Several weeks back, fellow ER Daily author Kevin Wheeler wrote an article entitled, Value and Frugality: The Do-It-Yourself Decade. In it, he argued that it made sense for firms looking to cut costs and improve productivity to stop relying on recruitment ad agencies and staffing firms and start performing some of these functions themselves. While... [full article »]

As the recruiting profession continues to evolve, metrics have likewise grown in popularity. But although there seems to be a lot of talk about measuring, the truth of the matter is few people are actually measuring?? and even fewer are doing it well. Do you know how to implement a metrics-driven staffing program that elevates... [full article »]

I was talking recently with a staffing professional in the healthcare industry about his sourcing approach. He was lamenting all of the money he spent placing weekly ads in a regional trade publication that got him nothing but poor results. I asked him why he continued with this approach, and he responded simply, “All of... [full article »]

In recent weeks, I have repeatedly heard recruiters rejoicing over the fact that the “War for Talent” is coming to end. After all, there are plenty of candidates for every position and given the current economic climate this trend will continue, right? Wrong. According to estimates by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there will be... [full article »]

In my article in January, A Sales Lesson for Recruiters, I wrote about how to apply a popular sales technique, SPIN Selling (pioneered by Neil Rackham) to recruiting. Since that time I have received numerous questions regarding how this method might also fit in with behavioral-based interviewing (BBI). Although the SPIN technique does not replace... [full article »]

Remember the days when Internet recruiting meant posting an opening on an online career center in lieu of a print ad? In those days, recruitment technology meant resume storage and retrieval, and maybe correspondence management. The few existing vendors were limited to mainframe and client server platforms. But as the recruiting profession has evolved, so... [full article »]

Have you ever stopped to think about how recruiting has changed over the past few years? For those of us who rode the technology wave of the ’90s, the evolution of the recruitment profession is all too familiar. The role of technology moved from the wiring closet to boardroom, advancing along the way to a... [full article »]

I recently had the opportunity to speak with a group of recruiters about how the profession is changing. I put the following question to the group: “How is your organization addressing the current economic climate?” The most agreed upon response was a shift in focus. Participants discussed the necessity of becoming more generalized as a... [full article »]

Recruiting is selling. No matter what the current hiring conditions are, recruiters need to have basic selling skills to be successful. But amazingly, in a nationwide survey conducted by our team, we found that recruiting professionals ranked persuasion skills low in importance?? 25th?? on a list of needed recruitment competencies. So in this article, we... [full article »]

Online screening has received a great deal of attention lately, and after a recent experience I had with it, I couldn’t help but chime in. As part of project with my employer, many of us were given the opportunity to take an actual assessment to see what the experience would be like for a candidate.... [full article »]

In the current business climate, while many industries are curbing their recruiting efforts, others are still growing and expanding. The healthcare industry – including hospitals, medical and research facilities, pharmaceutical companies and the like – is one of these; it continues to experience a talent shortage. Our team has completed a great deal of work... [full article »]

In the coming months, many recruiters will take advantage of the cyclical nature of our industry and begin to assess their existing recruiting strategy and plan for the coming year. The simplest approach to this undertaking is to break down the recruitment life cycle and evaluate each of its phases, asking key questions along the... [full article »]

Recently, our team conducted a nationwide recruitment-skills competency study and discovered an interesting pattern. It became evident that while recruiters of all types strongly agree as to the soft skills that contribute to a recruiter’s success, there was far less agreement on the “hard” skills – the measurable skills that are used on a daily... [full article »]

Many technical recruiters find themselves getting a little nervous about the market lately. The dot-com failures and technology powerhouses announcing lay-offs and hiring freezes are all indicators of the demise of technology staffing needs, right? Wrong. According to a recent Meta Group study, there remains an employment gap of as many as 600,000 information technology... [full article »]

With the dot-com business slowing down and the e-commerce wave long since crested, companies are now beginning to look at additional ways to leverage the Internet for competitive advantage. To be successful in IT recruiting, it is crucial that we understand this change and its associated technologies. Corporations are now redirecting their technical efforts to... [full article »]

As recruiters, we continuously look for new and better ways to use the Internet in our sourcing and recruiting efforts. Rarely, however, do we stop to consider the legal issues that have emerged. The Internet has definitely changed the way we recruit, but it has opened up some additional risks as well. While I am... [full article »]

With expenditures over the Web predicted to exceed $200 billion his year, and more than 515 million computers and devices accessing the Web by the year 2002 (IDC Research), it is no wonder that data security is a hot issue. As long as the explosive growth of data sharing and online transactions continues, there will... [full article »]

Sounds crazy right? Well, let me explain. Mr. Hanssen knew something the rest of us seem to have lost sight of. He was technologically astute, and could have used technology as a primary information delivery vehicle. Instead, he made the decision to use less technical, more traditional means of communication in his activities. In other... [full article »]

Last month’s article covered databases and data warehousing at a very basic level. This month, let’s take a closer look at the terminology associated with data warehouses. A knowledge of these search terms, keywords, and concepts will increase your ability to source and screen these high-demand technologists. A traditional warehouse is used to store a... [full article »]

I recently conducted some non-scientific research to see what types of technical skills seemed in high demand. What I found was that the need for database and data warehouse skills seemed large, and it’s no wonder. According to the GartnerGroup, enterprises will be faced with 30 times more data in 2004 than in 1999. Of... [full article »]