Amybeth Hale - Research Goddess

It’s down to the Final Four! Florida, UCLA, Ohio State, and Georgetown are playing for the biggest prize in NCAA men’s basketball, and 14 recruiters and researchers are gunning for a “sourcing goodie bag” chock full of prizes! I proudly present to you the list of contributors to my prize bag. For the winner of this prize, which will be announced Tuesday morning, this is a pretty freaking nice prize pack. Check it out:

• White Paper on Google Co-op Custom Search Engines – by Mike Notaro
  This is a pre-public release of Mike’s first white paper…not available to the general public yet!

  Since graduating from Rutgers University in 2004 Michael has been involved with sales and recruiting within the Information Technology arena. In a short time Michael has been recognized (by his peers) for his research and ability to construct esoteric strings and API’s that uncover the hidden world of passive candidates.

  Michael is currently the Associate Director of IT recruitment at The Horizon Group where his research and recruiting skills have made him a viable entity in the IT recruitment sector. He also authors the blog Feed the Beagle!

  He currently holds degrees in both Psychology and Sociology as well as his Series 7 and 63 Licenses.

  Mike can be reached at mnotaro@thg.com

• Howling Yahoo Commandos – by Jim Stroud
• The Art of Shakespeare Recruiting – by Jim Stroud
• The Recruiter’s Lounge – guest spot appearance with Jim Stroud!
  Jim Stroud is a “Searchologist” with an expertise in the full life-cycle placement of Executive and Technical personnel, Recruitment Research and Competitive Intelligence. He has consulted for such companies as Google, Siemens, MCI and a host of start-up companies. He presently serves Microsoft as a Technical Sourcing Consultant and is a regular contributor to Microsoft’s Technical Careers Blog.

  Some of Jim’s many accomplishments include:

· Author of the popular research blog Jim Stroud 2.0
· Nominated for multiple blog awards by Recruiting.com. Won “Best Job Seeker Blog” and “Best Group Blog” due to his contributions on Microsoft’s Technical Careers Blog
· Speaking engagements with AIRS, Microsoft (internationally),The Technology Association of Georgia, and others
· Trained recruiters all over the world on sourcing techniques and strategies
· News articles and press releases with several publications, including Interbiznet, ERE, CareerJournal, and more.

Jim can be reached at jimstroud@jimstroud.com

• One month’s access to the first Magic in the Method module – from Maureen Sharib
  Maureen Sharib is a telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names-sourcing firm TechTrak and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course “The Magic In The Method.” Maureen is a regular contributor on ERE, http://www.recruitingbloggers.com/, and several Yahoo Groups including Sourcers Unleashed.

  Maureen can be reached at maureen (at) techtrak.com

• 30 minutes of telephone one-on-one time – from Rob McIntosh
  Rob currently manages and leads the national sourcing function for all of the Deloitte lines of business in the US. This comprises of both passive, active, offshore and candidate development/relationship sourcing teams focused on proactively discovering talent to meet current and future business demand.
  Previously, Rob worked for Microsoft for 7 years with his most recent role being responsible for designing, architecting, managing and leading of the Technical Central Sourcing organization (Hired/Led industry sourcing industry luminaries such as Shally Steckerl, Jim Stroud and Glenn Gutmacher to drive the web/research arm of the Technical Central Sourcing organization). Prior to Microsoft, numerous years working as a TRP in both leadership and production roles in 3 different countries. Previous life worked in enterprise software sales and COBOL/PRG Programming.

