Who Make the Best In-House Recruiters

Who Make the Best In-House Recruiters As regular readers of my blogs will know, I’m a former recruitment consultant. I crossed to the light side (or the dark side, depending on your viewpoint) many years ago. I wasn’t terribly good at it to be hones; I couldn’t sell a glass of water to a man dying of thirst. I was pretty good at the relationship side though, which lead to me moving onto a client’s site and then eventually moving to HR. And the rest, as they say, is history. I came back to recruitment a few years ago, albeit in-house this time. I’m pretty opinionated when it comes to all things recruitment and recruitment consultant related as you may know. I’m not always a fan of the methods used by some recruitment agencies, but I do believe that if you run an in-house team it’s a great strategy to recruit for your team from your better suppliers. Poaching Let’s face it, you don’t work with recruitment agencies, you work with recruitment consultants. It’s all about your personal relationship. If you work in-house right now, I bet you can list your top five external consultants off the top of your head. So why aren’t they working for you? The upside Here are the plus sides. Firstly, they already know your brand, and you know them. They have hired for you before, presumably successfully or they won’t be on your list. All those sales targets and long hours make for seriously committed and resilient employees. Most successful recruitment consultants have great client relationship and management skills which are easily transferrable and beneficial to an in-house environment. Most in-house people I know are working towards reducing their agency spend, and no one knows better the rules around negotiating on rates better than a former recruitment consultant. If this is your strategy, all that energy and drive to make a placement with a client can be channelled into making direct hires. Want a wider career? In-house isn’t for everyone, but there are some real plus sides. There’s an opportunity for developing a career into wider areas of HR. You get to work with a business and help take it forward rather than work on a role and move onto the next. There are no sales targets and the hours are certainly better. I’m probably not that popular with a quite a few recruitment agencies, having of late stolen quite a few of their employees. You’ll be relieved to know I’m still sleeping well at night despite this. Making the move It’s not always an easy move to go in-house, as some of my colleagues are well aware. It takes some adjustment. You can’t hide from your client, you can’t politely turn down a role you don’t think you can fill and you have to take all these annoying sales calls from recruitment companies. I find it usually takes around a week for the sympathy toward former colleagues to disappear completely. Moving in-house takes a mind shift change, but one that I completely recommend. The downside? There is always a downside, but in this case its not that bad. There are so many former recruitment consultants in my team know that we tend to talk about making a placement rather than offering a role, which our pure HR colleagues find a little odd. We get overly excited and make a lot of noise when we get a big direct hire in much the same way we used to when we secured an offer for our candidate. There has been some mention of getting a bell for the office, but I’m going to draw the line at that. Related: What is the Point of a Recruitment PSL? Image: Shutterstock

3 Fundamental Myths About Balancing Work and Life (Podcast #63) - Classy Career Girl

3 Fundamental Myths About Balancing Work and Life (Podcast #63) If you are an ambitious professional woman and are looking for a better way to balance the most important aspects of your life without having to sacrifice yourself, youll love today’s podcast. How do YOU balance it all? Lets share our secrets. Today you’ll meet Sarah Argenal, a Lifestyle Strategist at Working Parent Resource. Sarah helps working moms find a more meaningful balance between their career, a loving marriage, quality time with their kids, and their own health and well-being. You definitely want to check out her resources at www.frazzledtobalanced.com after you listen to her today. Today’s podcast is a recording of the presentation we did at Classy Career Girls Night Out in San Diego a few weeks ago so if you couldn’t join us live, here is the next best thing right! So let’s get started! To get started, Sarahs going to talk a little bit  about the 3 Fundamental Myths About Balance.   In case you arent familiar with her already, Sarah Argenal is the Founder of the Working Parent Resource, which is a hub of reliable information, practical training, and a supportive community of judgment-free working moms and dads.   Sarah has over 15 years of experience as a therapist, a certified coach, a college-level instructor, and a course developer.   Shes worked with individuals, couples, and teens to help them regain balance in their lives, build thriving relationships, and manage major life transitions.   Today  Sarah helps busy professionals who are raising a young family cut through all of the noise and focus on whats truly important to them. 3 Fundamental Myths About Balancing Work and Life 1.  Balance is a myth. MYTH:  Theres a pretty big message circulating out there these days that Balance is a Myth. REALITY:  Balance isnt about spending equal amounts of time on the various areas of your life.   Instead, try to think of balance as prioritizing whats most important to you so your actions reflect your values.   When you think of balance this way, balance is entirely possible. 2.  Balance is about time management. MYTH:  A lot of people believe they can achieve the key to balancing work and life by becoming more productive, or more efficient, or saving time. REALITY:  The truth is that balance isnt about TIME management at all.   Its about managing your ENERGY and your ATTENTION.   When you are managing your energy and your attention, youll feel more calm, more relaxed, more organized, and more in control of your time, no matter what you have going on. [RELATED: Old Photos, Messy Houses, and Juggling Three Jobs] 3. Balance is achievable. MYTH:  I think one of the reasons people think balance is a myth is because they know, deep down, that its not something that can be ACHIEVED.   Its not a result to accomplish.   Its not about hitting some utopia in our lives. REALITY:  Instead, balancing work and life is a life-long practice of staying centered among an overwhelming number of external demands.   Its about making choices from moment to moment that either get you CLOSER to that feeling of well-being and wholeheartedness.   Its about doing constant course corrections to make sure youre staying aligned with your priorities and your values. What do you think? Do you think balancing work and life is a myth?

