Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 9:26pm Monday 05 July 2010
Did I miss the memo on funny job ad day? Today I came across a number of funny (and a few weird) job ad copies including "This is DOPE" and "If this sounds like your kind of gig, then please send us your CV and an idea of your salary expectations to one of the sexiest men on the planet (WTF)…our Human Resources Manager".
But there could only be one winner... This month’s winner is Engineering People who are looking for a Recruitment Consultant. Some of my favourite lines include
"I'm tired of writing boring adverts for boring recruitment consultants. So I thought a little honesty would not go a stray."
"Eat the nuts and sultanas (yes, I do offer almonds and the occasional peanuts) provided for morning tea"
"Complaints about this advert may be directed to Peter"
"I need a good lie down now, so call me, I'll be on the couch."
Kudos to Peter at Engineering People for the funny job ad. (points off for keywords loading).
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 4:07pm Friday 02 July 2010
Australian Job Board Statistics measuring the total unique browsers during June 2010. Data source - Nielsen NetRatings. SEEK 3.899m, CareerOne 1.554m, MyCareer 1.264m
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 11:00am Thursday 01 July 2010
Today, I gave quite a controversial presentation to a group of Recruitment Agency owners on Social Recruiting. When I was first asked to present to this group a few months ago, I was initially asked to speak about "Social Media and it's use in the Recruitment process". I said no, I wasn't interested.
A few days later, they came back to me and asked why not? I was quite honest, and gave my reasoning that the topic had been covered by me to death previously and I was not going to regurgitate old content. Plus, this was not a paying gig, but I could make some new clients from within this group.
What I did not expect in that conversation was a second proposal to take the opposite view on the topic "Are we wasting our time and resources on social recruiting?". They wanted a straight to the point presentation as I was not there to sell them or push a product… just my own views and opinions.
The presentation slides may not make that much sense to those who were not at the breakfast. But the overall message is short but sweet.
Stop talking
Start doing
Walk the talk
You can download or browse the presentation slides below. All examples shown have been removed. Sorry.
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I'll let you have your 15 minutes of fame, but social media is here and it is not going away.
Recruitment agencies must learn that posting jobs onto social networks is not "social recruiting", but on the other hand, they must STOP collecting data without the users knowing!
I still can't believe how it is possible for any recruiter, and members of the RCSA to allow recruitment systems to do this.Isn't this unethical?
We use Taleo with the enterprise social tools. You can connect via Linkedin and it will also search all the social networks to find the user. VERY SCARY.
Thomas, I'm sure your presentation was quite light hearted and entertaining for the attendees, but please stop with the mixed messages from your blog.
Jason, thanks for the input, you really had to be there to listen to the full presentation. The examples I provided clearly showed the good from the bad.
In relation to the data extraction tools - these are gaining much popularity within the industry. You can turn them off from the administrator account check your Taleo admin settings.
As for the RCSA. They are wayyyyy behind on any technology advancements.
Would have been great to hear you give the presentation. The slides don't really say a lot and obviously need the commentary to go with it, thanks for sharing them.
Like a lot of people in the online job space I have heard the positives and negatives about using Social Networking. As things change so quickly in the online it's very risky to hold an opinion about certain subjects and a lot riskier to try and predict successes (and or failures). Social Networking is one of those subjects.
One thing that is worth noting is that the internet itself is social. You could almost argue it is the first generation of online social networking. So just by the mere fact that you post jobs online you are in some manner already participating in Social Networking.
I am an advocate that most people just want to find a job and apply for it, plain and simple. It doesn't matter where that job is, as long as the process is uncomplicated, simple to understand and doesn't require to much work they will apply, social networking site or not. I guess as marketers we need to go where the traffic is and given the relatively inexpensive nature of getting involved in social networking, it is worth a try. You also need to consider that almost 72% of the Australian internet population visit at least one social network site a month.
I think the best performing social networking initiatives are those that are by their very nature social i.e. connecting with friends, discussing hobbies or favourite movies. I am not convinced that people want to make their job hunting social and this could be a reason why there is still some debate about whether it is a good thing or a bad thing.
