Is a Standard Resume Enough to Get You an Interview Anymore?
Over the past few years, there has been a lot of talk about the death of, the traditional resume in the face of LinkedIn, Facebook, and various other social media platforms. But contrary to the hype, you will likely find that most -- if not all -- job openings still ask for candidates to apply by submitting their resumes. It's quite clear, then, that the resume isn't exactly dead. But...
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Maybe Employers Don't Actually Care Whether or Not You're Unemployed
At Recruiter.com, we've written pretty extensively about the discrimination that unemployed job seekers face. Heck, in my very early days with the company, I wrote a righteous screed all about how our fetish for passive candidates unfairly puts unemployed candidates at a disadvantage, and it's still one of my most popular articles. Problem is, new evidence is beginning to suggest that maybe...
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Top 5 Reasons Why HR Pros Disqualify Candidates
In a recent survey of HR professionals conducted by Beyond, HR pros revealed that it is harder to find qualified candidates today than it was six months ago. Is it harder to find candidates because it's now a candidate's market, or is it because employers are being too picky, disqualifying great candidates too early in the hiring process for committing forgivable mistakes? According to...
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4 Tips on Writing a Resume That Sells Your Skills
In today's talent market, your resume is no longer a simply summary of your work history or an exhaustive list of job duties. In order to be successful in your job hunt, you need to create a resume that utilizes career-marketing tactics to sell your skills and prove your value above competing job candidates. A resume that leads to better job opportunities must contain the right keywords,...
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5 Mistakes Employers Make When Onboarding New Hires
It is amazing to think that employers will on average spend roughly $3500 on a new hire, and yet only 32 percent of them have formal onboarding programs in place to properly engage and retain those very same new hires. The reality is that the majority of new hires are left to sink or swim on their own. When you really think about it, however, this isn't totally surprising. The talent...
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How to Warm Up Cold Networking Contacts
Today's question comes from a busy professional: When you've let your relationships with some of the people in your professional network go cold -- no contact for several months or more -- how do you get back in touch and rebuild those relationships? Whether you are in the corporate environment or own your own business, you know how important business networking is for your advancement and...
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How to Have a High-Flying Career While Only Working Part-Time
Current notions of what it takes to reach the top in the business world are still firmly based in visions of long days full of hard, punishing work. Americans are terrified to take vacation time for fear of falling behind in their careers. One study found that just 25 percent of workers are currently using all of their paid time off days. As if that weren't bad enough, 61 percent of...
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How to Make the Most Out of Your ATS: What You Need to Know
There are a lot of reasons you love your applicant tracking system (ATS). It makes things easier on your HR staff, it helps you find candidates from an array of sources, and it keeps the hiring process organized. But, if you're like many others -- that is, fighting to find the most talented candidates in today's competitive job market -- you may also have reason to hate your ATS. In Jibe's...
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6 Unlikely Places to Find Your Next Great Employee
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! This Week's Question: We all know about the major talent sources: job boards, social media, employee referral programs, etc., etc. But...
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'The Economy Will Always Destroy Jobs': Our Future in an IT-Driven World
While speaking with business futurist and author Robert Tercek, I come to realize that Google's self-driving cars are more than just neat examples of sci-fi tech made fact. They're actually, in a way, harbingers of the near future, physical encapsulations of what the whole economy is going to look like roughly a decade from now. "Today, we can say there are two kinds of companies:...
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The 5 Morning Rituals That Make Me Successful
The start of your morning sets the tone for the next 24 hours. As a businesswoman running several different companies at the same time, I've learned that mornings are a valuable opportunity to get things done before the workday officially begins. Maximize your abilities with these five morning rituals for a successful business day: 1. Wake Up at the Same Time Every Day We are creatures...
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It's All About Candidate Experience
Has hiring got you down? Are you struggling to find top talent in your field? Are you wondering why you lose great candidates to your competitors? If you're feeling the pains of recruiting, you may want to take a look at your candidate experience. Candidate experience has become a crucial driver of hiring success in recent times and a quantifiable metric that businesses are beginning to...
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Interview Questions You Should Ask Your Sales Applicants
Finding quality salespeople for your organization requires that you use the right interview questions to properly screen applicants. In order to build a strong sales team, employers need to be able to separate the candidates who will deliver on the job from those who won't. Although the unique responsibilities, challenges, and perks of a given sales role will depend largely on the industry...