That Mysterious New York Times Best Seller List

That Mysterious New York Times Best Seller List I know. All of you want to write a New York Times best seller. I do, too. I so do. Youre writing and editing and hoping. Tears, sweat, maybe some blood. Too much coffee, now and then too much tequila. So what makes a book hit The List? Ask this question to a thousand people and you could get a thousand different answers. But as I was laying down tonight, feeling like a sick slug (I do have a cold â€" whine, whine) I thought about this. Here are a few elements that I think throw books onto the best seller list. I hope it helps you in terms of what you’re writing now or what you want to write in the future, if your goal is to hit that list… Impeccable writing. Beautiful, lyrical, painful, gut wrenching, tear jerking writing that is honest and raw and maybe poetic. Please read All The Light You Cannot See, The Book Thief, The Color Purple, The Underground Railroad, and The Kite Runner if you haven’t already for a few examples. A compelling, modern plot. Let’s look at Gone Girl and Girl On The Train. Or, the most recent book I read, Watch Me Disappear. The protagonists aren’t likable. But the plots keep you whipping through the pages to see when the secrets are going to break open and the twists and turns are going to crash into each other. Is your plot compelling? Are there hooks and surprises? Do you keep the reader guessing on what the heck is going to happen next? A Book Club book. There is “stuff” to talk about for a group of women in these best sellers. For example, Eat Pray Love. You may have loved that book. You may have hated it. People had extreme responses. Eat Pray Love is a heckuva book club book because it gives women something to talk about, even argue about. Do you have an idea for a story or a character that will make for a possibly heated discussion at book clubs? An invigorating talk? Does your book have moral questions or ethical issues to debate? Excellent. Write it. See also: Wild. The Light Between Oceans. Hillbilly Elegy. Historical fiction that yanks readers out of their lives and into another intriguing era. If you love history, especially if you’ve already done extensive research in one area, consider this genre because people love it. They love to learn while reading something entertaining at the same time. Try Pillars Of The Earth. Sarah’s Key. The Other Boleyn Girl. Molokai. Memoirs you can’t put down. If you have not read The Glass Castle, please do. If you have something interesting/painful/funny/unique to say, this could be your writing home. Other excellent memoirs? Infidel. Escape. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. A Totally original plot. Have you read A Time Traveler’s Wife? Station Eleven? The Martian? Absolute creativity. What can you write that, truly, no one has written before? And dont fall into that, Every story has already been told, bull. That is not true. Books that make people cry. Is there a story that you can tell that will jerk tears out of yours and your readers’ eyes? There is a huge group of readers out there that like to cry over their books. Ive done it many times myself. Examples: Me Before You. Where The Red Fern Grows. The Lovely Bones. Books that make people laugh. Like Bossypants. Or anything David Sedaris writes. Are you funny? Are you sarcastic or wry? Take that talent and make people crack up. Books that people can relate to in some way. Try Liane Moriarty’s books. Normal people. Then something extraordinary happens. Take the every day and wrench it into something totally new. Add something unexpected, devise interesting characters who may be hiding something, and shuffle it altogether with changing social dynamics in a setting we’re all familiar with, then explode the whole thing. Escapism books. If you want to write a fast paced book that simply gives people a   break from life and their problems while reading your knuckle gripping story, do it. Action. Adventure. Romance.   Maybe all three. Huge market for those books. Examples: Bridget Jones’ Diary. The DaVinci Code. Stephanie Plum by Janet Evanovich. Nonfiction. Do you have a true story that you have been aching to write? People love to read truth. Research. Study. Write. All at the same time.  Examples: Unbroken, Into Thin Air, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Best of luck. I truly hope that I see you on the best seller list one day.

