KCRecruiting

RecruitingBlogs.com: A New Frontier for Jason Davis

My good friend Jason Davis is at it again.  Jason was the founder of Recruiting.com, the group recruiting blog that served as the focal point for the expanding world of recruiting blogs from 2004-2006.  After being purchased by Jobster, Jason stayed on for a year shepherding Recruiting.com into a Digg-like site for staffing and recruiting information.

With the contract about to expire and a new executive editor taking over, Jason is looking for new ways to keep himself occupied, and he has really created something interesting in Recruitingblogs.com. 

The site functions like a mash-up effortlessly combining audio, video, RSS, and Jason's own thoughts into what he calls, his view of the recruiting blogosphere.  Companies seeking to build their own portals would be well advised to take note - Jason is once again on the cutting edge, following his curiousity and discovering what works and what doesn't.

The Millennials Are Revolting

The Millennial Generation is in the workforce and they ain't too happy.

Exhibit 1:  Employee Evolution

Ryan, who certainly has a lot of ambition in seeking to be the voice of his generation, pitches community and passion as the distinguishing characteristics of his generation.  It's an interesting blog, and  it's still new, so we won't take too much time going through it, but I do want to reprint a comment Ryan left in response to an Animal post on Gen Y and hippies.

Is this whole anti-Millennial movement that has spawned itself in light of our adulthood really about us being spoiled? Or is it possible that a few people are just a little pissed off that they never asked for more?

We don't just bite our lip and suck it up like you probably did. We show a little passion and emotion. We're seeking a change in a world that will soon be ours. We want feedback from our older peers because we recognize the experience they have and we yearn. And most importantly, we don't waste time being angry in a situation - we find ways to fix it.

I may be new to the blogosphere, but posts like this are already second-nature to me. I have a hard time even considering this one an argument. It’s more like a bitter, incoherent couple of paragraphs from a person who is jealous of the opportunities my generation has…

And the best part of the whole situation is no matter what is said about us, YOU have to adapt to us, not the other way around…and that is beautiful.

I'm not exactly sure what Ryan means about us having to adapt to them - does he have a clear understanding of demographics and generational strife, or is he just running off at the mouth because he read a  magazine telling him the world has to change to fit his needs?

Certainly the workplace will change in response to Millennial entry into the workforce, but what Ryan lacks in experience is the understanding that he and his generation will also be changed.  As mortgages, children and taxes begin to mean something, Ryan and his generation will be forced to decide between "passion" as he understands it and eating. 

As parents top paying bills, new workers often find that their much ballyhooed spending power declines in direct proportion to their credit report.  Smart companies, and smart millennials, will find ways to work together to improve the experience both for the employer and the employee.  Sometimes that will include short-term trends like counselors to make young workers feel better.  Other times it will lead to better programs of work-life balance that workers of all ages can enjoy.

The truth is the market will make all of these decisions for us.  If the Millennial generation really does bring a better way of doing business to the workplace, companies will adapt.  If, as many suspect, the coddling necessary to work with the latest generation is a short-term and ultimately fruitless reaction of corporations in a tight labor market, it will go away and be replaced by more profitable company policies.

My Favorite Recruiting.Com Post

I wrote this post for recruiting.com back in May of 2005.  It was my favorite and was originally titled, I Believe Recruiters are the Future.  It discusses the question of why recruiting is an art, not a science.

Original Post

First off - there is the notion that a company can replace outside resources with an effective recruiting organization. This is simply not true. Many companies tried this in the go-go 90's, adding 10 to 20 technology recruiters to their internal staff, optimizing their processes, and they found to their dismay that staffing fees were still an important part of their recruiting budget.

New technologies are going to replace very large internal staffs and increase their effectiveness, but replacing recruiters shifts the burden of sorting even well-qualified resumes onto already-overworked hiring managers that simply are not trained as recruiters.

How can I say this? Because recruiting is an art, not a science. I do a lot of my own recruiting, and contrary to the praise I get about my "knowledge" of the tech industry from clients and candidates, I actually have very little technical knowledge. On any given subject, with study, I have maybe 5% of what is needed to do the job. So how do I discern who can do the job and who is blowing smoke?

Free eBook On Interviews: Giving To Get

Louise Fletcher, the writing genius behind Blue Sky Resumes, has another eBook available for job seekers on best strategies for interviews.

Louise is a blogger who focuses her writing on helping jobseekers, so when she offers something, you can bet it's worth your time to go through.  There are three ebooks, the Insider's guide to Interviewing, Job Search, and Resume Writing, all available at Career Hub, one of our group blogs.

I want this to seek in for a second, because in the recruiting industry, we all have a tendency to play cards very tight to our chests.  Sharing information, or god forbid, candidates, or even new tools and technologies is just not something we do.  But here is Louise, who gets paid to write resumes for jobseekers, offering a free book on how to do her job?