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6 Cheats to Help You Rocket Up the Corporate Ladder
Although the goal of being a manager is not as popular as it once was, studies show that 34 percent of workers still aspiring to leadership positions. Even though the not-so-ambitious are bailing out of the corporate rat race in swarms, it hasn't exactly become much easier for the remaining workers to climb the organizational ladder. There still remain millions of workers all over the world...
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Who Should You Work With? A Guide for Independent Contractors
Yesterday, in an article about the benefits of hiring independent contractors, I copped to my particular bugbear regarding independent contractor situations: I believe they can easily lead to employee exploitation. Lisa Zeeveld, CFO of eaHELP, knows this sort of thing can happen -- which is why she and eaHELP make it their business to help their virtual assistants and other independent...
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Are Many of Today's Employers Getting Culture-Fit Hiring Wrong?
Hiring for cultural fit is a growing trend. Today's employers are no longer settle for employees with good technical skills; they want employees who also fit in with the social and cultural atmospheres of the business. A 2013 survey from Cubiks illustrates how important cultural fit has become in the hiring process: according to the survey, 82 percent percent of respondents think that...
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4 Ways Passive Candidates Can Attract Recruiters to Their LinkedIn Profiles
As more and more recruiters utilize social media platforms like LinkedIn to connect with candidates, job seekers find themselves in an interesting position. Nowadays, a dream interview opportunity can easily land right in your inbox with little effort on your part. If you're part of the 75 percent of the workforce considered "passive job seekers," it is important to always expect the...
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Millennials Are Transforming Recruiting as We Know It
As you know by now, I'm a millennial. My not-so-unique perspective has helped me to realize that my peers and I are straying further and further away from phone calls. The conundrum for me is that making and taking phone calls is a central part of my job as a recruiter. How will this shift in behavior impact the future of recruiting as my superiors have known it? We millennials prefer quick...
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Why Independent Contractors Are Good for Business
Allow me to editorialize for a bit: I was pretty bummed when the whole Zirtual debacle went down a couple of weeks ago. For starters, I have a few friends who worked as virtual assistants at the company, and it was upsetting to see them taking to social media, wondering aloud if anyone had any job opportunities for them. I was also, in a way, rooting for Zirtual. I've worked with Maren...
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Bring the Candidate's Voice into Your Hiring Process
Job seekers often realize very quickly that not all hiring processes in the job market are created equal. While the job search should be a time of optimism and excitement, it is often ruined by hiring processes that are not optimized for the job seeker's convenience. Some recruiters get the process totally right, some get part of it right, and others simply miss the mark altogether. Even...
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How to Create Content That Will Get You Hired
You've probably heard that, when it comes to the Internet, content is king. But what you probably didn't realize is that, by this same logic, creating content can be a major tool in your job search! What I'm talking about is producing original material related to the field in which you're trying to get a job and then using it to set yourself apart from the job-seeking competition. You...
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How to Neutralize Common Interviewer Objections and Close the Deal, Part 2
Yesterday, I outlined three common objections that candidates face in the interview process and offered some guidance on how to quell the interviewers' concerns. Today, I'll continue with three more interviewer objections and show you how to neutralize them all. 1. "We Are Concerned You Might Not Fit in With the Team" As cultural and personality fit become increasingly important...
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How Exercising Employees Builds Muscle Mass for Your Business
If, as you read this, you're slouched over in an office chair in front of a computer, with your head perched on your palm, then you're the rule, not the exception. This is how most of us spend our days at work now: seated. Unfortunately, sitting in a chair for eight hours a day is proving to be quite costly for our overall health. Evidence is starting to indicate that this seemingly...
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How to Neutralize Common Interviewer Objections and Close the Deal, Part 1
Every now and again in your career, you may deliver a perfect (or nearly perfect) interview performance, but things rarely work out this way. In all reality, you're more likely to rate a 7 on the interviewer's 10-point scale than you are to stick your landing flawlessly. In that situation, it means that you have done well, but the interviewer still has some lingering concerns that are...
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Do the Digital Job Search Right [Infographic]
In 2015, we find our jobs online. That's just how we roll in the employment market (for the most part, anyway; there are probably a few people out there who still do things the old-fashioned way, which you have to admit is a little impressive in its staunch commitment to tradition). The Internet has been an absolute boon for job seekers, giving people more access to more opportunities, more...