• Blogging Search Cheat Sheet – by Shally Steckerl
  This is not available to the general public yet!
• LinkedIn Cheat Sheet – by Shally Steckerl
  Shally Steckerl has experience consulting with and building sourcing organizations at many Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Google, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Cisco Systems and Motorola. From early in his career he has developed techniques that dramatically increase recruitment productivity and allow companies to exploit the Internet. He has been teaching those techniques to staffing leaders since 1998. Shally is a proven leader in the development and implementation of Best Practices in Centralized Sourcing and research organizations.
  Shally is also the Founder and Chief CyberSleuth of JobMachine, Inc., the premier provider of sourcing consulting services and research training. The advanced methods he practices and teaches have been replicated throughout many large corporate organizations worldwide. Because of his passion for the Internet as a recruitment tool and his continually innovative methods, he has developed a reputation as an authority in Internet search, and a pioneer in recruitment research. An accomplished author, consultant and trainer, Shally is an award winning blogger (http://www.ere.net/blogs/CyberSleuthing), frequent contributor to many industry forums and speaker at leading conferences. Shally is available for customized onsite or web-based recruiter training, and for consulting engagements with companies seeking to build centralized global souring and recruitment functions. For a complete bio and list of speaking engagements, and to learn more about what Shally has to offer recruiters please visit: http://www.jobmachine.net/shally.

  Shally can be reached at shally@jobmachine.net

• Copy of Never Eat Alone – by Keith Ferrazzi
  Keith Ferrazzi is the Founder & CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight. He provides market leaders with advanced strategic consulting and training services to increase company sales, and enhance personal careers. Ferrazzi Greenlight applies experiences gleaned from the careers of its executives spent in the highest echelons of corporate America.

  Ferrazzi has been widely recognized by his peers, is a frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC, and has authored numerous articles for leading business publications, including Forbes, Inc, the Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review. He has been named a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, one of the top “40 Under 40″ business leaders by Crain’s Business, one of the most distinguished young Californians by the Jaycees, and one of the most creative Americans in Richard Wurman’s “Who’s Really Who”. Ferrazzi’s extraordinary rise to prominence, which includes a stint as the youngest Chief Marketing Officer for a Fortune 500 company while at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, has even inspired a Stanford Business School case study.

  Most recently, Ferrazzi served as Chief Executive Officer for YaYa Media, a leading interactive entertainment consultancy. Prior to that, while at Starwood Hotels, he oversaw all marketing activities for global brands such as Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, and W Hotels. Previously, Ferrazzi was Chief Marketing Officer of Deloitte Consulting, a leading global management consulting firm, where he developed and managed the industry’s first globally integrated marketing organization. His creative marketing strategy drove the ascent of Deloitte’s “Consulting” brand recognition from the lowest in the industry to a primary position, and spurred the highest featured growth rate in the industry.

  Ferrazzi earned a BA degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School .

• Copy of How To Become a Rainmaker – by Jeffrey J. Fox
  Jeffrey Fox is the founder and president of Fox & Company, Inc., a marketing consulting firm that specializes in marketing strategy development, innovation enhancement, selling skills training, branding, and various applications of a proprietary value-selling methodology called dollarization. Jeffrey is the winner of Sales & Marketing Management magazine’s Outstanding Marketer Award; winner of the American Marketing Association’s Outstanding Marketer in Connecticut; and the National Industrial Distributors award as the Nation’s Best Industrial Marketer. Jeffrey Fox is an accomplished consultant, popular speaker, and the acclaimed author of a series of hard-hitting international business best-sellers.

  Jeffrey graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He served as Trustee of Trinity College and has won several alumni awards, including Person of the Year.

• A guest interview spot on the Research Goddess radio show – from yours truly!

• A $40 gift card from Circuit City

….and a special prize – a kiss from the Research Goddess herself!

Total value on all of these items is over $400!

Check back Tuesday morning for the announcement of the winner!

…is because of things like this I opened my email this morning to find a wonderful note from one of my franchise owners. This kind of stuff just warms my heart - thanks Cutter!

Over the past few years there has been a great deal of interest and development in social and professional networking. With the popularity of social and professional networking technology tools, there is an increasing need to be on top of your networked contacts. This is to the point that some companies have started to see the need to add a new job function: social and professional network management. While there doesn’t seem to be a big movement yet to embrace this job function, there are lots out there who are talking about the “CNO” - Chief Networking Officer.

Wikipedia defines this new position: “The Chief Networking Officer (CNO) is a new corporate executive office in the business world; it refers to a person who manages the social capital of a company. The CNO connects people and businesses within the company, with other companies, as well as with consumers, hence facilitating know-how transfer and information flow, and allowing for profits to grow.”

