Featured Blog Posts – August 2009 Archive (68)

Have You Ever Had a Boss You’d Call Friend - Burning Bridges

I'm sure you've heard the a saying, "The grass isn't always greener". Does this apply to you when it comes to your career? How many times have you left a company thinking it was the right thing to do?

Maybe you left for:

- more money

- loftier title

- closer to home

- more flexibility

- better people

The problem is once you get to the new company you realize they have their own warts that you didn't see during the interview process. This blog… Continue

Added by Duane Roberts on August 31, 2009 at 10:00pm — 1 Comment

Can the staffing industry really learn a lesson on customer service from Qantas, of all companies?

I see a lot of the inside of planes. Being responsible for a recruitment business in upwards of 25 cities, in 15 countries, takes care of that. And I have been a Qantas “Platinum Frequent Flyer” for 8 years straight as a result.

Lately I have been assessing why I usually fly Qantas, as I have been getting more and more aggrieved at the airlines pricing policy. Seriously, Qantas regularly have Business Class seats at TWICE the price of comparable airlines to places like Shanghai,… Continue

Added by Greg Savage on August 31, 2009 at 7:49am — 3 Comments

How to manage life as a consultant – stress

www.consultgenie.com

Let’s admit it, a consultant’s life is not exactly stress-free. Yes, there are no routine office pressures, no back biting to manage, no office politics to deal with and no boss to breath down your neck. That makes life much better for a consultant than for regular employees. But, there is always the uncertainty of work, low work periods, delays in payments and sometimes too much work coming your way. All these can cause grief, stress and in extreme… Continue

Added by Sia Collins on August 31, 2009 at 7:00am — 1 Comment

Unifying a Fragmented Employment Industry

Many people have fallen victim to the ever fragmenting employment industry. High job board costs force companies to explore alternative avenues for advertising available positions and the scattering of jobs force job seekers to post their resume to multiple employment sites. Millions of jobs are left unfilled, millions of job seekers are left out of work, and thousands of job boards are cashing-in on the failures of both.

Overhead and value perception have created an unbalanced range… Continue

Added by Tanya Willette on August 30, 2009 at 6:40pm — 3 Comments

The Client Side - The Success Model

The other night I had the pleasure of being on the HR Happy Hour show with Steve Boese. I'm a bit of a fish out of water when getting heavily into HR talk because I'm not an HR guy. I'm a recruiting business guy. However, it was fun and there were several topics that came up that I think are worth exploring in much greater detail. As an aside, one that did not come up was the story of the night Tracy Tran missed the game of the century in order to save the planet. A night I'll never forget and… Continue

Added by Todd Kmiec on August 30, 2009 at 1:11pm — 6 Comments

Elbow Grease

I'm not a handy man. I try, but to be bluntly honest... I'm useless, light globes I can do, mow the lawn... OK, cut stuff up.. OK, but anything useful, work on the car, fixing broken things in general.. no way! Much to the distress of my wife and probably embarrassment of my Dad, who is the most MacGyver type guy I know.

However I was partaking in some blokey (for those in the US, read REAL MANLY) outdoor activity, had the women folk inside tending to the young 'uns. OK I was outside… Continue

Added by Dan Nuroo on August 30, 2009 at 11:00am — 2 Comments

Generic recruitment - why so many ads look the same!

Far too many position descriptions are complicating the recruitment process, rather than helping recruiters to recruit the right person. Good recruitment always starts by having a crystal clear understanding of what the role is (and not is). This is also fundamental for any advertisement, as role clarity is the key for finding the right person.

As I indicated in a previous blog, having a well-written role competency profile is critical - not a flowery or generic description of tasks… Continue

Added by Charles Van Heerden on August 30, 2009 at 5:06am — 5 Comments

Searching For the New Recruiting Model

A few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night and it was obvious that something was weighing heavily on my mind. Actually, it was this free-to-fee recruiting business model that I read about on a LinkedIn group.

This new model appears very practical, it fulfilled a need, solves a career progression challenges and could possibly stimulate jobs growth and pull the economy out of this downward spiral.

But it was the perception and the lack of clarity on how to sell… Continue

Added by Ken Forrester on August 29, 2009 at 10:30am — 7 Comments

Cloud Recruiting Nuts and Bolts - from $ apropos

From Chuck Hudgins' Blog: $ apropos

Over the course of the last few posts, I have fleshed out what I take to be the important aspects/core concepts of cloud recruiting. Two of the main points were:

Making use of social networking technology (using the same technology that makes up the cloud to connect others to the cloud)

Understanding that, in order to harness the power of free and apply… Continue

Added by Chuck Hudgins on August 28, 2009 at 2:30pm — 11 Comments

Bend, You Won't Break ...

Staying fluid to the changing times is as necessary as the air you breathe to support your life. Change is constant. Inclement weather to clear skies, poverty to abundance, fear to certainty, unemployed to employed, in order to remain current you need to embrace change like an old familiar friend. Remaining flexible and being confident that change is imminent whichever way the wind is blowing will help you. Go ahead and bend really, you won’t break.

