Online Recruitment Blog

Monster Finally Concedes On Print

Here is the fifth guest entry as part of ongoing "Blog Swap". This weeks entry is from Toby Dayton, President & COO of Jobdig.com. Welcome Toby!

On almost the same day that Career Builder took out a full page ad in the Wall Street Journal (7/31/06) announcing that they had surpassed their #1 competitor in the U.S., Monster announced it had formed an alliance with Philadelphia Media Holdings, owner of the two major daily newspapers in that market.

While much can and should be made of the two developments, I think it’s safe to say that despite the incredible growth, power, and unique attributes of online recruitment advertising, the combination of print and web presents a superior value proposition for employers and job seekers alike.

I would even take it a step further and add radio, television, direct mail, alternative advertising, outdoor advertising, and any other media vehicle that can cost-effectively get an employer’s recruitment message in front of  the targeted demographic.

While daily newspapers have justifiably taken a beating in the past few years, the fact remains that print continues to be a significant component of most people’s media consumption. The two announcements further confirm the fact that as the media and advertising world continues to become increasingly fragmented, companies are going to have to have a presence across the entire media spectrum in order to remain competitive.

Toby's blog can be found at http://blogs.jobdig.com/diggings/.

MySpace Used by U.S. Marines for Recruiting

Here is the fourth guest entry as part of ongoing "Blog Swap". This weeks entry is from Steven Rothberg of CollegeRecruiter.com. Welcome Steven!

In this fourth week of the Recruiting.com blogswap, I have the good fortune of having my entry run on Mike Taylor’s Online Recruitment Marketing blog. I am the President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com, a high traffic career site used by college students and recent graduates who are looking for entry level jobs and internships .

One of the most popular web sites in the world, and perhaps the most popular site with teens, is the social networking site MySpace . The site has re-defined the way a generation communicates and boasts 100 million registered users. Users are primarily those in their teens and twenties and are often referred to as Millenials or members of Gen Y. They use MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, and other such social networking sites to post personal profiles about themselves and connect with people who have similar interests.

Interests that most young people share are the desire for adventure, employment, and a college education. Sitting at this intersection of interests is the military and, in this case, the U.S. Marine Corps. Yes, that’s right. The Marines are using MySpace as a recruiting tool but not just by running banner or other advertising. The Marines’ MySpace profile contains streaming video of drill sergeants, wide eyed recruits struggling through boot camp, and seasoned Marines landing on beaches.

Teens and other potential recruits who visit the Marines' MySpace profile page can click on a link entitled "Contact a Recruiter." When they do, they’re taken to the main Marines web site where they are asked to fill out a form with their name, address and phone number. That information is sent to a recruiter who then contacts the potential recruit. According to the Associated Press, over 430 people have asked to contact a Marine recruiter through the site in the five months since the page went up, including some 170 who are considered "leads" or prospective Marine recruits.

So far, the Marines are the only branch of the military that has a MySpace profile page. The Army and Navy have purchased advertising. The Navy has yet to use MySpace at all.

Is the use of MySpace by recruiters, specifically military recruiters, a positive development? It probably depends upon your point of view regarding military recruitment, but I feel that this is a tremendously positive use of social networking sites such as MySpace. The Marines are not pretending to be something that they’re not. Any visitor to the page immediately knows that it is a recruitment page for the Marines. Those who are offended or not interested need not stay. Those who want more information about the opportunities afforded by the Marines can get that information from the page anonymously without having to contact a recruiter. Those who are still interested may choose to contact a recruiter, but that choice is theirs. Unlike the use by some recruiters to conduct background checking of candidates using Facebook and other social networking sites, this use of MySpace by the Marines is designed to include candidates in the hiring process, not exclude them. And unlike the provision in the No Child Left Behind Act that that requires high schools to provide student lists to military recruiters, the Marines’ MySpace page is completely opt-in.