The company CNO Parters has been on the cutting edge of this emerging need. Check out their website and the tools they have available for developing a professional networking interest within your company. They base much of their networking recommendations on the Meta Relationship Networking Project (MRN), which will “integrate everything a networker needs into a single platform” using cell phones and other internet-based devices.

I presented this question to my LinkedIn network: “In the next 2-5 years, do you think there will be a growing need for companies to have someone in house to grow, manage, and leverage social and professional networks for the executives?”

I received responses all across the board on this inquiry. Below are some of the responses given.

Bill Champitto, Principal and Executive Producer with Leader Networks responds:
“They already are in a couple of forms, although unless the company’s primary business is publishing or events I’m not sure we’ll see a CNO role. As earlier posts suggest, the community/network is a multifaceted role spanning many roles. As a consulting organization focusing on online business communities, we’ve seen a lot of models including the development of specific business units or P&L’s, which are obviously run at an executive level. And more frequently we are seeing companies hire community roles such as executive producers and moderators, as well as deploying specific support functions for the underlying eMedia, technology, sales and customer support needs. …but again have yet to see a CNO.”

Paul Moriarty, IT Executive with Trend Micro writes:
“I’d have to say no. The important thing about a network is that it’s personal. How many personal relationships do you have with a company? People in a company, yes, but the company itself?”

Jessica Margolin, a self employed consultant and analyst (Margolin Consulting) says:
“I believe there will be a need for an effort to manage the COMPANY’S networks. In particular, the ability to quantify and manage the social / relationship / brand assets of a company is an emerging field, and one that’s related to corporate social responsibility, or CRO (the corporate responsibility officer), which is an emerging title. What you’re describing is an elite executive assistant (which may not be a bad role, either). Traditionally C-levels do manage their own network, and LinkedIn is just a tool to make that easier. Otoh [on the other hand], it makes it “outsourceable” too.”

So you can see that there are some who think this is coming and others who think it is a function that will remain in the hands of the individual. Some people also believe that this should be the responsibility of existing Human Resources and/or Marketing departments within a company.

Regardless, one cannot ignore the fact that it is vitally important to forge and cultivate relationships within your industry and related industries. The concept of the CNO I believe is still in its infancy, but I think in the next 2-5 years you will start seeing more and more companies hiring individuals who specialize in this sort of professional interconnectivity.

I welcome your comments and thoughts on this matter as well!

Related resources:
SocialTwister article: Chief Networking Officer – Isn’t That What I Do?
Vowe.net article: What is a “Chief Networking Officer?”
Some Assembly Required blog
The National Networker article: Big Business Networking, Part III: Rise of the CNO?

Find the latest Internet recruiting news at Cheezhead.

After reading Shally’s post, NY Post @ Work Article on “Using the Web to your Advantage”, that came through my reader this morning, I was intrigued by Emurse. I’m sure lots of you have already checked this out but this was my first time. It’s an online resume hosting site and I thought it looked pretty cool. I created a profile for myself just to see what can be done:

http://researchgoddess.emurse.com/profile/

This is certainly a cool tool for job seekers, but I wanted to see if I could use it for sourcing. So, I used a real simple Boolean search string to see what I could come up with:

site:emurse.com software engineer -inurl:jobs

Not too shabby! Notice also at the top of the page in the blue bar, it lets you know when the resume was last updated. On the right side of the blue bar, you also have the option to download the resume as a .doc, .pdf, .rtf, .odt, .html. or .txt file. You can also print it off. Last thing, which I thought was VERY cool, is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed on the resume. What this means is that you would receive an update in your RSS reader any time this person updated their resume.
Also, if the information on the resume is blinded, you can simply use one of your search engines to look up the name and contact information for that individual. There are tons out there so pick your poison!

Here’s some info about the company:

Emurse, an anagram for Resume, is a powerful online tool designed to help take control of your job hunt. We accomplish this through four key features:

Resume Builder
Emurse allows job seekers to easily create and maintain a professional resume that is hosted online, available for download in any needed format. Making additions and keeping resumes up-to-date and ready to go has never been easier.

