Go to auction

Listen as Chris Russell describes the 2 niche job boards being auctioned off on ebay - AdminCareers.com and AllWebJobs.com




Auction on EBAY will start on Tues, Feb. 6th around noon and will last for 3 days.

Download Sell Sheet (pdf)

Labels: Job boards

From time to time the Fly likes to spread his wings and buzz above the recruitosphere to see whats happening. Yesterday we published the following press release touting the growing community of recruiting bloggers.

Recruiting Blogosphere Coming Out Of It’s Shell

Industry now at 200 Recruiting blogs and counting.

The “recruiting blogosphere”, a community of blogs written by recruiters and human resources professionals, is becoming a powerful medium through which to recruit, vent and rave about the world of job hunting and staffing. There are now over 200 recruiting professionals who blog about the subject, according to RecruitingFly.com.

“More and more recruiters and career professionals are realizing the power of blogging”, says Chris Russell the founder of RecruitingFly.com, a recruiting blog directory and vertical search engine. “Not only does it build their own personal brand but it delivers traffic to their web site, brings in new business and keeps them grounded in the fast-paced world of work”, adds Russell.

Interesting new blogs include Evil HR Lady, HR Thoughts and Generations@Work. You can find an alphabetical list of all recruiting blogs on the recruitingfly.com homepage.

Many bloggers have reported a variety of benefits associated with starting their blog. Joel Cheesman, who writes the popular recruitment blog Cheezhead, recently just snagged a deal with the employment web site JobCentral to become the primary sponsor on his site. The cost: $100,000 for 2 years. For that, JobCentral gets their name on just about everything he does.

Speculation is buzzing in the ‘recruit-o-sphere’ that more sponsored deals like this are on the way. “A lot of bloggers see dollar signs in the future”, says Russell.

RecruitingFly is also among the sites signing deals. Two recruiting vendors, WorkGiant and StaffITnow recently became sponsors. Companies of all kind are now recognizing that these kind of niche sites offer tremendous exposure and business development opportunities.

For everything recruiting, checkout ERE.net.

Labels: Industry News

Looks like Kennedy will now also target Job seekers via its acquisition of the Career Masters Institute founded by noted career expert Wendy Enelow.

Kennedy Information, Inc. announces their acquisition of the preeminent authority on career development, transition and management -- the Career Masters Institute.

Peterborough, NH (PRWEB) January 30, 2007 -- Kennedy Information announces their acquisition of the preeminent authority on career development, transition and management -- the Career Masters Institute.

The Career Masters Institute has been formalizing and professionalizing the careers industry since its founding by Wendy Enelow in 1999. A published author, trainer and career consultant, Ms. Enelow explained that she founded Career Masters "to facilitate the professional exchange of information needed to meet the massive change, transformation and expansion currently happening within the careers industry." Ms. Enelow served as the association's Executive Director from 1999-2004 before stepping down to devote full time to writing, speaking and consulting opportunities within the careers industry.

In less than 10 years, Career Masters has become the leading association for career professionals. Susan B. Whitcomb, who served as Executive Director from 2004-2007, observed that "Career Masters' membership possesses a depth of expertise unmatched elsewhere, with more authors, thought leaders and highly successful career entrepreneurs than any other careers association." It is the first organization to bring together a worldwide membership of career coaches, career counselors, resume writers, outplacement consultants, recruiters, college and university career development personnel, and military and government career transition specialists within one space that connects every sector within the careers community.

full press release

Labels: Industry News

Matt Moye is a recruiter with Smith Hanley and he's got a unique blog that focuses on "Front Office Quant" and other Financial IT positions. Check him out at Quant Recruiter.

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

Finally somebody figured out how to make a user friendly version of a print magazine. Check out Talent Management.

Labels: Industry News

Nice to see another job board blogging. Steven Greenberg writes for Jobs4.0 the new "over 40" job site. He seems to be a master at PR since he's already been mentioned in the NYTimes and Forbes. Welcome to the recruiting blogosphere Steve.

Labels: Job boards, Recruiter Blogs

I love this new bloggers name: Romulus Balazs is an HR Consultant at Jobpartners in France. He writes a clog called The Social Revolution Blog.

