KCRecruiting

LinkedIn Recruiting Trailer

Curious about the LinkedIn Training? I've uploaded a trailer of some of the content. To register for the lunch on the 19th, head on over to the MAPSS KC website. This is a live training, but you'll also be taking back a training DVD to review at your own leisure.

Using LinkedIn As A Sourcing Tool from James Durbin on Vimeo.
The quality of the video is much better - this has been compressed for uploading to the web.

KC Job Market: Partying like it is 1999

WIth all due respect to TAFOCKAP (The Artist Formerly Or Currently Known As Prince). It feels like 1999 again.

Particularly in the IT Market.

Candidates are moving fast, getting picky and are getting shown the money.  There is lots of movement in the Kansas City IT market and we/our clients are starting to feel the pinches.

Certainly there has some been some interesting news of late. Novastar is about to close their doors, we are hearing about some additional layoffs in the telecom world and some recent mergers in the financial services industries have forced some people to look.  One would think this would flood the market with talent.

Au contraire mon frere...most people within these operations have a heads up that changes are coming and have bailed out already.  Some local organizations are on aggressive growth plans, adding talent for BIG projects and looking to hire as many IT people as they can get their hands on to support organic growth, sucking up the talent as soon as it hits the street.

In addition, my funding and venture capital buddies are telling me there are a lot of startups that are looking to add people here and there in the coming year.

We have had to get more aggressive with our clients, consulting them on the realistic compensation demands of good IT talent.

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Visit DiversityJobs.com for articles, news, and advice on Diversity recruiting.

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Kansas City Recruiters Roundtable October Meeting

The Kansas City Recruiters Roundtable will meet October 18 at 3pm.

This month our topic is Diversity Recruiting and will be held at the Commerce Bank Building, Downtown Kansas City.

If you are interested in attending this month, or would like to join us for our meetings starting again in January, please contact me.

This is a great group full of good insight and ideas and we would love to add new members to our growing roster.

Doug Burris

Intronic Solutions Group

dburris@intronicsolutions.com

913-707-4251

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Find out more about Hispanic Recruiting at LatPro.com.

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If You're Wondering What Franki's Been Up To

My wife writes a style and fashion blog, and so for those people who met her when we were last in Kansas City, let me share a little of her writing.  No, it's not recruiting related, but she really does have a way with words.

We like to shop in Kansas City, so consider this a Kansas City style post.

Today, she talks about mirrors.  Gihugic (ji-huge-ic) on sale mirrors.

Then again, my life would not be as rich if I'd left this great looking feature unused and unappreciated in an overcrowded showroom. Much like animals, well-designed furnishings enrich our lives and have the power to affect our moods. This mirror may not have a space to live today, but in just a few short months we'll be moving into new digs (yes, we scored that studio space) and there's an empty wall just crying out for this lovely accessory. In fact, the new space really needs a mirror just like this.

Recruiter's Roundtable at Hallmark

I had the fantastic experience of giving a short talk at the Recruiter's Roundtable yesterday.  Man, is Hallmark a sweet place to work for creatives.  We hope to do some series on what it's like to work there, but Franki, my wife, was absolutely blown away at how Hallmark nurtures the creative impulse.

We had a lovely meal with Donna Turk, the Director of Creative Recruiting Services, her husband, Jacob Turk, whose running against Emanuel Cleaver for the 5th District US House Seat, and Doug Burris of Intronic Solutions, the connector who brought us all together.

If you're looking for a fantastic place to eat, the Grand Street Cafe had impeccable service and the best crabcakes we've had in a decade.

Recruiter's Roundtable May 17th

I'll be in town at the invitation of Doug Burris and the Recruiters Roundtable to give a presentation on the use of recruiting blogs in hiring candidates on May 17th from 3:00-4:30 at the Hallmark corporate headquarters. .

Franki and I will actually be in town for four days (from Tuesday-Friday), as we are meeting with a few prospective clients, so if you are looking for social media consulting, blog consulting, Web 2.0 consulting, or website design, we'd be happy to speak with you.

Our Website:  http://durbinmedia.com
Our blogs:  http://brandstorming.com, http://lifeinaventicup.com

We're seriously considering coming to Kansas City for a couple of months this summer just to change our environment a little, and working with clients in KC would be kinda nice. 

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.

About Kansas City

Written  by Mary Anne McNeish-Sharp, The About.com guide for Kansas City is a local blog for the KC area.  It has a list of KC-centric blogs, articles, and sponsored links to local attractions.

Mary Anne has been writing on the blog for some time - but it's more accurate to call it a website, as About.com hires writers for a number of topics, and she gets to chronicle the weekly happenings for her city.  It's not a bad writing gig if you can get it.

Local is where everyone wants to be - and if you're looking for more than employment - this is the place to read.  For me - Kansas City is a fun place I get to visit, as both my father and my wife's father live there.  We've always been impressed with the architecture, and the city layout, and quite frankly, though smaller, we often think KC has a better shopping environment than St Louis (it has to do with all of the outdoor malls).  Luckily, Mary Anne tells you where that shopping is located.

Top 10 Shopping in KC.

How Staffing Firms Can Use Blogs To Market At Trade Shows

Trade shows are hidden gold for Third Party Staffing Firms. They just don’t know it yet. Anyone who has attended a trade show knows the effort of doing so yields a cornucopia of leads in the form of other attendees. After all, who do you think goes to recruitment trade shows? (The answer is decision makers with the budget to purchase a ticket and the authority to take a few days off for a conference). Trade shows are also untouched by your competitors, as most firms think of trade shows as bad networking and don’t see the value in spending $1200 or more rubbing elbows with corporate decision makers. Networking at these events is not easy, but there’s a trick you can use to help you promote your name if you’re attending, and your trade booth if you’re a vendor. It’s called blogging, and it may just be the best way to market yourself without a big budget.

Kansas City Group Started At ERE

Doug Burris has started a new group at ERE for Kansas City Recruiters.  What is ERE?  It's a meeting ground for recruiters, with articles, columns, blogs, groups, job postings and trade shows all focused on the job you perform every day.

To sign up for the group - go to ERE and register.  Click the Groups tab, and look for Kansas City Metro Recruiters