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Blog Post: Ask WHY not HOW

Jose Rangel –…

Added by Christina M. Bates at 1:42pm on July 25, 2015

Blog Post: Recruiting for Nonprofits: How to Engage More Volunteers: Added by Phil Strazzulla at 11:49am on March 21, 2020

Blog Post: Here’s How U.S Companies Are Responding to the Roe v. Wade Verdict: On Friday, 24th of June, the U.S Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, effectively banning or restricting abortion in at least 13 states in the United States. It also struck down a 1992 case —…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 7:39am on October 21, 2022

Blog Post: Volunteer Programs: How to Offer BIG Incentives on a Small Budget: Added by Hesha Patel, MBA at 9:51am on February 10, 2016

Topic: Meet Gino Conti, RecruitingBlogs Activist, "Who said Corporate Meant Boring?": • Email Read Gino's Blog Post Archives: • "Maybe those brainless single-celled blobs have it right after all..." • "Dignity in Downsizing" • "I won't blame them for their ignorance" • "Exit Interviews" • "The more I do my job the more I like it" ABOUT GINO CONTI We continue with our series on Activists within the RecruitingBlogs.com Community. This week we feature Gino Conti, an Employment Specialist at Nissan North America in Detroit, Michigan. Gino is an experienced, full cycle recruiter aligned with Nissan's major OEMS, Tier suppliers, and non-automotive companies nationally with a focus on the Midwest market and in Canada. He has developed his staffing industry niche almost entirely within the automotive industry on behalf of a wide array of functions ranging from business to technical. Currently, Gino is responsible for NTCNA for engineering, but also in support functions such as purchasing and communications within Nissan. Q&A with Gino Conti Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Gino: Outside of work I surround myself with friends and family in most of my free time. I occasionally like the solitude of a good book, but most of the time I’m spending time with my two younger brothers or old friends that have stayed close since high school and college. I try to keep as busy as possible since I don’t like being bored. Outside of working full time I am also going to school full time for my MBA, training for a half marathon this fall (and hopefully a full in the spring), and fill any remaining time with reading, writing, and the very rare guilty pleasure of some video gaming to just zone out. I am still trying to find the time to get out and go skydiving again, as this is the first summer in a while that I haven’t been out. I have been involved in a variety of charities, and I have often said if I hit the lottery I would love to replace the time I spend at my day job now with volunteer time. I have worked with Adopt-a-family, area soup kitchens, and try to donate any gently used possessions to Purple Heart or Salvation Army instead of relegating them to the trash bin. Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Gino: Recruiting is the only thing I’ve done since I graduated college in 2005. The first three years were spent working for a TPR, and I am now in a corporate role, so my duties blend into HR a little more now, but the main focus has always been recruiting. Six Degrees: How did you get started as a recruiter? Gino: I’ve spent just over 4 years in the recruiting seat doing mostly technical staffing. My initial responsibility was to recruit engineers for the automotive OEMs and suppliers in Southeast Michigan so despite a complete business-based education my focus was almost entirely engineering recruiting. Since coming onboard at Nissan my recruiting efforts have been more varied and I have branched into finance, purchasing, and sales and marketing. Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Gino: The fist webinar I attended that was presented by Shally. I had been using LinkedIn for a short while at that point, but was not nearly as proficient as I wanted to be. After his webinar it was like I was a changed man in terms of recruiting – it truly opened my eyes to the creativity and open-mindedness required to really be an effective sourcer and recruiter. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Gino: There are a couple of people who come to mind, but one who is head and shoulders above the rest. Ian Caullay was a Senior Recruiter whose desk was adjacent to mine when I was first hired out of college. I knew precious little about recruiting (absolutely nothing to be honest) and he was more than happy to help. I remember trying to strategically plan my phone time to be opposite of his so I could listen to how he talked with candidates, asked probing question after probing question, closed them down on the opportunity and the salary, and built a tremendous rapport with each one. Although it was important to tweak his approach to fit my personality, the majority of my recruiting persona was influenced by Ian. Six Degrees: Tell us about your position at Nissan Gino: As a corporate recruiter for Nissan I am tied into several difference areas of the company. My role includes doing my own sourcing and recruiting, but also requires that I take a teaching/coaching role with managers in order to create job descriptions and conduct interviews. I also work very closely with HR and Talent Management to ensure that we are developing high potential employees and maintain a good range of diversity in our employee base. The recruiting team itself is relatively small, being only 6 people for the US and Canada, but overall HR and Talent Management is a much larger entity. