I am man – I am Google. I am woman – I am Social.

Search hasn't changed but social has changed the game as far as advertising is concerned. But what do we men know anyway? The thing is, search is a male thing. Like shopping we are very focused on what we want. If we want a pair of jeans, we go to a shop that we know sells the type of jeans we like, buy them then go home, or to the golf club/pub/gym etc. We do NOT: Spend a whole day looking for a pair of jeans. Visit 15 different shops; just in case. Get our nails done whilst looking for jeans. Meet friends for coffee to compare notes about different jean styles. Need a pair of shoes to go with the jeans. Need any help from our partners. Care how big our bum looks in our new jeans. We just go and buy our jeans. So how does this affect search? Search is for people who know what they want whereas social is for people who are not even looking. Who care what their friends say. Look at what their friends buy. Listen to what friends say to each other. Make decisions on what their friends say. Maybe even buy something based on what a friend tells them even though they were not thinking of buying that something. Social is more friendly and caring, unlike men.

Tags: attraction, direct recruiting, facebook, Industry Chat, linkedin, search, sem, social media, social recruiting

I am man – I am Google. I am woman – I am Social. #in

Search hasn't changed but social has changed the game as far as advertising is concerned. But what do we men know anyway? The thing is, search is a male thing. Like shopping we are very focused on what we want. If we want a pair of jeans, we go to a shop that we know sells the type of jeans we like, buy them then go home, or to the golf club/pub/gym etc. We do NOT: Spend a whole day looking for a pair of jeans. Visit 15 different shops; just in case. Get our nails done whilst looking for jeans. Meet friends for coffee to compare notes about different jean styles. Need a pair of shoes to go with the jeans. Need any help from our partners. Care how big our bum looks in our new jeans. We just go and buy our jeans. So how does this affect search? Search is for people who know what they want whereas social is for people who are not even looking. Who care what their friends say. Look at what their friends buy. Listen to what friends say to each other. Make decisions on what their friends say. Maybe even buy something based on what a friend tells them even though they were not thinking of buying that something. Social is more friendly and caring, unlike men.

Tags: attraction, direct recruiting, facebook, Industry Chat, linkedin, search, sem, social media

Would you refuse applicants without a social profile?

What no LinkedIn? What no Twitter? What no Xing? What no Facebook? Well you won't be able to register with us then until you get one. I mean, we need your Klout score. Of course you would never, ever, ever do such a thing. It is absolutely proposterous and open for so much trouble from the PC police. But, already in certain cases to apply for a job online a CV is mandatory. As is a telephone number. And an e-mail address. So at what point do we stop asking candidates to create yet another online profile when they already have some kind of social profile that they can at least use to register. The moment they update their social profile then the details you have in your ATS are out of date so why not just make it easy for everyone. Just let it all float around in the cloud, accessing what you need on demand only when you need it. Oh of course, you need your tailored cover letter and tailored CV for your special job. Candidates demand the tailoring of these two precious items.

Tags: direct recruiting, hmmm, Industry Chat, linkedin, result, social recruiting

Would you refuse applicants without a social profile? #in

What no LinkedIn? What no Twitter? What no Xing? What no Facebook? Well you won't be able to register with us then until you get one. I mean, we need your Klout score. Of course you would never, ever, ever do such a thing. It is absolutely proposterous and open for so much trouble from the PC police. But, already in certain cases to apply for a job online a CV is mandatory. As is a telephone number. And an e-mail address. So at what point do we stop asking candidates to create yet another online profile when they already have some kind of social profile that they can at least use to register. The moment they update their social profile then the details you have in your ATS are out of date so why not just make it easy for everyone. Just let it all float around in the cloud, accessing what you need on demand only when you need it. Oh of course, you need your tailored cover letter and tailored CV for your special job. Candidates demand the tailoring of these two precious items.