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

If you are evaluating different job boards for your hiring efforts here are some questions to ask them that will help you determine their effectiveness.

1. How do you market your site?
The way a job board markets itself is very important. Ask them how they attract job seekers.

2. What are your monthly traffic levels?
Focus on unique visitors and page views, not 'hits'. Hits are not an indicator of a sites popularity. Hits are a myth. They number of unique monthly visitors and monthly page views are the best indicators of a sites traffic.

3. Do you have testimonials?
Many sites have some form of testimonials from customers. Ask for and read them

4. How many resumes do you have on file
...the more, the better. If they have a low amount that could indicate low traffic levels.

5. Do you offer free trials?
It doesn't hurt to ask.

Don't ask them what their 'success' rate is placing candidates. They don't know. They may have a few testimonials of success but for the most part they don't have a clue about the number of placements. The best judge of their effectiveness is the amount of time they've been in existence and the number of companies placing jobs.

Labels: Job boards

Yvonne LaRose, Consultant, already writes The Desk and now she's branching out with 2 new blogs for the recruit-o-sphere.

Consultant's Desk

According to Yvonne, "that will be where I write and publish my case studies, reviews, and some white papers. At present, it has a case study (that in my mind needs some supporting authorities and references) regarding Jobster.

I've also started a new "The Desk" where I've begun commenting on industry tools for either side of the desk."

Best of luck Yvonne!

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

It's happened. Jobster, is the first of the big 3 vertical job search engines to offer free job postings. As long as you are a registered member of the site they allow you to post up to 20 jobs. Makes me wonder if Indeed and SimplyHired will follow. Or if the job boards they serve will protest? ....stay tuned to 'As the Jobster Turns'...

Labels: Job boards

This collegejournal article says that employers are dsicivering the benefits of Facebook recruiting.

"Ernst & Young ...launched a page on Facebook with information and discussion boards aimed at college students; the company paid an undisclosed fee. Employers seek "new ways to reach out to the college audience," says Dan Black, director of campus recruiting for the Americas at Ernst & Young.

The approach poses risks as well as rewards. Companies that solicit public feedback are likely to get negative as well as positive comments. The sites can also connect detractors who otherwise wouldn't have met. What's more, employers must continually update their sites to attract visitors.

Still, recruiting consultants and a growing number of employers think the advantages outweigh the risks.

"It's a very good thing for communicating with potential job seekers," says Mark Mehler, a co-founder of CareerXroads, a consulting firm that advises on staffing strategies. "You're reaching the student in their lair."

Organic, a marketing agency that is a unit of New York's Omnicom Group Inc., created a MySpace page a few months ago to help former employees keep in touch with each other and the company, with the hope that some may return or refer acquaintances. The agency specializes in Internet marketing.

Organic also launched two blogs aimed partly at recruiting. Tracy Coté, who heads recruiting, says the blogs draw potential candidates to the company. They also allow recruiters to contact users who post comments and may be interested in working at Organic."

>>>>> Search the recruiting blogosphere

Labels: Employer Branding, Industry News

I love this post by Your HR Guy. Not only is it refreshing to hear the truth but it cuts down the interview process to its core meaning. I too wish there could be more honesty in the interview process. As he says, many people are in denial of their deficiencies. I suspect the quick fix American Idol route to success may be partly to blame.

Labels: Random thoughts

Lisa Rosendahl, SPHR is A Human Resource Manager talks about leadership, learning and transformations in HR. Her blog is here;

http://hrmanager.squarespace.com

Welcome to the recruiting blogosphere Lisa.

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

I started using billboards this month for one of my job boards as part of a marketing campaign. I had to design the ad, meet the sales rep, fill out a few forms and mail in a check. But what if I could do all that online?

Reports are circulating that Google Billboards are in the works after filing a patent last summer;

According to Clickz columnist Ryan Naraine:

"If the filing is a sign of things to come from Google, kiosk-type billboards, ATM machines and other digital displays in malls and hotel lobbies could start hawking products directly from a nearby retailer’s inventory."

Imagine the possibilities for recruitment advertising...hmmm? I love the ATM idea, would gladly pay to advertise in front of that captive audience.