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Gino: I really like some of the things being done at Nike, Google, Deloitte, and Microsoft to name a few, and what Adidas did to revamp their career page was quite an ambitious and impressive undertaking as well. (B) In what aspects are they superior? Gino: Despite the fact that most of the aforementioned companies have such strong brand recognition that they probably have candidates practically banging down their doors, they still remain progressive and active in recruiting. I love the idea of having viral job ads, a more interactive career page, and conducting webcasts to inform potential applicants what the company is truly about. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Gino: Although social media is not necessarily the newest thing around, this is the area in which my role will change the most. The recent push has been to avoid costs whenever and wherever possible, and as such the reigns have been loosened a little bit to utilize sites like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and potentially even YouTube in order to reach out to candidates instead of paying the big fees required to search on sites like CareerBuilder or Monster. I could not be happier to have this be the case, and am glad we’re not allowing ourselves to get too far behind! Six Degrees: Tell us about your broader involvement within the staffing industry: Gino: Unfortunately travel has been a bit tough to justify lately, so conference attendance is not something I’ve had the luxury to do, but I hope to make it out to some in the near future. Six Degrees: Can you detail how the recession has affected your particular industry niche? Gino: Unfortunately I was not able to fully elude the recession myself, but thankfully it did not have me down and out for too long! The TPR I was working for previously had 90% of their eggs in the automotive basket, specifically with GM and Chrysler. Once those two companies started cutting contract employees left and right I saw the writing on the wall and tried to make a move before it was too late. I started getting some bites, but the losses got so great that the board could not wait any longer to take action and the layoffs began. Thankfully when my time came I already had some irons in the fire and my period of unemployment only lasted a few weeks instead of months, but it was terrifying and nerve-wracking all the same. Despite being gainfully employed, the recession has continued to affect my role. Budget is tighter than ever before, managers are pickier than they used to be, and candidates are typically a bit more persistent with requests for feedback. I can’t say that I blame anybody for taking the actions they have, but it has certainly required a slight adjustment to normal process! Six Degrees: Aside from simply the generic term “Networking” what specific efforts have you made on your own behalf, or on behalf of colleagues to broaden your opportunities. Gino: Instead of going strictly with online networking via groups on LinkedIn or the like, our recruiting team has made efforts to get our internal subject matter experts involved. We have been working much more closely with the hiring managers and top talent within our own four walls to go after known high performers within the industry. Six Degrees: Given your own Trial and Error experiences as a Networker, what advice do you have for your peers on what NOT to do? Gino: Although it has brought me some success in the past, I’m still not a huge fan of the true cold-call. I know there are some folks that have made a living out of it, but blindly calling into a company has not seemed to be the most productive, nor has it been well-received. While I have been able to connect with some great candidates by cold-calling, I found that most people were either upset to be contacted at work, or were too worried about getting caught to give me the time of day. Essentially I feel for the time sensitivity I need to keep in mind for my projects I need to do something with a lower failure rate than the cold call. Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Gino: I have a couple of different ambitions within my profession. One option is to continue to learn and grow in recruiting in order to lead the recruiting team for Nissan, or branch out into one of our related organizations within HR or Talent Management and create a stronger connection and synergy with the recruitment team to make recruiting a more strategic part of the organization. Part of this goal is continuing to educate myself (thus the MBA), excel in my current role, and continue to stay abreast of what is cutting edge in order to move my team closer to becoming a world-class recruiting function.…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 9:17pm on October 4, 2009

Blog Post: Employee Perks & Benefits: 20 Ideas, Types, & Examples: In today’s candidate-driven market, employee benefits and perks can be the difference between attracting and retaining top-performing talent and losing them to the competition. So you’re probably…; Added by Phil Strazzulla at 2:33am on October 21, 2022

