Memo to human resources: New ways to get great candidates

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Since today’s job market is employee-driven, many candidates are fielding more than one or two offers at a time, and at this point, maybe it’s the employers who need the advice on how to attract the employees, instead of the other way around.

There is lots of chatter about how resumes are on their way out. There will be blogs, and videos, and LinkedIn profiles and other mechanisms to downplay the concept of a linear career and put upfront the way someone thinks and the ideas he or she has. There should be similar chatter about the near-death of the job listing.

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of consulting to companies about how to recruit and retain employees. So I’ve been thinking a lot about the topic, and here are five of my favorite ways companies can hire people without focusing on the job listing itself.

1. Tell people where they’ll go next.
Michael Arrington, co-editor of the popular blog TechCrunch, just lost his right-hand man. What did he do? He wrote a very public thank you for good work done – so that people know how appreciative he is. And he wrote a little side note about how everyone who has left TechCrunch has gone on to amazing jobs.

I was talking with Dylan Tweney, senior editor at Wired, and he was using a similar hiring tactic, showing people how a stint with him at Wired is a stepping stone to places like The New York Times and Wall Street Journal.

2. Use your public relations team to prop up the manager.
One of the most important aspects of a job is who you are working for. A good manager can help you to get where you want to go next, and a bad manager can be so undermining that the job becomes a blemish on your resume. So it’s odd that companies advertise jobs instead of managers. Instead of publishing a laundry list of dream traits of a dream candidate (usually unreasonable anyway), companies should list the dream traits of the dream manager this job falls under.

3. Get some respect for speciality recruiters.
It used to be that companies owned the employee’s loyalty. But today, with employees changing jobs every two or three years, they are more likely to be loyal to the recruiters who placed them than with the companies they work for. Especially when that recruiter is there to place the candidate again and again.

Art Papas knows a bit about recruiters. He is the chief executive of Bullhorn, which makes staffing and recruitment software. Bullhorn is a testament to the fact that both candidates and employers are relying increasingly on the recruiting industry for help. Bullhorn has more than 12,000 users and the company grew by 70 percent in the last year.

Most recruiters are running their own business in one way or another, and Papas points out why recruiters are poised to take on an increasingly important role in the employee-driven market: “Generally speaking, recruiters are high energy, good with people, and they are incredibly tenacious and persistent.”

4. Advertise in niche communities.
Joel Spolsky is chief executive of a midsized firm, Fog Creek Software, and he spends a lot of time blogging, at Joel on Software. Spolsky makes it clear he’s blogging to make himself part of a community of smart, curious, high-performing engineers who become Spolsky’s employee pool.

Here’s another example: Lots of companies talk about the importance of catching women re-entering the workforce after they have children, but it’s hard to get those women. One way is to be a part of their communities. Websites that focus on women and careers like WorkIt Mom are places where you can become a part of the social fabric of the community you want to hire from.

Bonus idea: Make it part of someone’s job description in your company to truly become part of the community, and swoop in to scoop up promising candidates for interviews. It’s so tough to get A players to interview today that people are actually charging companies for an interview at Notchup.com. But coming from a trusted friend, an invitation to interview is hard to turn down, even if you’re not looking.

5. Leverage social media.
Why don’t companies use social media tools to attract candidates? It’s already a proven recruiting method for young people.

The Center for Market Research at University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth reports that, “Colleges are adopting Internet technologies such as podcasts, message boards, blogs, and social networks faster than Fortune 500 companies. The explosion of social media, higher education specialists say, is revolutionizing the college search process and the way colleges and prospective students interact.”

Standout Jobs is a new site that provides easy-to-use social media recruiting tools for small companies and then aggregates them into a sort of recruiting network. This is a great on-ramp for companies with trepidations about social media

50 replies
  1. Wiliam Mitchell
    Wiliam Mitchell says:

    I think that whether or not it is an “employee’s” market depends upon the professional level and specialty, one thing mentioned that I can identify with is the idea of recruiter loyalty. Before finding my calling as a resume writer, I built a relationship with a recruiter who found two excellent positions for me.

