I'm running Sainsburys (badly)

I'm not sure what Justin King is hoping to achieve by this latest Apprentice style TV programme; maybe at the end he will tell all TV stars they are actually fired.  He states that colleagues will have the best ideas for how to improve their business which I would agree with but, based on what they have shown maybe this is not the case.  Or was it deliberate? Hide the best ideas, show the sad ideas, let your competitors think you are weak?  Bit of Sun Tzu; appear weak when strong?!

Even the Google ad goes to an error page - how ironic is that. (click the image to experience it)

So, would the TV programme make you want to work there or would it now put you off?  Last night was however very funny as Joseph was thrown in at the deep end as was pretty much ripped apart by some very competent and committed staff.  In the end he survived and is probably back in Derby reliving the adventure.

Hire Strategies Discovery System Breakfast Seminar - July 7th London

We are running a free employer only breakfast seminar on July 7th at One Aldwych in London for employers who are either:

• Still recruiting and want to do it more cost effectively.
• Planning ahead and are looking at their future direct resourcing strategy.

Very few people need convincing on the merits of direct resourcing but actually putting the right things in place at the right time and for the right cost is not as easy as people would hope.  Having done this now on a number of occasions we have now systemised our process which allows us to quickly identify where an individual employer will get the quickest return but also have a 3 year plan to work towards.

If this sounds of interest more details are on our website at www.hirestrategies.co.uk/discover.

Social Recruiting: over before it ever got started!

It makes me smile how we are starting to hear comments about social recruiting being a SCAM or over already.  Yes, it has yet to prove itself but as I remind people; job boards have taken over the recruitment advertising market - things change.

The big employers are going to be cautious for very good reasons but social networks are not being ignored.  For a Global organisation, having a global resourcing strategy without social media is hard enough, throw in the likes of Facebook and it gets that little bit harder so they are bound to be cautious.  The bigger issue though is how robust is their current process/infrastructure?  No point driving loads more traffic to a career site that can't handle it or, setting up Twitter profiles that never converse.

2009 is the year of research in readiness for 2010.  So don't panic if you think you are behind; there's still time!

The Social Employer Brand

Large employers will no doubt be finding budget for their employer brand and the snake oil salesmen agencies will be rubbing their hands in glee.  But what about the social employer brand.  Although many employers are still scared of social networks, and admit to not really knowing where to start, like it or not they need to make the most of social networks.

The likes of Facebook and Twitter may not have really proved themselves yet as hardcore recruiting channels but they do have a place in the recruitment process.  Smart employers will find a way of getting the most out of these channels without using all of their time or money.  Recruitment agencies will need to get smarter to survive; ad agencies will need to re-think how they can provide value when so many social networking services are free!

Employers have the desire; they just don't know where to start.

And I thought I was controversial - Peter Weddle goes that bit further

Seems Peter Weddle has upset a few people with his blog post The Great SCAM in Recruiting stating that "social recruiting" is a SCAM and will not be of any value until 2014.  He even includes Linkedin as a site that won't be any value until 2014!

Not surprisingly there have been a few comments and response posts such as Peter Weddle Owes A Lot Of People Apologies with plenty of comments.

There are many aspects of recruiting that won't change as quickly such as the human interaction bit but, no matter which bits we think are the future history shows that as a human race we constantly change, adapt and die.

Maybe the old man needs the attention. Maybe he's had a senile moment.  Or maybe he is just an age old recruiter who is scared of change and cannot understand when it's time to see the future.  Who knows, he may even be right!!

The mother of all Talent Wars is less than a year away

Although the green shoots are pretty weak and we may have a while to go before we start to see some real recovery, when we do, and every employer that is hibernating wakes up, they will have zero talent pool.  Their FD/CFO better find a big agency budget pretty quick before the only people left are those that don't want to work; and even if they did turn up that's no guarantee they will actually do some work!

Recruitment agencies ain't going nowhere

Even though they may be hurting right now, recruitment agencies are here to stay so best hunker down and get used to it.  And they'll even be doubling their fees quite soon.

Direct resourcing teams are going to take the easier, direct hires and why not but when they do go to their agency with a really hard to fill vacancy they better have a decent budget; because if they don't someone else will.  The smart agencies will be keeping great candidates warm in anticipation of the upturn ready for every opportunity.  The candidate will be more inclined to work with an agency that has bothered to stay in touch.

Delusional?  Maybe.  But then again, maybe not.  We shall see.

Recruitment ghettos

I started recruiting before the mobile phone which my children find hard to believe i.e. there was life before the mobile!

Back then recruiting was relatively simple. 

Very few employers did that much direct recruitment, the economy was better than it is today (there were a few blips of course) and although we had to sell, the vacancies came in and press adverts were the only option.

And then the Internet came along and it all got that little bit harder.

Facebook Connect Job Applications

I wonder how long it will be before people can apply for jobs using their Facebook login as per PayPal.  OK, so it will need FB to add a CV/Resume module (or someone to build one) but as more and more employers check new hire FB profiles anyway, why not?

Will communities take over from unions but with greater power?

As communities get bigger what collective power will they have?  Unions have traditionally been a way for the people to have a collective voice but do they always get the deal they feel is right?  Or do their leaders sell them down the river?  Big debate I know but what if communities get so big they become the voice of the people?