Archive for September, 2008
5 EASY Ways to Optimize your 2009 Recruiting Budget
Posted by JasonBy Jason Buss.
Amidst rising unemployment, and what some call a recession - or even financial crisis, it’s that time of year to finalize your plans for 2009 recruiting budgets. This post contains ideas on things you can do to cut (if needed) - or optimize your spending.
Once you know anticipated volumes and skills you will be responsible for finding, here are 5 EASY ways to optimize your recruiting budget:
- Job Boards. Take a good, in-depth look at your job board spend, and overall results. Besides the crappy candidate experience, it should come as no surprise job board traffic continues on a multi-year decline. Use this to your advantage - and negotiate. You should be paying a substantially less amount per posting than in previous years. Most of the big boards continue to add new services to offset posting and resume database access. For more ideas on job boards, you can read an earlier post, “What Would Happen if Job Boards Became Obsolete“?
- Campus Recruiting. Most students I’ve talked to this fall have noticed a big decline in on-campus spending, presence, and the number of jobs available. Most recruiters have been talking about a decrease in full-time opportunities, but a significant increase in interns for 2009. Be thoughtful about your approach to campus recruiting, advertising, events, and sponsorships. You can also reference “Approach to College Recruiting Planning and Strategy” and “Tips on Better Preparing Yourself for the Upcoming College Recruiting Season“.
- Use SEO, SEM, Social Media, and Blogs. As the traffic declines with the boards, use search engine optimization, search engine marketing, and social media tools to recruit. These have been a hot topic for a couple of years already, and there is enough proof, case studies, and white papers highlighting success - especially with SEO. No, I’m not talking about a .jobs domain that re-directs to your careers site… On the Social Media front, focus on networking and hiring from sites like Facebook, Twitter, Plurk, Plaxo, LinkedIn and others.
- Recruiting Events. Carefully assess your attendance at recruiting events. When you make one-off decisions throughout the year you can typically justify attendance. There are some industries and jobs where an event (such as a career fair) might make sense. The truth (for most) is events have never made the top of the list for sourcing effectiveness. There may be reasons to attend (branding as an example). If that’s the case, your Marketing group can fund the event. Be clear about why you want to be there, and what results you are striving to achieve.
- Get aggressive with sourcing. Reduce your reliance on external providers where it makes sense. Don’t wait for the talent to find you. Sounds easy - it starts with equipping recruiters with the right tools and training.
While there is no “one size fits all” approach, take a leadership approach and maximize recruiting and the value it brings to your organization while not jeopardizing quality.
Kenexa Wins Employer of the Year Award from Nebraska Society for Human Resource Management
Kenexa Corporation received the Employer of the Year Award from the Society of Human Resource Management’s Nebraska State Council. The award recognizes Kenexa as a great place to work, in particular for its focus on employee engagement, company-wide community service, employee training and development, and sound HR practices. The award was presented to Bill Erickson, executive vice president, Kenexa at the SHRM Nebraska State Council State Human Resource Conference, which was held on Friday, September 19, 2008, at the Qwest Center in Omaha, Neb.
SHRM Honors Top HR Departments, HR Professional
The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) honored three HR departments and one HR professional on Sept. 25 at the SHRM 2008 Strategy Conference for their innovation and collaboration in solving some of the business world’s most challenging HR issues.
Winners and finalists were recognized during the conference’s morning general session in front of more than 500 conference attendees. SHRM created the Human Capital Leadership Awards in 2006 to recognize the HR profession’s leaders in innovation and strategy. The annual competition features four categories:
- Innovative Business Solution award for a human resources department that develops a creative and ethical solution to a new or continuing organizational challenge.
- Competitive Workforce award for a human resources department that responds to key workforce trends and needs in a changing economic environment.
- Strategic HR Leadership award for a human resources department that drives improved performance by leveraging human capital and aligning HR with corporate strategic goals.
- Human Capital Business Leader of the Year award for a senior human resources professional who is a leading force in designing and executing strategies that impact the organization’s success directly, and the HR profession’s image.
