INTERNET - A Control Freak’s Guide to Social Media Influence

I came across this today and it talks about the notion of control when it comes to online branding and the stance of influence. It offers a nice view of what control is online and how to ease your company into social media. It also shows good reason to get your brand out there if it isn't already.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?
http://mashable.com/2009/03/24/brand-influence/

SOCIAL-NETWORKING - Twitter: The new way to find a job

It seems that more and more lately I have read about success stories of job seekers finding jobs through Twitter. I found this article while looking through tweets on Twitter from @jlipschultz and @fishdogs who we at @patriotJOBS follow. This is an awesome article about David Gallant, a soon to be college graduate just about to enter the work force using Twitter to his advantage. Full story: Twitter: The new way to find a job. After several attempts on a few job websites, he finally signed up for Twitter and began chatting with professionals in his field; which later landed him a career. Any thoughts or experiences on Twitter job hunting you want to share?

PRINT- Alternative Mensa Ad

... Recruitment... sort of... =)

SOCIAL NETWORKING - What's Hot

I found this article on ere.net talking about recruiting trends as they continue to change. Recently recruiters have found ways to use social networking to their advantage. Twitter is a good example that recruiters have put into power by announcing open positions and staying connected with the unemployed. With the increased unemployment rate, it is less necessary for employers to use talent strategists to conduct their employee search. Essentially each social network is an online resume that the employer can quickly tap into and interact with the candidate. In turn, the job seeker is able to connect with your company, getting a feel for it as well as the people behind it. Creating social networking for your company is a great way to build on your employment brand by engaging and interacting with job seekers, forming a bond. Employees tend to become more loyal to companies that are true and open to employee input. It seems that they are more likely to stay longer with the company and build a stronger team when provided with quick and easily accessible training outlets. An example of this can be online videos that are posted onto YouTube, or job specific discussion boards on Facebook where they can bounce ideas off other individuals within the company they work for. There are so many ways on the internet to connect and grow your company's profile. I wonder where this will take recruiting in the next year from the more traditional means of recruitment advertising? It's interesting to see how people view this rapidly changing industry. Check out the comments below the article in this link: ere.net-What's Hot What are your thoughts?

NON-TRADITIONAL - KFC finds random side job: fixing potholes

This had me laughing. I found this on AdFreak a minute ago. KFC steps up to help communities lacking dollars by repairing potholes, only the potholes credit KFC. Click to read more: AdFreak-KFC Other ideas that were mentioned in AdFreak's post were street lamps that beam a sponsors' message on the ground; new bridges that require drivers to watch a two-minute pre-roll ad instead of a toll. As budgets tighten, it's interesting to see how companies approach new advertising avenues.

GOVERNMENT - CIA Turns to Mainstream Media for Recruiting

Spotted something from the AdAge twitter feed about the CIA's recruitment methods.

Evidently they are working with radio right now, you might remember some of the ads that ran on the Discovery Channel, and it looks like their website now includes past print ads, a top 10 reasons to work for the CIA list, and many other items of interest.

With something like the CIA I would expect something a bit more involving and maybe something that makes the candidates take some action. What about working with geocaching groups? Grabbing people that seem to like exploring, adventuring and have some kind of know how when it comes to something a little nontraditional and working on problem solving. It would be great to see a campaign that would utilize either regular GPS units or even Google's new tool for GPS tracking. It could be a great fit with the college crowd and could probably generate a fair amount of buzz. Thoughts?

http://adage.com/article?article_id=135476

https://www.cia.gov/careers/index.html

http://www.geocaching.com/

INTERNET - Social Media: The New Cover Letter?

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/23/social-media-the-new-cover-letter/

This is a great discussion about the role of social media to candidates but in turn the same information can be applied to current HR recruitment. A corporate website and a piece of it being devoted to careers might be a great tool for traditional candidates and those that are actively searching but there is a growing segment that is thirsty for new information, more depth and more personality that many standard websites do not provide. It is by embellishing the extensions that a connection is made strong by displaying multiple sides of a company whether they be the technology, employees or leaders of a company. Not only are you showing other sides of a company but you are also reaching out to them on their ground.

What are your thoughts?

HR - How to Do Twice As Much With Half the Recruiting Team

This is a nice article reviewing how to manage your time and the people you work with to increase the productivity as recruitment teams are slimming down in many companies.

What are your thoughts? Any that you disagree with the approach on?

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/20/how-to-do-twice-as-much-with-half-the-recruiting-team/

TWITTER - TweetMyJobs Has a Following And A Whole New Business

If you are toying with the idea of using Twitter for your recruitment, check out tweetmyjobs.com. Job seekers with a Twitter account receive a notice of an opening within moments and the service is free. Postings are triggered by keywords selected by applicants.

Ere.net made a great post about the service. What are your thoughts?

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/18/tweetmyjobs-has-a-following-and-a-whole-new-business/

HR - The Outlook for Recruiting

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/18/the-outlook-for-recruiting/
Found this today while checking out ere.net.

