RecruitSmart - Blog

We can't contain our excitement any longer – the secret is out!

Wed, 05 Oct 2011, 17:35:00 EST

We're so proud to welcome you to our new Head2Head website, and our fresh new look!

As great as everything looks, we understand that you might be wondering – what happened to the Head2Head 'heads'?

Eleven years ago, Head2Head was founded by Paul Dodd and Stan Hamersak on a simple premise – when it came to recruiting in Canada, there had to be a better way. Their idea, to recruit recruiters, caught on throughout the industry, and since then Head2Head has grown to offer a network of over 4,000 recruiters with a wide range of expertise. In addition to that, the services we offer today are just as comprehensive and varied. From contingent workforce management to an innovative recruiting solutions department, and so much more, we have established ourselves as one of the most dynamic forces in the Canadian recruitment market, and we're proud of it.

We'll always feel a connection to those heads that made such an impression on customers and candidates alike. Quirky, charming and fun, they represented Paul and Stan, and their desire to approach recruiting with a fresh perspective. However, as we continue to expand and break new ground in the recruitment industry, our new look celebrates growth and change – today, we're so much more than two guys in a basement with a big idea. We're a continuously expanding team of recruitment professionals working together to bring our customers and candidates great value, innovative approaches and a brilliant experience through every stage of every project.

In addition to the new look, we've added some new features to make your Head2Head experience a little more enjoyable:

The site now easier to navigate, with drop-down menus and convenient search tags in our blog and article archives,
We've added a brand-new job search feature, which will allow you to find the open positions closest to you,
And we’ll be launching a new mobile site, so you can have access to everything Head2Head from your smartphone!

And that's just the beginning! There's so much more to come, so check back frequently as we continue to add more insightful content and exciting features in the coming weeks.

Please take a moment to explore the new website – we think you'll like what you see.

Something Big is On The Way

Thu, 29 Sep 2011, 16:46:00 EST

Lately we’ve been up to something... something very big.

As you may already know, we’ve never been afraid to make some serious waves here at Head2Head – try something new, take a risk or two – and over the past year, we’ve been making some changes that we just can’t wait to unveil!

The big reveal is coming, so mark your calendars and be sure to check out what we’ve been up to here at www.head2head.ca on October 3rd!

We think you’ll like what you see...

Hiring outside your comfort zone

Wed, 28 Sep 2011, 00:11:00 EST

This week I was speaking to the leadership team of a smallish-but-growing organization. With 40 employees and revenues of $25 million, they're doing well and are operating in an industry that hasn't been hit too hard by the current global economic situation, but sales have plateaued in the past year and they couldn't figure out why.

"We just can't seem to drive incremental sales increases," they told me. "We think we've got a great team, but somehow we're not making inroads into some of the new markets we'd hoped for."

Maybe you love the team because they're all like you

They had a great product, a strong brand in their marketplace, and their sales and delivery team was quite good.

But having worked with this organization for some time, I had a good idea of what the problem was: The people on their sales team are all too much alike. They all have similar education and experience backgrounds, they're all within a limited age range, have similar working styles, and don't really reflect the diversity of their potential target market. Sure, they were doing fine - but without some diversity among the team, they were limiting themselves without really realizing it.

"We've thought about taking on different people," they said. "But...we're worried that we'll end up with personality or style clashes. And what if our brand suffers?"

You can't grow without taking some risks

Smaller organizations tend to be most nervous about hiring outside their comfort zone - after all, in a smaller working environment, a close-knit team atmosphere not only prevails but can be crucial to long-term success, so it can be scary to think about disrupting it with someone who may not 'fit in'.

But long-term growth depends on maximizing your appeal to as large a target market as possible, and that means building an organization that not only reflects that target market, but which contains people who will push the organization out of their comfort zone and into new horizons.

Here are some things to consider:

Does your team reflect the cultural diversity of your current/potential target market?
Do you have a wide variety of selling styles within your sales team?
Do you have a couple of 'oddballs' that you count on to keep you ahead of the curve in specific areas?
When you ask your management team for 'innovative' ideas, do you get some really out-there suggestions?
When you look around the office, do you see a lot of different personalities, ages, and working styles?
In meetings, do you get healthy debate about new policies and procedures?

If the answers to most of these questions are 'no', it's probably time to start casting your recruiting net a little further, and start rethinking your ideas about your Ideal Employee.

From the front lines: 5 tips for retail recruiting

Thu, 22 Sep 2011, 00:06:00 EST

Recruiting for retail can be tough: high turnover, low margins, and super-fast turnaround times all add up to a thankless task.

This week we spoke to Susan Nuttall, a pharmacist who owns and operates a big Shoppers Drug Mart store in Ancaster, Ontario. Though not a recruiter by profession, she's learned a lot about retail recruiting after 25+ years in the retail industry and a total staff of 100+. Here are her 5 tips for retail recruiting.

1. Employee referrals aren't always a good idea

Most of the time, recruiters will tell you that referrals from current employees are a great source of candidates. Not so much in retail. "Hire too many 'friends' of your employees, and suddenly you have a social club at the store," she says. "And that can create problems in a retail environment."

2. Customer referrals

"Because we're a pharmacy, we have an opportunity to really get to know some of our customers," says Susan. "And we've found that referrals from long-term customers can be a good source of top candidates." Customers who have a relationship with a store tend to refer people they trust, because they feel a certain loyalty and want to maintain that positive relationship.

3. Get involved in the neighbourhood

"We get a lot of great people just by being involved in the neighbourhood," Susan says. "Sometimes it's as easy as putting a sign in the window which attracts current customers who are already familiar with the store, and other times it's because we participated in a charity event and have met people that way." Hiring from the neighbourhood tends to reduce turnover and improve customer service, since your new hires feel more invested in their jobs.

4. Involve department specialists in the process

Stores need to make sure that there is a hiring decision maker within each department. Says Susan: "The department leads know what works best within their specific areas, such as cosmetics or cashiers. Putting just one person in charge of hiring across all roles leads to higher turnover in the long run."

5. Make sure management is involved

Retail owners or managers who don't bother to meet new hires or get involved in the onboarding process end up with higher turnover rates and less engaged staff. "When new employees know that the owner/manager knows who they are and is invested in their success, they in turn become more invested in their new job and their long-term role, " according to Susan. "And that's a win-win for everyone."

Your job descriptions are costing you great candidates

Wed, 14 Sep 2011, 19:51:00 EST

Ah, the job description, otherwise known as the bane of the recruiter's existence. Either it doesn't exist, or it needs to be changed, or the marketing department is mysteriously in the process of writing A Great One, or it lands on your desk and doesn't reflect anything that the hiring manager told you about the position, or it's 2 whole single-spaced pages and was last written in 2005.

A couple of weeks ago we talked about how most recruiters don't love the 'administrative' part of their job. Here's how too little effort on your job descriptions are costing you top candidates.

1. They aren't reflective of top performers

You're working from an 'official' job description that specifies that applicants should have a business degree. Except that in the 4 years since that job description was written, you've discovered that the top performing hires in the position actually have liberal arts or communications degrees. So when you post ads, all the best candidates - the communications grads - are self-excluding and don't even bother to apply.

2. They aren't an accurate reflection of the day-to-day job activities

We see this most often for sales-related positions but it happens across the board: The job description indicates that, say, 25% of the job is generating new clients, but in reality what the company is looking for is someone who will work the phones 24/7 to drum up new business. So instead of attracting hard-core salespeople who love to drive sales, you attract 'farmers' who aren't as comfortable with a high-pressure sales environment.

3. They make the job sound boring

Sure, your internal list of requirements for a particular job may be a long, long list of bullet points - but long lists of bullet points do nothing to engage the emotional interest and passion of an A-list candidate. And every additional, non-essential bullet point ("2 years of experience with Microsoft Publisher") increases the chances that an otherwise perfectly great candidate will self-exclude.

4. They make the company sound boring

An internal job description - the one for 'the files' - is not the same thing as a job ad. If you're not bookending your job description with some interesting information about the company and why it's a great place to work, you're sending a clear message to potential applicants: "Don't bother applying, because this place is just as depressing as the place you're working now."

