RecruitingTools.com » Carnival 2010

Source Your Own Career Destinations: “10 Standards of Care” of Job Search Wisdom‏

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:29:26 +0000

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Last New Years Eve, my wife and I toasted champagne glasses to a refrain I assume familiar to many within our industry that night, “To the end of 2009!”

I’ve read many a blog article suggesting a more upbeat assessment of the economic landscape, to some extent as if believing made it so. If 2009 taught us anything, you do not wait for the rising tide to lift all boats – you create your own fortune through the brunt force of tenacity. 2010 proceeds precisely as you navigate it and the product of due diligence on behalf of your client and overall career pursuits. Fate is what you make it.

I understand, it’s difficult in a very personal, emotional way that takes a toll on you and those you love. What we are witnessing is an overwhelming issue of uncertainty in the macro economy. Businesses don’t know what their tax rates are going to be this year. They know in 2011 they are going up. Should Federal Healthcare Reform prevail, we are seeing the combined top tax rate for small businesses in Wisconsin for example, at 54.27%. We have huge regulatory uncertainty in 2010. Costs inherent in Cap & Trade, will be just as easily supplemented by EPA regulatory fiat, should it fail to pass.

So what is a hiring manager going to think about the future? Projecting headcount at Fortune 500 companies is done within a landscape in flux. Corporations factor the ability to attract capital, corporate market share, inventories, GDP and unemployment as a whole. Moreover, weakness in labor markets and the sharp fall in labor income ensures a self fulfilling, weak recovery due to weak consumer confidence; increasing the risk of a double dip recession.

A few important factors to take into account if you wait for economic bell weathers to determine your next step:

While the official unemployment rate is already 10%, when you include discouraged workers and partially employed workers the figure is a whopping 17.5%.
Many firms are telling their workers to cut hours, take furloughs and accept lower wages. Specifically, that fall in hours worked is equivalent to another 3 million full time jobs lost on top of the 7.5 million jobs formally lost.
The average length of unemployment is at an all time high; the ratio of job applicants to vacancies is 6 to 1.

The ratio of job applicants to vacancies is particularly relevant to recruiters competing for finite openings. To illustrate: When I featured a key technology company’s call for over 200 staffing openings, over 1,000 applied to my post. In this particular scenario and ongoing to date, Senior level contract recruiters and sourcers long accustomed to the luxury of being virtual and corp-to-corp faced increasing rejection due to on-site and w-2 requirements.

The W-2 issue alone plays a factor that previous capital expenditures as write-offs are endangered, which exacerbate the amount of time to recoup losses in business savings that weathered 2009. Even the recent news of a positive 5.7% quarter of economic growth offers only part of the story. Businesses eventually have no other choice but to increase inventories and make obligatory investments they have otherwise put off.

As you gasp and sigh, I am determined to breakdown the obstacles, to remind you that it is not in the macro-economic data that determines your fate, it is in the specificity of your hunt, – the micro is your personal approach. The question posed is not simply “what is going to be the shape of tan eventual recovery,” but rather, how are you as a recruiter going to ensure risks are identified and your game plan managed? First things first, stop praying in front of a job board after each Boolean Search i.e., (Recruiter OR Talent OR Sourcer OR Recruitment OR Staffing). Due diligence takes a broader approach to identify opportunity.

I propose each of the following exercises as part of a broader strategic effort to add value to the fundamentals of both job search and career success:

