Online Job Posting Trends

Weddle’s offer’s a bi-weekly newsletter about Internet resources for recruiting & HR professionals. In a survey conducted between March 10 and May 10, 2007 they asked the following question: Of the openings you’ve posted online, what level were they at: Hourly positions? 7.7% Entry-level professional positions? 23% Mid-level professional positions? 46.2% Senior-level professional positions? 7.7% Managerial positions? 11.5% Executive positions? 3.9% It is interesting that Mid-level professional is the largest group followed second by entry-level. I believe we’ll continue to see these two categories grow in the coming years. It will be interesting to watch the growth of niche job boards and of the networking sites liked LinkedIn, Jigsaw and… Read More

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A Bigger Monster

We are awash in a sea of change in the sourcing options available to hiring companies.  Yahoo! news reports in Monster signs up more newspapers that Monster.com has moved into more locally-owned community newspapers. Community Newspaper Holdings has 93 daily newspapers and is based in Birmingham, Ala. Under the deal announced Monday, each of the 80 new sites cobranded sites with Monster will be tied to a daily newspaper from Community Newspaper Holdings. It appears that Monster, CareerBuilder (even though they are owned by 3 newspapers) and HotJobs are attempting to displace the long-standing newspaper employment classifieds.  Whether this will be sustainable in the long run is difficult to predict. I am… Read More

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Alternative Sourcing Channels

Sourcing strong sales candidates is a full-time proposition in this current job market.  We are encountering extended sourcing times as we work through different channels.  SellingPower.com offers a quick-read article with some suggestions for different channels.  The suggestions: Outplacement FirmsGovernment ResourcesAssociationsCommunity Resources (local papers)Company AlumniMilitary Outplacement Those are all good suggestions and I am a strong proponent of using non-traditional channels simultaneously with job postings and networking.  I’m not a critic of the major job boards.  In fact, I find them to be quite effective for finding strong candidates.  My guess is the people who struggle with them may not be placing the right ads to attract the right candidates. … Read More

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How To Source Candidates In A Tight Market

I’m sitting at a coffee shop right now reflecting upon an incredibly active week of sourcing and screening that has just passed. One of the items that stands out in my mind is how to handle candidates in this present market. It is a candidate’s market right now. Many companies are hiring so there are many opportunities for candidates to consider. This being true, hiring companies have to make some adjustments to their hiring process to be successful. Speed Up Yes, candidates use the veiled threat of other opportunities in an attempt to influence a quicker decision. This approach works in a tight labor market like we have today. Nonetheless,… Read More

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The Toughest Positions To Hire

CareerBuilder.com’s article Today’s Hardest-to-Fill Jobs lists the top 10 hardest-to-fill jobs.  First, a little background: According to a recent survey by recruitment firm Manpower Inc., the answer is no. The survey says 41 percent of U.S. employers are struggling to find qualified job candidates because of a lack of available talent. And then the top 10 positions: 1. Sales Representative2. Teacher3. Mechanic4. Technician5. Management/Executive6. Truck Driver7. Driver/Delivery8. Accountant9. Laborer10. Machine Operator Yes, sales rep is the most difficult position to hire.  There are always sales candidates available, but it is far more difficult to identify the right salesperson.  We can help.

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Wall Street Turnover

If you think you are experiencing hiring difficulties, be happy you are not on Wall Street: Fresh off some of the richest bonuses ever handed out, investment bankers and traders, especially those who deal with leveraged debt, are in high demand. In some cases, bidding has driven newly hired employees into the arms of a rival in mere weeks. That statement seemed like hyperbole until later in the article: Securities-industry employment rose to 804,000 at the end of 2006 after a third consecutive year of increases. The employment figure is just 4% shy of the all-time high set in 2000, according to the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association. The… Read More

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Avoid Super Candidate Syndrome

Monster provides some great resources for employers including free webinars on timely topics when it comes to hiring. Click here to see a recent presentation or here to see what other scheduled (or completed) webinars on on their docket. The top sources for finding new opportunites as used by candidates are: Family & Friends Job Boards (large) Past Managers & Colleagues Job Boards (niche/speciality) Recruiting/Placement Firms As you are probably aware, many people consistently keep an eye open for new opportunities. So why don’t more people apply to ads? Here is what the researchers discovered were the biggest frustrations for candidates is their search: Vague Job Descriptions Inflated Requirements –… Read More

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Online Employment Stats

Interesting statistics from Selling Power’s The Fast Trend: Online Recruiting Services which references a Monster.com survey regarding online ads. Obviously Monster.com has a horse in the race on this topic, but their stats are somewhat surprising. “According to the U.S. Census Bureau, in 2003, 62 percent of households had at least one computer, up from 56 percent two years before, and that number is growing every day. The workforce is online. More than 80 percent of those aged 18 to 49 and 67 percent of those aged 50 to 64 are online. Online employment sites captured 22 percent of the employment recruiting market in 2004, up from just 1 percent… Read More

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Mythical Top Performers

From Dave Kurlan’s Myths About Top Performing Salespeople: Most companies have “them”.  Most managers brag about “them”. Most of “them” toot their own horns.  Most are their company’s role models. Most companies would love to have more like “them”. They masquerade as the top salespeople in their companies, a claim supported by data, spreadsheets, commission statements, awards and accolades.  But who are they really? Most of them are sales frauds.  Most of them have everyone fooled. Most of them, if you took their cushy, big accounts away and asked them to go out and find some new business would fail.  Most of them aren’t very strong salespeople.  Most of them don’t possess… Read More

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10 Simple Hiring Rules

Monster.com offers Hire Great People: 10 Simple Rules which contains some straight-forward, sound advice for any hiring activity. The article starts out with one of the most important rules to hiring (and often least followed): Rule number one is clear, but very counterintuitive: Don’t ever, ever hire somebody just like yourself. Why not? Because from the beginning of time, executives have been unconsciously cloning themselves, stocking the shelves with vanilla young men from impressive schools. It takes an enlightened executive to abide by this rule. Many executives believe they embody the gold standard for the position (especially in sales). They may be, but the best teams we evaluate have a… Read More

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