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Mobile Must Haves for Job Seeker 3.0

Noel — Fri, 04 May 2012 04:47:57 +0000

Last month, I encouraged job seekers to step away from the job boards and step outside to get some fresh air, network, volunteer and reconnect with industry peers.

While it’s important for job seekers to get out and about, it’s equally as important to remain accessible to recruiters. Mobile apps empower job seekers to spend their days away from the computer, but still connect as needed. Here are a few apps that help manage the mobile job search.

Mobile Must Haves For Job Seeker 3.0

App: Dropbox (iPhone or Android)

Uses: Store various versions of your resume, cover letters, salary history, references, etc.

You’re in the mall (window shopping, of course), and you run into a former classmate who shares a hot job lead with you. They urge you to send your resume ASAP, as their contact is going to be leaving for a 2-week vacation at 5 p.m. on the same day. You start to panic because you have a few more errands to run and, even if you did stop at the local library to use the computer, you don’t have your thumb drive with you. No worries! The wonders of cloud computing (and Dropbox mobile) allow you to access your documents from anywhere, including your smart phone. Google Docs Mobile also does the same.

*A job seeker recently advised me that some public libraries don’t allow users to save documents (even temporarily) to their computers. In this case, simply copy and paste your resume as text only and send it to yourself. That way you can easily access your resume from your “Sent Mail” folder at any time if you need it in a pinch.

App: Skype

Uses: Checking voice mail on the go, making calls (Wi-Fi connection needed)

I have a Skype To Go phone number that I list on my resume and in my e-mail signature so that the caller, i.e., recruiter or hiring manager, will always receive a professional outgoing message (I am rarely logged into my Skype account, which would require me to be tethered to my laptop). Skype sends an e-mail to my primary G-mail address immediately after a voice message is received. I can check the voice mail remotely using the Skype mobile app, then return the call to the recruiter from my cell phone.

For me, this works better than putting my personal cell phone number on my resume. In this way, I’m never caught “off guard” with a call from a prospective employer. This also allows me to do a quick bit of research and review the details of the position and company before returning the recruiter’s call. It also ensures that I have the full first and last name of my contact, as well as direct phone number.

*For job seekers who have had to eliminate their cell phone due to costs, Skype is a great low cost option. You can access Skype using free Wi-Fi at a local Panera Bread or Starbucks. Just be sure to find a quiet corner before returning those calls!

App: G-mail Mobile

Uses: Replying quickly to e-mails from contacts, updating Calendar/Tasks, organizing e-mail, and setting interviews on the go

If you use G-mail, you definitely will benefit from the mobile app which is synced in real time with your main account. You can use the same labels/folder to sort and archive mail. It’s awesome to be able to set up an interview in real time with the recruiter who calls while you’re out running errands, knowing your G-mail Calendar will sync with your desktop Calendar. (Side note: Most smart phones already have built in GPS. If yours does not or you want a backup, try Google Maps Mobile. A must for getting to an interview early!)

App: LinkedIn Mobile

Uses: Expanding and maintaining your network, following up on leads, accessing/reading relevant news articles

I really like the LinkedIn Mobile interface, as it has a lot more personality than the desktop version. Network anytime, anyplace. You can scroll through updates, news stories, and group feeds with the same functionality as the desktop version.

App: Indeed and/or SimplyHired

Uses: Browsing current job opportunities, filtered by location and interest area; creating/managing job alerts

Both of these popular job aggregators have well designed mobile apps for easy searching on the go. I’ve found them both to be nicely formatted and very useful. If you login to the mobile app with your e-mail account, you’re able to save jobs and review your application history.

App: Craigslist Mobile (iPhone and Android)

Uses: Browsing current job opportunities, filtered by location and interest area

I stopped using Craigslist’s job search board years ago due to the overall quality of the posts. However, several job seekers I’ve spoken to recently have found it useful. I downloaded the Craigslist mobile app recently, and I must admit, the design is a lot cleaner and easier to navigate than the desktop version. As always, be mindful of submitting your personal details to anonymous addresses, as spam and scams abound.