Understand your target industry(s): Navigate your job search and career advancement as you would if you were a day trader – watch as many cable news economic panelists as possible and do so regularly. Various corporate Quarterly reports and stock patterns provide a glimpse into what industries are flat, in growth mode, or projecting sustained growth. Company by Company, industry by industry – forgo setting your expectations on the broader economic news. Target specifically and efficiently. Avoid one size, fits all in the manner you distribute your resume or view advertised jobs: Too often senior recruiters make the same mistakes as the unemployed candidates they have hired or passed on. They apply the old fashioned way, by looking at known openings rather than assessing that fiscal year budgetary assumptions change head counts. Imagine your success looking the pre-digital way; be it the classified newspaper or on a job center wall. You couldn’t compete in today’s information autobahn. Rather, you apply for jobs yet unknown and unannounced. You don’t apply to an impersonal, careers email address, you seek the department or business group staffing executive if not a senior recruiter within the group. As in all things, go to the source of hire, by sourcing their contact info as specifically as possible. Find a name and title of a key decision-maker at “BigCompany” but don’t know their email? If you need to proceed further than you can try: Jigsaw, ZoomInfo or Google : FirstName.LastName email search via Google: Click
Research, database your targets, and invite … Repeat:. Where do you start? The low hanging fruit suggests Recuitingblogs.com and ERE as well as Linkedin recruiter groups, Google/Yahoo recruiter based groups are a few mentionable’s as the direct way to identify fellow peers. Moreover, lead databases such as Jigsaw, Zoominfo are quick ways to identify staffing executives and jumpstart your efforts to building corporate staffing org charts. For those who take great joy in peer searches, I like to try this String.
Create search strings on various search engines to broaden your knowledge of direct reports: Given that recruiters are blog and website savvy, try various search tools IceRocket, Tweepz, Gigablast, pipl, or Whois.domaintools.com-
Peer-to-Peer Open Networking: Connect to other recruiters, staffing executives and thought leaders. It’s not who you know, but who knows you. You can drink the Koolaid of “doesn’t know” and click delete, or you can realize that who you know is already in your Outlook contacts. Yes it’s true. Why wouldn’t it be? I assume by being unemployed you will have eventually exhausted your Outlook by now.
Social media is most effective when its observed as part of a broader strategy: It’s a process within a new solution, not a one step road to success. It’s the yellow brick road in the introduction journey: Linkedin is your next step to introducing yourself to them, becoming their Twitter followers as a means to then directly message them, moreover phase three onward to a Facebook invite with your prior recent connections mentioned as a point of origin to reintroduce yourself with your contact info and resume.
Don’t be “That Person”: The person who only contacts pertinent decision makers when he/she needs something. Who receives but rarely gives. Who says thank you that ‘one time.’ Keep in touch every few months and offer your assistance routinely and sincerely. Don’t be the person who people mock when they read “Contact me by cell if I can be of help” on the bottom of your Linkedin or Facebook Profile and yet you don’t include your actual number.” Complete that profile as thoroughly as possible with as many links to track you down as feasible so that a layoff doesn’t cut off your tracks to being found. (Yes I have seen that one too many times.)
Spreadsheeting or Databasing Updates don’t Start and End with a job Search: Regularly update and inquire on new contacts to add as if your position is never secure. In most instances it isn’t. 9/11 and Bank Sector crises happen when you least expect it. “Assume the next crisis is a day-to-day game changer. Be ahead of the game.”
Know what Questions need to be asked rather than simply seeking answers: The Staffing Industry profession Requires Us to be life long students. Technology and best practices dictate we adopt and assimilate, if not also innovate. You never stop learning. You never presume to know what you need is enough. Never resist an offer to be taught and always invite a Mentor in your life. Never assume the most junior member amongst you doesn’t have information you can use. You are as good as the mentors you keep in your inner circle and the contributions you make within it.
Try to understand your detractors as you would your friends and colleagues: Misunderstandings can be extremely superficial as they are repairable.
The worth of your various social relationships are not simply accounted for in the form of present monetary value. Don’t treat colleagues as assets according to who they know and can introduce you to as a means to an end. Knowledge gained from your contemporaries is its own reward as it is to extend sincere kindness. Learn to relish kindness as much as you embrace it to keep you warm on those cold and sullen days. Kindness makes you more productive and valuable as a coworker and as a human being. Be remembered for all the right reasons. Prove who you are in both the worst and best of times and serve as an example in your own right. Moreover, humble yourself in asking others the secrets to their success. To be succinct, ask of others and diligently follow through in assembling your circle of mentors and keep them close regardless of economic situations.
Know your world, the economy that affects our broader industry, and understand the business sector your niche is within. Above all, for you it’s not a spectator sport. Consider this analogy: It’s deeply personal, your horse is in the race. The jockey rides to victory on the horse he came on. Your search strings and how you relate within your industry, both virtually and, in person, will be the horse your job search success depends upon. Your due diligence in your job search and in meeting your long term career goals will likewise be reflected. It’s your destiny – start to respect it with a certain standard of care.

Join me in making a toast to a year wiser, and moving forward regardless of the broader economic landscape.

Dave presents at global recruitment conferences, Staffing Management Association events, webinars and workshops. He co-presented at the AustralAsian Talent Conference on “Blogging for Talent” with thought leader, Kevin Wheeler, and served on a panel on “Social Media: How is Technology Impacting Recruitment?” Panelist at Kennedy Expo Vegas 2008’s “Ask the Experts — a Sourcing Summit Town Hall.” He served as Moderator for a Three Part Kennedy Info, Audio Series on “Blogging for Talent, Branding and Web 2.0 Relationships” and a Kennedy Conference & Expo General Assembly Panel, “Blogging from ‘Guerilla’ Marketing to Mainstream Recruiting,” Co-Presented both “Mastering Linkedin” an ERE “Full Day Master Session, Advanced Sourcing Workshop” with Shally Steckerl and Glenn Gutmacher.

Few in the recruiting business take “networking” more seriously or pursue it more passionately. Dave is a leading advocate for microsite talent communities; building aggressive talent pipelines and research capabilities while maintaining substantive social networking relationships.

You can learn more about Dave at the following:

http://sixdegreesfromdave.com/speaking-engagements
http://sixdegreesfromdave.com/testimonials

What’s Wrong with your Sandwich Maker?

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:44:00 +0000

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So I wanted to purchase one of those cool sandwich makers “as seen on TV”. You know the ones…throw a bunch of “stuff” into a skillet / press type appliance, press it down and wait for a hot, tasty treat? I did a little online research on different models. I was surprised to learn that the prices varied so much; up to $110 in some cases.

I lucked out, however. I found one that looked quite reasonable. Just $9 and free shipping! So I placed my order. It said it would take 10-15 business days to arrive. To my pleasant surprise, it took just two days for my new little miracle of science to arrive. I ran to try it out right away. It even had a little “recipe book”.

Then my excitement came to a halt. My first attempt at my hot, flattened sandwich with pretty griddle marks resulted in something that once resembled a sandwich now burnt to a crisp. Several more attempts…each time, it was either charred beyond recognition or severely undercooked and soggy. My sandwich press now sits alongside my “ab isolator” and my “juice making bullet” in a box in storage.

So what does this failed attempt at culinary arts have to do with Recruitment? Quality. In this case, lack thereof…

As Recruitment professionals, we do produce and market a product. It’s Human Capital. I realize that doesn’t sell well via a slick talking pitchman during re-runs of Gomer Pyle but the products we provide allow businesses great or small in having their strategic vision realized.

Fine, Bill. But that has little to do with cheap sandwich makers. Correct. But it has everything to do with the quality of the product we produce for our customers. Recruitment is a process and it should be held to metrics scrutiny just like any other processes in business. The problem is, the metrics most Recruitment organizations continue to cling to are Time to Fill and Cost per Hire: dated, pedestrian measurements that do very little to allow us to be Strategic Professionals in our craft. Break this cycle in 2010 and start now! Strong hires produce 3 times their salary in worth to an organization. Business impact like that needs to be enhanced through effective measurement.

If I measured my sandwich maker purchase based on time and cost factors alone, it would have scored very high. It was a low cost investment that showed up on my door in a couple short days. What happens when we measure the product on quality? Food that tasted like Calcutta ditch water.