One thing for sure, I do like Apple's approach to innovation. Essentially just do it and don't ask to many people to give you an opinion, otherwise you would never do it and maybe never get the rewards.
We've been discussing at work the issues of candidate privacy in our own Applicant Tracking System. An Industry set of ethics would be a good resource. Are you aware of such a document?
The online social networks are the tip of the iceberg for monitoring candidates.
robyn (11:11pm Thursday 22 July 2010)
what is taelo??? never heard of it.
that is why i am scared to put my resume/cv on linkedin - who can see it. is it safe to go there or not? i am interested in finding a job but am scared to put my resume out there for the whole world to see, access, read, chop and copy. can that happen on linked in???
Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 1:58pm Monday 28 June 2010
Soon, all browsers will support the HTML5 Geolocation API by default. Geolocation is the core function behind sites like Foursquare which can work out where you are located. I have previously talked about using Geolocation services used for sourcing or stalking candidates, but it does have some other uses in online recruitment.
Working out users location is not new or revolutionary. We have all been doing this for years via IP address lookup services (although these are never 100% accurate). But now, we can get the user to opt-in and provide more accurate information.
For example, when you visit a location-aware website your browser will ask you if you want to share your location.
If you agree, the browser gathers information about nearby wireless access points and your computer’s IP address.
Then it sends this information to the default geolocation service provider (Google Location Services) to get an estimate of your location.
That location estimate is then shared with the requesting website script.
So how can we use this in online recruitment? We can use the user’s geolocation data to confirm the users credentials while
Applying for a role. If the user is not located within a certain area, you could notify them that you only accept applications from users in the following locations. (I don't suggested this. See previous article on Rejecting Candidates based on IP Address)
Contact details. Work out which is the closest office to the user and serve up that information.
Security checks. Collect the users geolocation data when they register, login, buy job credits etc.
I have modified a simple HTML5 Geolocation API script first written by Michael Spector with some extra browser checks. Try it on your desktop browser and mobile phone to see the difference. <html>
<head>
<script type="text/javascript">
if (navigator.geolocation) {
alert("Your browser supports HTML5 Geolocation API");
navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(position) {
document.location.href =
"http://maps.google.com/maps?q="
+ position.coords.latitude + ",+"
+ position.coords.longitude
+ "+(You%20are%20here!)&iwloc=A&hl=en";
});
} else {
alert("Your browser does not support the HTML5 Geolocation API");
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<h1>HTML5 Geolocation API</h1>
</body>
</html>
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 8:00am Thursday 24 June 2010
Extended Authentication (XAuth) is a new open platform to extend authenticated user services across the web. You may have noticed that more and more websites are integrating with 3rd party services to allow users to use their existing profile (ie Facebook, LinkedIn, OpenID) to connect with your site.
Unlike newly registered accounts, existing 3rd party accounts have rich profile data and services capable of driving tremendous referral traffic back to the originating website.
The average internet user has more online services than ever (Emails, Social Networks)
Many of these services provide APIs (OpenSocial, OpenGraph Protocol) thru delegated authentication (OAuth) to websites
Websites don't have an easy way of knowing which services a visitor uses so they present all available options and push the decision to the user
A solution was proposed called XAuth. XAuth tells a webpage "this is where the site visitor does social networking." Then, OAuth is the way the user logs in there, granting the site permission to access their info without seeing their password.
If you're familiar with OAuth, you might be wondering what the difference is between that system of secure authentication and XAuth. Note: Do not confuse this XAuth with the xAuth (lower case "x", upper case "A") released by Twitter or X Window authorisation
XAuth tells you where to ask for OAuth from. Remember... the "auth" short for authentication is a little misleading as XAuth is actually a discovery service - not authentication! But just because the user has an active session on one provider doesn't necessarily mean that they'll want to use that provider to sign in?
Having a function that can automatically work out if the user is already logged in to another site can improve the users overall experience with your website.
