November 2009 Blog Posts (221)

Talent Management Merits Your Board's Full Attention

Most boards focus on annual budgets and financial outcomes, often limiting their involvement in talent management to recruiting and hiring a CEO and managing his or her performance. Successful organizations know that's not enough. Talent is typically the largest single line item in an annual financial plan and the chief factor in achieving strategic objectives. Managing your talent is another critical aspect of asset management and merits the full attention of your board.

Eight… Continue

Added by Kathleen Quinn Votaw on November 30, 2009 at 9:18pm — 2 Comments

I Added Over $600,000 In New Business To KeenHire In 2009 - Wanna Know How?

About the Program

With a rocky economy, emerging industries on the rise, three generations in the workforce, Sr. level leaders on the verge of retirement/re alignment and a sea of recruiting alternatives knocking at our clients’ doors, it is time to start thinking about how we as an industry are going to align ourselves as strategic business partners rather than as transactional service providers. As the economy begins to recover it is imperative that you brand your firm as the human… Continue

Added by Margaret Graziano on November 30, 2009 at 3:26pm — No Comments

Don't Get Scrooged This Season

I wrote this poem last night for my blog and wanted to share with all my friends on RecruitingBlogs, I hope you enjoy!

T’was the month of Christmas and all across the land,

clients and competitors were seeking the upper hand.

When all of the sudden to ACME Inc’s delight,

their big push for 2009 came into the light.

Recession, layoffs and hiring freezes they faced;

all were behind them, they picked up the pace.

But 18 days in December,… Continue

Added by Alex Putman on November 30, 2009 at 1:52pm — 1 Comment

Joy

There is a slight breeze today and a sky full of blue and sunshine. The temperature is somewhere between long sleeve shirt and hooded jacket. I choose the hooded sweatshirt that I had conveniently ‘hung up’ on the floor in the back bedroom. It was lying there in a little box of sunshine. When I put it on I reveled in the warm toasty feeling. I decided to make a turkey bacon, egg and cheese sandwich.…

Continue

Added by Brian Meeks on November 30, 2009 at 1:50pm — 1 Comment

Social Networks Impact on Job-Searches and Recruiting

Recently a few reports have surfaced with some interesting facts on social networks. These stats depict the importance of social media and how it will and is changing the world of job-hunting and recruiting:

* Average ages of social media users Twitter 31, Facebook 33, LinkedIn 39, MySpace 26

* 226 million job related searches on Google EACH MONTH

* 2/3 of the global internet population use social networks today (just recently eclipsed email as the top activity… Continue

Added by Ryan Pratt on November 30, 2009 at 10:07am — No Comments

Be Thankful for your Problems

In my “book” the holidays (and not simply the one we most recently celebrated) are a time for reflection and giving thanks in more ways than one. I try every year to take time alone and with my family (especially with my children) to reflect on how blessed we are. This can be challenging during the rush of the season and the many “priorities” imposed as a result of expectations we generally put on ourselves. Add to that my children, who… Continue

Added by Shannon Russo on November 30, 2009 at 9:27am — 5 Comments

Competitive Analysis: How to Spy on Other Recruiters

In order to stay one step ahead of the competition you need to periodically do some competitive analysis. Luckily for you there are some great online tools available to help:

Google Alerts

Allows you to create a custom alert that notifies everytime Google indexes something new about your competitors.

Yahoo! Alerts

Allows you to create a custom alert that… Continue

Added by Brad Smith on November 30, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

The Recruiting Matrix

Recruiting is all about relationships. It is all about building enduring relationships with companies and with applicants. But often there is an unhealthy focus on filling the vacancy.

A major part of the reason is the recruitment sales model, which is sadly broken. Most recruiters are focused to get vacancies, then to get candidates, and then to close the deal. During this transactional approach, there is insufficient focus on developing meaningful relationships. And because of the… Continue

Added by Charles Van Heerden on November 30, 2009 at 3:27am — 5 Comments

Question for Recruiters--should a background firm contact an applicant directly if there is information that needs to be obtained or clarified?

There is an ongoing debate in the background screening industry whether a background screening firm should ever contact an applicant directly if an a issue arises where information is needed from the applicant to conclude the background report. The question is whose professional obligation it should be to obtain or clarify additional information from an applicant, the recruiter or the background firm

This issue can come up in a number of ways.

First, if a recruiter is… Continue

Added by Les Rosen on November 30, 2009 at 1:19am — No Comments

India: If you were me what would you want to know? (-6 Days and Counting)

India. 1.2 billion people. 600,000 are “unorganized”! Ok, I’ll start there. What does “unorganized” mean? Can that many people actually be off the grid? How do you get “organized” when you start off “unorganized”?

Preparing for my ten-day adventure in India (beginning next Sunday) means collecting information from lots of sources. Too much, too early and my learning will color my senses when I’m on the ground. I’ll have too much baggage to be an effective observer. I want as few… Continue

Added by Gerry Crispin on November 30, 2009 at 1:18am — 20 Comments

Jobspiration-When the Going Gets Tough ...