5. They're difficult to read and/or understand

The goal of a great job description is to get a potential applicant to say: "Aha! That's me! I'm applying for this position right now!" Long lists of bullet points without some kind of friendly descriptive paragraph about what the ideal candidate looks like aren't going to elicit the response you want.

6. They're riddled with spelling, grammar and formatting errors

Here's the thing: People who care about spelling and grammar care about spelling and grammar a lot. And they have a hard time getting excited about potentially working with people who don't care about them. What's more, in this day and age, you want candidates who have good written communication skills. So there's no excuse for poorly-written job descriptions.

Here's the other thing: Bad formatting - you know, the bullets all over the page, the weird spacing, the big gaps in the text, etc. - make text, especially online text, hard to read (not to mention less credible). And it can happen on a subconscious level: Candidates' brains get tired, and they simply move on to the next opportunity instead.

7. They aren't leaving room for the really interesting candidates

Your job description says that the person 'must have' 5-7 years experience in a Canadian environment. Along comes a great candidate who has only 4 years Canadian experience, but an additional 2 years in a company in France. Suddenly you've lost a candidate with both international experience (a plus) and pretty good business French (a definite plus).

Or maybe you have a big, bolded bullet point about the candidate needing to be super-proficient on PCs, and a potentially great candidate comes along who happens to be a long-term Mac user. These days, does it really matter? Most offices work on Microsoft Office, and switching from Office on a Mac to Office on a PC isn't all that difficult - and with more and more of your clients using Macs in their offices, it might actually be an advantage to have someone who knows Macs.

Yes, I know that you're working on 42 different requisitions, and sometimes editing job desciptions seems like a headache you just don't have time for. But I guarantee that the time you'll save by attracting more 'perfect fits' will more than make up for the time you spend doing a little work on your job desciptions.

Do you need training - or does your ORGANIZATION need it?

Tue, 06 Sep 2011, 19:04:00 EST

The other day, I was speaking with a recruiting leader who was frustrated that she was unable to make progress on a particular initiative within the organization.

"I don't know," she sighed. "Maybe I just need another leadership training course."

Now, I've known this person and her organization for a few years, so I knew the problem wasn't that she needed another leadership training program for herself. It was that her organization had some serious gaps that a bit of team training could address.

You can't always pin it on one person

In some workplaces, it can be easy to 'blame' project failures or slowdowns on an individual, and assume they simply don't have the skills to get the job done. But in many cases it's not the individual who's at fault, but a larger problem with the organization: Maybe there's a culture of lack of accountability; maybe no one wants to stick their neck out to get a project done because there are too few rewards - and too many punishments - for mavericks; maybe the people putting the project teams together simply don't know how to combine the best skills and experience for a task.

In my friend's case, the problem was more general: Her company has been growing quickly in the past year or two, and the workforce has doubled in size. So she's working with a team of people who don't really yet know their co-workers very well, who don't have a good grasp on the individual and collective skills and strengths of the overall team, and there's still a lot of fluidity in terms of who is actually responsible for what.

Sometimes a team-building, insight-generating training program is what you need

Getting big projects done successfully often requires insight into who's going to work well together, who tends to lead and who tends to be a 'worker bee', and then combining these people in the right groups.

Sending one person on a highly specific training course isn't going to solve this problem. What you need is a group program which will help everyone get to know each other a little better, help them see each other's strengths, maybe give them a little respect and admiration for each other, and, most importantly, build some trust.

I know, I know - it all sounds a little touchy-feely, but the more experience a group of people has doing stuff together, the more likely they are to be able to do more together.

You're one good PowerPoint slide away from a promotion

Mon, 29 Aug 2011, 00:48:00 EST

Most of the best recruiters I know are great salespeople: They build relationships, they really enjoy talking to people, and they love 'closing the deal' - matching the right person with the right job and seeing it work out well.

But, like most great salespeople, they hate administration. They hate making charts and graphs and filling in timesheets, and their ATS system looks like a bomb went off in there.

The problem is that there are lots of people in the rest of the organization who

(a) Really, really love administration, and think their lives can be changed by a good chart that just sums it all up for them

(b) Don't really understand recruiting all that well, because they still think that you can just post a job on a job board and zillions of terrific candidates will apply right away

The result?

Even great recruiters aren't always properly appreciated, either by their co-workers in other departments (for corporate recruiters) or by their clients (for agency recruiters).

A little admin work can go a long way

Now, I'm not suggesting that you (i.e. all you great recruiters who are reading this right now, of which I know there are many!) suddenly change the habits of a lifetime and become devoted to creating Excel charts that track your every activity.

However, you might be surprised to find how effective a little administrative work can be:

For junior recruiters eager to demonstrate their hard work, a chart showing how many calls you've made in a day, how many resumes you've screened, and how many candidates you've spoken to can be a good way to measure your progress, both to your manager and to yourself
Feeling like you're working harder but getting less done? Tracking your activities for a week or two can help you figure out where you're spending most of your time - and where you're using it most effectively
You may know you're getting great results, and that your ratio of applicants to screened candidates to hires is excellent - but does the rest of the organization? Taking the time to create an easy-to-understand chart showing business successes like time-to-hire, cost-per-hire and long-term quality of hire can be a great way to demonstrate your value to the organization - and put recruiting in terms that they can understand.

Instead of thinking of administrative work as a chore that you just want to put off indefinitely, try thinking of it as a marketing opportunity - and the product you're marketing is yourself!

Do you need to add Google+ to your social recruiting efforts right now?

Tue, 23 Aug 2011, 02:51:00 EST

So you've finally got the hang of the trifecta of social media for recruiting: LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter - and now Google's come along with Google+, and the blogosphere is all abuzz.

The question is, does the average recruiter need to add Google+ to their repertoire?

The short answer is: Probably not right now, and probably not in the next 3-6 months. Sure, if you specialize in recruiting early-adopter techno-geeks who find Facebook too trendy and LinkedIn too boring for their tastes, then you might want to get on the bandwagon. (And in fact, if you haven't already received an invitation or signed up, you may not be able to access Google+ yet - the site says that they aren't currently accepting new signups.)

I don't pretend to be the world's greatest Google+ expert, but here's what I'm seeing right now:

Why Google+ could be great for recruiting:

CIRCLES: Google+ allows you to create 'circles' of people based on their relationship to you. On Facebook, it's hard to separate 'personal' and 'professional' contacts; LinkedIn remains primarily a site for professional relationships. The 'Circles' concept - in which you assign people to groups you create yourself (such as 'Candidates' or 'Friends') - means you can keep your contacts organized and your communications targeted.
HANGOUTS: Basically, this feature allows you to create a video chat room for up to 10 people. As Skype increases the prevalence of video interviewing, this may become a more valuable feature in the long term. I can also see this having value for screening meetings.
TAKEOUT: You can extract all your data from Google+ (and from other Google products). In other words, once you've created a circle with a whole bunch of great candidates, you can export that data into other formats and actually do stuff with it - try doing that with LinkedIn or Facebook.

Why Google+ isn't great for recruiting yet:

LACK OF CRITICAL MASS: There simply aren't enough people on Google+ yet. You simply won't be able to get the reach you need right now.
SEARCH SEEMS LIMITED: You can search by name, but not by job title or function yet. So while Google+ may be great once you've already established a relationship with a candidate and assigned them to a circle, it's not going to help you find passive candidates the way LinkedIn can.

The other big question yet to be answered is: How desperate are people, really, for an alternative to what they're using now? The biggest complaint from most people is that social media channels are already taking up too much of their time - it's unclear whether they'll be interested in either adding Google+ or migrating to Google+ in the next year.

The bottom line: Keep your eye on Google+, but it's unlikely to transform social media for recruiting any time soon.

Are 'vacation allowances' a thing of the past?

Fri, 12 Aug 2011, 19:59:00 EST

Unstructured vacation time is becoming more popular with some big-name brands.

The recruiting profession has never been a straight 9-to-5 job, and the advent of technology has definitely made it more of a 24/7/365 career than ever before. But even though most of us are checking emails at 11pm, screening candidates on Saturdays, and negotiating offers during what was supposed to be a week away from the office, those extra hours aren't being 'credited' to us - we've come to think that they're just part of the job.

