UPDATE: If you missed Neil’s fantastic presentation, look for the video at the end of this article and enjoy.

In this interactive episode, Neil will share why most staffing and recruiting firms are still in the dark ages when it comes to technology.

When you tune in to the new episode of Fordyce TV (2pm Eastern on Tuesday), learn how you can harness the secrets of Internet marketing to massively grow your business or desk.

“Most recruiter websites were built under the premise of repeat traffic,” explains Neil. “That just does not happen anymore.”

Neil cautions that while “the rest of the world uses landing pages and opt-in email lists to capture their leads,” there is a simple way to set up your landing page and begin your relationship with your list. He’ll also share how to use inexpensive sequential marketing tools to reach each new lead in a whole new way.

“Keep your client communication strong and fun! Learn how to create the easy experience, and not just focus on cliched points of difference like ‘great’ customer service,” he says.

Replay of Internet Marketing Secrets
Neil says that with these easy tools, you will keep your name in the forefront of your candidates’ minds without making update calls. Learn to embrace these tips and find out you may have been missing!

“Quit reading the newspapers,” she says. “Don’t think that because a company is laying off that is not a company you can recruit for. There are job orders out there. Quit listening to the news!”

If you missed the show, you can catch the recap here:

Next week, Fordyce TV returns on Tuesday, March 17 at 2 ET with Jeff Kaye. He will have special guest Karen Pickens, and together, they will explore the top 10 ways to maximize your current team today and get the most out of your current team tomorrow.

“Roughly one new member per second,” explains Francois Dufour, LinkedIn’s senior director of Enterprise Marketing.

He is, of course, referring to the rapid growth of LinkedIn, which now tops 35 million members. And due to replies to job postings on LinkedIn having doubled over the last six months, the company has unveiled a “new” suite of solutions for recruiters. It’s called LinkedIn Talent Advantage, which is essentially an enhancement of four existing products and one brand-new product.

The newest feature is geared primarily to corporate recruiters, but third-party recruiters should know how to use LinkedIn Custom Company Profiles. It’s something you may see in client offices, and it’s something clients may ask you to help them develop as they seek to present information that is relevant based on a job-seeker’s background and professional interests.

(If you’re thinking this was already an option, you’re right…users were already able to view company profiles. The changes now allow companies and recruiters to develop an employer brand with content specifically designed for particular profiles.)

In addition, the company has added enhancements to LinkedIn Recruiter; LinkedIn Jobs Network; LinkedIn Talent Direct; and LinkedIn Employer Advertising.

“LinkedIn Talent Advantage lets recruiters unlock the power of LinkedIn’s extensive professional network so they can uncover quality passive candidates who are unlikely to be on traditional job boards,” says Dufour.

The news out Friday morning reveals that 524,000 jobs were shed, leading our country’s unemployment from 6.8% to 7.2%.

Since the start of the recession in December 2007, the number of unemployed Americans has grown by 3.6 million, according to the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics data.

Among the unemployed, the number of job losers and persons who completed temporary jobs rose by 315,000 to 6.5 million in December. Over the past 12 months, the size of this group has increased by 2.7 million.

Within professional and business services, the temporary help industry lost 81,000 jobs in December, bringing job losses in 2008 to 490,000.

On the bright side, healthcare employment continued to grow in December (32,000), with over-the-month job gains in ambulatory services (14,000) and hospitals (12,000). In 2008, healthcare added 372,000 jobs.

Breadwinner Views

In related economic news, the BLS reports that wives’ salaries are starting to surpass their husbands’ salaries. In 1987, 18% of working wives whose husbands also worked earned more than their spouses; in 2006, the proportion was 26%.

Also this week, a report released by the Association of Executive Search Consultants (AESC) shows a dip in in worldwide executive search revenues. The AESC reports a decline of 6.3% from the previous quarter, accounting for the first quarterly drop since Q4 2006.

Year-on-year executive search industry revenues grew 2.8% annually in the third quarter of 2008, and the AESC says this represented the least year-on-year growth since Q1 2005.

“As might be expected in the light of the current economic turmoil, executive search clients are being more cautious about initiating new senior hires than they were earlier this year,” says Peter Felix, AESC president.

Nevertheless, he notes that the extent of the decline in worldwide revenues for the industry is still relatively minor and many parts of the world and many sectors are still showing strong demand.

Felix says he is “confident” that once the current uncertainty abates and organizations begin to plan their way out of recession that executive search consultants will see strong demand from clients who require help in finding and recruiting the best talent available to them.

“Executive talent is still in very short supply around the world and only few organizations will ignore the necessity to invest in their leaders for the future,” he adds.

The report also shows that the number of retained executive searches started worldwide in the third quarter declined 3.5% compared to Q3 2007. Searches decreased in all regions except Central/South America, which rose 18% from Q3 2007, the report shows. Finally, Europe experienced the largest yearly decline in searches, down 7.6%; Asia/Pacific was down 5.2%; and North America fell 2.1%.

And now you’ll have to shell out $25 per listing if you are posting jobs in Atlanta, Austin, Dallas, Denver, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, or Phoenix.

(Ugh. Is everything more expensive now?)

At least Craigslist has posted handy information on paid job posting accounts here.

The private-equity firm will also help Authoria with an additional $8-million investment in working capital to enhance Authoria’s overall corporate growth, according to the company.

Josh Bersin, president of Bersin & Associates, a research and advisory firm, calls this “the next big software opportunity” as talent management — and the role of recruiters — certainly is changing.

This announcement is also “an affirmation that a comprehensive view of talent management is of interest to the investment community,” points out Nina P. McIntyre, Authoria’s senior VP of marketing.

“Recruiters need to take a broad view of talent management, not only attracting talent but developing internal talent pools and quality of hire as they are all becoming so closely related,” says McIntyre.

If you’re waiting for the punchline, sorry, but this is no joke.

The reality is that PaidInterviews has launched a new service that pays candidates when hired. It combines social networking and matching technology in a new way, in a style that allows candidates to market themselves in their job quest, and of course, get paid for their efforts.

According to the company, candidates will name their asking fee, which is then matched with an employer’s bid fee. The candidate, when hired, is paid a percentage of the first year’s salary.

Will this model transform the hiring process? Or is it simply a gimmick? Are you scared? Or simply laughing?

Vault.com‘s CEO Erik Sorenson recently pointed out that “Everything has moved online, including education. Though more and more Americans are getting educated online, there is still a bias toward traditional classroom education, especially for high-end careers and top-ranked companies.”

Vault’s recently conducted survey shows that while 49% of those who make hiring decisions have encountered applicants with online degrees (up from 34% in 2005), only 19% have actually hired a candidate who only possessed an online degree.

So where you stand on this issue? How do you view online degrees now? How have your view changed in the past few years? And how you think your future self (in say, 2018?) will feel about the issue?