You know the old expression, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going!” Well, these days it might mean you should run! We are in the midst of tough times, no doubt about that. We also need all of the inspiration we can get and we are not likely to find it from our immediate surroundings. It’s times like these we are in need of a little inspiration, or in this case it might be a little “jobspiration.”

The idea that we can be our own source of inspiration might be enough to make… Continue

Added by Lisa Kaye on November 29, 2009 at 11:04pm — No Comments

From Recruiter to Job Hunter…

So my second blog entry was going to be about Google Wave (don’t worry folks – it’s already written and you’ll get it soon enough!) but I read a great post last week on Twitter and decided to change tack.

@grahamsalisbury wrote:

“I am beginning to regard online job boards with the same degree of suspicion that I normally reserve for Wikipedia”

I couldn’t help but smile! I’ve been in the same… Continue

Added by Wendy Jacob on November 29, 2009 at 5:21pm — 1 Comment

There is No Recruiting God

I was a guest on Paul Paris’s ex-recruiter show on Tuesday. During the call I made the statement that there is no recruitment god that brought a flurry of tweets and quite a lot of comment. To clarify for the hard of hearing, I did not say “There is no God!” Please don’t burn my house!

My point is that there is no divine path… Continue

Added by Bill Boorman on November 28, 2009 at 4:45pm — 1 Comment

Choosing the Right Keywords for Search Engine Optimization and Google AdWords (PPC)

Quick quiz…

In terms of Google searches, which of the following terms received the most monthly search volume?

a. Staffing firm

b. Staffing firms

c. Staffing agency

d. Staffing agencies

e. They are all about the same

Not sure? Then you need to find out! Small variations in the wording you use throughout your website and Pay Per Click Ads can have a dramatic effect on your website traffic.

Although the variations above seem very… Continue

Added by Brad Smith on November 28, 2009 at 9:00am — No Comments

Being Unemployed Doesn’t Have to Mean Going Broke

Perhaps the most painful aspect of sudden unexpected job loss is the hit to your wallet. No one likes to have to watch every penny they spend, or worse, lie awake at night wondering how to pay the electric bill. Financial experts suggest having at least 8 months of living expenses in cash to safeguard against financial ruin if unemployment strikes. Many people react to this as laughable, but having a solid foundation of reserves is important. So… Continue

Added by Shannon Russo on November 28, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

Better Without Fences

A real good family hike has become our Black Friday tradition, whether traveling or at home. This year we were home so we decided to check out Hanging Rock State Park in the North Carolina foothills which is inside of a couple of hours from home for us. I’ve never been there but have heard that it is a really good place to hike. So off I went this morning with my wife, our boys (age 5 and 11) and our girls (age 8 and 9). The park is named for a mountain top area that has a stretch of rock… Continue

Added by Todd Kmiec on November 27, 2009 at 6:30pm — No Comments

Business blind dates

I walked into a restaurant for an early morning breakfast meeting. The restaurant opened at 7:30am and there were five people already in the restaurant. Almost simultaneously, they all looked up wondering if I was the one there to meet them.

I looked towards the table where I expected to see my friend. He had a favorite table and there were two people sitting there but he was not one of them. I then scanned the room trying not to make eye contact with the people who were still… Continue

Added by Tom Cairns on November 27, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments

Tracking Social Media Conversations About Your Recruiting Firm

Shhhh! Be very, very quite. Do you hear that?

People right now are talking behind your back. And if you don’t start paying attention you may miss out on a great sales and recruiting opportunity.

With today’s social networks, it’s easy for someone to become your biggest proponent, or your toughest critic. The key is to monitor conversations–and then respond appropriately.

Here is an excerpt from a social media conversation just last week about a firm in New York… Continue

Added by Brad Smith on November 27, 2009 at 9:16am — No Comments

Do Recruiters really get Social Media??

I had a great time at the Recruiting Unconference (trulondon) last Thursday…lots of interesting and thought-provoking debate and information. Over the next few blog posts I am going to write about some things that have had me thinking.

A key track for me was the one on Social Media…I have certainly tried to embrace LinkedIn, Twitter, Blogging over the last year or so and talk passionately to candidates about the need for them to get connected and get in the conversation. I was keen… Continue

Added by Mervyn Dinnen on November 26, 2009 at 4:30pm — 3 Comments

Cut the fat. Application Form Filename Structure

Making the candidate conform to your recruitment systems filename structure is stupid. Technology is used to improve the application process - not complicate it.

Earlier this week I had a call from an Employer who just implemented a new online recruitment system... "Thomas what do you think of our new recruitment system" [silence] "great isn't it".

Hello? We are nearly in 2010. This should not be happening.

Original blog post… Continue

Added by Thomas Shaw on November 26, 2009 at 9:30am — No Comments