Tags: direct recruiting, hmmm, Industry Chat, linkedin, result, social recruiting

The urban myth of careersite and job search engine optimisation (SEO)

Optimise your jobs and all will be well. Yet another fields of dreams but this time, it is a lot less likely they will come. There are simple facts that bebunk the job SEO sales pitch and plenty of evidence to back this one up! First off, it IS important to get your jobs indexed by search engines as they will in certain scenarios get found on page one of Google et al.

Tags: career sites, direct recruiting, dreams, engines, fields, job, result, sales, Scenarios, search, sem, seo

The urban myth of careersite and job search engine optimisation (SEO) #in

Optimise your jobs and all will be well. Yet another fields of dreams but this time, it is a lot less likely they will come. There are simple facts that bebunk the job SEO sales pitch and plenty of evidence to back this one up! First off, it IS important to get your jobs indexed by search engines as they will in certain scenarios get found on page one of Google et al.

Tags: Aggregators, direct recruiting, dreams, engines, fields, Industry Chat, job, jobs, pitch, result, sales, Scenarios, search, seo

Talent community or field of dreams?

Build it and they'll come. Will they? Will it work? Will anyone really care? There is constantly so much debate about the talent community. Brave New Talent apparently advertise “Build a community in 10 minutes”. But what is the point? 10 minutes, 10 days or 10 years does it really matter? Take our friend Twitter for a moment. Let's take our sterotypical sales person. Nowhere to be seen until they smell money and then they're all over you on any channel they can find you. Sign the deal and whoosh, they be gone never to be seen until of course it is time for that renewal. Or take prospective customers. Need that proposal like yesterday for that pitch they are doing to the board tomorrow. Love you for your help until they've had it. Next day and whoosh they be gone never to reply to your e-mail or voicemail ever again. Surely job seekers and recruiters are no different. No one cares about a long term relationship in the sales process. It's all about what I can get out of it for me and if we have a match then bingo we do a deal. If not, hasta la vista baby. Once I'm a customer/employee we have a vested interest in a long term relationship but otherwise it is a process of selflessness; getting what you can for your own benefit. But that's fine as long as we all recognise the rules of reality and stop trying to kid ourselves there is something deeper bringing us together. But here's another point. Who cares if this is how it works? I have a sneaking suspicion that all that really matters is success but the measures of success I hear talked about are what are wrong. Not that I actually hear that much about measuring success. I've heard about recruiters now having more applications (due to a Facebook advertising campaign) than they can handle whereas before they didn't have enough appplications. That's the success measure? I hope not! Furthermore, surely it's not about number of discussions, number of members (for a recruitment approach), comments, status updates etc. Surely is it about solving your business problem. If volume solves the problem then great but I rarely hear the problem articulated. I “hear” the debates about what makes a TC a TC but rarely do I hear any of the debatees talk about the business problem that they are trying to solve. They all seem to get het up about definition whilst missing the WHY. Like why do I want one? How will it help me? What problem will it solve? I see so many great ideas turn quickly into code but rarely into a successful business. Before we start writing code we need to check that the users will want what we are building. Steve Jobs would argue against this BTW. He apparently (I only read this point, he didn't tell me when we had a beer last year) thinks that the last place to look for product ideas are your existing customers (candidates). I kind of agree but still think it is a good idea to ask a few candidates what they think of your idea. Like will it help them achieve what they want to achieve? Simple stuff but hands up anyone who has built a business/product recently and actually asked “customers” if it helped them BEFORE they started to produce? Yeah, yeah I know you don't have to launch the perfect product first time these days but you do need to know that what you create solves a real problem. Of course you think it does solve a problem, why else would you create it but without actually checking with some potential users/customers first it is like roulette. There's a slim chance you are right but why not just check?! But, and it is a BIG but, what if you just know that this is the right thing to do? What if all the naysayers can argue with such eloquence that they must be right? Should you listen or should you follow your heart? Build it and they will come. Maybe it is not the idea that is wrong but the strategy or the build or the market. Maybe they will come but just from somewhere else. Sometimes you just have to say WTF; I'm doing it anyway. The opening words of this trailer say it all; yet still they came. In the meantime I'm off to get my tractor; I've work to do! Click image to view video on YouTube as “embed” disabled by Universal Studios!!

