Archive for the 'Recruiters' Category

Archives for Recruiters

When we initiate contact with a recruiter - or they call us - we tend to think of them as our recruiter. That’s when the communication quandary begins.

Almost always, recruiters work for employers not job seekers. A typical misconception is that although many recruiters can and often do offer career advice, technically they’re working for the other side. You don’t want to convey to them a lack of confidence about your job quest because a) they’re not your confessor and b) they must have confidence in you to present you to an employer.

Of course, you want their advice, because without them you may not get through the front or side doors of your target employer or field. And they can provide you with valuable insights into a company’s culture and management. Not surprisingly, the number one question recruiters hear from job seekers is how often should I contact you?

Archives for Recruiters

Employers know the problem with great job candidates is that they usually have jobs and aren’t actively seeking another one. And why should they? It’s a hassle to send out resumes, shake the trees on a social network or chat-up recruiters.

Typically it’s unhappy employees that seek new opportunities. Apart from these active job seekers, most employed workers are considered “passive” job candidates who may leave if the right opportunity finds them. Frankly, the grass is often greener elsewhere.

To help nudge talented, yet passive job candidates to test the waters, a Silicon Valley startup has identified sponsors willing to pay top candidates up to $500 or more for an interview. NotchUp, as it is known, hopes that this incentive will entice talented workers to forsake job boards and recruiters.

For employers, paying $500 for an interview is a relative bargain compared to the cost of job board ads and recruiters.

The radical part of the business model is the disintermediation (which is to say eliminating) of middlemen in the talent supply chain -job boards and recruiters.

Archives for Recruiters

Recruiting creative professionals is a bit of a rough and tumble affair. The industry leaders scale up by establishing teams in dozens of countries, moving themselves closer to their customers while tapping local talent supplies.

Yet, when it comes to recruiting “creatives,” that is, problem-solvers and innovative thinkers, size alone is not enough of a draw. The companies that gather the most global talent are applying creativity to the recruitment process itself.

I sat through an illuminating presentation at the Human Capital Institute Summit by the head of recruiting for industry leader Electronic Arts, a video game software company that has chalked up $2.85 billion in revenue while its expanding its operations to 22 countries.

“Innovation is the penultimate skill we need at EA - more than any other thing,” says Jeff Hunter, EA’s head of recruiting. Hunter, who is a terrific blogger both on his own and for Simply Hired, concedes that EA’s stature sometimes undermines its appeal to global talent. “It turns out that creatives don’t want to work for the 800 pound gorilla - they want to work for a smaller company and have more say,” adds Hunter.

Archives for Recruiters

If you pulled a B or C average in college, good luck getting an interview with Google or other intellectually rigorous global employers. But according to Alan C. Guarino, an author and recruiter, companies that overemphasize academic performance systematically overlook valuable talent.

“Success, defined as business achievement, comes to a wide range of people. For some, it has little correlation to their classroom successes,” writes Guarino in his new book, Smart is Not Enough!

Of course, the prevailing wisdom is that academic performance is a proxy for the ability to learn new skills, even though it’s no guarantee of future success. Are there a lot of underachieving former valedictorians in our midst? (A brief look at some of the research in this area shows mixed results with regard to linking academic performance, academic testing and future success.)