Here’s a fun little video we put together for this time of the year.

Gotta love our hiring managers!

Link to Video on YouTube: Recruiter, Fill My Req!

I recently helped Dice interpret the results of a 300-tech candidate survey they completed around the HR black hole.  No surprise, a lot of savvy candidates are finding ways to avoid HR to get their resume directly into the hands of hiring managers.  Social media and the web have made this 100 times easier.

Some companies – like Microsoft – are making great strides towards a world where candidates can connect directly with recruiters.  (They make contact with recruiters easy on sites like this: Microsoft Careers).  And a whole bunch of other companies are taking candidate experience seriously…there are even awards now, that specifically recognize the great work taking place by recruiting leaders in our industry (The Candidate Experience Award Winners 2011).  And, as a judge and the conference awards panel host for the ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards, I regularly see candidate experience as a major focus for award winners.

Our team recently started a process improvement project that’s 100% focused on candidate experience.  We’re auditing the North American recruiting process for a 20,000+ employee company, with a focus on job posting and social media presence, career site ease of use and click-apply conversion, ATS auto-replies, recruiter communication and expectation setting, and the interviewing and offer process.  More and more companies are looking at their internal and external processes to see what kind of impact – if any – it’s having on their employer brand, their sourcing effectiveness (drop-offs and conversion), and other key metrics (speed, quality, cost, diversity, compliance).

Have you audited your candidate experience (or at least surveyed recent hires)?  If so, what did you learn?

Want some ideas?  Here are 5 basic things you can do now to plug the HR Black Hole: Dice White Paper

Are recruiters rejecting candidates because of what they post online? According to this survey of 300 recruiters (infographic above), the answer is yes.

This didn’t surprise me. What did surprise me was how many – 69% – admitted to rejecting a candidate because of what they found. I think it’s been an unspoken, and even frowned upon, practice for a recruiter to look for evidence of inappropriate photos, drinking, drugs, and other non-work related information as part of the screening process.

We invited Les Rosen, an attorney from background check company, ESR, to speak to a group of recruiters here in Seattle about legal risks associated with making hiring decisions based on what you find on social media sites. What I recall most from that session was the risk of mistaken identity and the opportunity to discriminate based on a protected class status.

• How does a recruiter know that what he finds on a social media site was truly published by this person?
• What if the candidate has a very common name, like Jane Smith? How does a recruiter know that he found the right Jane Smith?
• What if the account is shared by multiple people? How does he know who wrote what?
• What if their account was hacked?
• What if the candidate posted something sarcastic on a site they thought was only accessible by their close friends, but Facebook changed the privacy settings and/or user error led to that comment being more public than what they intended?
• What if a recruiter learns a candidate’s age, race, religious background, national origin, sexual preference, marital status or something else that’s protected (presence of a disability)? How does his employer prove they/he didn’t take that into consideration when making a hiring decision?

Don’t get me wrong. Candidates can sabotage their chances of landing a good job by employing poor judgment online, and perhaps it’s well deserved. But I wonder whether employers are aware that – according to this survey – recruiter use of this source to reject candidates is so high? And if so, how they’re thinking about the risks associated with using this information to make hiring decisions.

As candidates and employees sue employers – and recruiters?! – over the coming years, we’ll have more and more case law to dictate what can and can’t be used. Until then, it’s a risk – for employers and candidates.

What are your thoughts? If this information should be used, how should it be used?

Recruiting Toolbox, Inc. is pleased to welcome Greg Stock to the team as Senior Consultant, based in Silicon Valley.

Greg Stock will draw on almost 15 years of recruiting experience to help Recruiting Toolbox clients identify and implement effective recruiting strategies, processes, systems, tools, and training.  He’s successfully led global sourcing, assessment, technology, and process improvement initiatives for companies like Cisco and KLA Tencor, which allows him to bring a real-world, practitioner focus to his consulting projects.

“I really enjoy helping recruiting teams deliver on aggressive goals – whether it’s through better sourcing, improved efficiency, practical tools, or custom training,” says Stock.  “As part of the Recruiting Toolbox team, we can help companies better compete for talent in the short term, as well as help them with key initiatives that will set them up for long term recruiting success.”

