August 2009 Blog Posts (221)

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

Urgent Requirement at TX

Position: TC UA 8.0.1 interface programmer.
Description:
Working knowledge of TC UA 8.0.1
Strong working experience in j2EE, web services, xml, xslt, java development, java script, Perl, TCL.
Location: Dallas/ Fortworth (All travel is customer paid. Consultant could be anywhere in US but have to travel every week to Dallas/fort worth, TX
Status: Candidate must be a US Citizen
Duration: 1 year

Added by santhosh kumar on August 24, 2009 at 11:52am — No Comments

Entry Level Finance & Accounting Positions

I'm looking for entry level positions in the Finance & Accounting field for a recent graduate of Bloomsburg University. Philadelphia area only.

Added by Rocky Owens on August 24, 2009 at 11:50am — No Comments

Heroes of the Economic Recovery

Yesterday I received my copy if the Inc 500 issue in the mail. Inc magazine is in my opinion the best publication dedicated to entrepreneurship. As I read the introduction it occurred to me that the CEOs of the companies on this list are today’s heroes.

There are other role models, and other inspiring figures from Obama to Lance Armstrong to Steve Jobs but who is really going to create the most jobs over the next few years. Who is manufacturing their products here in America and who… Continue

Added by David Jacks on August 24, 2009 at 11:06am — No Comments

Ghosts of songs past, exploring the echo's in my head!

Interesting experience today, well maybe I over thought it. OK let me explain it.

I was driving in the car with two hungry and tired kids and a weary wife, suddenly a song comes on the radio. I wouldn't have heard that song since high school, circa 1990. Here I am hoping I'd learned a bit since then (which could have replaced such rubbish), but wouldn't you know it. BANG... Total recall, phrasing, timing, words everything. Blew me away. And the singing probably scarred the kids for… Continue

Added by Dan Nuroo on August 24, 2009 at 10:12am — No Comments

C++ Developer Sr. C++ Developer

DUTIES: You will be responsible for: (1) Programming in C++ in this mission critical global enterprise environment to include new development and programming of exciting and leading edge applications and maintenance programming and support of mission critical leading edge systems and applications; (2) Troubleshooting through resolution of applications errors; (3) Working closely with a diverse end user community to include high tough executive management.

REQUIRED:

MUST… Continue

Added by Greg David on August 24, 2009 at 10:02am — No Comments

LINUX Apps Support Analyst

DUTIES: You will be responsible for: (1) Providing initial application support to a financial services user community in a high touch customer facing capacity; (2) Acting as the initial ‘first responder’ to any technical application or system errors that occur; (3) Troubleshooting through resolution of issues related to configuration, testing, releases, installations, and monitoring of mission critical applications to include performing system and network troubleshooting and resource… Continue

Added by Greg David on August 24, 2009 at 9:59am — No Comments

Senior Administrator

DUTIES: You will be responsible for: (1) Providing support for applications and networks used by the global organization; (2) Technical configurations, testing, releases, installations, monitoring, and support of mission critical applications and their respective back end systems; (3) Performing technical system and network troubleshooting and resource optimization; (4) Escalating advanced technical issues to the appropriate technical level; (5) Performing in a strong customer facing role in… Continue

Added by Greg David on August 24, 2009 at 9:57am — No Comments

Senior Network CISCO Engineer

DUTIES: You will be responsible for: (1) The architecture, design, implementation, monitoring, troubleshooting through resolution and support of a global mission critical high transaction state of the art network to include CISCO routers, switches, firewalls, and telecommunication/voice technologies; (2) Maintenance of network security through proper configuration of firewalls, proxies, and VPN devices; (3) Installation of exchange, WAN and Internet connectivity; (4) Proactively striving for… Continue

Added by Greg David on August 24, 2009 at 9:56am — No Comments

LINUX Systems Administrator

DUTIES: You will be responsible for: (1) Performing UNIX/LINUX systems administration to include: Performance monitoring, performance tuning, testing, configuring/ installs, upgrades, backups, recoveries, etc. in this mission critical global enterprise environment; (2) Supporting applications and systems used by the global organization and providing technical resolution to hardware and software issues as they arise; (3) Deploying new hardware and software systems, performing database research,… Continue

Added by Greg David on August 24, 2009 at 9:54am — No Comments

Senior KDB Administrator

DUTIES: You will be responsible for: (1) Managing the KDB database to include providing new functionality as required; (2) Writing q scripts and applications; (3) Providing support of existing KDB applications; (4) Data cleaning of the KDB time series, development of sanity checks, and filters and adaptive cleaning algorithms; (5) Developing functions that provide access to KDB from various development platforms, including Python and C++; (6) Troubleshooting and resolving data quality and data… Continue

Added by Greg David on August 24, 2009 at 9:52am — No Comments

How to Wrap Up an Interview How To Wrap Up an Interview

If starting an interview is awkward for many people, ending an interview can be even more difficult. Most interviews drag on too long (past the point where the interviewer needs more information in order to make a decision) because most interviewers don't know how to end the interview gracefully.

