Sirona Says

Are recruiters apathetic, confused or have they got their heads stuck in the sand when it comes to social recruiting?

Over the last few weeks I have presented at two different REC events - the Executive Recruiters Autumn Congress and yesterday at REC's first ever Annual Conference, as well as the cleverly titled Recruiting Unconference. The audiences have therefore been a good selection of the recruitment industry.

I have been very surprised at the very small numbers of them that say they are using the different types of social media to help them in their recruitment jobs.
Yes, the majority have a Facebook account, but that is solely for their friends and family networks. Many have LinkedIn accounts, but very few are using them properly to help them with their day job. I met with a recruitment industry salesperson yesterday at REC, who didn't even realise that they could source target companies (recruitment agencies) via LinkedIn. And when it came to Twitter, I might just as well have been talking about the anti-christ!

One of my slides when I have been presenting, includes the images below. For me recruiters fall into one of the three categories:

Total Apathy.

Confused about which way to go.

Simply sticking their head in the sand.

I actually think it is a bit of all three!!

I guess what I have learnt is that the majority of people in the recruitment industry just don't get social recruiting yet!!

I have already had feedback via Twitter (yesterday when I posed a similar question), that we should equate this whole social recruiting thing to job boards and the time it took for them to be accepted. Well that may be the case, but I think things are changing at a much faster rate! I was around in recruitment when job boards first arrived on the scene, to fanfares and ticker tape parades. It took years for recruiters and companies for the online penny to drop (and some still don't believe it works now!!), so we know it will take time.

But, and it a very big but, social recruiting is no respecter of time. The companies and recruiters that have 'got it' are already reaping the benefits. They are accessing and engaging with candidates like they have never done before, and are finding it to be truly revolutionary for recruitment.

And do you know what?

Candidate expectation of companies and recruiters using different social media channels to communicate and engage with them, rises every single day. It is they who will be the drivers. They will dictate how recruiters and companies will succeed or fail within social recruiting.
Why? Because social media has no respect of reputations. Big or small - it doesn't matter who you are; by not getting involved sends a bigger message out than getting involved and making some mistakes. Candidates will be attracted to companies and recruiters that they can engage, communicate and build a relationship with via social media, not the ones don't even try!

Now you may be thinking that it doesn't matter at the moment, because of the recession. Yes, there are loads of candidates out there at the moment, but that will start to change....and it will start to very soon. If as a recruiter you have been 'toughing' it out, waiting for the good times to roll again, think again.
The recruitment landscape has now changed for ever.

Social Recruiting IS HERE TO STAY. The quicker you get started the less ground you are going to have to make up with your competitors!

So if you need  help in 2010 with understanding the benefits of social recruiting just ask - I will be happy to oblige!

Should recruiters or hiring managers take 'job mashups' or 'portfolio careers' more seriously?

The recession is really impacting on many people's lives in a big way. And in the job market this is absolutely true. There are millions out of work, with some areas of the countries fairing better than others. While some people are lucky and find a new job - albeit it takes a little longer to get one - many are not so fortunate!

What has started to happen, both by choice and necessity is that people are stringing together a number of smaller jobs together, just to survive financially, because jobs paying the required salaries just aren't there at the moment.
These types of job mashups are known as portfolio careers - you no longer have one job, but multiple jobs and employers within one or more professions. Instead of working a traditional full-time job, you work multiple part-time jobs (including part-time employment, temporary jobs, freelancing, and self-employment) with different employers that when combined are the equivalent of a full-time position.

These people that hold down these portfolio careers and succeed need to be applauded for their attitude towards wanting to work. They are actually showing many traits that employers should be looking for going forward. However, my fear is that both recruiters and hiring managers will steer away from them when they come to apply for a individual higher salaried jobs.

With the available pool of talent being more representative of a flood currently, recruiter and hiring managers, will be looking to find the most obvious matches, and the easiest routes to a placement/hire. This is bad news for candidates with a CV showing their portfolio career!! Job seekers with multiple shorter duration jobs on their CV's will be swept to one side by the deluge of people with "stable" job histories with fewer, longer duration jobs on their CV.

So by working hard, wanting to make sure they are working, and paying their bills the best they can, me fear is that these portfolio career workers could actually be setting themselves up for a longer term job problem!

