Tech Recruiting Wars Heat Up All Across the U.S.

Recruiters and hiring managers are having a hard time wooing tech talent, especially in the Midwest.

According to a recent hiring survey from Dice, a technology and engineering career website, five of the top 12 toughest places in the U.S. to recruit tech talent are in the middle of the country.

With more than 8,000 tech jobs available on Dice.com on any given day, New York City, unsurprisingly, is the most challenging place to recruit computer science graduates, the survey found. San Francisco is in second place, with about 4,600 tech jobs open. The data is based on responses from recruiters and hiring managers across the country.

Now, however, recruiting is not a duel only between Silicon Alley and Silicon Valley companies. Dice’s data finds tech employees in high demand in cities across the nation.

“Competition for talent has certainly become much more fierce,” Shravan Goli, president of Dice, told Network World. “It’s never been easy, and it’s only going to get tougher.”

Detroit ranked fourth on the list of toughest cities to recruit. Chicago was sixth; Little Rock, eighth; Milwaukee, ninth; and St. Louis, eleventh.

This is difficult news for startup CEOs. The gap between supply and demand means you’ll be paying higher salaries to persuade top engineers, coders, and IT staffers to come work for your company. One reason competition is getting tighter, Dice says, is that companies across all industries are looking to add tech-savvy workers in marketing, sales, and business analysis positions. Meanwhile, the number of computer science graduates is not keeping pace.

“That’s adding a lot more pressure from a hiring perspective, no matter what type of company you are,” Goli says.

via Tech Recruiting Wars Heat Up All Across the U.S. | Inc.com.

Tech Recruiting Wars Heat Up All Across the U.S.

21 Social Media for HR Tips You Ought to Know

Heisann… (That’s “Hey There” Or “Hello” in Norwegian). My grandfather was Norwegian. That was for him! I was lucky to have him in my life. Anyways, I was reminded this past week that social and HR is hard.

I am immersed in social media every day. Comes at me all the time. I rarely talk about social media unless I am asked because it feels like I am talking about a telephone. I would rather use a telphone than talk about how it works. That line is for you Joe!

I use social for HR to network, share, recruit, engage with employees, build communities, lead ideas and snoop on what other HR Pros are doing with social and HR. I also use it for employment branding for my company @EnergizerJobs . So you could say I work in social with HR. If that is your goal, interest, situation or opportunity then I would like to point out a few things about social and HR. This is not a tirade, just my thoughts.

My purpose of this list is to share with others the problems I have discovered in the last few years. If you work in a big corporation and in HR, chances are you have experienced some of this stuff.

The problem with social and HR is that…

1. You have to go first. Being the first HR Pro to do social for you company is like converting people to a new religon. You believe it, but others do not. Even though you may not know much about your social media journey, stay true to your beliefs.


2. You have to be comfortable being a chameleon. You must speak and translate between two HR cultures. Traditional cultures who have little experience with it and the social media culture who know it and want to learn how it can help our industry. Careful with the traditional culture. Their ignorance can make your days long.


3. You need to figure out how social can—> save your company money with recruiting, improve engagement, increase brand visibility (i.e., employment branding), attracting talent and share your company’s vision. You need to find metrics to measure this. HR Pros love measurement and goals.


4. Your CEO needs social to share his/her vision of the company. The quarterly town hall is not enough. If you work at a big (greater than 10k people) global company very few people know the vision of the CEO or president. Your job as the social HR Pro is to get them to believe in using it to share their vision.


5. Some people will give you lip service that social for HR is important, but have no idea why it is important.


6. Many senior HR leaders will want to learn more, but not commit to doing social. This will leave you feeling lonely. Don’t give up.


7. HR Pros are paid to manage liabilities. Many will see social for HR as another liability. Show them how it can help. See point #3 above.


