October pulled a trick on economists who had expected the U.S. would be treated to a slowing job loss. Instead, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said this morning that 190,000 jobs were lost during the month, helping push the unemployment to a surprising 10.2 percent. Surveys of economists had predicted the numbers would be closer to... [full article »]
John Zappe
John was a newspaper reporter and editor until his geek gene lead him to launch his first website in 1994. Never a recruiter, he instead built online employment sites and sold advertising services to recruiters and employers. As VP of one large media operation, his employment revenue alone approached $2.5 million. Besides writing for ERE, John consults with digital content operations, focusing on the advertising side. And when he's not doing either, he can be found hiking in the California mountains or competing in canine agility events.
Articles by John Zappe...
Personal Brand Building For Under $100
by John Zappe Nov 5, 2009, 4:21 pm ET
What do you get when you search your name online? Aw, come on. Of course you’ve looked yourself up on the Internet. Almost half of all Internet users did in 2007. The latest survey puts the number at 59 percent. And if you really, really haven’t then you may want to retake recruiting 101. Just as companies no... [full article »]
Google Hiring 200 Recruiters. NOW!
by John Zappe Nov 4, 2009, 3:56 pm ET
In what is by now an open secret, Google is hiring 200 recruiters and sourcers for a one-year gig. Details are sketchy, but Dave Mendoza did post an email about the hire to his site Six Degrees From Dave. The email is from a recruiter for Nelson Staffing and says the firm got a contract from... [full article »]
Reports Say: Fewer Openings, Longer Job Searches
by John Zappe Nov 3, 2009, 4:02 pm ET
Two labor-related reports this week offer no evidence that the recession Wall Street believes is over really is, at least so far as workers are concerned. The Conference Board’s monthly Help-Wanted OnLine Data Series reported that online job postings dropped by 83,000 in October. The number of newly posted jobs dropped by 24,000. [full article »]
Workstream Changes CEOs Again
by John Zappe Nov 2, 2009, 5:09 pm ET
Financially battered Workstream has changed leadership again, bringing back its co-founder and board chairman Michael Mullarkey as chief executive officer. He replaces Steve Purello, whose resignation was announced this morning. [full article »]
Monster Turns A Profit Despite Lower Sales
by John Zappe Oct 29, 2009, 2:33 pm ET
Aided by a $32 million income tax adjustment, Monster Worldwide reported it earned $33 million or 27 cents a share. Without the tax benefit Monster earned 1 cent a share, beating the Street’s guess the company would just break even. Revenue, however, was $215 million, $8 million below what analysts expected. Sales in North America continued... [full article »]
“Tens of Thousands” of New Dot-Jobs Boards Coming
by John Zappe Oct 29, 2009, 12:25 pm ET
In a joint venture with the manager of the .jobs domain, DirectEmployers has launched the first of what might become tens of thousands of new geographically and occupationally focused job boards all sharing a .jobs extension. The new sites, identical in design and structure, made their appearance earlier this month. Among them are Atlanta.jobs, Boston.jobs, Mexico.jobs,... [full article »]
Hacked Job Board Tells Victims to Pay for Protection Themselves
by John Zappe Oct 27, 2009, 3:59 pm ET
The British newspaper whose job board was hacked over the weekend is advising the half-million users whose information may have been accessed to buy identity insurance and notify credit reporting agencies. An indignant Twitter post by one of those whose account with The Guardian jobs site was compromised says she received an email from the newspaper... [full article »]
Google Gives HR Something New To Worry About
by John Zappe Oct 26, 2009, 5:19 pm ET
When Dr. John Sullivan said last week that employers have lost control of their brand, he likely wasn’t thinking of Sidewiki. Why should he? When the article was published Monday Sidewiki was not even three weeks old; Google launched it on Sept. 23rd. But Sidewiki’s potential for deconstructing a brand is enormous. Unlike all the networking... [full article »]
Dice Offers Searchers Something Extra, Passive Candidates
by John Zappe Oct 23, 2009, 7:04 pm ET