I’ve outlined some steps for establishing a Quality of Hire metric into your Recruitment practice:

1) Establish a scorecard to send to your customers to rank the performance of your Recruitment Team. Measuring between 5-10 factors is ideal. My email address is included at the conclusion of this post. Feel free to email me for examples of how this template can be constructed (what to measure, scoring scale, etc). Doing some simple online research / benchmarking on the subject should prove helpful to getting you started as well.

2) Set goals for your team – what results from these scorecards are you striving for?

3) Set up a simple tracking system (Outlook Calendar?) and send the scorecard to your customers 6 months after hire.

4) Monitor the results and adjust at your discretion.

There’s nothing wrong with bringing quality talent into an organization quickly or at a low cost. But “quality talent” needs to be the focus. Take time today to examine how you can build measures of quality into your process and stop delivering burnt sandwiches to your customers – they don’t want them quickly or inexpensively, trust me.

For ideas or questions on establishing a Quality of Hire Measurement into your recruitment process, contact me at bmccabe@fsc.follett.com.

About the author:

Bill McCabe has nearly 15 years of Recruitment experience, the last few in Management. Bill’s current role is Manager, Sourcing and Recruitment for Follett Software Company in McHenry, IL. After employing Social Media into his Integrated Recruitment Strategy, Follett Software was named “One of the Top 50 Employers Using Twitter” by JobHunt.org.

Decrease your candidate screenings 72%: Ovia: Video recruiting done right

Don’t be different; Be Better

admin — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:21:10 +0000

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I was reading a blog post discussing “Why do we always have to be different? Why can’t we just be better?” and it got me thinking… How many times have you heard someone say, “Huh, that’s different.” It’s not necessarily a compliment. Different will only get you so far, it may grab someone’s attention however to keep it, you need to be better, more importantly you need to be effective.

The technology landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. Every month new tools are emerging within social media, video, mobile technologies, etc. and tools to manage all the tools. With so many avenues available it is easy to get swept up into using something different because it is new. I am a huge fan of technology so I am not suggesting that we shouldn’t be innovative or dismiss new tools, but rather evaluate our successes and failures and determine how to get to the next level.

Social Media has been a great resource for me professionally (and personally) to learn from and meet some great recruiters, sourcers, and thought leaders in the recruiting and hr industry. I’ve watched several in the industry be innovative and implement successful programs. For many, it was not an overnight success but the result of a lot of hard work, trying different tools, and taking calculated risks. Moreover, it could be stated that key components to their success were strategic planning and evaluating how they would be more effective.

Currently I have been evaluating video and the possibilities of how it could be integrated to engage candidates. I have considered what has been done in the past, with respect to candidate contact, and how to best incorporate the tools available to deliver a personable, compelling message. Ultimately, following new trends may make you different but being effective will make you better.

My challenge to you is to

Build on the basics
Take notice and evaluate trends/new tools
Strive to improve
Ask yourself how will this help me be more effective

Here are some sample questions when you are evaluating a new tool

What is your goal?
Will this tool help you achieve it in ways others won’t? Faster? Cheaper? Better?
Are you using it just to test it? Do you have time for that?
Is the tool reliable?
Is it better than similar tools out there?
Does it need to be compatible with other programs you’re using?
How can you measure/track your results?

About the author:

Marianthe Verver has been active in Corporate Recruiting and HR Roles for 10+ years. Currently she is the Corporate Recruiter for NeoSpire, where she specializes in full life cycle recruiting for IT and Sales positions. In 2009 she was honored with “Employee of the Year” for her contribution in placing top talent.

Marianthe is a member of DFW TRN (Texas Recruiters Network) and is currently serving on the Social Media Committee. She actively speaks and enjoys volunteering for Job Seeker Workshops and Recruiting Panels.

Feel free to connect:

Twitter: @mverver
Linked In: http://www.linkedin.com/in/verver
Email: mariantheverver@gmail.com
Blog: http://marianthe.wordpress.com

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#Recruiters: Are You a “Know-It-All?” Ask Your Mentor.

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:51:56 +0000

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Since you are reading this blog post and others, you hopefully have a thirst for new knowledge. Even so, you might still be limiting yourself in thinking you know enough about certain subjects that are key to your success.

When you’ve been in the same role for a while, it is so easy to become complacent. The world keeps evolving, do you? In these situations, some so-called experts “don’t know what they don’t know.” I prefer to think I know very little about my profession and I need to continually learn. And one of the most effective ways to do this is to have a mentoring plan. This is nothing fancy. It is simply a list of people and resources you can connect with to learn new things. Many know exactly what belongs on this list, but do not commit to it. After creating your list, you should attach an action plan to each one. My personal list for mentoring covers a lot of the ground. If any of the following are new to you, you might find the ideas useful.

When Social Media started to pick up in popularity, I started to interact with other recruiters around the globe. I quickly realized that most of these folks enjoy sharing their views and don’t mind offering insights on tackling challenges in our industry. I rely on channels such as Twitter, BlogTalkRadio, and email to have valuable exchanges with these colleagues. Oh, and don’t forget that old piece of equipment with the buttons on it—I think it’s still called a telephone.

Sometimes a quick exchange isn’t enough. My business partner, Craig Fisher (@Fishdogs), and I have quick update conversations all the time. But periodically, we have a long, tear-it-up, cover-all-things-pertinent kind of discussion. Most times, this leads to brainstorming on new ideas or a look-back on old ones. Every time we have a discussion like this, I learn something new and we have a list of things to tackle. Do you have someone you trust to have these kinds of conversations? Do you have scheduled meetings?

Obviously, there is more information in “written” word out there than we can handle. Reading blogs and articles within our industry can be helpful. However, you need to choose blogs and books wisely so that you can stick to a routine. It helps to pick authors you easily relate to, but also to pick ones you often don’t agree with. Think of them as your devil’s advocates.