So what lessons can we learn from this bold step by the Marines? The experience of CollegeRecruiter.com has been that the military tends to be an early adopter of new recruiting tactics. Back in 1996, they were amongst the first of our employer clients to purchase banner advertising. Many non-military employers have since run banner ad campaigns with us. The military were also early in their use of other products such as targeted email, pay-per-lead (pay-per-resume), pay-per-click, co-registration, and others. Again, many non-military employers have since used those products. This early adopter trend does not seem to be disappearing, as the military also appears likely to be one of the early users of our cell phone text messaging (SMS) product. Non-military employers are just starting to be aware of the product, let alone be interested in it or laying plans for how to incorporate it into their recruitment strategies. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if you want to modernize your recruitment tactics and strategies then follow the lead of the military recruiters.

- Steven Rothberg is the President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com , a high traffic career site used by job hunting students and recent graduates and the employers who want to hire them.

Recruiting Tips for Impacting Quality of Hire and Cycle Time

This third guest post as part of "Blog Swap" is by Dennis Smith , Senior Manager, Talent Acquisition for T-Mobile in the US. Dennis runs his own blog at www.CareerBuilderBlog.com .Welcome Dennis!

Research by the Recruiting Roundtable (link:  www.recruitingroundtable.com) has uncovered a top ten list of recruiter actions that can improve quality of hire and cycle time. 

Here's #1:

Ensure Hiring Managers Fully Understand the Timeline for Filling the Position

Sounds like boring stuff, right?  But here's the deal.  When you help hiring managers understand the expected recruiting timeline for their particular search, they are more likely to fulfill their staffing responsibilities within the specified time frames.   Although 70% of recruiters surveyed in the research indicated that they place a great deal of emphasis on providing hiring managers realistic timelines for filling positions, only 31% of surveyed hiring managers felt they were given real transparency in those timelines.

Here are some of the tips provided by Recruiting Roundtable to ensure you gain hiring managers' buy-in and understanding of staffing timelines:

1. Create a service-level agreement, which the hiring manager signs at the start of the search, agreeing on target timelines.
2. Set up an in-person or telephone appointment with the hiring manager to discuss the timetable and answer any questions/concerns.
3. Inquire whether the hiring manager has any planned commitments that may delay the recruiting schedule.
4. Share with the hiring manager average cycle times for different job levels within the organization.
5. Clarify whether the hiring manager is more interested in finding the ideal candidate versus getting someone in seat quickly ( i.e., which matters more, quality or cycle time) – don't let them develop a "cheeks in seats" mentality!
6. Remind hiring managers that filling the position in a timely manner is critical to not losing candidates to other companies. If possible, cite examples of situations where delays resulted in loss of top talent.

I know.  These aren't the kinds of things that set the world on fire.  But when recruiters make sure hiring managers are "bought in" to the recruiting timeline, organizations get better quality candidates.

How can anybody argue with that?

Dennis Smith
smithtx@gmail.com

Search 1998 v Search 2006

This second guest post is one of many in the coming weeks as part of "Blog Swap". Please welcome a post from the Paul DeBettignies who runs a blog called the MNHeadhunter. 

I want to thank Mike for the opportunity to participate in his blog and with his readers through the Recruiting.com Blog Swap.

This week I have incorporated a new search firm, Nerd Search, LLC. (While typing this post I received word that it is official and this is the first place that it has been announced. YEAH BABY) This blog post got me to thinking about how times have changed in my eight years in the industry.

In 1998 when I started the first search firm there were some very basic technology things that a recruiter needed to do ones job:

The office line

Fax machine

Internet line, dial-up was the most affordable

Copier

Computer

An email address, if you were keeping up with the crowd

A simple web site if you were leading the crowd

Everything was a paper trail and logged by hand. We killed a number of trees every quarter to keep up with the resumes that were faxed in and then copied to each other. Email was just being used and more so for a simple communication tool than a delivery one. Those fax machines definitely got a workout.

Candidates were found at job fairs, cold calling into companies, and a couple of online job boards. For the most part the job was an 8 am – 6 pm gig.

