Review and Live blogging my read of Taleo's Career Site 2.0 White Paper, 'Taking the Lead in the War for Talent'

I just finished reading Taleo's White Paper and live blogged it here on Job|SearchMarketing.

It was very well done. I strongly agree with its stated case, 'With Web 2.0 functionality and best practices implemented on the career website, an organization may achieve a competitive edge in recruiting the most qualified candidate quickly, and gain financial benefits from direct cost reductions as well as opportunity cost savings and value creation due to faster recruiting process that captures higher quality candidates.'

However, it lack substance when it comes to discussing such best practices, and web 2.0 functionality and integrations. The meat of it seems more to be a rather disingenuous pitch to position 'smart'  and presumably new Taleo functionality as '2.0,' and benefit from the buzz around the topic.

Onto my live blogging of the read...

At start, given the use of the term, 'Career Site 2.0' I'm expecting this to strongly focus on the use of social media on corporate career sites and the integration of popular social networks into such sites.

Stated focuses of the report are: next gen corporate career sites, candidate experience, opportunities to implement web 2.0 features, understanding and measuring the value of implementing a rich candidate experience.

It's hard to communicate that, it will be valuable to me if they do it well.

Get smart. Be a Genius recruiter.

SalesGenius immediately alerts users whenever a customer or prospect opens their emails and visits the company website; provides detailed activity reports; and presents a page-by-page instant replay of every website visit.

Wow. Imagine your Jeff Hunter of Electronic Arts. You worked with Sean Rehder of TalentLogics to get your global sourcing and recruiting teams operating on Salesforce. You immediately see gains in productivity and effectiveness and here comes along a tool that integrates with salesforce and can make these teams even better.

With SalesGenius, your recruiters and sources can be updated as soon as a candidate opens your recruiters' emails or engages in your organization's career site.

Imagine how much stronger your recruiting team would be if rather than waste time dealing with people whom aren't interested, they investing their time with passive candidates at that precise moment that candidate chooses to research your organization. Image how influential your team could be?

Like many great sourcing tools, SalesGenius was not intended to be used for recruiting but it looks like its funcationlity could be key to a well run team. I think you should check it out if you have sourcing and recruiting teams using salesforce.

If you would like to get a demo or more info, keep it in the recruiting family and reach out to former HotJobs sales rep, JC Hobaica, (650) 931-1381.

Fyi, JC does not know I'm posting this. We worked together a while ago. I happed to learn about SalesGenius today and by chance, noticed JC's name at the bottom of the email. Small world.

If you have used it or do so after reading this, please share your expereice in the comments below.

If you would rather not be smart or be a genius recruiter, you can always be Kanye.

Frevvo…possibly simple career site heaven

I may have just found the an awesome tool for creating simple but functional career sites and landing pages(a must for employers executing paid search engine marketing campaigns)...frevvo.

...more to come after I check it out completely.

5 Simple Ways to Recruit Passive Candidates with Your Career Site

Is your candidate pool looking a bit shallow lately? If you want to recruit more passive candidates, take a good look at your career site. It is possible that a few minor changes could quickly increase your prospects. Below are just five simple ways to boost your employment brand and draw in those highly coveted passive candidates.

1.    Start Recruiting on the Home Page – Don't bury the career section deep within your official company site. You want to appear welcoming to those who otherwise don't realize you are hiring. If you do link to a career section from the homepage, make sure that link is visible and not placed at the bottom on the page in a tiny font size.

2.    Be Transparent – Are you using ambiguous terminology when leading people to the career site? Being clever here could actually hurt you, as people are scanning the page for the words "Job" and "Career." A link that reads, "Become Part of the Crew!" could be easily overlooked.

3.    Avoid Generic Stock Images – Do you have a stock photo of two businesspeople shaking hands on your career page? People are now design-savvy enough to spot a stock image when they see one. It looks insincere and can be a turn-off for candidates. You should use images of happy employees, but go the extra mile and obtain pictures of people who actually work for the company.

4.    Display Job Openings – Don't tease candidates with a career site and then fail to post available job openings. Passive candidates who are casually surfing your site need to be enticed with something tangible. Ensure that this section is regularly updated and does not go stale.

5.    Post Salaries – Never post a job opening without an accompanying salary range. This is quite possibly the best way to entice passive candidates to make a move. Companies often omit this bit of information, perhaps in hopes that they will negotiate for a lower pay scale. However, top professionals demand to know what they are getting into and will often ignore a job posting without a salary.

* This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on the subject of becoming a pediatric nurse. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

Jobs2Web clone intros service with video [VIDEO]

OptiJob, a Jobs2Web clone brought to market by GetTheJob, is using YouTube to promote its service.

OptiJob's micro-sites are almost exact copies of Jobs2Web's sites. Don't believe me? Check out Xerox-Jobs.com (Jobs2Web) and bose.getthatjob.com (OptiJob).

Jobs2Web is super expensive but to Doug Bergs' credit his company built the service at the request of some major customers. So the high price tag must be fair market value for the on-demand web development that Doug's team provided.

Considering the fact that GetTheJob didn't have to eat the costs for being first to market, OptiJob had better not cost more than $20k. Even that is high. From what I understand they are giving it away for free right now to choice employers.

Here's OptiJob's video. I'm convinced no one is in the room.

For a slightly more entertaining video, check out former Hotjobber Pete Chelela's promotional video for his new site GourmetDude.com.

Pete is the same guy who wore a speedo in the Yahoo! HotJobs office for a cube makeover from CubeFabulous (check out beach bum). Ironically enough, CubeFabulous went on to partner with Monster for some promotion and pics of the NYC Yahoo! HotJobs office were published on Monster's site.
 