Don't forget to read through the comments.

What are your thoughts?

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

VIDEO - Cheezhead's "the slice"

VIDEO - Twitter in Plain English

VIDEO - Leveraging ROI on a Recruiting Video

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/13/leveraging-roi-on-a-recruiting-video/

Came across this article on Friday but didn't have a chance to post about it.

It lists some great questions to ask yourself before producing / during and after production of a recruitment video. Key points it covers is what messages are delivered, where it should be displayed, does it sound scripted, did you show your current employees and will you use Twitter to get the word out?

VIDEO - Various International Military Recruitment Videos

Keeping it light for a Friday. Enjoy the videos!

Ukrainian Military Commercial



Russian Military Commercial





Japanese Military Commercial







Australian Military Commercial



Royal Marines Commercial





Korps Mariniers Commercial





Czech Military Recruitment



Slovak Military Recruitment

NON-TRADITIONAL - Job Simulations for Selecting Employees: What might the future hold?

Finally had a chance to read through this article about the use of simulations when selecting/screening/reaching out to candidates. It has some great food for thought. How could your company benefit from simulators? Pic somewhat related.

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/11/job-simulations-for-selecting-employees-what-might-the-future-hold/

ONLINE - "pcmag’s 20 best job sites"

Here is a top twenty job board list from PCMag.com:

http://www.cheezhead.com/2009/03/11/ved-pcmags-top-twenty-job-sites

Came across it today on http://www.cheezhead.com/.

I'm really interested in the TweetMyJobs.

NON-TRADITIONAL - Museum Resume CV

I believe I came across this on adsoftheworld.com but I am not positive. The idea was that a museum post its resume outside on the building to help generate interest about its history.
There are several ways I could see something like this working towards approaching candidates but not exactly in the same fashion. What are you thoughts?

NON-TRADITIONAL - Great Illustrated College Recruitment for RIM by Matt Vincent

This is a great example of using illustration for a college recruitment campaign.

Stumbled across it today white hunting around for fun recruitment ideas.

The designs are nice and light but active and engaging enough to draw the eye.

Art by Matt Vincent.

NON-TRADITIONAL - Business Cards That Say Something About Your Industry

Sometimes it is the little things that people take away that really stands out. It could be any number of free little items you pass out at a job fair or college event, but the key is to make sure that it is branded well enough to no be a really awesome business card but Company's really awesome business card. Finding a way to tie your business cards for recruitment events directly to your industry might be able to help you stand out from competitors. Hiring electronic engineers? Use a circuit board business card. Hiring for train/rail positions? Use a custom printed ticket. Hiring for your lumber yard or furniture store? Use wooden business cards. The potential is out there, just try to figure out something unique to your industry that pops out from the rest that are going to be at those recruiting events.

Here are some samples of incorporating your industry/profession to your business cards:

via: adsoftheworld.com and

http://www.ladyada.net/rant/2006/03/pcb-business-card/

NEWS - Geography of a Recession - New York Times

The New York Times posted a great map displaying the shifting employment rates by county throughout the United States. It also displays how much of a change has happened when you scroll over the different areas.

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/03/03/us/20090303_LEONHARDT.html?hp

via: http://www.ere.net/2009/03/04/geography-of-a-recession/

PRINT - Tonic Communications - Recruiting Designers & Copywriters

Found these a while ago for Tonic Communications when they were recruiting for designers and copywriters. I decided to hunt around and see if there were any additional pieces to the campaign. Seems that the Designer placement was quite close to a previous IBM ad (shown below.)
via: http://www.jazarah.net/blog/tonic-dubai-a-copycat/

The copywriter ad is based around the optical illusion "I LOVE PARIS IN THE THE SPRINGTIME." Re-read the triangle, most people miss it the first time because the brain filters out the second "THE."

PRINT - Job Board Laazi.com Print Ads - "in most countries punching your boss is a crime"

These ran in the Khaleej Times in late 2008 for the job board laazi.com.

via: http://laazi.wordpress.com/ and http://ads.laazi.com/

GOVERNMENT - Royal Navy "Get the Message"

http://getthemessage.net/

I was browsing around and came across a post about the Royal Navy's "Get the Message."

How does it work? Users go to the site and pick a method of delivery for the message and then type in the message and email out to either a group of people or just one person.

The only thing I worry about is how passive the placement is unless they follow it up with more active recruitment emails at a later date. The video is nice and flashy and that may be enough to hook the curious about checking our more information.

What are your thoughts on the piece?

via: makethelogobigger.blogspot.com

RECRUITMENT - Corporate Alumni and Boomerang Recruiting Programs Are Hot Due to Layoffs

This is an interesting article that I found on ere.net Corporate Alumni Programs, that talks about how today's economic times are forcing businesses to layoff valuable employees and the importance of maintaining a mutual relationship with them. When in need these employees will be at arms reach to quickly recruit back.