Category: Recruitment
A truly funny story happened to me this morning. I had a nice presentation on the International Recruitment Conference on Friday. As you know me, I take pictures. Pictures of people. Wherever I go. I actually become known for it lately. Whenever I meet people on conferences, if I do not post pictures the next day, my mailbox will always have a few messages asking if or when and where will the pictures be published (finally!!!)? People like to see themselves and chats always start around the photos. It is in a way a social networking in pictures. There is lots of fun that emerged from my snapshots! I enjoy taking them, and people are always looking for them and asking for a high res version to reuse them somewhere else. I gladly give them away. I feel happy when I manage to make others happy.
But there is one who I do not make happy. Actually not happy at all with my pictures. I first noticed it today, and I simply could not believe it. Here is a full story.
After presenting about Social Networking in Recruitment, and participating in on the really good conference last week, I was looking forward to publish the photographs I made. And again, I didn’t even manage to upload them all this morning, and the colleagues started calling me, and the conference organiser as well, asking when will the photos be published since people are asking them for the copy! I speeded it up and published them all on my blog here. I tweeted it, and put on my LinkedIn profile, and in the relevant Irish Recruitment groups of LinkedIn where I am a member.
Mails are coming, and comments and fun begins.
Well one person was not happy. That is the moderator of the LinkedIN Group called Irish Recruiters. My announcement of the photographs published was swiftly removed from the ‘conversation’. My first thought was that I didn’t manage to publish it, clicked something wrong, or LinkedIn ha a bug?
Well the fact is that that the moderator of the group simply removed it. I used a search to look for my other contributions to the group discussions and found out what? All of my contributions, all my questions, comments and answers – all is removed from the group. All that I wrote in about the last year. Some old ones are still there.
The Irish Recruiters group on LinkedIn is really heavily policed and censored by the moderator. In my understanding of the Social Networks the conversations should be open as opposed to be censored. If you cannot tolerate contributions that are not praising your services, is it really the best thing to do just to delete them? And put a head in the sand trying to ignore there is a different opinion than yours out there? Social media cannot be controlled. That is the power of it! One cannot have a Irish Recruiters group on LinkedIn and allow only the contribution to the conversation he or she likes, since it sells his or hers service.
Irish Recruiters group on LinkedIn is really the bad example of the social media strategy. Incapacity to deal with issues forces the moderator to delete conversations as opposed to tune in and contribute himself. It really is damaging the for the recruitment industry, since it gives misleading snapshot of the topics and issues covered by the Irish recruiters.
Cameron is the organiser of the International Recruitment Conference that is taking place this Friday in Dublin. He is really passionate about organising it and really a pleasure to deal with. Here is a short ‘Interview’ we had a few days ago with the upcoming International Recruitment Conference as a topic.
Q. Tell us about yourself and your company
A. My main background is in organising Recruitment Fairs and also heading up the business development team for a network of Multilingual Job Boards. Having organised Conferences in previous companies I am now offering the International Recruitment market something different.
Q. Explain to me what the IRC is about in 20 words
A Conference for International Corporate Recruiters to connect, learn and respond to industry changes. 2011 is focused on Social Media Recruiting.
Q. What is the speakers line-up looking like?
A. Fantastic if I may say so myself. As well as yourself speaking we have the likes of Bill Boorman, who is just an absolute fountain of Social Media knowledge. We also have Data Protection expert Rob Corbet from Arthur Cox, Niamh Hall as well who is a Trademark attorney and is going to be looking at how brands can be protected on-line. LinkedIn are doing a 30 minute Q&A with the audience and to finish off we have the EMEA Recruitment Director from Oracle, a man by the name of Kevin Blair who is an excellent speaker.
Q. What are the intentions of the IRC?
A. A complete Monopoly on Social Media! Every tweet, status update, LinkedIn group, friend request will have to be approved by us. Only joking, we really just want to promote Social Media properly in the context of recruitment. A lot is being done but not a lot of it is done properly (one such exception is Peter Cosgrove’s training sessions which really seem to be very well-received).
Q. What do you want people to go away with?
A. A more informed opinion on Social Media Recruiting, new contacts in the industry, a deeper understanding of the potential issues with Social Media….Also the pen and conference guide as they look great!
Q. Is there plans for the future with your conferences?
There is and there isn’t. There is in terms of ‘Yes we will be doing these conferences in 2012 and beyond’ but there isn’t in terms of Subject Matter for these type of events. What is most important with these conferences, and what really infuriates me sometimes with other conferences, is that relevance is key. 1 year ago the market wouldn’t have been right for a conference like the one we have on Friday, so what is to stop this subject matter being dated and irrelevant in a further 12 months.
