Swine Flu Update – 176 Dead in Mexico

Mexico shuts down economy as flu pandemic imminent | Reuters

There is no safer place than your own home to avoid being infected with the flu virus.

This quote is from President Felipe Calderon.  These words are not exactly the best choice if you want to avoid generating fear and panic.

Underwriting Solutions LLC – A New Theme

If you are a repeat visitor you will no doubt notice the theme change for this blog.   Over time, the content of this blog has evolved too.  At first, I focused on success tips.  As my writing matured, this blog has become an online archive of news I find interesting and relevant to the life underwriting profession.  I hope you find this website useful.  As always, your comments and suggestions are welcomed.

Travel Advisory – Another Reason To Avoid Mexico

Swine influenza and Severe Cases of Respiratory Illness in Mexico | CDC Travelers’ Health

The number of cases has risen steadily through April and as of April 23rd, there were more than 854 cases of pneumonia from the capital. Of those, 59 have died.

This situation bears close watch.  Pay attention to travel and pay particular attention if your US business comes from border states.

Indian Recruiters (live in India)

Here is an interesting post from Fistful of Talent.  This article will shed even more insight into the world of Indian recruiters.  By the way, I emailed the sender of the email I got two days ago.  No response yet.

Fistful of Talent: All My Recruiters…. Live in India…..

So, here’s what I found out in the lunch with the recruiting firm in question, which I consider to be a pretty sharp bunch. They’ve long used outsourcing as a means to “source” candidates, but they’ve now moved to the next level. In addition to sourcing candidates using resources in India, they’ve also handed off the next level of activity to outsourced recruiters in India. That means outsourced recruiters who understand the technologies in play are making the initial calls to prospects, qualifying them, and locking them down for the next step, which might be a phone screen or in-person with the actual recruiting firm, or if the specs are nailed, a phone screen or in-person with the client company in question.

Here’s the kicker – low cost, robust technologies like Bullhorn, which allow recruiting shops to manage the lifecycle of the recruiting process for a single candidate from anywhere on the globe, have enabled the manager in question to outsource this function. All he needs is the right talent overseas, and he pays 20-30% of what he would pay a full life cycle recruiter located in Birmingham to do the same job.