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Hacking Tech Recruiting and Hiring With HackerRank

hackerrank-ufl-130216123915-phpapp02-thumbnail-4While a veritable cottage industry has sprung up around sourcing for tech talent, particularly in the profile aggregation space (think: Entelo, Dice Open Web, Gild), comparatively few options exist for actually screening tech skills, especially developers.

Most of these dedicated tech recruiting tools offer integrations with public code repositories like GitHub or StackOverflow. None of these emerging solutions, however, offer employers the kind of comprehensive skills assessment capabilities that have become ubiquitous in the recruiting process for almost every other functional area.

This means that employers must rely on previous projects or existing code for screening hard skills; but as any technical recruiter can tell you, even complete proficiency in a particular programming language doesn’t guarantee universal translation across projects and employers.

So how to make sure the developers you hire really get with the program?

Meet HackerRank, a Palo Alto based “social platform” for programmers which has already raised $12.4 million in funding in its less than two years in existence.  HackerRank is a new tool designed to help hire developers; while it has a fairly broad range of features and functions, the thing it really does best is giving recruiters the capability to deliver fully customized, completely configured coding challenges directly to candidates.

Administering a standard, on-demand or in-person test is pretty simple; you can simply upload it directly to HackerRank and invite one or more candidates to take the test.  Once completed, HackerRank generates robust reporting results to show which coders make the cut – and how their skills compare to other candidates under consideration.

template3This, of course, is fairly standard; what’s really cool, though, is that HackerRank lets employers go beyond templatized, standardized assessments to let employers see not only developers’ skills, but also their style.

Their proprietary CodePair Live tool (screenshot above) creates a secure environment for administering coding challenges from questions created by you and your developers – and have them solve a real challenge in real time.

This live environment not only helps better adjudicate proficiency for a specific development or programming skill, but also offers employers insight into how candidates approach coding, respond to changes and work collaboratively on code – just like they’ll need to be able to do on the job.

It also integrates these live assessments seamlessly into the recruiting process, with scheduling and calendar capabilities built in, along with audio and video controls that function similarly to a sophisticated digital interviewing point solution – with the added bonus of in-line editing and annotation for group or collaborative screening.

After completion of any test administered by HackerRank, a report is generated within 5 minutes showing not only the final code and test case results, but also feeds that data directly into your ATS through an API, with this information integrating directly into a candidate’s profile so that HackerRank results can be accessed from a single sign on from your system of record.

Now, if you’ve ever done tech screening, I’m sure you can imagine how much time this saves in the average hiring cycle, since most of these skills assessments are normally done by developers, not recruiters, and generally without any process or insight into the candidate’s viability other than coming back with either red flags or a green light. Even that normally tacks on days or weeks worth of waiting time to the tech recruiting process.  With HackerRank, you’ll never have to worry about tech screens again.

If a candidate seems like a good fit, all a recruiter has to do is invite them immediately to the programming questions and test cases your dev team’s already uploaded, and will know within a matter of minutes whether or not they passed. Think about the ROI this creates.

HackerRank a potential game changing technology for tech companies, considering that since the tech teams themselves create the challenges, it’s highly targeted and ensures that busy development teams will only see the candidates who meet their existing baseline.  Effectively, this software bridges the knowledge gap between recruiting and technology – no easy feat, but a real tech recruiting challenge that now has a really effective tech solution.

While I’m really impressed with the Codepair feature, which allows developers to have several people attend live screens collectively while being able to collaborate in a real time environment, I don’t actually think it’s necessary. Seriously, with HackerRank’s ability to have challenges uploaded and automatically e-mailed to candidates, you’ll have all the information you need to make a much more informed decision than is possible with most skills assessment or screening solutions.

You can also administer tests for multiple languages through an existing library including, but not limited to, C++, Java, PHP, C#, Ruby on Rails and many of the other most common languages used in development today – and the most competitive for recruiting developers.

While HackerRank is obviously pretty awesome for recruiting and hiring, it’s also able to add value to the candidate (and potentially, your existing tech talent) by offering a multitude of developer challenges which allow programmers to hone their skills while learning new programming skills or expanding their proficiency with different coding languages or challenges.

These hosted events are obviously a pretty great place to find programmers for tech recruiters, and that value add should only expand as HackerRank rolls out this feature to colleges so that computer and technology students can show their stuff to prospective employers and hone their skills solving real world coding challenges. Talk about a win-win.

A lot of recruiting and staffing tools claim they have the potential to be huge game changers; with its ability to streamline tech screening and improve the efficiency and efficacy (not to mention quality) of the tech recruiting process, HackerRank actually delivers as promised.  And it not only changes the game, it also steps it up when it comes to the science of tech recruiting and staffing.


dean_dacostaAbout the Author: Dean Da Costa is a highly experienced and decorated recruiter, sourcer and manager with deep skills and experience in HR, project management, training & process improvement.

Dean is best known for his work in the highly specialized secured clearance and mobile arenas, where he has been a top performing recruiter and sourcer.  Dean’s keen insight and creation of innovative tools and processes for enhancing and changing staffing has established Dean as one of the top authorities in sourcing and recruiting.

Connect with Dean at LinkedIn or follow @DeanDaCosta on Twitter.

 

Projects in LinkedIn Recruiter: The Average, The Bad and the Ugly

linkedin-logo-failThis week, Linkedin released their own CRM style sourcing tool. Social media, marketing and recruiting all in one place; it seems like the perfect idea. I was intrigued, especially because I’ve been working on a presentation for TalentNet September 12th about the concept of applying inbound marketing techniques and automation to recruiting.

This isn’t some revolution. If you’ve ever hired someone that you didn’t already know, you’ve already used marketing in recruitment.

The thing that the HR department is missing is the glue that brings it all together – the content to actually drive a pipeline.When I heard about these add-ons, I went into it hoping some of the great minds in Mountain View had delivered that glue to LinkedIn Recruiter. And maybe created enough stickiness to justify their steep price tag.

I wanted to see if it was actually applying the inbound marketing principals or if they were just slapping new names on traditional features, like “people you may know” (that don’t work), and calling it marketing automation.

But here’s the thing.  It kind of sucks.

DisappointedI’m disappointed. If you’ve ever worked on a team that’s required to deliver something of quality (candidates, leads, etc), you’re already aware that you can’t simply pack your pipeline full of crap that shares only the commonality that they’re part of a group that you’ve somehow successfully managed to sucker into answering your call to action.

Unfortunately, I think that’s exactly what this tool is going to do. And when it comes to conversion, I’m just not a true believer that the project features in LinkedIn Recruiter can deliver any real value for recruiters (or recruitment marketers).

The reason is simple. The project features in LinkedIn Recruiter don’t help create better content that will attract, engage and convert candidates, passive or otherwise. Which is really the entire point. When I say content, by the way, I’m talking way broader than just blogging or posting on Publisher.  Sure, creating targeted content is a lot of work – hell, I get it – and if you’re a recruiter, you’ve already got enough to do without adding copywriting to your to-do list.  I’m with you.

But whether you know it or not, content also includes everything from your LinkedIn profile to your job posts to your company page. Hell, your search queries even count as content.  This tool lays out the infrastructure for improving that content, and the effort, at least, is commendable. But all the tool really does, frankly, is process candidates. That makes it no more than a spreadsheet with some fancy buttons.

I can sit here and tell you all about what I think went wrong and right here philosophically but let’s dig into the details:

Projects in LinkedIn Recruiter: Don’t Believe The Hype

  • Linear Pipeline View: When I think about marketing, I just want to know what my conversion was from step to step so I can compare it to other campaigns and optimize. They’re missing the data that tells you if that’s any good (although the UX looks nice).
  • Suggested Profiles: I get what they’re trying to do here but any decent CRM or social listening tool can find “profiles like this” and make a match based on keywords. However, I like that this takes into account all of your historical queries related to the search. It’s an actual integration of recruiting technology into a marketing pipeline approach. My question is how long you’re going to have to use it to make it actually work.
  • Stars: Treating candidates as good or bad is so basic. It’s helpful, I’m sure, but levels of stars may have made more sense. 5 stars vs 3 stars based on how well they match the profile, for example.
  • Collaboration: Again, this is out of necessity. There are so many collaboration tools. And e-mail notifications. Great, one more e-mail.
  • Metrics That Matter: It’s not clearly called out (% that converts at each level, % completeness, % match, etc.)

You can check out their blog post breaking down the features, but lost in the superlatives and PR spin in the official announcement is the fact that when it comes to marketing automation, LinkedIn clearly has taken its finger off the Pulse.

8 Things To Consider When Doing A Video Interview

2014-08-27_06-09-20The future of recruitment is now. How did we get here? Let’s take a quick look at the evolution of how we communicate with candidates and clients.  First, it started with the phone. Then, just the fax. From there came voice-mail, e-mail, beepers and PDAs. Then our phones suddenly became ‘smart,’ and along came texting, Tweeting, FaceTime and Facebook.  Sometimes, it feels a little like staffing at Spacely Sprockets – we’ve truly entered the Jetsons’ era. Only we call our flying cars “drones.”

While I’m often surprised by the pace of progress, truth is, I never thought, even with all the other technologies and tools out there, that we’d actually use video interviewing daily in our jobs.

But it’s been about a year since I started using video interviews actively for recruiting purposes.While these solutions have been around for a little longer, but it’s only been in the past year that I’ve really adopted and embraced this technology.