Now employers are returning the favour: More and more companies have stopped assigning 'official' vacation allowances and personal days, and allowing employees to just take the time they need, when they need it. Brian Halligan, CEO of internet marketing company HubSpot, puts it like this:

"...we announced our new vacation policy this week. Our new vacation policy is that there is no vacation policy, no paid time off forms, no vacation rollover, nothing. If people want to take time off, they can take time off."

(You can read more about his philosophy here.)

You may be thinking that it's easy for a smallish, entrepreneurial new media company to do something like this, but HubSpot isn't alone. Netflix launched a similar policy last year, and even IBM has had a highly flexible vacation plan since 2003.

And there are a whole lot of companies which have switched to a 'Results-Only Work Environment' (ROWE), which allows employees to govern their own work, vacation and personal days. So instead of feeling resentful that you had to spend your Saturday working on a new business presentation but then had to use a personal day to take your kids to the doctor, you can balance both.

ROWE says there are all kinds of benefits for the employee, the customer, and the company - and, as a recruiter, I know this approach makes recruiting much easier, because a policy like this says a lot about the culture of an organization. What's more, companies who have a lot of unused vacation on their books are carrying a huge amount of overhead - when you don't have vacation entitlements, you don't have to worry about paying out 6+ months of 'vacation time' to an employee when they leave or retire.

Is unstructured vacation time suitable for all workplaces and roles?

Probably not. It seems to work best in workplaces with a 24/7 client-focused culture, and in roles which involve a fair amount of unstructured work. It's less suitable for clerical, have-to-be-at-your-desk roles. But there's increasing evidence that unstructured time off increases productivity and creativity, so we expect to see more of it in the next few years.

5 Simple Tactics to Change Your Corporate Culture

Fri, 05 Aug 2011, 23:27:00 EST

Having trouble getting everyone on board with a big corporate culture strategy?

A few months ago we talked about how corporate culture can have a big impact on recruiting, retention and the bottom line, and offered our tips for creating a fantastic culture.

But we know that sometimes it can be difficult - kind of like herding cats, in fact - to get everyone on the same page, in the same room, and on the same timeline about creating or changing corporate culture. It's the kind of thing that can fall to the wayside when more pressing concerns come along.

So here are our tactical tips for improving corporate culture. These are simple, small changes you can make as a recruiter or hiring manager that can not only start the change process, but provide incentivve to other business leaders within the organization to see what a difference change can make.

5 tactics that'll make a difference to corporate culture

1. Revamp the look and feel of your employee handbook

This blog post about adding photos to your employee handbook is a good start, but it doesn't go nearly far enough. Yes, definitely add photos to your employee handbook - but while you're at it, you might also want to add an interesting cover, a clever title, some compelling graphics and some case studies about great things your organization is doing.

You don't have to substantially change the content, or get legal to approve a whole lot of new rules and regulations - just make the handbook more interesting to read and a little more dynamic. Remember, the employee handbook is one of the first things that new employees read during the onboarding process, so wouldn't it be a good idea to start them off with vim and vigor rather than with 102 pages filled with 10-point text?

2. Add some zing to your onboarding package

One of our recruiting managers used to have a 'survival kit' ready on the desk of all new hires on their first day. It included a bunch of helpful items, like a few nice pens and Sharpie markers, a $5 Starbucks card, an energy bar, some fun post-it notes, and a couple of packages of gum or mints, among other things. She packaged it all up in a nice container with some tissue paper. It always had a big impact: It made new hires feel welcomed, made it clear that someone had thought about them before they arrived, and set a positive tone right from the first day. All for less than $20.

3. Create a weekly or monthly 'event'

One long-term Head2Head tradition is the 'Friday breakfast'. Every Friday, two people in the office are responsible for bringing breakfast for everyone else (it's on a rotating schedule, so each person only has to do it once or twice a year). Sometimes people bring cereal and yogourt; some people always bring Cinnabons; once in a while someone will go all-out and cook French toast. I particularly like it when people bring in foods from their country of origin (the day we had homemade samosas was excellent!).

Other companies do a monthly barbeque (if they have access to a patio or can do it in the parking lot); even a monthly birthday party to celebrate all the employee birthdays in that month can be fun. Anything that gets everyone together for half an hour to eat something tasty can be a move in the right direction.

4. Get a team together to do a walkathon or other non-profit-related activity

If you're having trouble getting buy-in for an organization-wide corporate sponsorship or big event, consider something smaller: We've sent teams to Food Bank Challenges, participated in Habitat for Humanity projects - we even had an event in the office where people donated their new or gently used 'designer' products and then we held a sale, all to raise money for charitable organizations.

These grassroots efforts are easy to implement, don't require a huge commitment, and can inspire the rest of the organization - while having a positive impact on corporate culture overall.

5. When in doubt, try candy!

You might be surprised at the power of candy - everyone loves to come back to their desk to find that someone has left them a package of Skittles or a box of candy hearts (especially on Valentine's Day). A good Easter egg hunt brings out the kid in everyone, and a bowl of Tootsie Pops in the lobby makes everyone smile. Somehow, a good hit of candy (and it has to be something interesting, not a dusty bowl of weird wrapped hard candies!) makes everyone suddenly feel like they're working at Google or something.

Little things add up

None of these ideas are particularly groundbreaking on their own, but that's just the point: A few months of consistent effort to inject a little more fun into the workplace - without spending a fortune or sucking up a lot of work time - can deliver great benefits that can take on a life of their own. Which is how great corporate cultures are established and maintained.

Essential reading for recruiters: July edition

Fri, 29 Jul 2011, 03:55:00 EST

The most interesting recruiting-related articles we've seen this month

NetProspex's Social Business Report discovered that Recruiting ranks first on the list of the Top 20 Most Social Jobs in the US. Possibly even more interesting, Corporate Strategy, Mergers & Acquisitions are #2, and Financial Analysts are #15. Interesting reading, especially if you're using social media for recruiting (which you are, aren't you?).

The News of the World phone hacking scandal is a good reminder that HR really needs to get a handle on employees' use of social media, says John Sullivan.

Canadians are supposed to be more polite, aren't they? This resignation letter from a former Whole Foods Toronto employee will make you laugh and cringe in equal measure.

Get your work done by 6pm - and other great job-performance tips that are good for recruiters and candidates alike.

Have you got a mobile recruitment site yet? Mobile recruitment was still in the doldrums just a couple of years ago, but the increased use of iPhones, iPads and Android phones is starting to change the game.

A new company will analyze a candidate's social media history. And they'll even go back 7 years. Could this be the Next Big Thing in recruiting?

Not everyone agrees that social media history is a good indicator. Over at Fistful of Talent, they're not impressed with Social Intelligence's approach - and they don't think it'll do much to screen out dud candidates.

Bridesmaids, boomerangs - and other ways to get better candidates

Wed, 20 Jul 2011, 20:36:00 EST

The contingency fee recruiting model - whereby an organization pays the recruiting agency a fee equal to a percentage (usually 20%) of the new hire's annual salary - has always been something of a bitter pill for organizations to swallow, but it's persisted for one reason: the organization doesn't pay anything until and unless they actually make a hire.

The good news is that there are lots of ways in which your organization can facilitate the recruitment of top talent, without having to pay huge contingency fees - or tie up internal resources sourcing and screening unsuitable applicants.

Here are 4 ways you can connect to great candidates:

1. Keep track of bridesmaids and boomerangs

For many organizations, the recruitment cycle stops when a hire is made: the resumes and contact information of unsuccessful candidates get put in a forgotten file in the back of a desk drawer, never to be looked at again. Even the 'bridesmaids' - the two or three top candidates who were interviewed but ultimately not hired - get nothing more than a brief 'thanks but no thanks' email and nothing in the way of follow-up contact.

Consequently, when the organization is looking to fill a similar role, 12 or 18 months down the line, the recruitment process has to start from scratch again.

This is also true for 'boomerangs' - former employees who left on good terms and would make great re-hires.

Staying in touch with these bridesmaids and boomerangs (even just an email once or twice a year, to ensure you've still got the right contact info) - increases the chances that the next time your organization wants to make a hire, you'll be able to put your finger on the right person, fast - without ever having to engage a recruiting agency.

2. Employee referrals: the #1 source of A-list candidates

It's a fact: A-list employees tend to know A-list candidates - and 80% of recruiting professionals say that referrals from current and former employees are the single best source of great hires.