Job Hunt Organizer
Job hunters can quickly send their resume from within Emurse allowing them to keep track of all the many interactions that occur over the course of a job hunt. Emurse also helps catalog the many interactions that happen offline as well. Stay “on the ball” with automated reminders, status updates and return receipts.

Web Resumes
Emurse allows job seekers to host their resumes online at their own customized web address. Instant notifications allow the candidate to know exactly when and from where potential employers viewed their resume. Password protection and other privacy controls can be used to control access. Detailed statistics and graphs aid in effective resume distribution and harness the power of all the major search engines at once.

Job Postings
Emurse analyzes your resumes and displays relevant job postings in your local area, bringing the job hunt directly to the job seeker.

Alternative recruitment advertising methods include podcasting jobs.

For anyone who hasn’t read some of my prior postings, this is a topic that I have and will continue to pick apart, beat to death, and feel very strongly about. There are clear function differences between research and recruiting, and my intent is to bring to light these differences. If you have not seen Rob McIntosh’s latest project, please check it out. I’m thrilled because he has taken this subject to a whole new level and certainly given me some food for thought!

After a recent conversation with an IT recruiter and personal friend, I discovered that even people who know me and (I thought) understand what I do as a researcher don’t completely get what differentiates research and recruiting. So in this post, I am going to break these two functions down even further in the hopes that some additional clarification can be made.

In my conversation with my friend, I was reminded that in the world of recruiting, there are two vitally important activities that must be performed: marketing your recruiting services (sales) and candidate discovery. Most recruiters will tend to gravitate toward one or the other. My friend alluded that he prefers the sales aspect of recruiting more than the actual candidate contact. There are other recruiters who prefer the contact with the candidates as opposed to marketing their services to potential clients. What this boils down to is comfort and personal preference.

With this said, in the function of research, there are those who conduct research primarily by the phone and those who do research primarily on the internet. Then there are hybrids who can/enjoy doing both. What it boils down to, like the recruiting activities, are comfort and personal preference.

Here’s where a lot of people tend to get confused about what a researcher truly is. For example’s sake, let’s call the person who enjoys the client side of recruiting ‘Sales’, the person who enjoys the candidate interaction ‘Recruiter’, and the person responsible for generating contact leads ‘Researcher’. The Recruiter will often spend some time conducting his or her own research, though probably not as in depth as the dedicated Researcher would. Most good Recruiters that I have known are subscribers to their industry’s publications and stay up to date on what’s going on with the people within their space. This will assist them in their candidate interaction.

Where people get confused between the division of Recruiter and Researcher is where to draw the line on job function. I have said in the past that Researcher generates leads only and Recruiter qualifies them. In my conversation with my friend, his belief was that as a Researcher, part of my responsibility was a certain amount of pre-qualification of leads, which in his mind boiled down to initial contact and an “are you interested in this opportunity” conversation. This falls in line with some of the things that Rob wrote about in his wikipedia entry, but I think a little further clarification should be made on his analysis. Some other factors need to be taken into consideration, the most important of which would be:

• How many Recruiters is the Researcher supporting?
• How is the Researcher being compensated?

I think these two questions make a HUGE difference in how one should view the function of Researcher.

FACTOR 1: Number of Recruiters your Researcher is supporting makes a difference in their job function.
Example: if you have a Researcher who is supporting more than 5, maybe 6 Recruiters OR Sales, I don’t think it’s fair to expect them to be pre-screening leads in addition to uncovering them in the first place. In my case, I currently support all of our franchise offices (we currently have about 40 active franchise offices with an additional 25+ folks who are recruiting and in process of becoming franchisees, not to mention all the employees of these offices) with research and database support. Granted, the 80/20 rule applies here – approximately 80% of my work comes from 20% of my offices. But even at that, that is 13 offices and in-process franchisees that are using me on a regular basis for research and database assistance. How could one person possibly be conducting pre-screening for all of that activity? Even the best Researchers can usually only completely support between 3-6 Recruiters on their own.