8. In the beginning, doing social for HR will add more work to your plate. So be smarter with it. Use it to do your normal (i.e., recruit, network, communicate, engage) HR work better. This will enhance your work like a the remote control did for your TV watching. You will meet new people and know your existing network better. Use social to interact, then meet in real life. Meet the people you interact with online in real life.


9. When you do it well, it will look easy. Nobody will care or realize how much work it took. Same way nobody calls your payroll team to thank them for paying them correct and on time. No body will call you to say you did a good job.


10. Social and HR work isn’t glamorous. You don’t get paid any extra money either.


11. If you screw something up with social and HR it is public. My advice is to screw up when you are small and nobody is watching. Learn from those screw-ups, then do it better next time. You won’t get fired. Just don’t be stupid. And please don’t ask me what stupid looks like.


12. Don’t wait for approval to do social and HR. It will never come. Take authority of social before it is given to you. Your business leaders expect you to be using it to bring them talent. Stop right now and go ask them. I bet they agree.


13. If you build a strong public presence, some HR Pros will think you are all about becoming “famous”. That’s not your problem.


14. You will be critiqued by people in a mean way. Go buy your tissues now.


15. You will be critiqued by HR Pros who have no idea what they are talking about.


16. Some of your ideas will be new and exciting to you and old news to everyone else. Social is fast paced.


17. You will have no resources to make this happen. Find believers in your network and work with them. They will help you.


18. Nobody in HR will care when you get a ReTweet by someone cool on Twitter. Even if it means 1,829 talented people just saw something cool about your company.


19. There is a fine line between promotion of self and promotion of people. Social is about the people. Always, always…always promote other people.


20. If you are introducing social to HR, I pray for you. You will be asking people to use their imagination to do stuff in HR in a different way. This is a new experience to them. So to round off my list like a game of Black Jack….here is the 21st thing that will make it worth it….

Inside each problem with social and HR is an opportunity to lead. There is an opportunity to reach out and build something with people that we can’t build alone. People want to help. People want to make your company better and themselves better while they are at it. Your job is to show them why they should help, then how they can help. The HR transformation is going on around us and will keep going on. Has been for my 13 years of HR. Use social to speed up the transformation.

Social media will soon be like the telephone. Another cool tool that can help us do our jobs better. In the meantime, I will go back to using social for HR. It’s much easier.

via 21 Social Media for HR Tips You Ought to Know.

21 Social Media for HR Tips You Ought to Know

Mobile Recruiting: There’s an App for That!

Remember that old iPhone commercial that touted “There’s an app for that”? Attracting, engaging, and retaining top talent is the foundation of successful companies. A recent study by Simply Hired revealed that 70 percent of job seekers are using their mobile phones to find jobs. In addition, forward thinking companies are leveraging mobile apps to hire the best people, build their brand and enable candidates and employees to talk about their experiences on social networks. Ultimately, the job-hunt is about connecting people and information; yet, there are a plethora of mobile apps, recruiting/talent management software programs and social platforms that can accelerate this process.

Mobile apps make searching for a job easier

Gone are the days when candidates secretly sent emails to employers from their home computers on Sunday nights! Mobile apps allow candidates to discreetly search for positions- anytime, anywhere and quickly respond to postings. Hundreds of mobile apps are available for job search (CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Simply Hired, SnagAJob, Linkup, etc.), plus apps to build your resume (Pocket Resume, Resume App), network for lunch (http://lunchmeetapp.com), prepare for an interview (101Great Answers to Tough Interview Questions), research companies and assess salaries and company reviews (Glassdoor, Indeed), organize the job search process (Fresh Transition Job Search Organizer), and much more. Career Rocketeer provides a list of the top 25 iPhone apps (http://careerrocketeer.com/top-25-must-have-iphone-apps-for-your-job-search).