Topic: Meet Julia Margherita-McInerny, Adobe Alum - Enjoying The Hunt As A Fearless Sourcer & Her Starbucks: infrey Show Fan of the following: Captain C.B. Sully Sullenberger and Starbucks Coffee Company Admire of : Shally Steckerl and JobMachine Cheatsheets Quote: " .. You can find us walking the dogs downtown Willow Glen stopping at Starbucks to refuel" Community Volunteering: Human Society, ASPCA, PugPros, Local Hospital, Reading for elementary school students through a Junior Achievement program" • Email Julia: juliamargherita@sbcglobal.net • Phone 408-504-4061 ** Currently Seeking New Opportunities** Q & A with Julia Margherita-McInerny Julia Margherita-McInerny is a Corporate Sourcer based in San Jose, California. Her staffing areas of expertise are in Advanced Internet Research identifying passive candidates, full-cycle recruitment, cold calling, and networking. She has worked at prominent Silicon Valley companies such as Intuit, The Gap, and most recently, as a Talent Scout at Adobe where she worked for the last three years until this past February. Julia has experience targeting varied job req disciplines, i.e., Marketing, Product Management, Human Resources, Legal, Corporate Communications, Internal Communications, Real Estate, Corporate Architecture & Construction, Visual Merchandising, E-commerce, User Experience Designers, Visual Designers, Technical, Engineering, Finance, Internal Consulting, and Customer Support. Life is an adventure, and Julia has a team effort supporting her latest chapter. Aside from her recent job search efforts, Julia has experienced the more satisfying life transitions that come with a recent marriage this past October with her husband Tim McInerny and building a nest with their two dogs, Carson the Mastiff and Lola the Pug. Six Degrees: Tell us of your home world. Julia: My husband Tim and I were married this past October. We had a beautiful wedding in Los Gatos, CA with 150 of our closet family and friends. We are settling into married life quite nicely along with our two dogs Carson the Mastiff and Lola the Pug. We are working on adding to our family! Since we both waited to marry a little later in life, we feel very lucky to have found each other. I’ve always said that finding your soul mate is like searching and finding the perfect candidate -- sometimes you have to search high and low and wait for the right one! We enjoy eating out and trying new restaurants. We also love entertaining and having friends and family over. On the weekends, you can find us walking the dogs downtown Willow Glen stopping at Starbucks to refuel or going to the dog park. Anyone who knows me knows I am an extreme animal lover. If I could adopt all of the stray and rescued dogs and cats out there, I would! I am a strong supporter of the Human Society, ASPCA and try to help PugPros, a local pug rescue group when I can. When I was growing up, I really wanted to become a veterinarian but I think it would be too hard for me to see animals hurt and in pain day in and day out. I can’t even make it through commercials about abused animals without shedding a few tears and forget any movies where the family pet passes away in the end!!! I also enjoy reading in my spare time. I’m always game for anything Oprah recommends! I also never get tired of a few of the classics including "Catcher In the Rye", "The Great Gatsby", "To Kill A Mockingbird", etc. For kicks, a good laugh and to keep in touch with the girly side of me, I’ve also ready the "Confessions of a Shopaholic" series! I have done some volunteer work in the past at a local hospital as well as reading for elementary school students through the Junior Achievement program. I’ve always found volunteering very rewarding and hope to donate more of my time soon. I try to stay active and make it to the gym a few times a week. I’ve dabbled in yoga and core training classes. I also love playing tennis and have played golf a few times but get frustrated easily! Six Degrees: How many years have you been in the staffing industry? Julia: I started recruiting in an agency in San Francisco in 1997. I placed paralegals and case clerks in some of the top law firms in SF. Prior to settling in staffing, I was a paralegal right out of college and worked for a large SF law firm mostly working on environmental and insurance defense cases. After 7 years working for lawyers, I decided it was not the right career for me -- I wanted to interact with people not documents day in and day out! I had always had an interest in human resources and recruiting so I decided to make a go of it. It was an easy and welcomed transition for me and I never looked back! After working for the agency for a few years, I desired corporate experience and really wanted to work for an internal staffing organization so I landed at Gap Inc. as a Sourcer and stayed for 5 years. I had the pleasure of working on all of the fun, creative jobs in the company including Advertising and Visual Merchandising. My hiring managers were the brains and talent behind all the Gap commercials and photo shoots -- I thought I was the “coolest” sourcer in town!! At that