No, Fantasy Football does not improve workplace productivity. From the article: During the National Football League regular season, nearly 37 million people spend an average of 50 minutes a week at work managing their fantasy teams comprised of real-life players tallying points based on statistical performance, according to outplacement consultants Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Fantasy sports ranks with shopping on eBay Inc.’s Web auction site and online poker as the biggest waste of productivity at the workplace, said John Challenger, CEO of the consulting firm. As an avid Fantasy Football player, if they are spending only 50 minutes a week on their team, they are not going to win… Read More
Continue ReadingUsing MySpace.com
Steve Rothberg has a definitive post on his blog CollegeRecruiter.com titled Searching for Entry Level Job Seekers on MySpace. I posted on this topic recently and followed the herd mentality about excluding candidates based on their MySpace information. Steve has a different take on it as he states: MySpace and other social networking sites are valuable recruiting tools because they provide employers with access to a desired demographic group: those who are searching for entry level jobs and internships. The sites also allow employers to connect with people who may not be looking for a job or who have chosen not to use traditional Internet recruitment sites such as CollegeRecruiter.com.… Read More
Continue ReadingAd’s Final Stage=Resumes
Just a quick tip about posting jobs on major boards. We have a couple ads expiring shortly (within days) and are getting swamped with emails. We’ve written about this phenomenon before. At the end of an ad’s posting window, a bubble of responses will flood in to your inbox. We do not get calls, just emails with resumes attached. One of our sales ads received 24 applicant responses alone during the final 24 hours of the posting.
Continue ReadingPhone Screening Tip
We use phone screens extensively in our sourcing activities. The first advantage to this approach is that it removes some biases from the interviewer. Second, it neutralizes a candidates ability to pour on their rapport-building skills. Thirdly, it is a much shorter time commitment than an in-person interview. I could go on, but you get the point. CareerJournal has reposted this article – Four Tips for Acing Interviews by Phone – which made me think about the candidate side of the phone screen. Tip #3 starts with this point: 3. Prepare in advance. If you’ve scheduled or are anticipating a phone interview, keep notes and your resume at hand, says… Read More
Continue ReadingNarrowing Down Applicants
A dated article in the Harvard Management Update caught my eye. The article provided some great practical advice that I thought would be good to pass on. If you are having trouble narrowing down the number of candidates, the author suggested asking each candidate to perform a simple task. Some examples: write a description of themselves or prepare a report on some aspect of your company or industry. A sizable percentage of the candidates won’t bother to do the task thereby effectively eliminating themselves from consideration. At that point, you can spend focused time with the applicants that have followed through on your request. This might be a great way… Read More
Continue ReadingJob Titles Attract Workers
I read a recent newsletter article from Ragan’s Management Resources titled “Use job titles to attract and reward workers” (sorry, no link available). The president of a service company ran an experiement. He offered job candidates a choice between having the title of “sales manager” or the title of “salesperson” with an additional $2,000 added to their salary. Interesting enough, most of the candidates took the “manager” title over the pay. I would have liked this article to go a little deeper by sharing the ad or providing their insight into why they thought the title was chosen over the pay. I would venture a guess that the ad unintentionally… Read More
Continue ReadingAnecdote – Online Dating?
This is the creepiest anecdote I have posted, but I think you will laugh. Recent responses to an ad led to 4 email from the same person. So being the inquisitive person that I am, I opened the emails and read through them. What I read was shocking to say the least – I will share with you what I can. The first email read: I am a plump sweatie . . . sorry . . . but working on that . .I used to be just tall and burly I am 6’1 I cannot share the last line. Then the second email came in just 1 minute later and… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Town?
I haven’t heard of the phrase “The Creative Class” but I think I will have to read the book. This BusinessWeek article – The Easiest Commute of All – ties in to the previous post regarding telecommuters. This is fascinating: Mesa del Sol, designed by New Urbanism guru Peter Calthorpe, will be the first place of its kind built from scratch and targeted at the creative class. A big marketing push will be made to coastal knowledge workers looking to cash out of their million-dollar split levels, move inland, and work remotely for their companies. Mansionettes will carry price tags of up to $400,000, about the same as the average… Read More
Continue ReadingTelecommuting Trend
We have discussed telecommuting on many occassions and this morning’s JustSell.com email referenced this survey. Some points of data to consider: While only 23 percent of U.S. employees work from home or are given that option, most of the work force (59 percent) believes that telecommuting at least part-time is the ideal work situation. This includes the 38 percent who think a mix of coming into the office and working from home is preferable and the 21 percent who say working at home is the best. We are seeing this play out in our current sourcing activities. The younger generations are highly receptive to telecommuting and view it as a… Read More
Continue Reading$100K Jobs
Forbes.com has an article out on Surprising Six Figure Jobs. Surprising indeed. I’ll pull some professions from the article: Typist/Court Reporter (not kidding) Mine Manager Printing Plant Operator Professional Coach The things you learn here at The Hire Sense. I particularly enjoyed professional life coach. The butt of many jokes, but apparently a well-paid gig if you can get it.
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