Recruiter Survival Tips
Highly paid corporate recruiters working in the financial-services industry and recruiters who spend the day mining job boards will face an uphill battle landing a new position. As the financial services industry goes through another round of crises and hiring slows throughout the country, recruiter job security is waning
iCIMS, a leading Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) provider, today announced the company’s growing success among mid-sized businesses adopting its talent platform to support their recruitment and talent management needs. Decision makers note the comprehensive and scalable attributes of the iCIMS Talent Platform, as well as the flexibility and cost-effectiveness offered by iCIMS’ SaaS delivery model, as deciding factors for their organizations. Mid-sized companies such as Sony BMG, Crescent Electric, Southern Regional Health, and TIBCO join over 600 worldwide companies who currently partner with iCIMS to help support their pre- and post-hire needs.
These clients and others leverage iCIMS’ technology to power recruitment and applicant tracking initiatives, on-boarding, performance management, employee surveys and more. iCIMS’ scalable Talent Platform has gained industry recognition as a strong technology solution to power these initiatives; particularly for mid-market companies who foresee growth and expansion in their futures. Because the single-source Talent Platform is configurable according to changing business needs, growing organizations are able to scale the platform without incurring customization or data storage fees. Additionally, iCIMS can support geographical growth across numerous worldwide locations. With the Talent Platform, clients can effectively streamline both pre- and post-hire initiatives across widespread global locations and business units while still maintaining data within one core platform. These comprehensive yet flexible offerings, coupled with superior customer service, have secured iCIMS as a top talent management solution choice for today’s growing mid-sized organizations.
Our growth within the mid-market is a direct result of organizations recognizing the long-term value the Talent Platform offers As decision makers become more strategic and savvy in their technology investments, more companies are embracing integrated platforms that can support an array of talent management needs without relying on multiple purchases, implementations, or source codes. The reduced costs and increased efficiencies offered with a full talent platform have become increasingly appealing to mid-market buyers pressured to display the ROI of their technology investments. iCIMS’ SaaS delivery and service model ensures clients don’t have to invest tens of thousands of dollars to create or support an HRIT infrastructure, nor do they run into cost creep for maintenance, upgrades, or service fees. With the help of iCIMS, organizations see a lower total-cost-of-ownership and, in turn, have access to more capital to fund business growth.
“Our growth within the mid-market is a direct result of organizations recognizing the long-term value the Talent Platform offers,” said iCIMS’ Director of Sales, Adam Feigenbaum. “iCIMS’ technology is a smart investment for mid-sized organizations looking to become more strategic in their technology investments. Because the platform can scale to address the entire talent lifecycle, clients don’t need to supplement their talent platform with add-on components. This makes the platform a cost-effective yet comprehensive solution for growing corporations.”
Colin Day, iCIMS’ president and CEO, said, “It has been wonderful to see iCIMS’ continued dominance in the mid-market. The platform’s scalability, iCIMS’ 97 percent customer retention rate, and the SaaS delivery model make partnering with iCIMS a sound investment for growing organizations around the world and we look forward to continued growth in this market.”
Job Hunting Is, and Isn’t, What It Used to Be
When I think back to my job-hunting days, my methods seem as quaint as comparing a Victrola to an iPod. Prescott Perez-Fox, a graphic designer from Brooklyn, says he knows he faces a great deal of competition when he searches online job sites.
First, there was no Internet. I perused trade journals for job possibilities. I painstakingly typed my résumé on a typewriter (electric) and had to retype — and retype and retype — when I made a mistake. I cut and pasted my newspaper clips, which I needed to send along with the résumé, onto letter-size paper, which was like trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with a few pieces missing.
Then, because self-service copying was in its infancy, I had copies of my clips made. Then, I stuffed them into manila envelopes and took them to the post office to mail.
Marketing yourself in a tough job economy
It’s a tough time to look for a new job, whether you’re unemployed or looking for a better opportunity. Employers are skittish about hiring, while the pool of job seekers is growing. Unemployment is at a nearly five-year high, at 6.1 percent. Last month, the economy lost 84,000 jobs, bringing the total to 605,000 jobs lost this year.
More U.S. employers are scaling back hiring plans in the fourth quarter compared with the previous three months, according to a recent survey by Manpower Inc. Of the 14,000 employers surveyed, 22 percent expect to increase staffing in the October-December period, compared with 26 percent in the third quarter.
A job search will test your patience and be demoralizing at times. Some signs are indicating it is taking more than the typical six months to land a new job. Marc Cenedella, chief executive of search site Ladders.com, which focuses on executive jobs that pay $100,000 or more, said the company’s recent survey found that fewer executive-level job seekers expect to land a job in six months or less.
