It seems to me the odds of posting a job on LinkedIn resulting in just a handful of candidates are near nill – assuming of course it is a real job that pays real money and not a get rich quick scheme. I would bet a wad of money on that and I don’t generally bet my green. In fact, in 2011 – when the US average number of resumes received per opening is 200 , I’m trying to figure out what would prompt LinkedIn to ‘guarantee’ only 10 applicants?

I don’t expect LinkedIn will have a queue of refund requests, considering its wimpy and almost comical wager.  I do think they made a brand management error in not showing some confidence in their services and should have upped the ante to be at the very least closer to the national average.

What guarantee do you think LinkedIn should have made?

Working on a project to find the preferred web sites/resources that people use to search for jobs. What are your favorites or those that you recommend ??

What I found in the handful of answers was that many of my peers across the country dwell within the federal or state systems (one-stop shops) and don’t often peek their heads out – however, to their credit they are beginning to use LinedIn. Besides one-stop shops, answers ranged from LinkedIn, Jobcentral national labor exchange, following Jim Stroud (rock on buddy-great advice for felons today!) and AARP WorkSearch, to DOL’s Job Search Challenge where one must search through over 16,000 responses listing over 600 resources  (slightly overwhelming?) many of which really could use a good weeding out.

The question was asked in earnest by someone conducting research for a Workforce Investment Board. I cringe at the fact that with the information he was provided, the government is actually going to receive feedback that  the products they designate our dollars to  are  highly effective…. And so the vicious circle continues.

I could not help but to fight the good fight… and so I contributed this:


Whether true or not, the corporate perception is that state one-stop system and its job boards are for labor, blue collar and low paying jobs. Therefore, many employers of white collar and well compensated jobs do not use the system – they do not wish to attract what they would perceive to be unqualified candidates.

Other obstacles for employers are that state systems tend to be cumbersome (it could be compared to filling out a US Census American Community Survey) and not user friendly to post and market jobs, do not tie in with applicant tracking systems (ATS), and are not linked with social media sharing tools. Good recruiters have so many creative and effective free ways to make their job postings viral and wide reaching they prefer to use those tools.

Companies with slashed recruitment budgets are posting less and less on big job boards because of the cost and avalanche of untargeted, unqualified resumes that pour in from all over for any job due to the high amount of unemployed. When a company is not prepared to pay relocation costs it makes little sense and is not cost effective to conduct a national search on a big job board.

Our solution in northeastern PA was to create a free to post regional job board supported by chambers of commerce, business and industry and other economic and workforce development agencies, in 2004. The platform became outdated and it became time for a new look, updated functionality and features.

I took over project management from another organization and relaunched the new WorkNEPA last week. It is well branded in our region and employers and job seekers know to use it. From all indications since the relaunch last week, with the incorporation of web 2.0 and mobile features and functionality (now powered by Job Rooster), it will have more success than ever. Even the smallest employer now has access to free job posts that aggregate to Indeed, pre-qualifying questions, text SMS capability and social media sharing, to ensure jobs are promoted widely. We have a Facebook Fanpage and Twitter account that repost all jobs into the far reaches of cyber job search and also repost on the appropriate targeted LinkedIn local group job boards – all nicely indexed on search engines like Google.

I also recommend to job seekers that they use LinkUp – a job board aggregator that scrapes corporate career pages for jobs that are often unadvertised on external job boards. Additionally, when I speak to job seekers, whether it is at a local job club or networking event, I refer them to my own website for job search tips and techniques (OK so I self promoted a tad LOL).

I’m interested in knowing your take on government sponsored job boards. Whether you’re a Recruiter of Job Seeker, do you use them, and if so, which ones and are you happy with the results?

I’m asking that you to put one more thing on your plate because I know you can handle it, that you want to do the right thing and when you realize the right thing to do – you do it.

I’m asking that you make a recruiting pledge to veterans.

Each year, more than 200 thousand men and women leave military service trading boots and salutes for suits. The transition is easier for some than others to be sure – but one thing is to be certain, 80% of military jobs have civilian equivalents. There are veterans with extensive backgrounds in healthcare, logistics, transportation, IT, administration, law enforcement/security, emergency management, project management, engineering, intelligence and human resources, among other industries and fields.

