Peter Payack Finance

ATLANTA, GA–(Marketwire – March 31, 2009) – PreVisor, the global leader in employment assessments and talent measurement solutions that connect hiring decisions to business results, released its 3rd annual report today summarizing 33 business outcomes studies. Each study measures the impact on workforce performance following the use of employment testing in the talent acquisition process.

The 2009 Business Outcomes Study Report includes findings from studies done with client organizations both in the U.S. and globally. These studies represent a wide range of industries, including finance, hospitality, retail, and telecommunications; and focus on a multitude of job types — hourly, professional, managerial, sales, and customer service.

“PreVisor adheres to rigorous scientific guidelines, ensuring that reliable conclusions about any assessment program may be drawn from the results,” said Caroline Paxman, Chief Product Officer, PreVisor. “We actively seek partnerships with our clients to make certain that the assessment solutions implemented are giving them the business results they require. We are in our client relationships for the long term. Our success is measured solely by their success. And in these difficult economic times, any amount of efficiency improvement, increased sales, or more effective leadership through scientific employment assessment may give a company an edge they need to succeed.”

Overall, the 2009 report found that 82% of the studies conducted had a favorable or very favorable outcome. This means that the assessment solution had a strong and measurable impact on most or all of the firms’ performance metrics. None of the studies resulted in an unfavorable outcome. Some highlights from the findings:

--  Over $2 million was saved annually by reducing the number of repeat
    trouble call rates at a cable telecommunications company.
--  In a retail organization in the automotive parts industry, sales
    associates who earned higher scores on an assessment solution had potential
    to drive another $137 million annually.
--  Retail sales associates who earned high scores at one
    telecommunications firm averaged $1200 more per year in commission,
    equating to a $30.3 million increase in annual sales.
--  In a remote agent position in a call center outsourcer, employees who
    had earned higher scores on a call center assessment solution handled calls
    11% faster, translating into over eight hundred additional calls taken per
    year.
--  Branch managers with high scores on a front line manager assessment
    solution at a national financial services organization achieved sales at
    140% higher rate while promoting 59% higher employee engagement.

Advance Auto, Alpine Access, EMBARQ, MetLife, Sprint, and Time Warner Cable are among the hundreds of organizations who have participated in the studies to date.

“We deliver value to our clients by providing high quality employees and driving operational efficiencies. The Business Outcomes Study Report showed the dramatic impact of the PreVisor solution and its positive impact on our operations and overall bottom line,” stated Paul Inson, Vice President Human Resources, Alpine Access.

The 2009 report also identified a number of trends emerging in employment testing that are influencing the development and evaluation of assessment solutions:

--  Computer adaptive testing (CAT) is on the rise. One major advantage of
    this type of assessment is that candidates never receive the same set of
    questions, making it much less vulnerable to cheating.
--  Organizations want to see the direct impact of assessment scores on
    business outcomes and the ROI of using employment assessments.
--  There is an increasing emphasis on the use of realistic multi-media
    assessments, which can be more engaging for job seekers and provide a
    'realistic job preview'.

In conclusion, the report discusses the importance of using “focused whole-person assessments” to achieve the most predictive results. To develop a whole-person approach requires a broad range of assessment content that measures a comprehensive list of cognitive, personality, skill, and behavioral characteristics. This approach also requires a deep set of business outcome data to understand which traits predict which types of outcomes. Linking these elements is what enables comprehensive business impact-focused assessment solutions.

“Showing the financial impact of any organizational initiative is particularly critical in the current economic downturn,” stated Noel Sitzmann, PreVisor CEO. “We work with our clients to meet senior management’s increasing need for quantifiable metrics around workforce performance. As talent measurement becomes more sophisticated, successful organizations will be the ones who understand that all processes put in place must be linked to the top and bottom line.”

