Jason Blais: From the Recruiting Front Lines

JobsInVT.com Partners With the Vermont Chamber of Commerce
Vermont’s #1 Recruitment Resource Forms Strategic Partnership With State’s Largest Chamber of Commerce, Offering High Growth Industry Portals, Discounts and Webinars to Members

BURLINGTON, VT–(MARKET WIRE)–Apr 30, 2009 — JobsInVT.com, Vermont’s leading recruitment resource, has entered into a strategic partnership with the Vermont Chamber of Commerce, giving the 1,300 member companies access to the best employment advertising resource in the state at a significant discount, plus high growth industry portal links to key industry sectors.

“In partnership with JobsInVT.com, the Vermont Chamber of Commerce is promoting jobs that exist in the high-growth sectors of Vermont’s economy. As we look ahead, it will be important to grow and promote those sectors that will create the jobs of tomorrow,” said Chris Carrigan, VP Business Development, Vermont Chamber of Commerce. “The tailored job portals with JobsInVT.com will help to accomplish this.”

Vermont Chamber of Commerce members will have access to JobsInVT’s monthly employment snapshots and industry leading online seminars on recruiting and employment branding.

“Local partnerships are key to our business as we continue to connect great Vermont businesses with the best local candidates,” said JobsInVT’s Director of Business Development, Jason C. Blais. “The Vermont Chamber is leading the way in promoting business opportunities within the state, and this will be a natural and mutually beneficial relationship.”

The strategic partnership was developed under the JiVT Connects program, building local partnerships to reinforce JobsInVT’s connection with Vermont’s employment market. For more information about this program, please contact Jason C. Blais, at jblais@jobsinvt.com, or toll free at 877-374-1088 ext 2069.

JobsInVT.com, launched in 2002, hosts 160,000 unique visits monthly, generating more than 800,000 page views every month, and provides job seekers with access to more Vermont based career opportunities than any other resource.
Contact:

Contact:
Steve Dodge
Director of Marketing and Sales
JobsInVT.com
Email Contact
877-374-1274

Winning the War for Talent
Employer career fair tips for attracting the very best candidates every time for every position in your company.

The following tips have been culled from literally thousands of conversations with job seekers at career events. If you are serious about attracting and engaging the very best candidates, be sure to discuss and promote the following items.

Information about the mission and history of the company

• Provide job seekers with a short history of your organization, highlighting important dates, changes in ownership, and any plans for growth or expansion.
• Share the mission statement of your organization, then provide examples of how that mission statement “lives” in your daily activities and culture.

Organizational Structure and Career Advancement

• How is your department structured?
• How many supervisors are there, how many managers?
• How does your department fit into the organization as a whole?
• What opportunities for advancement exist? (Be prepared to share an example of someone who has moved up within the company)

Detailed Job/Department Description

• If you are able, share a brief “day in the life” schedule for your department to give candidates a better idea of what it will be like to work for you.

Summary of Traditional Benefits

• Be prepared to share a list of traditional benefits that you offer (broken down by FT, PT, and Seasonal employment if relevant).
• Be as specific as possible regarding amount of paid time off, enrollment periods, and employee costs of benefits.
• This is best provided as a one-sheet take away, and the presenter should have a good knowledge of these issues if questioned.

Perks (non-traditional benefits)

• Aside from traditional benefits, discuss the perks you offer such as free meal with 8-hour shift, uniform service, flexible scheduling, paid overtime, etc.

Training

• How much training is provided?
• How is it structured? (job shadowing, supervisor led, ongoing, etc.)

Structure for Performance Reviews and Pay Raises

• If you have a formalized process for performance reviews and pay raises, be prepared to share this. You want to attract and hire the very best people available. The very best people want to work for a company that will recognize and reward them for their effort. This is a very important piece to discuss, and the most often overlooked.