Job Search Bloopers
In a recent interview with Laura DeCarlo, co-author of “Job Search Bloopers…Every Mistake You Can Make on the Way to Career Suicide and How to Avoid Them,” she recommended the following “bloopers” recent graduates make when searching for a job – and how to avoid them.
Aligning Relocation and Talent Management Programs
Posted by JasonA Paradigm Shift for the Effective Alignment of Relocation and Talent Management Programs
Are discussions underway, or being considered, for your company’s relocation policies and programs? If so, you may find the white paper, titled the State of the Relocation Industry and Introducing a Paradigm Shift for The Effective Alignment of Relocation and Talent Management Programs, of interest.
Here, you will find:
- The history of relocation programs and the relevance of history to making informed policy decisions today
- Why Talent Management and Relocation programs are closely related, but far apart in practice, and why many relocation polices today are not supportive of business strategies with talent management
- What companies are doing and have been doing in down markets for decades with the challenging question of “Are we helping or hurting the situation?”
- With the current industry situation defined, a creative solution is presented as a “paradigm shift” to current thinking, offering a new model in relocation policy and practice. This proactive and expedited relocation model addresses ongoing issues with program costs, transferee reluctance to relocate, productivity and talent management strategies.
Click here for a free copy of the white paper today.
Recruitment Advertising Agencies Realizing Reduction in Overhead Costs by Partnering with JobTarget.
Outsourcing the job posting process is changing the industry for Recruitment Advertising Agencies, Online Job Boards, and Employers.
JobTarget has developed an easy, cost-effective way for Recruitment Advertising Agencies to outsource the administrative task of their job posting activity, and agencies are taking notice.
“Nobody in the industry is posting the volume of jobs that we are posting” says Ethan Bloomfield, Vice President of Sales Operations for JobTarget. “We have taken the task of posting positions to a new level. The online recruiting playing field has changed, and JobTarget is a major player.” JobTarget developed OneClick, an advanced distribution service which has streamlined the process for both agencies and online job boards. The volume of jobs that JobTarget is posting daily is industry changing.
Earlier this year, JobTarget announced service agreements with Bayard Advertising and Graystone Group Advertising who outsourced the task of posting job ads. Now JobTarget has signed on two more major agencies, Alstin Communications, Inc and JobElephant.com.
“After we heard about the ease of using JobTarget to get measurable results, we immediately wanted to look into how we could integrate them into our business” says Jennifer Greenfield, Director of Interactive Services, at Alstin Communications, Inc. “We had researched the market thoroughly for a solution that could meet our high volume needs while providing superior customer service and we found a great partner in JobTarget.”
“JobTarget’s OneClick has enhanced our ever-growing list of recruitment advertising resources. The web interface is well designed and easy-to-use. This not only saves us time but has introduced us to new markets which has already created increased sales.” says Michael Ang at JobElephant.com
Recruitment Advertising Agencies know that it takes time and expertise to post positions properly and to the correct job boards. JobTarget powers over 1,000 niche, regional, and diversity career sites online and this benefits both the Recruitment Advertising Agencies and the job board owners.
Recruitment Advertising Agencies and job board owners aren’t the only ones noticing a change. Employers who use any of the integrated agencies are seeing positive results as well, even though JobTarget’s role in their recruiting isn’t necessarily known to them. Employers are being introduced to and posting their jobs to niche job boards that they never knew about, and finding the quality of job seekers to be exemplary.
30 Days Later… On LinkedIn Group Enhancements
Posted by JasonAbout a month ago, we were introduced to several enhancements for LinkedIn Groups. Since then 13,624 new groups have been created, bringing the total number of LinkedIn Groups to 134,685.
As an owner of one group, and the member of a dozen more, you wouldn’t know anything has changed. I also did a quick scan on the blogosphere to see what the buzz has been, and here is a snapshot of some comments (from TechCrunch and profy):
- As a group manager, the new features are very disappointing. There are no ways for group managers to moderate the new discussions posted nor a way to display some basic guidelines for the discussions! the text in the hub page/ Description of the group is limited to 300 characters!
- I welcome this long overdue update. But agree regarding the limitations. I just did my first post and the character max was 200, slightly longer than a twitter post. I hope this is just the beginning. I’m a LinkedIn fan and wish it was necessary to use other social networks to fill the gaps in LinkedIn’s offerings.