But you have to ask for referrals - outside of the recruiting department, it doesn't necessarily occur to employees to randomly refer their friends or colleagues. It's worthwhile to set up a formalized referral process (many companies make it part of their corporate intranet) and a referral reward program (whereby the referrer is paid a cash bonus of anywhere between $1000 and $2500+ for referring a candidate who is successfully hired) - and then keep it top-of-mind by sending out regular reminders or specific requests for referrals.

3. Consider engaging recruiters 'by the hour'

Contingency-fee-based recruiting models can seem like a good deal (after all, if you don't make a hire, you don't pay), but it brings with it all the drawbacks of any commission-based transactions: the recruiting agency has a vested interest in just throwing bodies at the wall until something sticks. They aren't dedicated to you (they may be recruiting for many positions, at many companies, at the same time), and they aren't on-site with you so they don't have first-hand knowledge of your organization.

A good alternative is to engage a recruiter 'by the hour'. You pay for the recruiter's time - typically anywhere from $40-$100 per hour - but don't pay a fee.

4. Deliver great candidate experiences - and build the 'buzz'!

The more A-list candidates you attract to your organization directly - candidates who are interested in working specifically for your organization - the less time and money you'll spend on sourcing and recruiting them.

But how do you attract these A-listers if you can't offer Google-like perks such as on-site health clubs and free snacks in the cafeteria, and don't have a huge marketing budget?

Simple: just ensure that every candidate who interacts with your recruitment team has a great experience. Think of candidates as customers, and your organization as a retail store: if people have positive experiences with your website, your customer service department, and when visiting your store, they'll come back - and more importantly, they'll tell their friends. (Word-of-mouth is especially important in recruiting, because for most people the first step in looking for a new job is speaking to friends and colleagues. And it's amazing how quickly word can spread when you don't deliver a great experience.)

So...what have you done with your database lately?

Sat, 16 Jul 2011, 01:15:00 EST

Your ATS is filled with great people.
When was the last time you used it?

If you're like most recruiters, these days, when you need to fill a role, your first thought is to find a great passive candidate on LinkedIn rather than searching your existing ATS database.

That's fine, and we all know the value of passive candidates, but have you considered taking a second look at your ATS? It may be a more valuable asset than you think, and here's why:

Passive candidates often need convincing to consider making a move; candidates who actually applied to one of your jobs don't. If time is tight, you may not have time to wait for a passive candidate to consider their options, get a resume together, etc.
If you're a corporate recruiter, candidates in your ATS have applied specifically to your organization. In effect, they've already demonstrated that they're more interested in working for your company than the average person - and eagerness goes a long way.
Candidates in your database have probably already filled out a detailed profile (to your specifications!) and uploaded a resume, which makes it easier to determine whether they've got the skills and experience you're looking for than just checking out their (half-filled-out) LinkedIn profile.
Even candidates who applied 12 months ago may be useful: They may be working at a company where you'd like to get a foot in the door; they may have acquired new skills since you spoke to them last; or they may be a good source of referrals.
Their profile may have more contact information than what you can find on an online profile - especially a phone number - which makes getting in touch quicker and easier.
They may be more likely to take your call, because they recognize your name, or the name of your company, than a stranger you found on LinkedIn.
At the very least, your ATS may be a great source of names when you're doing a talent pooling project - not everyone is on LinkedIn, you know.

I know - lots of ATSes are filled with outdated or incomplete data. But if you're actively accepting applications on your website, there's going to be some current information in there, and you never know what gems you may turn up.

Want to be a thought leader? Start with your pet peeve!

Sun, 10 Jul 2011, 01:23:00 EST

Building personal brands start with being passionate about something.
Why not start with the thing that drives you nuts?

There are all sorts of good reasons for recruiters to build their profile or personal brands: Agency recruiters can use it to stand out from their competition; independent recruiters can use it to help attract new clients; corporate recruiters can use it to demonstrate that they're at the top of their game.

And of course recruiters tend to understand, better than most, how having a higher profile can make a real difference to their long-term careers. It's rare, these days, that you go into a big meeting with a potential client who hasn't at least done a quick Google search beforehand.

The problem, however, tends to be in getting started. "I know I should be writing a blog or something," I often hear from recruiters. "I just don't know what I would say."

Don't worry - it's easier than you think.

Remember that little work-related rant you had last week?

No matter how much you love what you do for a living - and most recruiters I know really do love their career, most days - there are going to be things that drive you up the wall about it. The good news is that the stuff that bugs you probably bugs other people, too, and if you can add a funny insight, a relatable anecdote, or some tips for overcoming the problem, you're likely to find an audience.

Things like:

Why can't I get the organization to recognize the importance of a decent candidate referral program?
Why do so many ATSes seem to be designed by people who don't know anything about recruiting?
Why don't hiring managers understand the importance of communicating requirements accurately?
I wish we had more realistic hiring expectations around here
Why don't we have better long-term data about quality of hire?
If quality of hire is so important, why is cost-per-hire the only metric I'm judged on?
Why can't I get anyone to understand that we're losing A-list candidates because our interviewing process is too lengthy?

...well, you get the picture.

Any of these topics - or the similar pet peeves they reminded you of - are good places to start when you want to write a blog, an article, or some other content.

Start with what drives you nuts, but end on a positive note

Now, we're not recommending you build a personal brand around angry tirades about everything that drives you nuts about the industry. What works for Glenn Beck probably won't work for you. The point is to use the thing that bugs you as a starting point, and then go on to offer something positive, like:

A true story about how you overcame the problem ("I invented a hiring manager checklist")
Tips for minimizing the problem ("5 ways to get the organization on board with a candidate referral program")
Some insight about the challenge ("I realized I had to find data comparing the results of quality of hire to cost per hire")
An interesting action you took ("I hosted a recruitment branding lunch'n'learn for the management team")

Your fellow recruiters will appreciate knowing that someone else faced a similar problem; they'll likely enjoy your It Happened To Me anecdote; and then they'll feel you helped them by offering some useful information.

And voila! You've started to build your profile as a thought leader, who has the same problems as your colleagues - but does something about them.

Don't have your own blog? Doesn't mean you can't build your profile.

Creating and maintaining a blog requires a serious time commitment, and if you can't reasonably commit to writing at least one post a week, you're probably better off not starting one - there's nothing worse for your profile than a 'derelict' blog.

But that doesn't mean you can't become a thought leader! There are all kinds of channels through which you can disseminate content:

Twitter: Even a 140-character mini-rant can be a way to connect with other recruiters
Facebook: Write an article, post it as a 'note' on your profile, and then ask people to comment on it
Slideshare: Make a PowerPoint presentation of your article and post it to Slideshare.net where others can see it
LinkedIn: Link your Slideshare presentation to your LinkedIn profile (this is actually a great tactic, since it means that anyone looking at your profile can see that you're putting information out there)
Comments on other blogs: Well-written commentary on high-profile blogs in your field can build your profile and help you engage in dialogue with other thought leaders

If you have time, you can also approach publications directly to ask if they'd like to run your piece - sites like ERE are often looking for content, and publications like HR Reporter will sometimes take articles if they fit in with their current editorial calendar. (They may have stricter editorial guidelines for length and whatnot, but it never hurts to try.)

So what are you waiting for? It's time to turn your rant into a career-building article!

Essential reading for recruiters: Interesting articles roundup

Thu, 30 Jun 2011, 03:06:00 EST

It's been a while since we posted a roundup of interesting information from around Teh Interwebs, so this month, in honour of the upcoming Calgary Stampede, we thought we'd gather together some of the stuff we've been reading.

Online resumes are a hit for China's job-seekers: A 140-character resumes sound like a dream come true for recruiters, but do they work? Weibo.com says yes.

Have you ever met anyone who's used The Ladders? Would they pay $2500 to do so?

RecruitingBlogs.com was sold this month. They managed to generate $95k, which was higher than most people anticipated.

Will Facebook apps BeKnown and BranchOut trump LinkedIn? We wrote about this on RecruitSmart, but if you're interested in a more detailed analysis, try this article.

Want a recession-proof career? Try healthcare, which now accounts for 11% of total employment in Canada - and is one of the most desirable specializations for recruiting professionals.