As the Global Sales and Marketing Recruiter for Rosetta Stone, my role requires working with clients and candidates from around the world. My very first day on the job, we were using Google Hangouts to communicate with our counterparts within the company. Since I’m based in Austin, but Rosetta Stone’s corporate headquarters are in Washington, DC, communicating with my colleagues might have posed something of a problem, say, five years ago.  Today, I see my co-workers every day through video technology, even though they’re in locations all over the world. Similarly, I use Skype to really engage with real candidates in real time; it doesn’t matter if they’re in Brazil, Berlin or Boston.  Which is really cool.

I’ll admit, when I first started incorporating video into my daily recruiting routine, I didn’t really think too much about etiquette. But trust me: there are things you should and shouldn’t do while using video at work.  Just three short years ago, everything was done by phone; no one could see behind the scenes at my home office.  But today, I have to make sure to look the part, because there’s no hiding when you’re on camera- you’ve always got to be ready for your close-up.

8 Key Considerations for Video Interview Success

It’s critically important for recruiters to present themselves to candidates as consummate professionals, and being seen in the best possible manner means using their best possible manners.  As new as this technology is to recruiting, these common sense tips aren’t necessarily common knowledge, but here are some “dos” and “don’ts” to help avoid some of the most common video interviewing mistakes I see every day.

Here are some recruiting rules of the road for video interviewing:

1. Be Aware of Your Surroundings: Sure, it’s important to know if that cereal bowl sitting on your desk can be seen on camera, or that unwieldly stack of papers isn’t blocking the camera frame.  Sure, it’s important to keep your phone on silent so it doesn’t ring and close all windows on your computer with push notifications or noise alerts to ensure a distraction free video conversation.

Yeah, I’ve made similar mistakes. But two things: these little things suggest bigger problems, namely, a lack of attention to detail and that you’ve come to an interview unprepared. If you’re going to invest in video interviewing, I’d suggest investing in some sort of backdrop. Most don’t take a ton of space or money, but can pay off by eliminating the background distractions that often detract from the video interviewing experience. Not to mention, most look way more professional than that home office of yours.

2. Look The Part: Sure, you don’t have to slap on a suit and tie for every single video interview, but remember that these are more or less meetings, and just because you’re not physically in the same space doesn’t mean you don’t have to be as presentable as if you were sitting across from your CEO and leadership team.  Make sure you’re wearing at a clean, wrinkle-free and professional collared shirt or blouse since that’s the clothing your counterpart will see on camera.

And while your pants might be out of frame, I’d strongly suggest wearing them at all times – you never know when you might accidentally tilt your camera or alter your framing. Trust me, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

3. Hygiene Counts: No one wants to trust their hiring to a hobo. Shaving, putting on makeup, keeping your hair combed and well kempt are just some of the personal grooming basics that, for some reason, I’ve seen many people neglect during a video interview. Also, make sure that if you’re doing interviews after a snack or meal, you brush your teeth (or just make sure you don’t have a rogue piece of spinach sticking out).  Don’t laugh – this happens all the time. And it’s gross.

4. Watch Your Body Language: Because you’re on camera, your body language is visible – and making sure it doesn’t get lost in translation means making sure to remain poised and polished. Even though this is video, eye contact matters in every interview, so make sure to address the camera directly.  If you’re constantly looking around, fidgeting or are unable to look straight into the lens, it looks like you’re either nervous, hyperbolizing or flat out lying. All of which are kind of red flags in recruiting.

5. Turn Off Your Cell: I mentioned this briefly before, but it bears repeating: turn off your cell. Seriously. Don’t even bother with putting it on silent; not only can the mic on most webcams pick up that damn buzzing, but you’re likely to at least glance at the phone. And if you’re not looking at the camera, you’re looking for trouble (see point #4).  I’d suggest putting your phone in another room entirely; constant beeping or buzzing, even if it’s not in your immediate area, just makes you look rude and inconsiderate. Don’t be that guy.

6. Silence Is Golden: I’ve got two kids running around my house, and it can get loud in my home office, to say the very least of cute – but unexpected – visitors popping their head in during the middle of meetings. That’s why I’ve learned that during important video calls, like executive updates or hiring manager meetings, it’s important to plan ahead.

Make sure that if you can’t plan meetings around when people are going to be out of the house (which is ideal), at least let them know in advance that you need quiet and shouldn’t be disturbed. Of course, you can’t completely control this, but you can at least minimize the distractions caused by background noise.

7. Act Like It’s IRL: We know how you’re supposed to interview in person – you know, be on time, come prepared with questions, practice your answers, research the company and role, all that career advice stuff you’ve heard a million times before. The exact same rules apply for any interview, regardless of medium. It’s easy to get distracted in a video interview or make a bad impression by making any one of the easy mistakes described above; in fact, for candidates, I think video interviewing is actually harder, which is why preparation is even more important.

Make sure to take a few test drives with the technology to make sure you’re not going to run into any difficulties.  If you’re using a platform like Skype or Google Hangouts, try calling up a friend or colleague ahead of time to make sure they can hear and see you (or get feedback if you’d like to do a little on camera rehearsing).

8. Don’t Get Dropped: Here’s the thing: video interviewing is an awesome technology, but it’s also very bandwidth intensive and requires a solid internet connection – I’d suggest not counting on your mobile data network or a public hotspot and making sure you’re able to be in a place with a trusted (and testable) internet connection for video interviews.

Make sure you download any applications and test settings and configurations at least a day in advance, and make sure you have a backup option, like a phone number, in case you need to reach the other person as a contingency – accidents happen, particularly when there’s video involved, but nothing’s worse than having to cut an interview short because of technical difficulties.

Remember, video interviews aren’t going away anytime soon – and neither are these simple considerations for video interviewing success.  Seriously.

will_thomsonAbout the Author: Will Thomson lives in Austin, Texas, and works for Rosetta Stone as the Global Sales and Marketing Recruiter. He has been in recruitment and sales for 20 years.

He received his undergraduate from The University of Mississippi, and his Master’s Degree from St. Edward’s University in Austin. He has recruited some of the most sought-after talent around the globe, and is a regular blogger for the recruitment industry.

He is the founder of Bulls Eye Recruiting and you can find him on Twitter @WillRecruits.

 

Can You Recommend Me? That’d Be Great.

milton-office-spaceYou know those endorsements you can give people on LinkedIn? Those are the little skills that you can click on at the top of a page on the site? They of adding little value to a person’s profile; They of nothing more than what amounts to a batch of UX tomfoolery to get users to “engage.”

Those suck. Yeah, we’re not going to talk about those.

However, the recommendations that LinkedIn offers can be a really valuable tool for your career. Who wouldn’t want to be recognized for something they did or contributed to the success of?

Think about the ways in which we use recommendations, and it really is an impactful part of true user engagement. We ask peers to recommend us (and vice versa). We recommend current or past clients, as well as extraordinary supervisors and team members.

And the fact is, recruiters use them too. I comb through the recommendations of a candidate I’m really interested in. My thought is, that in those I can find either talking points or a common string of a skill this person has. So they really serve a multitude of purposes. In an unusual turn of events, everybody wins.

I’m personally very selective about who I write recommendations for, and for good reasons. First, it’s the interwebs. That’s out there forever, and I want to make sure it’s something I’ comfortable with having out there forever. Secondly, it has to be someone that I have a long-standing relationship with. Said another way, someone I have some strong longitudinal data on – in so far as their awesomeness. Lastly, It’s a tool that should be saved for expressing true, valid superlatives. Not as a tool to build a stronger relationship. Or, in my recent experience, the first attempt at any relationship after connecting with someone.

Seriously. Three people in 90 days have asked me for recommendations on LinkedIn. Three people I have not interacted with since accepting their invite sometime back. Three! And each of them sent the blanket snippet that LinkedIn defaults to. (Side note: I hope the person who came up with that default was relegated to the basement office.)

“I’m sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my LinkedIn profile. If you have any questions, let me know.

Thanks in advance for helping me out.”

One time, OK. You can’t fix stupid. But two? Then three? People…just don’t understand the concept here, do they?

Your Recommendation Engine Is Broken

FB-Sorry-for-my-LinkedInLet’s see what’s wrong with this picture:

  • You connected with me, and never followed up after that. This is not a cardinal sin as far as networking goes. It’s helpful, and in the “nice to have” bucket. I can’t say you are on my “valuable connections” list.
  • You want me to recommend your work – for display on your profile. Work I’ve never seen I remind you, because a. you never showed it to me, or b. we have never worked together in ANY capacity. Oh, so titillating. The motivation for my recommendation is growing by the second.
  • You value my recommendation so much, that you decided you didn’t even need to put any personalization or specification in the note. So, is “your work” your whole career? I would think it’s a very small group of people who can recommend many (any?) people for the course of their entire career body of work. But that’s not the point. If you’re going to ask, don’t just spam it.

Long story short, I won’t be writing up any one of those recommendations. And I’m sorry (not sorry) that I can’t oblige. But in this crazy and mixed up world, all I have left is my integrity. And I’m keeping it for me. Maybe writing them a sarcastic bogus recommendation, about how they just blandly asked for a generic one would be the way to go. But honestly, I can amuse myself in other oddly productive ways.

So, I guess these folks will a bit heartbroken, waiting this long for my recommendation. Then again, it was just spam, so maybe not.

