Jobinablog

Before you send that email, just think for a second...

We all send them every day, but do you think about what you are doing before you press send? Believe it or not Seth Godin - who can only be described as one of todays thought marketing Guru's - has created a very interesting checklist of 34 (yes 34!) things you should consider once you have written the email AND before you send it. I guarantee this will get you thinking!! They are:

1. Really? They've written back? (if no, reconsider email).
2. If it is a cold-call email, and you're sure it's welcome, and you're sure it's not spam, then don't apologize. If you need to apologize, then yes, it's spam, and you'll get the brand-hurt you deserve.
3. Am I angry? (If so, save as draft and come back to the note in one hour).
4. Could I do this note better with a phone call?
5. Am I blind-ccing my boss? If so, what will happen if the recipient finds out?
6. Is there anything in this email I don't want the attorney general, the media or my boss seeing? (If so, hit delete).
7. Is any portion of the email in all caps? (If so, consider changing it.)
8. Is it in black type at a normal size?
9. Do I have my contact info at the bottom? (If not, consider adding it).
10. Have I included the line, "Please save the planet. Don't print this email"? (If so, please delete the line and consider a job as a forest ranger or flight attendant).
11. Could this email be shorter?
12. Is there anyone copied on this email who could be left off the list?
13. Have I attached any files that are very big? (If so, google something like 'send big files' and consider your options.)
14. Have I attached any files that would work better in PDF format?
15. Are there any :-) or other emoticons involved? (If so, reconsider).
16. Am I forwarding someone else's mail? (If so, will they be happy when they find out?)
17. Am I forwarding something about religion (mine or someone else's)? (If so, delete).
18. Am I forwarding something about a virus or worldwide charity effort or other potential hoax? (If so, visit snopes and check to see if it's 'actually true).
19. Did I hit 'reply all'? If so, am I glad I did? Does every person on the list need to see it?
20. Am I quoting back the original text in a helpful way? (Sending an email that says, in its entirety, "yes," is not helpful).
21. If this email is to someone like Seth, did I check to make sure I know the difference between its and it's? Just wondering.
22. If this is a press release, am I really sure that the recipient is going to be delighted to get it? Or am I taking advantage of the asymmetrical nature of email--free to send, expensive investment of time to read or delete?
23. Are there any little animated creatures in the footer of this email? Adorable kittens? Endangered species of any kind?
24. If I had to pay 42 cents to send this email, would I?

10 Ways to Reduce Your Recruitment Costs

Is your recruitment budget already running on empty this year? Well if you need to looking at reducing your recruitment costs, here is a document I wrote recently that highlights 10 ways to start reducing your recruitment costs.

I guarantee that you won't be using them all!!

Recruiting Generation Y staff the Disney way

Following on from my previous post on using video as a recruiting tool, I wanted to share a post I read today by Bea Fields, whose blog is aptly titled "Attracting the New Workforce".  She looks at attracting the generation Y workforce, and how companies need to address their recruitment strategies accordingly. She has highlighted Disney's new recruitment campaign aimed specifically at generation y college leavers.

What I particularly like about this Disney program is this video, because it taps right into the mentality of different generation y groups. As you might expect from Disney, it is a well polished video, but it gets the exact message across.

10 things you need to know about what Jobinablog can do for you

Interested in knowing and understanding more about Jobinablog? Here are the answers to the 10 questions I get asked most about what Jobinablog is:

1. Jobinablog.com -  so what is it then apart from a catchy name?  It is a career site that is built individually for each company, keeping their same design, that helps companies recruit staff directly through their own website in a very cost effective way and exciting way. It is also a very good way of developing (or improving) your employer brand.

2. How does it work? It uses the flexible functionality of a blog, to create a wide range of exciting options to display jobs, news, videos, photos, interviews and much more. And because it is a blog, it makes the most of Web 2.0 and allows readers (job seekers) to interact with the website. How can you interact? Using one of four ways 1) RSS feeds 2) Email updates 3) Newsletter subscription 4) Comments. If you want to understand it visually, watch a video presentation (approx 10 mins long).

3. But why a blog format? There are the development on the internet that is really changing the way people read websites. There are 110's of millions, which means that job seekers are very comfortable reading them and interacting with them. In fact the Y Generation and the Z Generation, your employees of the future, probably read them all the time. So to have a chance of recruiting these people, you need to be providing them with a site they want to read.

Low hanging fruit does not need to be so expensive!

Why is it that so many companies fail to harvest  'low hanging fruit?'

Let me explain a little further - when I refer to low hanging fruit, I am talking about candidates that have made it very easy for them selves to be found on job boards etc by placing their CV's online. And when they are in the harvest season, they also make themselves readily available by applying for good online advertised jobs, and at the same time they visit many career websites.

So why is it then that companies ignore these 'juicy fruits' (new candidates) and turn to the 'fruit pickers' (recruitment agencies) to deliver their products to them, with the added cost of a large 'delivery fee'?

This is a cause of much frustration to me, when speaking with companies who are complaining about their recruitment process. They just need to look at their direct recruitment strategy, and incorporate some straight forward processes such as placing their own online adverts or creating their own career site/job pages. They could also utilise one of the many online CV databases for a short period of time. These are some of the basics that a recruitment agency would use as their first candidate search for any role you have given them to look at. So why not get there first and save yourself paying for any low hanging fruit they simply pluck from the trees?

