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The Fordyce Letter

Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Technology

Industry News, Social Media, Technology

LinkedIn Adds A Recommendation Feature

by on Apr. 10, 2013


Previous look
New LinkedIn Recruiter

New LinkedIn Recruiter

Sporting a new look and with some new features — including a recommendation engine that ‘learns’ the kind of people a recruiter most want — LinkedIn Recruiter is getting an official relaunch this morning.

The redesign itself is an updating the classic LinkedIn Recruiter look to make it more consistent with the LinkedIn homepage redesign that was introduced last fall.

Parker Barril, Linkedin’s Talent Solutions head of product, unveiled the fresh, new LinkedIn Recruiter at a live and webcast user event — ConnectIn – in San Francisco. As he put it, “the consumerization of the enterprise,” the trend toward making products and services easier to use, “is influencing a new generation of products.”

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Interviews, Technology

Your Clients Are Video Interviewing and So Should You

by on Mar. 28, 2013


Video interviewing

Video interviewingWith the popularity of video interviewing soaring on the corporate side, now is the time for agency and independent recruiters to give it a try.

The advantages of using video to meet and vet your top candidates are obvious: convenience, no travel required, and speed. Less obvious is the opportunity to see how well your candidate performs in front of a webcam, something that will never show up in phone screen. That’s no small detail considering fully 80% of the largest employers in the U.S. — those with 10,000 workers — use live video interviews at least sometimes.

Why? Cost is the number one reason companies use video interviews, according to a GreenJobInterview survey. Of the corporate leaders surveyed, most of them in HR, cost was cited by 88% of them. Second, cited by 56%, was improved time to hire.

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Business, Technology

If You Aren’t Becoming Mobile, You’re Going to be Left Behind

by on Jan. 17, 2013


Mobile recuriting report chart

Mobile recuriting report chartIt shouldn’t be news now that smartphone use is big (and is getting bigger). In late 2012, estimates pegged the number at over a billion smartphones with that number doubling by 2015.

If you’re a smartphone user, you’ve probably increased your reliance on the device steadily. I now expect my device to do everything but poach my morning eggs.

When you send a candidate or someone in your talent community or on your mailing list a notice of a new job, what are they going to see when they click through on their mobile device? Will they be able to do anything with it? And if you’re not there, how do you start and what does an optimal solution look like?

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How-To, Social Media

Why You Need To Include Google+ In Your Recruiting Strategy

by on Dec. 27, 2012


google-plus-logo

The Importance of Google+ as a Tool for Recruitment Agencies

As a recruiter, you may be well versed in social media and its relation to your work and matching clients with jobs. LinkedIn generally is the first source for recruiters when it comes to establishing client links. If you have put off learning more about Google+, then it may be time to dive into Google’s world. You may soon find this social tool as your priority source for recruiting and looking for the best minds in the business.

Broaden Your Network

According to Google’s own blog, this social media network serves 500 million members, of which 235 million use the platform’s various social tools by way of searching for others and giving a “+1” to items in the news stream. This is the network’s version of a Facebook “like,” but it also carries the heft of showing up on Google searches. With this high volume of traffic and exploration among its members, it makes sense to start creating your own “circles,” the account network on Google+.

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Social Media

LinkedIn Profiles: Puffery Or Outright Fraud?

by on Nov. 9, 2012


Scott Thompson was forced out of Yahoo after his resume embellishment was discovered.

Scott Thompson was forced out of Yahoo after his resume embellishment was discovered.

There’s been an unsettling trend in business over the last decade or so to make every member of the workforce appear and feel just as important as the president or CEO. Receptionists are now the “Director of First Impressions,” while our janitors became “Custodial Engineers.”

Now I truly have all the respect in the world for the hardworking people who hold these challenging and important positions but let’s keep it real — directors and engineers they are not. Not surprisingly, this phenomenon of rebranding, and exaggerating basic functions has now spilled over to the average resume and, in particular, on LinkedIn profiles.