FACTOR 2: How your Researcher is compensated makes a difference in the part they play in the recruiting process.
Many Researchers make a base salary and then are awarded commissions based on placement of leads that originated from their research. This percentage can range from fractions of a percent to a 50/50 split. I think that how your Researcher is compensated should play a part in how much of the placement process they are involved in. If you are rewarding your Researcher with a smaller percentage of the placement fee (in my opinion this is 10% or less of the fee), then they should not be expected to pre-screen, pre-qualify, or really have too much interaction with the contacts they generate. If your Researcher is not making a base salary or is given a larger percentage of the placement fee, then I think you can expect them to participate in more of the process. Heavy commission compensation would encourage anyone to help expedite the placement process, thus making it more realistic in this case for the Researcher to be involved further into the process.
In the conversation I had last week, my friend was under the impression that I was not making a base salary and that I split any placements with Recruiter or Sales right down the middle. That, I think, is what a lot of Sales and Recruiters believe happens with Researchers. And to be honest, I always believed that all Researchers were compensated similarly to the way that I am. So we were both thinking incorrectly.

I believe this is where the true disconnect is. My friend admitted that he wished he did not have to conduct research. I asked him if he were to hire someone he would label as a Researcher to work for him what duties he would have that person do, and what he would then be responsible for. Here’s how he broke it down:

How he described his desired ideal duties: negotiate and talk to clients, get job orders, set up interviews
How he described the duties of someone he would hire as a Researcher: find leads, qualify them, and be the intermediary between him and the candidate, for which they would be paid a 50/50 split of the placement fee

When he said this, I had a light bulb moment! What he had just described as his ideal duties fell into Sales, and what he had described as Researcher duties fell under Recruiting (I mentioned the term Project Coordinator, going back to my old MRI days)! I finally understood why some people think that’s what research is all about. They perceive the complete job function of a Researcher to be more of a hybrid of a Recruiter and a Researcher rather than the two being completely separated functions. Couple this with the idea that he thought I was ONLY making compensation through commission, and I had an epiphany. Finally, a breakthrough to this misconception that has driven me mad! I felt so relieved and was very excited to be able to write this further clarification.

**BONUS FACTOR: After speaking with Rob about these ideas, he brought one more factor to my attention – the “Fear Factor”. What this is, is the idea that some Recruiters/Sales fear what Researchers can do, and the idea that they may lose some job satisfaction or have to pass along some of the credit if a Researcher did their initial footwork for them and eliminated the “hunt” from their job function freaks them out. Sound silly? Answer me this question then: How many of you out there who are Sales or Recruiters responded to my LinkedIn question stating that you do your own research and would not consider using a Researcher? Or if you are not part of my LinkedIn network (please join it if you’re not!) and did not get the question I presented, how many of you Sales or Recruiters out there insist on doing all or most of your own research? Rob said to me, “We all know (even these Recruiters) that the true, real, and definite value in recruiting is the ‘finding of talent’, not the processing of talent…I am not saying there is no value in holding the hand of the candidate through the interview process, ‘selling’ them or crafting a great offer….but, rather if you asked a business leader what would they like their recruiter to focus on and inevitability the response we all know will come back is ‘Find me more people’”.

In conclusion, I believe that Rob’s analysis of the job function of a Researcher is a great piece of work and helped clarify things for me; I definitely agree with the Proactive vs. the Reactive techniques he describes (reactive not being things for which a Researcher should be responsible). His description of primary and secondary sourcing hits the nail right on the head. There must be a clear line where your duties as a Researcher stop and the duties of a Recruiter start. However, I would simply add to this definition the factors of compensation method as well as number of Recruiters/Sales to be supported by the Researcher in determining the duties for your Researcher. Give them too many people to support beyond lead generation and they will become a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Some additional interesting resources regarding this topic:
Sourcing (wikipedia entry) – Rob McIntosh
Researchers (AKA Sourcers?) – Rob Merrill
Obtaining Upper Management Buy-In For Sourcing – Shally Steckerl
Jim Stroud’s Podcast with Doug Beabout – Jim Stroud
Emerging Roles In Recruiting – Dave Lefkow

You’ll find SEO jobs at Oaseo.com.

