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Last week several people from our staffing firm attended the American Staffing Association conference in New Orleans. As the owner of both a staffing firm (Dawson Resources) and a video technology firm (TalentRooster) I was able to observe from a unique angle.  Our staffing firm is based in Ohio, where the economy couldn't be worse, yet our business couldn't be better, which got me thinking....  Clearly I'm no smarter than other owners, so what are we doing better? Following are the…

Author: Chris Washa

In today’s day and age of technology, the personal touch of finding a job has somehow been lost. Applying for a job on-line can be long, intrusive, and down-right frustrating. The cyber black hole of the internet and on-line applications has taken the job market away from what is most important, the human interaction. 

No longer are you solely evaluated by your skills, experience,…

I missed last week's Grandma's Chicken Soup due to the fact that I have a ton of work and had a number of great meetings with clients and prospects.  Something had to give.  I have gained a tremendous amount of respect for my colleagues who can blog on a regular basis and keep a day job. 

That being said, there is a lot of action occurring in the talent acquisition/recruiting space right…

The tough economy seems to have hit older workers particularly hard, and age discrimination claims are rising as a result.

According to an msnnbc.com article, age discrimination claims have hit record levels. Citing Equal Employment Opportunity Commission statistics, the article states that claims have risen…

Two important issues face the staffing industry: price and low market penetration. By increasing how many buyers write checks, both can get better.

Only 18% of companies use staffing and recruiting services each year. That gives you 82% potential to improve the market share of your business. As you get more of that 82% to buy, quote your full fees and rates knowing that you are worth it. This one act alone can bend your profitability in the right direction.

So, keep…

Employers and recruiters are challenged to find and attract viable candidates for viable opportunities--now and in the future.  But we are realistic enough to know that it's going to be a tough go--even tougher if we keep going down the same roads from an educational perspective.

I was impressed with Sir Ken Robinson's brief presentation on the subject on TED...for your view and comment.  Going back to an organic agricultural theme in education may be an important option going…

Going Hmm versus Nodoubt 

So there seems to be 2 lines of

thinking with regards to what to look for when reviewing a resume. 

Some recruiters, staffing

professionals, and hiring managers look for a nodoubt, sure things, guarantee

hire when they review a resume anything less gets pushed aside.

Others look for the HMM, the maybe,

the worth talking to.

So which approach is the…

Dr. Seuss‘s famous quote should be every employers and recruiters mantra. And with today’s economic uncertainty and general social malaise, we all sure can use a bit of fun and a jolt of performance. So throw out the “Right People, Right Place, Right Time mantra“ that was so 90’s.

Let’s face it as children we all dreamed of having a pony, and if were honest with…

If you are leaving a position voluntarily to take something new, there is a right way and a wrong way to leave your current company.  Here are a few tips:

Resign Classy:  See my earlier blog on How to Resign.  Keep it brief.  Don’t say anything negative, and don’t leave the door open for a counter offer – you’ve made…

Are you tired of hearing the constant whining and gyrations from so-called experts about the impending or never-ending talent wars? I am, because it’s not true, there are no talent wars just Poor employers.

These employers cannot for the life of them attract good talent because the candidates who are applying to these companies are too well-educated to the…

Recently, a candidate approached me to help him find a new job. The company that he was currently working for was cutting back his responsibility level and his take-home pay was dwindling. The candidate, “Bob”, knew that the company was in bad financial health.

I liked Bob. Thought he was a great candidate to market. So, I worked on his resume, tweaking it to perfection. Coached him on…

My other half is a vocal guy. He will not keep quiet when there is something out there he disagrees with. Unfortunately, he does not believe recruitment is a valid career choice. He teases me about being in the recruitment industry quite often and this has not let up since I stopped being an actual on the ground recruiter and moved to the marketing and business development side of our business.

I have heard him say it so many times that I now have the argument pretty…

Here is our weekly feature in which we share the top articles we enjoyed from the past week about recruitment marketing, social recruiting and anything else in the recruiting space. This week we’ll be talking about optimizing social media profiles for SEO, mobile in HR, the HR Technology conference, analytics in HR and a great interview with General Mills for recruiting.

Here are the articles our that interested us this…

Today I had the chance to do one of my favorite things…go to the other end of the hiring specturm and provide a reference for a former employee named Melissa whom I truly admire and believe in.



During the conversation with the hiring manager, who was the president and co-founder of a small company making a significant investment in this applicant, he said something that struck me as worth sharing.



He said that out of the over 100 resumes he had viewed, there were plenty…

I want to start this post by stating that this is not a rant, nor is it a criticism of internet radio show #HRHappyHour or career community Brazen Careerist’s recently announced Social Recruiting bootcamp.It is however, these two events that have triggered my thinking.

I was listening in to Steve Boese’s excellent guests Susan Strayer and Ryan Healey, and…

This is not the blog you’re expecting.  I’m not going to talk about the hordes of unqualified candidates I get bombarded with.  I’m not going to discuss how hard it is to get a “passive” candidate to make a change out of fear of the unknown.  I refuse to debate the merits of 3^rd party recruiters and how some companies feel they don’t “need” TPRs because there are so many people out there dying to come to work for you.

No.  This blog is about how this recession has…

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) can be an integral part of any recruiting strategy and it’s appealing for a number of reasons.  Here are a few:

1. Inexpensive: It represents a free (in terms of $’s) way for job seekers to find your job content.
2. Relevance: The candidates that find your job content will definitely be interested in your position (as they searched for it).
3. Less Noise: If your job positions are…

In an article today published on ere.net, Dr. John Sullivan and Master Burnett discuss Recruiting’s blunder of epic proportions, not connecting with mobile users. They provide the example of a guy named Joe, who checks all aspects of his life on his smart phone before getting out of…

There is some great info being shared over the next couple of days.  Check it out here!

http://www.sourcecon.com/2011sv/live/

Thanks ERE!!