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Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, flora and fauna, welcome to the Latest Spectacular Edition of the Carnival of Human Resources. As you wander through the Carnival you will find posts to delight and amaze you. Some will even help you do a better job.

And now (drum roll) we'll begin with the five best posts of the Carnival.

"Engagement" is a mega-buzzword that means lots of different things, depending on who you ask. Kris Dunn, author of the HR Capitalist tells us that "I Just Tried to Define Employee Engagement - Now I Need a Nap..."

Michael Wade of Execupundit writes about "Predatory Employees." He says that many HR practitioners have fallen prey to such people. Few have developed adequate strategies and attitudes for dealing with them. And, far too many cave in to their demands

Penelope Trunk is the Brazen Careerist. How brazen? She tells you "How to get a job you're not qualified for."

Jon Hyman at the Ohio Employer's Law Blog analyzes the legal issues that begin to pop when organizations such as Workplace Bullying Institute seek to create civil liability for oppressive bosses. His post "Bullying boss justifies unemployment award," includes the following: "Imposing liability (even for unemployment comp) merely for being subjected to a bad boss sets a dangerous precedent that has the real potential to eliminate the 'at will' from all such employment relationships."

Carmen Van Kerckhove hosts Race in the Workplace. One thing I love about her blog is that she often helps me understand things I do unconsciously that have an affect I didn't intend. Her post is "3 sure-fire ways to alienate people of color at your meeting." It may not seem as if diversity plays much of a role in meeting-planning, but you'd be surprised.

Here are the rest of the posts in order of submission.

On the Great Leadership Blog, Dan McCarthy tells us about "10 Ways to Screw up a Performance Appraisal." Check it out for a humorous approach to performance appraisal.

Over at SharpBrains, Alvaro helps us understand "How NeuroImaging is Showing the Value of Leading Mentally Stimulating Lives- and Our Jobs are Part of the Equation." If you've ever wondered if we can use brain scans to evaluate how fit the brain is, this is the post for you. This also wins the award for longest post title.

At Coaching Tip: The Leadership Blog John G. Agno tells us how "Mentoring Matters." He covers how important mentoring is in today's knowledge-worker-rich workplace and how the impending departure of droves of Boomers make mentoring even more important.

Should you hire a candidate for lower wages than their education, skills, and experience would typically demand on the open market just because the candidate is willing to work for less to get the job? That's the question Chris Young asks and answers on the Maximize Possibility Blog in a post titled "Hiring During a Recession - Beware of the 'Low-Bid.'"

Ann Bares' blog, Compensation Force, is a continuing source of solid information about compensation, incentive programs, and many other HR issues. Her post "Bored Employees: A Squandered Asset," discusses many ways that bored employees are a bad thing indeed. When you read this, think about Chris Young's post, mentioned just above.

Joe at Uncle Joe's Leadership Blog asks "Who's Next?" and offers pointers on spotting future leaders in the non-profit world.

Here's one you can tack to the bulletin board. Peggy at The Career Encouragement Blog debunks four common roles that employees often look to HR for, and explains the two critical and exciting things that HR pros focus on. She asks: "Considering a Career in HR?"

I bet you thought music was only for musicians. Well, maybe so, but MUSIC is the subject of Jon Ingham's post, "Music not measurement in performance management" on his Strategic HCM Blog.

Rowan Manahan's Fortify Your Oasis blog covers HR issues from both sides of the desk. His post on "Medical interviews" examines how a young doc can distinguish him/herself from the herd during a job interview. Read this even if you're not a doctor and don't play one on TV.

The Evil HR Lady is an anonymous HR professional in a really big company. The Evil HR Lady is also her blog about HR issues of all kinds. She gets some of the best HR questions on the web and responds with wit and wisdom. A good recent example is the post, "Rescinded Offer" where an applicant had received an offer and then gave notice at his or her current employer, only to have the supposed new employer rescind the offer. Read the post to see what Evil has to say and check out the comments which are good, as always.

OK, now it's my turn. My submission, from my Three Star Leadership blog, is "What do you do with the rest of your leaders?" There are lots of leaders who are important to your business but who aren't "high potential." How you develop and support them has a lot to do with your long term profitability and competitive advantage.

The next (February 20) Carnival of Human Resources will be hosted by Lisa Rosendahl at HR Thoughts. In addition to being full of great posts, it will be the First Anniversary Edition of the Carnival. In addition to sending in posts, why not email the Evil HR Lady (evilhrlady [at] hotmail [dot]com) and thank her for getting this all started.

Wally's Working Supervisor's Support Kit is a collection of information and tools to help working supervisors do a better job. It's based on what Wally's learned in over twenty years of supervisory skills training. Click here to check it out.

Request your free copy of "Meeting the Challenges of the Boomer Brain Drain: An integrated approach."

Wally Bock has helped people learn to be great bosses for more than a quarter century. His latest book, Performance Talk: The One-on-One Part of Leadership, makes learning key leadership principles almost effortless by teaching through a story and providing lists of resources for further growth.

Click here to find out more about Wally's coaching services.

For weekly tips and resources pointers, check our Wally Bock's Three Star Leadership Letter.

Click here to find out more about having Wally speak to your company or convention.