Posts Tagged ‘Job Boards’

This week on HFChat we ask: Are job boards dead or alive? Only job candidates can answer this question. Every touch point with job search candidates should be a source of positive attraction. If not your candidate attrition, and online application abandonment rate will be high (25-40% according to Afton Funk of HRMDirect.) Afton opened my eyes.

In order for job boards to remain viable, the system must interact, and engage with the candidates in a meaningful way. Every step of the process should make the candidate feel comfortable, and welcome. The days of post and pray recruiting should end. The days of job boards emailing jobs without relevancy should end. Are job boards dead or alive? This is a rhetorical question. The question is, what do candidates think? That is what matters most. What is relevant, and resonates with job search candidates? Are we listening? Are we paying attention to the candidate experience? Gerry Crispin, and other leaders in the recruitment industry have published important, and note worthy stories on this topic.

Now, how will we as a candidate community facilitate this topic? From the job search candidate perspective of course. Margo Rose will host, our weekly moderators Tom Bolt, Steve Levy, and Cyndy Trivella will have great content to share. YOU will have great content to share, because everyone wants to know your level of satisfaction, and your opinions. Please job seekers, chime in, and don’t lurk this week. We need your active participation, and we are here to add value to your job search process. Jobs are important, but your experience in the job process is critical. The candidate experience doesn’t begin at the job board, it begins when you anticipate you are ready to make a change. It doesn’t end when you get a job, it continues throughout your tenure with the company.

What are this week’s questions?

What does the candidate experience mean to you?

Are job boards friendly to your job search experience? (candidate perspective)

What do think happens to you when you input your resume into a job board? Is it going into a black hole?

Are you afraid of fake job postings, or loss leaders posted by unethical people?

How do you feel about connecting your linkedin & facebook contacts into your job board network?

How often do you refresh, and update your resume on a job board? How about Linkedin?

Are you paying a premium to have your resume sent to recruiters?

Are you a paying to be a premium member of a job board to receive priority visibility?

If you aren’t refreshing your resume (regularly) it loses it’s ranking, this particularly in legacy job boards. Are you targeting effectively? If not why? Add your comments to this list. We will address this and much, much more tomorrow.

I’m a lot of positive feedback from people that you are reading and enjoying our HFChat transcripts. I’m so happy to hear that. Please keep communicating with us. We want to hear from you. If you’d like to receive our newsletter, please click on contact us. Thanks community.

Margo Rose, Founder of HireFriday and HFChat

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Chanelle Schneider

Editor note: I met Chanelle Schneider through Twitter. She’s the founder and co-host of GenYChat, and inspires many people to get the most out of their twitter experience. How much does having a degree matter in today’s economy? Chanelle shines a light on what it’s like to be a job seeker without one. In her own words, she describes the struggle and pressure job seekers without a degree face.  I now give you Chanelle Schneider.

The Non-Student Job Search Process

Although, it is necessary to have a positive outlook when searching for a job, especially when you have no degree, the process can have its less than stellar days. The job search process is laborious enough when you have a degree (so I hear). I wouldn’t know from first-hand experience. It’s not for lack of trying, though. I was in school for six years before I had to leave. Oddly enough, I couldn’t get any more money from any loan program. Back then, I would have gladly taken on more debt just to get the degree that was going to get me out of debt. I wish I knew then what I know now about student loans. The incessant phone calls hour after hour every single day are like little needles poking into your skin, reminding you of your inadequacies. Or, they’re like the constant questions people in my position hear:

“Why don’t you just get a retail job?”

I did. I had a couple at a time, in fact. This economy hasn’t been kind to retail for the past three years. Getting anything above 20 hours was a miracle.

“Have you even tried to get a real job or at least an internship?”

Sure I have. I’ve spent the past year and a half building up a portfolio of achievements based on my online engagement. Through my initiative, I have started and maintained my own self-hosted blog, founded the community #genychat, and am currently working with a company as an unpaid intern managing their social media networks. However, no one is paying my bills for me. What many don’t realize is that 70% of working class adults don’t have degrees. I’d rather be in an ocean of sharks than in this applicant pool. Ok…not really, but you know what I mean.

I have the skills and talent to be an online community manager right now. I would love to become a Social Media Marketing Consultant. Without a bachelor’s degree, though, networking to find a job has become more important than applying to job ads.

My typical job search usually looks something like this:

1. See a link to a job opening
2. Scroll through to the requirements section
3. Close the link to the job opening

Why Give Up on Online Job Ads?

The majority of job openings I see in my desired industry require 4+ years of experience and a bachelor’s degree.

Openings for internships are not much better, as they usually require the person to currently be a student who can receive college credit. The opinion of many privileged enough to take on unpaid internships is that you shouldn’t be concerned about the money; it’s great experience. Can I pay Sallie Mae or TMobile with experience? I don’t think so.

Given the current state of our education system, I wonder what future generations will do. Students are still dropping out of high school. The college degree is becoming a prerequisite for an entry level job as a receptionist. What needs to change? I asked the question: “If you had not graduated from college, would you be as successful as you are now?” on LinkedIn. The following infographic shows the results.

48% of respondents felt that they would not have been as successful as they are now had they not received a degree. Of those 48%, 12% were Owners, C-Level & VP’s, or in Management.

Using the free keyword tool, Wordtracker, I did a search on the phrase: need a job. The results are surprising. 314 daily searches on “14 and need a job”. Three hundred and fourteen. I’m sure that number has varied since the creation of this post.

What are we doing to help ourselves and our future generations? This world is only as successful as the people who are capable of running it. Are those with college degrees the only people who are capable? We need to change the system now so that this generation can become employed and better able to take care of the next generation.

Making it easier to find adult internships is one way to solve this problem.

Chanelle Schneider is founder and co-host of #GenYChat and manages her own site, There From Here, where she often writes on topics such as the need for adult internships and other issues facing non-graduates.

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Strategy. Where would we be without one? Rowing rudderless down a rapid river without a paddle. If we don’t have an object, strategy, and plan our efforts are fruitless. The low rate of return is a waste of time. More importantly, if you are a recruiter, and your recruitment techniques are bad, you risk your reputation, and good standing in the recruitment community. Furthermore, you risk alienating job seekers, and clients which is just a faulty business practice. The the gold-standard recruiters, and recruitment firms this is not news. However; to job seekers it is a validation of how damaging poor recruitment practices can be.

Strategy. If you are a job seeker, and you are not both disciplined, and strategic in your job search planning, you will stall your re-employment, and sabotage your morale. In this economy, the unemployment rates can be depressing, and attitude deflating. If you subscribe to this blog, I consistently challenge job seekers to “think like a recruiter.” Likewise, I challenge recruiters to put themselves in the mindset of a candidate, and cultivate empathy for the job seeker, as well as the client. A recruiter must keep ever present in their minds that your candidate may one day be the hiring manager who will retain your services. Furthermore, the candidate you place, and even those you don’t place will be a treasure trove of referrals.

Strategy. I am a fierce candidate advocate. In addition, Compassionate HR isn’t just the name of my radio show, it is a way of life. I straddle the worlds of career development, recruitment, training and development, and organization effectiveness. First, let me define compassion. The dictionary defines compassion as follows:

“A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the suffering.”

In 2007, I was struck my deep sympathy, and grief in the loss of 2 family members, and in the loss of the family members of dear friends. Compassion, however; does not mean a measly groveling of emotionalism. Rather, it reflects the mindset of equanimity. It acknowledges the suffering all around us, and a willingness to serve to alleviate the suffering that we are able. Compassionate HR, Recruitment, and Social Media is a way of being. It is a method of outreach to my professional community. There are those who would argue too much compassion can get in the way of working with our clients. I beg to differ. Compassion is a sound business practice so long as it is matched with sound pragmatic methods.

Recently, I have noticed an over abundance of pre-scheduled job spamming in the HireFriday, Job Angels, Jobs, and Careers twitter streams. This spray and pray recruitment approach is a joke. It is a fallacy that must be exposed. It is a bad business practice that alienates job seekers, and the average business person in your twitter/facebook network. News Flash recruiters. Nobody cares about your indiscrimanent job postings. Be strategic. Find the right venues for your job postings. Search the new media venues industry relevant candidates, and engage them in a dialogue about the jobs opportunities you have to offer. If I am not a java developer do you think I care to see your java developer job posts? I don’t, neither do most job seekers.

People may wonder: why am I so adamant about keeping the HireFriday twitter stream for candidates only? It is because I was once a job seeker who was turned off by streams that did not post relevant job postings. I’d unfollow companies that posted nothing but jobs. If I want to see job opportunities, I’d follow TweetMyJobs and request industry relevant jobs only. I’d go to a job board, see who’s hiring, then leverage my linkedin contacts to make inroads into the company. I’d tweet to the executives of companies where I wanted to work, and build those relationships. I’d tweet to the recruiters who were credible, ethical, and dignified, and build those relationships. I’d network with colleagues, and take those relationship from online to a face to face meeting, if local, and a teleconference if not.

There are ways to do things. There are ways to not do things. The reason why HireFriday is a success is precisely because it features, supports, and encourages job seekers. Most job seekers might watch the #jobs stream, and run a twitter search for key words that match their job title, but will they follow and watch a stream of just plain spammy, irrelevant jobs? I argue no!. HireFriday connects people to people who can offer contacts, opportunities, and jobs. If it were to become a mixed media of jobs, and people it would lose readers, members, and the job seekers would soon scatter, and disappear. I’ve seen this countless times with other online communities.

Strategy: in order for job seekers and recruiters to be successful in the use of HireFriday, they must connect with one another offline, and find one another online. People ask: can anyone control a twitter stream? I’d argue yes. I do it all time. I do not own the HireFriday stream, our community does. I manage the stream. I watch the stream like a hawk. I consistently post guidelines for job seekers, recruiters, and companies to follow. If I see someone behaving contrary to our community values, thus destroying the integrity of our group, I redirect them, and stop with if necessary.

You see, I am a fierce advocate. I’ve been a fighter of the good fight all my life. I am part sweetheart, and part scrappy terrier nipping at the heels of the big dogs. One thing I have learned is this: if you want to run with the big dogs, you have the aim for the high bushes. I encourage recruiters, and job seekers alike to aim for the high bushes, take a quality strategic approach that will yield fruitful results, and when necessary, take the high road. I also advocate fighting for your rights, your beliefs, and your integrity. In the final analysis, no one can strip us of our dignity, our integrity, and our self respect unless we let them.

Now it’s time for today’s theme song: The Beastie Boys Anthem: “You Gotta Fight For Your Right To Party.” I selected this song for four reasons. 1) It’s fun. 2) You gotta fight for your rights. 3) I’m a rebel at heart. 4) If you want to play hard, delay gratification, be strategic, work hard, then party.

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Margo Rose's HireFriday 2.0: A Boots On The Ground Approach To Your Online Job Search (Service Mark, Copy Right 2010)

Since I wrote the first Guidelines For HireFriday in May of this year, our community has grown exponentially.  As an omnipresent social media community, or more accurately, cluster of online communities; we have learned new lessons about how to grow, and incorporate best practices that will benefit: the job seeker, the recruiting community, the job board community, the executive coaching community, the resume writer community, the human resources community, and the business community at large.   HireFriday is going viral, and as we grow, we want to maintain the interactive, interpersonal communication that makes it one of the most unique new media communities in the digital space. I make it a point to interact with every single person in our community. It is the 1:1 that makes this so rewarding for me.

Social Media doesn’t describe what HireFriday is, or what it has become.  We are a social media community, we also have a cluster of new media communities popping up on blogs around the world.  HireFriday launched in France last Friday.  Each Country that replicates our model is adding its own international twist.  We have a facebook page, and a new facebook group which I am limiting in size in order to provide one to one attention with each of its participants.  My professional goal for HireFriday is NOT to grow large, but to grow smart, slow, and steady. Because this is my passionate quest, I do not want to lose the personal touch I give each person in our community.

In order to avoid brand confusion, and chaos I have chosen keep the spot light where it belongs: on the job hunter, the job search evangelist, the unemployed person, the passive candidate who wants to go public, but not quite ready.  Bottom line, what makes HireFriday important is its focus solely on the job seeker.  Unemployment is hard.  HireFriday can help.  What we as a community do is lend a hand, and encourage a heart. Lou Bonica put it well when he said, “HireFriday reminds the job seeker that they are not alone, or forgotten.”

Twitter does not need another job board which is why, for the time being, we will not adopt HireFridayJobs, as suggested on a blogtalkradio show I appeared on this week.  That would adversely affect my business model, and my business partners who make their living as twitter job search engines.  Monster.com was the first adopter of HireFriday.  TweetMyJOBS also incorporates @tweetmyresumes is a dynamic, and high quality resource. I formed a strategic partnership with Gary Zukowski. Gary is the heart and soul of the twitter job space. I met Gary at the ERE Conference in March. I had him on my show, and was favorably impressed. He reached out to me, and offered incredible ideas, and advice. We hit it off, the rest is history. Please follow @tweetmyresume. Recently, I connected with @Workway. I suggest you follow them, and follow their leader @WhatsWithDiane. They reached out to me, and I’m excited they wrote such a nice blogpost about HireFriday.