In today’s edition of the Recruiting Front Lines, I’m concluding my 3-part series on the three primary uses of the social media platforms. As I’ve previously written, I have found that all social media platforms and resources fall into one or more of three buckets: Social Networking, Professional Networking, and Information Sharing. I have already written about the latter two, and have heretofore been reluctant to complete my three part series. It’s really no wonder, considering how little time and experience I have dealing with Bucket Number One, Social Networking. I feel compelled to acknowledge up front, that this is the area of social media that I know the least about. To provide a more thoughtful and complete analysis of this bucket, I’ve turned to a valued expert, Shawn McGowan, Social Media Marketing Coordinator for JobsInTheUS.com.

I believe it’s safe to say that social media came into the world in the form of social networking sites which quickly gained popularity as a way to connect with other internet users across the world. Most internet users are now familiar with MySpace and Facebook, which have been the Coke and Pepsi of the social networking world, though there are truly many RC Cola’s out there. Other platforms that perform primarily as social networking resources include Friendster, Xanga, and Classmates.

Before we go into the business value of social networking platforms, let’s take a look at just how these sites work. In almost every case, a user is directed to creat a personal profile that will include some level of required personal information, such as zip code, name, and birth date. Users are encouraged to provide additional data such as favorite types of music, interests, education, etc. Once the profile is created, other users can performs searches, based on a number of criteria, to find like-minded profiles, and then request to connect. Often, networks start off small, by emailing friends and inviting them to join your network to stay in touch. For people who have moved often in their lives, or travel often, this is a great way to stay in touch. These networks encourage online chats, sharing of likes and dislikes, reviews of movies or music, and other similar types of exchange between “friends” to facilitate ongoing dialogue and communication. That’s the gist of it, anyway. There can be much more to it, as much as you want to put into it, in fact, and these resources continue to grow quickly.

It’s my assertion, however, that in the business community social networking sites have very little direct value. That being said, many feel that businesses should be very attentive to these networks, as McGowan expresses:

As far as services like Facebook and Myspace and their practical application in marketing and corporate branding, I feel that while LinkedIn may be a great outlet to meet business contacts and discuss relevant issues, this is where the real candid conversations about products and services take place between friends and loved ones. It is important for brands to be present in these conversations even if it’s only to listen and react. More and more companies are taking the initiative and engaging their audience at this level to varying results.

While he makes an intriguing point for the value of social networking, businesses must tread carefully, as mis-steps in these arenas can be harmful to their brand. McGowan goes on to say:

Users can be hesitant to accept new contacts from outside their circles.
Unlike a business and marketing focused community where most information is positioned to be seen by the most users, social groups on networking services like Facebook are more often closed to the public with privacy settings making these clusters much smaller and exclusive. The reality of parents, grandparents, bosses, and community leaders having access to people’s personal lives is bound to cause a shift in the way they conduct their online lives and to be more cautious of who they let into their networks.

In my opinion, there is no better place to see first hand the profound effect that the advent of social media “groundswell” has had in placing the power of consensus, power in numbers, in the hands of the general public. Instances where companies like Amazon, who recently stripped all LGBT books of their sales ranks on their site making them difficult to be searched, or Microsoft as they tried to collect a percentage of the severance packages they had paid to former employees, being forced to right the situation or at the very least just address it promptly are becoming more familiar. Causes, petitions, protests, boycotts of all types trend regularly on social networking services and proliferate in this fertile soil. The buzz of the online community is now too loud to ignore.

I understand McGowan’s point of view on Social Media Bucket Number 3, though I have spent very little time engaged in these social networking platforms. I can see the power and perspective that can be gained by businesses who sell direct to consumers. For these companies, social networking platforms can offer tremendous market research and facilitate brand awareness.

Maybe it’s my age, but I truly don’t see myself engaging in social networking sites, other than to have a Facebook account so I can keep track of my daughter’s network. And just to be up front- please don’t bother trying to friend me, I pay no attention to those requests, and have no desire to build my network beyond my daughter. Indeed, I feel quite blessed to have a full life and wonderful family. Perhaps it’s because of this that I have no desire to engage in social networking sites. As a professional who routinely works 50+ hour weeks and travels a few overnights every month, the time I have to spend with my family is far too valuable to spend it online trying to find internet “friends” or build my network.