What is sure is that the conferences will always be based around the corporate recruitment industry and the current hot topics in the market at the time of the conferences.
When – Friday March 11th
Where – Guinness Storehouse, Dublin 8
More information on the International Recruiters Conference can be found at http://www.bilingualpeople.ie/conference
LinkedIn Group http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=3770622&trk=anet_ug_grppro
Will you advertise on Facebook or in the traditional proven media like newspapers or radio?
I was talking to some postgraduate business and IT students (Overeducated and under experienced for Jobs of tomorrow) and asked them who has the Facebook account. I wanted to show how deep the Facebook penetration actually is. I got more hands up than that I could count. So I reversed the question – and asked who doesn’t have or didn’t use his Facebook account in the last week. I have 3 hands up. In the group of 80 people.
I asked them if they bought papers (any papers) in the last 7 days. Two bought local classified advertising paper looking for flats to rent. One bought photo magazine and one other bout a gardening magazine. Same 80 people.
All are postgraduate students, and all are looking at the job market. All are exactly those you will want to target with your jobs advertisements. So where will you advertise?
To look into it even further – the question is how will you actually advertise there. Facebook and LinkedIN will gladly take your money. Since those are ‘Cash Hungry’ businesses. Twitter and most other social networks do not provide a facility where you can just bluntly dump your advertising budget. It is a known fact that the proper ‘usage’ of a social networking site will give you far better results that advertising on the same site. Painfully small is a list of jobs filled from the advertisements on Facebook or LinkedIN. The way one sources the candies from the Social Networking sites is by constant branding, inbound marketing, networking – all the opposites from classical advertising.
Facebook seems like the best place to invest 90% of your recruitment marketing budget from todays perspective. Tomorrow? Ahh… it will probably change again… Just remember, it will never be the same as it once was, and the wheel will never start turning back. Where you will invest next year, is most likely into something that does not even exist today.
Looking for a job, internship, work placement, course, or starting your business? Career Zoo as the name says will have all you need to do any of that there for you. And what is the best, it is free. There are some great speakers like Peter and Paul there as well, that I can highly recommend!
Unfortunatelly the Career Zoo site does not display the schedule who is speaking when and about what. I know Paul is speaking about How to get a job without a CV. But when.. is the enigma to me.
It is a day before the exhibition, and the Career Zoo site just reads:
An exciting schedule of seminars will be posted on our website early next week so please check back in.
Well next week is after the Career Zoo exhibition, isn’t it?
Anyway, here are the all the details I could find on the CareerZoo.ie web site:
Grab Your Career by the Horns at Career Zoo
The Round Room at The Mansion House, Dawson St., Dublin 2.
Saturday 15th Jan: 11am – 6pm
Sunday 16th Jan: 11am – 5pm
ADMISSION FREE
Get ready for the career event of 2011 for experienced professionals and graduates who are considering upskilling, retraining or exploring new career opportunities.
Meet leading employers with real career opportunities
Explore thousands of courses including cert, diploma, degree, postgrad and masters. Talk to leading course providers and get clear information in an accessible and friendly environment
Employment growth sectors – what are they and how to prepare for them
Discover work placements, internships and volunteering positions
Career Clinic – get free advice from recruitment experts (click here)
Start Your Own Business – how to become a successful entrepreneur
Categories
When do job hunters apply for jobs?
Blue Monday allegedly the most depressive day in the year that falls on the fourth Monday of January is a strong contender that everyone thinks of the day the most people will start searching or apply for a new job. But the statistical data is actually very different. By looking at tens of various recruitment sites, job boards and HR sites of employers, the actually data the most applications come to all the recruiters is the first working Friday of the year. This year 2011, it was the Friday January 7th.
So why are people most likely to send their job application on the first working Friday in the Year? Is it New Year’s Resolutions? Are we just fed up with our work, and decide to do something about it when we came back from the Christmas holidays?
Are employers hesitating to let people go before het Christmas, and break the news in the first week back to work – so people actually get fired on that first working Friday. There is no such jobs news to support it, but then again negative news on the jobs front rarely get to the press anyway.
As a job hunter, if you have sent your application on the first working Friday of the year – you might want to check with the recruiter, since your CV got there in the worst possible time for you – the largest possible amount of the competition of job hunters are applying for the same jobs you are.
Categories
Advertise with CVrecruit.ie
Jet another Irish job site is born. You know how I love those!