Click here for more recruiting news and views from Pete at his blog, Recruiting In 3D.

radloffAbout the Author: Pete Radloff has over 13 years of recruiting experience in both agency and corporate environments, and has worked with such companies as Comscore, National Public Radio and Living Social.

With experience and expertise in using technology and social media to enhance the candidate experience and promote strong employer brands, Radloff also serves as lead consultant for Exaqueo, a high-end workforce consulting firm.  An active member of the Washington area recruiting community, Radloff is currently a VP and sits on the Board of Directors of RecruitDC.

Follow Pete on Twitter @PJRadloff or connect with him on LinkedIn.

CareerXRoads Bellwethers: A Recruiting Industry Roundup

logo-careerxroadsEvery day, talent practitioners and leaders are literally inundated with a seemingly Sisyphusian mountain of recruiting related content.  

From thought leader views to industry news, staying on top of the stories and following the trends that matter most can be a daunting challenge for even the most voracious content consumers.

 That’s why Recruiting Daily asked Gerry Crispin and Mark Mehler, two of the world’s top recruitment industry influencers, to break down the most important industry news and views that every HR or recruiting professional needs to know to about the evolving world of work today – and tomorrow.

Here are the top 5 recruiting industry bellwethers shaping the future of talent acquisition:

tech world1. Technology and Diversity: Bursting the Perception Bubble

Ever since Google offered up their gender distribution in IT earlier this year, Silicon Valley has taken a hit for the % of technology jobs filled by women. This Business Insider piece adds fuel to that fire.

CareerXroads Comment: What we would like to see is numbers reflecting ‘potentially available qualified women’ and other diversity stats to better judge the recruiting effort against the universe of possibilities.

We’re taking odds for the over and under on the average age of these workforces.

2. eHarmony Wants to be the ‘eHarmony of Recruiting’:  Find Yourself a Compatible [Employers/Employee] Now!

eharmonyThere are at least a dozen recruiting startups that describe themselves as the eHarmony of recruiting. Perhaps eHarmony heard them. At the JobG8 conferences held in June the last two years we’ve heard the chief scientist at eHarmony describe their progress.

Currently, at least three well-known employers are beta-testing this relationship matching firm’s recruitment matching model expected to hit the street by the end of the year.

This Washington Post article points out the science and a few of the challenges involved.

CareerXroads Comment: We think the potential for disruption is high for 2 reasons. First, the science employed by eHarmony and other relationship matching engines ‘learns’ and improves their algorithms by following the outcomes… something few firms ever do. Job boards and other matching technologies seldom if ever fine tune their claims by confusing them with results. Second, successful relationships between people require transparency between both parties. We can’t wait to mystery shop this angle.

looking for job3. Do You Know What’s in Your ATS?  How Many of Your Applicants are ‘Long Term Unemployed’?

And, is it a problem? The government defines the number of people out of work for longer than 27 weeks as ‘long-term unemployed and believes it has reached crisis proportions. This Huffington Post article quotes recent research suggesting that when hired, folks who were out of work longer perform at equivalent levels to candidates recently on the market even though they have to apply to 3.5 times the number of companies to attract a single interview.

CareerXroads Comment: The data collected from 46,000 surveys in 2013 and from more than 95,000 this year for the Candidate Experience Awards (http://www.thecandes.org) supports some of these numbers even though it stops at asking if the candidates were looking for “16 or more weeks.”

The data suggests 30% of the applications in your ATS fall into this category and may be (we stress the ‘may be’) overlooked, ‘not considered’, or more quickly dis-positioned as a result of length alone- especially given the preference for ‘passive’ by many in our space.

and its gone4. A Great Candidate Experience Isn’t ALWAYS a Good Thing

CNN Money noted that LinkedIn was recently forced to pay 3 million in back pay and 2.5 million in damages to employees for unpaid forced overtime practices. To their credit it appears that LinkedIn paid up without arguing.

CareerXroads Comment:When recruiters who hire people they know (but don’t enlighten) will be abused (bad environment, lousy jobs, bad bosses, bad products, etc.) finally die they will be offered at the pearly gates a tour of heaven and hell.

Their experience in hell will be so good they will choose hell forgetting that it is what they did to sell candidates on earth. Then, when they show up for eternity, the devil will simply smile while acknowledging to their shocked and pained essence that as a recruiter he is only rewarded for selling.

5. TRYOUTS: The Most Impractical AND the Best Selection Method.

step upMatt Mullenweg is the CEO of Automattic, his start up has north of 200 employees. He’s never been a recruiter but he spends 30% of his time doing it. His April Harvard Business Review article should be a call to action for recruiting leaders. His approach is simple…tryout. Come work with us for a short while. If that sounds like an internship, well, yes. But, now apply the concept to every level and position.

CareerXroads Comment:We know how hard it is to get over the obstacles but this article offers several ideas that have made it work for Matt’s firm. (Another article in the WSJ about Lego’s tryout for designers is also brilliant He is by the way the last to interview someone who has gotten through  a ‘tryout’ and he does it via a ‘text’ interview to avoid ‘seeing’ the candidate and that may be his most brilliant tactic of all.

Links-a-lot: Bonus Tracks

The Implications of Moocs for Training [Slideshare] from Bersin at Deloitte

CareerXroads Comment:: 14% of Google’s professional hires have no degree. How will firms begin to evaluate and certify ‘knowledge’ as traditional schools and college degrees diminish?

CareerXroads 2014 Source of Hire: 500k openings filled in 2013

CareerXroads Comment:: For more than a decade we’ve collected data that is seriously flawed to make only one point- we need to collect better data. Some vendors especially those with an agenda about which ‘sources’ employers should spend their money on will argue for their POV with even worse data matched only by their biased analysis.

But staffing leaders know just how confident they are of their own numbers. We’re still trying to make the same point. And the most recent data?…It is marginally better than 2002.

For more information on CareerXRoads, click here.


gerry-300x300About the author: Gerry Crispin, SPHR is a life-long student of staffing and co-founder of CareerXroads, a firm devoted to peer-to-peer learning by sharing recruiting practices.

Follow Gerry on Twitter @GerryCrispin or connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

 

Does Video SEO Work For Recruiting And Staffing?

videoseoVideo has emerged as one of the hottest topics in recruitment marketing, as well as an increasingly ubiquitous feature of every company careers page and social recruiting platform.  That’s not even mentioning the fact that video cover letters, video job descriptions, video interviewing and similar solutions are transforming this medium into a core component of the core recruiting process and systems.

Video is nothing new, obviously; in fact, the actual format itself has long been obsolete (planning on buying any new VHS tapes soon)? While, as the Buggles famously sang, video killed the radio star (and Betamax), it’s also killing traditional online recruitment marketing and employer branding strategies. As common as videos have become, though, simply having these assets isn’t enough to guarantee success or generate competitive advantage.

Getting the most out of video means seeing the bigger picture (literally) and thinking holistically.  Video is great, but the key to turning them from branding tool to buzz building blockbuster requires some basic understanding of how video impacts SEO and search results.

Here are some marketing basics every talent pro needs to know to make video a key part of your recruiting strategy (and key driver for recruiting success):

Video SEO For Recruiting

Not only does video work for SEO, but it’s one of the simplest ways to boost your organic recruiting and staffing search results and boost your online employer brand visibility.  The real question is: How do you get found on YouTube, the world’s second most used search engine?  How do you get viewers to dedicate a few minutes of the billions of hours of video watched worldwide on YouTube every month?

Here’s some key data straight from YouTube that builds a clear case use for video SEO and recruiting:

  • YouTube generates more than 1 billion unique users every month.  80% comes from outside the US.
  • YouTube users watch over 6 billion hours of video every month. That’s close to an hour for every person on earth.
  • YouTube users upload over 100 hours of video every minute.
  • YouTube is localized in 61 countries for 61 different languages.
  • YouTube reaches more viewers in the 8-34 demographic than any cable network, according to Nielsen.
  • YouTube generates millions of subscriptions every day; the number of people subscribing daily has increased 300% since last year, and the number of different daily subscriptions has increased 400% since 2013.
  • 40% of the 6 billion hours of YouTube footage is viewed on a mobile device.

How YouTube SEO Works: Video Ranking for Recruiting

videoSEO_imageWhile they might be owned by them, it’s important to remember that YouTube is not Google.  Video, similarly, is ranked different than written content for search results, and therefore requires a different SEO strategy.

This doesn’t mean you should completely ignore traditional optimization techniques (or the power of formula) when looking at how video content results rank.

But the fact is, the years of posting videos for the sake of simply having video content are over.  In fact, if you’re posting without a strategy for SEO, be assured that there’s almost no way your video will ever be ranked.

So, what, exactly, is a “ranked video?”

Simply put, a ranked video on YouTube is a video that holds a place in search results.  That place is determined by unadvertised videos (“promoted video” displays are entirely different) and the immediate relevance of short tail search terms.  More important, at least for some, is the fact that it also factors in long tail search terms in determining those persistent, and ever so sticky, “suggested videos” you see on the right side of the YouTube screen.

So, what is a short tail search term? Simply put, marketers attempting to execute a short tail search campaign attempt to capture direct interest or traffic from internet users who are searching for a very specific or highly niched term.  For example, a short tail search would target, “recruitment CRM” as an SEO strategy, as opposed to the much more broadly focused keyword “CRM.”  For B2B marketing in particular, these terms are highly competitive for relative search ranking; the reward, however, is often a spike in high value, highly targeted site traffic.

