by on May 8, 2012 Leave a Comment

How to Sell a Millennial With Your Job Description

It’s no secret that most job descriptions are awful. They make the hiring company sound boring and the work tedious.

This could be a real problem for employers when they try to hire Generation Y Millennials. While some managers and recruiters arefed up with the stereotypically whiny and self-entitled “Trophy Kids”, Generation Y is predicted to comprise nearly 75% of the world’s workforce by 2025, according to a study by the Business and Professional Women’s Foundation. Companies will eventually be fighting for the best of them, so start using the job description to court talented millennials.

Here are six ways employers can tweak job descriptions to attract Gen Y:

1. Tell them why they should want to work for you.

This is your company’s opportunity to make job seekers fall head over heels in love with you and the open position. Millennials don’t just want to crank out work and check off items on a to-do list. They want to love the company they work for, and hiring managers can use the job description to get them excited.

2. Tell them why the position matters.

Understanding how my job contributes to the organization is one of the biggest motivators for me and my Gen Y colleagues. Make sure the job descriptions describes where the position falls within the company, how the candidate could make an impact, and where it fits in the grand scheme of things.

3.  Talk about what the job could do for them.

Aside from a salary and benefits, how would they benefit from the position? What skills might they gain, what professional connections can they make, and why would this position make them more desirable candidates when they start looking for their next jobs?

4. Tell them about your creative benefits.

Does your company offer any extra, exciting benefits, like flexible work hours or gym membership reimbursement? Be sure to mention those creative perks (no matter how small) in your job description.

5. Tell them about your vision for the position.

While millennials may not envision working the same job for decades, it’s important that we work for a company where we could envision ourselves growing and contributing for several years. We want the job description to reflect that same sort of vision for the candidate who ultimately fills the position.

6. Tell your company story, quickly.

Your company has a story. Tell a brief version of that story within your job description to quickly convey your company’s mission and how it came to be as it pertains to the kind of applicant you’re looking for.

What do you think Gen Y talent want in a job description?

This is a guest blog post by Jennifer King of Software Advice. Jennifer King is an HR Analyst for Software Advice, an online resource that compares and reviews human resources software. Read her full post on her HR blog: http://blog.softwareadvice.com
by on May 1, 2012 Leave a Comment

Google Plus for HR Managers – The Introduction

The rise of the internet and social media has brought a whole new set of challenges for employers looking to recruit the brightest and best talent. Thankfully it has also provided some powerful solutions. Traditional methods of recruitment are no longer enough in a web-based world where change happens at lightning speed and talented people are able to choose from a global pool of opportunities. To compete for the best, recruiters need to think creatively, and to go where the talent is. These days that means the social media.

Google Plus

One of the newer entrants in this field is Google Plus, which has attracted 170 million sign-ups since its launch in June last year. Although analysts estimate that the actual number of active users is closer to 90 million, the network has still shown phenomenal growth and some predict it will have 400 million users by the end of this year. That, plus the unique set of recruitment-friendly features it offers, makes Google Plus a very useful tool for those looking to find and recruit talented staff.

Circles and Video

What makes Google+ interesting for recruiters are features such as circles, which allows users to organise contacts into specific groups which they can communicate and interact with, and hangouts, a video conferencing facility in which up to ten people can participate. It also has a search facility that enables users to search for people by profession, and there are third-party sites such as findpeopleonplus.com which allow the search to be refined to include parameters such as location.