App:TweetCaster

Uses: Reviewing, Sorting and Filtering Tweets

This app makes it super easy to manage your tweets. I find it is far less overwhelming than the actual Twitter desktop version. I’ll typically scroll through the TweetCaster app feed for no more than 5 minutes in the morning to see what I’ve missed and mark Tweets of interest as “favorite.” Then, I’ll spend 10 minutes later in the day reviewing and reading my favorites from my laptop and re-tweeting/commenting as needed.

App: Harvard Business Review (mobile app only available on iPad)

Uses: Resources, Ideas and Advice

This site has a wealth of resources and articles about today’s job search that you can skim on the go. I don’t have an iPad (but my super recruiter peer Amy Ala does!) I simply go to m.hbr.org from my iPod or smart phone browser to check out the site’s valuable content.

App: uMe

Uses: Electronic Business Cards

I found this app to be immensely helpful at a recent networking event. If you’re in transition and without business cards, this app is a great quick save. Easy to setup, even easier to use.

Companies With Mobile Jobs Apps

Companies seem slow to adapt to the mobile app craze, with a few exceptions. Sodexo is one of the first global companies in the mobile Career app space. Sodexo’s Jobs App is “bringing the job application process to candidates’ fingertips, literally.” Very innovative, kudos to them.

Pepsi Co. has a Jobs app called Possibilities that allows job seekers to view video, Tweets, blogs and job search tools and alerts “all in the palm of your hand.” Way to go, Pepsi Co.!

Starbucks‘ main app, primarily designed to help caffeine fiends find their nearest store and track Starbucks’ Rewards, also has a job search function built in. Though not as comprehensive and integrated as Sodexo’s and PepsiCo’s, the Starbucks app allows users to search available job titles and e-mail themselves a “reminder to apply.”

Pinterest Recap of Resources

I’ve compiled all these mobile must haves on a nifty Pinterest board for your quick review, perusal and sharing. I use Pinterest’s iPhone mobile app (no equivalent for the Android yet) to make browsing and re-pinning easy and fun on the go.

If I failed to mention your favorite mobile job search app, please feel free to share it below.

Happy Job Hunting!

More Resources

More Mobile Apps for Job Seekers

Dropbox Mobile for Sensitive Data

Why The Job Search Is Going Mobile

Employers – Before You Build Your Mobile App

Photo: LinkedIn Mobile App, My Personal Screenshot

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Maisha Cannon is a Senior Recruiter and Researcher committed to introducing employers to talent that will enhance and grow their businesses. Over the span of her 15 year career in Human Resources, Maisha has filled over 1,000 positions, and has coached hundreds of candidates on resume writing, interviewing skills, and career planning. She spends her free time blogging, engrossed in social media, and singing along to the thousands of songs in her iPod.

Free Recruiting Webinar: Building Your Talent Community In 30 Minutes A Day by Maren Hogan

admin — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 06:12:02 +0000

Maren Hogan – Talent Community Expert, Social Media Maven, all around cool person.

Our last webinar went over the limit over 1K attendees and nearly crashed our system! Don’t get left out this week as @MarenHogan is presenting a very tactical webinar Thursday 2-23-12 on “Building your talent community in 30 minutes a day”.

Register Here Get your free “How to: Social Recruiting” white paper from iCIMS.

Everyone who registers for our Webinar HERE will get a copy of the white paper PLUS 12 free Power Boolean Searches: Register for the webinar HERE

Building a talent community is hard work. Doing it in 30 minutes a day is ridiculous! but Maren Hogan will show you it can be done. Can it? Join her 30 minute session on 2-23-12 to see the strategy and tactical tools she uses: Register HERE

All registrants will receive 12 FREE Power Boolean Searches when you register for the upcoming ICIMS Webinar presented by @MarenHogan: “Building Talent Communities in 30 minutes a day”: Register Here

Sponsored by iCIMS and RecruitingBlogs.com

11 Research, Data Capture and Search Engine Tools from our readers for #Recruiters

admin — Tue, 01 Feb 2011 07:23:55 +0000

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Throughout the last year we’ve posted on many search tools, technigques and apps that can be utilized by recruiters. Not all of these tools are created for recruiters but all of them can be used by recruiters and sourcers to gather pertinent information during your search.

The list below is a list that we’ve built off of the comments, suggestions and tweets shared with the RecruitingTools community.

Various Search Tools

trueknowledge: A quick and easy way to get answers to your questions. It’s a search engine built on knowledge…Sounds rudimentary but you’ll get the drift once you check it out.