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 4:27pm Wednesday 23 June 2010
For those readers interested in Product Management. Let's have a look at some product management axioms originally thought of by Saeed Khan in 2007, and recently summarised in his presentation on the topic.
Every Activity is part of a Sale
Nail it, then Scale it
Change is a process, not an event
Think horizontally, act vertically
The “Nail it, then Scale it” principle applies to software products in general and not simply web properties. Common reasons for not “nailing” it include:
Incorrect and unclear understanding of customer needs
Missing key functionality in the product
Flawed understanding of the competitive landscape
Improper pricing model relative to market expectations
Unaccounted changes in the market landscape
There may be other reasons, but if you look at all of those listed, two things are clear:
Additional work would need to be done to the product or company processes after the product was released to address the issues.
All of the issues could be addressed with basic research and analysis, and likely a little extra time added to the development and/or launch cycle.
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 3:22pm Wednesday 23 June 2010
When developing any type of website or software application. Too often you get stuck at the magical 90% completion mark. 90% does not equal 100% satisfaction for any client. We have all been in these situations and Zurb has put together a quick 6 Tips to Avoiding Website Roadblocks blog post.
No clear deadline. Although it's a simple concept, many companies have trouble staying on track. Instead of letting problems grow over time, reevaluate progress each week and make adjustments ahead of an impending disaster three months down the road.
Perfection. The site is never going to be completely right. Push it live and learn from customers.
Unclear goals to launch. Finish lines need a tangible end point. If the team doesn't know how to win, then it's going to get stuck in circles chasing idea
Poor project planning. "The easy Photoshop button," "the site that magically fills itself with content," or the "engineering problem that is no big deal." We've all heard (or made) these comments, and they never end well. Pull your team in early and ask tough questions— it's not going to get easier in the middle of the project!
Lack of engineering thinking. Websites are moving bits, not dynamic ad boards. The engineer you see as not being a team player probably has a few reasons why the answer is "that won't work"— find out what they are. Look for ways to incorporate engineering thinking into the early phases of a project.
No interface talent. Those pages aren't going to just suddenly come together by themselves. Make sure your team is stacked with people who understand how to construct web pages, it's fundamental to a successful web project.
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Does this post resonnate! As a business owner that has launched 2 complex sites in the past 18 months, I can relate to the comment regarding perfection. The sites, a VMS and a search engine, will never be "complete". Always a work in progress.
Project planning is essential and we have found that deadlines can be pushed out-many times with good reason.
Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 8:00am Thursday 17 June 2010
Australian Job Board Statistics measuring the total unique browsers during May 2010. Data source - Nielsen NetRatings. SEEK 3.998m, CareerOne 1.610m, MyCareer 1.338m
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 12:04pm Tuesday 15 June 2010
It was only a matter of time before Australian job boards start integrating with the LinkedIn API. We have discussed utilising the LinkedIn API a number of times previously.
When a candidate applies for a role. They can attach their LinkedIn profile by clicking on a button to authorise the job board to pull their profile contents into the application form (auto fill) or attach the candidates resume as PDF etc.
This kind of feature will become standard across all job boards over the coming years. You can view my implementation and also another example by Jobping below.
Once the user has authorised the website application, the users LinkedIn resume will attach to the application form.
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Posted By: Thomas Shaw, 2:06pm Monday 14 June 2010
It's not often you see funny job ads in the paper. But in this weekend’s edition of The Age/MyCareer, (amongst the plethora of ads promoting their iPhone app) I came across a funny job ad by Fusion Workforce.
At Fusion we value people who are: Bloody Funny (we are), Grounded (not by your mum), Confident (FIGJAM), Accountable (just do it), Honest (no BS), Friendly & Infectious (not contagious), Committed (BYO straight jackets), Focused on Health & Well Being with a strong sense of self (No weed smoking hippies) AND most importantly you don't take yourself too seriously, as you can see we don't.
Fusion Workforce, you win the job ad of the month. Well done.
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Working out users location is not new or revolutionary. We have all been doing this for years via IP address lookup services (although these are never 100% accurate). But now, we can get the user to opt-in and provide more accurate information.