Apps to Build Professional Network & Personal Brand

Mobile apps have contributed to the explosion in social networks and candidates are leveraging networking apps (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, SnapData Business Cards, etc.) to connect, share and update their profiles, regardless of where you are. For example, Twitter allows you to share content and build awareness of yourself as a thought leader. Twitter’s openness and more casual style make it a useful platform for showcasing your “full self”- interests, talents, style and personality. Allow your authentic self to shine! Network across disciplines and follow/engage with people who inspire you. I consider myself a skilled networker, but Twitter has pushed me outside me comfort zone and I LOVE it! Remember, recruiters will look at your networks consider how your connections frame who you are and what type of fit you would be for a company.

Mobile Recruiting Enhances a Companies Response

Corporations are incorporating mobile apps to facilitate recruitment workflow, making it easier to HR to evaluate candidates, share information with hiring managers and make job offers. It’s critical to have a nimble strategy to reach your target audience, and increase productivity by enabling your team to “work from anywhere.” By 2020, more than 50% of the U.S. workforce will be comprised of millennials. Currently, more than 70% of Fortune 100 companies have not invested in mobile optimizing their career pages. Thus, traditional companies will need to invest in sleek mobile apps to meet the demand of the digital natives.

Bottom line: There are hundreds of apps that candidates can leverage to identify job openings, prep for interviews, expand their professional network and much more. It’s imperative to differentiate yourself, establish a strong online personal brand and leverage your relationships and unique talents to land your ideal job.

via Mobile Recruiting: There’s an App for That! HR, Recruiting, Social Media Policies, Human Resources, HR Technology Blogging4Jobs.

Mobile Recruiting: There’s an App for That!

68% of Job Seekers Use Mobile in Their Job Search

Social media is no longer a nice to have. It’s a must have as part of your recruitment strategy. Here’s why:

• 92% of recruiters plan on using social media in their recruiting efforts over the next 12 months

• 49% of recruiters said social media increased candidate quality

• Recruiters saved $370,000,000 in recruitment expenses with social media in 2012. (See the inforgraphic from iMomentous to more insights about this stat below.)

Recruiting using social must incorporate mobile today

Unfortunately, often left out of the conversation when it comes to social media use and social recruiting is how mobile is critical to the future success of reaching your target candidate especially true when most recent data from GlassDoor reports that 3 out of 5 job seekers are relying on mobile in their personal job search strategies. Recruiting using social must incorporate mobile into the overall strategy. Otherwise, companies and recruiting teams are building hiring strategies with one arm tied behind their back. And that’s not a good thing especially when the job market is so competitive for knowledge workers, engineers and qualified job candidates. We have to have the right strategies and tools to reach, engage and build relationships with our best candidate recruiting pool.

• Mobile is the preferred method to be social. Adobe’s 2013 Mobile survey found that 71% of social media activities where happening on a mobile device.

• Mobile is about now. I call this the Performance of Now. When we are seeking information, answers and connections in the moment we are looking to mobile. Whether it’s a Yelp restaurant review, a recommendation from a friend or a prepping for that job interview as you wait in the company lobby.

• Mobile is personal. Our mobile phones are our personal computer assistants informing us of sports scores and dental appointments and are a way to be fully connected even if we move half way across the US (like I did) or halfway across the world. Mobile makes recruiting a personal yet global engagement at the same time.

via 68% of Job Seekers Use Mobile in Their Job Search – Blogging4Jobs HR, Recruiting, Social Media Policies, Human Resources, HR Technology Blogging4Jobs.

68% of Job Seekers Use Mobile in Their Job Search

How to prepare for applying on a form application

Form applications may bring back memories of jobs you had in high school or college. But the truth is that many jobs you’ll apply for today will require applications. It’s a company’s way of getting standard information from every applicant and ensuring uniformity and fairness for all who apply.

While filling out a job application often seems like the easiest step in the hiring process, if you aren’t prepared or don’t fill out the form accurately you could end the process before it even begins.

Here are some tips to make sure you ace the form application step:

Prepare common answers …

Submitting an application may be the first thing you do for some job opportunities, but other times you might not get the application until you go in for an interview. If that’s the case, make sure you’re prepared so you can fill out the form quickly and completely.

