KCRecruiting

Does Your Hiring Manager Know How To Interview?

The following is a true story.  The name of the client has been changed, and a sufficient amount of time has passed that the story can be told without repercussion.  I'm going to share with you the hiring strategy  of a hiring manager who was looking for PC Techs for work on an enterprise level account,

The pay rate was $12-$16 an hour, and our billing was only $15.96-$21.28, a 33% mark-up as required by the service level agreement we signed to be a vendor.  The manager didn't like me, ostensibly because I wasn't his favored guy, and we had "horned" our way into the contract with a low price negotiated outside of the RFP as a favor to one of our executives.

33% mark-up, and a low pay rate to boot.  But I was instructed to find the people, and was informed that to be a team player, I needed to work on this account.

Job Posting Truths

I'm sure most of you remember the e-mail that went around a couple of years ago about job postings.  I don't know what happens in the brains of recruiters when we're tasked with writing descriptions. Something happens where we stop speaking in plain language, and start listing terms that have more to do with sounding "professional" rather than speaking the truth.

The point of a job posting is to explain what the person applying for the job will actually be doing and what is required of them.  So why exactly do we pick terms that are nondescriptive, ambiguous, and completely worthless?

These are some parodied terms - if they strike you as funny, that's because they are painfully true.

If the job says:
 
Competitive Salary.  What they mean is:
We remain competitive by paying less than our competitors.

Join Our Fast-Paced Company.  What they mean is:
We have no time to train you.

Some Overtime Required.  What they mean is:
Some time each night and some time each weekend.

No Phone Calls Please.  What they mean is:
We've filled the job; our call for resumes is just a legal formality.

Seeking Candidates With A Wide Variety of Experience.  What they mean is:
You'll need it to replace three people who just left.

 

Requires Team Leadership Skills.  What they mean is:
You'll have the responsibilities of a manager, without the pay or respect.

Compiled at Recuiter's Network

Video Resume for Tech Support

There's been a lot of complaints about how video resumes aren't good for finding a job, but in this instructional clip, a help desk professional demonstrates their technical knowldege, their friendliness, how to deal with a clueless user.

Rather than listing all of the systems you've worked on over the years, how about showing your actual working abilities?  Also - in this case, you can see the tech is working with some older systems.  What better way to show that even if your skills are rusty, your personality is worth training you?

Buying AdSpace at KCRecruiting

Attention Recruiters:

25% of the readers that have come to KCRecruiting.com in the last two days come from search terms at google that say things like; List of KC Recruiters, KC Staffing firms, and KC recruiters.

When candidates are looking for a firm, how do they find you? 

Consider advertising here at KCRecruiting, with a targeted message and a blog expert who can help drive the right people to your recruiters.

The Buy AdSpace advertisement to the right will take you to StlRecruiting's advertising space - that's one of my other local blogs.  Blog advertising and SEO all wrapped up into one package - how can you resist?

Time To Protect Your Home: Lock Bumping

This is a little bit outside of the realm of our normal topics, but lock bumping is a big deal - it's all over YouTube, and you need to know about this.

A video on how to lock bump - a technique that allow a crook to break into 90% of today's home with an altered key.  This is no joke.  Over 375,000 downloads, and the term, lock bumping is all over the place.

Honey - time to change the locks!

Blogging Your Way To Recruitment Success

Gretchen, Joel and Dave - three successful employment bloggers, are offering a session tomorrow on how to use blogs to improve your career and company.

All of the details are here at Dave's Blog.  Register now!

Some things you'll learn.

• Develop proper oversight of employee blogs (not recruiter blogs) to enhance (not hurt) a company’s reputation as a sought-after employer.
• Develop a corporate Blog to effectively attract passive candidates, and increase your company’s search rankings with heightened corporate brand awareness through search engine optimization strategies.
• Promote the candidate experience: educate prospective candidates on the application process (what to expect in an interview), and develop and identify your cultural brand.
• Enhance the employment brand of your business groups, market corporate events such as job fairs, Corporate Technology Forums, conferences, trade shows.
• Obtain better search engine rankings and attract passive candidates.

Who should attend:

New media folks
Marketing and PR
Executives
Recruiters interested in learning more about employment blogging.

The three people leading this series are all superstars in their own right.  It would do you well to listen in or buy the CD.

Your Own Personal Widget

We're not talking about a Blidget, but instead your own personal job widget from Jobster.  If you currently have a home page, or a website, or a blog, or a MySpace page, you can add an employment profile to it with the Jobster widget.

Jobster lets you create your own profile at their site - a profile available to recruiters from major corporations, but also open to search engines.  The widget displays information you choose to best represent you, which means that you create your own employment profile (your resume, where you worked, what you're looking for), and then you display it on your blog as a widget.

Why does this work?  Because everyone, everywhere, should be looking for work in some way, and this is a way to broadcast your skills passively.  You can become one of those passive job-seekers, and your boss will never be the wiser.

Cisco University Video: Web Video

"I'm selling Erics Here!  Anyone want to buy an Eric?  No One's Buying An Eric."

An example of how to get someone on your website for 4 minutes.  Cute, Corny, medium production values - and better than any job posting you've every put out there.

Looking To Write A Better Job Posting

The Recruiting Fly finds someone who understands the art of writing - PostBetter, a Recruitment Advertising firm.

Their blog has the following advice, and we're going to critique it.  The post is on writing a better job ad, and points out that recruiters who complain about a lack of candidates often have a terrible description.

Grab the job seekers attention
KCRecruiting:  Start with the TitleListing the title only works if the title is clear.  What the heck is a Senior Systems Analyst?  That only means something to people already in your company.  Make sure you aren't making the mistake of using jargon or titles people don't understand.

Give a little history. Summarize what it is your company does and what make is unique.
This requires of course that you actually be unique.  This is good advice to those companies who think that calling yourself the premiere company in your industry actually means anything.

 

Qualstaff Resources: Perm Placement Recruiter

QualStaff Resources, a prominent Overland Park staffing firm, is expanding and has an opening for a top performing Permanent Placement Recruiter.

The qualified candidate must have:

•    Sales drive and proven success in a sales oriented environment
•    Ability to develop business while actively conducting searches for current openings.
•    Consultative approach in all phases of service delivery and strategic planning.
•    Experience with full-cycle recruiting - direct sourcing skills, candidate selection, candidate presentation, and negotiating techniques a plus

This position has a base salary plus a lucrative monthly bonus plan.

For a detailed description of this job, please visit:

Direct Contact Information Below the Fold: