New research conducted by recruitment software provider Zartis shows that the UK are falling behind compared to the US when it comes to using the web and social media for what is now known as social recruiting.

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:

• Social recruiting, apps and cloud computing (hriscom.com)
• John Dennehy on the benefits of moving to the cloud (gamesindustryemployment.wordpress.com)
• Social recruiting survey 2011 results (hriscom.com)

Image via CrunchBase

In an increasingly global job market, making your CV standing out from the pile and catch the attention of a recruiter has become a strenuous task.

Fear nothing though, social media can help you.

After the classic paper CV, plenty of details about your life story and perhaps even a photo, the CV in “European format” came along. Long, too detailed, too standard. Boring. This was an attempt at a standardisation of the CV that didn’t really work. Thank God.
In today’s job hunt, the one thing that nobody wants is to be put in the same box as some body else. Or at least not as everybody else (it wouldn’t be good to be on your own either).

Thankfully, the web offers lots of opportunity to make your professional profile unique and “unforgettable” through a dashing presentation.

The Facebook CV

In June, Mashable published a nice article on “ingenious CV” and the story of Claudio Nader, 28 years old Italian, was told. He lived in the UK for a bit and wanted to go back to Italy to find a job. Seen the difficulties he had to face, he came up with a singular way to get noted in the communication world.
According to Mr Nader, the best venue to do this, is Facebook, the most clicked social network in the world. He set up an eye catching CV and made it accessible through his privacy settings. His Facebook CV has made to the 12 most beautiful CV in the world, after having created a lot of buzz around his initiative which demonstrated he has pretty good media planning skills. His adventure was reported on many papers and on his blog, and it led him to his current role as Social Media Assistant based in his hometown, Bologna (Italy).

This example, is only one of many cases where success is achieved through social connections on the web. This is the basic essence of social recruiting, a new emerging recruitment “tactic”, which leverages social media connections for finding talent and recruiting it.
Hiring managers are keen on using social recruiting as a survey indicated that online recruiting has grown by 15% compared to 2010.
It is why, a candidate should be careful about what’s said about him on the web. Web reputation is becoming pivotal for a successful job hunt campaign.
A survey conducted by Adecco, 123People and Digital Reputation found that in July 2010, 36% of recruiters used to perform candidates background check through social networks and the web in general.
Everyone can “Google you” at any time. So whatever is on the web, is accessible to the public, thus recruiters as well.
Careerbuilder, recommends that job seekers:

• Remove pictures, content and links that can send the wrong message to potential employers.
• Update social networking profiles regularly to highlight latest accomplishments.
• Consider blocking comments to avoid questionable posts; avoid joining groups whose names could turn off potential employers.
• Consider setting profile to private so only designated friends can view it.

It is therefore essential that you choose your online friends carefully and you exercise some “content curation” as well, as they will translate into your online image, which is projected out in the world.

The infographic CV
Apart from social media and social recruiting, there are other rising and notable trends in the job seeking scene.
Everyone is looking for a new way to show creativity and entrepreneurship and other skills in a cool and to the point way. I guess that’s how and why infographics CV are becoming more and more popular, especially among the design community.
The idea of an infographic CV was first born in the US, thanks to Chris Spurlock, a journalism student who ended being hired by the Huff Post, after his infographic CV was published on the newspaper and went viral.  The best thing about an infographic CV is that it’s clear and concise and colourful! For more examples of infographic CV check this site.
Using an infographic CV will surely make you stand out from the crowd, but it’s not as easy as writing a normal CV. If you’re not a graphic designer you could have some hard time learning dital imaging programs (eg Photoshop) and skills you need in order to make one. You could try to sign up for services that offer to make an infographic for you like Vizualize me or CVgram which are by closed invitation only.
If you can’t get an invite for the beta, you could use more accessible and free apps like Wordle or Tagxedo, which create a text cloud. If you want to explore further, for graphics or diagrams you could try Gliffy, which offers free access as well.

Video CV
This is not all. Video is increasingly used by companies that want to go the extra mile to attract the best talent around. Companies in the technolgy sector are competing for the best people and having a video that can show your company values and culture can make the difference. Check out this career and jobs site for the game industry. It’s a good example of what business can do to win the best people.
For the job seeker, building a video cv shows that you’re proactive, creative, that you can think outside the box. All qualities that any company would gladly pay for. YouTube is the primary host of video CVs and I would suggest to have a look at this, if you haven’t already. This is an extreme example as it’s a website, including a video CV and more. This guy, Matthew Epstein, wants to work for Google and it seems he will go any lenght to get a job with the company

LinkedIn CV
Let’s not forget the basics here. Nothing fancy, but something essential. Make sure to build up your professional profile on LinkedIn and you might not know, the profile can even be exported into a CV with the choice of some pretty nifty layouts.