For more information about PreVisor and its Business Outcome Study service, visit: http://previsor.com/products/consulting/validation

Request a copy of the 2009 Business Outcomes Study Report

About PreVisor

PreVisor, the leading global provider of on demand pre-employment assessments and talent measurement solutions, helps clients connect employment decisions to business results. Following the rigorous standards of industrial-organizational psychology, PreVisor’s assessment content accurately predicts on-the-job performance and supports fair hiring practices. PreVisor’s solutions help streamline hiring, reduce recruiting and training costs, and improve corporate performance for clients worldwide, including more than 100 of the Fortune 500. www.previsor.com

WEBWIRE – Tuesday, March 10, 2009

At this critical time for the future of America and the world, former Vice President, Nobel Prize for Peace Laureate, Al Gore has been called upon to serve his country once again as Managing Director of the $1 Trillion Fund America program. This program will provide full funding for what Thomas L. Friedman labeled a “Code Green Economy” in his book, “HOT, FLAT, and CROWDED”.

Based upon the successful Micro-Finance financial paradigm, Fund America is a detailed Fiscal Monetary Policy proposal and Tax Initiative. John Hatch founder of the micro-finance group FINCA International, based in Washington, D.C. reacted to the original proposal saying “I believe you have conceived of the funding vehicle that will finance the end of world poverty as we know it”

Creating 5 Million jobs in 18 months, this plan provides for a budget neutral $1 Trillion Cash Infusion into the banking system and on into the economy without $1.00 of direct government funding. Fund America will fully finance a Code Green Economy (as defined by Thomas Friedman); infrastructure construction; vocational training; higher education; urban renewal, low income housing, micro-finance; and Medical, Energy, and other R & D.

Asked for comment, Neal Katz, Founder of The Prosperity Mandate noted, “I believe Al Gore has the depth of understanding and the outright clout to see this project through. He is being asked to work closely with a bi-partisan, diverse, and multi-disciplined Board of Advisors along with Mitt Romney as Co-Managing Director. These two gentlemen, as well as the balance of the Board of Advisors, may be strange juxtapositions, but it is going to take a full national consensus to accomplish the necessary critical mass and velocity.”

The proposed Board of Advisors includes Eli Broad, John T. Chambers, Alexander Friedman, John Hatch, Jeffrey R. Immelt, Michael Milken, Charles Munger, Colin Powell, Joseph Stiglitz, Tom Tierny, and Meg Whitman.

Inclusion in the list above, does NOT indicate that the individuals named have agreed to direct The Prosperity Mandate. The list is offered to show the prestige, authority, and diversity requisite to make a program of this magnitude and complexity work.

For more information on The Prosperity Mandate, visit: http://theprosperitymandate.org

Homeowners have many advantages compared to non-homeowners. One of the main advantages is that because they own a home of their own, they have an asset that they can use as collateral should they wish to apply for a loan. They can also receive home rebates, such as gas and other utility rebates when they are issued. A tenant, or someone living in a home that they do not own, do not have these advantages. Because they may still be paying utilities but not seeing any of the rebates handed down from their landlord, they may be in even more financial trouble. And because they don’t have something such as a house to put up as collateral, they may often think that getting a loan is impossible. This is simply not true! There are loans available to individuals with just these needs and they are called tenant loans.

Tenant loans are personal loans that are available to anybody who doesn’t live in a home of their own, whether they are paying rent or not. This means that even if you are still living with your parents and not making monthly contributions, you could still be eligible for a tenant loan. There is no collateral needed in exchange for the agreement of borrowing money. Instead, the loan is treated as an unsecured loan and is an agreement that is drafted in writing and signed by both parties. Tenant loans can provide as much as $50,000 dollars and can have repayment plans with ranges of one to ten years.

A tenant loan can also be used for any purpose that the individual using the loan chooses whether it is because of medical bills, a vacation, or debt consolidation. A tenant loan may be an especially attractive offer for the latter. This is because many tenant loans have interest rates that are much lower than what credit card companies charge. Because of this, obtaining a tenant loan that will help you pay off your credit card loans may be a very wise decision. Not only will you lower your interest rate but you will also turn several bills a month into one easy payment!