    Wiliam Mitchell, CPRW

  2. Deirdré Straughan
    Deirdré Straughan says:

    “Where you’ll be next” doesn’t necessarily have to be a different company. People tend to stay with Sun Microsystems for a long time, but/because they’re expected to changes jobs within the company fairly frequently. And the importance of having a good manager is well recognized. CEO Jonathan Schwartz in a company video advised a new employee to start considering who he wanted his next /manager/ to be within the company – with emphasis on the manager, not on a specific job.

  3. Erica Ringelspaugh
    Erica Ringelspaugh says:

    Taking your advice, I searched for the Niche Community and Social Media you suggested for my field, but I’m not finding anything. I teach high school in rural, poor, central Wisconsin. While I am looking to relocate, I also just like to stay connected with others outside of my isolated area and keep up with educational research. How does one find the Niche Communities and Social Media you recommend? Do you know of any for education? Do you know of an education-focused blog similiar to yours? Thanks!

    * * * * * * *

    This might be a good place to start
    http://www.principalspage.com/theblog/

  4. Chris Russell
    Chris Russell says:

    Social media is the next evolution of recruiting. Today’s graduates will begin to expect their employers to communicate with these tools…blogs, podcasts, facebook, youtube are all such examples. At Jobs in Pods, our clients have already made great strides with podcasting their jobs. They’ve even made direct hires from them. Those companies which start employing social media strategies now will gain an advantage over their competitors.

    http://jobsinpods.com

  5. Social media newbie
    Social media newbie says:

    Interesting post. I’m trying to figure out how to use this advice, particularly #5, as a social media newbie.

    Suppose my team is looking to hire (market, economic and financial research work). The position is rather unique and there is no one “profile” of person for whom we are looking. It’s one of those jobs where you’ll know the right candidate when she or he applies, but it’s hard to describe ahead of time what kinds of education, background, etc. (s)he will have.

    The position offers great career advancement opportunities and a chance to work for a great, supportive boss.

    How might we use social media to promote this opportunity. Could we create a profile on Facebook for the job? or the team?

    Or, should the existing members of the team create their own profiles?

    Or is there another social media angle — I’m on Linkedin but it seems rather dead in this city and industry.

    Any ideas appreciated.

  6. Shefaly
    Shefaly says:

    Penelope, you have presented some interesting ideas. Here are some of my thoughts:

    1. I have to agree with the commentator who says whether it is an “employees’ market” depends on the sector and the job.

    I would add it also depends on one’s place in the hierarchy. Many meaningful roles are often filled by business managers and HR really only ever issues paperwork.

    2. Social media may work for a certain age group – the kind that relies on recruiters not headhunters – but not for truly exceptional candidates whose social media remain “offline” rather than “online”. The best of my connections do not use LinkedIn, for instance. They are also not my “friends” in any online setting at all.

    but I have an alternative “zeroth” list of sorts. I have recently had some interaction with some good HR managers and here is what others in their profession can learn from them.

    1. Seek to understand the business of your organisation so you can make meaningful contribution to its aims rather than just do resume sifting (also helps if candidates ask a question about the firm when you may find yourself giving BS as answers)

    2. Seek from employees to recommend candidates and reward employees for it. Most good consulting firms and some very large FTSE-100 firms do this already to their benefit.

    3. Revert to candidates; attraction and recruitment is your job, not an imposition on your time.

    4. Offer to and do give sincere and meaningful feedback, at least to those candidates, who missed being hired by a narrow sliver; they will become your unpaid PR guys.

    Without active involvement in the business and meaningful contribution to retaining a candidate throughout the hiring process, HR really does fit the descriptor that fits many in the profession – Highly Redundant.

  7. Caitlin
    Caitlin says:

    It might be an employees’ market right now (though I concur with the above commenters that it depends on the sector and job) but how long will that last? Surely, that’s just a function of economics and every indicator is pointing to a downturn and even recession. If that’s the case, companies will have less need to hire and they will be far choosier about who they do take on.