Flash forward to 2006. The possible technology tools are endless:

The office line, now using VoIP

Fax line (which rarely if ever gets used)

Copier (which rarely gets used)

Computers, a desktop and laptop in a wireless network

Applicant Tracking Systems, a more involved database than Access, ACT, or using Outlook

Web sites are the norm

Blogs like this one and my own, MN Headhunter, are leading the crowd

RSS Feeds

Digital newsletters

Social networking sites

Podcasts

Smart phones

And the list goes on…

The fax line and copier tend to collect more dust than anything else. Most everything is done by email including interoffice sharing. Using an ATS gives you access to your database from anywhere, 24 hours a day.

Web sites are a must. Blogs are the cool thing. Next week I am releasing a new version of MN Headhunter, a hybrid between a blog and corporate web site. We have heard that it may be the first, or at least one of the few, to be both.

RSS feeds and newsletters allow for jobs to appear on potential candidates desktops for them to react when they are ready.

Niche job boards, online communities and social networking sites are the rage.

I am using all of the above tools expect for a smart phone, I do not need that much information and no one needs that much access to me, and the podcast, my voice is not commercial material.

What’s on the horizon? Steven Rothberg at CollegeRecruiter.com has clients who are sending career information to college students and recent graduates by way of cell phone text messaging.

The 8 am – 6 pm job has become a potential 24-hour a day gig. In between naps I look forward to see what the next eight years bring.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Paul DeBettignies is the Managing Partner and Founder of Nerd Search, LLC a Minneapolis, Minnesota based information technology search firm. Paul also writes the MN Headhunter blog. To reach Paul, send an email to Paul@mnheadhunter.com 

Should You Wear Flip-Flops To An Interview?

This guest post is the first of many over the next 8 weeks as part of "Blog Swap". Please welcome a post from the "Canadian Headhunter" who runs a blog called the Recruiting Animal:

"An online survey conducted for retailers Old Navy and Gap found flip-flops topped the list of wardrobe items that college and high school students planned to wear to work this summer."

More than 31 percent of women said flip-flops were their single-most "must have" item for business attire.

The Canadian Headhunter celebrates their choice but many companies seem to frown on beachwear. And style gurus warn that they could be harmful to your career. They make you seem too relaxed.

Here's the great Manolo: "Unless you are working as the waitress at the beach cafe, or are the Jimmy Buffet, you should not be wearing the flip-flops to your place of professional employment."

Doctors warn against flip-flops, too but they don't seem to like anything. Apparently, it's causing heel-pain in young people. But, as the Funny Banker says "Boo [expletive deleted] hoo!". If you want to be comfortable and look sexy what do you care about your heels?

Here are some arguments in support of flip-flops.

1) They're multi-cultural, having been developed from traditional Japanese sandals. And, as we all know, diversity is good.

2) People in every country and every social class wear them. Just like underwear. And, how can you complain about that?

3) In developing countries, they are the only footwear available. A regular people's shoe.

4) These days, they can cost $140 a pair. It's a bit like radical chic. You can be populist and conspicuously "consumptive" at the same time.

Finally, would you believe that there is a Committee of Color and Trends? They claim that the popularity of flip-flops has peaked. I say not likely.

I remember when girls started wearing tennis shoes to work with their summer skirts. At first, it was only sharp-looking, stylish girls who wore them and it was interesting. Then it was everyone. And it was horrid. And, it was a long time before it peaked.

Sources: Belinda Goldsmith. Manolo

Written by the "Canadian Headhunter" - Recruiting Animal.com

Blog Swap Begins This Week

I am taking part in a brand new venture over the next 8 weeks... a "Blog Swap".

But what is a "Blog Swap" you may well ask?  Well a number of bloggers in the area of Recruiting have volunteered to write an entry once a week for someone else's blog.

The blog entries will appear on the blog of the person who wrote the blog entry as well as the blog of the person whom the article was written for.

It is being put together by Zoe & Gretchen of www.JobSyntax.com ((both ex-Microsoft Recruiters) and you can find out more information at www.recruiting.com/blogswap.

Should be an interesting experiment!

Mike

www.web-based-recruitment.com