Footnote: 70 million plus documents posted on the site. It’s not free and not always the best source but a source none the less that hold some valuable info. This is not a site to search resumes.

PennTags: User created data based on Tags and academics. It’s a UPenn affiliated site, thus the name

Search Engines: (Not exhaustive but a few neat engines that can add some direction to your search)

GigaBlast.com: A green site powered 90%by wind energy. But the real reason I’ve included the site is that it gets results. You can search for resume using Boolean but not all the same syntax as Google. So you’ll have to play with it. The results or clean and presented quickly

GO.com: Kid of silly to include since it’s the new infoseek and powered by Yahoo. The main page is built nicely and it’s fast but they play an auto video and that is annoying as hell.

SavvySearch AKA Search.com: Nice site, very quick and accepts Boolean search. The results are displayed in a clear and wasy manner.

Rollyo: Customizable search engine giving you the tools to create your own personal search engines and target specific areas.

HotBot: Not a boat load of features here but it will save you search criteria across a few search engines to prevent you from having to retype or copy and paste your queries.

Data Capture Tools

Knolwedge Probe Inc.: Captures,filtering, mining, and conveniently processing text from WebPages and other sources,

Contact Capture: A free capture tool that allows the user to use a free fully functional capture tool and export tot excel among other programs.

The Email Extractor: It’s free on a trial but can be used a few times over. This is inexpensive and well worth the purchase. You can pull 1000+ emails / minute if you are looking to pull data that quickly.

iMetaSearch: A Powerful new Windows search tool #recruiting #sourcing

admin — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:00:19 +0000

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Group, cluster, sort extract, export, filter: and search keywords, phrases, search results and candidates. This is what iMetaSearch lets you do for free.

Latent Semantic Analysis (LSA) is what stands between Google and iMetaSearch. Now I won’t profess to be a expert in this area, but I will say that I have had a productive time gathering relevant information on my areas of research. The pure definition of LSA or LSI (Indexing) is that the system is analyzing documents to interpret the underlying meaning or concepts of those documents rather than matching word for word. Here is a great visual that breaks it down rather nicely.

If however you just want to assume it works and try this bad boy out you can download the free version HERE from PuffinWare.

See the videos below to help walk you through. We did nto create these videos as they have already been posted and created on the Puffinware website. Here they are. Pay them a visit and try out the tool.

Here is a set of tutorials on the tool. Be sure to visit there site: iMetaSearch

Text from Puffinware site:

This video covers the basics of how to do a search. It also briefly covers the 4 main areas of the user interface.

Groups of Results - each search result is put into a group made of similar results.
Search Results – a list of all the search results.
Selected Result – the details of the currently selected search result.
Extracted Words – a list of all the words and phrases from all the results.

Text from Puffinware site:

This video covers how to explore search results by taking advantage of:

Sorting results by column
Looking at groups of similar results
Updating relevance scores by marking interesting results
Going to the webpage of a result
Exporting results to a CSV (Excel) file

Text from Puffinware site:

This video covers using the extracted words and phrases in the following ways:

Doing quick searches on any extracted words or phrase
Finding all phrases that start with a certain word
Filtering extracted words to find people and websites
Exporting words and phrases to a CSV (Excel) file

Text from Puffinware site:

This video covers how to use groups of related results in the following ways:

Sorting groups by description, color, or relevance
Controlling the number of groups, from large general groups to small specific groups
Marking groups to find related groups, and also related search results and words

11 Global Research and Information Tools for Recruiters

admin — Tue, 04 Jan 2011 05:41:07 +0000

Download our free toolbar with more than 100+ Boolean Searches HERE

Information Gathering is a vital line to success as a sourcer. Undertanding why you are searching what you are searching can prove to be the difference between success and failure. having a large tool box is great if you want to be the cool kid on the block, but around here I like to knwo that I am spending my time as efficeitnyl as I can. Billing lcients fro hours wasted is not a typical line item they like to see.

Below is a list of 11 strong data and statistical tools we use to create market and talent maps:

World Wide:

World Bank – The world bank is a great resource for learning, tracking and gathering data. This is a great resource for tracking economic and employment trends.