Sri Lankan women may need to be 30+ to emigrate for employment. Imagine having to wait until you turned 30 in order to work abroad for a year.

41% of companies will expand workforce in 2011: A recent Hays survey says 41% of Canadian companies will increase hiring this year - and 70% will be full-time roles.

Best way to use YouTube for recruiting? Let your employees speak for themselves.

Tue, 21 Jun 2011, 13:20:00 EST

The video resume is less important than the viral video.

Every few months, I read an article or someone tells me that video resumes are the 'next big thing' and that a year from now everyone will be relying on YouTube videos to get a job. They've been saying this for 5 years now, so I'm not holding my breath.

While I see the value of media kits including video packages for super-senior level execs who are being recruited internationally, and we've all used Skype for interviewing out-of-town candidates, here in Canada the video resume simply raises too many concerns about discrimination (age, gender, race, etc. - all of which are invisible or less obvious in a regular resume) to catch on any time soon.

However, where video can be used very effectively for recruiting is the increasingly-popular employee video.

This 'Pink Glove Video' by employees at Providence St Vincent Hospital isn't exactly a recruiting video - but wouldn't it make you want to work there if you were a healthcare professional? Clearly there's a positive team environment, management believes in having a little fun and giving back to the community, and spending 12-hour shifts with these people seems like it might be fun. Plus, didn't I see a nice little cafe in there?

This Southwest Airlines video was probably supposed to be a 'commercial', but I think it works really well as a recruiting video - if you're the sort of person who gets extra-invested in your work, this makes you think that Southwest would be the kind of place that would reward you for going that extra mile. And that there would be lots of opportunities for personal satisfaction in your job. I also love that it seems so genuine, rather than over-produced or scripted.

This Salesforce.com video is more polished and produced than the others, but it's not a bad introduction, and I definitely like that office environment:

Check Your Tone: Keeping the 'social' in social media

Fri, 17 Jun 2011, 14:27:00 EST

This article was originally sent out as part of our June Recruiting Newsletter, but we thought it was worth sharing again. If you'd like to recieve more content like this, visit our website to subscribe!

You have embraced social media as part of your recruiting strategy.

You have an active Twitter feed, you contribute regularly to your LinkedIn groups and you make sure to share your open job posts on your Facebook wall - all while linking back to your organization's career page.

While no one will dispute raising your profile in the social networking sphere is more important than ever, it's equally important to make sure that you're regularly engaging candidates on a personal level.

It's called social media.

Take a cue from marketing - no one likes to be bombarded with relentless pitches. Social media allows us to reach a wide audience easily, but it's key to remember that first you have to encourage them to come to you. Review your most current content - is it primarily listings of your open positions? How often are you engaging your network connections on a personal level?

Showcasing your personality - commenting on articles you find interesting, writing opinion pieces on current trends or even just mentioning an industry event you attended - will encourage colleagues and potential candidates to visit your feeds on a regular basis.

Lisa Kramer leads the campus recruiting program for Accenture Canada, and is a great example of how expanding your content can expand your audience. Initially, her Twitter feed was filled with links to campus events and available postings, but she found she wasn't getting the response she desired. Her core audience, students and career centres, weren't following her and the content wasn't being retweeted in an arena where they would encounter the content otherwise. By personalizing her tweets - chatting to students she had met, retweeting content from the official Accenture twitter feeds and posting her own ideas - she expanded her audience substantially. Lisa's personal Twitter account has seen a substantial increase in followers, and is one of the most popular of Accenture's feeds, which allows her a wider audience when she does choose to tweet her open positions.

Keep it in mind: social media is still a great way to let your network know that you have positions to fill. Content sharing capabilities and an interested audience means that it's an easy way to augment your exisiting methodology. Just remember that by keeping it strictly to business you may limit your access to those passive candidates who didn't even know that you had exactly the position they were looking for.

LINKS

Social Media and Recruiting: Not Just a Passing Fad

Thu, 16 Jun 2011, 09:00:00 EST

There’s no disputing it: social media is the topic on everyone’s mind.

How do we use it properly? How can we expand our following? Why should we even care?

While there’s no definitive answer to any of these, our Head of Sales, Kim Benedict, addressed the last question in a presentation this May at a Human Resources forum. While social media may seem to many to be solely a distraction or even just a passing fad, there are strong benefits to adding a social media element to your overall recruiting strategy - enhancing your personal brand or networking with colleagues, for instance.

Among the most compelling reasons, however, is the issue of Generation Y (or ‘Millenials’) and their entrance into the workforce. This age group signals the single largest generation to be entering the workforce in the past 25 years, and if we want to fully explore this talent pool we need to be ready to speak to them in an arena where they are present and prepared to engage.

Facebook and Twitter have quickly become media powerhouses with more influence than the New York Times or the Wall Street Journal and Gen Y is in constant communication using these channels. In fact, a recent study showed that 38% of Millenials feel that they can’t go 10 minutes without using a form of personal technology. Social media’s no fad: sticking solely to traditional means of sourcing candidates means running the risk of limiting your access to the next generation of dynamic new hires.

Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be looking at, among other topics, social media and the potential it presents to connect with the future of your organization.

If you have a Gen Y-centric concern you’d like to see us tackle in the blog this month, please feel free to send any questions to our Digital Community Manager, Helen Androlia at helen@head2head.ca or in the comments below. We’d love to hear your feeback!

Monitoring employees' use of LinkedIn: Good business, or Big Brother?

Thu, 09 Jun 2011, 02:16:00 EST

New software allows companies to monitor employees' LinkedIn profiles.

If you've been reading the Head2Head or RecruitSmart blogs over the past few years, you know that we've long been an advocate for leveraging employees' social media profiles (especially LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook) to extend the reach of the recruitment function, particularly in terms of building recruitment and employment brands, and for generating candidate referrals.

At the same time, however, social media can create huge headaches for businesses. Snarky tweets from disgruntled former employees are bad enough, but companies can also get into more serious hot water if confidential information is leaked prior to, for example, an IPO.

Enter Actiance, a company which provides solutions to help businesses monitor and manage social media, and 'ensure compliance'. This compliance software sounds like a perfectly fine idea: Designed for financial services and military organizations, it sounds reasonable for industries which have to adhere to federal regulations and keep a tight rein on data at all times.

However, Actiance recently announced a partnership with LinkedIn, called Socialite. Essentially, the arrangement means that every time an employee makes a change to their LinkedIn profile, the change is sent to a Compliance Officer within the employer's organization for approval.

What does this mean for the average person who's currently using LinkedIn as a professional development tool?

Well...it's unclear. Actiance has historically targeted highly sensitive industries with specific requirements - defense, securities, etc. - and companies which don't already have hard-core social media policies already in place are going to have a hard time forcing employees to hand over access to their LinkedIn profiles.

However, it does raise questions about who owns social media access, content, and connections, both during the time an employee works for an organization, and afterward.

For example, let's say that over the course of 5 years of employment with Company A, you build a good relationship with the VP of one of Company A's clients. Eventually, you move on to a new job at Company B, but continue to stay in touch with that VP via LinkedIn. Depending on the kind of non-compete clause you had with Company A, they could continue to monitor your LinkedIn activity throughout the term of your non-compete period, and could decide that your "Hi, how are you, just wanted to touch base" interaction with the VP constituted a violation of the non-compete agreement.

And of course Canadian privacy laws - generally stricter than those in the US - will make this even more complicated for Canadian organizations.

Distributed Marketing solicited opinions on Socialite and the broader topic of social media compliance from a wide variety of thought leaders from different functions - it's worth a read, if only to make sure your organization is staying on top of trends in social media monitoring and compliance.

Effective Corporate Careers Websites - HR Reporter Feature

Tue, 31 May 2011, 17:16:00 EST

Putting your best foot forward on the web

5 best practices for effective corporate careers websites

APRIL 25, 2011

BY PAUL DODD

Career websites are often generic, uninteresting and difficult to use. It’s a shame because, for many jobseekers, a company’s careers site is the first point of contact. They’ll land there during a job search or pull the page up after receiving a call from a recruiter.

There are five steps to developing an online presence that enhances recruitment goals and attracts the right candidates.

Understand the target candidate groups: Too often, companies jump into developing a careers site (and other recruitment-related online real estate) without first considering the target audience. “Potential candidates” as a category is too large to be useful — especially as the needs, attractors and interests of potential employees differ widely.

