Steve Levy's Blog (261)

Stop undermining your career!

I wondering how many recruiters are doing three or more of these things right now...

Added by Steve Levy on March 9, 2009 at 10:03am — 3 Comments

Perhaps you missed this story last week; a women who really loves her Chicken McNuggets called 911 - three times - when her local Micky Dees ran out of them and she couldn't get a refund from the manager.

Of course, it sent my mind wondering if there was a parallel to recruiting - of course there is, there's always a connection between anything and recruiting.

What do you do when your recruiting McNuggets run out? Do you… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 9, 2009 at 9:58am — 7 Comments

Shameless Tuttle Agency plug

As many now know, I have joined the Tuttle Agency to recruit, develop business and the brand, and presumably to impart my many years of recruiting knowledge and situational wisdom to my fellow associates.

Technically, I'm a Vice President of Recruiting - but that's only because Supreme Galactic Commander was taken by Ted… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 4, 2009 at 5:26pm — 1 Comment

I may have found a new talent pool for New York State!

With New York State State Assembly announcing that it will take steps to repeal much of Rockefeller's 1970s-era drug laws which forced judges’ to impose mandatory prison terms for nonviolent drug offenses, I'm thinking that we may have found an untapped pool of talent that has evaded deep web Booleans and good old fashioned telephone names sourcing.

Hello, Warden Lockemup,… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 4, 2009 at 2:30pm — 3 Comments

Bring it back to Uncle Sam!

Here's one new survey that seems to indicate the company executives are bowing to Obama and reconsidering their outsourcing strategies. The report by BDO Seidman, detailed the responses from 100 CFOs from hardware, software, telecommunications and Internet companies nationwide.

Apparently these CFOs are concerned about Obama's position on outsourcing; recall that during his address to Congress last week, he… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 4, 2009 at 1:22pm — 1 Comment

The Double-edged Sword of Head Count Cuts

Nothing really special about this article if you've been in the Human Capital space for years but at least someone's writing about it.

Still, if you've never been part of the process that decides who gets a pink slip, the balance between fiduciary responsibility and intellectual capital is presented well here.

Added by Steve Levy on March 4, 2009 at 7:37am — No Comments

And some of you think recruiters are unethical?

The thread that won't die now has competition: Collecting from the dead.

What I honed in on in reading the article was this:

Not everyone has the temperament to make such calls. About half of DCM’s hires do… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 4, 2009 at 6:49am — 2 Comments

Gerry's and Mark's excellent Sources of Hire adventure

Click here for Crispin's and Mehler's 2008 Sources of Hires survey. This is a must-read for people who have opinions about hiring that aren't backed by facts.

Added by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 3:35pm — 4 Comments

7000 isn't such a high number anymore

The trimming of dividends - perhaps to preserve cash on the balance sheet - certainly fueled sell-offs but this drop below 7000 sure is humbling.

Companies need to extend credit and they need to do it fast; we've loaned them the funds and they're still sitting on their bundles of green. Call your local politician and get them to get on the horn and tell these freeloaders to lend, lend, lend.

Added by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 1:35pm — No Comments

More green jobs - if only the government was more efficient

Seems as if the Department of Energy has $25 Billion to make loans to financially viable companies to use to fund development of electric powered cars. The program was developed in 2007 and has yet to dole out any money - money that would undoubtedly create jobs for recruiters as well.

The program’s small staff — around a dozen part-… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 2, 2009 at 10:36am — No Comments

Everything I ever learned about recruitment advertising I learned from real estate brokers

Selecting the right key words is critical to achieving visibility in online searches. Ms. Kory recently learned that rather than pull in buyers, creative copywriting can keep them away. "I have a wonderful apartment on Central Park West that has park views," she said, referring to a two-bedroom prewar co-op apartment currently listed at $4.15 million. "I was so tired of using the words 'park views' that I decided to write 'park vistas.' But it didn’t show up on any keyword search. People… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 1, 2009 at 4:57pm — 2 Comments

Recruiters sending out resumes in Silicon Valley

It is hard to think of any job-hunting skills that Alexis Lovell lacks. As a recruiter for Silicon Valley technology companies, and before that, for retailers, she has advised job candidates on résumé preparation, personal presentation and interview skills for the last eight years. Networking strategies and trolling social networks and online job sites are the tools of her trade.

Yet none of those things is helping one candidate in need of a job these days: Ms. Lovell… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 1, 2009 at 2:33pm — 1 Comment

Peeling back layers

Forced from executive pay to hourly wages

We've all heard that a good number of the unemployed decide not to seek part-time work because it might interfere with their job searches. But Mr. Cooper rises every day at 4 a.m. and, after a time of prayer, devotes two hours to his job hunt on the computer. He prints out a detailed call list of prospective employers to take with him, squeezing in phone conversations… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 1, 2009 at 2:16pm — No Comments

Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me, Me

First John Dickerson rants about Obama and his budget and then offers up this about Twitter:

One day we're going to wake up and every Twitter post will simply be, "Me, me, me, me." Outside will be a howling wilderness of shriveled civilization bereft of ideas and reason.

I already see it happening except… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on March 1, 2009 at 1:41pm — 2 Comments

Need interns? Try "NYC Ladders for Leaders"

I met Andre Joseph at a recent NYC meetup. He is the Deputy Director, Corporate Relations and leader for the NYC Ladders for Leaders Program.

Let me tell you about the program and why it is essential for metro NYC employers.

NYC Ladders for Leaders is a corporate internship program that was launched by Mayor Bloomberg… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on February 26, 2009 at 1:41pm — No Comments

My visit to Columbia University's ACM student chapter

After a day of uncertainty as to if I could even make it to the city (my gentle stomach was revolting) I traveled to Columbia University at the behest of the VP for Corporate Affairs for the student chapter of the Association for Computing Machinery to talk about careers… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on February 26, 2009 at 11:42am — No Comments

The Odd Couple: Recruiters and Politicians

NYC Mayor Bloomberg speaks about his plan to create 400,000 new jobs...I was shaking my head when he specifically noted that some of the new jobs will be good paying, many with benefits, jobs that could be created elsewhere. Woo-hoo, the recovery is around the corner.

Now I don't want to sound so flippant but its difficult not to when politicians - even Mayor Mike who knows a thing or two about business - speak so gallantly about job growth: It isn't as simple as… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on February 25, 2009 at 1:02pm — No Comments

Asking questions?

Seems as if LinkedIn Answers is highly cited in the recruiter space as the place where one can ask questions and receive answers from the enlightened ones. There are also Forums here as well as on ERE, the spawn of David Manaster's parents.

But for the job seeking, employment questioning, recruiter loathing bourgeois - actually questions about anything, there's Ask Metafilter. Being a recruiter, I enjoy reading questions and… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on February 25, 2009 at 7:00am — No Comments

The NY Post kills Wall Street pay packages!

...by paying outgoing News Corp President Peter Chernin a severance package worthy of the Wall Street folks they love to hate.

As part of Mr. Chernin’s severance contract, he will receive lucrative television and movie production deals with the company, as well as perks like a car and driver and the use of a private jet. He received a $34 million pay package last year, according to a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Mr. Chernin’s TV and movie deals… Continue

Added by Steve Levy on February 24, 2009 at 5:31pm — No Comments