Recruitment 2.0

Friday 30th January recruitment roundup

We’ve condensed the week’s news to just a few links.  Read on for interesting stories and videos regarding recruiting, technology and other random topics…

• Social tentacles
• What would a professional do?
• Asda and BSkyB create thousands of posts
• Flexibility is crucial in difficult job market
• Graduate Recruitment 2009
• Job website hit by major breach
• CIPD 2009 trends

Today's video has nothing to do with recruitment. But it's flu season, and I think this is hilarious (not sure Mike will...)

-Susanna

The Monster hack – are they really storing passwords in clear text?

So, you must have heard about the hack at Monster yesterday, and as you can imagine I have plenty of thoughts on it, however, I’ll share just one with you for today.

What is Monster doing storing passwords in plain text?

There’s obviously an issue with data loss to fraudsters – that in itself is very serious. But have you considered that if these cretins have your password as well, they can probably go roaming around the internet (and BTW – they don’t do this manually...) seeing where you might be registered with the same username/email and password combo – e.g. your bank!

This is a fundamental violation of user trust, never mind about a school boy immature access to security.

So, as Tim Elkington recommends – change your Monster password - sure, but you should also consider changing your password on other sites as well.

Come on Monster, you are damaging the whole online community, never mind about the online recruitment comunity by being so incredibly irresponsible.

- Mike

The goals you never talk about

I love Seth Godin. The man is a marketing genius, and he posts nearly daily on his blog. Recruiting is marketing, and there are some good lessons to be learnt from Seth

Today's post is about The goals you never talk about.

His basic premise is that you need to make mistakes, several in fact, in order to get that fab idea. If you just try to be average, and not stand out, well then, guess what, you won't.

Have a read and let me know what you think.

In today's economic climate, what can you do to make recruiting stand out?

-Susanna

Friday 23 January recruitment roundup

We’ve condensed the week’s news to just a few links.  Read on for interesting stories and videos regarding recruiting, technology and other random topics…

• Job hunters should not be put off by downturn
• Two thirds of students worked at Christmas to fund courses and forward careers
• 1.5 million paid less than minimum wage
• Unhappy HR managers need more support
• Bored at work? Become a zoo keeper!
• Lonely, scared and bitter
• Dealing with talent in the downturn

Today's video is an introduction to the popular microblogging platform Twitter. It's short and sweet and give you the basics.

-Susanna

Don't stop campus recruiting

There's a good article by John Flato over on ERE.net: Five reasons to maintain a strong campus recruiting program during this economic downturn.

He likens the Dot Com Bust to today's economic woes, and suggests that you shouldn't have a knee-jerk reaction.

Here are his five reasons, make sure you check out the entire article for the full details..

1. Improve the quality of the talent you are able to recruit

2. Block and tackle competitors

3. Thwart looming retirements and a drain of intellectual capital

4. Campus continuity pays off

5. Campus recruiting is the most cost-effective way to source and retain top diverse talent

But you are the ones out in the trenches, thoughts?

-Susanna

Photo credit: harshilshah

Friday 16th January recruitment roundup

First, congratulations to Peter Gold for winning Best UK Recruitment Blog of 2008. His blog, Hire Strategies, is full of great info, and I often get some fodder there for Recruitment 2.0. While you're at it, check out his online network, Talent Cloud, where you can meet like-minded professionals.

Now read on for this week's interesting stories and videos regarding recruiting, technology and other random topics…

• The argument for taking notes
• Google cuts 100 recruiting positions
• Recruiting with little or no money
• Linkedin sourcing with a free account
• Should recruiters be planning succession?
• Top employers to offer more media jobs for grads
• A-level law? Don't be soft
• Graduate recruitment on the wane?

Today's video has nothing to do with recruiting, and everything to do with viral marketing. It is from the the highly popular  "Will it Blend?" series, which has become a cult classic, and is always good for a laugh. The iPhone, will it blend?

-Susanna

What's in store for recruiting in 2009? A summary of predictions

I've had a read through the plethora of recruiting-related predictions for 2009.

Most of it is predictable and related to the economy, but some isn't.

Here's my five-second summary:

• Less hiring
• More contractors and freelancers
• There will be job board price wars
• The use of social media will increase

The best quote was from Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR. "I predict job descriptions will become 140-characters and go out, Twitter-style, directly from companies to job seekers. Buh, bye, Monster and CareerBuilder."

Take it straight from the horse's mouth -- the full list of predictions below.

Talent Technology Blog 2009 predictions

Enhance Media -- what's ahead for 2009 (this is really just an ad for their conference)

Cheezhead 2009 hiring predictions

BNET: Seven hiring trends for 2009

Trainingzone.co.uk HR predictions 2009

John Sumser

2009 predictions with Jeff Wediner

Inflexion Advisors 2009 predictions

Your HR Guy 2009 predictions from other bloggers

-Susanna

Photo credit: jblndl

Friday 9th January recruitment roundup

We’ve condensed the week’s news to just a few links.  Read on for interesting stories and videos regarding recruiting, technology and other random topics…

• Don't believe the media -- recruitment isn't dead!

• Graduates turn to public sector

• IT market under pressure in UK

• City narrows graduate hunt to core group

• Job board coupons ... what's next?

• Alternatives to layoffs

• What kind of HR pro are you?

• The 10 worst things you could say to your boss

• The thing about goals

I'll leave you with a video today from IrishGradJobs.ie. In today's climate, I'm not sure you'll see much of this happening, but you never know...

-Susanna

PS -- It's the last day to vote for the best UK Recruitment Blog of 2008.

Rise in unemployment starts wave of wrongful termination lawsuits

It seems the rise in redundancies in the US has sparked a rise in wrongful termination lawsuits. Three top female executives at Dell have filed a class action law suit against the computer manufacturer.

One newly hired HR executive had convinced her husband to quit his job, moved the family across state, and bought a home in the height of the real estate bubble. Then nine months later she was laid off after several flattering reviews.

Experts say this is just the tip of the iceberg, and there are more to follow.

The CIPD just published a summary of changes to 2008 employment law, and what to expect for 2009.

As if the economy isn't enough to worry about. What's next?

-Susanna

Photo credit: lenara

To RPO or not to RPO?

Andy Headworth at Sirona Consulting made a little tweet yesterday asking whether anyone had a document that explains the benefits of RPO to HR staff. As you can imagine, not many people put their hand up to send him one!

But why do we think that HR staff will be so anti-RPO... Because they see it as a threat to their jobs?

Like any outsourcing solution, RPO has got a place. And like other outsourcing styles, it has to be undertaken appropriately otherwise it will just turn into an expensive mess that simply doesn’t work.

The thing about RPO that has always surprised me is that people often think that it should either be done in a wholesale way, or not at all. This is wrong.

The process of recruitment is a long and complicated beast that touches almost every part of the business from senior managers or directors approving a hire, to designers putting ads together, through advertising onto hiring managers, across reference checking, etc... Lots of people, and lots of little areas can be helped with discrete RPO activity.

The bottom line here is that many HR staff (or in-house recruiters) would be happy to see certain parts of their jobs undertaken by somebody else – and lots of RPOs would be happy to do these admin intensive jobs on a transactional fee basis. Remember, HR staff should be adding value to their business, not shuffling paper around the place.

It’s important to realise that undertaking any kind of recruitment activity demands a system that can keep track of the admin. A good ATS can easily allow external providers secure access and visibility to parts of your process and this should be a consideration when considering using RPO as some or indeed all of your recruitment process.

- Mike