As a first step, an organization should examine recruitment trends for the past three years. What roles or departments recruit most often? Where are the greatest recruitment successes? What roles tend to be the hardest to fill? This information will help an employer understand its audience, the candidate groups it is already reaching and the candidate groups it needs to attract.

If it’s not clear what interests and attracts the key candidate groups, an employer should turn to its best resource: current employees. A quick employee survey with rewards for participation — or even a few informal conversations with key members of internal teams — can provide a wealth of information to direct strategy.

Focus on employment differentiators: A careers site isn’t the place to discuss a company’s accomplishments, the value it provides to clients or the products and services it offers — this information should be displayed throughout the main website. The careers site is the place to showcase why a company is a great employer.

While benefits and compensation play a part in this positioning, the focus should be on what sets a firm apart — especially from competitors. This can include unique features of the culture and work environment, special programs or team activities. The careers site should also talk about the opportunities for advancement, development and career growth.

When considering benefits, explaining what employees receive may be secondary to what they contribute. Employers can create an emotional connection by showing the value employees bring to the company and the differences they can make.

When re-reading the positioning text, ask: “Is this really why employees love this firm and the work they do?” “Have I captured why I love my job?”

Provide evidence to support the messaging: An employer may have a “dynamic, team-focused environment with a culture of excellence” but candidates tune out generic words and phrases. Instead, demonstrate the company’s corporate culture, environment and differentiators with a range of material.

Traditionally, this has meant photos of employees at corporate events (rather than stock photography), quotes and employee testimonials. These techniques are effective but multimedia can bring the work experience to life. Use video to capture employee testimonials, show a “day in the life” of an employee or give a virtual tour of office locations. Conduct interviews with different employee groups about their work experiences and release them as a series of podcasts. From blogs to webinars and online roundtables, there are many opportunities to present a corporate culture that will attract candidate interest.

But remember: Multimedia material should provide a glimpse into the real working environment, without all the edges polished away. Candidates are especially wary of material that seems scripted, unrealistic or over-produced.

Design a site that’s easy to use — for the company and job candidates: Careers site development can be a tug of war between the needs of HR, IT and marketing. Pick battles wisely — above all else, the site must add value to the recruitment process.

This means it must be easy for recruiters to post jobs and make updates as needed. Jobs should also automatically expire or be easy to remove. (Candidate frustration in applying to jobs that have already been filled can damage the employment brand.) The site should also assist in managing candidate communications. Consider providing automatic acknowledgements of applications, the opportunity to sign up for the company’s career newsletter or generic phone numbers or email addresses candidates can use for follow-up.

When developing the site structure and candidate-focused material, consider the process from the candidate’s perspective. User-friendliness is paramount — if the site is too difficult to navigate or essential information is hard to find, candidates are likely to turn elsewhere. It should be easy to search for open opportunities and submit an application. Information on what candidates can expect at each stage of the recruitment process (including estimated timelines, if available) should also be front and centre.

Optimize the site for best results: The technology used to support effective careers sites varies widely, from customized software suites, website content management systems and manual links to an applicant tracking system. The best solution is always dependent on an organization’s size, recruitment volume and existing technological capacity.

Regardless of the solution chosen, organizations must ensure the full careers site (including individual job postings) is search engine-optimized. If the internal expertise for search engine optimization doesn’t exist, consider hiring an outside firm to keep the site and its opportunities at the top of the list for key searches.

Tracking visitor behaviour is also an excellent way to gauge the success of material and obtain valuable information on how candidates navigate through the online pages. By examining the numbers on a regular basis, a company can continually refine the material for greater effectiveness.

While a successful recruitment strategy requires a wide range of candidate attraction and engagement techniques, including social media, a well-designed and implemented careers website can be the backbone of an online recruitment presence.

Paul Dodd is president, CEO and co-founder of Head2Head, a recruitment solutions firm based in Toronto. He can be reached at (416) 440-2030.

THE NATIONAL JOURNAL OF HUMAN RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

www.hrreporter.comPublished by Thomson Reuters Cana

Tube tops, flip-flops and bermuda shorts: Do dress codes make a difference?

Sun, 29 May 2011, 02:43:00 EST

Examining the relationship between office attire and productivity.

Ah, summer. We don't get a whole lot of it here in Canada, so when the weather gets warmer, most of us look for opportunities to wear our summer clothes, and not just on the weekends. Plus, with more and more organizations practicing energy conservation - i.e. setting the office temperature a little higher during summer months, to save on air conditioning - it's not surprising that employees are less inclined to wear 'full coverage' clothing at this time of year.

But how casual is too casual, when it comes to office attire? And where do you draw the line?

What the experts say

And HR consultants say that when people are free to choose their own attire, they tend to be happier and more engaged with their workplace. Everyone agrees that context is everything: Flip-flops and shorts might be fine for the person working in the mailroom, but never okay for someone working as the front-line receptionist at a Big 5 consulting firm.

What's interesting is the shift in thinking over the past 10 years. In a 2003 survey, 70% of CEOs and senior executives said that formal attire in the office not only improved productivity, but also improved long-term career prospects.

These days, however, senior executives at companies like Zappos look at casual attire - very casual attire - differently: "If someone wears a Grateful Dead t-shirt, they can make a connection with somebody through that. Or if a person has 25 different pairs of Converses and wears a different color each day, that's a point to talk about and a way to connect," says Rebecca Ratner, HR Director at Zappos.com.

What employees say

A recent survey of 1000 employees found that one-third of workers say a casual dress code increases productivity and two-thirds say it would make them happier (and, presumably, more productive). A 2004 survey had similar results - in both surveys, less than 10% of workers thought that casual attire made them less productive.

What the data says

Well, in an actual study of employees in a work setting, the way people dressed did not have any measurable effect on productivity. And while there are plenty of companies like Zappos who are quite vocal in their assertion that allowing employees to be more creative and casual in their appearance is a business asset, there is little to suggest that casual attire has any demonstrable negative effect on profitability.

(Before you start making dresscode decisions based on 'research', it's important to make sure you're working with unbiased sources. This article on how a tie can affect productivity sounds fine - but it's written by people with a vested interest in ties.)

The bottom line?

Most organizations shouldn't get too worked up if their employees get super-casual in the summer, as long as it's not distracting from everyday work functions or offending visitors to the office.

The key is aligning the dresscode with the corporate culture and brand identity, and then meeting expectations: Ad agency employees don't expect to have to wear three-piece suits, and visitors to ad agencies don't expect them to; bank management employees don't expect to be able to wear short-shorts and tube socks, and bank clients would probably be slightly shocked if they did.

Are community managers finally bridging the gap between 'marketing' and 'recruiting'?

Thu, 19 May 2011, 22:48:00 EST

Thanks to social media, the gap between the marketing department and the recruiting function isn't as wide as it used to be.

Chances are, if you're interested in leading-edge recruiting practices and how the internet and social media have affected recruting in the past few years, you've read John Sumser's excellent whitepaper, Roses in the Thornbush.

Roses in the Thornbush is a great analysis of how marketing and recruiting can work together to deliver all kinds of benefits to the organization.

The only problem? This paper's been kicking around for years now, and yet many organizations still haven't institutionalized the practice of connecting recruiting and marketing.

The rise of the Community Manager role may be changing all that.

According to a recent survey, 95% of organizations say that the Community Manager role is increasingly important.

This particular survey had a limited group of respondents, but the findings are borne out by our own experience here at Head2Head: We're seeing more and more organizations either transitioning existing marketing roles to community management roles, or creating community management roles (or even departments) to consolidate their efforts.

Community Management intersects with recruiting in all kinds of ways.

The diagram above puts 'Staff Development' into its own category, but in our experience, the best Community Management programs/roles are integrating recruiting, recruitment branding and employment branding into all facets of their initiatives:

Platform management: Using ATSes to facilitate better communications with applicants

Customer management: Recognizing that today's customer may be tomorrow's candidate, and delivering positive experiences accordingly

Professional development: Using professional development opportunities to promote the recruitment and employment brands

Brand management: Increased recognition that brand messages aren't just for consumers/clients, but for potential employees as well

Advertising and marketing: Using conversations with brand stakeholders as recruiting opportunities. Community managers are increasingly becoming key 'talent spotters' for the recruiting department

Community management: An increased understanding that it's important to ensure consistency between the positive message you're trying to convey to customers and clients and a positive experience for candidates and employees

Content management: Better recognition that your content - especially through channels such as blogs, Twitter and other social media - is not just an advertisement for your goods and services, but also for your corporate culture, and can ensure that you have a steady stream of A-list applicants as a result.