When picking these formal and informal mentors, also consider people outside your industry. There are many elements of our jobs embedded in other roles we’re not in touch with day-to-day. Sales and Marketing. Communications and Community Relations. Some of us even have to deal with Accounting and Legal issues. It pays to have friends in these areas. They can draw parallels to our challenges very easily and offer a unique perspective.

Also consider in your mentoring plan, that you need to think about “taking it to the next level.” When you truly feel you know everything you are going to learn from your current mentor circle, you need to think about looking to someone who knows more. Of course, you first have to admit you still can learn more. I recently committed to an organized road bike trek across America this fall. I’ve been riding a while, and have put many miles on my road bike in the last several years. And I’ve had several mentors in this area, too. Several of whom I attribute getting me to this point. But a wake-up call such as this has highlighted that I am a long way from being able to pull it off. Nutrition. Endurance. Conditioning. All terms I have ignored for years. Needless-to-say, I have enlisted a professional coach to train me all year. What are the areas you’ve been ignoring where you need professional assistance? Writing? Presentations? Negotiations? Think about it.

Lastly, I would urge you to consider being a mentor to others. What you’ve learned over your career can be valuable insights to those who are just starting out or are in over the heads. It is a great feeling to share thoughts with others and see light bulbs going on. But there is a bonus. Many times when I’ve helped others, I’ve learned something new myself. A fresh perspective from a mentee can get you thinking about your own habits or approaches.

We all learn in different ways. The message here is to find creative ways to keep learning and hold yourself accountable to a plan centered on learning. I think Mahatma Gandhi put it best: “Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.”

About the author:

Jeff Lipschultz is a founding partner of A-List Solutions, a premier recruiting firm in Dallas-Fort Worth. Jeff has built and managed diverse teams in engineering, marketing/sales, program/process management, and client relations for over 20 years working at several Fortune 500 companies, start-ups, and a small OEM. Jeff has a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin and University of Illinois-Chicago, respectively. He has a Master’s in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University with a focus in Marketing.

Jeff blogs about the hiring process from all perspectives, employment trends, and sometimes quirky observations of society. You can find his posts in his blog, AOL’s emurse, and Job-Hunt.org. He is a Six Sigma Black Belt and a charter member of the Drucker Society of Dallas (www.druckerdallas.org). Jeff is also an avid road cyclist, die-hard Cubs fan, volunteer teacher, but most of all, a dedicated hubby and dad of two great kids.

Follow Jeff on Twitter at http://twitter.com/jlipschultz

The Magic Formula to Being A GREAT Recruiter

admin — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 00:22:47 +0000

What makes a recruiter great? For that matter, what makes a person great at anything? It seems everyone in the recruiting world is focused on Social Media as the end all, be all. Let me be the first to declare my love for social media, while also understanding my love is just a tool and not some mystical entity that drives my revenue.

Recruiter revenue is still driven by the same thing it always has been, the recruiter! In my opinion you will fall into one of these three categories;

Sucky; thanks for the negative reflection on our industry. Most likely you see this as a job, not a career.
Good; you are average and have the ability to make a solid living. Contributions to your organization meet minimum or slightly above standard expectation.
Great; this is where everyone wants to be (supposedly), the proverbially “next level”. We hear getting to this “next level” all the time, though few have a real plan. You are the cream of the crop. You don’t just work hard, you also work smart and make the most out of every opportunity.

So what is the magic formula? What does it take to be a great recruiter? I can sum it up in a few points.

“Just Get It” mentality (JGI).

In my 13+ years of being a recruiter (corporate & agency), manager and trainer of many recruiters, you could always tell the one(s) that “just got it”. Whenever you had training sessions, or exercises, they were the ones that figured it out and applied it immediately!

Thirst For Knowledge (TFK).

This person is always seeking out new resources and avenues to hone their skills and abilities. Like a sponge, this person soaks up knowledge (not energy) from everyone around them. He/She not only soaks up this information but applies it on a daily basis!

Quality Driven (QD).

Not every great recruiter is money driven (gasps, what?). Quality is a mindset; you are concerned about the entire recruiting process and want to do a great job. Your motivations run deeper than a paycheck.

Focus on Candidate User Experience (CUX)

You are in it for the long haul and understand that the candidate user experience (what I like to call the CUX) is a critical piece to your success. Your candidate interaction is with a purpose, providing critical and timely information, addressing hurdles as they occur, having open, honest and direct conversations and guiding your candidate through the recruiting jungle.

Not every candidate turns into a hire, but you turn them into an advocate for you, which in turn is an advocate for your company! Your motto is “CUX received or SUX I will be perceived”

Consultative (C).

Hiring managers, candidates, clients whichever environment you are in (corporate or agency) you are the knowledge center. You provide concise information even in the face of adversity. I remember sitting in a room of Fortune 500 executives (I was a corporate recruiter at the time) and we were making a roundtable decision on a hire. They had all voted “yes”, including the President. It was my turn and I said “no”! The room was quiet and I explained my position. We hired the candidate and 6 months later they were dismissed (among a variety of complaints). My prediction rang true and my stock went up! Because I was consultative and explained my position (while taking one), my job was a lot easier down the road.

Magic Formula: (JGI + TFK + QD + CUX) x C – SUX = GREAT RECRUITER

OK, so the magic formula is not exactly “magic”. Bottom-line, if you are the type of recruiter that is satisfied with being average; this formula will have little meaning. However; if you are a recruiter that has an insatiable internal drive to be the best, implement this formula and witness the magic.

A few of these attributes are innate to a potentially great recruiter. Where are you on this scale and do you have the desire to embrace these points, work towards them and be great?

For those recruiters out there who are asking, “what about daily planning”, and “what about phone time”? All these basics still apply, this formula embraces and expands on the fundamentals of recruiting, not replaces them….even a “sucky” or “good” recruiter can bang out 100+ calls. A great recruiter ensures that every little thing they do is magic (why is that song by The Police singing in my head?).