The difference that CVrecruit.ie brings to the Irish jobs advertising marketplace is… Well let me be fair and let them explain it in their own words. Here is from their ‘Advertise with us’ page:
Advertise with us
If you are looking to reach a wide audience via relevant fully branded advertising then CVRecruit could be the site for you. With a large database of both employee and employer/agency users CVRecruit works by providing a cost efficient HR solution for those looking to find staff. It also allows potential candidates to upload their CV’s for the attention of employees, for free.Through advertisement on CVRecruit you will be able to begin networking via cost effective banner ads throughout our site and system.
The full branding of your business can be expressed through banner ads viewed by hundreds of users. You will receive free links to your business website which will gain international exposure.
If you wish to project a professional image of your business to a varied professional audience (both employers and employees) we promise to help make this happen for you, with dedicated support at all times. We also offer affiliate business possibilities for those interested increase your business levels today by advertising with us !!
At CVRecruit we are also launching a new service, CVRecuit.ie TV, using the latest software this will allow advertisers and employers to create relevant and targeted videos or text ads to be viewed by CVRecruit users in the latest and most advanced media styles , high impact and outstanding visuals will get your service and products featured in high definition on our site take a look at the cvrecruit tv link we believe this will gain you great exposure in an explosive new way also incredibly cost effective
Also our search engine optimisation team will make your wording reach the correct audience you seek and not waste time with irrelevant audiences you are our priority !
So if I am not wrong, the differentiator is that this site will have a good SEO team making sure you do not get wrong applicants, and there is also some kind of video involved here. Kinda alike CVEye, Sonru, CVizz or other video CV sites that popped up lately in Ireland.
Every second day there is another announcement that het another hundred new IT jobs are available in Ireland. City Bank announced 250 last week, and only today there is 105 new HP Jobs in Galway. With so many of the graduates leaving Ireland, will there be enough heads to fill all those new IT positions announced? Recruiting from other countries to bring people to Ireland as well might not be the easiest thing with Ireland being broke mentioned on every international news published in the western world.
Are we getting into the even worse shortage of the IT candidates than we ever had?
If the shortage of the IT professionals deepens, it will eventually drive to the following outcomes:
1. Higher cost of hiring IT staff – since employers will start offering more to attract new candidates
2. Higher cost of doing business in Ireland, because of the high staff costs – making Irish IT export suffer, and blocks new IT companies setting up in Ireland.
3. Less new jobs being created, as a result as the un-competitiveness
4. Fewer job opportunities in IT for the existing IT graduates – pushing them to emigrate
The cycle goes on and on and the outcome is all but good for the country, for employers or for candidates. It does sound like a Loose–Loose situation far more than a Win-Win one. Do I see it just completely wrong? Or am I just a bit pessimistic today?
What do you thing the shortage of the IT staff in Ireland will be like in the future? And also what will it result in?
SimplyHired.co.uk has released it’s first annual Today’s Job Seeker report for the UK market. Based on the results of more than 60 user polls conducted on the site since October 2009, the report provides the industry’s most comprehensive picture of job seekers and their interests, behaviours and motivations. To download the full report visit http://scr.bi/ukjobseekerreport.
Highlights of the report include:
• Today’s job seekers say the most important consideration when looking for a job is work-life balance (36%)
• 69% of job seekers are willing to take a pay cut to avoid redundancy
• More than half of job seekers use social media sites in their job search, including Facebook (18%) and Linkedin (31%)
Gautam Godhwani, co-founder and chief executive officer, Simply Hired, said: “The current recession has created a new group of candidates, distinctive in their job search methods and what they want from their career. Today’s job seeker is part of a selective, independent and passionate group actively searching for work through social networking and personalised online job sites. We are pleased to share this data through our first UK Today’s Job Seeker Report.”
Categories
Mr Super Coder Recruiter
Picture says more than words…
NRF RECRUITMENT INDUSTRY AWARDS 2010
AWARDS CATEGORIES
1. BEST AGENCY ONLINE SERVICE – Robert Walters
2. RECRUITMENT CONSULTANT OF THE YEAR – Hazel Whelan (Recruitment Plus)
3. BEST IN PRACTICE – HEALTHCARE – Locumlink
4. BEST IN PRACTICE – ACCOUNTING & FINANCE – Sigmar
5. BEST IN PRACTICE – OFFICE & SECRETARIAL – CPL Resources Plc
6. BEST IN PRACTICE – IT & TELECOMS – Vantage Resources
7. BEST IN PRACTICE – HOTEL & CATERING – Noel Recruitment
8. BEST IN PRATICE – LIGHT INDUSTRIAL – Flexsource
9. BEST IN PRACTICE- SALES & MARKETING – Sigmar
10. BEST IN PRACTICE – TECHNICAL ENGINEERING & SCIENCE – CPL Resources Plc
11. AGENCY OF THE YEAR – SMALL – Recruitment Plus
12. AGENCY OF THE YEAR – LARGE – CPL Resources Plc
Read the full review on Jobs Market.