Some advice:

1. Set a time limit at the beginning. A half hour to 45 minutes should be sufficient for an initial screening . Have a clock visible,… Continue

Added by Kunin Associates on August 24, 2009 at 9:25am — No Comments

High Tide Raises All Ships - Where Is Your Boat?

Today posses an interesting time for all of us.

For months the media has been reporting how bad the market is and how unemployment and jobless claims are skyrocketing, that this bad and that is bad, the stimulus sucks and health care reform etc. blah, blah, blah. People are fearful, concerned and desperate. On the flip side, other people are absolutely slammed with work and may be the most productive they have ever been in their lives.

Hear me out on this...as an Executive… Continue

Added by Darrin Grella on August 24, 2009 at 8:00am — 6 Comments

She found a job: My interview with Gina Turner-Conway

Gina and I met while networking on LinkedIn. She is someone who has successfully found multiple jobs this year who was happy to share her experience with us.

---------------------------

Thanks again for volunteering for this. Can you give the folks a quick over-view of your background and the circumstances that led to your unemployment.

My background is Marketing and Administration. I have moved from High Tech Marketing in the Bay Area, to Newspaper Marketing, to… Continue

Added by Duane Roberts on August 24, 2009 at 2:30am — 1 Comment

Recruitment is a non-rational process

Science has overtaken recruitment, which is not necessarily a bad thing, as most people still rely heavily on interviews as the key process for appointing applicants into a vacant role.

However, the process is fundamentally flawed as it is NOT about appointing the best person. From start to finish the process is designed to eliminate the unsuitable applicants until finally, like Survivor, there is only one successful person, to take the ultimate prize.

Why would you not… Continue

Added by Charles Van Heerden on August 23, 2009 at 11:57pm — 1 Comment

Being PREPARED for recruiting

A good recruiting/staffing organization typically does strive to reduce recruiting costs, reduce time to hire, increase acceptance rates and also to improve time to productivity. However, most organizations do not spend enough time to PREPARE for recruiting. I am not talking about the process of hiring a team. But, more the understanding of the needs of the micro-organization and at the macro level of the company. Typically, the recruiting process starts when hiring managers lob a standard… Continue

Added by sundar vanchinathan on August 23, 2009 at 9:30pm — No Comments

Nowruz (Iranian new year)

Nowruz just like "Eid-Ul-Fitr" for iranian. They cheerfully celebrate it. Its occurs on March 21. The iranian people set a beautiful "Haft Sin" table at this time, can't forget it, such a wonderful scene.

They decorate the haft sin table with seven items :

Apples -----symbolizing beauty and health
Vinegar -----symbolizing age and…

Continue

Added by darya123 on August 23, 2009 at 6:19pm — No Comments

FINDING TALENT IS EASY, RECRUITING TALENT IS HARD

At the end of a long day of interviewing with a gauntlet of people, the owner of the agency told me that they were impressed and wanted to know if I had any concerns about becoming a recruiter.

Coming from a sales background, I would say that he did a pretty good job of sensing my uneasiness because I had a huge concern!

Based on their characterization of the recruiting profession, I was confident that I had the skills necessary to be successful; however I was very… Continue

Added by Ken Forrester on August 23, 2009 at 4:30pm — 5 Comments

Recruiters! We must learn to sell why we are still relevant

Let’s not fool ourselves. We are not a loved profession. Clients often use us begrudgingly, some even with open hostility. I have sat in client board-level meetings and heard with my own ears, the resentment felt towards our industry. I have listened, squirming, while clients plan to avoid using recruiters and any third party staff providers.

Even before the downturn, the evidence was all around us. The rise of internal recruitment teams, the clear strategy to reduce use of outside… Continue

Added by Greg Savage on August 23, 2009 at 8:36am — 5 Comments