About the author:

Alex Putman has been involved in the Recruiting and Human Resources business since he graduated for the University of Alabama in 1996. His recruiting experience includes executive search, retained search, corporate recruiting, human resource consulting and management. He has managed many aspects of corporate Human Resources including; Recruiting, Immigration, Organizational Development and Employee Relations.

Currently, Alex manages the Talent Acquisition team at Synergis, an Atlanta based IT staffing firm. He is developing and building the Workforce Solutions group targeted at building a consultative relationship between staffing and clients.

The consummate family man, Alex enjoys spending time with his wife and 4 children. He is active in his church and community. A sports enthusiast, he coaches his daughter’s basketball team, enjoys golf and Alabama Football.

He is the author of “The Social T-Rex ™” blog, best defined as a creative, fun and informative approach to recruiting and human resources. Recently, he was asked to be a contributor to HR Toolbox, and started a human resource blog titled “HR Bits and Bites from a Social T-Rex”

Decide on your Brand and Move Forward

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:33:45 +0000

Some of my clients own an astounding amount of little used web addresses and seem to be split all over as to what they should do and how they should do it when it comes to Branding. Some of them have been searching and wandering around for quite sometime and I spend much of our initial time determining their best Brand course.

I’ve been a successful entrepreneur many times over in a row, built and ran multi-million dollar companies from the ground up. Thankfully, I can bring that business experience to my Social Media Consulting. Its a curious thing to me because I always did my business’ a little backwards, sometimes we would go right up to an hour before filing the Corporation name – NOT having a name for the Company.

I’m not kidding, what the thing was named wasnt our biggest concern. Many times that was my LAST concern. I was more interested in the business model and our plan, than the semantics of calling it something. Really, think about it. Twitter to me is one of the stupidest names for a company concept, but now given its Branding, it makes some strange sense (not really). Their business concept works. Mobile 140 character texting is huge, why not do it on a computer too. Its not rocket science. Really, have you ever tried to explain to someone what a “Tweet” is. People look at you like you are from the psycho ward. Google sounds to me like a name for a “peeping tom” or someone who needs sexual harassment sensitivity training. Its not the title of the Song that moves you, its the magic feeling you get in the music and the passion dispersed in the Lyrics.

Web 2.0 is on its way out so its not so much about what you name something, but the Brand you build behind it and driving traffic to it with Social Media.

Google only brings me about 4% of my traffic. I DELIVER THE REST. I’ve often joked that with the power of Social Media to drive traffic, you could probably run www.sh*t.com and be a success. With my Clients, we can quickly nail down where their potential Brand lies and usually, they do actually know, they just need a little focus and some help from me. Its hard to get confused with a choice on so many decisions. The world seems like an open book thats too large. Many times people are distracted by what they hear are “better ways to make money,” that many times are alien to them. Here’s some of my advice:

1) Do what you love or what motivates you passionately. Can you repeat that first item for me again please. I’m an old war horse, having owned interest in over 20 companies. After a time of building our own Companies, me and my partner started buying into troubled companies for investments. We did it largely for investment return interests, but I can tell you it was hard to get interested or really care about a business you weren’t really passionate about. Yes you try to think of it as investing but it was hard sometimes to really care. Do what you love, you’ll enjoy it and nurture far much better. You’ll wake up in the morning exited about what your doing.

2) Stay within your realm of knowledge. Don’t reinvent the wheel with a learning curve. Stick with what you know so you can Brand yourself as an Expert in your field. There is plenty of money to make in every industry, its up to you to innovate it and make it a success.

3) Have you made a successful income doing it in the past? Once again dont reinvent the wheel. If its been a successful money maker – take it to the Social Media level.

4) Who or What the hell is it about? Really, is about you personally Branded or your Company? Decide. Its amazing to me how easy this answer is in giving direction to what you want to do. Unless you have employees, for now its probably just about you. In the future how much of it is going to be you? Is it going to be convertible to the enterprise you see it becoming?

5) Get Moving – You can change the name later. Well it’s not highly advised, you can always change the name later as your Brand or the market redirects your focus. I’ve done it after the market fed back to us that the name wasn’t working, but the Brand and our business model still marched on. You’d be surprised how many successful businesses changed their names early on. It’s more important your business model is working.

6) Choose one Brand and direction. If you have multiple sites that help your brand, just point them at your one site.

I’ll add some more advice to this later. Quit buying websites and let’s get some work done. Call me for help and lets get you going. My office phone is 310-997-2204.

About the author:

Chris Voss has been a CEO, built, managed and invested in over 22 Corporations in various fields of industry for over 20 years.

His experience of Business Ownership and Controlling Interest Investments range from: Mortgage, Real Estate, Stock Markets, Investing, Mall Retailing, Computers, Clothing Lines, Talent Agencies, Courier Companies, Personnel Companies, Telemarketing Call Centers, Construction, Pay Per Call Industry, Club Promotions, Social Media, etc.

At 18, he started his first company. In 1992, with a mere $2000, he started his first Multi-Million Dollar producing company, that ran for over 13 years. A year later, with $4000, he started his second Multi-Million Dollar company that still operates today. After that he oversaw 3 Companies simultaneously, while building and investing in over 22 different companies.

He is proficient in most all aspects of Business Management, Operations, Start-Ups, Sales, Motivation, Training and overseeing thousands of Employees. He brings Vision to a Business.in his ability to “think outside the box.”He can innovate outside the paradigms of a company’s self-limiting belief systems. Given his breadth of diversity he can assimilate a business quickly and assess its good and weak points. In one case, he took over a company going into bankruptcy, turned it around, saved it from bankruptcy.

