I just got back from an interesting talk given by my friend and web developer, Dave Barger at LunaWeb about the importance of social networking sites to the business community.
As we all know, the web has taken off in directions many of us could not have imagined five years ago and from what Dave shared today, there is no end to the connectivity in sight.
Back in the fall I went to a conference that talked about the end of the resume as we know it. Most of us forty somethings gasped and thought, how could it be. But folks in the audience were discussing it again today and this afternoon, ERE had an article by Kevin Wheeler called "Web 2.0 Recruiting is Here" that gave an interesting yet ominous scenario on how different our business may look like in the next five years.
Suddenly the concept of Facebook profiles as resumes doesn't seem that odd and the idea of the "digital portfolio" that college kids have been using for sometime on Blackboard could become the norm for all of us. Get out your video camera and your microphone, future resumes are going to take full advantage of multi-media.
On that note, I'd love to hear from any of you out there already taking advantages of the digital portfolio format.....
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Wicked Weather Cometh This Way!?
We have had many calls today at Recruiting Services Group, Inc. checking to see if we are ok due to the strong storms that blew through here yesterday. We are all ok but of course there is a story to be told.....
Wicked Weather Cometh This Way!?
Well let us mark another save for us here in little ole' Germantown, TN. We had tornados to the left of us and tornados to the right.....but luckily none right above us. Even our own Whitney Hodges was sent to the interior closet for a period of two hours while she rode out the evening of Tuesday February 5th at the offices of Recruiting Services Group, Inc. It certainly was quite an evening for our part of the Midsouth. Even one of our clients had a warehouse in Southaven, MS partially blown away.
Due to this apparent wicked weather that is occurring all over the US and the recent destruction right around us I thought I’d share some of my CERT - Community Emergency Response Training - with all of you that read our Blog.
It is I again, Suzanne, one of the recruiters here at RSG, Inc. I have completed this training program and thought it may come in handy. As recruiters we like to be fully prepared – our motto…”no surprises”.
Here is a list of Items everyone should have easy access to. Both at their home and at the office.
1. Small first aid kit or a make your own that includes; alcohol pads, wet naps, band aids, some gauze, needle and thread, bar of soap, Tylenol, Neosporin.
2. Small flashlight with spare batteries
3. Batteries - assorted sizes
4. Candles
5. Matches
6. Rubber Gloves
7. Small snack foods, power bars, granola bars
8. Deck of Cards
9. Whistle
10. $5.00 in change for phone calls, cell phone may not be working
11. Swiss Army Knife
12. All important contact information written on a piece of paper and placed in a clear Ziploc baggie.
Not to get overly paranoid, but it would not be a bad idea to have a scaled down version of this list when you are traveling as well. TSA will love you, I’m sure!
From tornado alley in Germantown, TN we wish you all a Super Wednesday!
Wicked Weather Cometh This Way!?
Well let us mark another save for us here in little ole' Germantown, TN. We had tornados to the left of us and tornados to the right.....but luckily none right above us. Even our own Whitney Hodges was sent to the interior closet for a period of two hours while she rode out the evening of Tuesday February 5th at the offices of Recruiting Services Group, Inc. It certainly was quite an evening for our part of the Midsouth. Even one of our clients had a warehouse in Southaven, MS partially blown away.
Due to this apparent wicked weather that is occurring all over the US and the recent destruction right around us I thought I’d share some of my CERT - Community Emergency Response Training - with all of you that read our Blog.
It is I again, Suzanne, one of the recruiters here at RSG, Inc. I have completed this training program and thought it may come in handy. As recruiters we like to be fully prepared – our motto…”no surprises”.
Here is a list of Items everyone should have easy access to. Both at their home and at the office.
1. Small first aid kit or a make your own that includes; alcohol pads, wet naps, band aids, some gauze, needle and thread, bar of soap, Tylenol, Neosporin.
2. Small flashlight with spare batteries
3. Batteries - assorted sizes
4. Candles
5. Matches
6. Rubber Gloves
7. Small snack foods, power bars, granola bars
8. Deck of Cards
9. Whistle
10. $5.00 in change for phone calls, cell phone may not be working
11. Swiss Army Knife
12. All important contact information written on a piece of paper and placed in a clear Ziploc baggie.
Not to get overly paranoid, but it would not be a bad idea to have a scaled down version of this list when you are traveling as well. TSA will love you, I’m sure!