Are the (unfortunately) harsh realities of clients and recruiters alike - specific requirements and available talent - going to seriously hamper these portfolio career job seekers?

I for one, applaud the attitude of these workers, I just wish more people had the same attitude towards work!!

What do you think?

Harnessing the power of social media

I Came across this video yesterday and thought it was excellent! It demonstrates the need for you to harness the power of social media. Enjoy.

Have TotalJobs lost the plot with this unethical advertising campaign aimed at Jobseekers?

Totaljobs have either lost the plot completely, thrown their morals out of the window, or they have become so desperate that they will promote anything for an advertising commission cheque?

Today I received this email (above) from a very confused (and angry) job seeker. They had received this email from TotalJobs, advertising a 'free' seminar on learning how to trade on the stock market. It promotes the 'fact' that you can a recession proof income while at the same time securing your financial future.

What the hell are TotalJobs doing, sending out this to job seekers? Does this not go beyond the service of a job board? Trying to encourage out of work job seekers to gamble on the stock market to make a living?

There is definitely an ethical and moral question mark here, for me!!

I am not for one minute, suggesting that the company involved, The Wealth Training Company, is not 100% above board and reputable, because they probably are. (Note: they only set up the company earlier this year, so a good long track record is very unlikely!)

But do they really need to sell their database email services to such a company?

Job seekers who have lost their jobs, need to be offered advice and support about how to find a new job, not be enticed into something that could have massive negative repercussions, if things don't work out in the share market, especially as they will have had to invest their own money just to get started.

For me this is an example of a job board stepping over the line. Promotional prostitution seems to have ruled their heads on this one, I think!!

Am I being unfair, or do you agree?

The Recruiting Unconference 2009, TruLondon video

Well, the Recruiting Unconference last week, was a great success. Bill Boorman did a great job in bringing such a radical idea to the UK. It wasn't a conference as you know it, it was as the name suggests, very 'un' conference like.

The location at Barclays Tower worked very well, and the pods were quite effective (apart from the acoustics which were awful in them!)

Here is a video from the UK's first ever Recruiting Unconference, also known as TruLondon:

(Unfortunately, the audio was pants, so I replaced it with some funky music instead!)

The Social Media Orange (video)

Here is the first of a series of promo videos that I have put together. I hope you like it!!

Hosted by TOV.

There is a version on YouTube, but the music is not quite so exciting. (They didn't like my choice of music!)

101 Things to write about on a recruitment blog

While I was preparing for speaking on blogging at the Recruiting Unconference yesterday, I put together this list to help all the blogging newbies. One thing I always get asked by people, is what they can write about on a blog, so here are a few pointers!

So if you blog about recruitment, in any way and constantly get stuck for subjects to blog on, take a look at my list of 101 Things to write about on a recruitment blog - I hope it helps you in your writing quest.

1.    Tell people about you and your role in the company

2.    Tell them about your company

3.    Take videos for your premises - maybe a video tour?

4.    Interview some of your suppliers (including photographs and maybe video?)

5.    Interview some of your clients (including photographs and maybe video?)

6.    Interview really good candidates about their experiences with your company

7.    Customer case studies

8.    Stories of customers gone wrong

9.    Tell people about the best consultant you ever met and why they were good

10.    Talking about the worst insult ever employed (make this one more humorous)

11.    Share your business’s successes

12.    Take this further and break it down into more details specialised areas within your specific industry

13.    Write about your competition – who is the competition?

14.    Write about their products and how they differ from yours

15.    Tell people how to get the most from your customer service department

16.    The best way that people can suggest improvements to your service

17.    Tell people about projects are you currently working on

18.    How do you work with your clients

19.    How do you expect your clients to work with you

20.    Break down each of your products and explain in more detail (maybe video)

Which is the Best UK Recruitment Blog of 2009?

Well it is that time of year again - it is the voting for the Best UK Recruitment Blog of 2009. Louise from UK Recruiter, who champions UK recruitment blogs (thanks Louise) has again put the decision out there to you, the blog reading folk, for you to decide, who you think has produced the best recruitment blog for this year.

So in a completely shameless request, if you are a reader of my blog, and you have enjoyed what I have had to say this year, then please make sure you vote for my blog today!!

