Two major shifts are underway in the hiring world (and arguably in the larger “real world” as well). The world is becoming smaller, meaning it’s easier to conduct business over vast distances. Partially because of that shrinkage, the world is also becoming more fragmented. Opportunities spring up from a variety of places as opposed to from larger, more centralized locations, and taking advantage of those opportunities means being agile and mobile (figuratively or literally).

Joel Cheesman just posted a short-but-great interview with Matt Adams of NAS, in which this fragmentation comes up. Matt says that organizations have to devote a lot of attention to their HR branding, to the message they put out there about working for an organization. He points out that a company’s website is “the single greatest touchpoint that an applicant has with their organization,” and that to attract quality talent in a fragmenting market, the sites have to be increasingly interactive and experiential in order to really brand their culture.

He also says that the online employment space is “too competitive” and “too fluid” for anyone to focus their efforts on any one source of opportunities. He explains that in the same way that talent doesn’t look exclusively at newspaper job sections any more, they can’t (and aren’t) just looking at single, traditional job boards that haven’t really grown to meet their needs.

Similarly, Rusty Weston of My Global Career argues that “Social Networking” is the past and “Career Networking” is the future. Since the fancy interwebs lets you make intercontinental connections as easily as local ones, candidates and HR professionals should maintain a local, regional and global network.

While all of this is, at its most basic, great advice, that fragmentation and globalization seems like it can open you up to a lot of unnecessary exposure. While lots of people just accept that exposure as part of the penalty for doing business in a global economy, here at itzbig we think it doesn’t have to be that way.

We’ve tailored our system to offer the benefits of a more focussed, vertical search and the broad access of a more general job search. The matching system helps create fast, accurate connections while (and this part is very important) protecting the anonymity of both parties involved. Will it be the Definitive Future of Human Resources? Well, time will have the final word on that. Will it be a really big deal to anyone looking to match quality talent with business needs? Well, yeah. That’s why we chose our name.

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[Daily post from itzbig] Recruiters are going the way of the mammals, not the dinosaurs

In the very near future when our network goes live we think a lot of recruiters and sourcers, like pre-historic mammals, are going to adapt and thrive as a species. Those who don’t change? Well, remember what happened to the dinosaurs.

Secrets of the Job Hunt: How to Approach HR

“Approaching an HR manager out of the blue about a job you heard about can be a tricky thing. I recently surveyed some Human Resource folks about this very tactic. I think you’ll find their answers interesting and insightful.”

EXCELER8ion: There is such a thing as a free lunch when it’s on you

“Recently, a trend started called Lunch 2.0, where friends, connections and interlopers make themselves at home at another companies [sic] free cafeteria. You know, the gourmet ones that we’ve either happily noshed at as guests, drooled over, or perhaps are even lucky enough to call home (yes we covet your cafeteria). It’s old tech social media.”

My Global Career: So Long Daimler and Thanks For All the Gas

“Should we add globalization to the burgeoning list of possible career hazards? Consider this: Daimler-Chrysler management and investors may have overreached but as multinational stories go, it is the exception rather than the rule.”

The Sourcing Corner: Tackling Sourcers’ Challenges

“Sourcers face many obstacles that recruiters don’t have to deal with. For instance regardless of how strong your sourcing skills are in some circles you’re still considered jr. level or even worse entry level. So what’s the solution? Are sourcers fighting a losing battle? Not necessarily.”

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So there the dinosaurs were, thinking with their reptilian brains, “Feed. Reproduce. Life is perfect. Nothing will ever change.” Meanwhile, crafty little mammals were scurrying around under the feet of the thunder lizards. In their tiny (but well-developed) brains they thought, “Man, is it cooling off around here?” and/or “What’s that big fireball in the sky?” either of which lead to them thinking, “I better figure out a way to adapt, or I’m gonna be dead meat.”

What brings us to this little anecdote is a series of posts out there in the blogosphere about the effects improved recruiting software will have on sourcers and recruiters. Specifically, Shally Steckerl posted recently in response to another series of posts and comments about how, rather than “going the way of the dinosaurs,” recruiters are developing specializations and adapting to online recruiting. Steckerl suggests that:

If hiring managers one day had access to tools like Jason Goldberg envisions will be built then its possible that hiring managers may be able to meet a certain percentage of their hiring objectives via self service “candidate vending machines.” But ultimately tools can not replace all hiring.

First, how great would a “candidate vending machine” be? Hmm, a design executive with killer ActionScript skills and a great attitude? C-7. Secondly, as is so often the case, Steckerl is right on target.

It’s incredibly unlikely that technology automation will reach a point where every aspect of recruiting is done without human interaction. Most recruiters and sourcers are in the process of adapting to changes in technology that make them even more efficient. They’re learning how to make the most of tools like online job-boards and networking tools.