    As for recruitment… well, I’ve always counted my blessing that I don’t work in an industry dominated by recruiters. It might take some legwork out for the company but isn’t that the job of HR? As a candidate I would far rather find my jobs either by responding directly to an advertisement or through word of mouth – the jobs are usually better that way and there’s no hefty fee for the recruiter to factor in when we’re negotiating salary. Good friends of mine work in IT and that industry is dominated by recruitment – I hear some horror stories and I’ve no desire to go down that path.

  8. John Feier
    John Feier says:

    Penelope,

    I’m ready to take the road less traveled.

    What I’d like to do is get hired by an accounting firm, but that’s not going to happen until I pass the CPA exam or I get some experience on my resume. I’m not going to get some experience until I get a job in accounting. So what’s a guy to do?

    If I could prove to a prospective employer that I have what they’re looking for when they think they’re looking for experience, wouldn’t that be good enough? For instance, http://www.geek4free.com has a really great idea in this regard. They assign projects given to them by clients to inexperienced tech graduates who promise to have the project done within a certain frame of time. The students can then boast about that project on their resume. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

    So now I’m wondering if I could do something like that with accounting firms. Should I go to them and ask them, “What kind of project can I do that will demonstrate that I know what you want from a prospective employee?” or should I just guess at what would convince them?

  9. MariaMH
    MariaMH says:

    Some more advice for companies (probably more in line with by Deirdré’s comments). Tell them where they can go in your company! This requires an atmosphere that allows people to move around which many successful companies, apparently like Sun, do have. Actually it also requires a commitment from the top and a decent HR department.

    And speaking of the HR department, they shouldn’t be just about benefits, vacation time, and all that. They should be helping managers and employees really get the most out of their jobs and their careers. Help managers be good managers. If you have some managers who are standing in the way of people moving up and moving around in the company, get them out of the way. If people come and complain about a manager, DO something about it (don’t promote them, which happens waaayyy more often that it should). Develop leaders, encourage life-long learning … the list goes on and on. And of course it starts with hiring good people – which is exactly what you are talking about.

  10. Matt Bingham
    Matt Bingham says:

    It’s almost getting to the point, or has already gotten to the point, where employees and employers care less about the job and more about the atmosphere. Employers are looking for people who work well with others, are nice, good social skills, will fit in with the team – perhaps adding some diversity along the way. The rest can be taught (not saying i’m going to get a job at NASA cause i’m nice but you get the point). On the other hand, employees are looking at the company, the projects, who they will work for, and how the company will help them get to where they want to go before looking at what they will be doing. It’s a negotiation of “What can you offer me and what can I offer you.” If both parties are happy the employee will give 110% and the employer will do the same in regards perks and atmosphere.

  11. Steve G
    Steve G says:

    Your advice presumes that companies are desperately seeking Gen Y employees.

    Given their proclivity to job change, be high maintenance, etc., that may be why many companies do not engage social networks to recruit – they are not impressed with Gen Y’s work ethic.

    And as one commenter above mentioned, the best candidates, with the exception of entry level positions, are not that wired into social networks.

    As for the telling people where they can go next, how about telling them what they have to do to go where they want to go next? I do not know of many people in my professional circles that put the career interests of the employee ahead of the business needs of the company. Why invest in someone who is consciously planning to leave the day you hire them?

  12. Pam
    Pam says:

    This is in response to the individual who thinks that he’s above LinkedIn. You’re not. If you choose not to use it, that’s your option, but don’t kid yourself that it’s just for junior level people. Not only are C level candidates using LinkedIn, they’re probably more aggressive with it than many of the junior folks, because they are used to networking to find new jobs. Just this past month I had two C level execs reach out to me to explore new opportunities. How did they find me? My profile on LinkedIn.

    So, if you are on LinkedIn but not hearing from anyone, don’t assume it’s because headhunters aren’t looking…they are. You may want to take a closer look at your profile. The more pertinent information that is there, the better you’ll show in searches.