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3 Social Media Myths Made True by Video Interviewing
It's been almost a decade since social media hit its stride, and companies are still grappling with how to get the most out of this multi-faceted mode of communication. Now, another technology -- video interviewing -- is also hitting its stride. What happens when these two technologies collide in the employment market? Some interesting synergies, that's for sure. Some video...
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How a Comic Book Can Teach Kids About Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship may be all the rage among certain sets of society -- and I must confess that I often feel as if 90 percent of what I write is about "entrepreneurship" -- but some sources suggest that the youngsters aren't terribly into. To me, that isn't surprising. I don't think I knew what entrepreneurship actually was until I was maybe 18. (Full disclosure: I spent most of my life...
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How to Brand Yourself as a Thought Leader in 5 Easy Steps
Today's question comes from a busy professional: How do I personally brand myself as a thought leader in my field? 1. Put Yourself Out There The first steps is to simply put yourself out there. There are many opportunities to gain visibility. Offer to speak at professional organizations and conferences. Search the Internet for "calls for papers" and "calls for speakers" -- then...
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3 Smart Ways to Build Links That Won't Make You Look Spammy
You want to drive more traffic to your site, but you also don't want to your Web content to look spammy. Search engines like Google are striving hard to help searchers find what they're looking for by filtering out all the nonsense -- and if you and Google are on the same page, your SEO strategy will go much more smoothly. You can build inbound links with integrity and boost your Web...
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The 4 Least Productive Responses You Can Have When There's a Lot on Your Plate
The manager's dilemma is a phenomenon that affects roughly 80 percent of all managers. It is triggered when you fall into that precarious place where your demands and responsibilities increase, yet the resources you have available to meet them do not. The problem with this inverse equation is that, when the demands you face outpace the resources you have available to address them, you end up...
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You Probably Want to Change Careers — So Here's How to Do That
Recent Research from the University of Phoenix found that roughly 60 percent of all working adults -- and 73 percent of professionals in their 30s -- want to change careers. If you're thinking that's too many people to be a coincidence, you're probably right. "In the survey, we found that half of those who said they wanted to change careers had entered their careers just because their were...
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How to Build a LinkedIn Profile That Turns Heads
If you're like the vast majority of LinkedIn users, your profile is probably a dud. It's barely complete, reads like a robotic, generic resume, and has absolutely no spunk. According to an article from U.S. News World Report, 94 percent of recruiters are searching for candidates on LinkedIn. If they happen to stumble across your profile, will they chuckle and keep moving, or will...
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How to Streamline Your Recruiting Workflow
Recruiting can make or break your company's success. Finding the right employees means the difference between expansion and extinction, so it's crucial to follow a consistent hiring process. Not only does a repeatable workflow allow you to better identify ideal hires, but it also keeps recruiting efficient, organized, and measurable. Assess Your Current Process To get where you want to...
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Haven't Started Hiring for the Holidays Yet? You Should Get on That ASAP
Christmas is about four months away; Black Friday, three months. You have plenty of time before you need to worry about hiring seasonal employees to help out around the holidays, right? Not exactly. According to a new white paper from Adecco Staffing USA, "Starting early is absolutely critical ... Most businesses need to start the seasonal hiring process in July or August." A recovering...
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6 Innovative Ways to Attract Talent in a Tight Labor Market, Part 2
Talent shortages are the new normal in the corporate sphere, and many employers are learning to adjust to the reality of a scarce talent supply. While it's right that stressed employers not succumb to desperate hiring practices -- these can only lead to more bad hires and compound the problem -- it's also best that employers not become too accepting of talent scarcity and slow hiring...
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24 Top HR Executives Explain Why They Hire MBAs
Demand for graduate-level management talent has reached a new high, according to the results of a Graduate Management Admission Council study that surveyed corporate recruiters. The job prospects for MBAs in the U.S. are climbing: 84 percent of companies across the country plan to hire recent MBA graduates this year. The majority of employers that responded to the survey also intend on...
