday was the heaviest Internet spending day in history, and the first time sales passed the billion-dollar mark.

The average spent per buyer rose from $102.19 to $114.24. Retailers are offering deep discounts to accommodate savvy shoppers demanding deals, but that doesn’t mean consumers are actually spending less. Money saved is being spent on additional purchases, resulting in an average per-person spending increase of 12%.

Online sales weren’t the only source of Cyber Monday dollars. According to eBay, shoppers went mobile, increasing U.S. mobile commerce sales 146% year over year.