Sourcers Seminar - Cartoon Strip

Cartoon Strip - Need an Early Joiner

Sourcer / E recruiter Assessment- Hiring Freshers

Recently a question was tossed to me about qualities that you would look for in a fresher, while hiring for a sourcer  or e recruiter position.
While hiring freshers for E recruiters or internet search assignments, we have followed a standard process
1) Internet sourcing round: The applicant is given 5 tasks all centered on finding information on the net in a fixed period of time. He is rated on the search string quality, and approach while finding candidates. Finding the answers is secondary.
2) Job spec round: The applicant is given a job description and time to review and ask questions. He is then given a set of 5 CV’s, to match against the job with an explanation. He is rated on his ablity to understand the requirement, willingness to ask questions and application of logic in matching the CV’s to the job description.
3) Personal round: The applicant, who clears the above two rounds, is then taken through a Personal interview, with the manager/HR to check for the behavioral fitment,

Looking at the people that have been selected and performed well, I have come to believe that following characteristics should be looked at while interviewing a fresher for a sourcers position
1) Comprehension skills: Helps them skim through the vast pool of information quickly. Sourcers with good comprehension, screen faster than others.
2) Attention to detail: Helps them to screen candidates better. It also helps them to use the search results in modifying their search more effectively.
3) Perseverance: These are your passive sourcers. They won’t give up easily
4) Listening skills: High on these skills and you have someone who will learn faster. Generally will have better comprehension too.
5) Problem solving ability: While searching, there will always be a roadblock, round the corner. All the good sourcers, I have seen, have been good at problem solving
6) Analytical ability: Freshers, that are low on the analytical skill, are not comfortable with booleon logic, and take time to get over this hurdle
7) Adaptability: to be honest, have had mixed opinion on this skill. One of my favorites, but have had sourcers, who are excellent at one geography/sourcing channel, but not good at others.
8) Willingness to question and learn: Its all about being open to learning. With the speed with which the landscape of sourcing is changing, this is absolutely critical.

Can you add more…….

Links

Beliefs of a passive candidate sourcer  

Redefining the Passive recruiter / sourcer

10 Myths - Passive candidate sourcing

Move your Jobs to Facebook

Imagine, candidates and employees advertising your jobs to their friends and network at one click. With Facebook, the word of mouth just got stronger.

Many companies have now started using Facebook as a medium for attracting candidates. Following are a few methods of putting your jobs on Facebook.

1)      Like button plugin on your career site:

The Like button lets a candidate or employee share your job with friends on Facebook. When the candidate clicks the Like button on your site, a story appears in the user's friends' News Feed with a link back to your career site.

This will not only make your job more visible to the relevant group of candidates, but also increase the volume on your career site

2)      Facebook Page:

This will allow you to mirror your career site jobs on Facebook and provide the candidates with a single page for open jobs.

3)      Like box plugin on your career site:

The Like Box is a social plugin that enables your candidates / visitors to your website, to like your Facebook Company Page directly from your website.

You will also be able to check the candidates, who visited your page and display recent posts from your page.

4)      Registration plugin:

If you have a career site, and want users to create a new account with ease, the Registration plugin could be of tremendous help. When logged into Facebook, users see a form that is pre-filled with their Facebook information where appropriate

This allows the candidates to easily sign up for your career site with their Facebook account.  Also, Liking and Sharing jobs using the Like button / box from your website will need a facebook login. Ease of sharing should translate to more jobs being broadcasted.

5)      Referral applications:

There are a lot of referral applications like hireplug, jobtonic etc which will provide a platform for posting and viewing jobs and make referrals with the chance of being rewarded

With a concentrated pool of candidates interested in referring, it is an ideal method, if you are willing to pay.

6)      Facebook Advertisements:

Facebook Ads allow you to easily advertise a destination on Facebook such as a Page, Event, Application or Group, or your own website

You can use it to advertise walkins, careersite, an online event, specific jobs, or your facebook page. They will attract people, which your network may not be able to reach.

Related links

Like Button

Like Box

Registration

Facebook ads

Searching candidates on Facebook – Find your friend

Linkedin Employee Referral engine- an ethical issue?