Best used for:

Data: for international and national statistics
Research: for cross sector reporting on human development and statistical economic information
Prospects: Information, analysis and advice on global trends

IMF – The IMF monitors the world’s economies, lends to members in economic difficulty, and provides technical assistance.

Best used for:

Economic Outlooks
Global and regional financial statistics
U.S Labour and economic forecasting

UN – The United Nations can be used for more than just a reference point you hear about on the news.

Best used for:

National Statistical systems
Global research for economic standards
Market research and Trade statistics

CIA World Factbook – provides information on the history, people, government, economy, geography, communications, transportation, military, and transnational issues for 267 world entities.

Best used for:

To study global intelligence
Country comparisons
Country profiles
Military and people studies

Google labs – Public data – The Google Public Data Explorer makes large datasets easy to explore, visualize and communicate. As the charts and maps animate over time, the changes in the world become easier to understand.

Best used for:

Population studies including job sector reporting
Unemployment by geo-location
Public data on human capital studies

OECD - OECD brings together the governments of countries committed to democracy and the market economy from around the world.

Best used for:

Statistics comparison for almost any topic

UNESCO - Global and internationally comparable statistics on education, science, culture and communication.

Best used for:

Surveys and studies
World and regional statistics
Science and Technology statistics an surveys

US:

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics – The Bureau of Labor Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor is the principal Federal agency responsible for measuring labor market activity, working conditions, and price changes in the economy. Its mission is to collect, analyze, and disseminate essential economic information to support public and private decision-making.

Best used for:

US Labor studies
Workplace studies
Unemployment rates, stats and charts

Census Bureau – To provide the best mix of timeliness, relevancy, quality, and cost for the data we collect and services we provide

Best used for:

Population & Housing Census – every 10 years
Economic Census – every 5 years
Census of Governments – every 5 years
American Community Survey – annually
Our many surveys — both Demographic & Economic
Economic Indicators – each indicator is released on a specific schedule, see the Economic Indicator Calendar

LatAm & Caribean

CEPAL – CEPALSTAT is the gateway to all the statistical information of Latin America and the Caribbean countries collected, systematized and published by ECLAC.

Best used for:

Studies on economic conditions
Science and technology
Employment and unemployment market and trends

Europe:

Eurostat – European statistical information

Best used for:

Statistical information surrounding European countries
Employment Trends and outlooks

Name Gen, Lead Gen and Influence: A Recruiters daily dose of Productivity

admin — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 13:00:44 +0000

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It’s been a fast paced few weeks here at RecruitingTools. Lot’s a holiday cheer and contributions from the community.

Here are a few hot topics fromthe group this week. Print them out, RSS them, take them to the potty with you, but just don’t forget to read them. There is too much info you don’t want to miss.

We wish you all Happy Holidays and Healthy New Year

2 Must try Recruiting Tools for Facebook:

Branchout (Overview and demo) http://bit.ly/aBzxVU

JobMagic: Our experience and overview: http://bit.ly/hOq3Mx

LinkedIn and more…

How to choose a LinkedIn Group: http://bit.ly/fFPIGw

WTH is Influence with @RadicalRecruit: http://bit.ly/gmgoyt

Productivity and Research Tools:

10 Free screen capture tools for productivity: http://bit.ly/fTRe4H

Source Solution: Name Gen, Lead Gen and Target Lsit Building: http://bit.ly/fJpocf

10 Free Screen Capture tools for Recruiting productivity

admin — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 20:00:51 +0000

Do you subscribe? You should, we give away really cool things for free: Click to Subscribe

A key part of successful recruiting is your ability to organize your desk in a way that you are efficiently communicating and proving key information to candidates as well as clients. There are hundreds of tools available for organization on the web, but which tools are the right tools to play with?

Subscribe here to keep up to date on this series of organization and productivity tools for recruiters.

Screen Capture tools are critical for on the fly presentation needs and data capture. You can use these tools for data sharing or training or simply just too quickly take notes and stow away for later reference.

Here is a strong list of 15 free and low cost screen capture tools for you to try:

Capture: This is a free capture tool that is fairly simple to install and use. Capture works on all versions of Windows, from Window 95 to Windows 7 and everything in-between (including XP, Vista, Win2k, etc).