As you know, jobseekers can create a Public Profile on TweetMyJOBS.com, and there’s a button they can click to tweet their resume.  As I consider the gigantic job boards, and the small Mom & Pop job boards, I realized in short order, I don’t want to compete or play in that space because I am a CANDIDATE ADVOCATE. HireFriday is growing in leaps and bounds. It needs a full-time community manager, and I have promoted myself into the job.

HireFriday is growing, and I’m growing with it. It’s time to explore what the buddhists call “right livelihood.” It blends my vision for Compassionate HR with HireFriday Community Management. It’s time to monetize this venture in a way that maintains the ethics, integrity, dignity, and respect of each person in the stream. I want your input about how I can do this in a way that provides value to you.

In addition, I am a dot connector.  I connect the dots, make matches, and connections with people across, throughout and around networks.  For years I’ve been saying, ” you are either networking or not-working.”  In essence, we are all on different trajectories in our careers.  This further explains my intense passion for shining light on job seekers, and keeping the HireFriday stream on twitter exclusively for JOB SEEKERS, and UNEMPLOYED people.  Yes, I’m capitalizing those words, because I want to emphasize how profoundly important job seekers are to me, my heart, my mission and my vision for what HireFriday was intended to do from its inception.  

Guess what, I’m not selling out to outside interests.  I carefully pick and choose ethical, dignified, authentic, and respectful partners in the recruiting community.  The ethical, compassionate recruiters have profound reach and resonance, and can be uniquely helpful to our community. I want to make an honest living, and work only with people who are doing the same.

This week I announced a new partnership with Paul Paris (also known as @Paris22) he’s affectionately referred to as The Ex Recruiter.  I am encouraging my community to be as omnipresent as I am.  Participate in Paul’s Employment Cafe.  Participate in #WorkWednesday. Be present in #JobAngels. Watch the #Jobs & #Career Stream, and as I frequently say, “Job Seekers: Think Like A Recruiter.” Before I share too much, let me just say that some very exciting services are about to be offered with the two of us coming together. Now, what you’ve been waiting for my top 5 tips for getting the most out of HireFriday this week.

Here are my top 5 tips for getting the most out of this week’s HireFriday on Twitter:

1. Use your real name in your tweet. It will make it easier for recruiters, hiring managers, human resource directors to find you.  HireFriday is a brilliant inbound marketing experience. Use it, and make it work.
2. If you choose to tweet through tweetmyresumes, do you buzz, or another service, put your name first, followed by an industry recognized job title that will tickle the search engines, and candidate sourcers radar.  They are watching you. The world is watching this human community experience. This is your chance to shine.  Do the research.  Go to google and find out what those job titles actually are, how they are indexed, and how they are written in the applicant tracking systems.  Research the job boards.  What do they call your job title?  Is it what you think it is, or is it called something else? Is your job industry specific? Or do you care about which industry you are in now? Figure it out before Friday.  Do not think outside the box.  Rather, get inside it.  Squeeze in tight and niche yourself.   Even if you are a generalist, you best make sure you are stripping out key words so people will find you.
3. Location, location, location.  Is it important? If it is, say so, if it is not, say so-clearly, so that people can identify whether you are a realistic candidate for the position.
4. Industry: if you are a java developer (consider yourself the unicorn) everyone the world is looking for you.  I’m not entirely kidding.  If you are in Information Technology hash tag #IT #Java #C++.  If you are in #HR hashtag #HR #EmployeeRelations #Benefits #Compensation #SPHR #PHR #Training #LeadershipDevelopment #StrategicPlanning you get my drift.  If you are an #OrganizationDevelopment Specialist hash tag #OD #Organization #Assessments #Diagnostics #MBTI #DiSC #OrGCulture or whatever aspect of OD you excel.  In future workshops, I will teach you how to research and break down the components of your job so you can hash tag them appropriately.
5. Create a bit.ly link (or another link shortener if you wish) to your resume or linkedinprofile.  My personal preference is a link to the linkedin profile because it does two things. 1) It builds your network and your professional brand, and 2) if your linkedin profile is well written, it can be even better than your online resume for lots of reasons (I’ll discuss this in future posts).

The volunteer job seeker evangelists make HireFriday the special community it is. If I left out your name, please don’t be offended. Instead will you please leave a comment.

My faithful readers know how much I love a theme song. Today’s theme is hand picked for my job seeker community. I’ve Got A Feeling by The Black Eyed Peas. I’ve Got A Feeling That HireFriday is going to be a good day, HireFriday is going to be a good, good day, that today is going to good day. (My Personal Ring Tone 2009)

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