Labels: Recruitment Advertising

by Liam Dowds

Introduction
I think most of us accept that people are an organisation's most important asset. So why is it that for all of us (employer, candidate - even recruitment agency!) the simple job of people recruiting other people is often a less than pleasant experience?

For the truth is, recruitment is not something many people look forward to getting involved in; nor is it an industry held in particularly high regard. Yet still it remains a vital activity; the process of attracting and then successfully bringing in talent into an organisation. Everyone has need of the service at one time or another: either in our role as an employer or as a candidate. Recruitment, therefore, impacts everyone - personally! So why - if all of us have a vested interest in making recruitment work - does it so often fail to do so?

Consider some of the following:

Service
I think that whilst we may all want to receive good service, we don't always give it! It may be because we're too busy and we lack the time and resources. Yet, if we're honest, too often we fail to give recruitment and the people involved in it, the attention it needs and deserves.

Whether we're the Line Manager, the HR or Recruitment Manager, the candidate or the recruitment consultant; bottom line we don't give each others' interests enough consideration and attention. Usually, we're easily convinced our recruitment problems lie with the other party, rather than with ourselves.

We're all candidates, aren't we?
In particular, not enough consideration is given to where candidates' are coming from; their issues. And this is where a lot of recruitment goes wrong.

It's as if recruitment can only be employer-centric or candidate-centric, but somehow it can't be both.

In most cases, the recruitment process will be skewed towards the needs of the employer, with the candidates' interests often overlooked. This can result in needlessly negative candidate experiences: failure to acknowledge receipt of CV, unexplained delays, a lack of feedback etc. As well as causing unnecessary anxiety to the candidate, it inevitably affects their perception of the company; both as an employer and as a future customer for their goods and services. Not a smart move, in an age when it's increasingly recognised that a company’s "brand values" should be core to everything they say and do.

And it's not as if we don't know that this is what's going on out there; all we need do is look to our own experience as a candidate to recognise it's true!

In fact, if we look at it another way: isn't an employer really only a candidate who happens to be recruiting? Shouldn't all of us, therefore, be treating candidates the way we'd like to be treated as a candidate?

Yet all too often it appears we forget what it's like being a candidate once we're the employer. Forgetting that recruitment is very much a two way process; candidates choosing employers every bit as much as employers choosing candidates.

Treat candidates like customers
Employers, if they're to recruit more successfully, should try to manage their candidates with the same skill, care and attention as they lavish upon their customers. For, as with customers, candidates are no different in that they'll prefer to go where they get the best service.

Simply put: the quality, style and speed of the recruitment process and the message it sends out to candidates, can often be just as important as the salary and job opportunities on offer.

It's a competitive marketplace
Some employers may overlook the fact that they're in a competitive marketplace; competing with other employers, often for the same candidates.

Before an employer can make the choice as to the best person to hire, they must first attract candidates to apply to their vacancy. But that's only the start; since it's likely these same candidates will apply or have already applied to other vacancies with other companies as well.

Important therefore, but often forgotten, is continuing to attract those candidates all the way through the recruitment process. Otherwise, a candidate risks being lost to the competition and the process repeated all over again at great cost both in time and money.

Conclusion
There are many past wrongs with which candidates, employers and recruitment agencies can legitimately use as reasons for blaming each other for the current mess; but it doesn't solve the problem of trying to turn recruitment into a more pleasant experience…for everyone.

However, no matter how galling it may be for those employers previously wronged, it is they who remain best placed to influence everyone else's behaviour - perhaps more so than they realise.

For, ultimately, it is the employer who appoints an agency to act on its behalf and it is the employer who pays their fee. And, as always - money talks!

Employers, I'm convinced, really can exert greater influence than they do. Ensuring the level of service delivered in their name is of an acceptable standard and rigorously enforced. If an employer recruits directly, they need to be confident that the appropriate processes are in place to ensure each party receives good service; both internally between Line Managers and the HR/Recruitment team and externally between the employer and the candidate.

Finally, I don't for a moment suggest these issues are for employers' to resolve on their own. It's also abundantly clear that recruitment agencies as well as candidates need to get their act together and be more honest with each other and with employers'.