Compare this strategy to what we refer to as “long tail search terms.”  Marketers executing long tail search campaigns are attempting to target traffic or capture interest from people searching sites for relatively infrequent or uncommon queries.  For example, “Engineering Jobs” may represent a short tail or a query with relatively high search volume.

Using the term “Engineering Jobs in Ohio,” by contrast, adds the proverbial long tail and targets less frequent, but still highly optimized search traffic.

7 Steps To Killer Video SEO on YouTube

As discussed before, SEO results and strategy are different on YouTube than Google’s content-based ranking authority; this has created a massive misunderstanding regarding what constitutes a highly optimized video for search when compared to the differentiated strategy used in creating a strong content marketing strategy to capture search engine rankings.

If you’re looking to step up your recruitment marketing and employer branding game with video content, here are 7 steps you need to consider when creating and uploading these assets to YouTube.

Disclaimer: Don’t ever upload videos simply for the sake of producing enough volume to meet a benchmark or quota (even if it is for the boss).  Having a YouTube with dozens of videos doesn’t earn you admission into the cool kids’ club.  That’s because there’s nothing new or innovative about leveraging video in recruitment; in fact, by most standards, it’s actually a mainstream mainstay of most online recruitment marketing.  That’s why your focus must be on quality, not quantity.

  1. Title and Tagging structure
  2. Viewing hours, minutes and retention. (sometimes referred to as “Audience Retention”)
  3. Your Video Description
  4. The length of your video
  5. The tagging structure and keywords on your video (and channel in combination)
  6. Comments, likes and dislikes (engagement) on your video
  7. Your video / channel subscribers (after watching your video and return channel subscribers to re-watch your videos)

Let’s break these down is a few easy to follow definitions:

Title and Tagging Structure

Targeting keywords in a video title doesn’t do justice or create long term value for SEO.  That might have worked back in 2007, but YouTube has evolved along with the internet, and is infinitely smarter when it comes to search than it used to be.  The lifespan of your video and your ranking authority now directly relates to the proper use of “long tail” titles (see above) and a tagging structure that allows YouTube viewers to find your video in search results based on a specific need.

Don’t use 13 different tags that are all pretty much a variation on the same key term, like “recruiting” and “recruitment.”  This is called keyword stuffing,” and will actually lead to getting penalized for trying to game the search system.  Once you’re flagged, it’s just like high school in terms of your long term strategy: “Once A Cheater, Always A Cheater.”  It’s a label that’s nearly impossible to shed.

The idea is that content must remain true to keywords and relevant to the title and tagging structure.  While keyword stuffing might lead to a short term uptick of video views today, it will likely lead to zero views tomorrow once this strategy is flagged and penalized.

Viewing hours, minutes and retention (AKA “Audience Retention”)

YouTube measures three distinct types of audience retention rates: absolute, relative and traffic source, similar to what you’d find on the backend of any analytics tool available to most webmasters which track bounce and retention rates for site visitors.  This capability makes YouTube analytics easy, but don’t get confused as to the real purpose of this tool.

YouTube wants great content, and need to be assured your video isn’t just great for your audience, but for their audience as well.  It’s not magic or some sort of witchcraft that the shoes you just looked at on Macy’s website start appearing in every search stream on every site you visit after the fact: this is called behavioral targeting.  The same holds true for how YouTube utilizes retention rates for authority.

What’s referred to as absolute audience retention shows a real time look at video views in real time.  In 2013 and 2014, users averaged 15 seconds per video view. This short attention span, naturally, led to most videos having relatively short lives in terms of search results, given their inability to retain an audience for less time than a standard TV commercial.

Relative audience retention, by contrast, compares your video’s ability to hold a viewer on YouTube on your video against the time they spend on every other video on the platform.  Viewing the report on your channel can be very telling (and often defeating), but will allow you to see exactly where your video content loses viewers.  This information is critical for adjusting future content on your channel, particularly if your strategy depends on a captive, engaged audience who will really respond to a video’s CTA.

Retention by traffic source, finally, refers to both paid (display and promoted) ads as well as organic traffic.  Clearly, as much as we’d love the second, it’s important to recognize the value of paid traffic as equally valuable and often, much more tightly targeted; in recruiting, you get what you pay for, and the value for paid traffic in recruitment marketing can’t be understated.

Your Video Description

For all the debates swirling around the type of descriptions you should incorporate into a video posting strategy, I’ll leave that conversation to the comment strings and user groups and give you my take.  As a content publisher, I not only create and market content, but contrary to what some of you might think, I have some street cred in this area (and happen to kind of know what I’m doing).

Here are 2 critical questions to help understand my argument.

1. Do you publish blog posts that are 50 words or less?

2. Were you ever told that posting a video in a blog drives traffic and kicks SEO ass?

Your video description should be treated, more or less, like a blog post with a video embedded in it.  Your description is the first and foremost traffic driver across search engines – and most critical component of video SEO. Google, Yahoo! or any search engine you use can’t listen to or watch your video, and therefore, cannot generate search results based on what’s actually recorded.  As great as this technology has become, it’s not Sylvia Brown.

YouTube Tip: Make sure your description is no less than 200-250 words, and contains clear, relevant keywords built around long tail search results. Keyword stuffing and hoping for the best is a strategy sure to fail every time.

Video SEO: Does Size Matter?

Scientifically speaking, this concept really isn’t too complicated, but in video SEO, size does matter.  As marketers, we argue this daily, but that’s to keep us relevant and looking like we know what we’re talking about as “thought leaders” on the conference circuit, since most uneducated “influencers” don’t actually practice what they preach, but need something to sermonize (OK, I had to get that dig in there, but I’m kidding, of course – I still love ya).

Here are the facts about why size matters in video SEO.  Note these statements are gathered from a variety of sources and can be substantiated (I’m just not going to backlink because I don’t want a penalty for this post, too):

  1. Keep Your video under :45 seconds if you want any chance at social sharing.
  2. Keep your video between 60-90 seconds if you’re wanting to engage viewers or build brand awareness.
  3. If you’re wanting a video to lead to viewers taking action (e.g. applying for a job) then you have less than 30 seconds to convey your message and CTA.

Video Tagging Structure and Channel Keywords

Video-SEO-4-Metrics“SERP,” which stands for Search Engine Results Page, can best be described as the page of results that show up once you enter a query into a search engine.

It’s important to understand a few key components of SERP before moving forward:

  1. The Search Query: The actual search inputted by the user
  2. Organic SERP: Results that are displayed based on the natural relevance of your content to the search query.
  3. Paid SERP: Ads or sponsored results that appear after a search; this is most commonly referred to as a “pay-per-click” campaign.

It’s not easy, and often, ranking high for your keyword of choice can be a monumental task.  Expect to get dirty if you don’t have deep pockets; this is where the hard work really happens.

Without getting too geeky (Google SERPs if you really want the nitty gritty), here are a couple key points to consider:

Research Relevant Keywords: I’m not talking about basic terms.  Go deeper with any number of keyword analysis tools on the market, such as Google Insights or HRMarketer, and get a closer look at what’s actually going to work without becoming a victim of too much paralysis by analysis. The results are simple and more often than not, actionable.

Without getting too geeky (you can Google SERP’s and get the nitty gritty there), here are a couple of key focal points to consider:

Create Your Hierarchy of Relevance: Don’t just copy competitors when going after keywords; you’re going to end up losing, good or bad.  Make sure you define and create your own relevance and structure around the end goals you’ve defined in creating a video strategy in the first place.  Group the words you’ve researched in Step 1 and deploy your ad strategy (organic or paid) into these relative groups so that you’re serving each segment consumable chunks of information.

Manage and Adjust Your Campaign:  Do not pull and Andy Reid and refuse to adjust your strategy. Be flexible enough to pivot based on performance; you’ll soon be able to analyze your results and how your conversions are performing against your goal.  In short, listen to your analytics.  The only shame in that game will be if you fail to convert visitors into leads – and leads into applicants – if they’re dedicating the time required to watch 45 long seconds or so of your video. I’m no social media evangelist, but conversion is everything.

Creating Engagement On Your Channel: I’m going to be clear on this point. YouTube can give a rat’s ass about back linking. Having 45 blogs link to your video does nothing for you. In fact, it severely hurts your conversions and SERP placement.

How?  You don’t own YouTube.  You can’t control suggested videos, and you certainly won’t flip YouTube’s audience on its head, no matter how many black hat tactics you try.  If this worked, you’d be working for YouTube.  Period.  Unless your YouTube channel is a top performer, you can rest assured that your videos are serving the public as a pass-through experience, something to be consumed and disposed of by users, not necessarily digested.  Your conversions, candidate applications, and talent community growth need to happen on your careers site, since this is one domain you actually control as a recruiter.

Thing is, YouTube doesn’t care about backlinks to drive traffic.  They’re concerned with the number of subscribers and likes to determine relevance, and this means, you guessed it, building this on-platform into your video SEO strategy.

Organic Search & Video SEO: How To Get Top Level Placement

Getting likes, avoiding dislikes and adding subscribers on YouTube isn’t a difficult task – making sure they work in your favor, however, is a different story.  Advice for building an engagement strategy around these topics could easily fill a book, but here are a few quick tips to help you visualize the bigger picture goal and ensure engagement success.

