10 Reasons to Ditch Outlook and Excel for Recruitment

10 Reasons to Ditch Outlook and Excel for Recruitment If your recruitment process relies on Outlook and Excel then you could be losing good candidates, and worse still, having a negative impact on your bottom line.  As anyone recruiting with Outlook and Excel will know, providing a seamless and standardised recruitment process is difficult. And because of this, losing good candidates and potentially their business as a consumer â€" is a very real and present danger. But it doesn’t have to be this way technology is freely available to help you streamline your recruitment process. It won’t cost you anything but will bring huge benefits. If you are still finding it hard to give up on Outlook and Excel, then we have created a list of 10 reasons to let go of the old ways of recruiting in order for you to embrace the new: 1) You are losing candidates in the process: Keeping track of candidates and where they are in the recruitment process is a tricky business. This is made worse when you lose sight of which hiring manager they have spoken to and when. The upshot is that candidates can quite literally get forgotten and end up dropping out of the process. 2) You are wasting time repeating the same tasks: Recruiting using email and a spreadsheet means that you have to spend a lot of time copying and pasting. From job descriptions, to email confirmations, the recruitment process involves many repetitive tasks.  By automating these tasks you could be spending more time on the tasks that really matter. 3) You provide a low-quality candidate experience: If your recruitment process has gaps in it, then think about what that’s like for the person applying for your job. The candidate experience is critical for recruitment, and business success at the very least candidates expect timely updates on where they are in the recruitment process. Currently, 58% of them say they don’t receive those regular updates. 4) It is difficult to promote your vacancies: As if the internal admin wasn’t difficult enough, you then have to promote your vacancies. This will include manually uploading jobs on to career sites and amending job ads as and when required. Despite the effort, you won’t realise any benefit from your content through search engine optimisation. 5) Staying compliant is a real challenge: The recruitment process â€" like many other business processes â€" comes with its fair share of rules and regulations. That means your recruitment efforts need to comply with local employment laws as well as following data protection regulations. Recruitment technology helps you stay compliant and ensures candidate profiles are only accessible to relevant colleagues. 6) It is almost impossible to report on your recruitment activity: Disparate systems make reporting on recruitment activities nigh on impossible. And without measuring your activities and their impact you have no way of understanding what’s working, what’s not and how you can improve things. The new breed of free recruitment technologies offer reporting as standard, so you can immediately find out how well your recruitment efforts are working. 7) It is hard to create a talent pool: How easy is it for you to identify the right talent when a new job has been created? Are your email folders and/or spreadsheet a help or a hindrance when you need to review previous candidates? Chances are your talent pool is simply an Excel list of names which in itself will tell you very little. 8) Recruitment admin takes up too much time: If you use Outlook and Excel to recruit then you will be spending too much time on recruitment admin. If you automate the tedious admin tasks you then have time to focus on what really matters: sourcing and interviewing high-quality candidates. 9) Your time to hire is longer (and therefore more expensive): Using disparate systems to recruit will make the process longer. As well as having a negative effect on the candidate experience you could end up incurring costs as a result of having to hire temp staff or contractors. Cut the time to hire and you immediately save money. And having all your stakeholders connected to one single solution makes collaboration much easier, thereby reducing the time to hire. 10) You are wasting valuable business time: Remember, the more time your colleagues spend on recruitment admin, the less time they have to spend on their day job. Centralising your recruitment process means line managers do not have to be so involved in the recruitment process â€" and that will be good for business. Outlook and Excel make for an inefficient recruitment process and a poor candidate experience. But no organisation wants to spend more on recruitment than it absolutely has to and no organisation wants to get a reputation for having a poor recruitment process. The answer is to invest in the new breed of recruitment technology that streamlines recruitment admin, keeps you on the right side of the law and that provides all the recruitment tools you need to create a great candidate experience. Author: This blog post is provided by Remy Verhoeven, Co-founder of Qandidate.com.  Feel free to drop me an email at remy@qandidate.com or follow me on Twitter @remyverhoeven.

