Jason Blais: From the Recruiting Front Lines

As I arranage the furniture in my new home, I can’t help but look back over the past 2 years spent posting on The Recruiting Front Lines on Blogger.  For most of that time, I spent a great deal of my effort managing our marketing and education events for the sites of JobsInTheUS.  During that time, we launched sites for AL, MS, and LA, and in 2008 attended more than 250 events across 7 states. Through this activity, we keep our feet on the ground and our fingers on the pulse of the employment markets we serve.  Personally, it was an amazing opportunity to learn first hand the fears and hopes of job seekers, and the frustrations and successes of employers.  We were able to establish ourselves as the number one recruitment resource in our markets, and had the best connection with our local markets in the industry.  I’m very proud of what we accomplished, and excited as we continue to deepen our relationships with employers, job seekers, and educational institutions.

In my new capacity, I am now focused much more on surveying the internet employment advertising market, developing strategic partnerships, and building new revenue streams for our sites.  This is another evolution of my work with JobsInTheUS, though I continue to be grounded in the education and outreach programs.  Recently, I agreed to become a monthly columnist for the New Hampshire Business Review, writing a regular article on the labor market for employers, and I continue to work on the board of the Granite State HR Conference.  This year, I have also been working hard at building our company’s curriculum of HR-focused content, developing 4 webinar programs that have been accredited by HRCI, and wrapping up 2 more.

As my company works to broaden our reach and increase our value to both job seekers and employers, we will continue to focus on building real, relevant, and timely programs.  Our focus will remain unchanged, as we work to help job seekers find and land their next great job, and help employers attract the very best candidates for every position, every time.

That being said, through this blog, I will be sharing not only my experiences related to the front lines of the labor market, but also my activity as I work with new partners, develop new programs, and build new and lasting relationships with strategic partners.  I hope to write compelling content that will provide both advice and best practices, and a unique perspective of the employment market.

Thanks for taking a look, please come back often and share this address with friends!

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE PILOT!

(THE FOLLOWING IS COPY FROM A NEW PILOT FOR A MONTHLY JOB REPORT PRODUCED BY VERMONTTV.NET FOR JOBSINVT.COM)

The July job numbers showed positive signs that the worst of the economic downturn may be behind us. Let’s start by looking at the statewide job posting numbers.

In July, the total number of openings posted on JobsInVT grew to 970, which is up nearly 12% over June. Year over year, however, job openings posted in July decreased by 36%.

161 Vermont Employers advertised job openings on JobsInVT in July, the same as in June, but up nearly 60% from January which had the lowest number for the year.

As you would expect, the number of job seeker visits to the website continues to be on the rise, increasing from 170,000 unique visits in June to 175,000 in July.

Now let’s take a closer look at the job specific data. As usual, the largest number of job openings in July were in Chittenden County, which posted just over ONE THIRD of all job listings. Of interest, though is the sharp rise in jobs in Windham County, where nearly 25% of all job opportunities on JobsInVT.com were located. The steepest decline was seen in Lamoille County, which has dropped by nearly TWO THIRDS since May.

Strangely, both Salaried and Hourly positions saw slight declines in July, offset by an increase in Commission and Salary plus Commission openings increased nearly 40%. FULL TIME job openings continue to be strong, representing more than 55% of all postings, though down slightly from July. Part Time and Per Diem positions are on the rise, showing significant growth, doubling from June to July. These data points indicate that Vermont employers remain cautious.

The question on most peoples’ minds, of course, is what jobs are out there? The trend over the past few months has continued, as job openings in Non Profits, Education, and Social Service sectors lead the pack. As Vermont businesses work to break out of the recession, it appears they are also investing into customer facing positiong as well, with many opportunities being posted in sales and customer service fields. On the decline in July, were Hospitality and Retail openings, down from their primary hiring season in the Spring.

A positive trend for July is the increase in Professional Services, Insurance, and finance postings. These are perhaps the strongest indicators that the tide may be turning, as they represent higher paying jobs that are dependent upon confidence in the market.

That’s your JobsInVT.com JobReport for August 2009, I’m Jason Blais saying thanks for tuning in, and reminding everyone that while you’re working for the things you want, to be grateful for the things you have.

We’re now working with CareerTV to provide video advice for job seekers- check out the video below:

The final two months of 2008 resulted in a precipitous decline in job posting activity on our site as the economy began to tumble off the cliff, to paraphrase Warren Buffett’s sentiments. Since the beginning of 2009, I’ve been focusing my attention on identifying and developing new programs and services that will add value to the users of our company’s web service- namely HR professionals, small business owners and managers, recruiters, and job seekers- in order to stay relevant and viable.

Regardless of which rocks I look under, the hard fact is that anything which we develop will be related to a job market that is a shadow of what it was 2 years ago. Indeed, when the market was booming, it was easy street in the employment advertising sector- between 2004 and 2008 the number of online job boards increased from around 30,000 to over 100,000 due to the huge demand and growing value of web-based advertising platforms. Everyone with a dream of making it rich in e-commerce, it seemed, was staking a claim in this vast space, with our without strong business plans or depth of knowledge in this market.

It makes me think of the San Francisco Gold Rush of the 1850’s. Back then, plain folk from all over the country (and even from overseas) packed up all their worldly belongings and set out to find gold and strike it rich. Very few of these “miners” had the knowledge or know-how to mine effectively; many, in fact, failed to even make the distinction between real gold and other, less precious minerals. At the time, though, the feeling was that it didn’t matter what you knew- anyone could do it. All you had to do was dig around, sift through some riverbeds, and one day, your time and effort will pay off.

Today, anyone who can put together a little HTML and set up PayPal and Google Adsense accounts seems to have packed up their belongings and hitched their wagon to the job posting rush of the mid 2000’s. And similar to the Gold Rush, very few possess the depth or breadth of knowledge that is vital to providing a lasting and reliable resource in this market.

Personally, it’s sad to see all these new job posting sites popping up that simply scrape postings from other sites, ensure they are search engine optimized, and hope for some free money from the Google ad links that they paste all over the place. They’re trying to get rich off the backs of real businesses who are working tirelessly to help employers find the best candidates available, and help job seekers access real, legitimate job opportunities.

Which takes me back to my focus of 2009, and some recent developments that may be coming down the line. In addition to an increased curriculum for our HRCI Certified webinars and seminars, we are working to find new ways to help the users of our site be more successful- whether that be by finding great candidates, or landing the job of their dreams. We’ve already added CareerTV, a very well produced service that provides tips and advice to help job seekers improve their resumes, interview success, and other career search activities. We’ve also partnered with Kennedy Information to deliver premier level services to job seekers willing to work with placement professionals.

Next on the horizon, we’re looking at adding some punch to our Company Spotlights by perhaps adding some audio. The thinking here is that this will give employers a second dimension to engage job seekers, and really allow the personality of the company to shine. We’re also exploring outlets to share the labor market data we accumulate in a format that will help job seekers better evaluate the employment landscape.

Now I’m beginning to feel like a blowhard. Really what I’m trying to convey is that good business is based on increasing the value you present, not on merely making a better package. I’m a firm believer that by doing good, we can all do well. In our industry, doing good means helping people and employers be successful.

When it comes down to it, the value of any business is most accurately measured by the trust of its customers. Sometimes I feel like an old fashioned fuddy-duddy, still clinging to basic business principles of a bygone era, while the youngin’s wrap empty solutions in slick online marketing, and reap short term gains. Then, I remember that despite the speed of development and information sharing, long term business success must be viewed as a marathon, and not a sprint.