What kind of crazy like a fox marketing scheme is giving away free information on something you get paid for?  Maybe the book is poor quality?  But then who would trust someone who puts our a poor quality book.

In reality, what Louise is doing is branding through social media.  She knows that the single best way for her to get business is to let people know she is an expert at writing resumes. Even with the best advice, many people will prefer to have a professionally written resume as opposed to their own.  So in giving away free information, Louise is letting people know that she wants them to succeed, even if it means she doesn't make money.

Now think - if she is willing to give away the secrets to writing a great resume for free.  How good must her writing skills be if she actually gets payed?  And so another example of how to give, to get.

Verizon Recruiting Using Recruiting Key Words

I noticed one of the Google Ads on this blog is for Verizon.com.  It takes you to their corporate careers page, and allows you to apply online.

One - kudos for them for being forward thinking, and having a landing site, but I found myself wanting more.  While I'm grateful for the PPC revenue, and hope lots of people looking for a job at Verizon come here and click on the site - I'm thinking they need more explicit instructions on why you would want to work for Verizon.

And I'm curious what words they are using to get to my blog.

Two More Reasons To Start A Local Recruiting Blog

Are you or your company considering starting a recruiting blog?  Are you having problems measuring the value?  There are four main reasons to start a local recruiting blog, and I'm going to share them with you.  This post is the beginning of a speech Ill be delivering in May to the Recruiter's Roundtable in Kansas City.

Reason 1:  Local Recruiting Blogs Bring You Candidates
a) EliteIT Services:  This St Louis staffing firm has used their blog to find candidates for technology jobs.   
b) Minnesota Headhunter:  3 candidates placed (last time I checked, which was last summer).
c) StlRecruiting.com - I'm not even actively recruiting, and I know of two people placed because of my blog in St Louis.  I regularly get resumes from candidates asking if I know good recruiters.
d) Triangle At Work:  OOD diagram puzzles led to candidates for Rob Humphrey in North Carolina

What's unique about these numbers is they don't represent recruiters working full time on their blogs.   This is at most an hour or two a week.

Reason 2: Press Mentions:
Do you have a hankering to be in Time Magazine?  How about the Wall Street Journal?  National Recruiting Trade Publications?  Oracle's Profit Magazine, the magazine for CEO's?  The Small Business Review?

Jibber Jobber Offers Lifetime Membership

Jibber Jobber, which is the networking career management site and brainchild of Jason Alba, is offering a special, one time only, lasting only a week discount on a lifetime membership for Jibber Jobber. 

For $99, you get a tool that helps you manage and organize your career search, and you get access to Jason, who I have found helpful and knowledgeable in discussions.  Some of the things Jibber Jobber offers:

• unlimited network and company contacts
• unlimited target companies
• unlimited log entries
• action items e-mailed to your inbox
• printable phone lists and contact reports
• interactive network and job search reports
• import and export your information
• rank companies and jobs
• categorize your interview prep answers and be ultra-prepared
• manage your possible tax deductions with the expense tracker
• site-wide search with one search box
• SOON TO COME: synchronization with Microsoft Outlook  contacts!

At some point, everyone is unemployed.  In fact, I'm writing a book about that subject, and Jibber Jobber is one of the tools I will recommend.  Check Jason out, and don't be shy about sending him questions.

HireVue is in the New York Post

Update: Mark Newman chimed in on the comments and has a whitepaper on video prescreening available for download on the site.  The pdf link.

Hirevue, a video prescreening service run by Ryan Money and Mark Newman, is in today's New York Post on the growth in video resumes.

It's a sweet little writeup for Mark, who is featured in the piece.

It works like this: Job applicants sit in front of a computer monitor and a Web cam, log into a Web-based interview portal, and answer a set of pre-selected questions. They get about 30 seconds to read each question and about two minutes to provide an answer. The results are stored, TiVo-style, in a secure online system that hiring managers can access through the Internet.

To complete an interview, job seekers can visit video stations at employers' satellite offices, college campuses or the offices of recruiters or companies like HireVue. Or those like Swegger, who live too far from any of these options, can do them at home, using a camera and instructions provided by the employer.

Video resumes have been all the rage as of late - with stories in Time Magazine and elsewhere pitching the new use of video for career searches (it was tried on VHS years ago, and failed miserably).  What's different about Hirevue (and infuriating for them), is they offer a pre-screening service, as opposed to video resumes (which most recruiters roundly shrink from).

The best line is the snark from a Hirevue user:

"If an idiot comes into the office for a live interview, good manners dictate that you give him at least 20 minutes. With a video interview, I can shut him down without feeling bad just by clicking my mouse."