The Social Recruiter Blog (Hire Strategies)

Should you split test job adverts?

I am lucky to know some great technical people which allows me to do some clever split testing of copy to see what works for me.  But should recruiters be getting into this level of detail for job adverts?  I think they should.

Cost-per-hire <£100 anyone?

What if your boss said you had to get your cost-per-hire to less than £100?  Assuming you are smart enough to already have it to £500 then that is an 80% reduction!  That's pretty much what Intel have had to work out for their new Atom chip.

Do you have a mobile recruiting strategy?

I do smile when I read about "Big Brand" marketers so often quoting protection of their brand being oh so critical.  This week I read in New Media Age about how Google mobile ads are in some cases linking people to web sites that do not render well in mobile browsers and therefore giving a "poor brand experience".

It is however a valid point so how mobile friendly is your career site?  You can either try and search/apply for a job on your own site via your phone or download a mobile phone browser simulator that you can run on your PC.

Opera have a great little simulator at www.opera.com/mini/demo where you can see how your site will look on a mobile with this browser.  Zoom in to read the text!

You may not think it matters today but as the mobile phones become so much more powerful the phone really is no longer just a phone.

How will the Kindle DX change job advertising?

I remember when Peoplebank positioned their ability to display online job adverts that looked like a print advert as a real USP (which it was at the time).  Was if of any value?  Some liked it but as online has moved on fewer (but not all) people expect an online job advert to look/behave like a print advert.

But if the Kindle DX is going to change this then maybe the advertising agencies need to beef up their creative skills once again.

Who needs to go to work for meetings

If Cisco's Telepresence takes off like they plan (which means it will), should cut out a lot of travelling.  Amazing stuff!

Software as a Service (SaaS)

I was quoted this week that SaaS will represent 75% of all software by 2012, or something like that.  Of course the likes of Oracle and SAP may not agree but Workday, an enterprise level HRIS has just won a 200,000 people global deal. 

Read about it.....

Fibre in the sewers

According to a news release I read on the BBC site (highlighted in Twitter!) Ofcom are 'pondering' super-fast broadband delivered via the underground pipes of the UK's water and electricity companies!

In France, for example, there are already three operators providing superfast broadband to homes at speeds of between 50 and 100 megabits per second.  So there is hope for us yet?

If however we get a summer like last year I will not need to worry about the Ofcom pondering; I'll be off to live in France where I can surf in the sun at real warp speed!

The end is nigh Danny boy!

Just over a year ago I raised the issue of RSS being used instead of job posting in my post 'RSS - the death of eQuest and Broadbean' not to antagonise(!) but to forewarn them of their impending doom so they could plan ahead!

And now the first job board has accepted this method of job consumption; how dare they.

Best UK Recruitment Blog of 2007

Seems like I was the last to know based on a very small number of 'congratulations' e-mails I saw via my Blackberry earlier today.  I actually thought I'd had another threatening legal letter from someone and they were congratulating me on upsetting some big wigs in the media industry.

But no, it was notification that I had won the UK Recruiter Best UK Recruitment Blog of 2007, as confirmed earlier today by Louise in her blog.

Now, I'm not exactly saying this was like Manchester United versus Derby as there are many other bloggers who create more intelligent posts than I do.  More importantly, the more we can raise the profile and value of business blogging, increase our traffic, and generate fantastic site revenues, the better the chance of a UK blogger 1) Beating the US bloggers in the Best International Recruitment Blog 2008 and 2) More chance of Google buying one of our blogs for $zillions rather than Cheeseboy's blog.

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In anticipation of receiving my prize I'd also like to thank Jason for his kind donation but would stress that $500 is not enough from my blog!

And finally, whilst I have your attention I would like to deny the rumours that Dan the Man has been saying about me on his blog.  For the record I have NO recollection of sending him a Christmas card, even if he has some kind of evidence - I did not see it and anyway it must have been a 'reserve team' admin person that may have done something I did not know about.

I didn't create the rosette!

Hire Strategies launch new website

Anyone visiting today will see I have a new look and feel to my blog, in fact it is based on my new Hire Strategies website.  There will be more things being added as we go but in the meantime please have a look and let me know what you think - particularly if it's good!!