Be yourself

No matter what communication channel you chose for your CV, don’t forget to be honest and more than everything, be yourself. That’s always the best bet.

Any thoughts, drop them here!

(article originally published on Social recruiting and HR blog)

Related articles:

• 7 Ingenious Resumes That Will Make You Rethink Your CV (mashable.com)
• How far would you go to get a job? (guardian.co.uk)
• CV Tips [INFOGRAPHIC] (thelectureroom.wordpress.com)
• 47 New Digital Media Resources You May Have Missed (mashable.com)
• Social media for the job seeker (hrsoftwaresystem.com)

Image via Wikipedia

At the beginning of  June LinkedIn announced that they would launch “Apply with LinkedIn” button by the end of the month. Although a bit later than promised, LinkedIn has now officially launched their latest social recruiting tool.

I think the idea behind the button has potential, seen all the talk with regards to CV, resume and the likes being outdated.

Mashable writes that Technical Product Manager Jonathan Seitel said on the company’s blog:

“Our goal with Apply With LinkedIn is to help every professional put their best foot forward, anywhere across the web when they take that leap to apply for a new position.”

In my opinion there are few notable key things:

For companies:

The LinkedIn profile offers a standardized view of all candidates, making screening of candidates easier but highly impersonal.

The click of a button makes it too easy for “desperate job seeker” to apply for a huge amount of jobs for which they might not even be qualified. This could prove to be a problem for recruiters when screening candidates.

This is a good enough reason to integrate the use of the LinkedIn button with an applicant tracking system (ATS) or you will end up trebling the amount of work you’ ll have to go through when selecting candidates.

If you don’t have an ATS implemented yet, you better start thinking about it and try a social recruiting tool.

For job seekers:

You can manage all your applications made through the button with a “saved jobs” tab. This is useful in keeping track of your applications.

Also, once you applied for a job, you’re given the chance to contact your connections who work at the company, and ask for a referral or recommendation.

Related articles

• Social recruiting can help your job search (humanresourcechina.com)
• The state of social recruiting 2011 [infographic] (hrsoftwarechina.com)
• Led by LinkedIn, Social Recruiting Continues to Grow [Infographic] (readwriteweb.com)
• How to use LinkedIn: 5 tips (hriscom.com)
• Apply with LinkedIn (zartis.com)

Image via CrunchBase

In this blog post I’ll try to sum up the most important data extracted from the social recruiting surveys conducted by the SHRM and Jobvite.

First off, the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) reported an increase in the number of companies using social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitterfor recruitment purposes.

The number have grown from 34% in 2008 to 56% in 2011.
Furthermore, the number of companies who do not plan to use social recruitinghas fallen from 45% to 21%, considering the same time frame as above.

Almost unsurprisingly, the data gathered in the poll shows that LinkedIn is the most used site for sourcing candidates, with 95% of companies using social media for recruitment, choose LinkedIn first.
Facebook ranked second with 58%, followed by a close third, Twitter, with 42%.

More good news for job seekers who use social networking sites, 72% of companies actively search for candidates using the website’s in-built search feature. 63% of employers created a business page or group, in order to attract more candidates.

It is apparent that companies are more proactive than ever in the search of the perfect talent. This can increase the chances for job seekers to be found by companies that have already implemented a social recruiting strategy. However, it also means that job seekers have to be proactive as well, networking, and making sure that their social job search gets them in the right place at the right time, for the perfect job match.

Yesterday, Jobvite, a social recruiting provider, has released the results of its annual “Social recruiting survey”.

The survey reports that social recruiting keeps growing among U.S. companies with 89% planning to recruit through social media this year, up from 83% in 2010.
This is an even higher number than reported in the SHRM survey.

Not to be underestimated, 80% of respondents, already use social media for recruitment.

A notable finding from the report is that using social networking sites to recruit is working. 64% have hired through social networks in 2011, up from 58% in 2010. 55% will increase their budgets for social recruiting and also 30% for referrals, while only 16% of respondents will spend more on job boards.

Referrals are continued to be ranked as the most highly rated source for candidate quality (over quantity) and the Jobvite Index data reports that 1 in 10 referral candidates are hired compared to 1 in 100 general applicants.

To date, (Google+ may be factored in the future), the top three sites employers are using are LinkedIn (87%), Facebook (55%) and Twitter (47%).

The numbers here are quite similar to the ones highlighted from the SHRM report.

All considered, I think this is good news for both employers and prospective candidates. It opens up a lot more opportunities for both sides and it allows for an improved targeted search with actual results.

After all, most of us have an online presence somehow, and people who don’t, would most likely not be a match nor in search of a job offered by a company who is using social recruitment as a preferred employment channel.

This article is courtesy of http://hrsoftwaresystem.com/435/social-recruiting-2011/trackback/

Related articles

• LinkedIn for beginners (humanresourcechina.com)
• Online recruitment is happening (hrpayrollchina.com)

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!