As those tools become even more efficient - sourcing ahead of demand, protecting anonymity on both sides, creating accurate matches based on detailed profiling - the best recruiters are going to learn how effective they can be by adopting (and adapting to) the right tools.

In the very near future when our network goes live we think a lot of recruiters and sourcers, like pre-historic mammals, are going to adapt and thrive as a species. Those who don’t change? Well, remember what happened to the dinosaurs.

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[Daily post from itzbig] Focussing in on Plan B

The Plan B search should be a targeted one. Candidates should be able to gather information and receive job opening notifications from companies they’re truly interested in. They shouldn’t have to waste their time looking through countless openings or getting hassled by businesses that they want nothing to do with.

The Adler Group: The Elements of Applicant Control

“Someone can always pay more. You’ll never have enough money in the budget to pay top dollar. Instead, you must sell on the idea that your job represents the best long-term career move and the one that can make the biggest near-term impact.”

CareerJourna:: Not Your Father’s Income: Why Wages Today Are Weaker

“American men in their 30s today are worse off than their fathers’ generation, a reversal from just a decade ago, when sons generally were better off than their fathers, a new study finds.”

HR Daily Advisor: 3 Surveys Take a Novel View of HR

“Did you ever wonder whether other human resources pros are spending their days on the same issues that you do, and whether the same concerns are foremost in their minds? Answers to these questions come from a study of 1,400 HR professionals by the British magazine, Personnel Today.

ere.net: No Hire is Better Than a Bad Hire

“Relaxing hiring standards can make good business sense, provided it’s done the right way. The problem is that companies often lower hiring standards in a way that creates unreasonable and unnecessary risk to the organization.”

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We continually hear from recruiters and hiring managers urging job candidates to evaluate themselves and what they’re looking for. We tell job candidates to do that ourselves. People who work with candidates in any capacity want them to conduct a focused job search by beginning with a consideration of what’s actually at stake:

“While making an informed decision regarding your career is a good way to help insure that the career you choose is right for you, it doesn’t guarantee it. Even if you follow all the prescribed steps and choose a career that is right for you, it may not remain your best choice forever.” (from Dawn Rosenberg McKay)

One of the major problems with job boards, though, is that they don’t allow for focused job searches based on the real needs of candidates. Moreover, candidates can’t always hone in on specific companies or even specific types of jobs. Instead, they’re inundated with every job opening that might match a single keyword in their resume or that falls within their broad search parameters.

An effective Plan B job search should give you the best opportunity to find the right company and the right job for you. It should also allow you to avoid having to deal with companies and positions that hold no interest for you. Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case on most boards these days, and messages on job openings have become their own kind of spam:

“Post your resume to these boards, and you’ll be added to the Job of the Hour club. After you get tired of emails about jobs selling insurance and delivering pizzas you will discover that you can’t opt out of an email list you did not sign up for in the first place. (from Job Matchbox)

The Plan B search should be a targeted one. Candidates should be able to gather information and receive job opening notifications from companies they’re truly interested in. They shouldn’t have to waste their time looking through countless openings or getting hassled by businesses that they want nothing to do with.

Once you know what you really want, you’ll need the tools to find those companies that can truly give it to you. We believe that you can find the job that is the right match for you, one that meets your needs and enables you to set and reach new goals. The tools to find that realistic dream job exist in our new network about to make its debut. Come see what it’s all about so you can be ready for when that dream job comes along.

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[Daily post from itzbig] What Recruiters and HR can learn from Marketing

Odds are, whatever it is you do online has a lot in common with what bunches of other folks are doing too, so you’ve got to take steps that distinguish you from the herd. It seems like a no-brainer, but unfortunately one of the most important arms of the business world - human resources (including recruiters and sourcers) - doesn’t always seem to take branding to heart.

My Global Career: Talent War Spreads to China

“India, Brazil and Eastern Europe are among the destinations that would also impress a global-minded recruiter or hiring manager. But China has unique advantages for “westerners” to consider such as the world’s fastest growing economy, and an acute shortage of experienced managers…”

Guerrilla Job Hunting: Get Hired Faster — Become a Matchmaker

“What does this mean for you? If you introduce the professionals in your network to each other, you can leverage the resulting good will to find new job leads.”

8 hours & a lunch: results-oriented work and the pareto principle

“Covey goes on to discuss four disciplines to introduce to the workplace to change this, including making use of the pareto principle. you know the one. the principle that says 20% of the effort produces 80% of the results.”

systematicHR: Happiness vs. Engagement

“What is tricky is that if work does not provide this level of personal happiness, and work is becoming less important for a growing portion of the population, what does that mean for productivity, innovation, and professional growth? Or is this just the evolution of society that we get so far, and then people pursue more important goal through other means because they can?”

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We’ll be taking Memorial Day off, but we’ll be back on Tuesday May 29 with another great post. Be sure to come back then.

