One of the questions we always ask of our client is how much experience do your require the potential recruit to have?
As always when approaching this problem, keep it simple. Start out with a checklist of what attributes reflect experience you require. Do not mix them up with job skills. You will usually suggest the normal parameters. This can have pitfalls which I list below; you should be wary of them. They are:

1. Age is a good indicator but does not always tell the whole story. Candidate seems too old? He possibly had a previous unrelated career and now can offer life experience as an additional bonus. Too young? Before discarding make sure you're not overlooking the next "rising star".
2. Years in the business. Not enough? Watch out for previous job experience in related or unrelated industry. Quite often they are more closely related than they initially appear.
3. Job title is probably the biggest hurdle awaiting us. Our Clients love to advertise the job title as though that describe everything. It is not the case. If, for example we look at the prolifiration of titles in our industry over the last few years, certain companies have handed out inflated titles to retain employee loyalty. Additionally, job titles vary considerably from company to company.

There are two basic types of dam: the gravity dam and the arch dam. The gravity dam relies upon the weight of its material to resist the forces imposed upon it; the arch dam uses an arch shape to take the forces in a horizontal direction into the sides of the river valley. The largest dams are usually embankment dams. Buttress dams are used to hold back very wide rivers or lakes. (Image © Research Machines plc)

Theodore Roosevelt Dam, Arizona, USA. The construction of the dam was started in 1903 and was completed in 1911. This structure was the first multipurpose project built by the US Bureau of Reclamation, and its unique cyclopean-masonry thick arch design led to its being listed in the National Registry of Historic Places. (Image © Image Bank)

Dams, such as this one at Marmolada in the Dolomites, Italy, are a common sight in many upland areas. They trap and store water, making it available for use during periods of water shortage. Highland areas are favoured because of the higher rainfall there (known as orographic or relief rainfall). Hard rocks, which form the high ground, make a good base and building material for the reservoir, and the valleys in such areas provide narrow sites ideal for flooding, to become the reservoir basin. (Image © Garret Nagle)

The Glen Canyon Dam in Arizona was built across the Colorado River in the late 1950s–early 1960s. It created a lake (Lake Powell) behind it, which today has nearly 3,200 km/2,000 mi of shoreline. (Image © Corel)

Structure built across a river to hold back a body of water (called a reservoir) in order to prevent flooding, provide water for irrigation and storage, and provide hydroelectric power. The biggest dams are of the earth- and rock-fill type, also called embankment dams. Such dams are generally built on broad valley sites. Deep, narrow gorges dictate a concrete dam, where the strength of reinforced concrete can withstand the water pressures involved.

Concrete dams
A valuable development in arid regions, as in parts of Brazil, is the underground dam, where water is stored on a solid rock base, with a wall to ground level, so avoiding rapid evaporation. Many concrete dams are triangular in cross section, with their vertical face pointing upstream. Their sheer weight holds them in position, and they are called gravity dams. They are no longer favoured for very large dams, however, because they are expensive and time-consuming to build. Other concrete dams are built in the shape of an arch, which transfers the horizontal force into the sides of the river valley: the arch dam derives its strength from the arch shape, just as an arch bridge does, and has been widely used in the 20th century. They require less construction material than other dams and are the strongest type.

buttress dams are used when economy of construction is important or foundation conditions preclude any other type. The upstream portion of a buttress dam may comprise series of cantilevers, slabs, arches or domes supported from the back by a line of buttresses. They are usually made from reinforced and pre-stressed concrete.

Earth dams
Earth dams have a watertight core wall, formerly made of puddle clay but nowadays constructed of concrete. Their construction is very economical even for very large structures. Rock-fill dams are a variant of the earth dam in which dumped rock takes the place of compacted earth fill.

Major dams
Rogun (Tajikistan) is the world's highest at 335 m/1,099 ft. New Cornelia Tailings (USA) is the world's biggest in volume, 209 million cu m/7.4 billion cu ft. Owen Falls (Uganda) has the world's largest reservoir capacity, 204.8 billion cu m/7.2 trillion cu ft. Itaipu (Brazil/Paraguay) is the world's most powerful, producing 12,700 megawatts of electricity. The Three Gorges Dam on the Chang Jiang was officially inaugurated in 1994 and is due for completion 2009. A treaty between Nepal and India, ratified by Nepal in 1996, included plans to construct the 315-m/1,035-ft Pancheshwar dam.