A successful Entrepreneur of Multi-Million Dollar Companies, he’s consulted people and business’ alike on a wide range of Business and Personal Life issues. On Twitter his advice is followed by over 100,000 people and growing. He is in the 1200 of the Top Twitter people followed out of and estimated 20+ million users daily He has become the Social Media Marketing Expert other “experts’ call for help.

He currently writes a blog, The Chris Voss Show, in which many of his market predictions come into play. He predicted the current recession in 2007 and that it would be the worst since the Great Depression.

“Thank you for joining me here with my thoughts. I hope you leave positive impressed, inspired or at least the better informed to make your world better, thanks.” – Chris Voss

I am available for speaking engagements and consulting.

School Day – The fundamentals of #Recruiting

admin — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 01:05:32 +0000

One of the things I love about my career has been teaching others our profession. My first boss looked at me and said “You know Chernee, this is not rocket science. Don’t over think it.” While I agree with that statement wholeheartedly, there are certain skills and attributes that can help you go a long way in recruiting.

It has been over a year since I have trained someone on how to recruit. So as I prepare to train my new recruiter for our company, I took a step back and reflected on what are the KEY skills required to be a great recruiter.

Listening: the most important tool in our job is the ability to listen. We need to listen to our clients to understand their business objectives. We need to be able to effectively listen to the candidate to see what they are looking to do next and make the best match.

Building Trust/Rapport: many times, we only have a couple of minutes, even seconds to build rapport with our clients and candidates. We need to make them comfortable and show them we really do know what we are talking about and can add value to their organization or career decision making process.

Building Community: as I have mentioned in other posts, it is very important as a recruiter that you are able to build a network. This community can go a long way when trying to locate the talent you need.

Coaching: part of the job is educating our clients and candidates on what we are seeing in the marketplace. We need to become proficient at coaching clients on the correct way to pitch an opportunity or coaching candidates to put their best foot forward.

Honesty and Integrity: let’s face it, sometimes recruiters do not have the best reputation and that can be in the back of the candidate’s or client’s mind. We need to show them why we are different and that we care and are going to add value to their search. Think of the Golden Rule.

Sense of Urgency: my former manager’s favorite saying is “Time kills all deals.” Especially true in recruiting. You need to be proactive – show your client that you have the candidates that they need in a timely fashion (less than 48 hours) or they will start thinking that you do not know what you are doing or have the network that you say you have. Check in with your candidates even if you do not have an update to keep them in the loop. Communication, Communication, Communication. Which leads me to my next skill:

Communication: effective communication is one of the keys to any search. If you are not communicating with the players involved you are not going to have an effective process. Requirments change as the process elves, feedback on the interviews feed into your search and all this information is important to make the search successful.

Knowledge Development: technology changes so fast that the things we use every day to help in our jobs will be obsolete five years from now. Though the fundamentals of our profession are still the same – the ability to connect with people for a common goal, the way we communicate or find the candidates are not. More and more folks are relying on social media or the internet to be found verses the standard job boards. So you need to stay on top of trends – engage your community and build your brand.

These skills are the ones I use every day, and consistently try to improve within myself. They are the skills that have made me a success as a recruiter. It will be my job to make sure my new employee can develop these skills and enjoy the same kind of success.

About the author:

Chernee Vitello, president and founder of Whiting Consulting, has more than 14 years of experience in sales and recruiting for high-tech companies. She has managed in-house recruiting teams for high-tech organizations including enterprise software companies and IT professional services organizations. As both a staff recruiter and an outsourced consultant, she helped numerous technology companies meet their aggressive hiring goals in periods of rapid growth and high competition for top candidates. She has consistently won awards for exceeding recruiting goals.

#Tru Stories: Don’t forget the 99

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 01:01:02 +0000

Earlier this year I wrote for Cruitertalk about improving the candidate experience and proposed a candidate charter. I got a lot of nodding heads, retweets and agreement but has anything really changed?

I’ve seen a lot of blogs making heartfelt pleas about how we should really be doing our best to improve the recruiter or employer brand, but I’ve seen very little actually happen in any meaningful way.

In reality, recruiters don’t care about candidates. That doesn’t matter whether they are corporate or third-party. (That may well not be the truth, but it is the perception we have created.) They care only about the 1% that become employees or placements, but what do we do with the 99% we don’t really want?

You might strongly disagree with my comments, and insist that you do care about people and do the best you can. If I’m wrong I’m delighted, but it’s not what I see. Unlike others, I don’t think it has anything to do with how recruiters are rewarded in the third-party sector or a heart felt dislike of candidates. It’s not a deliberate strategy, but it is a perception, and perception is reality.

I think it has come about as a result of automation and the volume of poorly qualified responses generated by post and pray recruiting. It’s a matter of time available and technology.

In most cases, only one candidate is ever going to get the job, and the rest are rejected. Have a look at your rejection process to determine what you can change to improve how this is done. The first big issue for me is how many people go unacknowledged or left in silence because they don’t quite fit the bill or have a resume that fails to hit the “Boolean” mark.

Gerry Crispin commented at Recruitfest09 that in an experiment he was running that out of all of the fortune 500 companies, only 3 acknowledged receipt of a resume. That’s before the hiring process has even started. To me that’s just plain rude and lacks any level of common courtesy that should be extended between one human being and another. (Apologies to Gerry if those figures are slightly out but they make the point.)

I have a few suggestions that I will be talking about in the Candidate Experience Track at #Trulondon on 18th/19th Feb, but would like your suggestions or observations to begin the track.

My suggestions apply to all recruiters whatever discipline, as well as job boards or technology companies and look only at the point of entry in to the hiring process.

1: Include more qualifying detail in your advertising. Look to advertise fewer jobs but spend more time on the ones you do. Support your postings with links to video or podcast with additional information. If it is a key role or a multiple vacancy create an event around this. Deloitte’s NZ have recently combined live Ustream with facebook for graduate recruitment and run a monthly show. The more time you invest in to attraction, the more you can expect your candidates to do the same.

