My previous article on blended sourcing looked at the concepts and principles of blended sourcing: combining high-touch sourcing techniques, like personal networking, that have deeper individual penetration with high-yield, scalable sourcing techniques, such as job boards. As a review, here is our simple source list with examples of high touch vs. high yield sources on... [full article »]

The other day, I was working in my home office when the doorbell rang. As I opened the door there was a man in a bright blue jacket handing me a little bag. Without much of an introduction, he said he was from a nearby pizza parlor (it’s actually a chain in my area). He... [full article »]

What is the most popular item to look up in the traditional yellow-pages phone book? According to a market research survey (conducted by Knowledge Networks, Inc.), the most popular category is “Restaurants.” Number two is “Medical Doctors,” followed by “Auto Parts.” What can we surmise from the popularity of these categories, where inquiries run in... [full article »]

In Part 1 of this series, we looked at the importance of the corporate careers website as the centerpiece of a corporate sourcing and recruitment branding strategy. It was noted that many organizations do not have a sense of how effective their careers sections are at meeting their recruiting goals. We examined some offline methods... [full article »]

In traditional European urban design there was always some type of “town square” or central public piazza where the town’s people would gather for celebration, food, news, shopping, and announcements. This same concept of the town square remains today in many small towns around the world. Other information channels, however?? including the Internet?? have made... [full article »]

In my previous article on the “renaissance job seeker” we examined the great adventures of a senior-level technical job seeker looking to leave his current employer. We tracked some of the initial activities of this job seeker and took a behind-the-scenes look at how his inquiries were handled by recipients like job boards and company... [full article »]

For the next few minutes, let’s take on the persona of a talented job seeker, based in North America, who is looking for a mid- to senior-level technical position. Let’s call him the “renaissance job seeker.” It’s been a while since he’s looked for a job, let’s say five years. The company he works for... [full article »]

My sister, a lighting decorator, recently went through the interview process with a lighting company. After submitting her resume she received an acknowledgement, followed by a phone call a few weeks later and two initial phone screens. Based on this initial screening, they asked her to take up to two weeks to complete a personality... [full article »]

I recently read an article in USA Today that described the new cyber-warfare going on between the United States and other countries. The article went into great depth on the various countries that are producing not only defensive firewalls to prevent hostile intrusion into government databases, but also offensive weapons that would infiltrate the systems,... [full article »]

When hundreds of thousands of Canada geese migrate from central Canada to Wisconsin and further south for the winter months, they are triggered by built-in mechanisms that tell them when to migrate, in which direction, and how far. Other factors like body fat, magnetic fields, the stars, and the sun influence the path the birds... [full article »]

Like many things in business and life, recruiting is about information – giving it and receiving it. Whether you say we’re in the information age or have evolved into the knowledge age, we still deal with specific pieces of information. When looking more closely at systematizing the giving and receiving of information in the recruiting... [full article »]

In my last article examining the staying power of paper resumes, we looked at the history of the paper resume and the factors in our recruiting business process which continue to propagate and encourage the use of paper resumes. In this article, we will consider ways to reduce paper today and take a look beyond... [full article »]

Paper resumes. Are they going out of style? When will they really be obsolete? As I visit various large companies to help re-engineer staffing processes and technology, one of the inevitable questions that comes up is, “Are you still receiving paper resumes?” Although we’re well into the 21st century, the word “paperless,” which was entered... [full article »]

In my last article, Technology Adoptability: Is It Possible to Herd Cats?, we looked at the factors that influence the adoption of a technology into a company and, more specifically, into the recruiting organization, whether third party or corporate. We examined two aspects that influence the initial adoption of a technology: the early design stage... [full article »]

I was recently perusing a popular recruiter’s bulletin board on which the subject of recruiting technology was being discussed. A recruiting manager asked, “How do you get recruiters to use their technology properly?” One contributor’s response (paraphrased here) noted that “most recruiters are pretty independent folks and tend to do things ‘their way,’ so getting... [full article »]

One of the most intriguing and mysterious phenomena of the cosmos is the “black hole.” The study of black holes, or what happens when a star dies, has occupied the minds of scientists for centuries. Regardless of the various theories, the definition in a physics dictionary goes something like this: A black hole is a... [full article »]

The first two articles in this series (see Part I and Part II), examined the relationship between an ATS customer and vendor, noting that this “marriage” is not only tactical, but also emotional and synergistic. The first steps toward evaluating and committing to a vendor in this perspective involved the stages of self-identification, courting, pre-nuptial... [full article »]

The relationship between a customer and a system vendor can be complex, fulfilling, and occasionally disappointing ? not unlike, as I pointed out in Part 1 of this series, a marriage. In Part 1, we examined the stages of “identity” and “dating” in the selection process of an appropriate Applicant Tracking System (ATS) or Hiring... [full article »]

Many articles have been written lately about selecting an appropriate Hiring Management System (HMS) or Applicant Tracking System (ATS), one that is targeted toward human resource and recruiting executives looking to outsource their recruiting technology. Certainly, over the past few years, the information around this topic has grown in maturity and sophistication. In this series... [full article »]

When tasks are automated, the assumption is that the automation of the task will save some time and allow the practitioner to complete more transactions better and faster. In recruiting automation, some systems have failed to live up to this assumption – with them some things improved, and others actually got worse. I’ve seen recruiters... [full article »]