In a recent podcast Jim Stroud did with the Recruiting Animal, Jim mentioned that the reason why there still aren’t a whole lot of recruiting blogs with worthwhile content on them is because a lot of recruiters try out blogging and when they do not see results quickly, the give it up.

I just wanted to share a few thoughts about this as a reflection of today’s society.

On January 1, fitness clubs across the country are flooded with those who made a New Year’s resolution to ‘get in shape’. For the first month, regular gym rats have to share their machines with the newbies who have promised themselves a better looking body by spring. By the end of January, the crowd has thinned out and the regulars can have their machines back. This is because the Resolutioners, not seeing the pounds melting away in the first two weeks of their new routine, have thrown in the towel and are waiting in line at McDonald’s to order a double quarter pounder and a side of fries (and a Diet Coke, because they’re trying to cut calories).

In July, a man has just purchased his first home – a fixer-upper. He purchased this home because it was cheap and because he envisioned all kinds of projects he could work on to make this house his own. By September, football season has started and because the projects were a bit more challenging than expected, they have been put to the side “temporarily” while the Bengals make their run for the playoffs – after all, this is their year! (it’s been their year for the past how many years now, Cincinnati??)

Some of you may remember the children’s book series “Frog and Toad”. In “The Garden”, Toad admires Frog’s garden and sets about to grow his own:

“What a fine garden you have, Frog,” he said.
“Yes,” said Frog. “It is very nice, but it was hard work.”
…
Toad ran home. He planted the flower seeds. “Now seeds,” said Toad, “start growing.” Toad walked up and down a few times. The seeds did not start to grow.
Toad put his head close to the ground and said loudly, “Now seeds, start growing!” Toad looked at the ground again. The seeds did not start to grow.
Toad put is head very close to the ground and shouted, “NOW SEEDS, START GROWING!”
Frog came running up the path. “What is all this noise?” he asked.
“My seeds will not grow,” said Toad.
…
Eventually, Toad’s garden began to grow, but not until he realized that it would take some hard work, just like Frog said.

Even though we have online banking, drive-thru windows, and instant messaging now, there are still some things in life that require hard work – and TIME – in order to see results. Growing a garden, getting in shape and losing weight, and developing meaningful relationships (both personal and professional), all take time and work.

And if you mean to make an impact on anyone through blogging, you’d best be patient because it may take awhile for your efforts to be fruitful. But don’t be discouraged; as the saying goes, “Everything comes gradually and at its appointed hour.” Success is when preparedness meets opportunity, and if you’re in the right place in the right time doing the right thing, you’ll find your own personal success.

Checkout Las Vegas jobs at NVJobSearch.

How long is this madness going to continue?? Recruiters who do not grasp the concept of research and therefore think that we are nothing more than glorified admin assistants who should feel fortunate to bask in their glory. For those of you who are registered on Recruiter Life Magazine, you can read this whole article here. For those of you who are not, let me give you some of my favorite lines from this article titled “Implementing Researchers In Corporate or Third Party Practices” by Doug Beabout, who is giving Gary Stauble a run for his money on my list of those who still have a lot to learn about research:

“Many of our hiring companies utilize technology inefficiently without truly realizing the negative impact of the time they’re wasting. Recent credible surveys have indicated that the average amount of time spent in Internet browsing by Corporate Americans is in excess of three hours per workday.”

I couldn’t agree more…while the Internet brings a world of information to our fingertips, recruiters can be tempted to spend more time surfing than smiling and dialing. Up to this point, I am on board with Doug in his evaluation on the benefits of research. Read on….

“If you divide the desk you must answer the question of “Who should do what?” The researchers role involves process oriented tasks can manage those details critical in the placement process, ongoing office support tasks and maintaining currency of records and contacts.

Some of the specific technology and process-based tasks they should perform are:

The keys to your job search are at JobCentral.

In honor of my beloved Gators’ top #1 seed in the NCAA DI Men’s Basketball Tournament, I want to have a little fun! So, I’m throwing out a Tournament Bracket Pool for my friends and faithful blog readers. Come one and all and let’s see who (Gators) will win the Big Dance (Florida).