2: Before you advertise anything, always search your own data-base first and look at who has applied to you in the past. The right person may be at your fingertips if you have organized the data in a way it can be retrieved easily. Code everything!

3: Create a human interface at point of response. A good example of this practice is carried out by global marketing recruiters Aquent.. when you apply to them, you connect with a recruiter not an ad. (They don’t post any on their site.) This way they can be vetted before they get to far in and either progressed or politely declined.

Personally, I think the job boards can do more on this and create an interface between the potential candidate and the hiring company within the job board using instant messaging. If a potential candidate can see that the recruiter is on line, they can engage with them directly and ask questions before making a submission. Would save a lot of time on both sides and improve the application process. This could also be done by linking a Skype call button that indicates the recruiter is available or a question/message box that goes directly to the recruiter, and is regularly reviewed.

4: Acknowledge every application. Even if this is automated via your ATS, tailor the response to the job giving a realistic timescale for feedback and plan feedback time in to the diary.

5: Create a funnel for all applications.

Channel A: Those that meet the criteria that you want to interview quickly, ideally moving to a phone screen at point of entry and booking the next step immediately. Be very clear on the process and timeline and have pre-prepared job descriptions, video etc you can refer the candidate to. Video does not need to be expensive or professionally shot. The best ones are shot on flip cam and show the staff that do the job talking about the role. I prefer controlled and branded channels for this like http://www.talentonview.com to host this because they are simple to manage on the back-end and easier to keep a track of.

Channel B: Those that don’t fit the criteria but are close to it or may be of some interest to the organisation at some time. You need to put in some kind of classifications at this stage. If you are using parsing technology use it to send out invites to Linked In, Facebook and Twitter. If you run groups in any of these channels, they create great candidate “holding” areas to keep them engaged. Send an automatic invite to join.

Channel C: Those candidates that fit neither category and you want to reject but you should do more than send out a standard “Dear John” letter. At the moment I’ve been doing some work with https://www.mygetaclue.com/ that have some great free resources for job seekers. You can tack this on the back of your ATS and send it out with your rejection letter. It’s great for your brand image, costs you nothing and might even end up making you money.

That is just the application process. In my own blog http://recruitingunblog.wordpress.com/ and at #trulondon I will be exploring the whole recruiting process and how we can work best to protect brand recruiter.

There’s nothing I’ve suggested here that is complicated or costly, but I believe is the right way to make technology in job search far more personal.

Be ambassadors for great recruiting; be glad to hear your views, see you at #trulondon

About the author:

Bill Boorman is something of a recruitment veteran, having worked in the industry for 22 years. All this despite being told at his first job that he didn’t have a future in the business! At the age of 42, the industry has given him most of his experience, having worked in most market places.

Recruitment has given him an insight in to the workings of many companies and he believes that this has given him a broad based understanding of business and people in general. He bases his training and consultancy work on this experience. He describes himself as being a non-academic trainer, preferring instead to deliver “true life” training that mixes reality with theory. Through his many experiences he has many case studies that help make sense of the problems delegates face.

Bill operates three distinct brands, spreading his message worldwide:

Planning for the Uptick: What does your recruiting toolbelt look like?

admin — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 01:09:32 +0000

I had the honor of working a Habitat for Humanity project with my niece a few weeks ago where our assignment for the day was to put up and align the exterior frames. Now, I am no carpenter by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the only other Jewish carpenter I know decided to start another religion. However, I learned how to line up the wooden frame from one side of the house to the other by using tools such as levels and string. Basic and simple tools!

If the frames are not in alignment…well, the house can fall down when you put the roof on.

As I was working, I started to think about how important this concept applies to the Recruiting world. How many times have you been down the candidate search mode and you were told that your candidates did not meet the hiring managers’ expectations because they did not have the skills/background s/he was looking for? Average hiring manager satisfaction is still in the 50-60% range. Remember when your company was in ramp up mode and the goal was to place butts in seats to meet customer demand? Companies were in that mode from 2003 to mid 2008 and as the economy begins to ramp up over the next 12-14 months we need to have the right tools in order to meet their expectations.

According to most, companies will begin hiring again in order to keep up with increasing customer demands. So….are your frames aligned with your company’s growth and workforce planning goals? What tools do you have in place to ensure that when the increased demand comes, you will be a Recruiting Carpenter? If the tool belt is a little light then below are some suggestions you may want to consider. Note that these tools aren’t groundbreaking and may seem simple, but so was the string and level.

Service Level Agreement (SLA): The concept of the SLA has been around the last six years. This tool helped our company go from a time to fill of 81 days to a current time to fill of 35. How? By taking the time to speak with our hiring managers about their needs with regard to daily responsibilities, the nice to have skills versus the must have skills, and the projects this person would have the opportunity to work on. The SLA conversations also helped us construct our job posting so that it would sell the opportunity not just be another job description out there describing the responsibilities and skill sets. Some of the key questions we ask our hiring managers include:

What are the big/compelling projects this person will get to experience?
What key objectives do you expect them to accomplish over the first 6 months and year.
What type of training and development is provided in this position?
What type of impact does this position make on the overall company?
What does your schedule look like over the next 3-4 weeks? Will you be traveling and will you have a back-up in your absence for recruiting questions?
When will you be available to begin interviews (dates)?

There are many other questions you can ask but the key is to be mindful of their time when doing these conversations. The partnership conversation shouldn’t go longer than 15 minutes. Remember, they are counting on you to deliver and if you have recruited for this position before, it should be a two minute conversation to see if anything has changed.

Social Recruiting: If either of these tools are not in your belt, stop reading this article and start looking into a different profession. Posting jobs on the big boards will soon become a fossil resource in the recruiting world as social recruiting tools and programs like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter continue to revolutionize the way we find candidates. Even Careerbuilder has started forming partnerships with Facebook and LinkedIn. Successful recruiters move as fast as technology does to find the best candidates so it is vital to learn and embrace the importance of these tools now before newer technology leaves you in the dust!