Tags: attraction, collaborative recruiting, communities, direct recruiting, employee engagement, Industry Chat, social media, social recruiting, Talent Acquisition, talent-management

Don’t dress like a married man if you want to get noticed by top totty

You see them everywhere; even in the mirror dude. At the bar after their run or gym session or whatever it is they do to relax. But always in the bar. Unshaven. Favourite over worn t-shirt. Scruffy trainers. Baggy jeans.

Tags: attraction, baggy, direct recruiting, hmmm, Industry Chat, jeans, mate, Mirror, social recruiting

The candidate experience

Probably one of the most heard phrases but what do people really mean by this? I have two recent experiences that highlight this to me. Experience One My oldest daughter wanted some more energy jelly beans (she's a swimmer) as I'd bought her some recently but now she wanted the Lucozade energy jelly beans that she had found online. Well, they were cheaper than the packets I had bought so I was fine with this. But, rather than buy them online I'd get them from this well established iconic retailer's store. They had one pretty much in every town so this would be easy.

Tags: beans, career sites, direct recruiting, Experiences, Industry Chat, jelly, Phrases, result, social recruiting, Talent Acquisition

Linkedin apply button; much ado about nothing…..

Interesting that Linkedin announce this yet to be confirmed game changing apply button so soon after their IPO. But is it a great idea, set to change the world of recuitment or is it just a bit of hype with little or no substance? Is it yet more of the post-IPO love affair where both parties make little sense because they can see no wrong in their perfect little world? Obviously full details are yet to be confirmed but to be honest, it doesn't sound like anything more than a standard job board application form idea that has been around for years. Regardless of how flexible it all is, unless the details go directly into the ATS then it doesn't really add that much value does it? Or is that the whole point?

Tags: direct recruiting, hype, Industry Chat, Ipo, linkedin, Love, result, social recruiting, Talent Acquisition

Dear very senior applicant, please send your CV into a black hole

Like most people in recruitment whenever I read a good old fashioned newspaper or magazine I thumb through the jobs ads. Not because I am looking but just an old habit! I saw a great sounding very senior job the other day and was drawn to the content as it was very well written. If it had been relevant to me I would have probably been interested but what hit me as a little off putting was who the application was to be sent to. Now no offence Recruitment Managers or Administrators but if I am a £150k level appplicant I may just be put off if I have to send my CV to recruitment; the black hole of CV's. Yeah, yeah I know this is YOUR process and if I want to apply then that is how it is but hey, I'm just the great passive candidate who is not looking that hard. Let me take a slight diversion to put it in context if I may. Value based selling Sales people who sell at Board level are trained to get to the budget holder, the decision maker, the person that signs the check. If I get an enquiry/lead the first thing I do is look at the social profile of the contact and then who they report to and who I may know who can connect me in with all of these people. The idea is that the sales person can build up different relationships relevant to the sales cycle to help the deal go to them. Value based job applications So assuming I see that high level job, and I have to send my CV into a recruitment department (yep, it can put some people off) I may just check out who the hiring Director actually is….. you get the picture. Try something different Now of course there are some people that will be spitting at the screen right now but take a step back and think about the candidate view. Recruitment teams are inundated with applications so I need to get my CV to the top of the list. Maybe by the recruitment team trying a few different approaches it will help them fill the vacancy and if they are proactive will still get the credit. Here's a few thoughts: Have the CV sent direct to the PA of the Director. Set-up a unique e-mail address that sounds better but really goes to recruitment. Create a private group on Linkedin so that interested candidates just have to apply to join the group to declare their interest. Set-up a unique e-mail address with an auto-responder with additonal instructions. Use different apply options for the same ad across different channels. Of course, these are purely ideas and like any idea you need to try some different approaches and then review them to see what worked. I could of course be entirely wrong but if you are not getting the quality of candidates you need for key roles what have you got to lose? That aside, Daniel H. Pink thinks as an outsider I may just be able to help more than you think !