In a Microsoft Word document, create a list of information that’s often requested in an application, and make sure the list is easily accessible whenever and wherever you may fill one out. Consider emailing the list to yourself so you have it when you’re on the go.

Some common fields on an application may include:

• Name


• Address


• Email address


• Phone number


• Social security number


• Driver’s license/state ID


• Employment history (e.g., names and dates of positions held, reasons for leaving)


• Education and experience (e.g., schools attended, degrees, graduation date, skills acquired)


• Salary


• References


• Ability to upload or copy/paste a résumé

… But don’t assume all applications are the same.

If you’re filling out an application for what seems like the millionth time, you may go on autopilot and answer questions the same way on each form. Make sure to read each new application thoroughly, because there may be a few questions either worded a different way or asking for different types of information than the previous application you just submitted.

Tackle tricky questions.

While most questions on an application are pretty standard and straightforward, some may be a little trickier to answer than others. One such culprit is the salary question. Whether the form asks for current salary, salary range or salary minimum, make sure you’re being accurate and that you’re comfortable with the number you include.

“It’s best to include your minimum expectation for compensation,” says Emily Hofer, chief human resources officer at Arise Virtual Solutions Inc., a work-at-home business process outsourcing company. “This needs to be something you can be comfortable with and will accept … do not sabotage yourself by including a low number, thinking you can negotiate up when the offer comes in … this only leads to distrust later in the process.”

So how do you determine that number? “When the always fearful ‘desired salary’ question comes up, the applicant should use salary index sites … to get an idea [of] what ‘Job X’ is worth,” says Joshua Siva, author of “BOLD: Get Noticed, Get Hired.” Siva also suggests calculating your expenses and financial goals and determining a number that, if offered, is one with which you’d be happy, you’d have enough to get by financially and you’d be able to live comfortably.

Stand out.

It may seem nearly impossible to stand out on a form application, but you can find small ways to impress. Show that you’ve done your research on the company by including some thoughts in a “comments” or “additional information” section, if available. For instance, you could say something like, “I noticed the company just won business with X beauty company. I have seven years of experience working with beauty and lifestyle clients.”

Finding small ways to personalize the application will help you rise above the rest of the applicant pool.

via How to prepare for applying on a form application | The Work Buzz.

How to prepare for applying on a form application

Unless You Segment Your Recruiting Messaging, You Won’t Attract Top Performers and Techies

Unless you tailor your bait, you’ll never attract the very best prospects

It might sound silly on the surface, but fishing and recruiting have a lot in common. Any seasoned fisherman or woman would tell you without hesitation that the same bait that effectively attracts small fish simply would have no impact on attracting the harder-to-land big fish.

In recruiting, the need to match your “bait” or attraction features to your target is no different. The job and company features that would attract the average Joe to a job (I call them “paycheck jobs”) would barely get the attention of top performers, techies, and innovators. For example, the average Joe might be excited about the fact that you have good benefits while an innovator may be more interested in how often you take risks and fund innovative ideas.

There lies the problem in corporate recruiting. Almost all the information provided by corporate recruiting is designed to be general to meet a larger audience. But unless there is a separate message on your site or external to it that has “bait” that is tailored to attract this more desirable and harder to land target, they will never view your firm as desirable.

Every organization of course needs to do its own market research, but for those that haven’t yet done that, I have provided a list of most powerful attractors both for the high-performer group and for the average worker who is looking for a paycheck job. The top-performer list, which is provided in the next section, starts with doing the best work of your life, having an impact, and having a great manager. But where in the corporate array of recruiting tools including the job posting, the job description, or on the corporate careers webpage is there information or evidence indicating that workers here are doing the best work of their life are having a great impact and have a great manage? In fact, on this last item, you won’t even find the names of key managers or the one who a new hire might work under anywhere on the corporate site, so that you could research them on your own.