You might know that veterans who are disabled, who served on active duty in the Armed Forces during certain specified time periods or in military campaigns are entitled to preference over others in hiring for virtually all federal government jobs. Under specific circumstances, companies with federal government contracts must act the same. Companies who hire veterans are often eligible for federal and state tax credits, with some states offering additional credits for hiring those with disabilities. Companies like incentives. I get that. But should we need incentives to do the right thing?

These are most often exceptional candidates – who agreed to put their life on the line. Agree to give them serious consideration, even without incentives.

Veterans have typically been trained in and have mastered numerous basic and technical skills, and they often possess management and leadership experience. Combine that with the discipline and strong work ethic that is honed in military life, and the result is a pool of excellent candidates for a wide range of civilian jobs.

Understand that this is a group of people who, while having a tremendous amount of valuable job skills and training, do not have experience in navigating a civilian applicant tracking system. In the military, people don’t usually “apply” for jobs. I recall being handed a form to fill out asking the three places I would like to be assigned. I didn’t get Hawaii, Japan or the Philippines – but that’s normal and always makes for good stories. At the end of the day, they go to work where they are assigned based on a group of HR professionals who know where the need is and have access to job performance and personnel records. A service member receives orders and it’s time to pack the duffel bag…

A pledge to veterans means you’ll encourage them to apply, seek them out as candidates and understand they’re making a transition and may need an extra little bit of coaching or guidance, a resume rewrite or advice to loosen up a bit and stop calling you “Sir”. It means you agree that when you sort resumes into A, B & C piles, you’ll put resumes from veterans in the A pile automatically and give them the most rigorous consideration possible. Here are some tips on how to do that:

Contact the veteran whose resume has military jargon you don’t understand, talk and ask for clarification, don’t just discard it because it’s easier.

If you speak with a candidate who is a veteran and find she isn’t quite right to move on to the next step, take a few extra moments of your time to offer resources to help her and refer her to another Recruiter working on something she might be a better fit for. You are a networking marvel, you always know someone.

Send your jobs to veteran organizations such as The Army Wounded Warrior program, the United States Marine Corps Wounded Warrior Regiment, and the Veterans Administration Vocational Rehabilitation centers. Maybe they aren’t little tick boxes in your ATS job posting module – ask to have them added or take the extra minute to email them.

If your company has a management trainee program generally marketed at college recruiting events, consider adding military hiring to your recruiting strategy.

Consider that the military demographic is over 41% non-white, almost 20% women, and includes a growing number of disabled veterans. You’ll be hero too when you quickly realize many of your diversity goals just by making an effort to recruit service members in transition.

Brand your recruitment strategy – “Cintas actively recruits veterans from all branches because they understand “the mission” and our “mission” at Cintas is to exceed our customers’ expectations.” Check out the 2010 Top 100 Military Friendly Employers websites for more ideas on how to attract veterans.

A recruitment pledge to veterans isn’t just doing the right thing, it’s the right thing to do. Will you sign on?

Here is the front page interview from Nov7 Times Leader about veterans that I took part in. It would be great if you helped do a story in your town!

The 80′s

I remember photocopying my résumé, folding it along with a carefully typed cover letter and stuffing into an envelope, addressing it to a PO Box number – company unknown, licking the minty glue to seal it and the yucky government glue on the back of the stamp to send it and depositing it into oblivion in the cavernous corner US Postal Service metal repository… never to know what became of it. No way to know if it was delivered, no way to follow up. Discussing this very topic the other day with others who sought employment when big hair was in style, we all agreed that back in the day you didn’t question. You either got a call or you didn’t. That was the answer. Occasionally you got a letter which you didn’t want to open because you knew it was going to say that you had many of the skills and qualifications to do the job but someone else was more qualified so thanks, but no thanks. You wondered why they wasted the stamp.

So why does it matter in 2010?

Candidates have always wondered why they didn’t get a call, didn’t get the job and how they could have performed better at the interview but unlike in the disco days, today anyone interested in knowing about the candidate selection process, how recruiters work and how companies make their decisions, only has to consult a search engine to happen upon recruiter social media networks, blogs and industry white papers telling them. They can self educate and they do. The workforce is no longer an outsider to the selection process.

As the gap widens like a crater on a fault line during an earthquake between industry needs and workforce skills, with 3.2 million job vacancies unable to be filled, regardless of the unemployment rate, those who are prepared are in higher demand then ever. Recruiters and candidates now treat skills, abilities and track records of success as sought after commodities to be brokered.

