Think this blog post is 100% wrong?
Tell me why on the "I totally disagree with Sarah" page.

Because I've worked in the recruiting industry for a while now, but am not actually a recruiter myself, scarcely a week goes by that I don't get an email from someone - a friend-of-a-friend, a spouse-of-a-friend, a child-of-a-friend - telling me that they're having unsatisfactory interactions with recruiters, and asking what they should do about it.

The fundamental problem, of course - outside of the current economy, which is making job hunting tougher for everyone - is simply that most job-seekers don't ...

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In this Era of Social Media, the written word is more important than ever.

Part 3 of our 2-part series.  Click here to read Part I.

PART III:  I don't care how cool/sexy/big your corporate brand is.  Bad writing will cost you the candidate.

It's not just personal brands that suffer when bad writing happens - bigger brands have just as much (and maybe more) to lose.

One of the questions I'm often asked, even among senior recruiters and HR-types who've been in the business for 10+ years is:  "I'm a corporate recruiter working ...

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Editor's note:  As you know, from time to time we spotlight guest bloggers.  This week we're featuring a team of 3 new Head2Head-ites:

Emma Scott, Senior Client Relationship Manager

Matt Moloney, Senior Client Relationship Manager, IT

Sachin Sama, Business Development Specialist

As recent interviewees themselves, Emma, Matt and Sachin have some helpful words of advice for candidates.  I know ERE isn't really for candidates, but you'd be surprised how many of them hang out here looking for tips...

ACING THE INTERVIEW:
Interviewing tips by Emma Scott, Matt Moloney and Sachin Sama

As newbies here at Head2Head ...

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In this Era of Social Media, the written word is more important than ever.

Special two-part series!

PART I:  On old English, etymology, and annoying co-workers

The world, it seems, is divided into two groups:

1. Those who think spelling (and grammar, and good sentence structure) counts and are a little fanatical about it
2. Those who think the people in Group #1 need to calm down, because it's not, like, life-threatening or anything

Anyone who's ever read one of my blog posts - or been the victim of one of my late-night Proustian emails - knows which group I belong to ...

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In this Era of Social Media, the written word is more important than ever.

Part II of our 2-part series.  Click here to read Part I.

PART II:  Social media, personal branding, and yes people really do notice

For all the Chicken Littles who lament that our kids are being made stupid by the internet, the truth is that the average person today is reading and writing a whole lot more than ever before, both online and off.  

Thanks to Oprah, we're reading more books; thanks to email, we're writing more letters; thanks to social media, we're ...

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Think this blog post is 100% wrong?
Tell me why on the "I totally disagree with Sarah" page. 

The recruitment lifecycle starts with sales.
So why aren't we talking about it? 

Thanks to the mainstreaming of social media, any wingnut with an opinion and a keyboard can set themselves up as a recruiting guru these days.  Google virtually any recruiting lifecycle stage or buzzword and you're guaranteed to turn up hundreds - if not thousands - of blogs, articles, templates, tweets, whitepapers, discussion groups and god knows what else by legions of recruiting 'experts' who've managed to convince everyone ...

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ERE's requirement to register before posting comments on blog posts ensures that you don't have to deal with 83 zillion spam, phishing, or gratuitously nasty comments every time you post something is great.  

However, it does have one drawback:  The people with whom you are most likely to engage in a lively discussion - i.e. the people who hate what you've written - are reluctant to say anything because it's not anonymous, and we all know that what's said on the internet stays on the internet, forever. They resist saying what they'd really like to ...

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Think this blog post is 100% wrong?
Tell me why on the "I totally disagree with Sarah" page. 

So I was reading Sarah White's blog post about how the industry talks a lot about, but doesn't actually deliver, great candidate experiences. 

And she's right:  For all the hundreds (thousands?) of blogs, articles, whitepapers, media features and god knows what else about candidate experience in the past few years, the truth is that most organizations are still woefully inept when it comes to actually delivering anything approaching a 'great' candidate experience.

But I disagree with Sarah when she ...

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Think this blog post is 100% wrong?
Tell me why on the "I totally disagree with Sarah" page. 

As you know, Mike Stearns, the MyHusbandNeedsAJob.com guy, sent me an email in response to my blog posts about him.  He wasn't particularly happy about the posts, of course - he used words like "angry", "presumptuous", "outlandish and unfair" and capped it with the popular  accusatory "people like you" statement.  

48 hours later, the original MyHusbandNeedsAJob.com site turned into a blog, ostensibly so that Mike can capitalize on the traffic his site has generated to create a community of job-seekers ...

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In a lot of ways, you've been social networking since you were a kid.  Facebook helps you leverage those relationships.

Social media has gone mainstream, and the 30+ demographic has stopped dismissing it as 'some fad for the kids' and are ready to start using social media tools a little more enthusiastically.  But given that the average 30- or 40-something is in their peak work/family years, the last thing they need is to get sucked into a social media vortex.


Just because it's 'fun' doesn't mean it's not 'productive'

One of the questions I'm ...