Social Media Optimisation in recruitment- Employee referrals

Indian Recruiters Day - 9 march

Yesterday was Womans day...
                       Today is Indian Reruiters Day!!!

 Thanks to ERA (Executive Recruiters Association), March 9 has been designated as special for recruiters. A day when you can reflect, the service or otherwise:) done by the recruitment community as a whole.

You can call it mutual admiration, but felt good:)

Small excerpt from Manya Advani's Facebook page..

Stay away from these horror movies

Tadapta Client * Recruiter ki Maut * Katil Manager * Shaitani Recruitement * Backout ka khauf * Sadma Target ka * Pyasa Employer*Chudel ka interview"*Daravni Drives"* "wicked weekends*


Feel good... and have a Happy Recruiters Day.!!!!

Links
ERA
Manya Advani 
Happy Womans Day

10 Myths – Passive candidate sourcing

Guess, you already know about them, recruiters weigh them in gold, hiring managers love them, they are difficult to find and they don’t change jobs easily… this is how generally “Passive candidates will be described. Love to be one
Lets try and unravel some myths about approaching these species
Myth 1: Don’t Sell the Job - They are picky, they are sensitive! You may end up offending them by selling the job
The more passive the candidate, the more selling is required. Bland Job adverts or unenthusiastic pitch is never going to land you a passive candidate. If you just brag about the job and its benefit, the likelihood of you convincing the candidate is quite low. The key to selling a job to a passive candidate is to find out one reason, for which he will change the job.
Myth 2: Passive Candidates are not looking out – They are happy with their current job and are not looking for a change.
Just check how any on Linkedin, don’t check “interested in job opportunities”. They are always looking out
There is never a perfect situation. Some irritant in the job will always be there. They may not be interested in moving out for a reason. Find the reason and irritant. You might find the irritant is more important than the reason not to move for some.
Myth 3: Your Call is going to irritate most Passive candidates
Being wanted is flattering!! Yes, they may not be expecting your call and may be taken aback, they may be busy and you may have intruded at the wrong time. If approached professionally, no passive candidate will get irritated. Give them time to get comfortable and don’t forget to follow up.
Myth 4: A “NO is the end of the conversation
The likelihood of the passive candidate saying not interested is higher than the active candidate. I have seen a lot of times, this NO is just a natural response to not being prepared for the call. Always try and understand why they are not interested to change a job. Make them comfortable enough so that they speak atleast 5 sentences. After that you wont have a problem. The first five are the most difficult. Control the conversation and the “No” is easy to encounter.
Myth 5: Calling Passive candidates is not ethical
That’s an internal battle for you to fight. If you don’t feel happy in what you are doing it won’t be good enough. I don’t see anything wrong in offering a change for the better to a candidate. Even if it means, opening the eyes of the candidate.
Myth 6: Always Email First : Don’t want to make an unsolicited call
Safe bet!! Email first, candidate is aware that you are calling, or at least you can say, “I had informed”. The only challenge with this approach is in deciding what information to reveal in the email. I would not want to give a solution, without understanding what’s bothering the candidate but still believe that a well worded email or voicemail wont hurt.
Myth 7: Always Be Honest with the Passive candidate
Won’t dare to say this in public but I am a Sagittarian. Never give a false picture to the candidate about the role and related information. You don’t always have to be honest about is how you found his contact information. Don’t say anything that will make them suspicious.
Myth 8: Passive Candidate will perform better than active candidate
Well, they will be more valued for sure by the recruiters, but can’t say if they will perform better. Assuming that passive candidates are currently performing better than their colleagues, leading to high satisfaction and hence not looking out, it is but logical to assume that they will perform well in the new company. Run a sample.. hire the best performers in your competition, and you will find they may struggle in your company. Apart from skill, it is the company’s culture, policies, procedure, environment, that will determine successful performance.
Myth 9: Job boards don’t have Passive candidates
Hidden in CV’s are references, which could be excellent passive candidates, and also a contact for a ruse to connect. Apart from the references, I personally believe, all candidates who have not update their CV, for more than 3 months have turned passive. Had they been serious, they would have got a job by now.
Myth 10: Passive candidate search is only effective in hiring senior level requirements
For senior level requirements, you don’t have an option on the job boards. Passive is by and large the only source for fulfilling these requirements. For other requirements, job boards, would generally give a decent response. That doesn’t mean, you can’t look beyond them to find more candidates. Definitely try the job boards’ first, easy thing to do. Don’t compromise on the quality of candidate, if you don’t find your best match. Remember, Passive is always an option, albeit a challenging one.