However, I'm certain we'll never break the cycle of poor recruitment experience without employers' taking the lead, since they're the only ones with any real influence. For ultimately, it's the employer who calls the shots in terms of deciding strategy, who to use and who to pay! They really do have more influence than they may think.

I'd encourage them, therefore, to take a lead which the rest of us follow; using their influence to promote and reward the giving of good service...to everyone.

Only then will all of us be more confident of receiving (nay, insisting upon!) good service in return.

Liam Dowds is a Director of CIRCLe, the Executive Search & Selection firm behind CIRCLeRecruiter: a web based recruitment service which makes recruitment a more pleasant experience…for everyone.

Labels: Other bloggers, Pot luck

The RecruitingFly.com vertical search engine is now new and improved.

In addition to crawling over 190 recruiting & HR blogs, the site now includes results from mainstram recruiter resources like shrm.org, hr.com and workforce.com. It's also now powered by Google Co-op, their custom search engine technology.

Now when you do a search for things like recruiting software, you'll get results from the full spectrum of sites. Then you'll be able to refine your search by filtering results from blogs, news sources like hr.com, or directories like recruitersnetwork.com.

These new sites represent a powerful new way to search the places where recruiters & HR people congregate. We hope you enjoy this new resource.

ATTENTION VENDORS: you can now add your company web site to our search engine. Click here for details.

Labels: Pot luck

This post has nothing to do with recruiting but I thought it was so cool that I had to share.

There's a wiz kid named Jefferson Han who has created a new kind of touch screen operating system that is blowing the minds of techies everywhere. Just watch the video and see for yourself. If you want to learn more there's a story on him the the February edition of Fast Company.

Labels: Pot luck

Vertical Job Search Engines Fasting Growing Sector in Online Employment

NEW YORK, NY – January 10, 2007 – According to Hitwise, the world's leading online competitive intelligence service, the market share of visits to the Business and Finance - Employment and Training category increased by 31 percent comparing the week ending January 6, 2007 versus the previous week, ending December 30, 2006.

CareerBuilder.com was the most visited website for the week ending January 6, 2007 receiving 13.73 percent of all visits within the Employment category. Monster.com was the second most visited website with 11.51 percent of visits followed by Yahoo! Hot Jobs (hotjobs.yahoo.com) with 5.33 percent of visits.

“Along with diet and fitness websites, employment sites experience an increase during the first week of January each year as the job force considers finding a new job as part of their New Year’s resolution,” said Bill Tancer, general manager of global research at Hitwise. “This year vertical job search engines experienced the greatest year-over-year growth as job hunters navigate the increasing long tail of job openings.”

As a category, Business and Finance – Employment and Training sites decreased 2 percent comparing the week ending January 6, 2007 versus the ending January 7, 2006. “The decrease in visits to employment sites is most likely due to the drop in the unemployment rate of over 8 percent during 2006,” said Tancer.

View the full stats >>

Labels: Job boards

Martin Burns is ZoomInfo’s recruiting manager, and he writes a blog for job-seekers (with the occasional rant), called “good to know”. You'll also find ZoomInfo's open positions listed there which is a nice touch. Welcome to the recruitosphere Martin.

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

I'm starting to see more videos on corporate career sites that delve into specific roles and work environments. TJX, the retailer who runs stores such as Marshalls and TJ Maxx, has a nice set of videos on their careers page.

My only question is why aren't these on Youtube? They are missing an opportunity by not uploading them for all the world to see.

Labels: Employer Branding, Videos

Ask the Headhunter has more harsh words for CB and the big 3. From his latest newsletter:

"Why do otherwise-savvy job hunters even consider using services like CareerBuilder? Because employers promote and prop them up. Companies need to get their heads out of the sand, and their boards of directors need to take an axe to wasteful recruitment spending. Stockholders should be squawking. Any human resources department that is paying for resumes from CareerBuilder and its ilk should be shuttered and boarded up. Recruiters need to get off their duffs and go spend face time in the professional communities from which they recruit, or get out of the business. CareerBuilder, Monster, HotJobs -- they're for dopes."