Tenant loans are also available to just about anybody, as long as they don’t own a home in their name. People with bad credit or no credit may not be eligible for other types of unsecured loans but tenant loans are available to people with all kinds of credit, whether it is good, bad, or hasn’t been built yet. However, loans that are approved to individuals with very bad credit may have very high interest rates. For this reason, it’s best to take a critical look at your financial situation and determine if you can really afford a tenant loan when you have bad credit.

Applying for a tenant loan over the Internet is much faster and easier than applying for one at a physical institution. Online you can apply for a tenant loan and be approved and receive your limit all within a matter of minutes and sipping your morning coffee!

With Internet access it is now easier than ever before to learn how to play backgammon. There is no need to go in search of a playing partner because any time you have the chance to spend online, you can join people in nearly every country of the world who are right now playing backgammon. Most online backgammon websites offer to you a wealth of information on everything having to do with backgammon. For instance, you will see how to set up the backgammon board but without the time it takes to actually do the arranging yourself. Essentially, when you play online, you are able to maximize your playing time because the computer software handles the backgammon setup.

Another great advantage to playing backgammon online is that you have so many resources at your fingertips that can help you to become a really sharp player. Backgammon isn’t simply a game of chance meted out by the roll of the dice. Rather, there is an entire world of backgammon strategy that is complicated and variegated and comes with practice and diligence in the playing of the game. With limitless articles describing the different kinds of strategies employed in backgammon and how to look for these opportunities with every roll of the dice, the Internet is an invaluable tool to learn or improve your backgammon game.

Playing backgammon online is akin to purchasing a backgammon board game but with millions of booklets instructing you in all the nuances and techniques that are involved in each game. Additionally, using online sources you have access to backgammon software that is user-friendly and often comes with customer support that will assist you in any difficulties that you may encounter while becoming familiar with any given program. Depending on the extent to which you plan to play and the company whose software you choose to download, you will find that initially you will be able to play numerous games of free backgammon.

However, if you become interested in playing backgammon and making wagers on your games, there are a myriad of competitive backgammon sites that will match you with worthy opponents according to your playing level. Many of these sites are up and running twenty-four hours of the day and you could find yourself playing with backgammon enthusiasts in Israel, Turkey, Greece or Canada to name just a few of the places where people are playing backgammon at this very moment.

Another benefit of playing backgammon online is that you will connect with other players that can offer their experience in playing backgammon to you. Perhaps they can direct you to the best online backgammon download available on the Internet, or help you weed through the numerous backgammon game download options that you will find when doing your search.

Particularly for newcomers to backgammon, using the myriad backgammon resources online, you will be able to get solid backgammon instructions that will help you navigate this globally popular board game, in no time at all.

Gene Marshall specializes in articles about online backgammon and backgammon board set up. Supplementary readings and articles that were written by Gene Marshall on the topic of backgammon can be accessed online. Internet backgammon authority Gene Marshall writes for a few different distinguished backgammon web sites.

Related Sites:

Free Backgammon Online is a new site reviewing and comparing the best free online backgammon services. Click here to view the site.

The expression “free backgammon” is heard a great deal these days and people way well wonder what do we mean by free backgammon? Backgammon has been with us for thousands of years and for much of its long history it is possible to say it has been a free game. The original backgammon set required nothing more elaborate than a flat piece of wood for the backgammon board, small stones for the counters and a dice made out of a discarded bone. Therefore, the ancient world backgammon players could easily get their backgammon set up without having to spend any money. With the commercialization of backgammon set production from the 1800’s onwards, more people were buying their backgammon sets from retail outlets but the option of making your own backgammon set remained and it is still available today for those who don’t wish to buy a set or maybe just prefer to make something themselves.