Branding Your Resume So Age Is A Non-Issue - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Branding Your Resume So Age Is A Non-Issue - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Age and experience used to be a good thing on a resume. At least thats what everyone over 40 was taught. It was a good thing until a few years ago, because age and experience gave the impression that you had already solved similar problems to the hiring managers priorities since thats what a hiring manager is really looking for. But then a few changes all happened within a few years. First, employers (even small employers) started using applicant tracking systems to micro target job applicants for very specific criteria. Next, the job market changed from a market of candidate shortages to one of job shortages. So, the job market turned to mass competition, with an average 1,000 candidates for each advertised job. Finally, Google Its not like Google is a new phenomena, its been around for a long time. But each year Google has been a go-to business tool, its gotten better and better. Google has become so good at creating a collective intelligence that its reduced the value of age and experience. You doubt this, because you know of dozens of your experiences that Google cant replace. But think of all of the experiences that Google describes, advices and returns expertise of thought leaders and that does replace (and devalues) much of the experience that age implies. Because much (no, not all) of your experience can be replicated by a junior employee and Google at a much lower cost. It doesnt have to be that way. Heres 4 ways you can brand your resume so your age is a non-issue: Be the superior candidate: When youre the superior candidate, age is rarely a deal breaker. Because when youre the superior candidate, you stand head and shoulders above the rest. But each hiring manager has a different idea of what a superior candidate looks like because each hiring manager has different needs. While each hiring manager has different needs, there is a common factor superior candidates have already solved similar problems to the hiring managers current and upcoming issues. To be the superior candidate, youll want to first learn the hiring managers priority issues and then highlight how youve solved similar problems for prior employers also showing how important the results were to prior employers. Dont brand yourself as qualified: With mass competition and job shortages, qualified candidates are a dime-a-dozen to most hiring managers. Since theres typically more qualified candidates than interview slots, being qualified isnt enough to get you interviews today. Since there are typically so many qualified candidates replying to job ads, when you brand yourself as qualified, you look just like the other candidates. The HR reps and recruiters reviewing resumes typically review hundreds of resumes per day, so they all start to look the same Its human nature to look for differences, when looking at hundreds of resumes that look basically the same. If you cant differentiate yourself effectively, guess what makes you different and gets noticed Your age. Focus your resume on differentiation, rather than your qualifications. Dont look similar to other candidates: When you look similar to other candidates, you lose to ageism. When your reader sees age as your primary differentiating factor, its almost never positive. Rather than looking the same as other candidates, find ways to differentiate that youre a superior candidate who has already solved similar problems to the hiring managers priorities. Dont describe your experience as replicable: If an employer can replace your experience with Google searches, you lose to ageism. Just stating that you have 20+ years of experience isnt enough it used to mean that you had a better chance at already having solved problems in your industry. Today, just describing your years of experience makes you look replicable by a 20 year old with a Google machine and that 20 year old is a whole lot less expensive. So you can continue feeling the frustration of ageism in your job search, by branding yourself by age and experience. Or you can do something about it. Your choice Author: Phil Rosenberg is President of http://www.reCareered.com, a leading job search information website and gives complimentary job search webinars at http://ResumeWebinar.com. Phil also runs the Career Central group, one of Linkedin’s largest groups for job seekers and has built one of the 20 largest personal networks on Linkedin globally.