Tags: attraction, black, direct recruiting, habit, hole, Industry Chat, job, jobs, result, social recruiting, Talent Acquisition

Lumesse – what’s in a name?

Today I have been at the offices of Lumesse in Luton having been invited in by Rob Symons MD UK & Ireland to find out more about their re-brand from the old Stepstone Solutions to the new and exciting Lumesse. So what's it all about?

Tags: direct recruiting, Industry Chat, Luton, result, Symons, Talent Acquisition, talent-management

Agency recruiters versus In-house; a few more logs on the fire maybe?

So what should an HRD do? Build their own team of In-house experts, outsource it entirely or let line managers use their own choice of recruitment agency? But what do I know? I'm not a recruiter anymore am I? OK, I was once a great recruiter (modesty prevails) and pioneered master vendor and on-site managed contracts before mobile phones and recruitment automation even existed let alone sat in every office. Yes, I am that old. So what can I tell anyone about how to recruit in 2011? Well let's see. How to recruit This bit I am NOT going to tell you. But what does pain me is the amount of people that call themselves recruiters but have very little training. I would love to see some industry standards adopted that actually deliver a good solid grounding in recruitment. I started with Manpower in 1987 and have to admit, that I had excellent training albeit in temp recruitment. As I moved around the industry I saw various degrees of training but sadly the main expectation was that experience was gained somewhere else and training was more about policy and procedure than actual recruiting skills. There are loads of training courses but I am not aware of a programme that could claim to be an industry standard. Maybe one of the informal groups such as The FIRM could one day put together some kind of recruiter boot camp programme. Lou Adler (US based) offers a lot of different levels and I'd love to see something similar in the UK.

Tags: agency, attraction, collaborative recruiting, direct recruiting, Hrd, Industry Chat, line, managers, result, sem, seo, social recruiting

Dear Katie…. you make me compelled to reply!

Having seen two Dear John letters from Katie McNab who is Talent Acquisition Manager at PepsiCo (UK, Ireland & South Africa) I wanted to reply. Not on behalf of the recruitment agency sector but from a loftier perch of seeing both sides of the fence. The interesting thing I find is that we have an In-house Recruiter telling agencies what they should be doing to get business from corporates. Valid points I'm sure but how do both compare? Specialise Like job boards and agencies; some do some don't. But do In-house teams specialise in any way? The majority I see do NOT specialise as they do not have big enough teams so they end up as administrators. Market your brand I agree how many In-house teams 1) do this and 2) even know how? Particularly when I see In-house on social networks stating their employer name but “all comments are my own and not the views of my employer.” Talk about brand confusion. So I say on twitter do this but hey, you don't need to pay any attention as it's only my view. #fail Prioritise candidate experience But forgive me when I make the application experience as clunky as possible. Or make my jobs impossible to find on Google. I could go on…… Have some respect for in-house teams OK respect I can live with but surely, they are competing with the agencies? This makes for a very interesting relationship. Gamekeeper also does a bit of poaching when it's right in their sight but leave to more difficult beast to the real experts?!

Tags: Acquisition, dear, direct recruiting, Industry Chat, john, katie, letters, manager, mcnab, Pepsico, result, talent

Brave New Talent compared to G4S Talent Community

Having stirred up such emotions and opinions after my last post So Brave New Talent, WTF are you? I thought I'd do a comparison of the Open Community versus the Private Community idea. Apart from the idiot that wants to be Claire Rainer and doesn't seem to know how easy they are to trace plus the obvious sycophants

Tags: career sites, collaborative recruiting, communities, direct recruiting, emotions, Generation Y, Industry Chat, linkedin, New Talent, Open Community, Private Community, Rainer, result, social media, social recruiting, Sycophants, talent, Talent Acquisition, talent-management

Social Media in Recruitment Conference 7 April 2011

The third Social Media in Recruitment Conference takes place in London on the 7th April and Mike Taylor has put together another great programme with a good variety of speakers and topic areas.