But, hey, that’s just, like, my opinion.

Abstract from 20/20 Employment Branding:

Employment Brand Defined
In this session, we’ll talk about creating and leveraging a “brand” to increase your recruiting success. We’ll identify the strategies that are used in marketing and advertising to attract customers, and apply them to the goals of attracting the best possible candidates. So, instead of building a consumer brand focused on selling your products to customers, your goal is to develop an effective employment brand focused on promoting your business to attract the best possible candidates for your culture.

Effective Brands

WHAT Does a Body Good?
You’re in Good Hands with WHICH COMPANY?
Like a Good Neighbor WHICH COMPANY is There?
WHAT are Forever?

Each of the examples above speaks to a simple and effective consumer brand. They have a distinct message that can be conveyed in very short statements, and through marketing, they have impacted the way we feel about their products. Milk is good for you. Allstate has great coverage. State Farm is your local insurance provider who is there when you need them. Want a gift that will last a lifetime… you guessed it- De Beers diamonds ARE forever.

When an employer can establish, communicate, and reinforce an effective employment brand, they will realize an increased stream of applicants better suited to their work environment, which in turn leads to an increase in employee retention. Many key factors that influence an employee’s decision to stay with an employer.

A brand can generally be defined as the sum of all characteristics and distinguishable features associated with a good or service – its unique personality. Brands are comprised of logos, images, slogans, and features of the good or service, along with all the supporting communication and promotion of these items. Simply put, a consumer brand should be built around the customer experience; therefore, an employment brand needs to be built around your employee’s experience.

Identifying Your Unique Employment Brand

Establishing an effective brand in the consumer market requires a company to understand what drives consumer behavior. Likewise, in order to establish an effective employment brand, a company must understand what drives employee behavior.

One essential and oft-ignored necessity of branding is identifying the current reality of your situation, not what you wish your situation was. If the branding is not absolutely true and consistent with your business today, it will not be effective and will not last. In fact, a false brand will have negative effects, and cause resentment among your current employees. For example, you can’t promote excellent opportunities for advancement if you don’t make a regular practice of promoting from within…

I will be presenting a full workshop on developing an employment brand at the 2009 Human Capital Summit- from creating the brand identity to measuring brand penetration. You can register for this workshop at the official website, here.

Thanks to Debra Wheatman for sharing this excellent article on the truly important issues to consider when creating your resume. Whether or not you’re currently looking for work, this is definitely worth the read!

Drafting an effective résumé is key to contributing to a successful job search. Oftentimes, the résumé is the first thing a hiring manager reviews to determine your suitability for a potential opening. This first (and lasting) impression is critical; putting your best foot forward in creating a highly accomplishment-driven document will go a long way in ensuring that you are contacted. There are a number of things that should be considered to ensure your résumé works to your advantage:

Results - Everyone has responsibilities as part of their job. That does not engage or capture the reader though. It’s fairly boring to read ‘Responsible for…’ and whatever it is that you do on a daily basis. The key component is to provide the reader with an example of something you did that generated RESULTS for your employer. Consider the following acronym: SAR. This stands for Situation, Action, Result, and can help you define on paper what the situation was, the action you took, and the result that will demonstrate your ability to deliver. If you do this throughout your résumé, you will set a positive and proactive tone that you are a committed and productive individual who is able to serve as a change agent for a company.

It’s all in the Words - Using compelling verbs will serve to engage your reader. Try to come up with different verbs to lead the bullets or sections of your document. Avoid using the same words over and over again. The résumé is a marketing document. You need to take a step back and think “What would I think of this if I saw it for the first time?” Try to get inside the mind of the hiring manager. You want to impress and engage someone. Actionable word choices will help you do this. Some good résumé verbs: Spearheaded; championed; aligned; delivered; implemented. You get the idea – these words present a call to action.