3 key things to consider:

  1. Likes are great
  2. Dislikes are bad but not awful
  3. Subscribers are great and can be used for cross promotion (e.g. jobs for a recruiter, products or content for marketers)

Building authority is like building online street cred.  Getting thousands of likes on a video or thousands of subscribers to your channel is an awesome feeling.  Earning that engagement is even better.  How you earn likes, dislikes and subscribers is a key factor in how visible your video content will be in search engine results and the ever present “suggested videos” on the sidebar and at the end of every video viewed.

How do you get your video content from forgotten to suggested?  Simple.  If someone dislikes your video without actually visiting it, or likes your video without viewing it, or even subscribe to your channel without actually looking at any of the content on it, you’ll lose serious credibility and ranking authority.  YouTube isn’t dumb, but these tactics sure are.

If you think you can buy likes, subscribers or visibility for your videos on YouTube, then think again.  Those funds would be better allocated to a paid SERP or PPC campaign – or even better, to creating compelling, quality video content that makes viewers actually care – and share.  I swear.






10 Reasons Every Recruiter Should Use An Applicant Tracking System

ApplicantTrackingSystemWhen it comes to using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS), most recruiting or HR professionals are strongly divided. Some believe an ATS fails to catch all suitable applicants, while others praise their time-saving properties.

There are many factors such as cost, difficulty of use, level of automation, etc. and each individual company has to evaluate these factors for itself. Still, Applicant Tracking Systems have undeniable benefits, which make them attractive for many recruiters.

Here are just 10 reasons an ATS should be your next HR technology purchase.

1. Big companies do it

One study found that 75 percent of big companies use an ATS before a resume gets in the hands of a recruiter. There is evidence that mid-sized companies are also adopting this practice.

And it’s not hard to see why —  just imagine getting thousands of resumes daily, and how hard it would be for your recruiters to look at them all without sacrificing quality.

2. Applicants are catching up

A frequent argument against Applicant Tracking Systems is that they evaluate a resume based on a variety of keywords, so some good resumes can slip through the cracks. But since an estimated 70 percent of resumes are never seen by recruiters, applicants are increasingly aware that they should tweak their resumes in order to be “noticed” by tracking systems. Thus, in the future this will become less of a problem.

3. Applicant Tracking Systems Save Time

Once recruiters get past the initial learning curve, they quickly see how much time an ATS can save them. From automated social sharing, to managing email templates and delegating tasks, an ATS takes off much of the burdens recruiters traditionally face. Not to mention the number of unqualified resumes you will never have to look at. An ATS can also automate social recruitment, which recruiters say can reduce hiring time by as much as 20 percent.

4. Applicant Tracking Systems Save Money

Sure, many Applicant Tracking Systems don’t look like they’re the cheapest service to have in your company. But when you combine all that you are paying for job ads and agency fees, you will find that an ATS can actually turn out to be cheaper. And that’s true even for smaller companies –in the US, a company with just 8 employees can save up to $10,000 after they start using an ATS. And keep in mind that the average hiring cost in the US is between $3000 and $4000, whereas in the UK it exceeds £5,000.

5. Applicants are more likely to follow through

The more technology advances, the pickier applicants get. A CareerBuilder study found that as much as 40 percent of candidates may abandon an application halfway through, if the process is not optimized for mobile devices. Many applicant tracking systems are mobile-friendly already, so you will have a much higher follow-up rate.

6. Improved Candidate Experience

Speaking of picky applicants, they are also likely to be unsatisfied if they don’t receive regular updates on the status of their application. That is true for almost a third of your applicants. With so many resumes going through, it may be hard to do that, but an applicant tracking system will automate responses as well as social job postings, so you never have to worry about that.

7. Applicant Tracking Systems For Your Company Size

Applicant Tracking Systems are definitely not just for big companies anymore. Close to 60 percent of mid-sized businesses are also using an ATS, not far from the 75 percent of large companies who also use one. In fact, recruiters at mid-sized companies consider these systems even more important than do recruiters at large companies. And as we said above, even small companies can save money and actually reap a lot more benefits from an ATS, even though they have been the slower to adopt them.

8. Applicant Tracking Systems Boost Employee Retention

How can an ATS increase employee retention, you may ask? Well, an ATS helps you find a quality match quicker and that doesn’t just save time and money. The better the match, the more likely that both you and the employee will be satisfied with the outcome. This will reduce turnover and help you build your employment brand.

9. Applicant Tracking Systems Ensure Compliance

When you are writing a job posting or conducting an interview, it is easy to make seemingly minor mistakes, which can end up to be costly. There is certain language that you are not supposed to use in a job posting or certain questions you should avoid during an interview. An ATS system will help you avoid such blunders by making sure you are compliant and not discriminatory without realizing it.

10. Applicant Tracking Systems Drive Recruiting Strategy

One of the really convenient attributes of applicant tracking systems is that they gather a tremendous amount of data about your applicants all in one place. If you were to analyze that data, you could come up with some useful conclusions that will help you build a long-lasting sourcing strategy. For example, you will know which of your efforts brought the best results and which were actually a waste of time.

As long as you are not afraid to sort through the initial confusion an Applicant Tracking System may present, you can benefit in a number of ways by them. Is your company currently using an ATS? What are your observations about it?

Leave us a comment and let us know what you think.

About the Author: Lachezar Stamatov is a recent Psychology graduate with interests spanning across various fields – health, food, technology, sustainable farming, you name it. He loves blogging about human relations and recruitment practices. He’s a regular contributor to the Off Limits blog.

 

Sourcing Talent on Glassdoor

 

Sourcing Talent on Glass door

sourcing talent today means more than just sourcing qualified candidates.  It also means collecting the competitive insights to it.

Sourcing talent still starts with research. In an increasingly competitive market we often aren’t doing the most important research. It’s being done by the top talent they’re targeting.

Don’t post every job on every job board in town.  Sourcing and recruiting professionals know the front end of the funnel. Making sure the right candidates can find you is important.  Targeting your recruitment advertising and employer branding to ensure that once they do, the right talent will receive the right message at the right time.  If you go over board people will lose interest.  Keep things simple.  It is hard to find needle in a haystack.

And

With the rise of sites and social media  like Facebook and Twitter, top recruiters today know organizational transparency is the new recruiting reality.  It’s a powerful tool for getting insights, information and intelligence to better inform direct sourcing efforts.

Start sourcing smarter with recruiting intelligence and pack your pipelines the right way.   Thanks for joining us to learn about this topic.  We will have more webinars coming soon.  Stay tuned for more.

 

Time Is Money: Speeding Up Sourcing Pays Off With PropelIQ

propeliq.comRecruiters have long loved LinkedIn, but beyond its prohibitive price point, the growing grumbling among recruiters has more to do with product than price.

Increasingly, LinkedIn’s pivot away from its core talent solutions suite has led to a platform with too many unnecessary features and too many limitations on the core functionality recruiters want to use.

Most of us aren’t there to read posts on Publisher; we’re there to fill reqs and pipeline, and don’t need all the bells and whistles – just the profiles we need for the positions we’re working on filling.  And we don’t want content. We want candidates, without all the clutter.

Enter PropellQ, a new tool whose features and functions deliver exactly what recruiters want, with the product suite offering a broad range of capabilities whose case use for any recruitment organization is obvious even after a few minutes of taking the tool for a test drive.

For example, it utilizes public LinkedIn profiles to create a partially automated X-Ray search to easily find better profiles faster on the most prominent professional platform (and beyond).  PropelIQ takes some simple keywords and creates complex search strings seamlessly, rapidly returning relevant results.

Users can quickly review those results and add the profiles and associated personal data directly to its dashboard with a single click, making database building stream-lined, straightforward and simple.  Once a profile is added to the PropelIQ dashboard, than the system augments the candidate record with basic candidate contact information such as work e-mail and office phone number.

This is achieved by utilizing the old Rapportive trick (rest in peace) by determining company e-mail conventions, adding the candidate’s name while essentially providing automated pen testing to verify the accuracy of the e-mail address provided.  Sure, this wild card searching can be done without any tools other than a rudimentary understanding of simple search syntax, and for free.

But by automating a highly labor intensive, highly manual process, PropellIQ makes this ubiquitous sourcing step more efficient and effective – so much so that the time savings alone realized by this tool should prove well worth the price to most recruiters (corporate, agency or otherwise). The tool can be accessed via a Chrome browser extension – activating the extension pops up a separate search window that allows you to source without even opening yet another browser tab – most sourcers have enough of those up already.

Here’s what the search results looks like on PropelIQ’s interface; in this example, I’m going to enter the term “Java Developer” in the Chrome extension and pressing the “Search” button:

 

java propel

As you can see, the results are not only relevant and readily reviewed, but as mentioned before, candidates can be added to your dashboard without even opening the candidate profile.  However, if you decide a profile merits closer review before adding it to your dashboard, Propel Q offers aggregate profile results to help recruiters make a more informed decision by displaying deeper data directly on the candidate’s LinkedIn profile.

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Once a candidate is added to your dashboard (see above for a look at how the tool displays data for the first two records returned), PropelIQ captures candidates’ names, pertinent personal information, and verified e-mail addresses and phone numbers.

Note, the dashboard won’t display data for contact and personal information that it’s unable to validate.This means that any information stored in the system is accurate and already automatically validated – meaning no wasting time on wrong numbers or personalized e-mails that end up just bouncing back, address unknown.

What’s even cooler is that while you can easily build a robust candidate database on the Propel dashboard, the data doesn’t have to live directly within their system.  As you can see in the associated screenshot, there is an “Export Data” button (top right in screenshot) that pushes candidate data captured on the dashboard into an Excel spreadsheet that can either be downloaded directly or migrated across systems and software through an associated .CSV file.

