April Fools’ Day is widely celebrated around the world on April 1 every year. While it’s not a national holiday, it is the one day when people pull pranks or play jokes on friends, families, neighbors, and co-workers.

According to Wikipedia, the earliest recorded association between April 1 and foolishness can be found in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales (1392).

Fast forward 620 years to 2012.. We’ve asked around and have compiled the following list of 15 HR and Recruiting “joke” headlines you’d only read on April Fools’ Day:

1. New content and presentations finally delivered at HR and Recruiting conferences!
2. HR & Recruiting certifications create a competitive advantage.
3. Monter.com renames the popular Facebook app BeKnown to “BeUnKnown”.
4. There’s a talent shortage, no really there is.
5. Assessment vendors agree the best odds for making a hiring decision is to just flip a coin.
6. Job Boards resurrect themselves from the dead and become an innovative hiring solution.
7. The .jobs domain is changed to .nojobs.
8. ERP technology platforms now make financial sense to organizations deploying them.
9. Applicant tracking systems recommend a retail / inventory approach to hiring (first in, first out – to first applied, first hired).
10. Compensation practices study shows merit and promotion increases are meaningful to employees compared to the “sky is the limit” approach for external hiring.
11. Employees become an organizations greatest investment, no longer seen as an asset that depreciates on a balance sheet.
12. News flashback, Recruiters use telephones to recruit talent!
13. HR transforms its’ reputation from the “black hole” to “white glove” service provider.
14. Social recruiting is dead.  Wait, was it alive?
15. Job Boards become the highest quality source of hire, beating out job fairs.