In 1997 there were approximately 40,000 large dams (more than 15 m in height) and 800,000 small ones worldwide.

© Research Machines plc 2006. All rights reserved. Helicon Publishing is a division of Research Machines plc.

Staff put their business at risk by engaging in potentially dangerous online activities, according to new study.

Research from Sophos shows that many employees continue to use their workplace computers in an irresponsible manner despite safety instructions from their IT departments.
Some 63% of IT managers said they believe that workers do not follow their safety guidelines and are putting firms at risk everyday.
Simple activities that may seem innocuous, such as using the same password on different web sites, installing software and browser plug-ins, opening email attachments or running joke programmes sent by friends and colleagues, can often compromise a firm's IT security.
"In most cases, it's not that people deliberately behave recklessly online - rather, they don't know how to act responsibly and may not be fully aware of the potential consequences of unsafe internet and email usage," said Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos.
"Whether staff are downloading and opening unsolicited attachments or surfing the web for sordid content not permissible at home, it's the responsibility of the company to ensure that employees are educated about the risks and given the right tools to defend themselves."
IT managers are not alone in their concern. Some 79% of employers, themselves, fear their employees are putting their business at risk of cybercrime.
Sophos called on all management to better communicate their IT safety guidelines and make sure IT managers have the right tools to protect themselves.

The Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH) is urging employers to prepare to make offices and premises smoke-free, following the Government's announcement that there will be a total ban on smoking in all public places and commercial premises in England by summer 2007.

According to IOSH director of technical affairs, Richard Jones, the ban shouldn't be hard for employers to implement, but they should start taking action now. "Many businesses already have a no smoking policy in place, so they are already prepared," he said.

"However, those that don't, need to give their staff plenty of notice that the ban is coming and consider offering support and counselling to staff who will no longer be allowed to smoke at work and for those wishing to give up."

Jones added that the ban will cause the most problems for firms in the hospitality industry - such as pubs, clubs and restaurants. "It may prove hard to enforce," said Jones. "It's one thing to control what your employees are doing, but quite another to stop your customers smoking."

Commenting on the ban, Andrew Mowlah, policy spokesman for the Forum of Private Business (FPB), said: "We need this even playing field, so that the law is simple to apply.

"This blanket ban will avoid the situation where some small businesses operating on tight profit margins could lose customers to bars where smoking is still allowed. It will also safeguard the health of employers and employees alike, making sure that no one has to inhale someone else's smoke while at work."

According to recent FPB research, three-quarters of small firms backed a total ban. "Small businesses are telling us loud and clear, they want to protect their customers, their staff and themselves from smoke," said FPB chief executive, Nick Goulding.

"The arguments about the health risks of passive smoking have clearly worried and convinced bosses. The message is simple smokers and their smoke, are unwelcome in the majority of workplaces."

Business insurance claims resulting from criminal activity have risen by nearly a quarter, according to new figures.

Data from AXA's latest business crime index show that claims climbed by 24% in the first quarter of 2005, with the average settlement rising to £3,743.
Half of all employers said their crime problems stem from too few police officers on the street. Nearly 60% said that their local authorities are not doing enough to protect them from criminals.
"It is striking to find that victims lament the lack of police interest in business crime," said Martin Gill, professor at Leicester University. "However, it is not likely to change.
"While there are some excellent schemes helping businesses, especially in some city centres, business crime remains a low police priority."
Gill said that businesses must implement their own security measures and work together to fight against crime.
The research shows that as many as three out of four retailers and half of all manufacturers could be the victim of a criminal act over the course of a year, the most frequent of which are theft and malicious damage.
One in four retailers, as well, may even experience violent criminal activity over a year's time, the report said.
AXA urged business owners to remain vigilant and take simple, precautionary measures, such as securing all doors and windows.
Regionally, Nottingham saw a 10% rise in insurance claims, keeping it at the top of the table of cities with the highest amount of business crime. Middlesbrough remained the safest city.