The most significant development?
It's cementing the connection between recruiting and marketing.

Five years ago, we used to have to do a lot of evangelizing about why marketing and recruiting should be spending more time together, and why a monthly meeting between the two would deliver huge benefits to both functions.

Today, we're spending less time convincing organizations why it's a good idea - and more time helping them leverage the benefits of integration.

LinkedIn: Work-related social media or glorified job board?

Tue, 10 May 2011, 22:20:00 EST

Upcoming IPO filings suggest recruitment will become core business

LinkedIn has scheduled their IPO for this week, and it looks like it's going to be another feeding frenzy around a social media property: With more than 100 million members, LinkedIn is projected to generate a valuation of around $3 billion from this IPO.

However, when you consider that Facebook, with 500 million users, has an IPO valuation of more like $50 billion, you might wonder why LinkedIn - which, after all, has long been considered the 'serious' social media channel, for real professionals - is being assessed at such a comparatively low number.

Well, it may be because LinkedIn seems to be transitioning from a work-related social media channel to a more integrated job board. While active users of Facebook visit the site every day (or even multiple times per day), most LinkedIn users tend to visit the site only during particular times: When creating a profile, when actively buildling contacts, or when actively looking for jobs. The rest of the time, they're content to let their profile sit there, possibly linked to their Twitter or Facebook status updates.

Recruitment solutions account for the largest share of LinkedIn revenue

According to LinkedIn's updated prospectus, recruiting services represented 42% of LinkedIn's revenue in 2010, an increase of 85% over 2008.

(Image from John Zappe at ERE.net.)

Most recruiters will tell you that LinkedIn is the best social media channel through which to find passive candidates, and there's no reason to believe that will change any time soon. Even if Facebook did try to encourage users to upload resumes and professional profiles, they'd likely meet resistance - Facebook is too open, too personal, and too prone to privacy issues to achieve wide adoption as a confidential place to look for work.

It may be that LinkedIn's real competitive set isn't, in fact, social media channels, but job boards: Monster, for example, has tried to add social media-type features to its site through Monster Community, but haven't been successful at generating everyday users - there's too much of a stigma attached to hanging out on the Monster site every day, and there isn't a 'networking' component for more senior or sophisticated users. LinkedIn has the networking opportunities without any of the stigma.

Of course, anyone who makes pronouncements like "Job boards are dead!" or "Facebook will buy LinkedIn within a year!" is almost guaranteed to be wrong. However, in the past couple of years we've seen some significant changes in both job boards and social media, and we expect to see LinkedIn decline as a true social media player while increasing its reach as a recruitment tool.

Head2Head Habitat Angels raise $4000!

Fri, 06 May 2011, 22:14:00 EST

From buildling recruitment solutions to building hope!

On May 6, 2011, the women of Head2Head traded in their high heels for safety boots to help build homes with Habitat for Humanity in Toronto.

Kim Benedict, Emma Scott, Jennifer Strano, Josie Naccarato and Audrey Wong joined Habitat Toronto's Angels - Women Build to help construcgt 29 new townhomes for new Habitat family homeowners.

Thanks to the support of our co-workers, colleagues, friends and family, we also raised $4000 for Habitat for Humanity - exceeding our goal by $1500!

A big thank you to everyone who participated or sponsored us!

Essential reading for recruiters: Interesting facts roundup

Fri, 29 Apr 2011, 01:37:00 EST

Last month we posted a list of articles, infographics and other stuff we thought were particularly interesting, and I heard from several people who found it helpful.

So here's April's edition, but this month we're focusing on interesting factoids!

(Caveat: Most of this data comes from what I would call 'sponsored' research - companies who are looking for good media releases - so it's important to read some of the fine print. However, these surveys are often good indications of general trends or opinions.)

86% of HR professionals think healthy nutrition plays a role in employee performance, according to a survey by HR Reporter. 90% feel that creating a culture of healthy eating is important. Read the article here.

20,000+ applicants turned up to a recent McDonald's career fair. Yes, that was in Canada. McDonald's Senior VP Len Jillard says that demand for McJobs is apparently stronger than ever, and that having McDonald's on your resume is still a good thing.

Companies with the most admired cultures outperform the S&P/TSX 60 by an average of 600%. So the next time someone tells you that investing in a positive corporate culture is just a 'nice to have' that doesn't really make a difference to the bottom line, send them this link.

Canada has the most engaged online audience in the world, according to ComScore's recent report, Canada Digital Year in Review. (Requires registration to download the whitepaper, but it's worth it.) We spend more time online (average hours/visitor) than anyone else.

There was a 70% increase in time spent online on career training and education, again according to ComScore data.

Almost 70% of people go to work even when they're sick, according to a new survey by CareerBuilder. (Tell employees to stay home and stop infecting everyone else!)

Nearly 57% of Quebec businesses say they need to increase recruiting efforts to attract A-list employees, according to a new study. But this is thought to be indicative of a strong economy more than a worrying talent shortage.

Is your organization as diversity-sensitive as it could be?

Sat, 23 Apr 2011, 03:52:00 EST

Good Friday may be a statutory holiday, but not everyone celebrates Easter.

It was a great object lesson in diversity awareness: A couple of years ago, our office had an Easter egg (and general candy) hunt on the Thursday before Good Friday. I stopped by the desk of a newish employee, who said she remembered this holiday "from last time".

"But," I said, "you weren't here at Easter last year."

"Well," she replied, "there was that other holiday where there seemed to be a lot of candy. Wasn't that Easter?"

Turned out, she was referring to a similar candy-fest we'd had at Hallowe'en, 6 months earlier. She wasn't being clueless - she was a recent immigrant from a country where Christian holidays (and other celebrations like Hallowe'en) aren't predominant in the culture, and simply wasn't familiar with Easter or Hallowe'en. I suddenly realized that we probably weren't being nearly as diversity-aware - or diversity-sensitive - as we should have been.

So we developed a Diversity Test to help keep us on our toes.

Diversity Sensitivity Assessment

If your organization isn't asking itself these questions on a regular basis, you may not be quite as diversity-sensitive as you think you are.

Does the organization celebrate culturally diverse holidays such as PRIDE week, Black History Month, Rosh Hashanah, Chinese New Year, Aboriginal Heritage Week - or any of the many other designated days, weeks or months in a culturally diverse calendar?
Do employees feel comfortable discussing differences in dress, cultural practices, lifestyle differences, etc. in a positive way?
Is diversity embraced and championed at a senior (CEO, COO) level?
Is the organization conducting regular diversity audits and assessments?
Are diversity inclusivity policies included in company handbooks, orientation manuals, websites, job boards, etc.?
Is the organization aware of which languages, cultures, and lifestyles are represented by employees?
Does new employee orientation include a discussion about the benefits of diversity?
Is the organization - not just Human Resources - aware of how culture can influence communication styles?
Are cultural diversity issues seen as part of everyone's day-to-day work?
Does your workforce reflect the community in which your organization is located?

This is just a quick self-assessment - but if you answered 'no' to more than one or two of these questions, it might be time to give some thought to your diversity policies.

3 Tips for Implementing Bill 168

Tue, 19 Apr 2011, 03:41:00 EST

Still struggling to implement Bill 168?

Though the deadline for implementing changes required by Bill 168 has passed, many organizations are still struggling to meet these demands. What recommendations do HR consultants have for those still trying to properly comply with Ontario's new legislation regarding violence and harassment in the workplace?

1. Conduct the assessment first

While it may seem best to start with the development of the required anti-violence policy, creating the policy prior to conducting a detailed workplace risk assessment is a classic case of putting the cart before the horse. The policy - and the training that your organizationmust provide for all employees - should be specific and relevant to both your organization and the type of work performed.

By conducting the assessment first, you build a stronger foundation on which your policies and training can be built. And remember: Inspectors will be assessing not only that companies are compliant with regulations, but that policies and training are customized for your firm.