Candidates are learning to be savvy, to use technology not only to look for jobs but to go through the front doors and back channels. To brand and market themselves. That they are the media. That they can buy pay per click to get noticed.

Companies are learning that filling ever increasing technical positions requires searching in an ever decreasing skilled candidate pool  which is becoming ever more demanding as it becomes ever more elite. The elite (in anything) quickly gain micro celebrity status and everyone wants them so they can be demanding.

In the era of social transparency, we in the industry have helped to provide job seekers with more tools, tips and assistance then they have ever had before. We have enabled anyone who can conduct a basic Internet search to dig past the gatekeeper…

That’s why it matters in 2010… Oh, and then there’s that nasty little detail about it being the right thing to do.

What does your candidate service level agreement look like?

“I left a message and no one called me back.”

“They said I would hear feedback on my interview in 2 weeks and it’s been 4.”

These are the comments frequently heard from job applicants and candidates. Sure, it’s an employer’s market and a gazillion people apply for every position out there. Many of those who apply have no applicable experience and you feel they have wasted not only their own time but yours as well.

Sign of the times, people are desperate. They think if your company is hiring for that position maybe one is coming up they would qualify for and they’re doing the smart thing by getting their resume to you now. You know, being proactive, beating the crowd, showing initiative. Most people who aren’t recruiters don’t know how it really works and that secretly (or not so secretly) you are cursing them, calling them idiots for applying to jobs they’re not qualified for.

It’s often brutal on the job seeker’s end; the hunt, the wait, the rejection… and I have observed on many occasions, a holier than thou, I’m in charge here and your future depends on me attitude - from recruiters, that is far from professional. We could be on the other end of an ATS in a heartbeat.

We should always remember that…

Yes, it is highly irritating when someone overkills with follow-up to the point of being within 1/10 of an inch of being an official stalker. It’s horrid when someone files an unfounded EEOC claim of discrimination because they were not selected. It’s worthy of hazardous duty pay when a candidate didn’t deal well with being turned down and becomes verbally abusive or goes off the deep end of desperation and confronts you loudly in public, keys your car, or any number of illegal acts of vengeance (which always provide ample validation of your decision making skills).

But, none of that should desensitize us to the point of dehumanizing a process which should be just the opposite; engaging.

Here are 5 simple customer service tips to help ensure you’re not hurting people or the employer brand you’re representing:

Screening calls is fine, if you don’t want to speak with the person, send an email – but send the email.

In your communication use time lines so applicants know when they’ll hear by and that if they don’t it’s because they weren’t selected.

Be organized enough to use calendar reminders, post-it notes – whatever – to remind you it’s time to make those updates you promised.

Tone – Don’t ever show or express frustration or irritability with applicants.

Remember to thank candidates for thinking of the company as a prospective employer.

Check out what Microsoft does to make candidates feel special when they come in for an interview in their candidate experience lobby. Just imagine how relaxed and psyched for an interview one must be after a hands on experience playing with all the toys. Granted, not every company has that to offer. But, even a warm greeting and scrapbook of good times in the lobby to provide a glimpse of the culture is better than staring at 4 walls.

What candidate experience tips do you have to share?

For instance, there once was a woman named Reina…… It’s your lucky day for I will spare you the very gory details.

It’s not a common name in the US and it had been a few years years since I had been subjected to it. About 7 years ago as a call center manager I received a calendar appointment to interview a “Reyna”. The hair stood up on the back of my neck. Immediately, all I could think of was there was no way I was going to deal with that even though I knew with 100% certainty that it was not the same person.

I got up and took a walk.  I needed air. And as I walked I talked with other personalities that reside in my mind and as we conversed and sorted it all out we came to the conclusion it was important to give this person a chance.

It’s not the same Reina so what are you worried about? She doesn’t even spell it the same way. You can’t judge a person by her name, don’t be ridiculous. What if you dismiss her because of something in your past that nothing to do with her, miss out on a great hire and do her an injustice? Just get over it.

I took some deep breaths, convinced myself to do the right thing and accepted the interview. Reyna turned out to have very high performance reviews over the next 5 years and in most respects really was a model employee.

This is a true story! I’m glad I recognized it wouldn’t be fair to judge someone on something that wouldn’t be performance related. Had I allowed my personal bias over a name to influence my decision it would have been a very big mistake.