Labels: Job boards

Please welcome Workfarce to the blogosphere. It is written by Josh Akers. Here's a little snippet of what Josh is about;

Workfarce is a place where people in the Job Board, HR Technology, Human Resources and Recruiting community can come and share ideas, a good laugh and maybe learn a thing or two.I have dedicated my career to the Internet Recruiting Industry and am comitted to the advancement of the HR Technologies and Online Recruiting world…

Josh Akers graduated from the Ernie Pyle School of Journalism at Indiana University in 1998. He currently resides in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

SnagAJob.com Inc. has snagged $9 million in private-equity funding to more than quadruple its work force and build its brand.

Founded in 2000 by former attorney Shawn Boyer, SnagAJob is an online job recruiting company that helps people find hourly or part-time positions in retail, restaurant and other service industries.

With the new cash infusion, SnagAJob will aggressively hire sales, marketing and tech workers. Boyer, the firm's president and chief executive, expects 76 employees by the year's end and 131 by next September. It currently employs 28.

SnagAJob also will promote itself with TV commercials in several large cities, outdoor and transit ads in Atlanta and Washington, and a sales campaign to lure more small and medium-size companies.

Boyer said yesterday that the company, which has more than 100,000 postings, will invest heavily in technology to handle what he expects will be a jump in monthly visitors to the site. SnagAJob gets about 1.5 million visitors a month; Boyer expects that to hit 9.5 million by 2009.

While SnagAJob competitors such as Monster.com, HotJobs and CareerBuilder.com offer hourly and part-time jobs, the sites primarily are used to hunt for salaried or executive-level positions.

Therefore, SnagAJob doesn't heavily compete in the $3.5 billion online recruiting market with those more well-known job sites, said Gordon Borrell, president of Portsmouth-based media consulting firm Borrell Associates Inc., which has done work with the local company.

Boyer said SnagAJob's push into the hourly market has been strong enough to stay profitable since early 2004. It does not disclose financial figures but has seen triple-digit growth in revenue for five years of its six-year history, he said.

Labels: Job boards

The article went largely unnoticed last week due to the jobster buzz but the Business Week story on the job board landscape was a very interesting read. Check it out here. There were several important points which I think recruiters need to know.

1. Niche job boards now control 64% of the market, up from only 39% in 2004

2. Past 6 months: visits to Monster, HotJobs and CareerBuilder dropped by 23.7%, 18.4% and 7.1% respectively.

3. LinkedIn is now profitable.

4. Monster tripled its sales force in 2006. (hmmm, getting desperate?)

5. Consolidation is coming: "analysts say... Some of the Big Three may need to gobble up successful niche sites"

Here's a quote from a Monster exec: "We are planning to be a consolidator," says Doug Klinger, president of Monster North America.

"I wouldn't be too surprised if Google teamed up with or bought CareerBuilder or Monster," says analyst from Borrell Associates.

6. The Big 3 are in denial:

For now, pointing to their revenue growth, the Big Three deny their foothold on the market is slipping. CareerBuilder CEO Matt Ferguson says tools like social-networking job sites are yet to be proven: "We don't believe there's such a thing as a community of job seekers," he says.

Labels: Job boards

This is one of the best new hr blogs to come on the scene: Evil HR Lady

Her writing style is witty and sharp.

She's an HR professional in a Fortune 500 Company. "I've hired, fired, managed pay and analyzed the numbers. I've even tried to cooperate with Finance, but, well you know how that turned out."

Why am I evil? Well, I'm not, but that's the perception of all of us in HR. Need to fire someone? Come to HR. Need to explain to someone why, even after working their rear end off all year, that their annual increase is 2.7%? Come to HR. Need to come up with new mountains of paperwork? Come to HR. So, come join me on the Evil Side. Oh, and send me your HR questions.

Labels: Recruiter Blogs

File this under the strange but true category...I've heard of dancing with the stars but not dancing for the job!

Candidates for a job at a DIY store were made to dance to a Michael Jackson song when they went for their interviews.

One candidate said he felt "humiliated" as he and other interviewees at the B & Q store in Norwich were asked to perform to the Jackson Five's Blame It On the Boogie.

The interviews, which have been criticised by the GMB union, continued with the candidates being asked to pull funny faces so that managers could take pictures of them.