There IS a prize too! I’m not going to spill the beans on the exact details, but just know that it will be a sourcing goodie bag filled with all sorts of good stuff to help you out……

Here’s the info if you’d like to join up:

Go to the Yahoo! Tournament Bracket Groups.
Enter Group ID# 92286
Enter password sourcing07

Choose a name for your bracket and fill in your picks.
I am asking for a $10 buy-in to participate. Please email me for payment info (I will be using PayPal).
(Don’t worry; I’m not keeping this $$, it will be used to purchase the contents of the goodie bag!)
The contents of the goodie bag will be determined by the number of participants! Tell your recruiting and sourcing friends to join in!

Hey you non-United States residents; you can participate too if you want! I’ll share with you my friend Jeff’s secret to picking his winners; he chooses by ’strength of mascot’. Example: #5 Butler (Bulldogs) vs. #12 Old Dominion (Monarchs [Lions]) - he would pick Old Dominion because a lion would kill a bulldog. His winning streak speaks for itself with this method of selection!

Please get registered and fill out your brackets by Wednesday at 11:59pm in order to participate! This is just for fun but I will look forward to some friendly smack talk. Looking forward to a great Tournament.

…a letter I sent to Animal this morning:

Just wanted to share my thoughts on your show:

Recruiting blogs seem to influence those who bother reading them, which seem to be mostly others who write them. So we seem to feed off each other. A couple of my friends and former colleagues read mine but only because I tooted my own horn and sent them a link to it.

I liked what Steve R. said about putting all your eggs in one basket. Anyone who would solely rely on a blog for getting the word out is going to shoot themselves in the foot, just as if a brick and mortar establishment were only to run ads in the local newspaper or only ran one TV ad.

Dave M. had a lot of good stuff to say and I enjoyed hearing what he talked about. I agree with him that internal censorship will water down the content of anything that might be written on a blog and thus make it a bit vanilla to readers. You can’t be completely honest about anything if you’re worried about getting canned for saying something. He also mentioned spheres of influence and I agree with this as well. Certain groups of people would seem to gravitate toward blogging while others will not. Some people see no use in them but that doesn’t mean they are useless. It would seem to be a matter of perception. You perceive that they do not influence, which I agree with to a certain degree. They don’t influence those who see no use in them.

We have a brand new recruiting franchise owner who is a pretty young guy. He approached me for some ideas on how he could learn more about his industry. I suggested that he start a blog focused on his industry and couple that with some professional networking. I told him to promote his blog within his network and reach out to the players in his industry. I’ve tried to help him with his content and he’s had some great conversations with people in his industry as a result of aggressive networking. He’s even gotten a couple of job orders from these conversations. Do I think this is the norm? Absolutely not. But he’s excited!

I think there’s definitely a future in it. Take ecommerce for example, which I heard mentioned. 15 years ago no one would have given it a second thought as a way to do business. But check this out: Of the top 500 e-tailers in 2006,
142 are owned by store-based retail chains
88 by catalog and direct-marketing firms
45 by consumer branded manufacturers
225 by the so-called pure plays or web-only retailers

Brick and mortar retail companies have obviously discovered the importance of having an online presence to market and influence. I don’t think that other businesses, including recruiting, will be far behind on jumping aboard this bandwagon.

I don’t claim to be an expert on any of this stuff by any stretch of the imagination. I’m simply an interested observer and occasional contributor. I’ve personally gotten a lot out of blogging and the ones that I read. I agree that the majority of recruiters out there don’t read them and don’t see them as a huge influence right now. Someone mentioned that those like Fordyce don’t bother blogging because they are busy making placements. But I definitely think this will grow to be a bigger influence in the future. As a colleague mentioned to me this morning, “…just takes time. Not everyone drove a car, used a phone or had a PC the first 5 years of existence.”

Thanks for letting me share my thoughts!