Once identified, candidates can be added to a circle to receive details of the job and the company. They can be directed to the company page to learn more about what it does and why they would want to work for it. And once the employer has found the talent they need, interviews or requests for more information can be carried out via the hangout feature. These are powerful tools for recruiters and will become more so as the Google+ user base grows. This is one social phenomenon that no recruiter can afford to ignore.

by on March 23, 2012 Leave a Comment

JobPage is moving… to Google Campus

Google Campus London logoThe JobPage team are really excited to be moving to our new HQ next week in the shiny new Google Campus London building. JobPage is currently based in TechHub, just off the Silicon Roundabout, but on Tuesday nearly everyone in TechHub is moving about 5 minutes down the road to Google Campus on Bonhill Street. TechHub, along with Seedcamp and Central Working are all moving in to create one of the most exciting startup hubs this side of the Atlantic. The invite-only launch party was with lots of Google style fun going on, including the launch of the ‘Google Rocket’ – the first actual rocket launch from the heart of Silicon Roundabout! Take a look at some of the photos I captured from the launch event, including the rocket launch! Google Campus London gallery

by on March 13, 2012 Leave a Comment

4 Reasons Your Startup or Small Business Needs a Better Job Applicant Tracking System

Starting your own business gives you the opportunity to hire the best people right from the beginning. Your early employees will help you get your business off the ground and set a precedent for the way you plan to manage your business in the future.

For your business to succeed you need the right team behind you. But, where and how do you find quality people to help get you up and running?

We have just published an article on Mashable discussing this particular challenge, plus the four key reasons on why it’s important to choose the best applicant tracking system to help you do this. Using the right applicant tracking system (ATS)  will help your startup or small business grow as quickly as you need it to, leaving you to focus on the rest of your business.

If you’re already using an applicant tracking system, or considering using one in your company, ask yourself:

  1. Is your ATS Intelligent Enough to Help Find Candidates ?
  2. Does your ATS Screening and Filtering Tools Make the Process Much Easier ?
  3. How much time and money does your ATS save you?
  4.  Do you have access to your own database of pre-screened candidates?

If you want to read more, head over to Mashable to read the full article > >

by on February 16, 2012 Leave a Comment

Nearly half of over 30′s wish they had followed their childhood ambitions

Monster Survey 2011 of job huntersIt’s never to late to follow your dream. Really, trust me.

Is it better to wake up each morning wishing that you had done something different with your life, or to wake up each morning knowing that you’re on your way to achieving your dream?

A recent survey of over 2,000 job searchers on the Monster.co.uk website revealed that 42% of respondents over 30 wish they had followed their childhood ambitions. Stop thinking like that right now and take action! It’s never too late.

Each day that goes by and you take no action takes you one step further away from your dream. Living life with regrets is a sad fact, and something that ONLY YOU can change.

Latest UK government statistics suggest that employment numbers are not looking particularly great – so there’s no point waiting for something magical to happen. Believe in yourself and take one small step towards achieving your dream.

Here are some simple steps to get you moving

  1. Don’t wait until your situation is perfect.
    There is a never a good or bad time to do this. Just understand the risks involved.
  2. Don’t wait until other people agree with you.
    You have to be the judge.
  3. Don’t wait until you are perfect at what you do.
    Nobody is perfect. Realise this fact and move on. Just try your best, that’s all you can do.

I’d love hear from you if you are are following your dreams, and how you made your first step towards achieving them.

 

by on February 5, 2012 Leave a Comment

JobPage is buzzing – recent mentions in the press

The buzz around JobPage is growing and we’re starting to get a lot more mentions, interview requests and product reviews – including the national press! It feels great that more and more people are starting to recognise the power of JobPage as a social recruiting tool and applicant tracking system.

You can track all of places that we’re being mentioned on our Buzz page, plus here’s a summary of some of the most recent chatter about JobPage

Guardian Newspaper TechCrunch The Times  Recruiter Magazine  Wall Street Journal The ExpressSHRM AppVita

 

by on January 22, 2012 1 Comment

The HR Manager’s Guide to Social Recruiting

The aim of this guide is to help HR managers like you to understand precisely what social recruiting is, how it works and why you need to be embracing it.

We hope to include all the facts you need to convince you that social is the future and give you enough ammo to take to your line manager to get social recruiting signed off for your department.

What is Social Recruiting? 

Social recruiting is the use of social media platforms like LinkedIn and Facebook as a recruitment marketing channel. It is a relatively new concept but it is growing in popularity fast with 89% of companies using some form of social recruiting in 2011 according to CareerEnlightenment.com.