    Pam

  13. Mark W.
    Mark W. says:

    I like #2 – “Use your public relations team to prop up the manager.” Place the emphasis on the traits and style of the manager so that the potential candidate and the manager have a better chance of a good match. Loyalty basically comes in two forms – blind loyalty (e.g. to a company because they provide you with a paycheck and benefits and stability – period) and a loyalty based on good working relationships with your manager and the people you work with (which also includes the paycheck, benefits, and stability). It’s the loyalty based on the later which will work out better and be more fulfilling for everyone involved. It’s the people and the relationships that last – not so much the job and the companies anymore.

  14. Chris Severance
    Chris Severance says:

    I have left a career and gone back to get a bachelor degree and eventually a MBA. I am 34. I have managed people, conducted interviews and dealt with being on the other side of the table. Now I am confronted with total role reversal, and I will be a total newbie in my new career. I refuse to engage in social networking. I tried facebook for a while, but it caused too much martial strife as women were contacting me left and right. Most companies will eventually realize that most of these gen y kids are just as daft as twenty-somethings have been all along. I am charming, good looking, smart and affluent, but most important is that I am an adult with life experience. I am competing in school against kids whose attention span and attendance is abysmal. I think there is one thing to remember, who you know is first on the list. These kids are changing the status quo in some places, but it really is a shame. Ability and achievement are what count, not websites and pictures.
    You caught my attention with the UMass Dartmouth reference, that is my school. Small world.

  15. Miriam Salpeter
    Miriam Salpeter says:

    It certainly seems that much of the hiring landscape is (trying to) change. I like the idea of advertising a manager, but it runs contrary to the nature of a fluid workforce. How long is that great manager really going to be the great manager before they move on to the next great thing?

    It is interesting that you note the importance of specialty recruiters. I was under the impression that Notchup.com was planning to usurp the recruiter market by removing that layer from the hiring process. Maybe they won't be able to undermine the specialty recruiters, but it would seem that targeting social media, niche communities, Linkedin, etc. would cast a wide net of Gen X and Y potential hires. Maybe the recruiters will fill in the candidates who aren’t involved in all of these avenues!

    My two most recent blogs (Feb 14 and 17) on http://www.keppiecareers.wordpress.com highlighted the WSJ and the NYT’s takes on new hiring practices…

    The Wall Street Journal reports on the fact that companies are enhancing their corporate recruiting sites and functions to make themselves more attractive to candidates. Features such as blogs, video, podcasts, interactive chats, graphics and more are intended to appeal to Generation X and Y. They also note that some recruits think the newly enhanced sites offer too many bells and whistles at the expense of good, solid information.

    The New York Times's Matt Villano recently reported that some companies are offering job interviews and career fairs in Multi-User Virtual Environments, or MUVEs, such as Second Life! This certainly targets Gen Y recruits. Who else has time to be proficient enough in an alternative reality to be able to interview there?

    Miriam Salpeter

  16. Pirate Jo
    Pirate Jo says:

    John Feier and Chris Severance, you are both struggling with the same Catch-22 that I am. I have a bachelor’s degree in accounting and fifteen years of experience in accounting and finance. Throughout those years I realized that problem-solving and process improvements are really my strong suit and that what I really want to be when I grow up is a business analyst. Business analysts are typically IT people, so I thought it wouldn’t hurt to pick up an A.S. degree in computer science.

    So I’m back in school as well, taking classes. And yes, there is an enormous gulf of difference between the 19-year-olds who can’t even spell or punctuate correctly and the 45-year-olds who have adult work experience and are mature and reliable.

    I know with no reservations whatsoever that I could step into a business analyst role and perform outstandingly. But recruiters and employers keep saying “But you don’t have your degree yet and you’ve never been a business analyst!” According to them, I should just get my degree and then take a 50% pay cut (from what I was making before) to an entry-level IT role and then work my way into a BA position from there.

    They don’t seem to think my 15 years of experience count for anything! The big companies seem to be the only ones hiring entry-level people, and they won’t look at me because I don’t yet have my A.S. degree in computer science. (Not for TWO WHOLE MONTHS YET! The horror!) To be quite honest, I think I was qualified for a BA role (because of directly-related work experience) before I even started taking classes. I just did it to show how committed I was, and because I enjoy the subject matter.

