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Straight Talk for the Recruiting Profession


Articles tagged 'jobboards'

How-To, Technology

The Best of The Fordyce Letter 2011, #3 — Turn Post and Pray into Post and Placement

by on Dec. 28, 2011


computer-praying_2

Editor’s note: Jeff Schwartzman’s article was the 3rd most popular article on The Fordyce Letter in 2011. It originally ran in April.

I often run across criticism of the recruiting practice dubbed “Post and Pray,” the method of posting online job ads with the hopes the right candidates apply. This practice comes under fire since it is viewed as the lazy approach to recruiting with little to no control over who applies.

Many of you may be thinking at this point, “I have no need to post jobs! I do everything through cold calling and referrals.” Relax — while that may work for you, it may not be the best approach for everyone else. Recruiting offers no perfect source or method to fill positions. In my opinion, to run a successful recruiting desk, it is important to utilize a combination of multiple recruiting methods, both proactive and reactive.

Posting online job ads have many advantages. Job seekers who apply have the opportunity to read through a job description (hopefully well written!) so they typically are already interested in your job when you receive their resume.

The following job posting strategies, approaches, and techniques will help optimize your job ad exposure resulting in both a higher quantity and quality of online applicants.

Keep reading »
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Industry News

Could Monster Be a Takeover Target?

by on Dec. 19, 2011


Monstercom

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Monster Worldwide Inc. (MWW) is being removed from the S&P 500 after losing almost $5 billion in market value in the last five years. With a stock price low enough to force the world’s largest online-recruiting company out of the S&P 500, there’s some very public speculation that the global employment advertising company could be bought by a private equity fund. According to the Bloomberg article, the company has plunged 66 percent this year, the most in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index, as American businesses remained reluctant to hire.

Rumors have periodically made the rounds of a potential or even pending sale — 20 of them since 2006, according to Bloomberg. All have proven false. But now, says the financial news service, financial analysts and some of Monster’s largest shareholders say the time and price may be right for a takeover.

“The valuation is absurdly cheap,” Eric Green, a Philadelphia-based fund manager at Penn Capital, told Bloomberg. With 3.2 million shares of Monster stock, Penn Capital is one of the company’s largest shareholders.

“The stock has been a clear disappointment,” Green is quoted as saying. He suggested a takeover price of $15 a share. That’s more than a 92 percent premium over Friday’s closing price of $7.71. “I would love to see someone buy it,” he said.

Monster’s stock price has declined steadily since hitting a 10-year high of $59.28 in May, 2006. In the last 12 months, the stock has been as high as $25.90, reaching there in January, when the economy seemed ready for a hiring surge. Since August, it has been under $10 a share. The market value of the company is now about $1 billion, $5 billion less than it was worth in 2006.

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Industry News

Jon Stewart Pokes Fun at LinkedIn’s Town Hall with the President

by on Sep. 29, 2011


fordyce-default

The President came to California earlier this week to do a little fundraising and hold a jobs town hall meeting.

Neither of those were particularly noteworthy except that the townhaller was hosted by LinkedIn in Silicon Valley, with 80,000 people watching a live feed of the event.

During the hour-long meeting, Obama pitched his jobs bill, and fielded a variety of questions, most dealing with his plans to boost the economy, with others expressing concern about the future of Social Security and Medicare.

From a recruiting view, what was particularly interesting was the significance of the event for LinkedIn. If anyone had any lingering doubt that the business networking site was laser-focused on recruiting, the town hall meeting swept that away.

The White House hand-picked LinkedIn to host the jobs forum, at which the company’s CEO Jeff Weiner moderated. In a post-event interview, Weiner said, “We’re first and foremost very appreciative to the President and to the White House for recognizing the platform as a way to get the word out there.”

The San Francisco Chronicle‘s report on the event quoted a public relations consultant who called it “a coup of enormous value to the company and its brand.”

After Tuesday night’s bit by Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, that value may be just a bit less enormous. I won’t spoil the clip for you, but Ill tell you it’s hysterical, particularly the part about how LinkedIn “helps” people find jobs. Enjoy.

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Industry News, Social Media

LinkedIn Unveils New Universal Resume Apply Button

by on Jul. 25, 2011


apply with LinkedIn button

Just before lunchtime in New York City, LinkedIn announced it is offering employers a button to include on all their job postings enabling candidates to use their LinkedIn profiles to apply for the position.

This “Apply With LinkedIn” feature wraps up the candidate profile in a tidy package that feeds directly into any one of the several tracking systems it has or will partner with. No ATS? No problem. LinkedIn will email the profile to you.

This portable feature can be used on any job, anywhere, on any site, including any job board.

Five ATS providers — Peoplefluent, Jobvite, SmartRecruiters, Bullhorn, and Jobscience — turned on the automatic feature this morning. Taleo, Lumesse, and Kenexa will have it enabled in a matter of months.

However, as LinkedIn’s VP of product management, Adam Nash, explained, the company designed the “apply” feature to be used by small, as well as large employers. It’s “really trivial” for a hiring manager at even the smallest of firms to add the button to a job posting, and specify how and where the resume is to be received.