Here’s what those same records look like after exporting the data:

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This spreadsheet contains the candidate’s first and last name; current company and title; associated LinkedIn URL; company e-mail address; company size and industry and any phone numbers associated with the candidate’s record.  Which is pretty much all the information you need to successfully attract and engage top passive talent.

Finally, without going into too much detail, PropelIQ also helps recruiting and staffing practitioners avoid:

  • Manually entering candidate data or managing the migration of LinkedIn profiles into an ATS friendly format.
  • Performing the same searches on LinkedIn over and over again.  And again.  And again.
  • Losing your recruiting team’s work, data and contacts stored on LinkedIn if a recruiter leaves.
  • Having stale or outdated records in your ATS by seamlessly syncing with your other networks in real time.

Of course, Propel IQ is still a relatively young company, and are aggressively building out their product road map to provide even more value to recruiters.  While the tool does charge on a tiered subscription model based on a monthly flat rate for capabilities that can be done for free, in an industry where time is money, Propel IQ should easily pay for itself at any employer.

Propel IQ offers a free trial for individual users, so click here to take this tool for a test drive.  You’ve got nothing to lose but more time manually entering in information that this tool proves can (and should) be easily automated.


dean_dacostaAbout the Author: Dean Da Costa is a highly experienced and decorated recruiter, sourcer and manager with deep skills and experience in HR, project management, training & process improvement.

Dean is best known for his work in the highly specialized secured clearance and mobile arenas, where he has been a top performing recruiter and sourcer.  Dean’s keen insight and creation of innovative tools and processes for enhancing and changing staffing has established Dean as one of the top authorities in sourcing and recruiting.

Connect with Dean at LinkedIn or follow @DeanDaCosta on Twitter.

 

How To Develop Your Mobile Recruiting Strategy

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Guest post by Stéphane Le Viet, CEO and Co-Founder of Work4.

The move towards a mobile-dominated world has happened faster than anyone could have imagined.  By the end of 2015, there will be more than two billion smartphone and tablet users worldwide.  And with desktop usage dropping, consumers are using these mobile devices for more and more activities – including looking for jobs.

More than 90 percent of job seekers have already turned to mobile during their job search.  However, 38 percent of them say that the lack of mobile-optimized company career sites and job listings often keeps them from applying.

While jobseekers are coming to expect mobile accessibility, 95 percent of the Fortune 500 don’t have a mobile-optimized job application process for candidates. Employers need to develop a mobile recruiting strategy – or risk missing out on thousands of potential candidates.

Here’s how:

Evaluate Your Current Career Site

mobile recruiting checklistViewing a website on a four-to-nine inch screen is a very different experience than looking at it on a full-sized monitor.  Unless a site is optimized for smaller screens, there’s usually a lot of pinching and zooming (plus a little hair-pulling) going on.

If you’re not sure whether your career site is optimized for mobile, look at it from a candidate’s perspective. Try applying to one of your open positions – does your site take a long time to load, rely on dropdown menus for navigation or have tiny links that can’t easily be tapped?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, your site isn’t mobile-optimized.

Build a Mobile-Optimized Career Site

When it comes to making your site optimized for mobile, there are several options to consider, from building a native app or a responsive site, to redirecting candidates to a standalone mobile site.  To kick-start your mobile initiatives, your best bet is a standalone mobile site that syncs with your ATS.

These sites can be setup almost immediately, require no changes to your existing career site and cost much less than other options. However, to catch (and keep) applicants, you’ll need to ensure that the candidate experience on your mobile-optimized site meets their expectations.

If you frustrate them with a poor user experience (UX), there’s a good chance they’ll leave as soon as they’ve logged on.

Integrate Your ATS

While some ATS vendors claim their systems are mobile compatible, few to none offer a truly mobile-optimized solution.  And, even if they can, it’s unlikely that they’ll have an acceptable UX.

To be successful on mobile, your ATS needs to be able to do three important things: automatically import open positions to your mobile site, allow candidates to start (and complete) their application at their own pace and sync submitted applicant data.

Don’t have an existing ATS?  Your standalone mobile website can send submitted applications directly to your email address, using a form that captures the candidate’s most important information, so you can follow-up with them later by email or social media.

As it becomes harder and harder to recruit top talent, having a mobile-optimized recruiting strategy has gone from optional to must-have. Employers must add mobile to their recruiting strategy or risk losing quality candidates, damaging their employer brand and being seen as out-of-date.

Interested in learning more?  Click Here  to check out the complete version of Work4’s complimentary new eBook, “Developing Your Mobile Recruiting Strategy.”

stephaneAbout the Author: As CEO and Co-Founder of Work4, Stéphane Le Viet oversees the company’s daily operations and is responsible for leading product development, technology and business strategy.

Having co-founded two other tech businesses and taught at Sciences Po and the London School of Economics, Stéphane brings over ten years of startup experience and HR technology expertise to the company.

Follow Stephane on Twitter @stephaneleviet or connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

 

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To find out more about how to maximize your mobile recruiting investment and making mobile recruiting pay off, join Work4 and RecruitingBlogs on Tuesday, June 9 at 2 PM ET for our exclusive webinar, Mobile Recruiting Success: Lessons Learned From Early Adopters.

Space is limited, so save your spot today.

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Old World, New Rules: European Business Best Practices

Europe According to the United States of AmericaSo, a guy walks into a bar. Bartender says to him, “ You don’t look like you’re from around here.”

Guy tells the bartender, “I’m actually from Denmark.”

The bartender says, “Really? I’ve got a Dutch friend. Do you guys know each other?”

OK, so it’s not the greatest joke in the world, but the punch line, for expatriates like me, at least, is pretty profound.

If you get it, then good for you – unlike most of Americans, in this case, no further reading is required.

But for the rest of you, please take note: if you’re planning on joining Recruiting Daily in Amsterdam for the 2014 HR Tech Europe Conference (#HRTechEurope), or are travelling to Europe for any business related reason, there are a few things you should know about Europe and Europeans, first.

HR Tech Europe: What To Know Before You Go

hrtecheulogo1. Geography: Contrary to popular belief, Europe isn’t a country; it’s a continent. You think that’s crazy, but that’s a distinction lost on many Americans, who assume the European Union is structured similarly to the United States.

Trust me – there’s a big difference, and confusing countries or cultures (like the common “Dutch people are from Denmark” misperception) is an even more egregious error than confusing South Dakota with South Carolina.

Like Hamlet, Hans Christian Anderson, the band Aqua (of late 90s Barbie Girl fame) and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich, I am indeed from Denmark.

For those of you who might be unfamiliar, Denmark is one of three countries that comprise the area known as Scandinavia, along with Sweden and Norway.

Danish is my native tongue (and no, it’s a language, not a breakfast food) and I live at least 700 kilometers (or around 430 miles for those of you inexplicably not yet using the metric system) from the Dutch border. The country where Dutch people live is called the Netherlands, and it’s part of what are commonly called “The Low Countries,” which is as distinct a region from Scandinavia as the American South is from, say, the Rust Belt.

So, no, I don’t know your Dutch friend, but I would be delighted to meet her – as long as we follow their local custom of splitting the bill. Wait…no, that’s not right, either. The point is, geography is how Europeans define themselves, in the same way Americans identify with where they grew up or where home now happens to be.

The distance and cultural difference between Copenhagen (in my homeland) and, say, Athens, couldn’t be more distinct. The rest goes with the rest of the continent and the dozens of countries, from Latvia to Lichtenstein in between.

And while Latvia, like Finland or Iceland, is considered to be a part of Northern Europe, these nations are not, contrary to my colleague Matt Charney’s erroneous reporting from Helsinki, considered part of Scandinavia. Latvia is a Baltic country, Finland is a Nordic one, and those are both whole other regions entirely. Get the picture?

Before You Go: Open an atlas and do a little research into the location of your destination, as well as where it’s actually located in relation to the rest of the continent. Simply saying, “I’m going to Europe,” is a lot like saying, “I’m going to the USA.”

Only in the old world, we’re old school – we don’t need a GPS to tell us which countries are in the Baltics vs. the Balkans. If you don’t know that distinction, than maybe you should study up before crossing the pond.

2. Language: Good news – as luck would have it, English is widely spoken by most Europeans, and other than the British, most know it well enough so that you’ll have no trouble understanding or communicating with most speakers. It’s not our first language, though – and we’re proud of our native tongues.

We have a great respect for languages, and most of us are learn no less than 3-4 of them by the time we’re done with the first 8 years of our primary education. If we misuse the occasional tense in English or slightly skew our syntax, we are the first to apologize (in a couple languages at least).

Before You Go: It’s easy to expect to get by on only English – and mostly, you can. But knowing a few key common conversational phrases such as greetings or superlatives in the native language of your destination will not only impress your hosts – a little bit of homework goes a long way. Especially for Americans, who normally can’t be bothered with that sort of thing.

83913. Culture: You might have just watched the World Cup for the first time (and gone right back to ignoring soccer), but as you likely learned as a child from riding It’s A Small World, After All, Europeans share a continent, but distinctly different cultures.

Here in the New World, anything predating, say, 1970 is considered “old.” Across the pond, if it’s not at least 500 years old, it’s still considered new to the neighborhood. Europeans share thousands of years of history, and a cultural history stretching from Neolithic cave paintings to the most avant of today’s avant garde, Most of us know our national and regional histories – and mythologies – as well as you know your American history.