point in my career, I wanted to get exposure to the high tech and software industry and landed a contract gig at Intuit where I was hired to support Marketing and Product Management. Intuit was a wonderful experience and the free tax software was an extra bonus!! I joined Adobe Systems in 2006 as a Talent Scout and was brought on to source for the G&A functions including Marketing, Finance, Legal and Human Resources. I was also fortunate to get exposure to many other business functions within the company including User Experience Design, Professional Consulting, Customer Care and Inside Sales. I challenged myself every day with hunting for User Experience Designers/Architects and Computer Scientists!! Six Degrees: What single event had the most impact on your sourcing/recruiting career? Julia: It’s hard for me to narrow it down to just one event that has most impacted my sourcing career. Every company I’ve worked for has been unique from the other. Working for Gap in 1999 was really exciting -- we had prospective candidates beating down our doors wanting to work for the hip khaki retailer! Then the dotcom boom burst on the scene and we were fighting to save recent hires from going to start ups! It’s been such an experience watching the cycles of the economy and how it’s affected sourcing over the last 10 years. By the time I joined Adobe, I realized just how much I had learned about sourcing and what it takes to truly find and attract the ultimate passive candidate. One project that does come to mind was at Adobe and I was asked to become part of a team of recruiters and sourcers to staff a customer care center located in Canada. We were given the task of sourcing and filling over 100 positions within a very short period of time. The open positions were very technical and skill specific. The screening process for each candidate was very lengthy and detail-oriented. Sourcing for 100+ positions in a small market with a limited talent pool proved to be very challenging. I was not really familiar with the market in Canada let alone the complexity of the regions but I had to learn very quickly! Along with sourcing the candidates, I was also managing full cycle recruiting on this project. Through excellent team work and exceptional hiring managers, we were able to meet our goal and complete the project. This was very rewarding and will always have an impact on my career. Do you have a mentor to whom you attribute your overall outlook on recruitment, capabilities, and/or model your career after? Julia: I have been fortunate to have had many different mentors to whom I have looked up to throughout my career. I have had some wonderful managers who have been truly devoted to guiding and developing my skills as a Sourcer. I would have to give kudos to one of my managers at Gap when I started as a Sourcer who told me “you have to be fearless”. I remember being scared to death to make my first cold call! But I jumped in feet first and guess what happened!? The person on the other end of the phone was rude and hung up on me! I didn’t let that stop me - the more calls I made, the easier it became! I haven’t tried to model my career after anyone specific. I’ve really tried to make it my own and play upon my strengths. I have learned and gained best practices from all of the wonderful and talented Sourcers I have worked with throughout my career. I do, however, admire industry leaders such as Shally Steckerl and Dave Mendoza. Six Degrees: Tell us about your most recent gig as a talent consultant at Adobe, Julia. Julia: During my time at Adobe, there were three Talent Scouts (Sourcers) including myself, each supporting multiple recruiters. I had the opportunity to learn about many functional areas of the company but the most recent group I supported was the Technical Recruiters. This team of recruiters supported the business functions including Creative Solutions, Knowledge Worker, Advanced Technology Lab, Platform and Adobe’s User Experience Design organization. My main job was to source and build pipelines of candidates -- both active and passive. To find the “best of the best” and find out where they live, both physically and virtually! I conducted a lot of research of professional organizations, conferences and dove deep into social networking sites. Six Degrees: (A) What other companies' recruiting operations do you admire or have heard are best-practice examples? Julia: Definitely Microsoft for its complexity and best practices through word of mouth. They are always such a fun company to watch and have no trouble attracting prospective candidates. It’s exciting to see how their brand evolves and how they change their recruitment marketing. I try to educate myself and follow the trends by reading different recruiting blogs and news stories. Six Degrees: What recent general news story or industry trend do you feel will have an impact on your work in the future? Why? Julia: I think all the general hype around social networking sites are and will have an impact on the role of a Sourcer now and in the future. Most or all of the Sourcers I know spend at least 90% of their time networking