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Industry News

$100k Job Site Shifting to $40k and Up

by on Jul. 25, 2011


The_Ladders

Since launching in 2003, TheLadders has been pretty clear what it’s all about. It’s the place for jobs who pay $100,000 and up, and for candidates in that range.

No more.

Beginning in September, says TheLadders, any salaried worker on their way up is welcome.

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Industry News, Technology

ZipRecruiter Launches Free ZipSites for Recruiters

by on Jul. 22, 2011


ziprecruiter-logo

Recruiting today should encompass all possible communication methods – of course, this business is a phone business, but if you have the opportunity to take advantage of online tools and resources with minimal effort (as well as minimal investment), why not do so?

Forget social media and Internet research: one of the biggest hassles of developing an online presence starts at the very beginning – creating a company website. Particularly if you are a “solopreneur” with limited budget and manpower.

Thankfully there are some tools out there to help you do this – Top Echelon, for example, created its Hiring Hook product to help recruiters develop a job website and online tools to draw traffic to these sites. Top Echelon started off as a split placement network, then developed a recruiting software product called Big Biller, and now has website development services. This is a great service that I know many of you use.

I was recently introduced to a company called ZipRecruiter, a web-based service that enables companies to post jobs to more than 20 leading job boards with one click as well as search a growing resume database. The company today launched ZipSites, a new feature that lets recruiters create customizable websites to advertise their services and job openings.

The best part? Unlike most other similar services currently available, this particular service of ZipRecruiter is free.

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Editor's Corner, Technology, TFL archives

The Sourcing Bull’s-Eye — Are You Using Your Resources or Wasting Money?

by on Jun. 22, 2011


bullseye

Whether or not you want to admit it, we all use some paid resources for our recruiting efforts. This could include any of the following products: job boards, resume databases, information gathering resources (like Jigsaw or ZoomInfo), ATSs, the list goes on and on. Yes – I am talking to you! I know you post jobs on Monster, CareerBuilder, or at least some niche sites from time to time. I know you have purchased an applicant tracking system (that most likely is simply used as a repository for resumes with very little, if any, data organization). If we are spending money on these resources, why, then, do we so adamantly preach and train against using them when conducting candidate searches? If we’re paying for them, then why not justify the cost of using them by actually using them? And if we are not using them, then why continue to pay for them???

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Industry News, Social Media

LinkedIn’s Wild IPO: Is it Really Worth 5 Times More Than Monster?

by on May 19, 2011


LinkedInNYSE

Wall Street investors who were bidding up LinkedIn faster than the last seconds of a hot eBay auction pushed the company’s value to $9 billion.

Not bad for a job board business network that saw its first profit last year.

The stock, which was priced in its first filings with the Security and Exchange Commission at $32-$35, soared to $122.70, before settling back in late afternoon trading to around $96.50 a share.

Trading as LNKD, the stock was the darling of Wall Street. More than 27 million shares changed hands by the time the market closed, several times the 7.84 million share that were part of the initial public offering. More than 200 stories have appeared in the financial trades and online since the stock opened this morning.

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How-To, Technology

Turn Post and Pray into Post and Placement

by on Apr. 28, 2011


computer-praying_2

I often run across criticism of the recruiting practice dubbed “Post and Pray,” the method of posting online job ads with the hopes the right candidates apply. This practice comes under fire since it is viewed as the lazy approach to recruiting with little to no control over who applies.

Many of you may be thinking at this point, “I have no need to post jobs! I do everything through cold calling and referrals.” Relax — while that may work for you, it may not be the best approach for everyone else. Recruiting offers no perfect source or method to fill positions. In my opinion, to run a successful recruiting desk, it is important to utilize a combination of multiple recruiting methods, both proactive and reactive.

Posting online job ads have many advantages. Job seekers who apply have the opportunity to read through a job description (hopefully well written!) so they typically are already interested in your job when you receive their resume.

The following job posting strategies, approaches, and techniques will help optimize your job ad exposure resulting in both a higher quantity and quality of online applicants. 

Keep reading »
No comments

Industry News, Technology

CareerBuilder Tool Can Show You Where the Fish Are Biting

by on Apr. 20, 2011


careerbuilder_logo

Navistar builds trucks and buses, military vehicles and engines and chassis. Its equipment is tough and rugged with names to match; Workhorse, MaxxForce, ProStar+, and, for the military, the MaxxPro, Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle.

So when the company needs engineers, not just any engineer will do.

“The positions we look to fill are very specialized, niche positions within the industry pertaining predominately to engineering-level, engineering-focus, that really have (a) very small number of qualified candidates with the years of experience we’re looking for,” says Navistar recruiter officer Keith Sanderson.

That quote comes straight from an informational video about how Navistar, working with CareerBuilder, used a new service from the job board company to source, qualify, recruit, and hire engineers for a new facility it was opening.

Watch the video and you get the impression you’re hearing about a successful job fair. And you are. But listen closely as CareerBuilder’s Mary Delaney explains the success. What you’ll discover is a new tool from CareerBuilder that brings a little more science to the hunting and sourcing of candidates.

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