Yahoo! News is good career site design

Click to enlarge

Givin’ props to Sodexho for innovative recruiting

Check out the Sodexho Careers blog. Check out the Facebook page, the YouTube page and…if you’re into this sort of thing…the SecondLife career fair. (blog | facebook | youtube | secondlife)

I’m not big on the SecondLife thing but when it comes to Web 2.0, its hard to deny Sodexho is taking steps in the right direction and it's working.

Look at how much more engaging the company's Web 2.0 efforts are than it's existing career site.

Which gives a more accurate representation of the org’s culture and people? The company’s career site or its blog and YouTube page?

It’s blatantly obvious. Which cost more? Again; obvious.

Sodexho VP Talent Acquisition Arie Ball and her team are off to a great start in '08. Hopefully the company will ride this momentum and do big things this year.

Moving forward I would consider the following:

• Put as much energy and resources into social media as you are SecondLife. It may not be as fun to you as exploring a virtual world but there is far more low hanging fruit.
• Consider using MoveableType as the blogging platform. In addition to being a more robust blogging platform, it will serve as a means for easily creating well branded landing pages. These pages can be used to enhance performance and extract more value from search engine and email marketing efforts. Companies often pay between $1,500 and $5,000 for similar landing pages. Over 12 months those charges can add up.
• Get more employees blogging. The blog will grow faster, be more influential and attract and engage more relevant talent. Try to have each department represented. The content contributed by each department will attract passive talent searching the web for similar info.
• Add a phone number to the blog. Why not encourage passive talent to pick up the phone and have a private and confidential phone call with a member of your recruiting team? With phone analytics you can now track where phone calls are coming from, play them back and calculate an ROI.
• Install Google Analytics. It’s easy to do. It will give you an idea of where your traffic is coming from.
• Get a sitemap. It’s technical but important. Keep it updated with Yahoo! Site Explorer and Google Webmaster Tools. (xmlsitemaps.com)
• Pick a good domain name.
• Get an rss feed of your jobs. Indeed seems to have this covered for you. You can get that feed here.
• Publish the jobs feed on the blog. This way blog traffic is always in a position to apply to jobs that you have open.
• Keep embracing diversity and new media. The two are working well together for you.

Ok, that’s it for now. Gotta run. Well done. Please keep it up.

Btw, its freekin freezing in NYC today! 14 degrees!

RTC Relationship Marketing Gets It

In March of this year the DC based direct marketing agency had plans to add 60 people to its 200 person workforce. The company was recruiting in a labor shortage. Its career site was better than most but with media people in control, the site had the potential to be great. More here from my March 2007 post.

Given the following:

• The shortage of media talent in RTC's local area
• The potential revenue impact of meeting this recruiting objective
• The effectiveness of search marketing in driving job seeker traffic to career sites
• The effectiveness of Flickr to engage career site visitors in corporate cultures

...I suggested (in that post) that RTC use search engine marketing to attract talent to its career site and add flickr to the site to engage those visitors in the company's culture.

I'm not sure if the company ever did explore search engine marketing but they did add flickr. They also added employee testimonials to the career site. Very cool and very well done. See for yourself.

(Btw, Peter Weddle talks about employee testimonials in today's newsletter.)

I doubt that RTC ever read this blog so the credit for these additions goes to the RTC team. This use of flickr and testimonials makes the site social and proves that RTC's team in DC gets it.

Site evolution...

The site, March of 2007	My suggested use of flickr	The site today with testimonials and flickr

What I think RTC should do next
Optimize the flickr pics for inclusion in yahoo and google searches. Both yahoo and google are including media like images and video in search results. Optimize the flickr account for relative and local job searches.

Keep in mind that a lot of people are running these sorts of searches on yahoo and google and that, 'lot of people,' includes some of the local media people that you want to attract and hire.

Optimizing the titles and tags of the pics in your flickr account with local and industry/occupational specific keywords will help your pics rank well for relative image searches on yahoo and google.

Think local, and industry specific but never misrepresent the image.

Some great titles may be: Marketing company DC - party, RTC Relationship Sales Event, Sales Career Night with RTC, DC Media Planner Mixer - RTC.

Like titles, the tags should accurately describe the image. Be sure to take advantage of every  opportunity to tag images with a niche keyword relative to your recruiting objective and local area.

If the account has a pic of the entire company I would title it, 'Best employer washington dc,' and see if it ever shows up in a, 'best employer,' search on yahoo or google.

RTC def gets it. Im sure they are a great media company in DC too.

You before me, Aerotek knows who is most important

One of the best business books that I have ever read is Dale Carnegie’s, How to Win Friends and Influence People.

That book taught me that people (buyers, jobseekers etc.) care about themselves and that if you have something that you want to sell, like an employment brand, you had better position it within the interests and perspective of the person you are selling.

Aerotek effectively applies similar principles with this site’s tagline, ‘Your Career Starts with Aerotek.’

This you-before-me approach engages the job seeker by making it clear to her that she will find at this site information important to her. This engagement will ultimately lead to her spending more time on the site and to more opportunities for Aerotek’s message to sink in.

More deeply, this you-before-me approach communicates that Aerotek is an employer that values its people first.

Who is your employment brand message or tagline about?

Who is mentioned first, the org or the seeker?

Can your current employment brand message be rearranged to communicate that same message but in the perspective of your site's visitor?

This is the second post in a series of posts reviewing aerotekcareers.com

The focus of Aerotek’s career site is strictly careers

The focus of Aerotek’s career site is strictly careers. This delivers the job seeker a more engaging experience with Aerotek’s employment brand as the site’s content is not competing for job seeker eyeballs with irrelevant sales messaging.

This is the second post in a series of posts reviewing aerotekcareers.com