- This is really boring! LinkedIn is a great resume site but they have this strong desire to be so much more. I have serious doubts that they can pull this off. They should stick to what they’re good at — being a great site for recruiting talent.
- Very true, LinkedIn definitely has to address some issues about their approach to groups - they should help group owners instead of making the service less useful (and sometimes painful) to them. After all, these are busy people helping LinkedIn engage users.
- LinkedIn definitely has to address some issues about their approach to groups - they should help group owners instead of making the service less useful (and sometimes painful) to them. After all, these are busy people helping LinkedIn engage users.
All-in-all LinkedIn is still a powerhouse and Groups still have plenty of advantages - especially for those connecting and networking with other Group members. If you were expecting something great with the enhancements, you’ll have to wait-and-see until the next enhancements are launched.
Highlights from the 30th Annual NBMBAA
Posted by JasonI had the opportunity to attend the 30th Annual National Black MBA Conference and Exposition in Washington, D.C. This was my seventh time in attendance to the annual event, and one of the best to date.
From the 23 strategic partners to the 350+ corporate exhibitors, a conference highlight continues to be the job match program and career fair.
The overall objectives of the annual NBMBAA Conference and Exposition are:
- To serve as a resource for diversity recruitment and hiring solutions
- To provide branding and imaging opportunities for our corporate partners
- To create an environment in which the corporate community is given direct access to the senior undergraduates and MBA students seeking entrance to the job market
- To further enhance the management skills and productivity of NBMBAA members through a series of focused panel presentations and workshops
- To provide a forum for prominent guest speakers
- Provide marketing and sales venue
I would also like to provide recognition to the following 2008 award winners:
- Florida A&M - national champions in the case competition
- Michael and Ramona Woods; and Laurna Godwin and Jessica Perkins for being honored as distinguished African American Entrepreneurs
- 10 additional award winners at the Grand Affair and Welcome Reception
See you in New Orleans for #31 in 2009.
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myStaffingPro® Applicant Tracking System - Free 30 day trial
Posted by JasonmyStaffingPro®, a leader in applicant tracking, has expanded their product line with the new Express edition. myStaffingPro® Express is a straightforward applicant tracking solution for small businesses looking for the essentials in applicant tracking.
The easy-to-use system delivers fundamental features to post jobs, collect candidate resumes, and manage the hiring process. The implementation experience is a simple five-step checklist that can be completed in no time at all. The optional inclusion of collecting and reporting on EEO data is included. Ruth Ann Stover director of sales commented, “Customers using myStaffingPro Express will appreciate the easy implementation and straightforward interface”. The checklist provides immediate access to manage locations, job posting categories, and job templates. After completing the checklist, the administrator can immediately create and post a requisition to the candidate portal.
Whether posting to your career portal or a job board, candidates enjoy a quick and easy way to apply to your opening and submit a resume. Upon completion, candidates will receive a thank you message and a confirmation email to verify the receipt of their application.
Stover adds, “myStaffingPro Express is a great starting point for small businesses that need an applicant tracking system. If the time comes when a more robust system is needed, any company can transition from our Express product to our Standard product. It’s a win-win for everyone!”
Register for the online demonstration to learn more about Express and activate your complimentary 30-day trial!
Despite Financial Meltdown, Financial Firms Urged to Continue Campus Recruiting
In the wake of Lehman Brothers’ collapse, campus recruiting is probably the last thing on the minds of executives at financial services companies. But shelving such recruiting activities might put these firms at a severe disadvantage when markets pick up again, consultants warn.
Companies recommit to on-campus recruitment
Despite a troubled economy, Clemson University’s fall career fair is booked up, with more than 260 companies reserving spots. Michelin Career Center Executive Director Flora Riley said the saturation illustrates a renewed commitment to on-campus recruitment.
“Businesses have known for a while about this whole idea of branding themselves with students,” Riley said. “If students don’t recognize the name, they might not pay attention to it. It’s not a new idea at all.”
Schools Wary on Lehman, Merrill Impact
As the financial landscape shifts, B-schools are busy reaching out to nervous students whose job prospects are suddenly far from certain.
These are usually the days when business school students are settling into their class routine and awaiting the arrival of recruiters on campus. But with the downfall of two of Wall Street’s investment houses and fears that other major companies are on the brink, it’s a nervous time at B-schools.
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