Care to add more!!!

Related articles

Redefining the Passive Recruiter/Passive Sourcer  

Sourcer / E recruiter Assessment- Hiring Freshers  

Beliefs of a Passive Candidate Sourcer!!

Candidate Database System: A perspective?

A candidate database system is a system that will help you manage candidates and requirements. Primarily it serves the following purpose
1) Storing candidates
2) Searching candidates
3) Tracking candidates against job
4) Tracking candidate communication and employability status
The last point is rarely the focus of attention and primarily the system is used for search, store and track.

Activities
The system primarily has two interrelated sets of activity
1) Requirement management: Involves searching, assigning, tracking, and managing the best applicants for each open requisition
2) Candidate Management: Involves methodologies, systems, and practices designed to acquire, engage track and maintain candidates in the system

These activities would include the following actions
1) Add – Candidate records, requirement and activities
2) Update – Candidates records, requirement and activities
3) Delete– Candidates records, requirement and activities
4) Assign – Candidates to Requirements
5) Track- Candidates against requirements, Candidates against activity and status

.

Objective of the system

Increase Database utilization
Reduce turnaround time in searching relevant candidates
Quick access to data on the most relevant candidate.
Structured database around skills, location, industry etc

Increase Database quality
Automatic sorting and filing of candidate information.
Churn out old and irrelevant candidates
Candidate information stored in a structured manner, easy to retrieve
Keep candidate information updated on a regular and periodic basis

Increase database volume
Identify sourcing channels that could feed candidates into the system
Integrate the sourcing channels into the system

Company branding
Quick response management
Quality emails – (informative and effective)

Improve Hiring decision
Capture information about the candidate at each stage.
Provide a complete view of the candidate by assimilating the captured information
Reduce candidate cost through candidate pool leveraging


Primary Players involved

Candidate:
Somebody who may or may not be looking for a new Job and may or may not be suitable for current or future job requirement within a company
Sourcer:
Searches for candidates from within and outside the database and is the first point of contact to the candidate. Promotes the company and job to the candidate, profiles the candidate, evaluates initial job fit and captures candidate aspirations. After ascertaining a match of interst and profile, he passes the candidate to the Recruiter
Recruiter:
Manages the selection process and coordinates with the candidate and respective parties involved in the process. Closes the deal with the candidate based on the information generated in the entire sourcing and selection process keeping in mind the candidates aspiration
Client:
Could be the practice head or the BD team or any other requirement owner.
Vendor:
External agency supplying candidates on requests provided by the sourcing team
Internal referrer Employee, who refers candidates to the company. The referral doesn’t need to be for a specific position .
All the players and their activities contribute to the level of accuracy and relevance of the database. The system has negative inertia and will have the tendency and will deterriorate over time.

Related Links
Review your candidate Database
Lifecycle of a candidate record in a database

ANZ Banking Group Ltd's expansion into China

Australia and New Zealand Banking Group Limited's ( ANZ) expansion into China continues with plans to set up a Chinese language centre and back office activities in support of the bank's operations in China.The operations hub should open in Chengdu in March next year.

The centre is expected to employ 300 people by the end of 2013.

ANZ's locally incorporated entity in China, ANZ Bank China Company Ltd, will be established on October 1.

With three foreign bank branches and two sub-branches currently in China, ANZ plans to establish up to 20 outlets in the country over the next three years.