John Vlastelica, Founder and Managing Director, adds, “We’ve been helping companies recruit better since 2002.  With Greg’s  expertise, we’ll bring our clients even more value, with a stronger presence in the ultra-competitive Silicon Valley marketplace.  Greg is a fantastic addition to our team.  I first met him 2 years ago when he was receiving an ERE Recruiting Excellence Award for some of his team’s work at Cisco, and know that he’ll continue to deliver award-worthy work for our clients.”

Learn More:

• Greg Stock’s Bio: http://www.linkedin.com/in/gregstock

• How we help companies recruit better:  http://www.recruitingtoolbox.com

About Recruiting Toolbox, Inc.
Recruiting Toolbox is a recruitment management consulting and training company.  Our experienced consultants and trainers (all former corporate recruiting leaders) are 100% focused on helping companies recruit better.  We’re not a search firm or contract recruiters.  Instead, we help companies with recruiting and branding strategy, process improvement, systems selection and implementation, tool development and deployment, and custom-built recruiter and hiring manager training.  Our work is leveraged by companies around the world, including Nike, Groupon, World Bank, Expedia, Eddie Bauer, Zumiez, REI, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Google, Concur, Salesforce.com, Etsy.com, Corbis, Cargill, M&M Mars, Philips Electronics, T-Mobile, Coldwell Banker, Sungard, and Talisman Energy. Learn more at:  www.RecruitingToolbox.com or contact us at info@recruitingtoolbox.com.

I’m really excited about our lineup for our 7th Annual SHRM/SMA Staffing Management Association conference.  I’ll be MC again this year, and I must say, we have one of the best lineups of speakers we’ve ever had…very high “value density” (to quote my colleague, Jason Warner).

• Kevin Wheeler will kick us off with a look at key trends that everyone who cares about talent acquisition needs to think about.
• We’ll then have breakout sessions – unplugged mostly, no powerpoints, more interactive panels – with local and national experts.
  • Learn about Search Engine Optimization from non-HR industry gurus – it’s changing the game for marketers…and recruiting, too
  • Attend a basic or advanced sourcing best practices panel…practical, how-to sourcing tactics to help you attract and find top talent
  • Hear non-HR executives from leading companies talk about how they drive and lead recruitment and create a culture of recruiting
  • Hear how smaller-budget companies are competing – and winning- for top talent
• John Sullivan will wrap up our conference with something edgy – and if we’re lucky – maybe even overly aggressive ideas and practices – stuff to get us thinking

The event is in Bellevue, Washington on Nov 9.  It’s a packed day, with a ton of actionable takeaways.  Our speakers and panelists have worked inside companies like Zynga, Expedia, Redbox, Marchex, SEOmoz, MediaPiston, Swedish Medical, Microsoft, Google, and Gates Foundation.

I hope you can join us.  You can register online at:

http://www.smaseattle.org/events/event_details.asp?id=177889

The cost is much cheaper than other conferences – $249 for SMA members, $279 if you belong to SHRM, and $299 for all others.

Please let me know if you plan to attend!  Would be great to see you there…

Most of us in the recruiting world have seen earlier versions of this video before.  It’s been updated recently with new – but still impressive – stats that demonstrate things we know to be true now:

• Young folks don’t really use email
• Facebook is enormous
• A new person joins LinkedIn every second, and
• The amount of virtual goods purchased online (via social gaming companies like Zynga) is exploding.

7th Annual ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards

I was honored to lead the panel discussion with the ERE Recruiting Excellence Award Finalists again this year down at the 2011 Spring ERE event.  20 judges evaluated applications that came in from around the world, across 8 categories.  We had fantastic applicants this year.

Who are these companies?
Want to learn more about the finalists, winners and and what makes them great?  Check out these ERE.net posts by Todd Raphael: Finalist Writeups and Award Winners

Award Winners
A big congratulations to the award winners, including Deloitte (Best College Program), AT&T (Best Career Site), Accenture (Best Employee Referral Program), Adidas (Best Employer Brand), Cisco (Best Retention Program), Naval Sea Systems Command (Best Military Program), Informatica (Most Strategic Use of Technology), and CACI (Best Recruiting Function of the Year).

