Diversity in the Office
Its been some time since I have posted a light hearted video, but as its Friday afternoon and I have had a good week, so I though why not.
Mind you it is hard to find something relevant for recruitment but “the office never” fails to to come up trumps. On this occasion I was inspired by a call from www.DiversityJobs.com who wanted to advertise on Recruitment Views, although I have not taken them up on their offer, it certainly was nice to be considered. What it did make me wonder is how big an issue is Diversity in America, to even have a need for a website dedicated to it in the first place.
In the UK we have a thing called equal opportunities, which is now embedded in our psyche when it comes to recruitment. I suppose the question is, “is it enough, are we doing more or less than our American counterparts?” Maybe Jim Stroud or Dave Mendoza have something to say on the subject and enlighten us UK recruiters.
Stop Recruiting!
I have been writing here on Recruitment Views now for well over a year and part of that requires the need to read other blogs, RSS feeds and Google email alerts. One of the themes that comes up time and time again is the US Military recruitment campaign, but what was different this time it was a counter recruitment campaign counterrecruitment.net, a sign of the times.
I am sure my American readers are well aware of this growing group, but it certainly surprised me, still it is part of the freedom of speech, that ironically we are trying to protect amongst other things.
Now I am not going to go into wether I agree or disagree I will leave that to the politician’s, but on the recruitment front there is something to be said about the image we portray when we post a recruitment vacancy using video, as it can give a completely false image and as a result it isn’t surprising that after so much use of this medium, there is now a backlash.
Moving away from the military recruitment I also came across this video below, which incidentally they are still recruiting for IT people in New York (a lead for a few of you consultants). This certainly creates an image of a fun and wild company to work for, but I know wonder are they misrepresenting their company.
Still I suppose we can leave this all to the trading standards, but in the meantime the video is light entertainment with some good backing music perfect for a Friday afternoon.
Now with over 870,000 views, shouldn’t all their vacancies be filled and with so many candidates they could set up their own agency, hmm something to ponder I suppose.
Lip Dub - Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger from amandalynferri
Free Recruitment Ads
There seems to be an endless supply of new job boards trying to take on the volume merchants, and to be honest they are wasting their time trying to compete with the likes of Monster, Reedjobs or Totaljobs. If you want my opinion concentrate on a niche and give something extra to the clients and candidates.
Now if you are going to take on these Monsters, then you really need to have something different and unique to offer, like taking advantage of the social networks as did Linkedin and Jobster or look completely outside the box with Zubka or Jobtonic.
Saying this I thought I would still give this new start up a little help, particularly as they are offering the ability to search cv’s and advertise for free, for 3 months. On that alone it is worth looking at just to save some high advertising costs.
That aside I think www.jobs2view.com has something to offer and although I am reticent about video cv’s, I think jobs2view have a different take on the idea, where candidates can apply with video and clients can advertise with their corporate version, many of which I have posted on Recruitment Views, there by taking advantage of the youtube generation.
So Jobs2view will I am sure find it tough, but they have financial backing and are taking advantage of this relatively new medium, but more importantly they are not relying on this exclusively, time will tell of course but I wish them the very best.
Top marks to PFJ
Today I managed to pop by PFJ’s newly re-launched recruitment website, having had time to look around I thought I would pass on my views, but more importantly to say well done.
I have watched PFJ for a number of years and have seen them grow from strength to strength, maybe I should have contacted them a few years back 
as they had a style then I seem to recall.
Now it is hard to remember what their site was like before the changes, but I am fairly sure it was similar, I think it is termed minimal. Whatever the case if you were thinking of building your own site you should take time to look at theirs.
What I really like about it is its simplicity, no designer has gone over the top with too much flash to detract away from recruitment, with their vacancies being presented to you immediately and on all pages making it easy to apply, which is what it is about after all. Now if you go a little deeper, particularly if you are a client or a candidate wanting to join them as a recruitment consultant or use their services, then this site really excels.
It’s their clever use of video that sells the company and although it is very corporate, it really promotes a professional organisation who will give you the best possible service, well at least that’s what they trying to get across. What I did find to be very clever is the continual track back to the training room, now that’s what I call subliminal selling!
I am pleased to see they have a blog as part of the make up, but if I was to criticise it just doesn’t feel like a blog, its a list of questions. Now OK they are relevant and thought provoking and of course you need to keep it corporate, but hey a blog is where you can let your hair down and talk about the last company function, charitable work, a particularly successful placement, a few pictures etc etc. I think you may get where I am coming from Paul.
So all in all a nice simple site, easy to navigate with a modern approach, not to mention you can get the latest vacancies to your mobile!!
