There was a wonderful piece in the satirical news site The Onion recently about the recent SXSW conference in the USA. The piece claimed that the word “innovation” had already been said 650,000 times, and drily noted the complete absence of phrases such as “investment model” and “practical business strategy“. When people think of innovation, they think of inventions such as the iPhone, or high-tech startups in Silicon Valley. This aura surrounding the concept of innovation, particularly the idea that it means doing something unique or radical, had led some recruiters that I know of to believe that innovation is impossible in recruitment. However, this certainly isn’t the case! By applying critical analysis to innovation management, I will show how agencies can become innovative. [Read more...]
Social Media Etiquette: Everything I Know I Learned From Real Life!
With the wide adoption of social media over the last couple of years, the conversation has evolved away from “Why use social media?” to “How do you use social media?”. A simple Google search for “social media etiquette” brings up 1,580,000 results. But do we really need all of those articles to tell us how to behave online?
Sites like LinkedIn have shifted us away from anonymous internet usage to an age of personal branding and online identity ownership. So, if our online profiles are to be taken as extensions of ourselves or at least representations of our best self, shouldn’t our actions online just be a reflection of what we are like offline?
If social media is just a new tool to achieve the same end goal – to communicate – shouldn’t the same etiquette for communicating in person or over the telephone apply? [Read more...]
Maebellyne Ventura
Maebellyne Ventura is a digital marketing professional within the recruitment industry. She is also one of the founders of Clever Biscuit, a young start-up creating simple and innovative products. Follow Maebellyne on Twitter @Maebellyne.
Why Recruitment is NOT Dying
Recently there have been a fair few blog posts and articles published on various recruitment sites that discuss the changing nature of recruitment. In summary, what many of them are saying is that recruitment, as we know it, is dying. The cause is the growth of Web 2.0; the socialization of the web means that everyone has a digital footprint, whether it’s LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, blogs, specialist online communities, emails etc. As a result it is getting easier and easier to find people, so sourcing is simple and companies are increasingly doing it themselves. This viewpoint has three core arguments: that everyone is online; that companies are increasingly sourcing hires through direct applications; and that there is no longer any such thing as a ‘passive’ candidate.
Whilst I broadly agree with this, I think it is worth injecting a note of caution. Web 2.0 has made huge changes to the way we do recruitment, just as Web 1.0 did, but I think that the role of the recruiter will continue for some time yet, and here’s why: [Read more...]
Out With The Old, In With The…Well, You Get It!
By: D. Sharon Pruitt
Oh. My Gosh. Becky.
It’s a New Year!
I get pretty excited about the New Year, mostly because it means NEW (Hint: it’s in the name). Here in the middle of the United States, we had new snow, which only underscored the illusion of a clean slate. Let’s talk about NEW.
New Stuff
In 2013, you get new stuff. You know what I mean: a new calendar, a fresh desk, a new set of books. I, like a lot of people use this time to get organized. Label your folders (on line or offline), create more organized to-do lists or assemble a calendaring system you’ll actually use. My resolutions are that I will actually use Evernote (for white papers and in-depth articles) across all my devices and that I will use Shoeboxed to keep track of my traveling receipts.
New Processes
You know what’s hard? Change. Especially when you are working within a team. If everyone goes around changing their processes all the time, it makes for a very disorganized team. That’s why the first week in January makes everyone a little nuts; everyone’s personal goals are either not aligned or vocalized with corporate ones. What if you called your (virtual or in-person) team together for a bit of accountability and support? Is the manager going to work out over lunch instead of hearing complaints? Is Becky trying to have a “no-email zone” from 7:00-10:00 am? When you share your new processes with others you work or consistently interface with, you increase your chances of success. My new process for the year is no phone calls after 4 pm. When I take these calls, my children are often home from school and I either forget what was said or am worried about noise on the line. When I take calls early in the day, I remember to send notes and really focus on the call itself. I’ve already notified my coworkers and clients.
New Tech
Even if you aren’t one of the lucky ducks that received a new phone, computer or tablet this year, you can still take advantage of the new tech 2013 has to offer. In fact, much of it isn’t really new at all. I have found that I don’t really adopt new tools at the rate I used to and I believe that is to my detriment. Voice to text apps while I’m on my morning walk? Yes, please. With constant upgrades on software, new consumer and enterprise apps being developed daily and constant must-have lists, there is surely one new tech change you can make to your daily routine. I have been trying to incorporate Google+ into my sharing routine and took the last day in 2012 to go over the software and systems I am using and make all the updates. I also decided to print out and laminate shortcut cheat sheets that have saved a great deal of time. Need some ideas? Check out followup.cc and IFTT to automate like…everything. Make sure you check out the user manuals for your enterprise software or ask your rep to take you through a fresh demo, I bet there are new features you’re dying to try.
New Space
Clean, clear desktop. Fresh lines of notebook paper. Even my Facebook timeline somehow seems clearer. Even if you didn’t have a chance to de-clutter before 2012 was over, you can still organize your space and get rid of detritus post haste. The obvious tidying up has to do with “real life” but what about creating a new and organized Dropbox folder or using unroll.me to tidy up your inbox? Is your desktop looking cluttered with screenshots and to-do items? If so, take 15 minutes to de-clutter so that you can start 2013 with a clear mind (and PC). My number one item? Begin syncing my project management tool of choice, Asana with Dropbox folders. They offer the integration now and it’s a no brainer.
New Ideas
I’ll be the first to tell you that the “predictions” lists are kind of “meh” this year. That is, they say the same things as last year, basically. However, there are some gems out there. Jobcast has an interesting one, as do I (yeah like I’m not gonna put mine in here) and Ihrim’s, while long, is good. New ideas are everywhere and as a cutting edge recruiter (which you are right?) you should want to pay attention to these. I work with a ton of vendors. Their primary goal in life is to get you, yes YOU, on a demo. So call up employee referral vendor Zao or Video Interviewing platform Wowzer or ATS vendor RecruiterBox or RMS provider Skillstream. Don’t get gamification? Call Badgeville. Confused about social sourcing? Check out Entelo. Need CRM tips? Ping Avature. My point is, all these companies (and many, many more – head to Software Advice and Capterra for list after list of HR Tech Products) are interested in educating you. Sure, they want to sell but they also want to get their concepts out to market and if you understand them you only bring valuable knowledge back to your firm or organization. Carve out 20 min a week for a new product demo. At the very least, it will give you questions to ask your OWN vendor community.
New Goals
I know that it’s a bit passe in some circles to create goals, but it’s my favorite part of the New Year. If you believe, even for just a few days, that you can radically alter something about yourself, that’s still pretty impressive! It’s a childlike feeling. So give it a shot. Can’t lose 20 lbs? How about 10? Don’t want to make 40 new calls a week? Maybe try for 15. Scared to attempt to learn a language? What about planning a trip to that country instead? My point is, goals have the inherent, beautiful quality of giving you new faith in yourself and that will impact your work positively for sure. I’m trying the Daily Burn.
Happy New Year!
Maren Hogan
Maren Hogan is a seasoned marketer and community builder in the HR and Recruiting industry. She leads Red Branch Media, a consultancy offering marketing strategy and content development.