It’s just that we happen to have thousands of years more of it to memorize.

Before You Go: Don’t get caught only seeing the inside of the conference and hotel rooms at your destination – make sure to make time to at least check out a cultural site, which are never more than a few hundred yards away in every city on the continent. In some places, like Rome or Athens, you literally can’t miss it. Nor should you try.

Block some time in your calendar and ask your host for suggestions – in most cases, we locals are more than happy to provide a personal tour of our home town or native country. We’re proud of our cultural heritage and history – and showing it off to our guests.

While we love talking culture, though, we rarely mention religion or money – discussing how much money you make is considered taboo – not to mention kind of pretentious, too.

That’s probably because we’re well traveled, and most Europeans have at least visited the US. In many cases, we pay closer attention to things like the U.S. presidential election than many of our American counterparts.

4. Scheduling: Fashionably late is never in fashion in Europe, so if you’re invited to a business meeting or personal event, make sure to show up on time. While there are exceptions, and some cultural differences when placing a premium on punctuality, remember tardiness is widely considered a sign of disrespect. Considering the fact that you’re the foreigner, that’s not the signal you want to send to your hosts, however unintentional.

We also never say things like, “we should do lunch sometime,” or “let’s meet up next week,” without following through. If you propose a suggestion, we’ll take you seriously – and expect you to actually invite us if you say we should do lunch or meet for drinks sometime soon.

Before You Go: Like the US, different parts of Europe are in different time zones, so make sure you know the time zone of your destination and factor in any variables like Daylight Savings Time (which is recognized differently in individual countries) to make sure your schedule is on schedule. Because data roaming adds up quickly, make sure to bring a small guidebook or paper map with you in case you get lost on your way to a meeting or need directions to your next appointment.

5. Be Real, But Be Humble: Perhaps more than any other nation, Americans are proudly patriotic, and rightfully so – there’s a lot to be proud of. While they might not openly admit it, most Europeans are in awe (and often envy) the ingenuity, entrepreneurship and cultural dominance that define America.

If you come to our part of the world, however, please don’t butt in to tell us how to run our businesses, ask why we still have Royal Families or constantly compare everything you see to something in America. Enjoy your surroundings and know that while you’re proud to be an American, we’re equally proud of where we came from. We just don’t feel the need to continually make it a topic of conversation.

Before You Go: Check out a local newspaper or country-specific magazine’s website to know what’s actually going on where you’re visiting – and get some perspective on the current events going on in the country you’re visiting. Just please keep your opinion to yourself and remember that humility is one of the virtues we value most.

Recruiter Experience: What Every Candidate Needs To Know

images (10)It’s pretty easy to blame recruiters for the fact that the candidate experience is broken.  After all, we’re pretty easy (and obvious targets) for the many frustrations that come with the work of looking for work.

The thing is, as hard as getting through the hiring process can be as a candidate, getting from application to offer can be just as challenging for the recruiter.

From unresponsive decision makers to unclear feedback, the most common candidate experience complaints often read like a laundry list of the same professional pet pet peeves recruiters have to deal with dozens of times a day across dozens of open positions at a time.

Believe it or not, not all recruiters are evil – in fact, most of us are pretty sympathetic to the challenges and frustrations inherent to the recruiting process.  But while we’re doing our best, but too often, a poor candidate experience is caused by nothing more than, well, poor candidates.

In the first part of this post, I talked about what recruiter experience really looks like, and outlined a few simple things that recruiters REALLY wish candidates would do to help improve the experience for themselves and the recruiters they’re working with.

Click here to check out what those recruiters wish they could actually say to you about your resume, online application, package negotiation and how to respond to recruiters the right way.

In the second part of this post, I’m going to finish off the full cycle by discussing what recruiters REALLY want from candidates when it comes to surviving and successfully navigating interviews and the offer process.

Recruiter Experience & The interview

recruiter experience interviewsThere are some truly epic fails I’ve seen during interviews that are truly spectacular, but if you’re not completely oblivious or a complete idiot, than these tips should really be no brainers.

While I wish these truths were self-evident, you’d be surprised at how frequently these fundamentals get f-ed up.

First, be on time.  Hell, be early, even.  No one’s really going to mind you showing up and sweating it out in the waiting room.

But if you call me 15 minutes before the interview is about to start to let me know that you are a) lost OR b) stuck in traffic, you might as well not bother showing up at all.

See, there’s this thing called GPS, along with a multitude of mapping sites that should keep this kind of thing from happening.  Of course, this call also must mean you ignored the part of the e-mail I sent you with a link from Google that shows you how to get here.

I just don’t buy it.  You do live here, right? You’ve already told me you don’t need relo, which must mean that you’re already in the city where you’re going to interview with me.  If you’re like most of my candidates, you already have a job and a commute, which means there’s no excuse for not knowing traffic patterns, road conditions or how to punch an address into an app, even.

Sure, accidents happen, but if you plan accordingly, you’ll be able to at least make the meeting my hiring manager and me are have committed to on our calendars.

Next, make sure you know how to dress for the interview – and don’t always assume you’re going to need a necktie or nice dress for professional protocol.  Most recruiters will tell you before you come in, but if they don’t, make sure you ASK me what is appropriate.

Seriously.  Ask.

Different companies have different expectations.  Google, for instance, interviews people in a t-shirt and jeans – Accenture, maybe not so much.  In fact, for those guys, better make sure that knot is a Double Windsor or don’t bother.  But seriously – never assume anything.  Because you know what they say when you assume things.

Only this time, you’re really only making an ass out of yourself.

I’ve got other candidates on my list if you don’t work out.  Or, for that matter, walk in late.

Recruiter Experience & The Casper Effect

casper-the-friendly-ghost-christmas-5This is my most hated (not sure if ‘favorite’ is the appropriate word for something I completely hate) professional pet peeve.  And by now, you know I’ve got a lot of those.

But while this one isn’t overly common in the corporate world, it still happens.

The Casper Effect is when a candidate becomes a ghost, disappearing entirely.  I can’t get ahold of you on any of the addresses or numbers you gave me, even though you confirmed an interview on them earlier.

Then, you decide to no show.  Why?  Why, freaking, why in the world would any candidate ever think that this is a good idea?  I mean, we’re halfway home on this thing by now – you’re already interviewing, for crying out loud.

I thought you really liked me – I really liked you before all this went down.  Now you’re a literal ghost.  I call, I e-mail, I freaking stalk you on social, and nothing.  This is by far, the worst thing you can do to a recruiter – not to mention your own professional reputation and prospects.

First, you make me look bad to my hiring manager and my boss.  I have no idea why I would be blamed for YOU not showing up, but guess what?  Like most things, I’m the whipping boy on this one, and I am NOT going to forget this.  You go ghost, you’re dead to me, and no matter where I’m working, I see your name, I’m never calling you again.  Recruiters have a tendency to move on quickly, but we always remember to hold a grudge when this kind of thing goes down.

And make sure the rest of our clients and colleagues know to avoid you, too. Being a ghost will haunt you – how’s that for full transparency?

Recruiter Experience & The Offer

bbb8ca95ed9ceb3132f3c0cd137e9743We’re finally there.  Can you believe it?  We’ve survived our journey together, and it’s reached a fruitful and successful end.  I’m going to make give you an offer, and given the fact that we’ve already talked about being upfront with your compensation expectations, I expect this part of the process is going to be nothing more than a mere formality.  I mean, I’ve gotten your feedback after the interview, asked you what you thought, and you couldn’t have been more excited about the role, the company and how you fit in.

Then, BOOM!!!

Suddenly, you want more.  You want more money, more PTO, or to be the only employee at the company with the special dispensation to take off every other Friday because you volunteer somewhere, but failed to mention any of this before.

Seriously, people.  These are things you should have brought up during our initial conversation, since I asked you about them directly.  When I inquired if you had a vacation coming up I needed to know about or for you to confirm your current and expected compensation package, you might have said something before we reached this part of the process.  THAT’S when these things get discussed – it’s kind of the entire point of a prescreen, since on paper or on your profile you match the position I’m recruiting for.

But if you think that by waiting until you’re the final candidate before bringing up these demands, you’ve got me over a barrel, think again.  You don’t – and never will – have the upper hand once the process proceeds to the offer stage.  Sure, you’re the first choice, but if we’re past interviews, then you should know that you’re not the only option, either.

You might have emerged as the favorite, but that doesn’t mean that by pulling this kind of stunt, you can’t just as easily be booted out in favor of others, who, by the way, have gone through the same process.  They’re more likely to accept an offer.  And be happy for it.  Oh, and by the way?  I have access to the hiring manager – and they trust me.  By doing this, you’re making me violate that trust – and more than likely have me tell you to pound sand.

So, my search isn’t going back to square one, but yours sure is.  So have fun in the wonderful world of unemployment or the crap job you were trying to escape from in the first place, and off you go.  Best of luck – but just like the Caspers of the world of work, I’m never going to forget you.

In fact, Dante should have made a special circle in hell just for candidates like you, but since he didn’t, I’ll do the best I can to make you feel eternally damned – at least if you’re trying to get a job with me or anyone in my network.

Recruiter Experience: In The End

I wrote this post from the perspective of a corporate recruiter, because that’s what I do, and that’s what I’ve experienced.  Based on the comments I got on last week’s post, and my own conversations with colleagues over the years, I think most recruiters would agree that this is a pretty good list.