    What I am seeing are hoops, hoops, and more and more endless hoops to jump through. It seems that the job of H.R. departments is to keep good candidates out more than it is to get them in the door. They are obsessed with “weeding out” everybody. Resumes pass through a computerized system of “metal detectors” designed to get you out of the pool. They look for some specific skill that it takes a day of training to learn, and they say “Look! You haven’t spent five years doing this, so we don’t want you!”

    I really have no sympathy for companies who zero in on some obscure software skill that maybe three people have and then go after one of those three people. If you want to look long-term at the KIND of people you are hiring, look for people who are productive self-starters and excel at whatever they do. Most jobs aren’t rocket science and smart people can learn to do them quickly.

    I am having a very hard time seeing the job market as employee-driven from where I sit. I have so much to offer, but it looks like I’m going to have to keep doing the same dull work I was doing before, just to keep the bills paid, while I work on jumping through those hoops.

  17. MariaMH
    MariaMH says:

    Interesting – I didn’t think of this a Gen X post at all. I am in Gen Y (bordering on Baby Boomer) and agree with all of it. I cannot stand to be bored and want to try new things. That doesn’t mean I want to job hop constantly, but I better be learning new things and working in different areas to keep myself interested and my career moving along.

    And yes, as a current job seeker, I have a full LinkedIn profile and will continue to keep it up. I also network a lot in person. I consider both to be important. And I am in the planning stages of creating a professional blog. I consider it highly important to keep up with the new things out there and can’t imagine thinking it is not important. Any company, manager, etc. worth working for is looking for highly motivated people who aren’t just sitting around letting technology pass them by. I am not necessarily an early adopter but I am smart enough to realize I better keep up with these things to stay professionally viable.

  18. Curmudgeon
    Curmudgeon says:

    Deirdre, Sun Microsystems has laid off tens of thousands over the last seven years, many more more in fact than are still employed there. That you happen to be in a niche of the company where people can remain for long periods in no way makes up for the fact that this company has, largely through management missteps, shed too many people like today’s dirty clothes.

  19. Shefaly
    Shefaly says:

    John, Chris and Pirate Jo:

    Your experiences – as professionals with a lot of experience seeking to change direction etc – illustrate one key mistake committed by many in a similar situation. At your age and stage in life, you really should not be going through HR at all.

    My earlier comment mentions how most senior people work very differently from the Gen Y folks at whom this post appears to be targeted.

    When making a career change, there is no point starting at the bottom because nobody will believe your intent or take you seriously. Your strategies need to focus away from HR to business managers and their problems and how you can solve them creatively. Your tools are networking, projects, more networking, referrals, more projects and so on; definitely not talking to HR. This is based on my experience of course, not any how-to book or similar.

  20. Pirate Jo
    Pirate Jo says:

    Shefaly, I think you are right. I am going to have to land the BA role I want by continuing to do finance/accounting contract work until I make the right connection at the right company. It could take a long time. But going out and applying for jobs listed online is really difficult. The H.R. people are running that show.

  21. John Feier
    John Feier says:

    Pirate Jo and Chris,

    I feel your pain. I really do.

    It seems as if these “hoops” were designed, like Shefaly indicated for the young and inexperienced. But even if that’s the case, I’m just older and inexperienced, so I may just need to do the hoops anyway. This is why I’m putting a lot of emphasis on passing the CPA exam and nontraditional ways of marketing myself.

    For instance, if I were a finance graduate, I would be putting together a spreadsheet project from out of this world, with all of the different ratios plugged-in. I would take the results of those ratios and make carefully-crafted observations written in finely-worded reports. But more than that, I would make the subject matter of the spreadsheet something that is of immediate importance to the firm that I am trying to get hired at. I’m seriously thinking about that, even though I am an accounting graduate and may end up in some sort of low-level analyst position, but at least that would get my foot in the door. I love analysis anyway. I love looking at things and finding order where others find chaos.

