KCRecruiting

Don't Wait For The New Year!

It's all too common for recruiters.  December rolls around and suddenly everyone is thinking about eggnog and shopping instead of closing out the year or starting next year with a bang.  Every year I worked in recruiting, December was a hot month (usually because our offices didn't stop working).

A good January/February is the result of the work you did in November/December, which is why you can't afford to take time off (mentally) during the holidays.

Paul DeBettignies agrees, but points out that this is also very true for job-seekers.

But what kind of work are you doing? Exactly. Planning for next year. Catching up on paper work. Finishing a project. You have time on your hands right? Everyone does.

 

Companies are hiring or at least getting ready to. Make the phone call. Send the email. Follow up. And if you find the person you want to contact is out be sure to follow up in 2007 and remind them of the your attempts to contact them.

 

Besides the “usual” job search this is also a great time of year to be meeting new people. If you are invited to holiday parties be very subtle but treat them as networking events.

What's true for job-seekers is true for recruiters.  I started a successful relationship with a large bank (that I had been calling with no success for five months) because I got ahold and arranged to meet a manager who worked the day after Thanksgiving.  No one else was in the office, and for once, my introductory meeting didn't have phones ringing, techs dropping by the desk, or the buzz of e-mail and IM interrupting my pitch.

And for those times when you're not  on the phone?  Isn't it about time you cleaned your desk and built that list of small to medium sized companies you've been meaning to call?  The holidays are one of the few times you have when you are not beset up on by the excrutiating minutiaue of everyday life.  If you're going to work - work hard.

Uses Of Technology Blogs: Jeff's Connected

Jeff's Connected is an example of a tech blog - a developer uses his blog to put down information and provide a forum for information and idea exchanges for other developers.

In this case, it's part of the Windows Connected blog network, and Jeff is a Principal Consultant and Windows Server MVP in Fairway.  The information is way out of my league to decipher, but it shows yet another use for jobseekers to brand themselves.  If Jeff were ever to look for work (and I'm not suggesting that he is), he would have a strong internet presence to help him.

Third Party and Local Recruiting Blogs

CM Russell found another local recruiting blog, an example of recruiters that are using their blogs to brand themselves in order to improve online profile (and get more candidates and clients).

Bill Humbert is a contract Recruiter with his own company.  He's been doing this since 1981, and has owned his own company since 1990  He has his own website and blog and works out of Washington D.C.  His blog is The RecruiterGuy Blog, and you can read his bio by clicking on his name.

Welcome, Bill!  Now let's get some links on the side of that site.

Other Third Party and Local Recruiting Blogs.

But Less About Me (Los Angeles)
Magic Pot of Jobs (D.C)
Elite IT Services (St Louis)
St Louis IT Recruiters Idea Exchange (St Louis)
New Equities (Charlotte)
DC Recruiting (D.C)
Hiring Revolution (Atlanta)
Marketing Headhunter (Atlanta)
Minnesota Headhunter (Minneapolis)
Miles from the Curb (New York City)
StlRecruiting
KCRecruiting
CharlotteRecruiting
SeattleRecruiting

Anyone I missed? 

MySpace: Defined for Recruiting

This is an excerpt of a speech I gave for the AACE Fall Conference on MySpace.

MySpace is an Online Community, with depending on who you ask 65 million to 100 million accounts.  In this community, any user can sign in and build a personalized web page, and with some very simple technologies, connect with other users.  You can post a picture, share your favorite video, talk about your favorite bands, post blogs on your thoughts, show your connections to other people, and basically engage in what marketers call, “Brand You.”  It’s self-expression on the level of decorating your own room, and it’s the glue that holds MySpace together.

That is the beauty of MySpace – it’s simplicity and its personalization.  MySpace opened their servers for anyone to publish pretty much anything they wanted, and so teenagers put up the two most important things in their lives – their music and their friends.  You have a low barrier to entry, easy connections, and the sense that you owned your space, and in just 2 years, it blossomed to a $580 million buyout

This is a community-powered phenomenon.  The traffic, the connections, of the users, and the brand are not only the primary assets, they are the only assets outside of some patents and a warehouse of servers in California.   

So why does it work?   Because it is simple.

Sourcing Training Video: Heh.

Jim Stroud is a clever, clever man.  I'm preparing for a speech for the Arkansas Association of Colleges and Employers, and I noticed this video of his online.

For those who don't know - Jim is a sourcer - which is to say he finds resumes and maps groups of people for recruiters to call.  He also is a trainer of sourcers, which is why he made this video.

I like that he gets the medium and has fun with it.  Why can't more companies be like this?

Turning Tragedy Into Triumph

The recent ice and snow storm that swept the area cut down on the ability of job-seekers to get around, to  get to interviews, and sometimes, to even have power or heat.  Most "snow days" are considered free vacation days, time that is given you by Mother Nature to spend time goofing, watching movies, or "taking a break' from the daily grind.

What I'd like to see is if statistics for the job boards showed a marked increase of traffic on bad weather days.  It would make sense that "found" time in the sense of being snowed in would be used constructively to jumpstart your job search.

Surfing job boards is one way to get a job, but for those more inclined to think in terms of networking, might I suggest the local coffee house or Bread Company?  You don't have to be snowed in, but it's worth taking a look around the next time you're hanging out in Panera to see who is working on a laptop.  50/50 chance that the laptop warrior working on free wireless is an IT worker of some kind, with the other 50 percent being the likelihood they're an outside salesperson of some kind.

Introduce yourself, (do it politely), and see if you can strike up a short conversation on who you are, what you do, and see if the person has any good leads for you. 

This works for two reasons.  First, it's a good story for the other person.  "This guy came up to me at Panera and gave me a short job pitch.  He sounded great, didn't bother me, and it's exactly the kind of attitude we want in our employees."  It works because it shows initiative.

Second, it's powerful because the other person is a stranger with a completely different set of contacts then you (and if in sales or IT, the right contacts).  Don't expect the person to do the hard work for you, but a nudge here or there can pay off big in turning a cold job call into a warm job call.

So the next time you sit down for a coffee and a brioche, consider asking someone next to you what they do.  It might lead to your next job, and at the very least, it's a great way to practice your 30 second pitch.