3 Dangers of Job Seekers Only Appealing to Recruiters

3 Dangers of Job Seekers Only Appealing to Recruiters When job seekers first start poking around for a job search, many will reach out to recruiters, first. Many recruiters will offer advice and they are quite easy to find on LinkedIn, too. But if job seekers only try to appeal to the requests of recruiters, they will definitely put their job search in danger. In this post, we explain why appealing to recruiters as the lone source of finding work will set all job seekers up for failure.Note: This is not a recruiter-bashing post. There are many good recruiters who work hard for job seekers. More so, it explains the role they play.1. Putting All Your Eggs in the Wrong BasketAlthough recruiters may be the first people job seekers speak with or the first people they contact, their main tasks are to manage relationships. They make sure resumes fit the job description for the better (and sometimes worse). Recruiters have many accounts to handle and many job seekers to find, but they play no role in making the hiring decision. They will fight for you at times, but never at the risk of doing harm to themselves.Danger: Putting all your eggs in one basket with one person not in charge of hiring you and with limited information about what is really required for the job and company.2. Spending Money on Advice From the Wrong SourceRegardless of the professional resume you had worked out and paid for to show you want, if a recruiter needs it to look a certain way for his/her client, they may ask you to rewrite it. It is not that your resume is “wrong” or “bad”, but it does not fit the needs of the recruiter who contacted you.Why did they contact, or answer you, if the resume seems like it needs to be rewritten? This is a question you should always ask the recruiter. If they do ask you to rewrite some words on the resume for a job, it is primarily to fulfill the needs of their account. So, as a job seeker, you have to learn how to say “No” when called to interview for a job you know will be a waste of time.Danger: Sp ending wasted funds on resumes, not because you need to, but because you believe you are supposed to because “the recruiter said to do it”.3. Limiting Your Options and Lengthening Your Job SearchInstead of trying any form of “one-size-fits-all” theory, try new and innovative ideas to networkwith others. For example:Cleaning up your entire social media footprint Making 1st-degree connections within companies you like on LinkedIn Reaching out to former colleagues and old friends Communicating online using the right words related to jobs you want Attend face-to-face Meetups Get help from other services with proven track records of helping others find work Yeah, apply for online job postings, too, but only for “quality” postingsBe creative. We are in a connected world. Contact recruiters to let them know you are job seeking, yes, but you have so many other ideas to try.Danger: Ultimately, in a small, connected, and global business world, believing only one idea will work lim its your opportunities and sets you up for wasting money, a longer job search, and frustration at an entire industry you completely misunderstood. Be yourself, for better and for worse. Learn from your failures and never be afraid to try a new idea. Eventually, you will end up at the right company because you knew it was right.

55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal Book Review [Guest Post] - Career Pivot