Faststone Capture: Another great free tool. You can choose to send captures to editor, file, clipboard, printer, email, Word/PowerPoint document or upload them to your website. Editing tools include annotating (texts, arrowed lines, highlights), resizing, cropping, sharpening, watermarking, applying edge effects and many more.

Greenshot: Greenshot is a free open source light-weight screenshot software tool for Windows

MWSnap: MWSnap is a small yet powerful Windows program for snapping (capturing) images from selected parts of the screen

ScreenStamp: ScreenStamp! takes your screen shots by pressing the print screen button on your keyboard, names the screen shot, saves it to your predefined location and stamps the image with the current date and time.

Snippy: Free. Simply click on the little Snippy icon in the taskbar notification area, and mark out the region of the screen that you want to copy — that’s it, you’re done! The cut-out image will now be in your clipboard, and you can paste it in another application.

Webshot: The freeware version comes with a demo of the command line interface, which can be purchased, and used to streamline the screenshot process on whole websites.

Zscreen: ZScreen is an open-source screen capture program for Microsoft Windows. It can upload screenshots, pictures, text & files and put the URL in your clipboard in a single keystroke.

Screenshot Captor: Screenshot Captor is a program for taking screenshots on your computer. It’s different from other screenshot utilities in several notable ways

Fireshot: Unlike other extensions, this plugin provides a set of editing and annotation tools, which let users quickly modify web captures and insert text annotations and graphical annotations.

WTH is Influence with @radicalrecruit

admin — Thu, 23 Dec 2010 20:48:27 +0000

No need to write on this one…Geoff will do all of the talking…

Geoff’s take on influence and lists…

SourceSolution.com: Name Gen, Target and List Building

admin — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 21:00:50 +0000

Often times the tools we use as sourcers / recruiters are not recruiting tools. You’ve heard me say it time and time again that we are in the business of gathering information, not resumes. The other day Maha Akiki, a frequent contributor of information to our site shared a link with me that she found while doing some research.

SourceSolutions is not a recruiting tool. It’s a service that helps connect people with business. You won’t find resumes here but you can walk away with great information to narrow your search.

We’ve found that levering SourceSolutions in a way similar to how you’d use jigsaw can help you uncover some great leads. Since the site focuses on CRO and CMO’s you’ll strong data relevant to CMO and CRO’s, Biotech and Pharma, Professional Services and Regulatory.

Pros:

Most info for free
Targeted to the CRO and CMO industries
Few options and filters are intuitive

Cons:

Not every company has lists or information
You cannot search freehand

Cool:

You can Link up to your LinkedIn account to see who you are connected with in your targeted immediate network
You can research pipeline reports from the company and search their management teams

Step 1:

Goto http://www.sourcesolution.com

Step 2:

Choose the heading you wish to research. I tend to choose company directory or Industry Organizations but you’ll find valuable info in all categories.

Step 3:

Choose your company and research pipelines and management teams

Search pipelines for products and release dates

Search management teams for names, locations and titles

Present yourself with SlideShare

mikevandervort — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 23:00:20 +0000

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SlideShare as a career resource

I am sure most of you are familiar with SlideShare. If not, you should be. According to their website, Slideshare is the best way to share presentations, documents, and professional videos. They also bill themselves as the world’s largest community for sharing presentations.

What SlideShare can do for you

SlideShare is a business media site for sharing presentations, documents and pdfs. SlideShare features a vibrant professional community that regularly comments, favorites and downloads content. Content also spreads virally through blogs and social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and twitter. Individuals & organizations upload documents to SlideShare to share ideas, connect with others, and generate leads for their businesses. Anyone can view presentations & documents on topics that interest them. The site is growing rapidly with over 25 million monthly visitors.

What you can do with SlideShare

Embed slideshows into your own blog or website.
Share slideshows publicly or privately. There are several ways to share privately.
Synch audio to your slides.
Market your own event on slideshare.
Join groups to connect with SlideShare members who share your interests.
Download the original file

SlideShare is also a great place to keep up with an incredibly wide assortment of presentations and information specifically related to Careers and Recruiting, since they have a category specifically dedicated to the Careers topic. They feature a number of presentations every day, and many are really good sources of technical and topical information. Here are some of the topics that I found today:

A pretty random selection, and just a few of the many resources you can find on SlideShare. I encourage to explore, and if you have never used SlideShare, think how you could use it in your recruiting effiorts.