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Posts from the ‘Web 2.0’ Category

Sep 27

How to transform your WordPress site into a social recruiting machine

Image representing HR Locker as depicted in Cr...

Image via CrunchBase

So, I haven’t been blogging much recently, but I haven’t been living under a rock so I’m going to talk about something in tune with the current trends in social media.

I bet you’ve heard about “social recruiting” (definition by Wikipedia) strategy, software, anything.

Well Jobvite did a good job sometime ago publishing a survey on the matter and now everyone is talking about it. Well, at least everyone somehow involved in the HR sphere.

It’s no news that nowadays companies try to save few bobs there and there, while attempting to hire the best possible talent around.

It’s a known issue that the most amazing people are probably employed and might also be passively looking for a job, balancing their options.

Well, you need to be on top of your game to snatch these great people up before anybody else will do so.

In light of this, I’m sure you currently use some sort of Candidate management system or ATS (application tracking system). A lot of them I think would be quite similar in their offer and the choice would probably be down to personal preference. Leading ATS like Jobvite, include some social integration and employee referrals, which I assume, come connected to a hefty price tag, since there is no way to see their pricing on the website without registering or contacting sales.

That for me is already a major put off. I quite like The Resumator, they’ve recently revamped their website, which looks good, and also I like they’re quarky and funky approach and the fact that they show their plans and pricing. That said, the basic plan starts at 49$ with 3 jobs available. So it’s definitely not cheap, but you can try for free for 14 days.

So, you might be thinking now, what’s WordPress to do with this blog post? So far, nothing. But I’m coming to it.

One of the most innovative as well as seriously well designed app is Zartis. They’ve been in the market for a couple of years with their flagship product, HR Locker, a self service HR software solution to manage annual leave and employees details. Few months ago they’ve launched their latest – and coolest – addition to their SaaS portfolio, a social recruting software.

So, I obviously like their style and also I like their pricing plans. You can sign up for FREE and get 1 job with this plan or optionally, you can sign up for their PRO plan and get 20 jobs with it.

I think it sounds very reasonable compared to not knowing the price (and being forced to talk to sales) or the basic $50!!

Anyhow, another couple of points which will set the guys from Zartis apart from the rest of social recruiting software providers.

1. They offer a super easy to install widget for your website, fully customasible, which will sit on your site and show that “we’re hiring” and allow applicants to apply from it directly with either a CV or LinkedIn profile.

2.They seem to believe so much in what they’re doing that they’ve built a FREE jobs listing plugin for WordPress users. As far as I know, nobody else has anything similar on offer and knowing that are almost 60 mil­lion other Word­Press sites, I’d say they can’t go wrong with this. A lot of business sites nowadays are made with WordPress and using this plugin will surely make the hiring process. According to Zartis you can “Easily add job listings and secure candidate management to your WordPress site.” It’s basically super simple and straight forward and lets you quickly and easily create your own jobs page and automate much of the recruitment process. One feature I particulary find useful and enjoyed is that it also allows you to automatically post your vacancies to Twitter and Facebook. If you want to see an example of the little widget you check out the Zartis website.

In case you’ve missed the link above, you can now download their free WordPress job manager plugin .

So these are my considerations. Are you a WordPress user? Are you using any tools, software, apps to streamline your recruitment process?

Have you joined the social recruitment revolution? I’d like to hear from you, whatever you’re doing!

May be of interest:

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Jul 4

LinkedIn API terms and conditions explained

Image representing LinkedIn as depicted in Cru...

Image via CrunchBase

And so the battle begun. After Twitter, is LinkedIn turn to get battling with some of the developers using its API.

It’s most obvious that what’s happened with the API restrictions imposed on Monster’s BeKnown and BranchOut (among others) is pretty much the result of the great exposure enjoyed by those two particular LinkedIn competitors recently.

Besides that, they seem to have been in breach of the T & C’s provided by LinkedIn.

According to an article published by TechCrunch BranchOut was:

“Charging fees for access to LinkedIn’s content, is a no-no, says the network.”