Social recruiting is actually more than just using social media websites to promote a job vacancy. In practice, it falls into two distinct areas; vacancy promotion and candidate discovery.

Vacancy promotion and Job Posting, as it sounds, is the use of social media platforms to advertise job listings and otherwise engage and attract prospective candidates.

Candidate discovery on the other hand is a natural development and involves the HR manager or recruiter using social media profiles and other readily accessible online data to build a picture about a candidate and better understand their suitability for the position. JobPage.com is the leading the way on this front (even if we do say so ourselves!) with our proprietary candidate discovery engine which puts a wealth of information about the individual at your fingertips without having to leave the JobPage interface.

Some interesting facts about recruitment and social networks

  • 14.4million in 2011 used social media to find their last job
  • 65% of companies in the US have hired successfully using social media
  • 55% of companies plan to invest more in social recruiting

Source: Mashable

Why you need to be ‘doing’ social media 

Social recruiting takes the art of recruitment back to its grassroots of networking but in a very modern way. Don’t underestimate social recruiting however because it is much more than a fad, social has changed the face of recruiting and it is here to stay.

There are a number of reasons you should be recruiting using social media and here are a couple of the most important benefits:

  • Greatly reduce the cost of recruitment – a key reason many HR manager opt for social recruiting is that it greatly reduces the financial cost of recruitment. Hiring an agency or even a recruitment consultant is an expensive business with large retainers and success fees and frequent reality. Social recruiting greatly reduces the expense of recruitment without compromising on the quality of the candidate. In many cases, all that is required is the moderate cost of advertising your job vacancy or the inexpensive subscription charge for an all-in-one social recruiting solution like JobPage.
  • Source a higher quality of candidate – in many cases not only does social recruiting not compromise on the quality of the candidate but it actually enhances the number of talented, qualified and suitable individuals applying for your job. Social media has become an integral part of many industries and as such, the savviest individuals in the job market are ensuring they are present and promoting their skills on places like Facebook and LinkedIn. Hundreds of thousands if not millions of talented individuals find and apply for positions via social media every year, make sure your vacancy is the one that they see.
  • Huge efficiency benefits – there is no escaping the fact that traditional recruitment can take a lot of time and is in reality quite a lethargic process with lots of waiting around for job adverts to get published, CVs to come in, candidates to get interviewed, recruitment consultants to call you back. Social recruiting on the other hand will save you oodles of time and will almost certainly boost your hiring productivity. In many cases everything happens almost instantaneously with job adverts going live in hours, CVs getting uploaded in minutes and no waiting on calls from consultants – you could find the right talent and have them start next week, it really is that fast.

Getting started with social recruiting

Getting started with social recruiting can seem a little bewildering so here are some great resources to set you off down the right path:

Want an easy option for ‘doing’ social recruiting? – Use JobPage!

JobPage.com makes the whole process really straightforward so if you are considering a foray into social recruiting then give us a shout and we’ll help you get setup. To help get you started we offer all customers a handy 7 day free trial. Sign up to JobPage now! 

by on January 16, 2012 1 Comment

JobPage shortlisted for ‘The Technical Innovation Award’

We are proud to announce that JobPage has been shortlisted for ‘The Technical Innovation Award’ at the 2012 Onrec Online Recruitment Awards.

Online Recruitment Awards - JobPage shortlisted for technical innovation award

The Onrec awards celebrate the success, growth, innovation, talent and achievements within the recruitment industry. It’s great to be recognised by our peers as delivering a truly innovative recruiting platform. We’re up against some really tough competition, so fingers cross let’s see what happens ;)

by on December 12, 2011 3 Comments

8 hiring mistakes you are probably making

A Chess piece.

Hiring is like chess – it takes a moment to learn but a lifetime to master.

Much like a game of chess, you can make the right noises and things might even look as though they are going well for a while but invariably, if your opponent has been playing to a strategy, they’ll come out on top.