Dont tell me youre busy

Dont tell me youre busy Lets abolish the word busy. When you ask someone, How have you been? and they say, Busy, it doesnt mean anything. Im sick of it. We all have the same 24 hours to fill. Everyones are filled with something. The difference is that the busy people feel frenetic during those hours. Those of you who walk around telling everyone how busy you are, get a grip. Make some tough choices and calm down. Theres a big difference between a busy day and a full day. The former is so frantic that you arent effective. Dont tell me you cant help it. You can. Here are the steps to take: 1. Recognize that a frenetic life is a life half lived. You should aim for Flow, a concept from Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Flow is a unique state of mind where productivity and creativity are at their highest. Csikszentmihalyi shows, in his wide-ranging study, that Flow generates the grand ideas, phenomenal work, and intense, rewarding experiences that people identify with happiness. Flow occurs when you are fully present and engaged in what you are doing; the concept of time melts away in a commitment to the goal-oriented activity. This feeling requires being occupied and engaged for uninterrupted chunks of your day without ever once thinking that youre rushed for time. People who are busy do not get this feeling. 2. Recognize that you are addicted to busy. You like what busy does for you. Busy gives you an excuse for poor performance. Busy gives you a way to ignore parts of your life that are falling apart and need attention. And when what you do makes you feel inadequate â€" for example, if youre a volunteer, taking care of a parent, meditating or doing other things that are not valued by society busy gives you something to say that society does value. Many people mistakenly feel that busy means important. But busy really means out of control. A full day means planned and prioritized. A busy day means frenetic and unorganized. Full is fine. It is expected. But important people have full days, not busy days, because important people cant afford to be out of control. 3. Prioritize. This does not mean making a to-do list. Nor does it mean making a list of career goals. You need to list what you want in life. It should be a short list, because life is short. Dont make a list of dreams; you need to give up your dreams. Not all, but most. This is because being an adult means making choices. It means admitting that we cannot do everything and choosing to devote the time we have to whats most important. By not making choices, you arent facing the realities of adulthood. By scheduling your days with more things than you can accomplish, you are not taking control of your life. Youre letting chance take control. Chance will dictate what gets done because you refuse to prioritize. 4. Say no. Whenever someone asks you to do something, be ready to say no. Your priorities at work, home, and during your personal and networking time should be clear. Do not worry that youll hurt someones feelings by saying no. To do something well, you must be focused. That takes self-discipline. But when you say yes to please someone, it shows you lack the self discipline to be truly focused. Saying no is a gift to the people and projects that are the priorities in your life. You do not automatically have to say yes to everything youre asked to do at work either. Your boss establishes your priorities. If she then gives you work that would compromise those priorities, you can refuse (with an explanation). Sticking to the plan will makes you look smart and committed. 5. Change how you talk. Dont ever say again that youre busy. If this is your current response, realize you cant bear to give up your dreams and being busy veils your fear of underperformance. You need to say something more honest than busy. When you have done the first four steps, you will no longer be busy. You will have room to be focused and enthralled. Then, when someone says, How have you been? you will have something more interesting and engaging to say than Busy.

How to Get Referred and Get Hired

How to Get Referred and Get Hired Its true referred candidates are the number one source of external hires! And did you know, referred candidates are twice as likely to get interviewed and have a 40% chance of getting hired over other candidates (according to the  New York Times)? So why do you continue to send your resume for job postings without finding someone inside the company who can refer you? This post will share different ways to find inside connections in order to land that next job faster! The idea is to set yourself apart as a referred candidate: How to find connections inside a company: Long ago, it would take a massive network (or a very well connected network) and lots of phone calls and emails to get a company insider name. However, LinkedIn has made finding contacts and connections increasingly easier. LinkedIn is a gold mine. Use it to search for company insiders. Start your search by selecting the “company” search option from the search bar and type the name of one company you are interested in. View the company page and look at all the results in the How Youre Connected box. You are looking for first or even second degree connections who work in the company with a posting you can connect with and let them know you are interested in applying to a position in his/her company. Be sure you view the green shared connections link under the persons profile to see who you both know. If you arent connected, reach out to the person you know best either through LinkedIn or email and ask if they will introduce you to the company insider you want to meet! In case you havent figured this out yet, you should work on expanding your LinkedIn network by connecting with people on a regular basis. No LinkedIn connections? Try this tool: If you want search LinkedIn profiles inside and outside of your network, you chould try Recruitem (http://recruitin.net/). Thanks goes to @avidcareerist for discovering this! This tool will search public LinkedIn profiles. Enter the company name in the keyword box and country then see your results on Google. You would ideally be looking for the hiring managers job title. As a last resort, in other words, you cant find anyone close to the depart you would like to work in, find the Human Resources or Recruiting head and ask to connect with them. But dont stop here! Search other social networks too: As crazy as it may sound, not everyone is on LinkedIn. You can use the Recruitem tool to search Google+ profiles. Often, these search results contain some new names. If you have a Facebook account, you can and should search to see if you can find friends or friends of friends who work inside the target company. Jobvites recent study says that 76% of social job seekers found their current position through Facebook! And dont forget about Twitter. Search Twitter bios using Twitters advanced search  or try searching within KnowEm.com, a directory of Twitter users. Last, but not least: change your approach! Stop spraying-and-praying your resume to hundreds of job postings. Be discerning about which jobs you choose to apply to. Most importantly, use a proactive approach instead of a reactive approach. This means you need to identify companies you would like to work for. Call them targets. If you talk to anyone who has ever been in sales or marketing, they have prospect or target lists made up of companies who could potentially use their product or service. Their lists contain company and contact information of people to reach out to and have an exploratory conversation with. In your case, these target companies and contacts could potentially need your skills or expertise.  Your targets are not necessarily hiring, the companies you list have been known to hire the types of jobs you are interested in or currently employ people who do they type of work you would like to do. Dont forget about finding competitors and similar companies.  Your goal is to build inside connections before a job ge ts posted, because we all know, that once a job is publicly posted, everyone and their brother/sister begins applying. Need ideas for target companies? You probably have some idea of companies you would like to work for. Maybe it is a company thats been featured in the news or youve heard people rave about. This is a starting point. You have to trust in the exploration process. If you are still at a loss, take a look at these lists which may help you discover great companies: Glassdoor.com’s  Best Places to Work Fortune’s 100 Best Companies to Work For Search for “Top 100? and “Best Employer” lists for your city