and searching sites such as Linked In and Facebook. I really feel they will eventually take over completely. Perhaps even take the place of job boards -- at least for a means of sourcing candidates. Six Degrees: Have you been involved in broader industry events as of yet? Julia: No speaking events or awards to mention -- yet!! Six Degrees: What is your next career goal? What do you need to do to get there? Julia: I really feel I am in a good place right now. I am content in the role of a Sourcer. I enjoy the “hunt” and like the research aspect of the job. It is a thrill to source and develop a candidate that results in a hire. I am looking to be a part of a cutting-edge recruiting organization that isn’t afraid to push the limits. I thrive in a team environment where I can learn from my colleagues and feel my ideas are being heard and contributed. As long as I’m feeling good about what I am doing on a daily basis and my work is rewarding, that is all that matters to me. “HOW DOES THEY DOES JULIA DO IT?” Six Degrees: How many applicants at your present employer do you estimate are hired from your corporate website as compared to how many are hired through referrals? Julia: In my experience, the companies I have worked for have focused on continually increasing the number of hires through employee referrals. In general, the number of hires from referrals fluctuates between 30-40%. It seems companies are constantly trying to improve their employee referral programs to make the rewards more enticing for employees to refer great people but truth is, in this economy, it is more challenging. In general, I think about 10% of hires come from a corporation’s website or posting. A strong number of my hires have come from Linked In. I think in this economy, people are more open to networking and referring colleagues/friends for open jobs. In these tough times, people are more apt to help one another. Six Degrees: What is the source of the "Most Hires" collected from at your present employer? (In terms of Quantity #) Julia: In my experience, it really depends on the positions you are recruiting for. If I’m looking for a Computer Scientist or a specific type of Engineer, most of these hires seem to come from recruitment research done either internally or externally. Typically, these guys won’t have their resumes posted on job boards so a passive pipeline must be identified. There are some positions that are filled by job board resumes however, the types of positions I have worked on, require much more digging! Six Degrees: What is the source of your "LOWEST COST OF HIRES" - (least amount of invested resources for the easiest hires, regardless of quality) at your present employer? Julia: In my experience, a low cost hire is someone who has applied or submitted their resume in response to a posting or a resume posted on a job board. Also, prospective candidates who are already in our resume database are a good source. There could be someone who applied for one job but may be right for another. I usually go after the “low hanging fruit” first and I’m not implying they may be less qualified in any way -- the right candidate could be there right under your nose!! Another way to keep the cost of hires low is to leverage your own network. Reach out to current and former colleagues to see who they may know. Linked In has a great feature where you can send out job descriptions to your network to help with your sourcing efforts. No matter where I go or who I meet, I try to network -- you never know who you could meet! Six Degrees: What talent niche groups do you target and are these particular talent areas specialized under your review? Julia: I have had the opportunity to research and target numerous niche groups for the areas I have supported. Most of the positions I work on require digging and finding conference attendee lists, white papers and other publications, user groups, etc. For example, I have worked on a lot of User Experience Designer positions and this talent pool does not post their resumes on general job boards. The good talent is usually already working and in high demand AND receiving lots of calls from recruiters! There are a handful of niche designer websites/job boards I have to target to get their attention and potentially look at their portfolio. Six Degrees: What types of training in sourcing/recruitment are available to you and have you taken advantage of? Julia: In the past I have taken a few of Shally Steckerl’s seminars as well as attended AIRS training classes. I still use JobMachine’s cheat sheets! I recently participated in one of Craig Silverman’s webinars. I also subscribe to the recruiting/sourcing blogs and keep abreast of the news that way. I really like reading the daily blogs for tips from other sourcers or recruiters. Six Degrees: What recruitment software tools do you use in your day to day recruitment activities & do they translate effectively within all of the different countries where you recruit? Julia: Google and Yahoo search engines for Boolean searches of course! I have also been exposed to Virtual Edge, Filefinder and other ATS. Most of