You’ll likely be making a couple of the right hiring moves but you might also be making a couple of these common mistakes which could be really hampering your hiring success.

Here are the 8 most common mistakes I see…

  1. You’ve not done the job you’re hiring for yourself
  2. You’re worrying that the person doesn’t have all the skills
  3. You are hiring to get bigger rather than better
  4. You’re expecting too much of people
  5. You’re hiring based on number of years’ experience rather than quality of experience
  6. You’re hiring people who are way too focused on your industry
  7. You’re hiring an experienced subject matter expert to be a manager
  8. You’re placing too much emphasis on the CV

#1 – You’ve not done the job you’re hiring for yourself

This goes beyond the business owner’s code that you shouldn’t ask someone to do a job you wouldn’t do yourself – this is about not being qualified to hire someone for a position that you haven’t turned your hand to at least once.

Doing the job yourself gives you a better idea of what’s involved day to day which means you have a clearer picture of the skills required and therefore the type of person suited to the role.

According to Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson, founders of 37Signals, doing a job yourself will make you a better manager because you’ll understand the daily challenges so you will know “when to criticise and when to support”. Jason and David, before they hired a system administrator, both spent a whole month setting up servers!

#2 – You’re worrying that the person doesn’t have all the skills

When you’ve designed your person specification, it is very likely you’ve outlined key competencies and skills – in fact most people overlook the crucially important personality factors such as their attitude and mindset.

Of course the person should have a general aptitude and be willing to learn (this is what your training programme is for) but if they aren’t a good cultural fit within your business then you are both going to get frustrated.

Most businesses are very people driven which means finding the right recruits to come aboard with your company is much more complex than grading the individual against a set of ‘skills’ you’ve deemed necessary.

Training people is one of the key ways you can differentiate yourself to both clients and potential recruits. Clients will love that your people are unique to other businesses and recruits will love that you invest in developing your people.

#3 – You are hiring to get bigger rather than better

This mistake comes down to our innate belief as humans than more is better. Small businesses can very often produce stellar products and services that other much larger organisations can’t match.

Adding to your headcount is only a good idea if it means the business is going to get better – if you’re hiring through ego, because of a power-trip or because you think more people will mean you’ll be able to get more clients then don’t.

Bringing on-board more people, even if they are talented, may just spell the end of your business. Not only might the extra couple of salaries bleed the coffers dry but potentially you could starve the talent of anything worthwhile to do which means they’ll become de-motivated and low morale spreads like woodworm.

#4 – You’re expecting too much of people

There is this fallacy that you should always hire people who are better than you but this isn’t always the case. If you’re a perfectionist (as I am) you’ll quickly find that there are very few people out there who care as much as you do about your baby. Yes they’ll work hard, offer their most creative ideas and generally do their best but it’s very difficult to find someone who is actually better than you are at the business you are in. After all, that’s your name above the shop – there’s probably a reason for that!

#5 – You’re hiring based on number of years’ experience rather than quality of experience

Continuing on the belief that more = better it is assumed that the older a person, the wiser they are. The longer the person has been in an industry the more of an expert they must be.

Young, fresh, innovative, talented individuals may have only been ‘working professionally in their field’ for 6 months or 2 years – but they could potentially bring a heck of a lot more to the position you are advertising.  Don’t convince yourself that you need someone with 4+ years industry experience.

#6 – You’re hiring people who are way too focused on your industry

Hiring someone who is focused on your industry may not sound like a bad thing however hiring someone who is too focused on an industry can be a very bad thing indeed.

Advertising legend David Ogilvy argued that you should hire people who have ‘exceptional curiosity about every subject under the sun’ –this might not always be possible, however his sentiment, I think, hits the nail on the head.

We all need to be hiring individuals who show they are human not industry-driven robots who immerse themselves solely in one industry. This leads to small mindedness and a lack of innovation whereas we ought to be seeking individuals who are curious about other areas of life, work and the universe – some cross-pollination can be a very good thing indeed.