Although B & Q said yesterday that the dance routine was a voluntary exercise, candidates said this was not made clear to them.

Clive Hagon-Powley was one of eight hopefuls. "The first exercise we had to do was form a circle. Then we had to dance to Michael Jackson," he said.

"After that, we had to pull funny faces while the interviewers took photos.

"What this had to do with working for B & Q I do not know. I should have walked out then but I need a job.

"At 59 years old, the two hours were not among the best times I have had. I worked for the same company for 33 years before being made redundant and this was my first 'proper' interview for a new job. I felt totally disillusioned."

Another of the candidates, Rodney Southern, 35, from Martham, Norfolk, added: "I thought I was going to be tested on maths and English.

"Obviously, that is not important at B & Q – dancing is. If I had not needed a job so badly, I would not have done it.

"I don't mind a laugh and a joke but I didn't expect that at a job interview. I was humiliated."

full article >>

Labels: Pot luck

Too many HR people write bad job descriptions. If I had a dime for every poorly written job description I've seen I'd be a wealthy man. The job of a job description is to SELL the POSITION. So you need to write like an advertisement, not a job description.

This article on ERE discusses the ingredients to a great job ad. The 2 main points are;

Stress the benefits and give them a call to action.

* Stress what you are going to give the candidate both now and down the line.
* Differentiate yourself from the rest
* Paint a compelling picture.
* Motivate the candidate to act.
* Provide multiple ways to apply.
* Make it easy for them.

Writing better job ads will not only increase the quality of candidates, it will build your employers brand.

Labels: Job Ads

Please welcome WorkGiant, our newest sponsor.

Founded by Kevin Romney, WorkGiant is a pay for performance recruiting solution. I asked Terrell what is the best reason for employers to use the site. His answer;

The best reason to use WorkGiant is this: The Pay-For-Performance hiring system means employers can post all their jobs without losing anything. Employers only pay for results.

Here are some details on the service;

We Are Different... Let Us Tell You Why!

Put the Power of Performance Based Recruiting in Your Hands! WorkGiant completely eliminates the risk for employers to post jobs and search resumes. As a WorkGiant client company, you only pay after hiring the candidate of choice. If your company does not hire, you pay absolutely nothing. By paying only when you hire there are no wasted dollars left on the table from unfilled positions.

We call our business model Performance Based Recruiting. Performance Based Recruiting is no risk recruiting and can save your company up to 70% on your current recruiting costs.

Employer Core Services

• Post all of your jobs for free
• Search our entire resume database for free
• Keep your jobs online until they are filled (no time constraints)
• Pay only upon successfully hiring the candidate of choice
• Upon hiring you only pay 1% of the annual salary

WorkGiant Value Added Services

• Recycled Candidate Program - WorkGiant is the only employment site online that offers Employers and Recruiters the ability to recycle their surplus candidates and get paid
• Job Keywords - Employers and Recruiters have the ability to use Job Keywords to edge out competitors for top jobseeker talent (pay-per-click)
• Job Sync Technology - have your jobs posted automatically with our job posting service and Job Sync technology frees you from manually posting open positions and deleting filled positions (free to companies with a minimum of 100 jobs)
• Precision Match Technology - Enables structured database resume searches to match job openings with the most appropriate candidates

Labels: Job boards

Like any other complex endeavor, recruiting is comprised of a series of connect steps and invariably there are negative consequences if a step is skipped or not taken in the appropriate order. Throughout the year we have maintained a list of recruiting steps. Currently there are 59 distinct steps on the list. Here are the first 10:

1. Opening(s) identified
2. Alert Staffing
3. Approve request
4. Check for prior staffing templates
5. Send Manager's Checklist
6. Draft Staffing Template
7. Collaboratively finalize Staffing Template with hiring manager
8. Prepare requisition
9. Approve requisition
10. Assign recruiter

To see the rest of our list, click here.

Labels: Industry News

Jeff Taylor, founder of Monster.com is now the public face of his new site for baby boomers called Eons. We've been seeing a lot of his commercials on TV lately. It may be a little over the top with the whole "Boom, boom, boom" thing but watch for yourself...

Labels: Pot luck, Videos