What personal bias have you had to deal with? Was it difficult to recognize it existed? How did you overcome it?

There was conversation on best practices, the influence and use of social media, the candidate experience, how to make more money, and how the industry is changing. That’s right.

I’m not going to Sumserize the content or Boorman you to death with details.. Just know that more than 50% of the unconference content was about the imminent change coming down the pike created by efficiencies brought on by technology and client expectations.

Before the unconference I blogged on Vulcan recruiting.  The unconference further served to validate the post. Recruiters will become holistic practitioners, adopt new skills, consult on  how to attract, hire, onboard and retain human capital. They will continue to drive HR technology and innovate its use.

Practitioners caught up in the daily grind, fabulous at what they do but not in tune with new tools  and expectations that are being driven by the economic upheavals of the day, are at a disadvantage because they will not be prepared for new recruiting. Just a phone and a contact list quickly are becoming “not the only tools you need”.

Get on board the change train and enjoy the ride.

Dorothy Beach, MBA CIR PHR got me thinking. She posted a question on the discussion board of the LinkedIn Social Media Recruiting Group asking for opinions on the effect of social media on recruiting in the far future, 5-20 years down the virtual highway. My mind immediately took a journey to Wish List Lane and Technology Square. If you repeat something enough times and really believe it that makes it reality, right?

In my vulcanesque way of thinking, most everyone on Earth will be digitally literate and have their own domain which will seamlessly be linked to the various networks they choose to participate in. Job seekers and passive candidates  open to opportunities will be able to open their networks to candidate searches so they can be found. Job seekers will no longer need to proactively apply to openings.

Companies will conduct searches not job seekers. Recruiters will be consultants to companies hiring and perform more of a job profile / company fit identification role, write the job keywords and parameters and set up the newfangled ATS which will be on a cloud. Software will be coded to meet the requirements of highly specialized queries and it will crawl to find candidates profiles base on the distance you wish to search and import them into your database where you will be able to further refine your search. Boolean strings will be old fashioned and systems will be user intuitive and friendly.

Recruiters will narrow the candidate pool by refining matches and conducting 1st virtual screenings, recommend the top 3 candidates to hiring managers, co-conduct the interviews and assist in the decision making ad placement process. Recruiters, in their expanded consultant role may see new hires through their first 3 months taking an active role in the new onboarding process.

What’s your vision?

Johnny, you’re our star Admin Assistant and as part of your “other duties as assigned” I’m giving you a new project. I need to hire an Account Manager and we don’t have a budget to hire an agency to do it for us. You’re always on Facebook and Twitter, do some social networking and find me one…

Here is the job description. I have highlighted the keywords that are important.

Just set up a Facebook Fan Page – stream good stuff about the company, it’s free. Then, create a company Twitter account – tweet about it and search and follow similar people, be friendly and say good things about us, it’s free. Join some LinkedIn groups – post the job in the jobs sections, it’s free. Google free job boards – post it everywhere, they’re free.

Have the resumes sent to you and scan them for the keywords and 3 years of experience. Put the ones that match on my desk. I’ll review them and give the ones I like back to you to set up appointments for an interview.

Do a good job and I’ll take you out for pizza to that place you like down the street.

Does this sound far fetched to you?

The TechCrunch Europe post How free social media beat the recruitment consultants to death gives quite a blow by blow account of how companies are doing it. Though it may sting to read it at first, it brings up an excellent point for discussion.

“I think what the recruitment industry should take away from this is that prospective clients really can beat them at their own game, if they want to make the effort. The recruitment industry needs to recognise this and innovate… find ways of adding value… and justify/rationalise their proposition.”

Get out your value proposition.

Have you all seen that commercial from Verizon? The one where the kids are making fun of their parents for jumping on the Social Media bandwagon with their kewl new phones?

That is what most of my friends are like as well. Hell, in my [old] office, people didn’t even want to use Instant Messaging programs. I’m not suggesting you hop on every new SocMed website to pop up (I signed up for Plaxo, not really impressed), but you need to branch out and help establish your personal brand. In my case, I was able to get a great new job from it…

Twitter can be used to help get interviews. Simple as that. You obviously cannot approach it the same way you would a typical “job board”, you have to think outside the box. How do a lot of people get hired? They know somebody within a company. Well, Twitter gives you the opportunity to meet people within organizations and build relationships with them. In addition to making new friends, you can share articles (blog or news) and have conversations that help establish your credibility. If you aren’t a social butterfly, you can at the very least get tips on how to accelerate your job search.