#7 – You’re hiring an experienced subject matter expert to be a manager

Possessing a particular skill doesn’t necessarily mean an individual has the attributes required to manage a project or lead a team.

Richard Branson believes that if somebody can run one business, they can run any business. This comes down to management being a skill set in its own right – being an expert doesn’t necessarily make someone qualified to run a business or lead a team. Think about how many small consultancies and freelancers don’t last a year in self-employment.

Small teams can’t necessarily afford to hire someone who is solely a manager rather than a doer but even if the person you are hiring is going to have some people or business management responsibilities then you should ensure this is considered in the hiring process.

#8 – You’re placing too much emphasis on the CV

One of the miracles of social media and the online world in general is that you have a plethora of information at your fingertips which will likely tell you more than any CV ever can.

Maybe we’re not ready to hire people based on their Klout score alone just yet  but I know of companies who have hired individuals based on their standing in a well -respected online industry community!

JobPage’s candidate discovery engine makes this process really easy because it automatically pulls together all the social stats on any applicant which means you can see at a glance if they are as active online as they say they are.

As someone who is heavily involved with the UK and US employment scene, I’ve seen many companies making the same mistakes time and time again. I’m really excited to be sharing these tips with you – and I’d love you to avoid making the same mistakes that I have made along the way :)

If you have your own tips to share, please leave a comment – I look forwards to hearing from you!

And don’t forget – put your hiring on the right track and start using JobPage to get the right talent on board with your business.

by on December 2, 2011 Leave a Comment

7 Tech companies hiring in London this December

Tech Companies hiring in London – December 2011

Now that Silicon Milkroundabout is behind us, we still have time before Christmas to highlight some cracking jobs available right now. Via our sister website, Tech City Jobs, here are some of the hottest jobs:

Senior Algorithm and Database developer
ColourDNA are looking for a bright, experienced, hands-on individual who can become part of the team to help take colourDNA to the next level.

Systems Administrator – LAMP stack
Brave New Talent are looking for a Systems Architect – someone who can design, implement, configure and maintain the our systems infrastructure to ensure stability for development & production, capacity for rapid scale, capability to handle ‘big data’ and high availability with 24/7 up time.

Front End Developer
Vyclone are looking for a super smart front end developer with strong programming skills and an eye for the creative. You will absolutely relish the prospect of being part of a small team as well as have an ability to work independently when needed.

QA / Test Lead – Selenium
Brave New Talent are also looking for someone who can design, implement and refine our software development procedures, building quality into that process, as well as functioning as gate keep to the release manager. A highly responsible position, it is ideally suited to an ex programmer who has exceptional knowledge of the software development / release management process and is pedantic about best practice.

Customer Success Manager
Yammer are looking for a trusted advisor and coach, the customer success manager determines how Yammer’s product can be effectively applied to support achievement of a company’s strategic business goals.

TechHub London Events Manager
TechHub are looking for someone with solid events experience, who wants to take it to the next level and grow with TechHub. If you’re successful, speedy advancement is definitely an option – you could end up overseeing all UK events for TechHub, or getting involved in international TechHubs and ending up as global events director or setting up and managing a TechHub in another city.

Front-End Developers (gaming)
We R Interactive are looking for someone who has experience programming in at least one object oriented language and be able to demonstrate the ability and willingness to learn other interpreted languages.

Marketing Communications Director
Yammer are also looking for a Director of MarCom for the EMEA region, a strategic role within a fast growing company. We’re looking for a seasoned communications professional to help position the company, evaluate events and maintain strong relationships with press and analysts.

Junior Technical Product Manager
Mind Candy looking for a talented Junior Product Manager with a technical background to help Mind Candy to deliver a portfolio of Products and Services to further Mind Candy’s massive growth. The Product Manager will work with internal, offshore and third party suppliers to take projects through from inception to delivery. Mind Candy is currently developing two further online titles which will require extensive integration to increase user involvement and cross-fertilisation.

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