The following series of articles I will write about the long list of changes LinkedIn have brought in lately, and how does it all reflect the recruitment process in Ireland. The main topics are:
• Free Job Advertising by LinkedIn
• Paid Job Seeker Account on LinkedIn
• Why Would I Pay LinkedIn?
• LinkedIn Future – Advertising Platform
If there is any topic in relation to LinkedIn you think I missed – please let me know in the comments from below, and I will do my best to include it.
I have spent most of the last week with Facebook and Google in their fancy Dublin offices. One word I have been hearing over and over: Maximize. They used the word Maximize in every second sentence. It is absolutely unbelievable on how many places you can put that word and almost not lose the meaning of what you are talking about. It reminded me of the Supersize Me a bit, and sometimes I just had to apologize because I started laughing laud (lol).
If you think about the top companies that are ‘in’ lately, we are talking about the (Google) search engine turned into the advertising platform. Social Networking Web Site (Facebook) turning into the advertising platform. Computer company (Apple) turning into mobile phone (iPhone) company turning into the advertising platform (App Store).
The common denominator is the Advertising Platform. Hence the more time you can say Maximize in describing your products and services the better chance of success in the modern economy.
So how can LinkedIn Maximize?
Maximize your Employer Branding – Company Page on LinkedIn
Maximize yourself as a job seeker – Paid Job Seeker Account
Somehow I do not think it is enough. LinkedIn will have to think of more places and times they can put the medical word Maximize in their lingo. To thrive they need to become an advertising platform of some sort. There is no other way up the food chain.
The service I would gladly pay LinkedIn to do for my today is to do the sourcing for myself. What they did is they have created this wonderful social network, and it is super easy to use, and has so many job hunters on their database. I can use it for free, or I can pay to use advanced features. LinkedIn is really easy to use, and a great product in a whole.
But guess what – I am a busy recruiter. I have no time to spend on web sites. I have my clients and candidates I need to put together to fill roles. So since you have all those nice sourcing tools, and large database, why don’t you do the sourcing for me and I will give you a cut of my placement fee? That is something I would pay LinkedIn to do for me today.
Unfortunately LinkedIn is not jet on that stage of a development as a company. They still think – we are the internet company, we have a web site and charge the usage of it. Just compare it with Google for example. Google was exactly like that years ago. There was just a form to place your credit card details and pay for your Google AdWords ads. All you had to do yourself on the Google site. Today – you tell them what your business needs are, and Google does it all for you. They charge you of course for all that, but they are higher in the food chain now. They work closely with the customer. They look after you. They give you what you need. If you look at the titles of numerous opening Facebook has in Dublin – they are doing exactly the same. Hundreds of Account managers will be available to you.
And where is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is still a few years behind in their business model. They still think they can ask for your credit card without talking to you. They still think they are there to provide tools as opposed an overall service – and just do your sourcing for you.
Dara O’Briain defined how wrong one can be in the eyes of the Irish low as:
1. there is all this stuff which comes under: That’s grand
2. then it moves into: Ah now don’t push it
3. … and finally it comes under: Right now you’re takin the piss, and that’s when the police come in.
LinkedIn is also placing the job seekers in three categories and offering a product for each. If you are looking for a job you should pay different fee based on how desperately you feel:
1. Basic Job Seeker
2. Job Seeker
3. Job Seeker Plus
What those get you is that you: Get noticed by recruiters with a Job Seeker Badge. And you can send some from 0 to 10 LinkedIn messages called inMails to other LinkedIn members.
Large numbers of us Irish feel a bit strange with this public display of interest in another job that you present with your profile on LinkedIn. In the US, people are in fact far more honest on the labor market. The size makes a difference, and Americans are far more mobile within the country. The way we are is we are looking for a job close to where we live. A Cork-man will hardly even contemplate to move to Limerick just because there is a better job there. Americans would move thousands of miles away easily for a better opportunity. So when social media comes into play where you publicly state your intentions (and what you feel about your current employer), we have a problem here. Everyone knows everyone, and have a cousin that knows someone, etc. So the job seekers accounts in Ireland can actually be looked in Dara’s classification as well. This time it is a classification of a job seeker – how badly do you want a (new) job? LinkedIn accounts here should be renamed as:
1. Basic Account (just paying and faking I am not looking!) – I am grand.
2. Job Seeker (coming out aren’t we?) – Don’t push it!
3. Plus- Right now you’re takin the piss, and that’s when the HR come in!