Segment Your Recruiting Messages

It’s basic marketing 101. Generic information often fails to attract. You can’t attract currently employed top performers, techies, diverse applicants, and innovators unless they can easily find out that a relevant job contains the unique factors that they care most about. Even if they are convinced that a desirable attraction factor (like new technology) is available at the company, that won’t be enough unless you also provide information indicating that it also exists in this particular team and job.

If you’re a corporate leader, think seriously about it. There is a high probability that every single element of your bait (i.e. written recruiting materials) is extremely general and as a result it might be having a zero impact on top performers and techies who expect unique things in their next job.

How to Identify the Job Excitement Factors of Top Performers

The first rule of market segmentation requires you to realize that those in this highly desirable group (top performers, techies, innovators, and diverse candidates) do not want the same things in a job as average hires or the unemployed. Thus, you must segment your messages so that they fit this target group. The best way to find out what top prospects care about is to interview some of your own top-performing employees and also to ask every top candidate to list their “job-attraction factors” that would cause them to apply for and accept a new job. In my own research, I’ve identified many of the “top-performer job excitement factors”:

A List of the Excitement Factors for Top Performers, Techies, and Innovators

Here’s a list of possible excitement factors for top performers. They are listed in descending order of importance. Your recruitment messaging must highlight the level that each one is present in your jobs that require top performers. The two most critical ones are bolded.

1. Doing the best work of my life


2. Doing work that has an impact on the customers and the world


3. Having a great manager


4. An opportunity to innovate and take risks


5. An opportunity to learn rapidly and be challenged


6. The opportunity to implement their ideas


7. A choice of projects and assignments


8. A chance to work with the latest technologies and tools


9. Input into their schedule/ location


10. An opportunity to work with top co-workers


11. The opportunity to make decisions and for fast approvals


12. Working in a performance-driven meritocracy where rewards are based on performance


13. A transparent environment where the needed information and access is readily available


14. Sufficient budget and resources to reach their goals

If you compare this list to what the average worker wants which are listed below (i.e. pay, security, benefits, work-life balance, etc.) it is easy to see why your current recruiting materials and messaging may have zero impact on attracting the interest and applications from top performers. 

The Attraction Elements of a Typical “Paycheck Job”

Do your own market research, but here is the list of attraction factors that I use for the average worker who is satisfied with a “paycheck job.”

1. Guaranteed pay


2. Exceptional benefits


3. Security


4. Time off with pay


5. Seniority rights


6. Equal treatment


7. Minimal risk and stress


8. No surprises/predictable


9. Work/life balance


10. A good commute

Incidentally now might be a good time to compare the elements of your current job with the two lists to see if your current role really exceeds the elements of a simple paycheck job.

How to Make it Easy for Top Prospects to Find a Job’s Excitement Factors

It’s great that corporations provide general information about what the company has to offer, but top prospects want to know about the excitement factors for the job, manager, and team where they would be working. Not only must these excitement factors be present, but they should be clearly visible in each of the major recruiting information channels that are available to top applicants. Some approaches to consider for making those “excitement factors” more visible include:

• The job posting – there is not much space, but mentioning one or two of the excitement factors here is a good idea.


• The job description – although normally written by dull compensation people, this is the best place to detail the excitement factors.


• Through employee referrals – the most credible and authentic way to spread the excitement message is through messaging from employees who work closely with the person and the job. Obviously employees need to be provided with the key attraction features so that they can spread them when they are looking for referrals. Employees can also spread them and blogs and on comments on websites like glassdoor.com.


• On social media – exciting features can be mentioned on social media landing pages.


• Supplemental job information – providing a link to supplemental information that covers the excitement factors can be effective. Providing access via the mobile phone is the most important avenue.


• Videos – manager and team-created short videos can make it easy for outsiders to feel the excitement in these key factors.


• Manager and team statements – key member and manager testimonials either in writing or on video can be extremely convincing and powerful.


• The corporate careers page – almost everything here is too corporate to be credible, but a mention of key excitement factors is still a good idea.