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

I was reading this press release earlier and it sparked some thoughts.

First of all, how everything changes so quickly. Especially in this technologically charged generation, everything moves so quickly that we process tasks fast and move on to the next thing.

However, this is good if we know what to hold on to and what to change and improve, through technology.

Recruitment is one thing which could benefit from becoming more technology minded in its approach. Traditional methodologies are still obviously good, but a more agile and flexible recruitment process is needed. This means that recruiters and employers have to react and respond quickly to secure the best candidate for their position as well as being flexible, due to an increasing diverse range of applicants for particular roles.

Online recruitment enables you to be more reactive and open-minded, and get you to the desired result quicker at a lower cost. According to the press release mentioned earlier:

“Online recruitment methods bring many benefits including lower costs and quicker time-to-hire. However, equally it has led to many promiscuous applicants applying for jobs making it more difficult to filter out the good applicants and ensure you recruit them quickly before someone else does.”

Through the use of  an appropriate social recruitment software you would be able to filter out all the unnecessary “noise” and strip down to the ideal candidate for the position you’re looking to fill. You might find out that one of the applicants is actually perfect for another position you have open! And kill two birds with one stone.

I believe that when empowered with the right tool, it’s easy to reach, engage and hire the right talent.

If you’re interested in the social aspects of recruitment, you can start dipping your toes in by downloading your free copy of this social media policy guidelines. You can use it for your clients or company or a reference if you wish!

Related articles

• Tom Hadley: Recruitment industry still has a lot of work to do (independent.co.uk)
• LinkedIn for beginners (humanresourcechina.com)

Nowadays, everything is social. And if it isn’t, it has to be made so. At first I thought, what is the need?

But there is one. It’s like when you add the social element to something, you really do bring value with added connections and engagement. A person can be spurred on by something someone else said. In the same way, you could find the perfect candidate for your job, who otherwise, you would have most likely missed out on.

There’s a growing number of options in the recruitment space, but I’m increasingly convinced that traditional recruitment methodology is no longer enough. It would be sensible to integrate your traditional strategy with what technology offers. Tools like easy posting of ads to websites, job boards and social networks are just the beginning and definitely a must have, together with candidates management, tracking and monitoring tools.

Social recruitment is only at the beginning and is certainly bringing a fresh new look to the meaning of the word recruitment.

Check out this blog post for more info on the matter. This company provides other services as web based HR software and are building an innovative tool to suit the needs of the social recruitment space.

They’re looking for beta customers so, quick, get in early!

Related articles

• Blog: Proven methods, new technology – advert targeting for recruitment (c/o #trudublin ) (musingsfromsussex.com)
• The next big thing: social recruitment (hrsoftwaresystem.com)
• Social recruiting software (hrlocker.com)
• Army Using Social Media For Recruitment (searchenginewatch.com)

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I was reading a post on the software advice blog about where the HR software market is going.

It looks like firms are not going to buy a new HR software this year, but rather implement some new improvements on their existing software, such as administration and employees dashboards and self service as well as tracking for key HR metrics.

The big trend this year seem to be cloud based, software as a service HR systems.

I can see why they are quickly rising to the top as if you think about it, you probably use lots of cloud based services daily already, such as Dropbox or other apps that make your work easier (one I use is Wunderlist for to do management).

I think that the ability to access an application regardless of time or place is simply astonishing.
From the point of view of a company with multiple offices around the world, surely located in different time zones is a great advantage as they don’t have to wait for a colleague to be in the office to have information about an employee annual leave or check if they signed a document. They can access all these information by accessing an internet page with their personal login credentials.

Quoting Christopher Baum, from the above mentioned article:

Cloud-based HR systems are in strong demand. Aside from cost of ownership benefits, a compelling benefit of this model is the ability to leave the provider responsible for keeping the software compliant with current rules and regulations.

I think cloud based HR systems are definitely the way forward for the HR software market and for all software for that matter.

Related articles

• The Future Of Automated Employee Hiring (chuckros.wordpress.com)
• Cloud computing explained by Salesforce.com [video via youtube]
• Market trends on HR software systems blog
• Cloud based hr software blog post

For the past 10 years, one thing that surely attracted foreign investment to China was the availibilty of low cost and relatively low skilled workforce. This was a major push for manufacturers to set up their factory in China. Things are changing in the HR landscape, alongside a changing industrial one.
HR in China today, are more mature and with professional experience and also, more expensive hires than before. Furthermore, employees seize every possibility to gain more status and higher salaries raising the question of how loyal an employee in China can be.
Chinese workforce is evolving hand in hand with the changing industrial landscape. And if you think about it, it’s only resembling the western world more and more.
If you feel you want more information on this topic you can read the full article here.
If you want to leave comments or thoughts on this, I would be delighted!

Image: Sura Nualpradid / FreeDigitalPhotos.net