Let’s face it: there’s probably a ton of things that candidates could do better.  There’s probably an even longer list of stuff you can do to piss off recruiters.  But even with a two-part post, I could only really scratch the surface.  And since this is my blog, I think it’s a pretty good list.

But feel free to leave a comment and let me know what I missed or any advice you’d add that you think candidates should know about Recruiter Experience.  In fact, I’d encourage it – and would love to see some comments from my colleagues.

But this post was written for candidates, and I want to hear from you guys, too.  So, candidates, if you could please start abiding by these simple guidelines during your job search, then you’ll probably have a better candidate experience – and a more successful job search.

Keep this list in mind, share with your friends, and start making our Recruiter Experience better, too.  You’ll be amazed at how many recruiters and employers will return the favor when it comes to your candidate experience.

Trust me when I tell you that we’re just as excited for the day these candidate worst practices disappear as you are to land that next great gig.  So make sure none of the above happens again.  You’ll make a lot of recruiters very happy.  And unlike following these rules, that’s not an easy thing to do.  #truestory


Derek ZellerAbout the Author: Derek Zeller draws from over 16 years in the recruiting industry. The last 11 years he has been involved with federal government recruiting specializing within the cleared Intel space under OFCCP compliancy. Currently, he is the corporate manager for Advanced Resource Technology, Inc. He has experience with both third party agency and in-house recruiting for multiple disciplines and technologies. Using out-of-the-box tactics and strategies to identify and engage talent, he has had significant experience in building referral and social media programs, the implementation of Applicant Tracking Systems, technology evaluation, and the development of sourcing, employment branding, military and college recruiting strategies.

You can read his thoughts on RecruitingDaily.com or Recruitingblogs.com or his own site Derdiver.com.  Derek currently lives in the DC area.

Follow Derek on Twitter @Derdiver or connect with him on LinkedIn.

 

Making Engagement Ring: Attracting Top Talent Online

shutterstock_209973616The direct connection between disengaged workers and a disengaged recruiting process, where applicants continue to get sucked into the “black hole” of communication and even candidates in process are often left wondering where they stand in the search, should be obvious.

So too should the fact that improving the candidate experience is inextricably intertwined with building an engaging employer brand.    Clear communication is clearly the key currency of engagement – and delivering the employee value proposition that lies at the heart of every employment brand.

Employment Brand: Buzzword or Best Practice?

Employment brand has remained an ubiquitous topic among recruitment practitioners and pundits alike.  With most candidates, passive and active, researching companies and careers well before actually applying for jobs, having a unified, clearly defined employer value proposition creates the core of an effective candidate communication strategy.

While your company careers page likely contains some copy about your company’s mission and values, the generic copy or purple prose common among many career sites is cheap.  Showing real employees telling real stories with their real voices not only creates transparency while putting a face on your employer brand, but also creates the single biggest competitive differentiator in talent acquisition: your existing employees.

Getting current employees engaged around your employer brand is incumbent on keeping them informed about open positions, building awareness which not only increases referrals, but internal applicants as well, which together comprised the #1 and #2 overall sources of hire in 2013 by a wide margin, according to the 2014 Career XRoads State of Hiring Report.

By building a bench of brand ambassadors, you’ll improve your ability to connect with candidates by demonstrating how real employees live your corporate vision and company value in their daily jobs.  By accurately portraying your culture, you’ll improve not only the candidate experience, but also stand out as a career destination and provide a benchmark for what success really looks like inside your company.

The Harvard Business Review, in a recent article, suggested poor leadership is often the primary cause of disengagement and poor experiences for employees and candidates alike.  That means engaging leaders in helping build your employer brand and serve as internal champions, and keeping them involved and informed once these initiatives are implemented.

Candidate Experience & Communication: Two Sides of the Same Coin

employee engagementImproving employment brand based engagement and candidate experience also means making sure to conduct a thorough audit of how you currently communicate with candidates from the beginning of the recruiting process.

Some immediate red flags – and worst practices – are companies whose recruitment process is overly complex or complicated for candidates; this is often one of the biggest drivers of candidate drop off and disengagement.

The potential negative recruiting repercussions of a broken process are only amplified for those handful of applicants who successfully  navigate this process, then receive not so much as an acknowledgement of their interest, or receive an automated, impersonalized follow up.

Even for those candidates that do get calls or enter the process are often subjected to unnecessary assessments and phone screens that ultimately end in an unresponsive recruiter.  That’s why to improve communications and, subsequently, engagement, everyone conducting a phone screen should make sure not only to follow up with feedback, but to ensure that the candidate has a clear understanding of when – and what – they can expect next steps.

Similarly, adding insights about your process and aligning applicant expectations should be extended to both career site copy as well as your recruitment communications process workflow.  That way, you’ll not only set up candidates for success, but ensure that even candidates who aren’t selected have a positive experience with your brand.

Given the direct correlation between customer and candidate experience, improved communications directly impact the bottom line. Which makes for a pretty compelling business case, no matter what business you recruit for.

Weapon of Choice: Social Recruiting and Relevant Reach

At a recent Social Fresh Conference , there was a presentation given by Jay Baer that has caused quite a stir – Shotguns Trump Rifles: Why Social Success is now a Volume Play.

Check out the full video below if you didn’t catch it, or you can see the slides, read the takeaways or watch his original presentation here.

Weapon of Choice: Social Recruiting Success Strategies

We all know that when it comes to engaging with an audience on social media, reliable reach is more important than reach.

Jay outlined two approaches to reaching your audience – via sheer volume over every social channel (the ‘shotgun’ approach) or via ‘outstanding content’ over a limited number of social channels in order ‘to build a great community’ (the ‘rifle’ approach). The truth is not as simple as that.

A shotgun approach simply will not work.

Let’s deconstruct this messy premise.

If a staffing agency or employer were to engage with their audience on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, Tumblr, Myspace (well, you get the idea) – it would have to be sure there was a relevant audience on that platform.

As an example, let’s pretend the recruitment company specializes in finance. Its thought process when creating a social recruiting strategy might be something like this:

Are there financial executives on LinkedIn? Yes.

Are there financial executives on Instagram. Maybe…

Are they on Myspace? What’s Myspace?

images (9)The shotgun approach – championed by Jay – involves bombarding multiple channels with content to overcome the poor reliable reach.

Inevitably, the channels and audience will suffer from a lack of quality curation as the marketing team’s workload is spread too thinly.

If the recruitment organization were to focus solely on just the four major platforms (generally defined as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and LinkedIn), it would be able to locate its target audience and engage with them much more closely.

This is the rifle approach. It would also boost its reputation by providing appropriate, well-curated content that actually resonates with its clients and candidates, rather than rushing to find vaguely relevant content or blogs, interviews or infographics that have been quickly put together just to have something to share.

What about the lack of reliable reach?

Jay was right about social media having a poor level of reach. This is partly due to the ‘stream’ layout of channels, making it is easy for your content go unnoticed. The number of algorithmic factors that feed into the equation that works out who should see your content ranks into the thousands and beyond – it’s immensely complicated.

However, understanding how user influence, number and method of engagement and interactions and other factors such as geography and assumed relevancy only make up a small fraction of acquiring success.

Pay To Play: The New Social Recruiting Reality

As user numbers on social media continue to swell, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to reach the target audience. The shotgun approach may result in more of your posts being noticed, but it is a time-inefficient, poor-quality method of doing so. The rifle approach is at the whim of ever-dwindling organic reach.

There is a third approach. Social media giants are now placing a much higher premium on paid marketing services, guaranteeing reliable reach – and results, since most of these programs are on a price-per-click model.  The tools available within these platforms to measure performance and identify success are comprehensive and highly effective.

The misconception that social media is a free ticket to reaching your target audience damages hundreds of businesses every day in missed opportunities.  Here’s an example of the heavy weight placed on paid reach using the sliding scale employed for boosting the relevant reach for a Facebook post:

facebook-paid-advertising
Just £120 increases reach from approximately 300 to anywhere between 46,000 – 120,000 – an increase of approximately 15,000% – 40,000%

Those who aren’t taking advantage of this enormous return are missing a trick. You can specify who receives your advertisement beyond the gender, age and ‘other’ visible. Those people who will see the advertisement all have an interest in recruitment.

The customizable targeting is a fantastic way to ensure your time spent on social media isn’t wasted. Spending a little more to guarantee reach rather than wondering why all your efforts are being ignored is more likely to provide a real return on investment and, judging by the lack of recruitment companies using paid advertising on social media, a way to position yourself ahead of the competition.

Log onto one of your social channels and experiment with the predicted reach yourself. Then, compare it to your current reach.

Combining the rifle approach with paid advertising is the only way to build up quality, reliable engagement with your audience.

Read more at the 4Mat blog.

39fa6aeAbout the Author: Warren Davidson recently returned to the UK to join 4Mat, a leading recruitment marketing and online recruiting firm, as Head of Marketing Services.

After nine years in recruitment, Warren broadened his communication skills working for a full service marketing and creative agency as Head of Client Services and Media Buying in Ireland.

He spent six years working with brands such as Bupa Ireland (now Laya Healthcare), Ford, Corona, Unilever Food Solutions, O2 Media, Morgan McKinley and Aer Lingus.

Follow Warren on Twitter @WDavid5on or connect with him on LinkedIn.