Tags: conference, direct recruiting, facebook, Generation Y, Industry Chat, linkedin, london, place, social media, speakers, topic, twitter, years

Case Example Facebook ads – Nestle show how not to do it.

This ad above caught my eye whilst gossiping on Facebook so I thought I'd take a peak. This post is not about having a dig at Nestle though but showing a typical bad example of using ads like this. So at first I was “intrigued” that Nestle were trying out Facebook for HR Business Partner roles. Without doing too much research I would not expect there to be too many people that meet the above profile match so I thought I'd take a look at the job advert. This is what I got. So I guess they forgot about the ads when they put this page together. It's OK, no one is perfect and at least they had the foresight to put this page together. Although it is now 14 March so I would have thought the page could just re-direct straight to Taleo now? Never mind. Maybe the link will take me to that somewhat elusive HR Business Partner role? Still nowhere to be seen. No idea why the default location is Switzerland?! Of course doing a search was no better so I gave up. But what is so disappointing, is that the results of this campaign will not be that great as there will not be too many applications as the process does not work. I see this on LinkedIn and Google Adwords and have to wonder about the Advertising Agency conspiracy theory about proving that social advertising for recruitment does not work. Well, with campaigns like this, I would find it hard to disagree.

Tags: advertising agencies, attraction, direct recruiting, facebook, Industry Chat, result

What recruiters can learn from retailers like Tesco and Amazon.

Big mega stores like a Tesco Extra has to be open 24 hours to maximise revenues. Just because they are there does not mean they will get every pound you spend!

Tags: career sites, direct recruiting, extra, hours, Industry Chat, mega, offers, open, result, search, sem, special, stores, Tesco

Hello Friend, what’s your name again?

I read a comment recently from an online marketing expert (a real one BTW) who has traditionally talked about the value of your business being based on the “size of your list”. Now, it has to moved to “the size of the list that you have a 'relationship' with.” I have to agree. One can have 10,000 Followers on Twitter and have very few real conversations or 5,000 Linkedin connections but no meaningful dialogue or 500 Friends on Facebook but be alone on Saturday night. I know people who can tell me the name (and nickname in some cases) of so many HRD's and CEO's but the few I know do not know this person. Can't even think of when they met. (assuming they did) I wonder if recruitment agencies still quote the size of their candidate database of one of their assets? Funny how the old stuff sticks. “It's not what you know but who you (really) know.”

Read the rest here:

Tags: Btw, communities, direct recruiting, hmmm, Industry Chat, marketing, result

The cloudy world of recruitment software…..

So everything will soon be in the cloud? But is that good news or plain old scary and how does it help you recruit more successfully? Since I started in recruitment software back in 1999 the Internet has transformed the recruitment software landscape dramatically. When I first launched my recruitment product it was true SaaS (software as a service) even back then and now there are many of the much more successful ATS vendors trying to become true SaaS. Some don't however see the need to be that “pure” and some are totally obsessed by the whole concept. But: How does it help the Recruiter? Does it really matter? What about the Candidate? Of course there will be many questions around the whole subject matter but but as a buyer should you care? SaaS – Software as a Service Most vendors these days will say they are SaaS although if you ask their technical lead they’ll tell you the truth i.e. they are not really. SaaS (ASP was the term in 1999) is about the software vendor in effect having a single product that everyone uses. Imagine a block of flats where every flat is the same size and layout and they just keep building more on top. Some will give you flexibility on colour of walls, type of oven, worktops, bathroom tiles, flooring but the structure and layout will remain the same. Some won’t let you do any of this. All flats are exactly the same although in some cases the landlord will let you re-paint the walls or change the kitchen once you’ve moved in. In an ideal world, a software vendor would sell you the basic system and let you change it yourself rather than the vendor having to employ implementation experts to do the set-up for you.

Tags: direct recruiting, Industry Chat, landscape, result, web 2.0, web/tech