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One battle-cry of business success used to be “location, location, location.” However, thanks to the internet’s hand in shrinking the world’s borders, a new, better mantra might be “branding, branding, branding.” Odds are, whatever it is you do online has a lot in common with what bunches of other folks are doing too, so you’ve got to take steps that distinguish you from the herd. It seems like a no-brainer, but unfortunately one of the most important arms of the business world - human resources (including recruiters and sourcers) - doesn’t always seem to take branding to heart.

The branding of HR is going to be most effective if it reflects a healthy hiring-culture. In other words, if an organization lacks a real hiring-culture, a sense of what it means both to work at and apply to a business, they can’t expect top talent to get excited about employement opportunities. Putting it another way, Korre Johnson, Recruitment Marketing Director for VersantWorks challenges HR to

Think about it…what steps is your marketing department taking to attract and retain customers? Now compare that to the steps your human resource department is taking to attract and retain best-fit employees.

HR is usually as results-driven as other branches of the company; why aren’t they just as promotional with their brand identity?

It begins with developing a good online HR presence with SEO in mind. Of course, a little active marketing (whether a blitz or a drip, as HRMarketer.com puts it) will help increase brand awareness. And remember what your parents (hopefully) taught you about honesty, or as the web-world puts it “transparency.” There’s a lot of skepticism out there directed at marketing in general. If potential candidates suspect your brand is being less-than-accurately described (as an anonymous CSO warns on CSOOnline, you can probably kiss them goodbye.

Sound like a massive undertaking? It potentially is, and that’s why enterprise-sized corporations have thus far lead the way in really successful HR branding. But at itzbig, we think our new network, which goes way beyond job-posts and resume-shopping, can help HR professionals of any size craft the right online presence to foster their brand. We think its going to make a world of difference to the online hiring space.

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[Daily post from itzbig] Attract better candidates by offering freedom and flexibility

Some employers still think that trying to force “round” candidates into “square” positions is a perfectly acceptable way to recruit. Instead, to attract top talent, they should be offering flexibility and freedom that will allow growth and increase productivity.

Inc.com: Employers Often Misread Job Applicants

“Similarly, out of 400 human resource managers polled, 59 percent said they have misjudged an applicant as being a good fit for the company, while 85 percent said they had lost an employee that simply wasn’t suited to the firm’s work environment”

The Recruiting Edge: 10 Things Your Names Sourcer Won’t Tell You

“When things go terribly wrong there’s really no recourse for you – you have to hash it out with the Names Sourcer so understand completely what his expectations are and make a special effort to convey yours.”

The Adler Group: Leverage “Leverage” to Get More Hot Referrals

“First, you must capture people’s interest. Second, you have to keep them engaged. Third, you need to make an offer that has a potential big reward for a minor cost. This is the idea of leverage in action.”

Satisfying Career - Happier Life: Women Leaving the IT Workforce - On the Rise

“While women represent almost 60 percent of the workforce, they account for only a little more than 32 percent of the IT workforce. Addressing women’s under-representation not only will help tackle the anticipated IT worker shortage but will help foster a diverse workforce, a cornerstone of both innovation and economic development

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Imagine trying to recruit a candidate - any candidate - with a job-posting that offered “draconian scheduling” and “small, cramped cubicles.” The job offer describes a severe boss (it actually calls her “Overlord”), distant parking, and constant micro-managing. However, it does promise free coffee to all employees.

OK, obviously the point here is that you aren’t going to attract talent to such a limited job opportunity, if you could even call that an “opportunity.” Yet, some employers still think that trying to force “round” candidates into “square” positions is a perfectly acceptable way to recruit. Instead, to attract top talent, they should be offering flexibility and freedom that will allow growth and increase productivity.

Time’s Lisa Takeuchi Cullen has a post today about the kinds of flexibility that candidates (including Quiet Working Professionals) desire. Citing a study done by the Families & Work Institute, Cullen says that “78% of workers” - both Boomers and Gens X and Y - named increased flexibility as a major concern for future jobs. 63% said they said they “would consider leaving the workplace for a period,” just to gain a sense of freedom and flexibilty. She said the numbers were so high that it was creating a culture of “reduced aspirations,” wherein a lack of flexibility made employees uninterested in increased responsibility. In other words, not giving talent enough freedom meant not being able to move them up in the organization. That, in turn, means not being able to draw new talent in.

Similarly, Systematic HR took a look at twelve major studies on employee engagement (which we’ve written about here) and found eight factors in common. Successful engagement (meaning all eight factors in play) created a willingness in employees to spend discretionary time (i.e. free time or flex-time) on work-related projects.

Does that mean they’re giving up weekends and lunch hours? Not necessarily, and you should expect them to. It simply means that given flexibility and engagement, employees want to do a better job. Conversely, if they’re under a corporate thumb, they resist productivity and even advancement. This translates directly into the world of recruiting since those same work-culture enticements are what many candidates expect from great jobs. If you can’t offer it to them, don’t expect talent to exactly beat a path to your door.

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