Jobinablog - a video presentation

A few people have had a little trouble grasping the concept of Jobinablog, so by means of a further explanation, I have produced a presentation that I am sure will make complete sense!!

Now you know how it works, I look forward to your phone call!!

Generation Y'ers- 10 things you need to know about recruiting them

You will have heard of the phrase Generation Y , but what does it mean to you as an employer? Well first of all lets define what it is: they are defined as being born between 1980 and 1984, and aged between 13-27. So as you can see they are your future employees. So to give you an insight into the generation Y work philosophy, here are 10 things you need to know about employing generation Y'ers:

1. They don't expect to be asked about their work experience - they have very little. They will tell you how the world is moving so fast they don't need experience - but they do expect you to still give them the opportunity to show what they can do.
2. They will want to work in a two-way management situation. Just don't expect them to to sit back and take instruction, they will reply with their own input.
3. Questions. Be prepared - all they do is ask questions.
4. They need to be part of a continuous feedback loop. They constantly need reassurance and constant feedback to keep their interest.
5. Money is key. They have an inbuilt expectancy to be paid a good salary from the beginning.
6. Training is important, but so is the style of training. They will want to pass test like training, where scores and definative marks are given - don't forget they are not long out of school/college.
7. Short attention spans. Boredom will kick in quite quickly with them, and don't expect them to work unlimited hours in a day to get that project done, they will only work when they want to.
8. They are focused on their social life and consequently plan work around it, rather than the other way around.
9. Don't expect them to win that gold watch for staying long in your company. They will already be planning the next job before they have even started with you. And they see nothing wrong with this.
10. What does money mean to them? A means to an end - they won't be buying a house, they will be focusing on enjoying themselves. So they will earn (and spend) what it takes to do that, not much more.

FACT: Nearly 50% of job seekers go online to find a job - Do you recruit online yet?

If your company is not recruiting online, then quite frankly your are barking mad!! Taleo have just produced some research showing that nearly half of UK job seekers go online when applying for jobs. So if your company is not online you are missing out on getting access to nearly 50% of your potential new employees! (Want to get your jobs online?)

The survey, conducted by Taleo Research, showed that 43% of workers used online tools, such as applying online or sending a CV by email, to apply for their most recent job. Described by Taleo as “Internet Identifiers,” the survey found this group leading the way in how today’s workers prefer to apply for jobs. According to the study, job seekers can be broken down into three main groups, based on how they apply for jobs:

• Internet Identifiers (43%) – Internet savvy job-seekers who actively hunt for jobs by applying online, sending their CV via email to prospects or signing up to an online job board or business networking website
• Hands Off Hunters (38%) – traditional job seekers who rely on head hunters, recruitment agencies and personal contacts to find new jobs
• Traditional Targeters (19%) – more traditional job seekers, who prefer to actively apply for jobs through the post

So if you are one of the (shrinking) 19% of traditional targeters, you seriously need to be thinking of how you are going to change your methods. At the very least, sort out your own website and use it to start recruiting for you - if you don't your competitors will!!

Recruiting Staff? - Take heed of these 4 interviewing gems

When you are recruiting staff, you base the hiring decision on skills, education and experience - correct? But what about the other end of the process, when you have to sack / fire them, what do you base that decision on? It is usually based on their behaviour - which is very interesting! Kathleen Dodaro also highlights some other valuable interviewing gems below:

• Only hire individuals you trust.  During the interview find out if the person will do the right thing when faced with a difficult situation.  Ethics are still an important trait!
• Hire candidates who can do a great job now and have growth potential as well.  Building the pipeline for future higher-level positions helps prepare organisations for the future.
• Research continues to identify the need for employers and employees to share common values.  If the employee cannot buy-in to an organisation’s corporate culture the first red flag should be raised.
• Remember that most of the time managers hire candidates based on skills, education and experience and when they fire them it is for behavior.  So, hiring a team player that possesses the appropriate behavioral traits for the job is imperative.

Can't attract new candidates? Here are some reasons why

After having looked at problems that affect the recruitment process itself, I wanted to further look at the actual problems related to the sourcing of candidates for your company. These are not an endless list of problems (as that would fill a book up!), but they are some of the most common. Lou Adler has produced this list of 15 sourcing related problems, and what problems companies have in attracting staff to their company - how many do you find yourself saying yes to?  More than five does call for some action to be taken!

1.      The quality and quantity of candidates from job boards is declining.

2.      We tend to use the same sourcing methods every year.

3.      Our advertising is boring and out-dated.

4.      Our job ads are just cut-and-paste versions of our boring job descriptions.

5.      Ads are hard to find by top people who are casually looking.

6.      Ads are found, but top candidates don't apply.

7.      Our ads don't describe a compelling value proposition.

8.      Our ads are filled with disqualifiers and little about what's in it for the candidate.

9.      Our ads are written to exclude bad people, not attract good people.

10.  Our career website is difficult to navigate and search for jobs.

11.   We have not search-engine-optimized (SEO) our site or our ads.

12.   Our ads don't always come up first on the job boards we use.

13.   Good candidates say they're "not interested" early in the process.

14.   We don't get enough high-quality referrals.

15.  Our employees don't proactively seek out great people to refer.