Your career will take shape when… Continue

Added by Lisa Kaye on August 27, 2009 at 2:30pm — 1 Comment

Get Noticed, Get Hired

Saying that the job market has changed is an understatement. Everyday we talk to people who have come up short using the tried and true methods of ten years ago. Meanwhile success stories continue to emerge about people tweeting their way to their dream job or being discovered on their blog. Now of course this won't be everyone's experience, but there is a reason why this is becoming a growing phenomenon. These people have figured out that the people… Continue

Added by Pedro S. Silva II on August 27, 2009 at 12:30pm — 2 Comments

Recruitment through Twitter

“You are no one if you are not on Twitter”, a song by Ben Walker is sure to become an anthem for those use social media to communicate every second. Though envisioned as an SMS based social network,Twitter has become a fast and an effective communication tool. Today, it has crawled over every form of business leaving its imprints on them. Recruitment is one industry which has jsut joined the bandwagon.…

Continue

Added by Padameshwar on August 27, 2009 at 2:03am — 2 Comments

Arm Yourself with Succession Planning Initiatives Before It's Too Late

We have all heard the hype on the baby boomers and the void they will leave in the workforce. In addition, the growing skills gap and talent shortage leave many organizations concerned about the future. This very concern has fueled a talent war as companies compete for highly skilled executives and superior performers to fill the void.

You don't have to take shelter yet. Succession planning is your best… Continue

Added by Vicki Z. Lauter on August 26, 2009 at 5:53pm — 1 Comment

Top 10 iPhone Apps For Recruiters

www.recruitmentcafe.com.au

Since the iPhone came out in Australia over a year ago, adoption of the device has been huge. Recruiters love buying fancy things and many of us have an iPhone. How many of us actually use it for work purposes? Below I will give you a run down of 10 applications that I think can help you become more productive at work.

1. reQall - Free

reQall captures tasks and ideas… Continue

Added by Ian Lenehan on August 26, 2009 at 7:46am — 3 Comments

Direct Or Indirect, That Is The Question

This is going to be a post that will really be necessary to have a community discussion and feedback. I have had the experience to play in what I will refer to as the Direct Recruiting Marketing and the Indirect Recruiting Market.

Let me explain...Direct Recruiting is the action of calling a specific person with the intent to sell them on a job and get them interested in a particular position you are recruiting for.

Indirect Recruiting is the action of calling a… Continue

Added by Darrin Grella on August 26, 2009 at 5:30am — No Comments

5 ways to improve your results without spending a cent

As a rookie recruiter many years ago, I was told a by an old hand in recruitment, while we were sharing a convivial drink, that ‘recruitment is simple but that doesn't mean it's easy'. Over the years I have had reason to reflect on the truth of that statement many times and it's hard to fault it.

It still amazes me when I see so many recruiters doing things, or not doing simple things that, if changed, would make an immediate difference to their results. It seems that ‘best practice'… Continue

Added by Ross Clennett on August 25, 2009 at 12:18am — 5 Comments

Talent Acquisition vs. Customer Engagement

Having spent most of my career of 20 years identifying and winning customers, I see the process of recruiting talent into the company in a similar light. Let us analyze the process of winning the right customers for a product or services company. First, the marketing team BUILDS a BRAND for the target audience. Then, the sales team is tasked to identify all the potential customers interested in the product by FILLing a sales funnel. It is then the function of the management team to SELECT the… Continue

Added by sundar vanchinathan on August 24, 2009 at 11:00pm — No Comments

Recruitfest - Memories from a year gone by...

It's hard for me to believe that it was nearly a near ago when I took my first trip to Toronto to present at the inaugural Recruitfest event.

Upon my return I recall posting about my experience. It's only that it really is hitting me just how important this event was. I attend lots of events and speak at many as well. Recruitfest was different. The show was not large in size so it wasn't that there were thousands of… Continue

Added by Craig Silverman on August 24, 2009 at 3:27pm — 6 Comments

Onboarding and Engagement at Disney

One of the things we were exposed to at the Disney Institute was a presentation on People Management in the Magic Kingdom. We were told all kinds of general facts, including that:

At Disney, all employees are referred to as Cast Members

Disney has over 2200 job titles with specific position descriptions.

Disney promotes largely from within. Phil Holmes, VP of the Magic Kingdom started his Disney career as a part time 3rd shift cast member zeroing out cash… Continue

Added by Michael VanDervort on August 24, 2009 at 2:39pm — 5 Comments

Is recruiting just a bunch of SPAM? I don't think so.

I get tired of this, and I really want an answer from the people who send out lists of candidates to anonymous recruiters, like me every day.

So tell me, what exactly do you think you accomplish by sending me your best (insert technology here) developer? Perhaps you prefer the machine gun approach and send me a list of your 50 best candidates.

The message?

You have a list, probably a big list. I am guessing you are over-compensating with your big list to hide… Continue

Added by Julia Stone on August 24, 2009 at 2:03pm — 5 Comments