StlRecruiting

JavaStl Has New Blog On Chicago Recruiting

How's that for a title that ought to twist you up.

Brad Hogenmiller, affectionately known around the social media world as @JavaStl, has officially started his own social media company and is working on a project for Rehabcare.  Brad's new site is called Spot On Chicago, and it covers recruiting, social media, and occupational therapy in the Chicagoland area. 

What's cool about this is one - it's another example of a recruiter that is using social media to hire people (and yes, that's his main goal), but it also is a chance for him to dig into a recruiting operation and help transform the way they gather and filter people to hire.

We'll do some interview with him as he goes on - but it's a pretty exciting thing to do, and I wish him all the best.

You can find him at Twitter on http://twitter.com/spotonchicago and Facebook.com (help him get to a hundred fans and he can claim the name.

Learning About Recruiting In The Late 90's

My first experience with recruiting came in the 1990's. It was my job to wrangle up some friends and get them to come work for a local catering outfit.  $8-10 for them, and I wasn't paid, but it was social networking nonetheless.

My second experience was hiring employees for Abercrombie and Fitch. We'd bring in young folks in college (SLUH primarily), and those on break, and hire them to work because they had a certain look.  There was actually a "look book" that was put out. It was my first experience with sexual harassment.  When a really hot girl came in, all the male managers would interview her.  And then of course there was the jean folding.  They weren't bad guys - they were just young guys, and no one stood up to them.  Truth is - many of the women liked it, which is why they dated the managers.  Still - the hiring was interesting, because the brand was the best at the time.  People worked at Abercrombie because it was cool.  You made minimum wage, and had to buy the clothes, but people worked there because their employment branding was effective.

My third experience with recruiting was as a manager's assistant for a call center.  I was the first level of interviews for an inbound sales team, and my filtering was horrible.  Of course, so was the level of resumes.  The company decided to pull people off the floor and use them to bring in resumes.  They were incented with $10 a resume.  After making thousands with no hires, they moved on.  Turns out they were calling Apple Temp Staffing offices and asking them to fax over resumes.  Easy money.  That was my first experience with how incentive programs are useless if they aren't managed well. The resume scam was like a corporate version of the Sorceror's Apprentice, but the funny thing was it continued for two months after I reported it.  No one I reported to cared - because it wasn't their budget.

And that was my first lesson in office politics.

What makes all of this interesting, at least to me, is how these practices are commonplace.  Small businesses still look for friends and family to staff.  Retail hiring is all about the brand and the look.  And high-turnover jobs will always be subject to internal scams as managers seek to alleviate the hiring problem with a "system."

Understanding how this works is the first step to being a better recruiter, or manager.

Back In The Old Days

The first staffing firm I worked in was a satellite office in Los Angeles.  We had a Monster and a Dice account, but our primary files was a stack of resumes about 6 feet tall that came from a pair of files in the corner.  We would take the files, call people, and "update their resume," while putting them into the computer.

Good times.  And as I progressed in the organization, I would always start my recruiters out on those paper files - learning to pick up the phone, dial, ask questions, and enter information into the recruiter.  Those that did well in that first week excelled. Those who struggled with just that simple task, never got it and quickly moved on.

Today we have the fancy applicant tracking systems that are supposed to solve all our problems, but I still maintain that working with paper files the first week or two is the key to good training, both for the phone and for entering data into the computer.

Yes, I do a lot of training and talking abotu social media, but the secrets of my recruiting success has always been more phone calls than google searches or board resumes.  And while I use social media to prospect these days, I use the phone to close the deal.

Paying For Client Entertainment: Why Not The Gun Range?

Back in the salad days of recruiting, when I was an account manager selling staffing to local companies, I had an expense account.   At every firm I went to, it was understood that meals, drinks, coffee, golf, and the occasional entertainment expense was not only acceptable, it was required.  In fact, on one occasion, I was told that my expense reports were not robust enough, and I needed to spend more if I wanted to be score highly in my next employee evaluation.  I spent more.

At my last company before starting my firm, excessive expenses were frowned upon.  The company was a public one, and profitability played into the manager's bonus, so there was no pressure to spend for the joy of it.  Spending was okay, but no one said double your account his month. 

I don't know if things have changed in the last several years - certainly now that I own the business the money I spend is more select - but I wonder how much is has changed for the rest of the industry.  I know my wife often laments my paying for meals - she thinks it's a residue of having an expense account all those years.

I bring this up because yesterday I was down at the gun range test firing a Colt 1911, and it dawned on me as I was paying how awesome it would have been to take clients to the range instead of the golf course. 

1) Even the most liberal of guys likes to fire a gun now and then.

2) Enthusiasts will think you are the best account manager. EVER.

3) It only takes an hour, first an afternoon or morning for golf.

4) It's relatively cheap, even if you have to rent the gun.  $100-150 is cheaper than golf and sometimes even drinks.

5) You stand out.  No one forgets firing a weapon. 

Sure, there might be some kind of complaints if you announce it to their office, but it's a great way to relieve stress, and get someone out of the office at lunch. 

Any account managers want to weigh in anonymously?  I'm tweeting this as well.

 

Jim Durbin, Social Media Consultant

Do you know how to identify cobbler's kids?  They're the only ones in town without shoes.

My blogs sometimes feel that way, which is why I've been interviewing people to take them over and use them for their own ends.  While much of what we do is still focused on recruiting, 85% of my time has been in social media marketing lately, and I've let the local sites suffer.

You can change that, if you're willing to write.  There's a standing offer on each site to use these for your own personal branding, but as of right now, folks seem more enamored of Twitter than making money.  Go figure.