From tornado alley in Germantown, TN we wish you all a Super Wednesday!
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
Recent Ask the Recruiter Question
What do you do to put the interviewer at ease when you’re 15 years older than them?
One of the first things we recruiters will tell you needs to happen in an interview is to create commonality.
Obviously, if there is a large age difference, you have to look elsewhere for commonality.
Any signs of hobbies, children, schools???? If you don’t know or can’t tell by the personal items in the room, skip this. You should also ask plenty of questions about themselves. That alone, usually builds repoire. People are usually at ease talking about themselves. Transition that into this question:
What can I do walking in the door to help you and this department be successful meeting your goals? (or some version of that).
Other than that, make sure you do not take the “been there, done that” approach to an interview. Interviewers in general want to think that their opportunity is fresh and exciting and nothing dampers the mood more than the know it all. Play up your enjoyment of learning new things and don’t go into the interview that your experience outweighs the interviewer.
Also, make sure you bring up the fact you are comfortable with technology (the younger generations rely on it a lot)
and use examples, sparingly of course, of your ability to work in a diverse setting including different generations.
On a personal note, my father tells a story of interviewing once with a very short guy (My father is 6’3). He had to look down to shake hands and figured that wasn’t a good start. On the way to his chair, he had is briefcase open up and papers fly. He had to get down and pick it all up which in its own way, leveled the playing field and made his interviewer at ease. He got offered the job.
One of the first things we recruiters will tell you needs to happen in an interview is to create commonality.
Obviously, if there is a large age difference, you have to look elsewhere for commonality.
Any signs of hobbies, children, schools???? If you don’t know or can’t tell by the personal items in the room, skip this. You should also ask plenty of questions about themselves. That alone, usually builds repoire. People are usually at ease talking about themselves. Transition that into this question:
What can I do walking in the door to help you and this department be successful meeting your goals? (or some version of that).
Other than that, make sure you do not take the “been there, done that” approach to an interview. Interviewers in general want to think that their opportunity is fresh and exciting and nothing dampers the mood more than the know it all. Play up your enjoyment of learning new things and don’t go into the interview that your experience outweighs the interviewer.
Also, make sure you bring up the fact you are comfortable with technology (the younger generations rely on it a lot)
and use examples, sparingly of course, of your ability to work in a diverse setting including different generations.
On a personal note, my father tells a story of interviewing once with a very short guy (My father is 6’3). He had to look down to shake hands and figured that wasn’t a good start. On the way to his chair, he had is briefcase open up and papers fly. He had to get down and pick it all up which in its own way, leveled the playing field and made his interviewer at ease. He got offered the job.
Friday, October 19, 2007
New Column on www.rsgexecsearch.com
We have continued our series on Interviewing questions on our website. This column addresses Behavioral Interviewing questions.
You can check us out at www.rsgexecsearch.com---which by the way, is one of our new domains since we gave our original site rsghunt.com a face lift.
Please let me know if there is additional info that any of you folks would find helpful and we will try and oblige.
You can check us out at www.rsgexecsearch.com---which by the way, is one of our new domains since we gave our original site rsghunt.com a face lift.
Please let me know if there is additional info that any of you folks would find helpful and we will try and oblige.
Friday, September 28, 2007
Where was I in August?
Ok folks--this blogging thing is new to me and it is hard to remember to keep everyone in the "know" on my whereabouts at any given time--Shoot, its hard for me to keep up with me sometimes. But in August I went to Napa, Mendocino and San Francisco and drank a lot of wine while I pondered the state of recruitment (No, not really that much---more on how I was going to get all that wine back to Memphis).
Other than that, it was recruiting as usual and trying to stay out of the Memphis heat. So Now September is almost up and our clients are clammering for talent now that vacation time is over.
Did you know that someone turns 50 every 7 seconds?
That is just one of the stats I learned at a talent conference in Chicago that Marcus Evans threw a couple of weeks ago. Recruiting leaders at many global companies were there and the buzz revolved largely around Baby Boomers impending retirements, new generational priorities and how any of us were going to find talented people in the future.
I'll be talking more about this subject in our upcoming JobTalk--which will be late by the way-- but nonetheless, a good read --I promise!