Final Thoughts

The time has come for corporate leaders to realize that generic messaging that covers the factors that average applicants want will never be effective in attracting other highly desirable prospect segments.

Once you realize how poorly most corporations currently provide compelling bait that covers what top performers expect, the next steps are easy to recognize. First, you must realize that the messages must be tailored to top performers and customized to a particular job or job family. Next, you must identify the key attraction factors of top performers. Third, you must use market research to identify where they would likely to see and read those messages, and finally you must polish the actual messages so that they are credible and authentic to the point where they actually cause top performers to apply for the open job.

If you’re currently having difficulty attracting top performers, now you know why. Your bait is generic and it is not designed to attract top performers.

via Unless You Segment Your Recruiting Messaging, You Won’t Attract Top Performers and Techies – ERE.net.

Unless You Segment Your Recruiting Messaging, You Won’t Attract Top Performers and Techies

Desperate People Don"t get New Jobs, Try this Approach Instead

Just like in the world of dating, looking desperate is not going to get you anywhere in your job search. When someone sees the glint of desperation in your eye, they question your motives and you lose credibility in an instant. Sure, there is a correlation of number of job applications and number of interviews you land but what if you could get the ratio down to one interview per application? Or even better, how about getting interviews without applying?

Spray’n’pray applications

The old school way of applying for jobs is not really working in today’s economy. Employers are inundated with resumes from hopeful jobseekers, sometimes receiving hundreds of applicants for one single position. Employers also tend to get a great deal of open applications that are not related to any particular jobs. This indicates that the applicant is on the desperate side and just wants the employer’s brand on their resume.

Recruiters constantly have adverts out for various positions in their field. These adverts will render a number of applications on a daily basis, mainly from candidates adhering to the ‘spray and pray’ methodology. Anyone that sends the same resume and cover letter email to 20 positions in one day will have to be classified as desperate and recruiters run to the hills when they see it.

Simply applying for any job that is out there and even for jobs that aren’t out there is not going to be the way forward. All it does is putting the desperate stamp on your resume and yourself.

Someone told me to…

The typical ‘expert’ advice in a tough market would be to call up the recruiter and/or employer and make sure they read your resume and put you at the top of the pile. In this day and age, this won’t make you stand out and if anything you will only come across as desperate and ascertain your resume goes either to the bottom of the pile or in the trash can. A hiring manager wants enthusiasm from a new employee, not desperation.

But shouldn’t I try all means to get a new job?

Of course you should try everything, but you only get one chance with each company and you want to make it count. Instead of you applying, imagine being headhunted or even contacted direct by a hiring manager. This would put you you in a much stronger bargaining position which you can leverage from, especially if get a job offer.

How to avoid looking desperate

Have high standards and only agree to look at jobs that you really want. An interviewer can spot an opportunist jobseeker a mile away. By only applying for the right roles for you, you will save time and effort for the ones that really count. Furthermore, recruiters and employers will respect your integrity and remember you for the next opportunity they have that is more relevant to your preferences.

Do whatever it takes for the recruiter or employer to contact you instead of vice versa. There are a number of ways you can work on your branding, start getting active online, give talks in your field and raise your profile. Employers and recruiters will be all over you like ducks on a june bug.

Action plan

Take a long-term approach to your career and work on your personal brand today. Start writing blog posts about your industry, zeroing in on a few companies with the help of social networking, get active in online groups and recruiters, head up industry events, the list goes on and on…

Conclusion

The point I am making is that you want to turn the table and be different to other jobseekers. You don’t want to be pushy, if anything you should be pushed into an interview. Just like the dating game, the hard-to-gets seem to get lots of offers and can pick and choose. Avoid looking desperate, keep your high standards and dignity when looking for the next position and I am convinced you will fare better than ever.

via Desperate People Don’t get New Jobs, Try this Approach Instead.

Desperate People Don"t get New Jobs, Try this Approach Instead