Here is my story. A couple weeks ago I came to the realization (I was more or less told this directly) that I was not a candidate for a promotion any time in the foreseeable future. After smoking a few cigarettes, I realized I didn’t even want a promotion – I wanted a fresh start! Becoming a manager at my previous employer meant I would no longer be a recruiter. I would be more of an account manager and have to do 3 hour conference calls and tell people what to do. I’m more hands-on than that. My reqs are my babies – I do the sourcing and calling – I don’t want to just tell people what to do and how to do it without getting my hands dirty!

I decided to call one of the experts in our field for guidance. I reached out to Glen Cathey (you may know him as @BooleanBlackBlt or via his blog), because we have had a ton of great online conversations in the past and I wanted to finally get a chance to talk to him live. I told him about my background and what I did and didn’t want to do in my future. This early in the conversation, I had no real intention of asking for an interview because I still hadn’t done enough homework on his company, K-Force. After hearing what I had to say, he started to tell me about the career path for recruiters at his organization. I was all ears. We then both decided to start talking about the logistics of an interview in the immediate future. Glen had a Director in New England give me a call during my lunch break and the rest is history (had to do a face-to-face interview, fill out an application, etc.). I was extended an offer the day following my in-person interview and it was the best phone call I had received in years.

What do you know? I got a new job without going to Monster or CareerBuilder once. I didn’t send my resume to 100 different employers. I simply had a great conversation with somebody who felt that I would be an asset to his team. I am thrilled to be a part of K-Force and cannot thank Glen, Paul, and Abby enough for their time and support.

So what does this mean to you? If you are a job seeker and struggling to find a new gig, you really need to cut out the status quo. Recruiters are inundated with resumes (believe me, I know) and job fairs and networking events don’t really work for 99% of the attendees (based on my experience with in-person and virtual career fairs as a recruiter – this is an opinion, not a fact by any means).

Start by first figuring out what you want to do. Don’t just go on Twitter and post status updates saying “HIRE ME!” If you know the industry you want to be a part of, start doing searches for key players in that industry. Also, tweet tons of awesome material (either your own or link to other sites) to get ReTweeted. ReTweets are FREE ADVERTISING! Don’t forget to @reply other people to engage them in a 1-on-1 conversation (or invite them to follow you to Direct Message them).

Okay this has already been said and done on a million other blogs – time for some Fieldsy exclusive content.

I love Instant Messaging. If somebody you don’t know @replies you or ReTweets you, reply back and ask if they have a Facebook, Gmail, Yahoo, or AIM account. Twitter was never meant to be a chat program, and it certainly isn’t a replacement to Facebook, so use them all together. My latest example is with Jeff Moore, an internal recruiter for Google. Jeff ReTweeted me which obviously showed up in my @mentions column in TweetDeck. I saw that he was a recruiter and seemed really cool judging by his bio and tweets, so I immediately shot him a DM with my email and asked if he had time to GChat. We shared stories about our backgrounds and working in Boston and all that good stuff. I plan on meeting up with him soon since we work a train-ride away.

See? It really is that simple. Now I am obviously not trying to get recruited by Jeff or force-feed referrals down his throat (I know some pretty techy people), but I am looking to meet new people all the time because I love to talk and who knows, these relationships I am building now could lead to future opportunities for me.

I’ve been to TweetUps and networking events. I have over 1000 connections on LinkedIn. None of it really did anything for me. Facebook has been AWESOME for looking at pictures of people I never intend to talk to ever again – but that isn’t really doing much for my career. Twitter works. What more proof do you need?

@Fieldsy4Life Facebook LinkedIn

P.S. Hey, this is Karla. You know I love a success story and today when I congratulated Adam on his new job I  invited him to guest blog to help celebrate. He’s taking some down time to be LAZY and have fun before he starts his new gig. He’s on top of the world and I’m on top of it too, for him.

Nothing gives me goosebumps like some one telling me they got a job they really wanted. A few months ago when an opportunity dropped out of the sky on my head, I quickly assembled a team of amazing coaches.  Craig Fisher was my peer sounding board and coach. I needed one after not having personally interviewed for eight years. He was so supportive, crossed his fingers for me across the miles and sent me interview tips. How did I meet Craig? On Twitter……