So they won an award.  What did they actually do to win? (Link to Video)
What makes this session great is that audience members get to ask questions of panelists to learn not just WHAT they did, but HOW they did it.  As I said (with a big sarcastic smile) to the audience when I kicked off this session, “Please ask great questions.  If this session sucks, it’s because of you.”  So, would you like to learn more about what makes these finalists and award winners worthy of this kind of industry recognition?  ERE captured the live 90 minute Q&A session for your viewing pleasure: ERE.net

Watch ERE.net this Fall for information on how your organization can apply for the 2012 Recruiting Excellence Awards.

It’s fairly late; I’ve just returned to my hotel room, having just spent the last few hours socializing with ERE Expo attendees, vendors and organizers.

My favorite part of any conference is the socializing part.  In fact, I strongly believe that the real value in attending live events is the opportunity to get to know people.  While this year’s program promises to be stellar, I would happily trade the PowerPoint slides for an hour or two with colleagues (and a glass or two of wine).

Our little crowd spent the better part of the evening discussion entrepreneurialism, politics, economics, religion, relationships, and social issues.  We shared political views, passions, and family histories.  We even talked about recruiting.  At the end of the evening, I felt fortunate to work in an industry of smart, committed people who approach recruiting with a variety of world views.

I will be thinking about this conversation next week, when I co-present, along with Jennifer McClure, a Recruiting Trends Webinar:.  Making Social Media Work in Recruiting.

I believe that social media provides a starting point, a platform , a medium to reach out, to find, to discover, to listen and to share.  I know that to make social media work for recruiting, we must figure out how to harness the value of socialization on a big scale.  How can we quantify the value of a conversation?  How and when do we engage potential candidates by having a conversation with them?  And how do we turn all of this socialization into actual hires?

Many recruiting organizations are skeptical of the value of integrating socialization into the recruiting process.  Success stories are trickling in; hires have been made, but few reports of large scales success.  I am hoping to discover more success stories throughout the conference, by attending the conference sessions and by great having conversations with my colleagues.

Recruiting Toolbox, Inc. is pleased to welcome Carmen Hudson to the team as Engagement Manager – Sourcing and Social Media Strategy.

Carmen will draw on over 15 years of recruiting experience to help Recruiting Toolbox clients identify and implement effective candidate sourcing, engagement, and social media strategies and training.  Carmen has led key sourcing and technology/media initiatives and teams for companies like Yahoo, Amazon.com, and Starbucks, and brings a real-world, practitioner focus to helping clients.

“There’s so much buzz about sourcing and social media right now,” says Hudson. “We go beyond the hype to implement real-world, customized solutions that produce measurable results for our client’s resource model, their budget, and their culture.”

John Vlastelica, Founder and Managing Director, adds, “We’ve been helping clients build sourcing strategies since 2002.  With Carmen’s expertise, we’ll bring our clients even more value, with a deeper focus on employer branding, micro career site development, sourcing and social media training, SEO and pay per click strategies, and sourcing tool evaluation and deployment.”

Learn More:

• Carmen Hudson’s Bio
• One Page Overviews of Recruiting Toolbox’s Sourcing/Social Media Consulting and Training Services and our Custom Micro Career Site Development

About Recruiting Toolbox, Inc.
Recruiting Toolbox is a leading recruitment management consulting and training company based near Seattle, Washington.  Recruiting Toolbox’s experienced consultants and trainers (all former corporate recruiting leaders) are 100% focused on helping organizations improve their internal ability to recruit better.  Clients have included organizations across all industry sectors, such as the International Monetary Fund, Nike, T-Mobile, Amazon.com, Safeco Insurance, Coldwell Banker, Google, Salesforce.com, Expedia, Kindercare, Zumiez, Eddie Bauer, and Philips Electronics.  Learn more at:  www.RecruitingToolbox.com