Recruitment technology at work

CV formatting
The client will be able to choose from an existing format or a customised format will be generated. Dataminers will enter the CV into a specified template and the system will automatically convert the given data into the desired client format

CV Parsing
Users will enter the CV in text format. The tool will automatically convert it into database fields and enter into the system

Quality system (QMS)
Critical incidents and profile parameters logged into the system. System will generate quality profiles of client in relation to their comfort level with company

Resource allocation system
One point of resource allocation to all individuals and reports on resource utilisation


Job board
Group of Niche Job boards with possibility of group subscriptions. Build a string of niche job boards, . Link it to a social networking site and feeds coming in from Vacancy tracker. Later link it to Salary benchmark, Training, Resume writing, video resumes and other potential services.

Passive Database
Database of contacts found using internet and telephone research. Can be sold along with CV search subscriptions on Job boards


Knowledge Library
Structure the resources and technical information in a database for easy retrieval

Email generation software
Use functions to derive potential emails and verify emails using email verifiers and mass mailing techniques


Social networks
Social networks including features like, forums, discussion,voting, blogs, videos, chat around specific industry sectors, jobs. To be tied with Job boards for jobs. Where we don’t have a job board, we tie it with Vacancy tracking feeds

Job Trends from Indeed

Indeed has posted some not so happy Job trends.

Industry Job Trends: Left me wanting to see anything that is not negative
Job Postings per Capita : Essentially a geographic distribution of Job Postings

Interestingly, Indeed which is a search engine for Jobs is not far behind the leading Job Portals. check the Job traffic report from Comscore.

Is the Market Shifting to Candidates?

With the economic downturn there are more candidates than Job. It seems this will continue to be the trend for 2009 and beyond.

For staffing firms, agencies, job portals, there will be lesser clients and jobs to work on. and more candidates willing to be placed. Does this mean that their focus shifts more towards a revenue model based on fulfilling candidate needs.

With Monster's "Monster Evolutions" and Irish Job's Horizon targeted towards outplacement service there is a signal towards other shifts. Other Portals may follow suit.

RPO's, Job Portals and even Agencies may shift towards gathering a significant portion of their revenue from candidates. Services like resume/CV writing, social media profile writing skills, life coaching and interviewing courses etc could be more attractive.

Personalized placement service could be an interesting model. The candidate will pay a basic fee for their personality branding and pay a placement/interview surcharge.

What do you think?

Links
Monster Evolutions
Monster Outplacement Services
Irish Jobs Outplacement Service

UK job Tracker

The BBC News website is keeping track of jobs lost and created in the months ahead. This is not a comprehensive study but a snapshot from around the UK since 1 January. Move the slider to see Job Losses.

They also have an interesting Recession Tracker for those who are interested in precedents.


Links

UK job Tracker
Recession Tracker

Best Practices for Candidate screening and Prequalification

Sarang Bramhe from OS2i has posted a question on Best Practices for Candidate screening and Prequalification

Of all the answers liked Jim's Pre-screening Acroynm "SEARCH OUT"


Links
Sarang Bramhe: Linkedin Profile
Linkedin Question
Jim Coughlin : Linkedin Profile

Making a bad hiring decision... Your call!!

For all of us involved in the selection process quality of hire is critical... unless I just want to close a deal. From my management school days, one debate which i could never get my head off was what is better: "Rejecting a good candidate" Or "hiring an unsuitable candidate". I always though both were equally bad, but the fact that i have to live with the second decision, it became more critical.

Lou adler has given some excellent pointers to avoid bad decisions.... Read the article "10-great-ways-to-make-bad-hiring-decisions

Links
"10-great-ways-to-make-bad-hiring-decisions"

6 good Metrics

Stephen Lowisz has posted modern day metrics to evaluate recruiter performance namely

Performance/Quality of Hire
Manager Satisfaction:
Source of Hire:
Referral Rates:
Candidate Satisfaction:
Pipeline Development:

There are some interesting comments on the lack of control the situation provides the recruiter to be able to be judges on these metrics.

I tend to agree. I would definately not blame one recruiter for lack of a good referral program, or poor salary benchmarks, or lack of good screening abilities.

Dont fail to read Stephen Shearman's comment. He talks about measuring standardized key recruiter/team daily, weekly, monthly, yearly activity results that measures recruiter/team activities.

Links
6 good Metrics