The Phone: Don’t laugh! The phone is also a very important tool to continue using. A lot of recruiters have taken social media and use it as their primary communications tool. Why? Takes less energy, don’t have to have the voice contact. Really? It takes more energy and thought to type using social media/recruiting than it does to dial ten numbers!

Social recruiting cannot replace the relationship skills that recruiters have been blessed with. Social Recruiting should be used to make the initial connection or generate interest, but there are a lot of recruiters out there who solely use e-mail and social recruiting as their method of contact.

Put yourself in candidate’s shoes or better yet, remember when you were looking for a job. Phone calls are the way to make the connection and show that you as a recruiter (corporate or agency) that you took the time to pick up the phone and find out more about them. The other key is to pick up the phone and let your candidates know where the position stands. Candidates still feel like they apply to the proverbial black hole because no one is getting back to them. Remember, the way we recruit and communicate with our candidates indirectly provides insight into what the company culture may be. If you put your company values and service standards out on your site then you should be living by them every day in your role as a recruiter. Candidate satisfaction whether the person is hired or not should be measured at all times

Metrics: In speaking to quite a few recruiters at different networking events, that they are still not measuring their success. The metrics are the nails that hold our wooden frame together because we know how we are doing. We can measure the success of everything with this critical tool. If you are just starting to measure keep your metrics simple – cost per hire, time to fill, hiring manager satisfaction are three great metrics to start with. Once you have these you can look at more metrics such as Recruiting Cost Ratio, Recruiting Efficiency, Candidate Satisfaction, and Quality of Hire. The second part is to show off your results and your positive impact to the company. Create dashboards and post them on a Sharepoint drive for your managers to see and discuss

About the author

Michael Goldberg is the Recruiting Manager for Freeman, based in Dallas, Texas. Michael has over 17 years of overall HR experience with the last 10 focused on Talent Acquisition. He has been with Freeman for the last two and a half years and has been successfully able to build great recruiting partnerships and reduce time to fill by 50% over the last year and a half and maintain a Hiring Manager Satisfaction ratio of 95%. He spoke at the Kennedy Recruiting Conference in Las Vegas and most recently the Kenexa World Conference fall 2009.

Contact info: Michael can be reached at either email address:

Michael.Goldberg@freemanco.com or recruitingforward@gmail.com.

Sourcing with Google Images to uncover “Hidden Talent”

admin — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 00:20:14 +0000

Use Image Search to Find “Hidden” Candidates As recruiters, we spend a lot of time constructing our search strings to target “human capital”. It’s a people business. For example, running an “intitle:resume” search on Google will find resumes. Or you could add more keywords to your search to find a “curriculum vitae” and even more keywords if you want to find a candidate “Bio”.

The Restrictions of Text-Only Based Search When it comes to Boolean searches, they all come with inherent limitations. For each candidate search, there will be candidates that can not be found. In fact, some candidates may not even use any normal permutations; and may simply upload a resume titled “Dave’s Experience” or “Dave-Edited Draft1”. It could be anything. What makes finding relevant information so challenging is that the web is made up of 100% user-generated content. So, what are some strategies to uncover these additional candidates?

Google Starts to Enhance Its Image Search Google set the stage to search beyond keywords with their 2006 acquisition of Neven Vision, a software company that specializes in image recognition. Since 2006, Google has been rolling out some of that new technology to enhance its Google Advanced Image Search. Now you can filter down results by Color, Type, Image Size, and more.

New Google Image Search Feature Targets Human Capital One feature that is particularly useful to recruiters is the “Face” Type Filter. As recruiters, so much of our time is spent trying to find information that would pertain to “people” or potential candidates. Recruiters accomplish this by looking for keywords like “bio” or “sales team”. With Google’s “Face” Type Filter, recruiters can kick back and let Google’s advanced facial recognition software do all the heavy lifting. Here’s how to use it to uncover “hidden” candidates.

Google Advanced Image Search http://images.google.com/

Step 1:

Put together a string of job keywords (titles, skills, etc.), then run it on Google Images. Geographic keywords work well; state, city, address, zipcode or phone area code. Google NumRange does not work in Image Search.

In this example, I am searching for a “sales manager” in NY in the Phone Area code 212

Run the search, and as you can see the results won’t be very relevant at first.

Step 2:

Click “Show Options”. Then select the “Face” filter.

The results look like this:

You’ll notice that the Face filter usually does a good job of pulling up “people only” so there’s no need to use any other commands like “inurl:bio” or anything like that.

Due Diligence; What Are Some Ways Image Search is Helpful?

I’ve found that text-only resume searches are great for people with technical backgrounds such as software developers, senior execs, UI architects, etc. But for positions that are not as tech savvy, such as real estate, insurance, and automotive sales, I have found that Image Search is especially helpful.

I recommend trying out some searches with the “Face” Type Filter on. As you comb through the results, be conscious of the URL’s and Text on the page. You’ll start to find that there are a lot of candidates that would be near-impossible to find via a traditional text-based search engine.

Here are some simple strings to try out or Google Images:

insurance agent chicago (IL OR Illinois)
“user experience” (CA OR California)
toyota sales (MN OR Minnesota)
engineer IBM

About the author

Adam Wiedmer works within the Recruitment Process Outsourcing industry in the Boston area. He specializes in providing sourcing and recruiting solutions for high-volume recruitment needs. With only two years experience, Adam has placed candidates for Fortune 500 companies in many verticals such as IT, finance, sales, and customer service. Aside from recruiting, Adam is a dedicated musician and spends his time attending concerts, playing bass, and writing music.

Email: adam.wiedmer@gmail.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/adamwiedmer