If you’ve been in the human resources profession for more than, well, a day or two, you’re probably familiar with the following employee complaints:

• My boss plays favorites
• My boss doesn’t follow through on what he/she promises
• My boss doesn’t listen to concerns
• My boss doesn’t provide regular feedback
• My boss doesn’t keep me motivated
• My boss doesn’t help me develop
• My boss only provides negative feedback

That’s because these, according to a new CareerBuilder survey on management, are the most common gripes that employees have about their bosses.

Although these complaints can often be attributed to a clash of personality types or poor communication between workers and their supervisors, these leadership issues may also arise when an employee feels ill-prepared for a management position, which, according to the survey results, is pretty often. One-in-four managers polled said they weren’t ready to become a leader when they started managing others.

According to Dennis Kravetz, author of “Measuring Human Capital: Converting Workplace Behavior into Dollars,” it’s not surprising that some managers feel this way. “Any supervisory job is dramatically different from a non-supervisory role,” he says. “For example, non-supervisory engineers need to have a variety of technical engineering competencies, accountants need technical accounting competencies, etc. Employees are trained for this at the college level and their performance at a non-supervisory level is based on how technically competent they are in their field.”

On the other hand, Kravetz says, the competencies that make for a successful manager — like developing others, handling conflict and scheduling work — are primarily people-based. “The net result is that these people are often lost in the job of new supervisor,” he says.

Indeed, it seems that the areas most managers struggle with are primarily those that are people-centric. According to the survey, managers reported having the most trouble with the following:

• Dealing with issues between co-workers on my team – 25 percent
• Motivating team members – 22 percent
• Performance reviews – 15 percent
• Finding the resources needed to support the team – 15 percent
• Creating career paths for my team – 12 percent

Again, Kravetz says these results are to be expected. “[Management]  literally is an entirely different job with entirely different competencies. As a consequence the new supervisor focuses on only the technical engineering and accounting work and they forget about being a supervisor and the many people issues that come up. This produces unhappy employees, and senior managers who are unhappy with the new manager,” he says.

So how can you ensure that your first time managers are competent? Here are a few tips.

1. Analyze leadership capacity before the promotion: Prior to offering a promotion, analyze the employee’s leadership skills by conducting a “simulation interview,” Kravetz says. “These interviews ask candidates how they would handle a number of hypothetical situations on the job that pertain to supervising others. You can’t fake the answers — you either know how to resolve staff conflict on a work team or you don’t.”

Another great way to create a pipeline of management material? “Look for a demonstration of these competencies in project teams and other types of teams from people who are not supervisors.”

2. Use leadership training: Just because someone initially struggles with a management role, doesn’t mean they don’t have the potential to be a great leader. They just need to develop the right skills. If your company doesn’t already offer them, push for leadership training programs, says Rosemary Haefner, vice president of human resources at CareerBuilder. “Good management skills can positively impact productivity, performance and overall employee morale. We see more companies investing in management training programs to develop today’s and tomorrow’s leaders,” she says.

If your company doesn’t yet have a formal leadership training program in place, use outside resources to assist employees. “Identify open-enrollment courses offered by independent contractors, or local universities as part of continuing-education efforts and encourage new supervisors to enroll,” Kravetz says. “You can also bring in professional management coaches.”

Does your company offer leadership training programs? Do you think they should be mandatory? Let us know in the comments section, below.

When it comes to recruiting, limited resources can mean that small businesses are often up against a separate set of challenges than large corporations. Luckily, creativity and innovation can go a long way when solving many of these problems. On Tuesday, for example, we told you about one of the common recruiting difficulties that small businesses face — attracting and retaining employees — and how developing and implementing a strong employment brand can be a creative way to resolve it.

Unfortunately, though, some of the more pervasive recruiting roadblocks that small businesses face can be a little tougher to bypass. According to a new CareerBuilder survey on small business hiring trends for 2011, respondents said that they expect their biggest recruiting challenges this year will be related to accessing credit, government regulations and health insurance costs — all problems which can be both difficult and frustrating to overcome.

