Bill Boorman, a guru in the area of social media for recruiters, conducted a webinar on Twitter basics today for NPA members. Twitter, of course, is the increasingly popular microblogging tool, and perhaps the one social media tool that seems hardest to figure out. If you’re new to Twitter, or looking for some new accounts to follow, here are ten of my favorites, in no particular order: Read the rest of this entry »
Top 10 Blog Posts for Independent Recruiters
by Terri Piersma
The following list shows the top 10 posts from our blog for the past 15 months. The posts cover a variety of topics independent recruiters find interesting. You may, too! Read one/day and within two weeks you may find something in the posts that will enhance your work as a recruiter or as an owner of an recruiting firm. These contain a wide range of topics from recruiting franchises to social media to mobile technology and more. Most topics on our blog are geared toward a recruiter audience with occasional posts that are client- or job seeker-focused. Read the rest of this entry »
Top 10 Recruiting Myths: Busted
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s post, courtesy of CareerBuilder, dispels the top 10 ten recruiting myths floating around out there. There are many ideas and myths about the recruiting process and it’s unclear how they all get started. My hunch is that some of them are the ideas of poor recruiters and some of them are the ideas of hiring managers. The successful independent recruiter needs to overcome the myths and recruit in reality. Read the rest of this entry »
Mobile Recruiting: Which is better, an app or a mobile website?
by Veronica Blatt
As mobile usage continues to increase, employers and recruiters continue to lag in developing good mobile recruiting strategies. If you haven’t heard this message before, you MUST make it easy for job seekers to interact with your recruiting firm via their mobile device. You must. If you aren’t sure what this means, take out your mobile device right now, and look at your company’s website on it. If you can’t effectively use it on your mobile device without pinching, stretching, scrolling, or typing excessively, you do NOT have a mobile-friendly site. If it is hard (or impossible) for job seekers to visit your site, apply for a job, or share your content from their mobile device, they will stop coming back. If I sound a little bit alarmist, good. Read the rest of this entry »
What Independent Recruiters Need to Know About Payback Agreements
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s installment is courtesy of guest blogger Jon Fishman. Jon is a Relocation Coach with Recruiter Relocation, a firm that provides relocation support for recruiters and their candidates domestically and internationally. Jon has over 10 years of combined service in the real estate, relocation and customer service industries. Jon is considered a subject matter expert in relocation placement best practices. For more information, contact Jon at www.recruiterrelocation.com
Payback agreements are always recommended due to the high cost of relocation programs. In the event the employee voluntarily resigns or is terminated, the company is left footing the bill and looking for another candidate, who will incur further relocation spend. A payback agreement acts as a contract between the employer and new employee that states the employee will pay back part or all of the relocation costs if they leave the position within a specific amount of time. The payback agreement can be pursued for years after the employee terminates based on the laws within the state. Typically, a repayment agreement is included at the time the offer letter is given to the candidate. Read the rest of this entry »
3 Reasons to Conduct Video Interviews
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s guest blogger is Anne Downing with Demetrio & Associates, LLC located in greater Phoenix, Arizona. Demetrio & Associates is a boutique recruitment firm that has clients across the US as well as in international locations. The firm places candidates in sales & marketing, advertising, wireless and software positions. Anne is currently serving on NPA’s Board of Directors.
If you are not using video interviews to interview your candidates, or if your clients are not using video interviews, now is the time to start. Video is EVERYWHERE. YouTube has over 1 billion unique visitors EVERY MONTH. People are using video for more reasons than just watching their favorite band perform. Read the rest of this entry »
Tips to Improve Your Independent Recruiting Environment
by Veronica Blatt
I saw a Twitter post last week titled “22 Things Happy People Do Differently” written by Chiara Fucarino and published in Life’d and although it doesn’t directly relate to the recruiting industry, these things can be applied to you, your employees and your independent recruiting firms. I strongly believe that a work environment plays a large part in the productivity of your independent recruiters so it might make sense to think about each of the things listed below and evaluate whether you can do more improve the environment you and your employees spend 40+ hours a week in.
1. See problems as challenges – problems are typically viewed as negative situations and challenges cast a more positive light and encourage you to rise to the occasion. Read the rest of this entry »
Reputation, Trust, and Independent Recruiters
by Terri Piersma
Reputation and trust in the 21st century were the topic of a TED Talk by Rachel Botsman entitled “The Currency of the New Economy is Trust.” She is the author of the book entitled “What’s Mine is Yours: How Collaborative Consumption Is Changing The Way We Live.” In the talk, Rachel commented on the impact of collaborative consumption:
- Collaborative consumption is a social and economic system driven by network technologies that enable the sharing and exchange of assets from spaces to skills to cars in ways and on a scale never possible before.
Wrestling with Employee Retention
by Veronica Blatt
Today’s guest blogger is NPA member Jeff Kortes with Human Asset Management in Franklin, Wisconsin. Jeff has 25 years of experience as a human resources professional, trainer, and consultant. He has held leadership roles while working for companies such as ConAgra, Midas International, SPX, and Regal Ware, Inc. After three facility closures, a strike and a corporate buyout, Jeff started Human Asset Management LLC. He has trained hundreds of first-line supervisors, managers, and executives during his career.
Dave Nerz recently wrote a blog on the fact that voluntary turnover will be increasing as employee confidence in the economy increases. We are in fact seeing that more and more. Unfortunately for most companies, they don’t see it.
Dave posed the question in his last blog, “What is the best way to keep top talent?” The answer that I often tell my retention consulting clients became VERY clear a couple of weeks ago while I was at the WI State Wrestling Tournament two weeks ago. Read the rest of this entry »
International Headhunting is in Season
by Dave Nerz
International headhunting is returning to pre-recession levels. International search firms are reporting a shift in the calls they are receiving from job seekers. “No longer are calls just coming from the unemployed and underemployed,” states Jeff Kortes, a recruiter and employee retention consultant. Kortes owns Human Asset Management in Franklin, Wisconsin and his firm is working closely with employers to develop retention strategies as the international headhunting community revives it efforts to attract and move the best talent to new employers.
“As the economic recovery progresses, it gives employees more comfort in cutting the ties to long-term employers,” according to Kortes. Human resource experts are recognizing that highly skilled workers are increasingly willing to consider new employment opportunities.
What is known as “voluntary turnover” is expected to accelerate in 2013 as the recovery continues and is more evident across a great number of industries. This trend is adding urgency to a situation that some employers have already identified as serious. The best talent is critical to business success, yet top performers are the most likely and able to leave their employers. Many employers struggle to retain their most talented workers as higher paying competitors come headhunting their best.
Top talent is in season! What is the best way to keep top talent? Do you or your clients have a retention program in place?