Handshakes still count heavily among recruiters. A University of Iowa professor has done research on the topic and finds that the manner of a person's handshake accounts for more than dress or physical appearance during job interviews. The full study won't be released until later this year, but "the first impression begins with a handshake that sets the tone for the rest of the job interview," says Prof. Greg Stewart of the Tippie School of Business.

A person's firm grip (or lack thereof) either disqualifies them or gets them in the door, usually within minutes of an interview, according to Stewart's research.

We all can relate to this. (Who hasn't met someone with sterling credentials, only to be shocked when they extend a "dead fish"?)

Mock job interviews between nearly 100 University of Iowa students and representatives of Iowa City businesses uncovered the psychological messages sent by a person's handshake. In addition to standard interview questions with company reps, each student met unwittingly with preselected "handshake raters" that issued scores based on a person's grip and eye contact, among other things.

Those who earned high scores from the handshake raters "were also considered to be the more hireable by the interviewers." Stewart says handshakes are important because they are more "individual and subtle" and "may communicate something that dress or physical appearance doesn't."

There is a hint of sexism in Stewart's findings, although it may be based on anatomical truths. He says women may be at a disadvantage when it comes to handshakes, since their grip tends to not be as strong as that of men. But women make up for this perceived shortcoming by excelling at nonverbal communication and other intuitive skills.

Startup RiseSmart of Dallas recently landed a small infusion of new capital from angel investors. The $1.5 million lays the groundwork for a probably pursuit of institutional investment sometime later this year. It's also additional evidence that, despite economic clouds dimming the horizon, the recruiting sector continues to attract investors.

Among the private investors is Craig Stamm, best known as the former chief financial officer for CareerBuilder (profile). Said to be joining Stamm are fellow investors Mark Hamdan, founder and chief executive officer of HRsmart, and executive Louis Ramery of Sears Holdings Corp.

RiseSmart helps executives by providing personal "job concierges" that match their credentials to lists of vacancies. That's why RiseSmart markets itself as a "human-powered" search engine. The service is designed to take the drudgery out of searching through the passel of executive job boards, which as any experienced job hunter knows will indiscrimately return thousands of available opportunities. Thus far, RiseSmart has been extremely hush-hush about the news, perhaps not wanting to tip off competing job sites like ExecuNet (profile) or TheLadders (profile).

The company employs about 25 people in India to comb through the extensive Internet job postings and help executives target positions they really want. Executives pay a fee of about $44 to peace of mind. This is a company to watch, if only because of the origin of its founder, Sanjay Sathe. He used to be part of the top brass at Sabre Holdings before being jettisoned overboard. Sathe reportedly was inspired to launch RiseSmart after enduring endless scrolls of irrelevant jobs openings.

Slipping under the radar is Mzinga's acquisition of fellow social networking site Prospero in March. Both companies offer SaaS models designed to let consumers (and corporate customers) run polls and other interactive features. Therein lays an undeniably powerful recruiting tool: directly appealing to would-be/potential employees, while building a recruiting brand at the same time.

Mzinga clients include AOL, ESPN, Johnson & Johnson, Chevron, and a slew of other household names. Helping fund the takeover of Prospero: $32.5 million secured from private investors. Armed with the new cash, we expect Mzinga to roll out new offerings. And it's not unreasonable to assume Mzinga will be on the prowl for other takeover targets, especially in the ever-growing social networking game.

Speaking of CareerBuilder: the Washington, D.C.-based site is among five businesses being sued for patent infringement by software developer GraphOn Corp., based in of Santa Cruz, California. GraphOn alleges its "unique method of maintaining and automated and network-accessible database" has been copied and used by the "popular and widely used Web sites" of CareerBuilder, Yahoo, eHarmony.com, Match.com, and Classified Ventures, which is a joint venture of five major newspaper publishers. 

In the hot and heavy world of executive recruiting, less sometimes is more. Of course, the "more" has to really be more -- as in more (and better) candidates with longer staying power. And not all executive-recruiting sites are created equal. (Who hasn't seen the Ladders tennis ball commercial, after all)?