Presentation -While ‘content is king,’ presentation plays a part in the recipe. People like to look at things that look nice – résumés are no exception to this rule. Your résumé should be presented in a consistent manner on the page. Ensure that the margins are aligned properly. Choose an appealing font like Book Antiqua in 10 pts. or something a bit stronger like Tahoma in 9.5 points. There are many fonts out there that hold more appeal than the totally boring Times New Roman. Once your résumé is complete, print it. Don’t just look at it on the screen. Printing it will give you a better sense of how you are presented overall.

Rules about Grammar and Spelling - If there are two things that will send your résumé straight to the circular file it is grammar and spelling mistakes. I recognize that we are not perfect – but, and there is always a but, your résumé must be perfect. If you know that this area is not your strong suit have someone else review it. It is also a good idea to have someone else look at it because the more you study it the less likely you are to catch small things that a fresh pair of eyes will capture. The Little Blue Book is a great resource to help with myriad grammar issues. Not sure how to spell something? Dictionary.com is there to help. Need another word for managed? No problem – check out Thesauras.com for synonyms. There are countless resources right at your fingertips. Gone are the days of heavy books; the online world allows access to the most inconceivable information, which you should use to your advantage.

The Downlow on Hobbies – Leave hobbies off the résumé unless a hobby for you is completing an Ironman Triathlon or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. Simply stating that reading or running is a hobby is not very compelling. The hiring manager will learn about you in time. However, the aforementioned triathlon and climb is certainly of greater interest than reading books. In addition to being an icebreaker, which can set a personal tone to the meeting, those things also demonstrate a unique spirit and other traits that set you apart from your peers. The perseverance, commitment, and dedication needed for those things warrants referencing on the résumé. If not something really unique, leave it off.

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Debra Wheatman, CPRW, CPCC is the founder and Chief Career Strategist of http://ResumesDoneWrite.com, a premier career services provider focused on developing highly personalized career roadmaps for senior leaders and executives across all verticals and industries. Debra is also the CareerDoctor (www.ResumesDoneWrite.blogspot.com)

Debra can be reached at DWheatman@ResumesDoneWrite.com

Simple, memorable, and thought provoking. Those should be the three keys to creating a tagline specific to your employment brand. Also, keep in mind that your employment brand will be viewed internally as well as externally. To this end, slogans will serve to remind your employees what they like about working for your company and therefore, will be effective and lasting. Work with a group within your organization to develop your logo and slogan or tagline. Remember, “good enough” truly isn’t good enough. You’ll want to take enough time that you are absolutely positive that you have the best copy, that it conveys the message you want, and that it is memorable. Once you make a decision to launch an employment brand, you’ll have to be dedicated to sticking with it for a significant length of time without making any changes.

Over the years, I’ve worked for many companies who put on great employee appreciation events, and many more who offered referral bonuses when they were hiring.

Few, however tied these programs together to clearly communicate and reinforce their Employment Brand. If you’re going to put in place an incentive for your employees to speak with their friends and family about working for your company, you should ensure that your core values and unique programs are top of mind, and clearly understood by all. Again, as I have written several times, your values must be in line with the reality of your environment to ensure brand integrity, and ultimately brand loyalty.

When we consider changing recognition or appreciation programs in our company, we always closely examine how it will affect our ability to hire great people. As an extension of that, we explore how it will affect the retention of our current staff, and what potential word of mouth “advertising” they will bring to their communities.

Aside from offering the highest compensation in the land, a company’s REPUTATION is the most important element to attracting applicants. Our company has built a reputation for fast growth, casual atmosphere, engaged employees at every level, and flexibility to generate, develop, and execute new initiatives. Our perks are very much in line with this reputation, and serve to reinforce our employer brand. Some of our special perks include Bring A Dog to Work Fridays, employee driven All Star Awards with photos on the wall, and company outings the local Triple-A baseball game, or a harbor cruise.

Even when times are tight, as they certainly are now for most companies, we understand that any changes we would make to these unique and special perks would impact our ability to retain and attract great employees in the future.