Showcase Your Personal Brand with LinkedIn Comments - Executive Career Brandâ„¢

Showcase Your Personal Brand with Comments How to Build Your Personal Brand with Comments

3 Secrets To Turning Website Traffic Into Cash!

3 Secrets To Turning Website Traffic Into Cash! You are running a business, which means that your overall goal has to be your profit and your growth. Companies need to aim for growth if they hope to expand in their industry and make a good name for themselves. Everyone in business knows the merits of a business website that is strong, informative and draws the crowds. Here’s the thing, though, the number of entrepreneurs that know how to bring in the website visitors but don’t know how to make those visitors buy from them is astonishing! Bringing in the right traffic is hard enough as it is, which is why if you are specialist in pest control, a company that can get you the right pest control leads knocking on your door is essential. After that, though, you have to know how to make money off of those leads. The success of your business doesn’t just stop at people looking at your website. It doesn’t matter one bit if they’re clicking on your blog or your online shop if they’re not buying from you. You have to remember that it’s not just about the people visiting your website; it’s about the RIGHT people clicking. There’s no point in anyone visiting your site if they have no interest in what you do or what you’re selling. What people do when they visit your website has to be your ultimate focus if you hope to turn those visitors into customers. So, how can you do that? How can you get those people interested in who you are to buy from you? Be Direct. Your landing page for your website should clearly lay out what it is that you do and how you can be contacted. The message that you send out on your main website is going to have the biggest impact on your visitors, as they can gauge in under a minute whether they are in the right place for what they want, if they are the right customer, and how they can get in touch with you to get what they need. You ‘Most Desired Action” Counts. When people visit your site, what is it that you want them to do? The obvious answer is to buy from you, but what if all you needed was an inquiry from each of them? People who show an interest in what you do are also interested in being customers. Make your most desired action your goal for your site and you can build customers. Offer More. You want people to be customers whether now or later, so you need to offer them a reason to keep coming back to you. Create links to your social media, online calculators, lists of useful links outside of your site â€" all of these can help you to create more customers. Your website is going to mean more to people than you think. The more it grabs the attention of those you want to buy from you, the better off your business will be. Watch your sales soar!

What to Look For When Searching For the Best Resume Writing Services

What to Look For When Searching For the Best Resume Writing ServicesWhen you are looking for the best resume writing services, you need to know how to get the most out of your search. Even though it is a service, some of the companies that offer this type of service are also the best in the business when it comes to providing excellent, professional resumes.Because of the increase in popularity of these types of services, there are more scam artists out there who are in it for the money. This is a good thing because it shows you how important it is to research your options when you are looking for the best resume writing services in town.To get the most out of your research, you will need to know how to start the process of finding the best resume writing services in your area. The best place to start is by looking for agencies that are already reputable and have experience with delivering exceptional resumes.You will need to find out what they offer before you can begin the search. A resume is a document that contains all of the information necessary to get you a job.Be sure to ask the company how long they have been in business. Once you find one that has been around for a while, you will know that they know what they are doing and know how to get you the right things to put on your resume.When you start searching for a company to write your resume, make sure you check out their past experience. You can use this as an indication of how experienced the company is, as well as how long they have been in business.They should have a work history for their company and should be a member of some of the local chambers of commerce. If they do not, then you will want to move on to the next company.When you get to the company that has been around for a while, you will know that they know how to write resumes. This is important because you want the resume that you will send out to have all of the information that the employer is looking for.