    The point is, there’s got to be more than one way to prove that you know what they want besides having bullet-points on your resume. It would thrill me to be able to say, “You know, I don’t have a resume, but I do have a year to year analysis of the firm that your company has been looking at acquiring at http://www.targetcompany.com” That would FLOOR them! If you knew more about the target company than they do, how could they do anything else but hire you? They would be a fool not to.

  22. Robert Besaw
    Robert Besaw says:

    Penelope, I always find your articles very interesting. As a recruiter in IT for many years and now as a technical PM for the Internet division of a fortune 100 company i see where many of things you say can really benefit companies. What always amazes me is that recruiters are so slow to pick up on these methods.

    Technology can be one of the best tools for this field. With social sites replacing many of the brick and mortar means of meeting candidates staying up with change has to be key.

  23. Caitlin
    Caitlin says:

    A good friend of mine, who is a senior IT guy with 10 years’ experience, has just found his new job because he was contacted via LinkedIn. This backs up one of your points.

    However, the reason he is so stoked about this, apart from the fact it’s a great job, is because it means he doesn’t have to deal with a recruitment agent. So that undermines one of your other points!

  24. Deirdré Straughan
    Deirdré Straughan says:

    Curmudgeon, I’m a newbie at Sun and obviously haven’t been through the painful history; I can only report what I see and hear from others now. The company still has 33k or so employees worldwide, and many I’ve met have been with Sun for 5, 10, 15 or more years.

    Even 5 is a lifetime in high tech, especially any given 5 years in the last 10. It would be interesting to know how many people now work for the same high tech company they did in 1998. How many entire companies, large and small, came and went between 1997 and 2002? Thanks to an acquistion and then a spinoff, I worked for three different companies between 1993 and 2001, without ever changing my job!

    High-tech people tend to have restless minds and like to be constantly learning new things. So the fact that those not laid off stay at Sun for so long is very interesting. Clearly, the company offers very attractive personal growth paths. That sounds like a company I want to work for.

    I recently met someone who was laid off from Sun last fall and did not have good feelings about that (who would?), but has already been rehired and is happy to be back.

    I can only conclude that while Sun, like any other company, screws up, overall it must be doing something right.

  25. jonathan foster
    jonathan foster says:

    good post. thanks. with regard to going public with your thanks when someone resigns… bottom line – i sense that the playing field, so to speak, is being leveled and that for the first time in a long time companies are beginning to understand that they’re dealing with real people. if you treat someone poorly when they leave it only reflects badly upon you. so, thanks for the reminder.
    jonathan

  26. Jeremiah
    Jeremiah says:

    WOW…I’ve been a fan for a while but this post has been the best by far. You have given me 10 new ideas in the few minutes it has taken to read the post.

    Now that I think about it, the quality (which was already high) of your post has gone up since your departure from Yahoo. Maybe they were a distraction?

  27. Michael Homula
    Michael Homula says:

    For years I have referred to item number 3 as The Recruiter Loyalty Factor. The RLF is an interesting and some times controversial concept. I have always led and taught that the number one reason a talented person chooses to work with a specific recruiter is trust. With it a recruiter can’t fail. Without it, game over – you lose!

    Another common tenant of The Recruiting Loyalty Factor is that great recruiters establish, form and develop meaningful, transparent and trusting relationships with talent (not just candidates) and that talent often form fierce alliances and loyalty to their recruiter; not the company they choose to work for. This is true whether it is in third party or corporate recruiting.

    While I was the Director of Recruiting at FirstMerit Bank in Ohio I would hear at least once a week, from candidates and team members, that they took the position because of the recruiter (we called them Talent Acquisition Consultants) and the relationship they built with them. We would often secure some incredible talent because of the relationships we built and the trust we established. The recruiting team became the beacon to which great talent was drawn. In a talented candidates mind the fact that recruiting was so relational, so able to be trusted, so skilled at what they were doing was indicative of the overall health of the organization and they wanted to be a part of it.