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UPDATE September 12:  I received an email last night from Mike Stearns regarding my blog posts about him and his site. Needless to say he wasn't best pleased with some of my comments.  But as I've said before on several occasions, I think a more open dialogue between recruiters and candidates - with recruiters providing more constructive feedback - would deliver benefits to everyone involved.  So I've invited Mike to post his comments here in response to my blog.  I hope he does...

ORIGINAL POST:

Regular readers will recall my blog post of July 31 about Mike Stearns, the ...

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First off, the usual writer's apology for a 2-week absence. Not a day goes by that I don't wish for a technological advance that would allow me to dictate blogs from my brain to my computer telepathically.  This would make my shower time much more productive, since I currently waste that 7 minutes of my day singing old Mental as Anything songs (from the seminal Creatures of Leisure album, in case you're interested).  

I'd probably blog more if I weren't so bloody verbose.  Thank you, grade 9 typing!

Anyway.

The other week I was asked ...

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[To the serious HR-types who will read this blog post and immediately become incensed at my lack of knowledge about anti-oppression legislation in the US:  Before you comment, please remember that I am a recruitment marketing consultant whose job is about ensuring that the employment brand delivers positive experiences.  So my perspective is about how this situation contributes to a positive work environment, not how it might get us into legal trouble.]

Every Friday, staffers at Head2Head take turns to do 'Friday Treat Day'.  The tradition - started by President Paul Dodd back when H2H wasn't much more than "2 ...

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[Names and identifying details have been changed to protect the bitter.]

The other day I overheard some grumbling between a couple of colleagues, aged 28-32 and with about 5 years' experience in their current profession.  "It's not fair," one said.  "Bob's only been here a year and he's already had a raise, a promotion, and even an award.  And now he gets to head up his own project!  I have more experience, have been here longer - and I definitely work harder."

To which the other replied:  "I know!  I don't see him working at his desk ...

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DON'T FORGET:  This Thursday we're hosting another session of our ultra-popular 'Leverage LinkedIn as a Recruiter' webinar.  The last two were completely booked well in advance, but we've made a few more spots available this time.  It's totally free - just click here to register!

Guest blog by Kim Benedict, Director, Sales and Operations (and LinkedIn guru!) here at Head2Head

Editor’s note:  Here at Head2Head, we’ve been using LinkedIn for recruiting for more than 5 years, and are now recognized as the Canadian experts in using LinkedIn for research, sourcing, and building long-term relationships with ...

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Guest blog by Kim Benedict, Director, Sales and Operations (and LinkedIn guru!) here at Head2Head

Editor’s note:  Here at Head2Head, we’ve been using LinkedIn for recruiting for more than 5 years, and are now recognized as the Canadian experts in using LinkedIn for research, sourcing, and building long-term relationships with top talent.  Kim’s guest blog below is the first in a 3-part series on how candidates can leverage LinkedIn most effectively. 

(Are you a recruiter?  We also host (free) webinars on using LinkedIn for recruiting.  The next webinar is scheduled for August 13 – click here   to register ...

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LATE FEBRUARY, 2009:  Mike Stearns, a 30-ish San Franciscan with a decent resume and MBA from Georgetown, has been unemployed for months.  His wife - sensing his desperation and knowing, probably, that this kind of situation can wreak havoc on a marriage, takes a bold step and launches MyHusbandNeedsAJob.com.

The site is exactly what it sounds like:  A 6-page website which includes Mike's resume, photos of him standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge (holding a sign saying "I need a job!", no less), a YouTube video, and more personal information about Mike than you ever wanted to ...

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Seth Godin caught my attention this morning with a recent post on how one's workplace affects behavior and personality:

Your boss and your job determine not only what you do all day, but what you learn and who you interact with. Where you work is what you market. Work in a high stress place and you're likely to become a highly stressed person, and your interactions will display that. Work for a narcissist and you'll develop into someone who's good at shining a light on someone else, not into someone who can lead. Work for someone ...

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Last week I happened to overhear a post-interview conversation among 3 recruiters (one senior, one very senior, and one intermediate).

The position for which they were interviewing was a fairly senior HR role.  The client was looking for a fairly rare combination of specific education, skills and experience, so the likely source of a candidate who met all the requirements was an intermediate HR practioner who could 'rise up' to the role.

They'd finally found a candidate who they thought was a good fit:  She had the education, the skills and experience; in person, she was smart, engaging, and ...

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Yesterday, the blogosphere was alive with the 'previously unreleased' footage of Michael Jackson's hair catching on fire during the shooting of that infamous Pepsi commercial in 1984.

Last night, the Twitterverse was alive with comments like "I can't believe CNN showed that publicly - how the heck did Pepsi let that happen?"

By this afternoon, Pepsi was doing some major damage control, releasing a statement saying, "We don't know how the footage became available. Twenty-five years later, we'd question why anyone would want to share such frightening images....We don't know what that footage is. It ...

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