2. Use real examples when training

Whenever possible throughout your anti-violence and harassment training, use real examples that are relevant to your industry and/or workplace. The tendency when conducting training is to rely on statistics to drive the point home: 70% of domestic violence sufferers are also abused at work; nearly 1 out of 5 violent incidents occurs at the victim's workplace, etc. But numbers alone, no matter how relevant, are never as effective as illustrating your message using real situations, incidents and anecdotes. As always, use your best judgment regarding the suitability of each example for your audience, and be sure to respect privacy and anonymity throughout.

3. Be aware of potential privacy issues

Organizations also need to be aware of potentially conflicting responsibilities between Bill 168, which requires employers to take all reasonable precautions to protect their employees from violence and harassment in the workplace, and Ontario's privacy laws. Drawing the line between 'reasonable protection' and 'invasion of privacy' can be difficult - especially when it comes to anticipating and dealing with issues of domestic violence that occur in the workplace. Dealing with such delicate issues and 'gray' areas will be an ongoing challenge for many workplaces and for HR professionals in particular, long after Bill 168 has become a familiar part of our legal landscape - which is why it's so important for Human Resources to be aware of and understand the potential issues that could arise, now and as we move forward. But remember: If in doubt, consult with legal counsel.

Struggling to engage employees? Gamification may be the answer.

Wed, 13 Apr 2011, 02:29:00 EST

People love online games. Why not leverage that?

When it comes to absorbing information, engagement is key.

While the military has long used computer simulations to train fighter pilots and other specialists, and economists have been using game theory for decades to predict market behaviour, there's a new trend on the horizon: Gamification.

Gamification is based on the idea that presenting information in a game format allows users to better engage with the information, which in turn facilitates better absorption, better concentration, and more enthusiasm for the information.

It's becoming increasingly popular: According to a recent Bloomberg Businessweek article, the gamification market will be worth $1.6 billion by 2015. Companies like Siemens, Hilton hotels, and SAP are already using gamification to train employees and improve customer experience.

This may be good news for recruiters

Reaching hiring managers and execs: Most recruiters say that one of their biggest challenges is getting hiring managers and senior execs to prepare for meetings and interviews - they simply don't always have the time or inclination to get through the information they need to ensure that the time spent with recruiters and candidates is as productive as possible.

Software company SAP is working on solving that problem, by developing iPad-based applications that use gamification to help senior executives engage with and absorb more information. Imagine if you could submit candidates to hiring managers in a gamified format that made them want to review candidate profiles, and rewarded them for doing it quickly?

Engaging candidates for hard-to-fill roles: Siemens says it's using gamification to help attract new employees. They've created Plantville, an online game in the Farmville vein, in which players create and run manufacturing plants - thus making manufacturing seem a lot more interesting and 'fun' than most 20-something recent grads tend to think it is. They're hoping that it'll help them fill the more than 3000 open technology and manufacturing positions they currently have available in the US alone.

Companies already know that gamification works for training - using video games results in a 14% higher skill-based knowledge level, according to a study to be published in Personnel Psychology - but the jury is still out on the recruiting power of a game like Plantville (so far, less than 1000 people have 'liked' the Plantville Facebook page). But it's definitely a trend to keep an eye on.

Onboarding: An easy way to add value

Thu, 07 Apr 2011, 02:21:00 EST

If no one else is leading the onboarding process, why not do it yourself?

The other day, we posted an article about how recruiting is changing, and how today's recruitment professionals face both great opportunities (to become recognized as more strategic players) and great challenges (delivering demonstrable ROI).

One great way to do both? Grab the reins of the onboarding process.

Onboarding is the most crucial factor in the success of a new hire

The right onboarding process can make a huge difference in the long-term performance of a new hire: Leverage a new employee's initial enthusiasm and excitement while setting high standards, and you'll end up with a fantastic long-term employee. Dampen that initial enthusiasm at 9:05am on their first day, and you never get it back.

Ultimately, the new hire's long-term performance reflects on you

You're probably being measured on cost-per-hire and quality of hire. Keep in mind that a great onboarding process will reduce cost-per-hire (by reducing turnover) while increasing quality of hire (by ensuring that a new hire hits the ground running and starts making a contribution quickly).

Which means that taking some time to create and help deliver a fantastic onboarding program won't just make the new hire look good - you'll look like a rockstar, too. It's a good way to demonstrate you see the big picture, and aren't just approaching the recruiting process transactionally.

It's easier than you think!

Creating positive onboarding experiences isn't difficult - it just requires a little thought and a little advance preparation. Here's how to make sure your new hire has a great first day:

1. Create a checklist, and start getting it ready as soon as you have a start date for the new hire

Include everything from computer password and operational workstation to assigning an official greeter (which may be you).

2. Create a first-day schedule and make sure everyone has it in their calendars

Speak to the new hire's manager about what s/he plans to do on the first day. Develop an hour-by-hour schedule, assigning specific 'minders' to each hour. Then - since your office probably uses Outlook or some other scheduler - make sure these times are in everyone's calendars.

2.(b) Make sure there's a lunch plan!

There is nothing more uncomfortable than being in a new job and watching your new co-workers leave for lunch without inviting you along, or feeling awkward because you don't know whether to eat at your desk or get a sandwich or what. So make sure you have a lunch plan for the new hire, even if it's just an invite to Starbucks to get a sandwich.

3. Assemble the relevant materials

This may include a company handbook, marketing materials, security manuals, health and safety guides - whatever. Get them all together in one place (either ready on the new hire's desk or on their desktop). It's hard for a new employee to get the hang of a new job if everyone keeps saying "Oh, yeah, I should get you that handbook - remind me next week..." (Don't forget to include the company social media policy!)

4. Have business cards ready

Demonstrate that you're willing to invest in a new hire, and you'll find they'll be quick to return the favour. Business cards aren't expensive, but they make a big statement, and make a great impression. (And if your new hire isn't worth the $50 - or less - the cards will cost you, you shouldn't have hired them in the first place.)

5. Create a "wow factor" moment

Ad agencies often give new hires a gift bag filled with products from the clients whose advertising they handle; consulting companies often greet new hires with a flower arrangement on their desk; some recruiters we've worked with create a 'survival kit' basket containing snack foods, a Tim Horton's gift card, and maybe a company t-shirt which is waiting on the new hire's desk when they arrive. The key here is to do something that makes the new employee think, "Wow, that was nice/cool/thoughtful!"

It's really all about setting a good example.

When you indicate to the new hire that you've invested some time, effort, and even a little money in welcoming them to their new job, you're setting a standard: You're demonstrating that they've joined an organization that believes in going the extra mile, not being slapdash, and investing in their people because they're in it for the long-term.

And aren't all of these the kinds of characteristics you'd like to encourage in your new employee?

Essential reading for recruiters

Tue, 29 Mar 2011, 07:31:00 EST

This week I've come across some great articles - some of them directly related to recruiting, some of them not; some of them up-to-the-minute, some of them a little older. I thought I'd share them with you.

Lou Adler on how to be a more successful recruiter: This piece is a year old but it's still relevant: Lou Adler talks about how becoming a successful corporate recruiter requires breaking some rules and thinking a little differently.

Facebook posts more valuable than Tweets: If you're a recruiter, you're keeping an eye on the most effective social media channels. Turns out, Facebook may be more valuable than you thought - and not just for advertisers.

LinkedIn hits 100 million members: Great infographic on LinkedIn's latest stats.

The Zappos Culture Book: No one is doing a better job of recruitment and employment branding than Zappos right now. It's worth getting a copy of their genius in book form.

Inspirational job ads: Spend 5 minutes looking at these creative job ads and you'll never be satisfied with boring ones again.

Video resumes: Video resumes are problematic, but now that more companies are conducting interviews via Skype, are they inevitable? What do you think about this video resume and how it's presented by the staffing firm?

Two sides to the story: As social media goes increasingly mainstream, it continues to collide with the work environment. Reading the posts on this Fired By Facebook group is a good reminder that it's important to have a social media policy in place before you have a problem.

Maybe job boards aren't as dead as we thought: Interesting piece by John Zappe on the top sources of hire. (Caveat: The sample size used in this study isn't huge, so don't bet the bank on it.)