Then there is RiteSite.com, which is to bells and whistles what Sparta was to Greek hedonists. Aimed at C-suite executives, the site is clunky and extremely non-intuitive - especially compared to sleeker, more streamline executive boards like eKornFerry.com or Heidrick & Struggles.

Obfuscation is part of the business plan at RiteSite, which was founded by Manhattan executive recruiter John Lucht in 2001 -- about the same time executive-recruiting websites were gaining momentum. Lucht fashioned the site to give C-level execs another option among the job-board scrimmage. Only execs looking for their next $100,000-plus gig need apply. They get membership to RiteSite.com for a yearly fee of $94 -- the same amount Lucht used to pay his secretary years ago to put together recruiting lists. For that nominal sum, members get e-mail alerts, job-hunting advice and other free information every week.

It's tough standing out from the crowd, especially if you're a niche job site. But RiteSite.com does offer a number of twists. For one thing, membership is not required for an executive to post a resume. RiteSite.com may be the only site to date to separate jobs by both industry and function. Recruiters don't have to pay to post jobs or review available candidates, and they can post as many jobs as they choose for free.

RiteSite.com actually consists of two databases of executive resumes, with preferential treatment shown to retained recruiters. They get to see an "identity-revealed" database that provides not only list of an executive's credentials, but also direct contact info.

Contingency recruiters aren't treated quite so generously. Although they are able to view jobs in RiteSite's "identity-concealed" database, they are restricted from the more exclusive listings. Still, Lucht estimates half to three-quarters of jobs listed on RiteSite.com are posted by contingency recruiters. This sounds surprising until you consider that RiteSite.com does not charge other sites to republish its internal listings.

Thus, recruiters can toss a dragnet around larger pools of candidates. Lucht boasts: "Nobody has the sorting system that we have. It's a great benefit to finding the jobs you want" if you're an executive, while recruiters are able to target specific industries.

Recruiter Larry White of Staffpointe tells me he receives more "measurable candidates" from RiteSite.com than all other Internet recruiting sites combined. He sends these people out for job interviews and almost always gets great results. That's quite an endorsement. This seems like a more-than-fair deal for recruiting professionals.

It's too bad RiteSite.com isn't a little more aesthetically pleasing. That probably would get people to linger longer. As it is now, the heavy black-and-red homepage is forbidding and a bit intimidating to first-time users. Some of the job descriptions also suffer from being a little too generic at times. Also, if you elect to use the site, be prepared for relentless self-promotion of Lucht's recruiting book. But if you're a recruiter, it's at least worth taking a look.

An interesting item appeared about online degrees coming in vogue and what this means for recruiters. In short, although it seems they still prefer people with traditional four-year sheepskins, more hiring managers are warming to candidates who earned their credentials via accredited distance-learning programs. (Read: not diploma mills).

For one thing, prejudices appear to be evaporating against people going the online route, driven no doubt by companies' voracious appetite for talent (coupled with the "where are all the good candidates?" syndrome). The line is beginning to blur between online and classroom training, with a growing number of bricks-and-mortar campuses delivering course offerings online. That's a trend that's been developing for a number of years.

Although slightly dated, research from The Sloan Foundation reinforces why all this is crucial to recruiters. Sloan says 20 percent of all U.S. higher education students took at least one online course in 2006. And at nearly 10 percent, the rate of growth of online enrollments far outstrips the 1.5 percent of the overall national population of higher-ed students.

I soon expect avant-garde recruiting organizations -- especially those that want first dibs on newly minted grads -- to turn up the pressure on online outfits such as University of Phoenix, ITT Technical Institute and others to offer enhanced post-graduate placement services. These agreements pop up from time to time in certain quarters, but it's a market niche that remains sorely underserved.

An online university is like banquet table. Just as they've always done, recruiters will follow the breadcrumbs to satisfy their appetites for talent.