Monster was trying to rip the benefits from LinkedIn’s name and was:

“using the LinkedIn APIs to send messages to promote BeKnown (and thus profit from the API)”

Obviously enough LinkedIn is not going to stand by and let these guys take advantage of LinkedIn’s hard work.

So, if you want to know more about LinkedIn API terms and conditions, you can now enjoy reading a simplified version of them. This version in plain words is an interpretation offered by Zartis.com, a social recruiting provider.

Let us know what you think, and hope you can find the short version of the T & C’s helpful! I thought it was much less head wrecking than the original version as well as funny!

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Feb 17

Facebook stirs things up in the Chinese social network scene

As you all know, the world’s biggest social network was created by a bunch of graduates from a prestigious university. And you’re all thinking Facebook, right?

Well, wrong.

We’re talking about Renren.com, China’s leading social network, with more than 160 million users.
Its main competitor, Kaixin001.com has around 93 million.
Their main advantage over Facebook is, well, that Facebook is blocked by government in China.

What these two social networking giants offer, in terms of service, is basically the same as Facebook, but tailored for the Chinese market, as Donna li, GM at Renren explains.

Since 2009, Chinese social networks haven’t had competition from Facebook or other international firms, due to the restriction put in place by the government.

However, now might be a good time for a change.
Read the full story on Businessweek.

Jan 24

BEWARE: China domain name scam

I was just over at China Law blog, reading this article warning about future attempts of emails selling you “your” domain name. For China that is.

It seems that once ICANN starts accepting applications for domain names with non-Latin characters (i.e., Chinese):

This practice could get a further boost in China following the announcement in late October by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) that domain names do not have to have Latin characters. No doubt Chinese domain peddlers are already preparing to register the established brand names of Chinese and foreign companies in Chinese characters.

Thus, if you are planning to venture the Chinese business world and would like to set up a website .cn buy as soon as possible, before it’s gone and you might start getting “sales pitch emails”.

As suggested on China Law blog do not respond to these emails, unless you want to buy the domain.

That I guess, it’s a whole other story.

Jan 5

China: Innovation instead of imitation

New Year, new China.

Published in November by the State Intellectual Property Office of China, the document called the “National Patent Development Strategy (2011-2020)” is set to bring more innovation than imitation to China. This document, discusses broad economic objectives as well as specific targets to be attained by 2015.

China’s goal for annual patent filings by 2015 is two million. That number includes “utility-model patents,” which typically include items like engineering features in a product and are less ambitious than “invention patents.” In the American system, there are no utility patents.
The New York Times quotes Mr. Kappos, Director of the US Patent and Trademark office: “The leadership in China knows that innovation is its future, the key to higher living standards and long-term growth,” Mr. Kappos says. “They are doing everything they can to drive innovation, and China’s patent strategy is part of that broader plan.”

China intends to overcome the “stigma” associated with being known as the world’s cheapest workshop for assembling computer parts and producing counterfeit fashion products i.e. Italian high street clothes and bags.

China has the chance to bring innovative products and technologies to the world and is making the US worried.

Will China gives us the next Mark Zuckerberg?

Share your thoughts with us.

Nov 23

1 Comment

Tencent Vs Qihoo 360 – Final round?

We’ve talked about Tencent and Qihoo 360 and the “war” they’ve entered recently in a recent post. And here we are again talking about these two tech giants. It seems though, that after the government stepped in, they actually apologised to their users for the dispute. The reciprocal accusations of illegaly scanning customers’ data and being malware, brought the two companies on the verge of forgetting that they were just losing business and users. Nonetheless, to MSN Microsoft. At present, both companies are being investigated and have toned down their damaging behaviour. Will follow up this matter with further posts. Stay tuned. Ah, check out this article.

Nov 15

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Tencent vs Qihoo 360, Microsoft wins?

Looks like the ongoing dispute between favourites Chinese tech giant Tencent and Qihoo 360 is working out in favour of a third party: Microsoft. Apparently, MSN is gaining users thanks to Tencent poor customer relationship management. However, it’s not forseen for the near future that MSN could become Chinese favourite over a local IM player. Have a read of this interesting article