Recruitment Consultants Take Note
Recently I wrote a post called Recruitment Consultants are not all bad, mainly to re address some of the negativity aimed at our profession.
Although I am proud of what I do, I thought this post by Stuart Dallas caught my eye for many reasons, but in particular he outlines his poor experiences of Recruitment Consultants when searching for a job.
I mean can you believe, some idiot managed to interview Stuart for his own job! On top of this he is forever being contacted for roles he is not suitable for, just because the keyword is on the CV, not heard of that before!!
It begs me to wonder if I wrote a cv saying I have no experience in Java, C++, html etc.. how many calls do you think I would get?
Although there was a recent survey promoting the point that candidates or clients are more likely to use agencies, it did come from an IT agency, which makes me wonder of its true validity.
Whatever the case if we as consultants do not improve our image or stop recruiting graduates out of university, we can only expect this to get worse. Mind you what do you expect when computer people put out a recruitment videos such as this, it isn’t surprising that Stuart had such a poor experience.
Here is the link to their video or should I say my post on it, but I noticed they have taken the video down of young graduates showing off how much they earn’t and how quickly they could get promoted, nothing about candidate or client care. Maybe the boss of Computer People read my blog, you just never know..
A little help for Jim
Today I had a request via mybloglog from Jim Stroud, I have to admit I was a little surprised, why did he not send me an email or why did the request not come via his RSS feed.
Then it all becomes obvious, his site is still down and needs a little help, with a little viral marketing.
As I am sure he would do the same for me, then the answer is yes, sure I will embed your video on my blog, so long as you tell me who is behind www.sourcecon1.com, I promise not to tell.
The Recruiters Lounge - Who is behind SourceCon? from Jim Stroud on Vimeo
HR Software Show
Just in case any readers or fellow bloggers happen to be in London next Wednesday or Thursday, I thought I would mention I will be at the CIPD HR Software Show in London at the Olympia.
I will be in a professional capacity, as I will be representing Arithon Recruitment software of course on stand B118, but if any readers are around please pop by and say Hi.
Talk about a counter offer!
I have to admit I am a fan of David Beckham, even though I may be ridiculed I do rate him, in spite of the hype he works hard for his club and is devoted to his children, I could go on but I will leave that to the sports writers.
Putting that aside it is fascinating how his move to Los Angeles to join LA Galaxy is now beginning to play out, it is almost a recruiters nightmare, mind you haven’t we all seen it before with the “Counter offer“?
Beckham whom has been dropped by Steve McClaren and Fabio Capello, and adding insult to injury have said he will never play for their teams again. Not only has he played again for Real Madrid and England he has excelled, as only David Beckham would. This has now resulted in Real Madrid realising what asset they have let go and are now looking desperately to persuade him to stay (again we have seen this before).
Now as a recruiter trying to keep the deal in, I would have been worried if David’s only reason to leave was for money, and as we know this is one of the weakest reasons for a move, mind you at 128 million it is certainly a pull.
Unfortunately what will make me nervous at this stage, is that maybe he is thinking his professional career isn’t over after all and a couple more seasons at the highest level would be a huge draw. At the end day does David need more money, I think not.
So what are my ace cards on keeping this deal together, could it be Victoria and the children with English speaking friends and the Hollywood life style, possibly, but my gut feeling is that it will be emotion and pride, as he will not want to let his family down or his friends. If you couple this with the way he was treated at England and Real Madrid and that David wants to leave football on a high and bring in the cup for Real Madrid, plus having the added benefit of embarrassing those that said he was over, I think then the consultants fee is safe, by using this as emotional blackmail.
On one final note I have always said in recruitment is “it isn’t over until the fat lady sings!” so lets see when he lifts the cup for Real Madrid.
Australian Trucker looking for a Job
I thought this was quite a novel video resume from a trucker in Australia.
When it comes to video resumes I am not convinced they will be the future, but used in the right context they can give you the edge I am sure.
What I did like about this video is it shows the driver at work, rather than someone talking through their cv. This could easily have been a welder or a bricklayer or any trade skill and in my opinion a better use of the format.
Now if I produced a video resume I am sure you would be bored within the first 30 secs.
Now whether this is a genuine video resume, I am not sure but I will be keen to see how he does.
Which Consultant are You?
Yesterday I was harping on about poorly trained Recruitment Consultants, well someone must have heard me at ERSAustralia, as they have just posted a recruitment video, knocking the aforementioned.
The video is good, short and to the point and is able to get across its USP to clients, candidates and consultants in just over a minute with a little humor
Enjoy
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