the jobs I have worked on have been based in the U.S. or Canada but it is important that any tool we utilize can be used globally as well. Six Degrees: What tools (technology or old school file folder, for example) did you first encounter early in your recruitment career? Julia: When I worked for the agency, we were still using hard copies of job orders and Excel spreadsheets to track candidates! I also used something similar to ResumeMix. Six Degrees: How did your expectations of being a recruiter compare to the actual, first time you got on the phone or in the cubicle? In your opinion, how do people's assumptions about our vocation differ from reality? Julia: When I worked for the agency, it was easy because all the candidates I called or interviewed came to us to register so there was no fear of the “unknown response!” I remember the day I made my first cold call -- sweaty palms and all! Of course the person on the other end of the call was rude and eventually told me never to call them at work again! What a way to start! But I kept going and it got easier as time went by. It’s easy to sell the company you are working for but it’s another story when you don’t know ANYTHING about what the person does that you are targeting!! I find it easier to let them talk about what they do. It helps me really learn the technology. Six Degrees: Worst mistake, biggest goof, lousiest practice you thought would fly but didn’t…and how that was a learning experience? Julia: Well, everyone makes mistakes now and then! I think the most important thing I’ve learned is to gather all of the pertinent information from the candidate the hiring manager is looking for -- leave no stone unturned. You really need to know their compensation expectations, relocation requirements (if needed), visa needs and any other expectations in the beginning of the process to avoid any obstacles down the road. Six Degrees: How do you personally expect to facilitate change within our industry, and/or at your place of work? If you started that process, outline the problem, your solutions, and the vision. Julia: I don’t know that I can change our industry but I can certainly work on changing and improving on my skills. If I can contribute creative ideas to an organization, I will feel good about what I am doing every day. I have good days and bad days -- there are some days when I feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels with no results but that is what happens in the staffing world! Six Degrees: What are some of the frustrating aspects/obstacles to your day to day as a staffing professional and in general? Julia: There are some days when I feel I haven’t accomplished much…..no matter how much research or digging I do, I still haven’t produced a viable candidate! I will complain and be frustrated one day and the next I will find three great candidates -- it’s very cyclical. Six Degrees: What are the most common themes of strategic and/or tactical mishaps involving past or present HR/Staffing org? Julia: I think staffing organizations sometimes get a bad rap. There are some individuals out there that think recruiters are paper pushers who sit back and wait for resumes to come in and offer no value to an organization. When in fact the reality is, there is a lot of strategic work that goes on behind the scenes. There is a perception out there that most staffing organizations out there are more reactive than proactive. This is simply not the case. Six Degrees: Considering all of the frustrations you have experienced in your career as a recruiter, -- what inspires you as you continue in your career? I try to remember all of the hires and successes I’ve had. It is so satisfying identifying and developing a candidate who gets hired and eventually comes on board and is so ultimately happy where they are. Also, working with a supportive team keeps me going. If my colleagues are happy and are having fun with what they are doing, it is very refreshing! Six Degrees: What one thing do you ideally hope to accomplish in 2009? Julia: I really want to double or even triple my current networks! Six Degrees: Anything you want to plug? Julia: I am currently looking for my next sourcing opportunity - please contact me if you are interested in reviewing my resume!…; Added by Dave Mendoza at 11:31pm on April 5, 2009

Blog Post: 35 Team Building Activities for Work (2022 Edition)

Companies actively endeavor to create a sense of teamwork amongst employees by connecting them to each other. With good reason.

‍…

Added by Phil Strazzulla at 5:06pm on October 8, 2022

Blog Post: 35 Team Building Activities for Work (2022 Edition)

Companies actively endeavor to create a sense of teamwork amongst employees by connecting them to each other. With good reason.

‍…

Added by Phil Strazzulla at 6:30am on October 25, 2022

Blog Post: 11 Effective Customer Engagement Strategies to Boost Customer Loyalty and Profits

What are businesses really about? Some will say products, while others say profits. But you can’t have either without customers.

Customer engagement has never…

Added by Phil Strazzulla at 1:53am on October 19, 2022