This is what I've been up to. In 2006, I left my staffing firm and joined my wife's marketing business. I left a comfortable corporate job to strike out on my own and work in a new media company dedicated to improving corporate relationships to online communities.

Today I tap my social network to hire social media experts, train internal resources, execute campaigns, and serve as a sounding board to entrepreneurs seeking to understand how the online world can improve their business.

My company, Durbin Media, is a pioneer in the social media space. We've been at this since January 2006, working with small and microbusinesses, start-ups, and a few carefully chosen national companies. We train corporations and individuals, execute campaigns, we find the people to work for your company as well. 

St Louis Social Media Position

You know me and short job descriptions.  I need someone to be a social media consultant for a company. The position starts off as consulting gig, but if you do a good job, they will want you to go full time in six months.  I have a fixed rate and salary in mind.

The position is remote, but you'll have a cubicle.  It's working for a nursing provider here in St Louis, helping brand and promote the recruiting department.  The job is not posted, and it's my job to bring a slate of candidates to them (it's retained). 

What you'll do

You'll blog (regularly, and on multiple sites).

You'll monitor the online world for information on the company

You'll look for and post events in other cities.

You'll help the recruiter be the face of the company's employment, but will not be a ghostwriter.

You'll make it so the recruiter and the company are well-known in the geographical area, which means working with them to create a style of writing that agrees with both of you. 

You'll report on results. 

What I need from you.

1) Experience writing consistently in the online world

2) Experience interviewing (reporters and recruiters welcome)

3) Self-disciplined (as in examples, not, "I'm really discipline."

4) Curiousity

5) Functional use of Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning social networks, Google, and blogging platforms (this is typepad, but you don't need it)

6) Some background in recruiting is great, but not necessary.  Same is true for PR.

7) A desire to utilize social media for results, and not "engagement" or "conversation."  It's a metrics based world.

I can train some of what you don't know, but I'm only training the one who gets the job.  If interested, contact me at socialmediaheadhunter at the google email or using smheadhunter as a headhunter on a number of sites. 

Giving Away Free Books

I've received a number of books lately, and thought the best way to pass them out was posting them on the blog for you.

The first is something called The Trouble With HR, and it's written by Johnny C Taylor, Jr, and Gary Stern.  I have not read it, as the book came from a publicist, but it does cover some favorite topics of the online employment world, which revolve around HR difficulties.

Personally, I think a lot of the problems with Human Resources are structural (mixing recruiting and benefits, failing to understand HR's role in protecting the company from law suits).  It has conflicting duties, and that makes for difficult roles to fill.

Taylor and Stern argue that good HR departments keep employees around longer, and that can be shown as having a measurable monetary value for the company.

So, if you're in St Louis, and you'd like to get a free book, simply leave a comment below about something you love about Human Resources.  Winner is who I choose based on whimsy that day.

Stories From The St Louis Market

Unemployment in St Louis was measured at 9.9% in June 2009 by the RCGA.  Those are pretty scary numbers, and the big questions are not only when they will taper off, but if they will remain permanent. 

Jobseekers have plenty of stories about being unfairly treated, but employers have just as many about candidates that just don't seem that interested in taking jobs.  Rather than complain, I want to focus on stories about people who did get employed.  I want to hear from companies who are growing, and who found those employees that are helping them succeed.

If you have a story, or know of one, contact me at socialmediaheadhunter at gmail with the subject St Louis Jobs.  These don't have to be social media stories, but instead should be descriptions of how you got a job, or how you hired.

Free publicity - on a blog that will put your company on the first page of Google.  What else could you ask for?

St Louis Recruiting Professionals Meeting Wednesday

Got my reminder from the LinkedIn Group.  A good headhunter networking group.

Just a reminder... We have arranged a networking event for members of the St. Louis Recruiting Professionals group. This will be a great chance to meet and speak with other professionals in the industry as well as the area.

WHEN: Wednesday, July 15, 2009
WHERE: Araka in Clayton (next to the Ritz)
TIME: 5:30

If you have any further questions please contact myself or Natosha McIntyre.

Thanks,
Jack Kennedy

Facebook For Recruiters: Updated Live Webinar

Kennedy Information is having me host a live Facebook recruiting webinar this Thursday at 12:00 CST.  Those who know me and have been through my training before know this is something to add to your schedule - we cover strategy, sourcing, marketing, branding and integration unlike any other trainer out there.

My background in social media and the fact that I run a desk makes a difference in my training.  I'm you.

So check it out, sign up, and join us for the new, new Facebook training

Facebook is the hottest social network out there, with user demographics spanning generations and regions. It’s a gold mine for recruiters; but for different reasons than you might think.

For recruiters, the real value of Facebook is in its messaging and referral capabilities. This time-saving interactive seminar will highlight the different ways to use Facebook to communicate with and hire top candidates.

Join us on June 25th and find out about:

• Real-world strategies for setting realistic expectations with candidates
• Tactics that leverage your current talent pool to help you find, and connect with, new prospects
• Effective communication approaches that yield higher response rates to initial contact
• Powerful marketing and branding techniques to attract top candidates and support your employment brand
• An overview for managers as to when using Facebook is appropriate for employees

Can’t make June 25th? Register now to receive access to the full recorded event following its conclusion and listen to it at your leisure from anywhere with web access!

A Great Value Set up the interactive seminar in a conference room and pay one low fee for as many attendees as you wish.

Registration includes the link to the online event; a PowerPoint presentation a 15-minute Q&A session; and email access to the speaker before, during and after the event.