If you’re anything like me, you’re getting real sick of the reality TV shows that keep popping up. From the humble beginnings of Candid Camera (the first real reality TV show dating all the way back to the 1940’s) to the unbelievably ridiculous shows that networks keep pumping out today – shows like Beauty and the Geek, where nerdy guys and luscious gals supposedly “received lessons in confidence, equality, and dignity”, or Survival of the Richest, a show that paired up rich kids with poor kids to “show off the differences between the rich and the poor.”. As a society we gobble this crap up like there was no tomorrow. Why? Are we that bored with our own lives that we have to watch others live theirs in situations that hardly represent true reality in the first place? Yeah I admit, I watch Extreme Makeover – Home Edition; I feel it’s the only reality show out there worth paying attention to because it’s designed to help those in true need. But when NBC starts throwing teens into reality TV with Endurance, you gotta stop and think about this.

Seems like companies have taken this reality TV elimination concept and twisted it to fit into the recruiting process to bring new employees on to their workforce. I caught a glimpse of the Today Show earlier this week and it looked like they were doing a reality-type elimination round for some new interns. So is this the future of recruiting? Here are some examples of companies who are already participating in this new method of finding qualified applicants:

• Sun Microsystems
• Google
• Microsoft
• Art & Logic
• TopCoder (the winners get interviews with several top companies)
• HGDC (BearingPoint)

Even staffing companies are getting in on the game! Access Nurses developed a ‘reality TV’ type recruiting process they called 13 Weeks, outlining the lives of traveling nurses. Companies are finding that applicants flock to the idea of participating in a contest to earn the right for employment. So, I ask this question – how far is this new recruiting process going to go?

• Are we going to have group elimination round interview screenings? Something along the lines of Boiler Room roundtable eliminations?
• Will applicants have to participate in gameshow-type scenarios to make it to the next round of interviews?
• Will there be drama and/or will potential employers throw a wrench into the process in order to stir the ‘interview pot’?
• Will the applicants have to vote each other ‘off the island’ and out of the interview process?

I think the best example of this corporate interviewing contest concept is The Apprentice. Even the ‘losers’ from this show have the potential to go out and get themselves a good job with the exposure they received being on Trump’s program. Perfect example: Amorosa. If you don’t recognize that name you’re in the minority. Most people know who she is now even though The Donald told her “You’re fired!” She’s done talk shows, TV cameos, and red carpet appearances since getting the boot.

As I am writing this article, I am torn on my feelings about this new interviewing concept. Chatting with my friend Jim, I was able to sort some of my confusion out. Some of the pros I came up with are:

• Holding a contest for potential applicants is a great way for a company to get its name out there, especially a lesser-known company
• Holding a contest will allow potential candidates to show their applicable skills to potential employers instead of relying solely on what’s on their resume
• Contests promoted in the public eye will give applicants an opportunity to market themselves to several potential employers all at once
• This is a potential answer to a question I’ve seen come up a lot lately, revolving around doing away with traditional methods of interviewing
• This will also create greater interest in the younger generations entering the workforce

Some of the cons I thought about:

• This might create a lengthier interview process
• Older generations might be alienated in this attempt to reach a younger crowd
• Some people may elect to participate just to be part of the contest with no real chance to earn a job (recruiters see this all the time in the burger-flipper who submits his resume for the VP of Sales position)
• Contests might not work for certain job functions: how do you hold a contest for purchasing? Or for plant management? Seems as though the technical opportunities are the best place to use a recruiting contest

As much as I may not want to admit it, I will conclude that I think using a contest to invite potential job applicants is a pretty cool concept. I think the biggest benefit to this idea is getting your name out there. This holds true for both the contest participant as well as the company putting on the contest. As a participant, you will be judged based on the contest results. As a company, you will narrow your applicant pool to those who are truly interested and/or qualified to participate as well as get your company’s name out there.

I still think reality TV sucks and we are all better off living our own lives rather than watching others live theirs. But the idea of using this concept in recruiting is pretty smart. This is a good alternative to traditional interviewing and a great way to reach younger generations. Contests keep things interesting, and if the prize is a rewarding career, then that’s alright in my book.

Coming next….some ideas on how you can create your own recruiting contest….stay tuned!