I do not mean to disparage LinkedIn; in fact, my company uses it a lot. But there are flaws in the system that both hiring companies and job seekers need to be aware of.  At the core, there simply seems to be no methodology in place for monitoring accuracy, and frankly, with almost 200 million subscribers, maybe that’s just not realistic.

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Industry News, Social Media

Reports Says Facebook is Preparing to Launch A Jobs Service

by on Jul. 12, 2012


Facebook logo

You likely heard by now that according to Dow Jones Newswires, Facebook will be launching its own jobs board as soon as August. While details about the planned move are sketchy at this point, it is believed that the board would incorporate listings from third-party providers that currently service Facebook-based brand pages.

While this may not be the big, disruptive splash into the employment space that many had hoped for, as one talent acquisition manager told me, “This is definitely a big deal.”

The third-party companies involved in the launch are rumored to include names that should be familiar with anyone who has used Facebook for job postings: BranchOut, Jobvite, and Work4Labs. None of the companies would publicly comment on the matter.

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Technology

Get A Free ATS From the Company That ‘Aims To Do It All’

by on Jun. 28, 2012


GetHired logo

The site that “aims to do a bit of everything” is doing a bit more this morning.  And it’s an interesting something more that takes its cue from direct hire recruiting.

Launching this morning, and only in metro New York, is GetHired‘s Job Seeker Spotlight. Five lucky, handpicked job seekers will get profiled in an email being sent to recruiters and hiring managers for their review. If they like what they see, they can reach out to the candidates and invite them to become applicants.

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Industry News, Staffing, Technology

Recruiting Software Company Bullhorn Acquired

by on Jun. 14, 2012


Bullhorn logo

Bullhorn, the software company that powers much of the staffing and SMB recruiting market, has been acquired by Vista Equity Partners for a reported nine-figure sum. The Boston-based tech firm announced the deal this morning.

The financial terms were not made public, however sources, including TechCrunch, said the sales price was in the “low nine-figures.” That would be a near tripling of the company’s valuation since 2008 when it got a $26 million VC fund  investment.

“It’s a big day here,” CEO and founder Art Papas said. “The employees are really pumped up.” Two reasons for the excitement, Papas said. Because of stock options, many employees will see a financial windfall, but as important, he added, is that Bullhorn will remain independent and growing.

“I work with some incredible people. And with this acquisition, no one is leaving. Just the contrary, we’ll be growing.”

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Technology

Free Apps To Help You Work More Efficiently and Save Time

by on Jun. 5, 2012


Tools computer

If you’ve ever wished for an extra hour in the day or, in a moment of utter frustration, though, “There has to be a better way,” then good news. For some things recruiting, there are.

In this collection of apps, and services, and tools you’ll find enough useful ‘stuff’ to get you some, if not an entire, 60 minutes to use making those cold calls you never seem to get to. Or updating your client presentations. Or freshening your Facebook page.

However you decide to use those extra minutes, you’ll find these tools will simplify your life and help you manage your professional contacts more efficiently. And the best part is that every one of these is free. Right. No charge, no hidden fees, no surprises.

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Technology

Five (Inexpensive Or Free) Cloud-Based Productivity Tools For Recruiters

by on May 24, 2012


Clouds

When I talk to people about what tools they use on a day-to-day basis, they usually default to the recruiting specific tools they use. They might be trying out something new or maybe they are frustrated with an ATS or search tool.

When I ask about what’s driving their backoffice or productivity, I often get blank stares. People might be living off of email, a calendar, a spreadsheet, or maybe nothing at all. And that might be fine if you’re never out of the office, don’t ever miss anything important or never have a computer issue.

For those of us who may have one or more of those issues, using an internet-based application might be the way to go. The key advantages being that your data is available, often on all of your devices (including mobile) and is backed up. So what should you be checking out? Here are five essential tools (plus some extras) to try out.

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