Other than that, it was recruiting as usual and trying to stay out of the Memphis heat. So Now September is almost up and our clients are clammering for talent now that vacation time is over.
Did you know that someone turns 50 every 7 seconds?
That is just one of the stats I learned at a talent conference in Chicago that Marcus Evans threw a couple of weeks ago. Recruiting leaders at many global companies were there and the buzz revolved largely around Baby Boomers impending retirements, new generational priorities and how any of us were going to find talented people in the future.
I'll be talking more about this subject in our upcoming JobTalk--which will be late by the way-- but nonetheless, a good read --I promise!
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
New Column on RSGHUNT.com
As those of you who know us here in Memphis, sometimes we are in a writing mood and sometimes we're not---so if you have gotten through our reading list, check out our Ask The Recruiter column on our site, www.rsghunt.com where we talk about the topic of Trick Questions on an Interview.
And on a personal note, I am actually attempting to clean up my office which doesn't sound like a big deal--but you probably haven't seen my office! Although I work well with a certain amount of chaos--I wouldn't dare add a web cam to this blog!
Any helpful temps from your lean experts out there on how to organize 12,000 resumes (yes, I have them in a computer database as well) , info on hundreds of corporations and dozens of trade journals, send your suggestions PLEASE.
And on a personal note, I am actually attempting to clean up my office which doesn't sound like a big deal--but you probably haven't seen my office! Although I work well with a certain amount of chaos--I wouldn't dare add a web cam to this blog!
Any helpful temps from your lean experts out there on how to organize 12,000 resumes (yes, I have them in a computer database as well) , info on hundreds of corporations and dozens of trade journals, send your suggestions PLEASE.
Monday, July 23, 2007
Employer Branding
My office went to a seminar last week about how to create a great customer service focused business. The focus of the talk was on creating a company culture that drove customer service at all levels. Our speaker's line was "Company Culture eats Strategy's Lunch every day of the week."
I liked that. You can have a great strategy or plan but it is the employees that either buy in or not. Same thing is true with creating an effective Employer Brand as well. So for this week we ask you to think about
these 5 Points in Building a Company Brand:
1.Companies are what they do, not what they say.
Don’t wrap your brand around a nifty slogan. Wrap it around your actions. Treat all applicants with the utmost respect and make sure everyone walks away with a good experience whether they are hired or not. Remember all applicants are potential stockholders or consumers.
2. Remember your Company’s place in people’s lives:
Communicate your company’s citizenship and involvement in the community—be it local or global.
3. Sell the Company—Sell the Assignment
Assume applicants don’t know why your company is a great place to work. Spell it out. Make sure the position itself is sold also: the challenges, the path, the destination.
4. If your employees don’t get it, no one will.
Building a brand as an employer of choice starts at the point of delivery. If your own employees don’t know the strategy and agenda and the role they play in building that reputation, it won’t happen. Inform and educate.
5. Be Consistent.
Becoming an employer of choice doesn’t happen overnight. It requires both a plan and true heart felt
Beliefs about people and what drives them to be great.
When you create the plan, stick with it.
I liked that. You can have a great strategy or plan but it is the employees that either buy in or not. Same thing is true with creating an effective Employer Brand as well. So for this week we ask you to think about
these 5 Points in Building a Company Brand:
1.Companies are what they do, not what they say.
Don’t wrap your brand around a nifty slogan. Wrap it around your actions. Treat all applicants with the utmost respect and make sure everyone walks away with a good experience whether they are hired or not. Remember all applicants are potential stockholders or consumers.
2. Remember your Company’s place in people’s lives:
Communicate your company’s citizenship and involvement in the community—be it local or global.
3. Sell the Company—Sell the Assignment
Assume applicants don’t know why your company is a great place to work. Spell it out. Make sure the position itself is sold also: the challenges, the path, the destination.
4. If your employees don’t get it, no one will.
Building a brand as an employer of choice starts at the point of delivery. If your own employees don’t know the strategy and agenda and the role they play in building that reputation, it won’t happen. Inform and educate.
5. Be Consistent.
Becoming an employer of choice doesn’t happen overnight. It requires both a plan and true heart felt
Beliefs about people and what drives them to be great.
When you create the plan, stick with it.
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