Two new tools have debuted recently. One will help with your sourcing research and the other promotes the passive candidate who may be overlooked by tech recruiters seeking fresh candidates. Dice.com, the IT job board, introduced a new search result report that allows recruiters to toggle between the results that meet their criteria and other candidates... [full article »]
Dice Has Tough Quarter, But Does Better Than Expected
by John Zappe Oct 21, 2009, 6:48 pm ET
Shares of Dice Holdings, owner of IT job board Dice.com, closed up almost 5 percent today, following news this morning that the company had a better quarter than Wall Street expected. [full article »]
Outplacement ‘Disruptor’ Gets $4.6 Million Investment
by John Zappe Oct 21, 2009, 3:22 pm ET
RiseSmart, a self-described disruptor of the “the $3 billion-plus corporate outplacement market,” announced this morning that it got a $4.6 million infusion of venture capital. Norwest Venture Partners, a $3 million participant in an earlier round of financing, put in $1.8 million. The balance of $2.8 million came from new investor Storm Ventures. Originally based in Dallas... [full article »]
Now Source Candidates Anywhere, Boolean Not Required
by John Zappe Oct 20, 2009, 3:39 pm ET
A new mobile sourcing application is having its coming out party tomorrow. AutoSearch Mobile for the iPhone and iPod Touch became available on the iPhone Store a month ago, but Wednesday marks its official debut at $4.99. AutoSearch Mobile, like its full-featured — and more expensive — PC and Mac version, makes it a snap for... [full article »]
Read This Punk Rockers Cuz It’s “No Fun To Be Alone”
by John Zappe Oct 19, 2009, 4:21 pm ET
Laurie Ruettimann will be feeding her cats better and paying her mortgage now that she’s sold her blog, PunkRockHR, to RecruitingBlogs. The announcement that the North Carolina recruiting blogger and widely quoted speaker sold the site popular with job seekers, as well as HR professionals, was made this morning. The financial terms were not disclosed. Some other... [full article »]
Survey Shows Disconnect Between Workers and Bosses
by John Zappe Oct 14, 2009, 8:00 am ET
A survey released this morning says employers are fooling themselves believing workers are content simply to have a job. According to the survey conducted by Monster and Human Capital Institute, 84 percent of employers indicated they thought their were workers content because they were working. However, only 58 percent of workers said that. For workers, the disconnect... [full article »]
Twitter This: Email Is Still The Killer App
by John Zappe Oct 13, 2009, 2:55 pm ET
How are you communicating with prospects? If you’re still using email, The Wall Street Journal says you are so last year. The 1,800 word article begins, “Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over.” It goes on to argue that alternatives like Twitter, social media, texting, and other communications... [full article »]
Monster Stock Soars On News Of Upgrade
by John Zappe Oct 9, 2009, 1:36 pm ET
Monster’s stock price is settling down today after a big bounce Thursday that came on news the company had been upgraded by an analyst for J.P. Morgan. “While we still expect soft results for the next few quarters, we are becoming increasingly confident in improvements made to Monster’s product offering and competitive positioning, which we believe... [full article »]
CEOs Are More Secure; Jigsaw Joins Web 2.0
by John Zappe Oct 9, 2009, 1:04 pm ET
Making the news this week are announcements from Jigsaw about an overhaul of its forums to bring them into the world of Web 2.0, a coup for outplacement upstart RiseSmart, and some good news for CEOs. JIGSAW The business intelligence and sourcing site has upgraded its community forum, giving it a cleaner look and implementing such to-be-expected... [full article »]
Homeland Security Officially Kills No Match Rule
by John Zappe Oct 8, 2009, 6:00 pm ET
In what amounts to a formality, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has put the last nail in the coffin of the “no match” rule, officially rescinding the much debated, but never implemented proposal. [full article »]
Employers Are Liable For Other’s EEO Violations
by John Zappe Oct 5, 2009, 6:16 pm ET
As employers increasingly turn to RPOs they need to make sure the firm they hire is well grounded in fair hiring laws, because they could be held liable for the firm’s violations. “It’s a good best practice to have,” counsels Christopher Olmsted, a specialist in labor and employment law and partner in the San Diego firm... [full article »]
