About 63% of HR pros say their company’s employees feel insecure due to the recession, according to a poll by Linkedin. But when the question was posed to the rank-and-file, only 34% of employees said they feel insecure.

Similarly, just 11% of HR pros said their employees feel appreciated by the organization, while 37% said they do feel appreciated, despite recent salary freezes, loss of benefits and other cost-cutting measures.

Of course, companies would like those numbers to be higher. But it’s nice to know HR managers are doing a better job than many of them think.

Workers who’ve lost jobs recently are turning to small businesses in greater numbers than ever before, according to a recent survey by CareerBuilder. About 20% of employees who were laid off in the past year have found new jobs at small companies. Another 60% say they’re interested in working for one.

After losing jobs, many workers want the stability, flexibility and opportunity for diverse experience that smaller firms are often better at providing, CareerBuilder says.

Here are the top reasons they’re interested in moving to those organizations:

1. Family-like work environment (cited by 56% of respondents)
2. More employee recognition (49%)
3. A sense that each employee can make a difference (48%), and
4. Less corporate red tape (46%).

When hiring, HR can emphasize those factors as selling points to potential employees.

So far, 2009 has seen no shortage of strange job search tactics — 18% of hiring managers have seen candidates go to unusual lengths to get a job, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. That’s up from 12% at the same time last year.

Some of the strangest methods managers reported:

• One candidate sent a resume tucked inside a shoe — he wanted to “get his foot in the door.”
• A desperate job-seeker staged a sit-in at the company’s lobby to get a meeting with the manager.
• One manager received a resume from a job-seeker while his car was stopped at a red light.
• One guy sent the boss a cake with his own face and credentials painted on it.
• A candidate figured he could start at the bottom and work his way up — so he started washing employees’ cars in the parking lot.
• One crafty applicant told the company’s receptionist he’d scheduled an interview. When the manager arrived he confessed that he’d just driven by and decided to stop in.

How would you react to one of those gimmicks? Would you grant an interview or tell the candidate to stick to tried and true job search methods? Let us know in the comments section below.

Although two-thirds of workers know someone who’s been laid off, 80% feel secure about their own jobs, according to a new survey by Princeton Survey Research Associates International.

The survey also brought some good news about why employees are staying in their jobs (Hint: It isn’t only about the bad job market).

When asked the most important reason they’ve stayed with their current employer, 39% of employees said it was their paychecks — but 33% said it’s because they like what they do. Another 11% listed health benefits, and 7% said they like their boss.

The list of most challenging positions to fill hasn’t changed much this year, says staffing firm Manpower. The top 10, according to the company’s most recent survey:

1. Engineers
2. Nurses
3. Skilled/manual trades
4. Teachers
5. Sales reps
6. Technicians
7. Drivers
8. IT staffers
9. Laborers, and
10. Machine operators.

Each of those titles has appeared on the list at least once in the past four years. Results are based on responses from more than 2,000 employers.

What’s your experience been? Have you had trouble filling any of those jobs? Let us know in the comments section below.

That’s right, it’s almost time for college graduations. And the job market will be a lot tougher on grads than in previous years.

Just 43% of employers have any plans to hire recent graduates in 2009, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. That’s down from 56% last year.

Also, 21% said they’ll be offering lower pay to entry-level hires. At most other companies (68%), those salaries will remain flat, and just 11% plan on an increase.

Bottom line: Employers have an opportunity to grab entry-level employers at a lower cost and with a better chance of landing the best hires.

Here are some ways companies can stand out when recruiting college students:

• Use the Web – Everyone knows students and recent grads spend a lot of time on Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other Web sites — yet many companies still don’t have much recruiting presence in those areas.
• Get referrals – The influence of friends and classmates can be a powerful factor in students’ career decisions. So when you hire someone fresh out of school, make sure you ask for the names of others who’d be a good fit.
• Keep internships – As hiring in general goes down, fewer companies plan on hiring interns this year. But experts warn against getting rid of such a valuable, low-risk strategy for bringing talent in the door.

On average, employers will pay interns an hourly wage of $17.13 — 5% higher than last year — according to a recent survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Interestingly, however, the survey also reported employers will be offering about 21% fewer internships this year than in 2008.

Here’s the average hourly pay broken down by the intern’s field of study:

• Business — $15.93
• Communications — $16.00
• Sciences — $16.60
• Computer Sciences — $17.20
• Engineering — $18.26

Of course, those are national numbers. When benchmarking your own intern compensation, you’ll need to take a look at regional data, too.

More than 64% of employers expect staffing levels to remain steady in this year’s second quarter, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey. Just 14% said they plan on adding staff. Another 14% will reduce the number of employees, and 7% aren’t sure.

As for 2009 so far:

• 13% of employers increased headcount in the first quarter
• 16% reduced headcount, and
• 60% saw no change.

Companies’ salary plans for this quarter follow a similar pattern:

• 46% expect compensation to stay flat
• 29% expect to give raises averaging from 1% to 3%
• 12% expect raises to range from 4% to 10%
• 1% will give raises greater than 10%, and
• 5% expect compensation to decrease.

Most experts agree: Times like these provide a great opportunity to hire top talent — as long as companies can afford to add staff.

More than 75% of in-house recruiters say the recession gives them a chance to increase the caliber of their employees, according to a recent survey by JobFox, an online job board.

However, more than half also say they’ll be hiring fewer people in the beginning of 2009 than they did a year ago.

That means good news for the rest: Now’s their chance to get a leg up on the competition. Experts say the companies hiring quality workers now will be the ones on top when the economy recovers.

Do you agree with this approach? Let us know your opinion in the comments section below.

More than three quarters (77%) of employees wouldn’t want their boss’s job, according to a recent survey by OfficeTeam.

Why not? Many feel they don’t have the right skills to be the boss. When asked if they thought they could do a better job than their supervisor, only 33% said yes.

That statistic may sound good to a boss with a frail ego, but the findings are bad news for employers. Most employees aren’t content to stay in the same job forever — so if they don’t want to be promoted, they may just be waiting until they can take a higher-level job somewhere else.

What can be done?

One thing experts recommend: Have bosses lead by example. If managers always appear stressed and overworked, it’s no wonder their employees won’t want the gig.

Also, one way to increase responsibility for higher performers, other than a promotion to the managerial level: Cross-train them in areas they’re knowledgable or interested in. That makes the employees more versatile and can be a cost-effective way to deal with a staffing shortage.