  28. Michael Homula
    Michael Homula says:

    For years I have referred to item number 3 as The Recruiter Loyalty Factor. The RLF is an interesting and some times controversial concept. I have always led and taught that the number one reason a talented person chooses to work with a specific recruiter is trust. With it a recruiter can’t fail. Without it, game over – you lose!

    Another common tenant of The Recruiting Loyalty Factor is that great recruiters establish, form and develop meaningful, transparent and trusting relationships with talent (not just candidates) and that talent often form fierce alliances and loyalty to their recruiter; not the company they choose to work for. This is true whether it is in third party or corporate recruiting.

    While I was the Director of Recruiting at FirstMerit Bank in Ohio I would hear at least once a week, from candidates and team members, that they took the position because of the recruiter (we called them Talent Acquisition Consultants) and the relationship they built with them. We would often secure some incredible talent because of the relationships we built and the trust we established. The recruiting team became the beacon to which great talent was drawn. In a talented candidates mind the fact that recruiting was so relational, so able to be trusted, so skilled at what they were doing was indicative of the overall health of the organization and they wanted to be a part of it.

  29. Jerry
    Jerry says:

    PT –

    Great Post. A few more thoughts from the consulting front lines:

    Consultants (and some employees I've met over the years) are loyal to good managers. I've seen consultants and employees move with a manager, director, or VP whether that person moved within the company or went elsewhere. Good managers, who take care of, mentor, and develop their team members, are much harder to find these days. Employees and consultants who happen to find one of these rare individuals tend to stick together as long as it beneficial for them. Even after it's not, the networking is just as valuable as the working relationship was.
    Social networking is key. It reaches so many more people. Making a connection with people in another company, another industry, another city – €“ the possibilities are endless. If you're not on this bandwagon, jump on now.
    HR needs to be a leader in developing and implementing "alternate" work arrangements. If company HR is"limited" by what is given them (40 hour week, 9-5, fulltime desk job) they need to get a clue. What Web Workers take for granted needs to be drilled in company HR if they don't want to be champions for change they will get less than what they want.
    If you can't make a stranger excited about what your company has to offer you need some serious PR help. If your job descriptions turn out to be euphemisms the world will know pretty quickly. Social networking will circulate your real work environment amazingly fast.

    Keep writing

    Jerry

  30. klein
    klein says:

    “Instead of publishing a laundry list of dream traits of a dream candidate (usually unreasonable anyway), companies should list the dream traits of the dream manager this job falls under.”

    Huh?

  31. David
    David says:

    "Instead of publishing a laundry list of dream traits of a dream candidate (usually unreasonable anyway), companies should list the dream traits of the dream manager this job falls under."

    I really like this one. I hate job descriptions overall, I think there needs to be a total re-haul in the standard, this could be a start. Companies should start telling candidates what they stand to gain.

    And the generic paragraph that all companies have saying something like ‘fast paced, high learning environment, with a world class organization’ doesn’t count. This could be a way for startups to get an edge on the conglomerate’s.

    I think the next step is to eliminate job titles altogether in favor of a department, and its vision.

  32. micsmith
    micsmith says:

    Thank you for mentioning PrincipalsPage.com The Blog.

    I read your blog every week, but somehow I missed the mention.

    One of your many readers just let me know. Thanks again and good luck with your new website.

  33. Marketing Headhunter
    Marketing Headhunter says:

    “But today, with employees changing jobs every two or three years, they are more likely to be loyal to the recruiters who placed them than with the companies they work for. Especially when that recruiter is there to place the candidate again and again.”

    I honestly never thought about that. That’s a very encouraging idea. Thanks for a great post.

  34. Alexa
    Alexa says:

    I have a friend who is running job board site as well. He said, it is still difficult for many companies to get excellent candidates through web 2.0 job sites. I think there should be a related pre-test before candidate could join those job sites.

  35. Teen Job Search
    Teen Job Search says:

    I’ve just read how CNN interviewed top 40 CEOs about what kind of employment they are offering currently. It is really interesting since CEO can express how they would like their employer to be through the media nowadays.

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