So, free backgammon might well be applied to the lack of expense involved in procuring the basic items required to conduct the game. It could also just as easily be applied to learning how to play backgammon. The traditional way of learning the backgammon rules has been through observing the games of experienced players. Certainly, today a person may choose to acquire their backgammon instructions from one of the many books that have been published describing the game in detail, but there is no need to pay for a book if they live near a public library. The game’s popularity insures that many backgammon books are usually in stock. Although the most enthusiastic players often opt to join backgammon clubs, membership is frequently available free of charge and the possibility of learning to play without having to pay anything remains available to anyone who is interested. .

The rapid development of Internet backgammon over the past fifteen years has certainly enhanced the possibilities of finding free backgammon. Today, when a person uses this expression they are more likely than not referring to online backgammon. For anyone who has a connection to the Internet, there is no longer any need to even make the minimal investment in buying a backgammon set from the shop but all they need to do is log onto a site and make a backgammon game download from the Internet. The sophisticated backgammon software now available does an excellent job in presenting an attractive 3-D version of the game, its boards, counters and dice. Also freely available are practice games against challenging backgammon computers or against players of various skill levels from around the world.

To participate in backgammon gambling usually involves some small fee paid to the site, and depending on the player’s skills at the game, they may find their winnings at the game exceed by many times the cost of participating and this can be seen as another aspect of free backgammon. If you’re interested in improving your skills then playing online is a great way to do it for free.

Related Resources:

http://www.freebackgammononline.net/

Announced on 2 September, the Government’s year-long suspension of stamp duty on properties costing £175,000 or less could help some homebuyers – and perhaps the mortgage market as a whole. Previously, stamp duty had been charged every time someone bought a house worth more than £125,000.

However, the real problem in the housing market is mortgages, not stamp duty. Owners’ worries about falling prices – and buyers’ unhappiness about not being able to get on (or move up) the housing ladder – both stem from the difficulty of finding a mortgage (also known as a home loan).

The average house price, according to Nationwide, is currently around £165,000, so a 25% deposit would be over £41,000. Whether or not someone pays stamp duty (a maximum of £1,750) is unlikely to be really significant.

According to the Council of Mortgage Lenders, the government should ‘focus on the mortgage funding markets as much as on the consumer-facing initiatives announced today’. Director general of the Council of Mortgage Lenders Michael Coogan pointed out that until more funding became available, we would be “some way from restoring long-term stability to the housing and mortgage markets”.

In some cases, though, the stamp duty suspension could make a difference. That ‘saving’ could help someone lay down a deposit that lets them get a mortgage with a lower interest rate. It could even make the difference between being able to get a mortgage and being refused by every mortgage provider they approach.

The stamp duty changes were just part of a ‘major cross-government package of new measures to meet current challenges in the housing market’. Other measures include a £300m shared equity scheme designed to help first-time buyers get a mortgage, and a £200m mortgage rescue scheme to help up to 6,000 vulnerable homeowners avoid repossession.

But with house prices falling, some people doubt whether the government should even try to help people onto the housing ladder. Unless a homebuyer is confident they’ll stay in that property until house prices rise again, buying a house could well be a bad idea at the moment – assuming they can get a mortgage in the first place.

According to Nationwide’s House Price Index, someone who’d bought an ‘average’ house 12 months ago could have lost £20,000 by now. Unless their deposit was large enough, there’s every chance they’ll be ‘trapped’ by negative equity: with a mortgage debt that’s higher than the value of the house, they could find it impossible to move.

On the other hand, renting isn’t free. Someone who get a mortgage and buys a house can reasonably expect to recover any money they ‘lose’ when the housing market recovers – while renters know that each month’s rent money is gone for good.

Written by Melanie Taylor of www.ThinkMoney.com

Nice article on the Student Loan scandal

The student loan industry rakes in $85 billion a year, and a significant sum of that is in government subsidy and tax considerations. Proponents argue that student loans increase the number of students who can attend school, but critics worry that excess profits raise tuition and leave graduates with heavy student loan debts.