It is a very easy process,>>>>>>>> click on this link here <<<<<<<<<< and vote for my blog Sirona Says.

Thanks in advance for your vote support !!

The Recruiting UnConference is going to be pod-tastic in the Barclays Tower!

Well after all the hype and expectation, the UK's first recruitment unconference is upon us. On Thursday 19th Bill Boorman International Enterprises is storming into the Barclays Tower (pictured above) and doing something in a Global Bank HQ, that will be decidedly 'un' bank-like!! I bet they have never had an unconference in there! (Are you nervous Barclays?)

You have to admit that this location is a bit special! We are in the Atrium on the 30th floor - I am looking forward to the view from there!

There are some great track leaders during the day, and we will be discussing everything that is recruitment, from Gen Y to Social Media to Video Candidate Experience to Technology and even Blogging (did I mention I am going to have some fun leading my blogging pod?)

What is intriguing, are the pods that we will be spending the day in. I think Bill has done a deal with the makers of Star Trek and secured some of the film set to use for the day!!

Don't they look funky?

The only downside in a day of innovation, fun and frivolities (oh, yes and some great recruitment discussions as well!) is that we are 'obliged' to meet the bank's dress code. We all have to wear a blue suit, white shirt and red tie (don't forget the hanky out of the top pocket!)....................well ok, not quite, but jeans and hawaiian shirts are definitely out. Damn!!
Smart casual is the order of the day!

Anyway, I am really looking forward to the day (and the evening tweet up) and spending the day talking blogging with a whole bunch of great people! 

My hope is that I can turn some blog virgins into the next great bloggers of the future! Wish me luck on that one!!

If you are going to follow the days activities on Twitter, then just follow the #trulondon on Twitter. There will be plenty of pictures, videos and some comment that I will be posting both during and after the exciting event.

Hope to see you there in Canary Wharf.

Why cowboy recruiters will end up in the Boot Hill Cemetery

I think by now, we all agree that the recruitment landscape has changed. For better or worse, depends on which side of the recruitment fence you sit on, however!
I am hoping that the recruitment landscape has has really changed, because I for one ( and I am sure you feel the same way!) hope that the 'cowboy recruiters' are slowly being pushed out of the industry (even off a high cliff if we are lucky!)
They are the bain of any good recruiters life, by continually deceiving clients that they actually know what they are talking about and forever lying to both clients and candidates alike. They really have lowered the reputation of our industry. Let's be honest, they are only interested in one thing.............money.
In all the years I have been recruiting they still don't get it. How does p***ing off a client and screwing them over, make for good business practice?

In my (hopeful) opinion, they will need to change or die, in an industry that has now become more aware than ever of what value a good recruiter can really add.

So out must go the brash, fast talking, unscrupulous and arrogant recruiters who make lying and bull***t look like child's play. In must come much improved recruitment skills. Successful recruiters in the 'new world' will need to be more team-based and have real listening skills. They must put themselves in the clients's shoes and develop long term relationships across the organisations they work with.

To cope with this shift in the recruitment marketplace, recruitment firms will really need to change. They will need to:

1. Think like the customer. Empathy and understanding of the client's business objectives will be at the heart of future recruiting.

2. Focus on relationship building. Creating a long term partnership across the client organisation rather than the traditional transactional based relationship.

3. Work as a team. Recruiters will need to collaborate openly with colleagues across their own organisation to ensure the best possible service to their clients.

4. Gain more knowledge. Successful recruiters will have an in-depth knowledge of their clients's business and overall market that allows them to find opportunities to deliver value.

5. Deliver impeccable customer service. Providing consistently excellent customer service is critical to retaining business. Therefore recruiters will need to be closely involved with ensuring ongoing client satisfaction.

The rise of the internet and the proliferation of the many social media sites, has armed clients with unparalleled access to candidates. Many clients will have used the recession times to implement robust direct recruiting strategies. The majority, however will not have been this forward thinking.

But they will expect something different. The words 'adding value' springs to mind!

Of course there are many great recruiters, that have been doing all these things for years, and will continue to prosper, recession or not. For the recruiters that recognise change is needed, good luck.

For the recruiters that just ignore all this and continue to wear the '10 gallon hats', then I hope that you end up where all the dead cowboys go - the Boot Hill Cemetery!