The survey, which polled more than 1,350 small businesses, found the greatest hiring challenges to be:

• Cost of health insurance — 50 percent
• Access to credit — 33 percent
• Government regulations — 27 percent
• Marketing expenses and building awareness — 26 percent
• Attracting and hiring top talent — 19 percent

Yet small businesses are nothing if not resilient, and despite these hiring issues, more small businesses still plan to increase headcount this year than in recent years past. Though it’s just a slight increase, 21 percent of responding employers plan to add full-time staff this year, up from 20 percent in 2010 and 15 percent in 2009.

For those who can’t afford to add more full-time staff, but still have personnel needs, contract workers are the next-best thing. To prevent employee burnout and maintain productivity levels, 26 percent of small business owners plan to hire contract or temporary workers in the coming year, with 31 percent reporting that they may transition these workers into full-time positions.

Slightly fewer respondents said they’d meet staffing needs with part-time help. According to the survey, 11 percent of small businesses plan to hire part-time employees this year, up from 9 percent last year and 8 percent in 2009.

Despite a general increase in hiring expected this year, with so many business owners still worried about issues like credit and government regulations, it’s clear that 2011 will be another year of rebuilding.

“Small businesses are a major driving force behind job creation in the U.S. and play a vital role in economic growth,” said Matt Ferguson, CEO of CareerBuilder.  “Small businesses had been in a holding pattern where they were less likely to decrease headcount compared to larger organizations, but also less likely to add new staff. Over the last year, we saw modest, but continued gains in jobs that are carrying over into 2011. Before we see people back to work in greater numbers, we need to find ways to get this segment of the economy hiring again.”

Do you work for a small company? Do you plan to increase your staff this year? What are your biggest hiring challenges?

Last week I got the chance to speak with John Wells, writer and director of “The Company Men” for our sister site, TheWorkBuzz.com. The film, which dissects the effects of layoffs on those who experience them, stars Academy Award winners Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Kevin Costner and Tommy Lee Jones, and hits theaters today.

Though “The Company Men” takes the most in-depth look at the psychological and existential effects that job loss has on workers, it also touches on the legal, ethical and emotional struggles experienced by the executives and human resources staff who make the decisions on “who stays and who goes.” An aspect of the film Wells decided to include after speaking with human resources executives (and one that can be seen in the below clip).

“I sort of feel like my first version of [the script was] more like a creed against corporate America and that that wasn’t very fair and probably not balanced, so I went back and interviewed a lot of CEOs and human resources executives, and people were very willing to talk to me,” Wells told TheWorkBuzz. “What I did discover when I talked to companies was that while the individual market realities [of each] company would be different, the structures were very similar and the things they were going through were very similar; how they were having to address [downsizing] no matter why they were having to do it. There were tremendous similarities between corporations and the way they dealt with this stuff.”

To read the full interview on TheWorkBuzz, click here.

If your company is currently hiring, you’re probably also doing a lot of interviewing as well. In most cases, the person who walks through your door is a complete stranger. What happens next is anyone’s guess. As your candidate gets ready to walk into your office, he or she is most likely to:

• A. Give yourself a pep-talk about how you’ve got this one in the bag
• B. Check out your reflection in the glass doors to make sure you look as great as you think you do
• C. Chug the last of your beer and toss the can in the trash

If you chose C. then you actually wouldn’t be alone (though you might want to re-think employing this individual). According to the results of CareerBuilder’s annual survey on outrageous and common interview mistakes, one job candidate actually polished off a beer before walking into the reception area on the day of his interview. And a job candidate with a buzz going is only the tip of the interview-blunder iceberg.

Following are actual examples from hiring managers about the strangest job candidates they’ve encountered.  

• Candidate provided a detailed listing of how previous employer made them mad.
• Candidate hugged hiring manager at the end of the interview.
• Candidate ate all the candy from the candy bowl while trying to answer questions. Continue Reading ...