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The Restaurant Industry Is Failing Itself — and Millennial Employees
Appearances aren't everything, and this couldn't be any truer than it is in the restaurant industry. The smiling servers and amazing food belie the typically fractured workplace cultures and poor working conditions present in many restaurants. And as millennials begin to pour into the workforce, the high-stress approaches that may have driven growth in the restaurant business over the years now...
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How to Keep Your Turnover Rates Below 1 Percent
The average turnover rate for a healthcare organization in 2013 was 16.8 percent, and more recent reports suggest similar rates persist today. And then there's Aero Jet Medical, an air-ambulance transport company that has seen turnover rates of less than 1 percent for the past 10 years, according to CEO Danielle Wilson. Such a turnover rate is so low it's practically obscene, but Wilson,...
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6 Innovative Ways to Attract Talent in a Tight Labor Market, Part 1
For many employers, talent shortages have become the new normal. As a result, many of them have already adapted their hiring strategies in order to better thrive in a perpetually talent-starved climate. That being said, the fact is an employer can't afford to get too comfortable in these rapidly changing times. The talent shortage that we have all come to know and loathe has worsened,...
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New York Is Driving the Next Wave of Technology Innovation
The tech energy in New York is driving a new kind of startup culture that's unique to the city. Entrepreneurs are choosing the New York City ecosystem in droves because it meets their needs in ways that Silicon Valley, Chicago, Austin, and other emerging U.S. tech hubs cannot. When I first moved here five years ago, it was hard to get someone to move to New York for a tech position. The...
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8 Tips for Talking Money With Recruiters
There are two different types of recruiters: agency recruiters, who work for a staffing firm, and corporate recruiters, who work in house for a company. Agency recruiters work with a variety of clients, whereas in-house recruiters only recruit candidates for internal jobs at their companies. When working with either type of recruiter, it is not only okay, but incredibly important, to talk about...
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6 Ways to Revitalize a Toxic Workplace Culture, Part 2
Earlier this month, I shared some tips on how to repair your toxic workplace culture, in light of TINYpulse's findings that only 36 percent of workers felt their organizations' cultures were "strong." Today, I want to share three more strategies that can help you turn things around if you find that your workplace culture isn't as strong as it should be. 1. Neutralize the Blame...
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8 Tips for Dealing With Hostile Interviewers
Welcome to Recruiter QA, where we pose employment-related questions to the experts and share their answers! Have a question you'd like to ask? Leave it in the comments, and you might just see it in the next installment of Recruiter QA! This Week's Question: Whether the interviewer is purposely using "stress interview" tactics or is just not a pleasant person to deal with,...
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10 Audiobooks to Sharpen Your Business Skills
Looking for a book to help you boost your career? Sanjay Singhal, the entrepreneur behind Audiobooks.com, shares his top 10 picks with us. 1. Talk Like TED: The 9 Public Speaking Secrets of the World's Top Minds -- Carmine Gallo TED Talks are the new gold standard for compelling presentations. This book gives readers the inside scoop on what makes a great presentation, analyzing popular...
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How the New York Times Is Keeping Print Job Ads Relevant in 2015
Honestly, that's not a headline I ever expected to write. Amid the clamor of the champions of today's most tech-savvy recruiting tactics -- from programmatic ad-buying to growth hacker marketing and inbound recruiting -- I and plenty of others have long assumed that newspaper "help wanted" ads were pretty much dead. I wasn't surprised when the New York Times announced T Jobs. A...
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Job Search? It's Kinda Like Online Dating
You may not immediately see a connection between job searching and online dating, but the two have more in common than you know. For example, in both instances, you have to share details about yourself with strangers -- and you have to wonder if you really have an accurate representation of your new acquaintance. Online dating is largely considered "personal," while job searching online is...
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How Should You Handle an Employee Resigning at a Critical Time?
Today's question comes from a busy business owner: How would you handle an employee resigning during a critical time period? My client came to me desperately when an employee of his resigned last week with only one month notice. His resignation came very suddenly, and a little suspiciously: this employee had a lot of critical deliverables on his plate for the next two months. The...
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The Top 5 Skills Recruiters Need Right Now
One could convincingly argue that there has never been a more challenging time to be a recruiter than today. As multiple industries struggle with massive skills shortages, hiring managers and employers seem to be making increasingly unrealistic demands on the modern talent market. Caught right in the middle of this bleak scenario is the embattled recruiter, required to find the hiring...
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