What special perks does your company offer, and how well do you connect them to your Employment Brand both internally and externally?

First, a word of thanks to the MaineHR Cafe for giving me this great idea. You can see the MaineHR Cafe elevator pitch by clicking here. As I read that recently, I was reminded that it’s important to routinely share the motivation, purpose, and hopes associated with a blog to let help new visitors and subscribers understand the intended perspective.

Here’s a go at why I write the Recruiting Front Lines, and why you might care to read it or subscribe:

For than a decade I have have worked in marketing, sales, and advertising for media companies. In January of 2004, I joined JobsInTheUS.com, the umbrella of state-specific recruitment resources which now includes the leading resources (most job postings, events, and in-state traffic) in ME, NH, VT, and RI, along with growing presence in AL, CT, LA, MA, MS, NY, and PA.

Starting in 2005, I was charged with building and managing a field marketing program that was focused on reinforcing our local focus by engaging job seekers and employers in the community. Through this activity, we have presented workshops at career centers and colleges, developed HRCI-accredited seminars and webinars for employers, promoted our brand at festivals, trade shows, and job fairs across our markets. Last year alone, we exhibited at more than 250 events in New England and the Gulf Coast.

While I captured a significant amount of market data for use in our sales and marketing, I had no outlet to share the qualitative information I was getting from front line managers, HR admins, job seekers, career counselors, and business owners. I started the Recruiting Front Lines as a way to record and share the stories, news, and trends that I was hearing first hand from both seekers and employers.

Over the past year, I have become much more involved in the HR community, and have found myself building a focus on employment branding, social media for HR, staffing management, and other recruiting/hr focused issues. I still attend many events, and continue to broaden my awareness and knowledge of the labor market from those most closely and directly affected by it every day.

Okay, so I’ve never been one to be pithy or short on words. I hope this provides a good view of why I write and why I do what I do. Please feel free to visit often or subscribe to my feeds. If you know of someone who would be interested in following along, please share the link.

Best Regards,

Jason

It crossed my mind recently that employers should pay very close attention to which companies are hiring employees away from them. These companies represent your market competition. Two things you should be asking yourself:

1. If you are losing top talent to one specific competitor, why and what can you do about it?

2. Are you also hiring away top talent from you competitor, or is this a one way street?

There's really no way around this simple truth: Great companies are built by great employees.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

(Continued from an article posted on April 8, 2009. Click here to see Part 1.)

Through careful and thoughtful analysis of the skills that are required to carry out your business functions, and the ancillary or unused skills present in your workforce, you can begin to build engagement while operating more efficiently.

During staffing reductions, either by layoffs or attrition, there is often a work gap left behind by the departed employees. That is, when a company lays off one person, it is common that some portion of the work that person performed must still be completed. Customarily, this work is picked up by the remaining employees (see scenario below), adding a sense of increased burden to the insecurity they are already feeling.

Consider this theoretical scenario, and please share your thoughts on how common, or uncommon, this practice is within your company.

10 people can do 100% of the work for a department.

• On average, each person is responsible for 10% of the work.

Staff is reduced by 20%, while production is rolled back by only 10%.

80% of the original staff must now complete 90% of the original work.

• Each person is now responsible for 11.25% of the work- a 12.5% increase.

Normally, there is no bump in pay provided to the remaining workforce.

There is an alternative to this process, however, which can have a splendidly opposite- increasing our employee engagement and sense of security. It’s what we call the Auxiliary Workforce Plan (AWP).

Essentially, the AWP provides the roadmap to identify, develop, and utilize untapped skills and talents present within our current workforce. Through this mechanism, we can provide interdepartmental and cross-functional opportunities to our employees, which lead to stronger engagement, and better overall understanding of our business. For the employees, it manifests as professional development, resume building, and increased variety in their day-to-day job activities. This is truly a win/win practice that will provide the greatest benefits when the economy is at its worst.

To be Contnued…