55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal Book Review [Guest Post] - Career Pivot 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal Elizabeth White’s book 55, Underemployed, and Faking Normal is an unflinchingly honest, practical, and guardedly hopeful look at options for seniors who are struggling, or may soon be struggling, with all-too-common issues of un- or under-employment, insufficient retirement funds, unaffordable housing, and isolation. It’s no secret that ageism delineates our workforce. It’s difficult to reach previous earning levels once you’re over 50 and you lose your job. Social Security is the only retirement plan for many baby boomers, and that likely won’t even cover rent. White speaks from firsthand knowledge as a highly educated professional with an enviable resume who found herself unable to get a job after losing her savings in a failed business venture. She acknowledges the denials, the pain, the mistakes, the regrets, the disappointments, and the desperation she went through before reshaping her life on her own terms. She urges others in a similar situation to stop “faking normal,” and share the truth of their circumstances â€" and then take steps to recover, even, if necessary, to “claw” their way back to a new simplified, healthy normal. She recommends forming “Resilience Circles” as a way to work through the process in supportive group meetings. Doom and Gloom Mindset is Neither Healthy nor Productive White cautions that a doom-and-gloom mindset is neither healthy nor productive, yet the myriad statistics and anecdotes she presents are overwhelmingly scary and depressing. Or at least they were to me, as a mid-sixties educated and underemployed female. Even though I am squarely in her target demographic, I don’t feel desperate, invisible, or afraid that I won’t be able to continue to live comfortably. But she also talks about denial, equivalent to faking normal even when our actual standard of living is below â€" or way below â€" par. So maybe I’m in denial. I’ve already pretty much lost it all â€" in the form of a good house I owned in a high-end suburban neighborhood. I’d lived there for 30-plus years. It was supposed to be my retirement nest egg or a valuable legacy I could pass down to my heirs. The emotional repercussions of losing it were worse than the financial ones. Fortunately I had a job still, a small vacation home out of state, and an immense desire to live a simpler creative life. It’s taken me more than ten years to claw my way back, and I can’t be sure what’s next, but I’m energized and optimistic. Most days. And, probably in denial, but I’m OK for now. More than OK. Smalling Up White writes about “smalling up,” doing less with more â€" not just being frugal to the point of depriving yourself of the things that make you happy, but differentiating between wanting and needing. Unquestionably, this is good advice, but I feel like I’ve already checked those boxes. I buy almost all my clothes and shoes, and many household items, secondhand. I rarely eat out. I repurpose/recycle everything I can. And I try to grow at least some of my own food. I’m still fighting the burden of too much stuff in storage, but I have a plan for purging and downsizing. Housing Strategies The book’s true value for me was in the sections on housing strategies and options for seniors. I will have a hard time aging in place in my current century-old house in a remote rural area, which is not near any of my immediate family. I have a very limited social network here. White addresses issues of social isolation and homes that are not structurally accessible for elderly residents who develop health or mobility problems. She has done an extraordinarily impressive amount of research into various types of senior housing options in all price ranges â€" tiny homes, RV parks, co-housing, multigenerational housing, reverse mortgages, renting out rooms to boarders, moving in with family, and moving out of the U.S. altogether. In particular, for me, her in-depth descriptions of innovative senior communities across the country, and also her exploration into the potential of tiny homes to serve our needs, was eye-opening. For years I’ve been fascinated by the prospect of building a tiny home, but it was always an unattainable dream. As a direct result of the book, I have been inspired to learn more, look into financing solutions, reach out to thought leaders in the industry, and find opportunities to get involved beyond a personal DIY construction project. Honesty and Practical Advice White’s honesty and practical advice (“get off your throne,” do “bridge work” if you have to, get food stamps/SNAP if you’re eligible and in need), tempered with sincere compassion by encouraging us to be kind to ourselves in spite of our “wouldas, couldas, shouldas,” make this book unique and valuable. Her thorough research with detailed lists of services and resources makes it a go-to, must-have guidebook for anyone now or soon to be a senior dealing with the stress of an inadequate safety net in the face of an uncertain future. I’m not the type to pencil notes in margins or earmark pages. In reading White’s book, I did both. I thought initially I’d pass it on to a friend after a cursory read. I’ll buy my friend another copy. I’m keeping mine for future reference. This was written by Adele Field. Adele is a writing and marketing communications professional with a background in publishing and PR. She moved from Los Angeles to a family property in rural Montana in search of a healthier, more affordable, more authentic life. While personal creative projects such as managing a community garden and writing a comedy podcast feed her soul, and help counter the isolation of her remote location, Adele is patching together a living in the gig economy. She currently telecommutes with an offshore medical-legal documents company, manages email campaigns and websites for small businesses, and edits books and proposals for emerging authors. Like what you just read? Share it with your friends using the buttons above. Like What You Read? Get Career Pivot Insights Check out the Repurpose Your Career Podcast Do You Need Help With ...

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Job Search Measures - Pathfinder Careers

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Job Search Measures - Pathfinder Careers Desperate Times Call for Desperate Job Search Measures In a virtual ocean of fellow job applicants, at a time when 100, 200 and even up to 500 people are applying for the same job, making yourself stand out from the crowd seems about as likely as buying the winning lottery ticket. Job seekers have had to step up their efforts to make themselves stand out in ways which would have been unthinkable five years ago. Since 70% of people find jobs through someone they know, that immediately speaks to building personal networks consisting of social and professional contacts. Start building an Internet professional presence with social media networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and Plaxo, to name a few. Using these tools can spin a larger networking web which can help snare a job through personal connections. But many people are going far and beyond just the normal realm of networking efforts to garner attention from hiring managers. Some job seekers are hiring public relations, advertising and marketing firms to promote themselves, building their own personal brand. Managing a consistent, packaged look and feel to an applicant can give a job searcher a highly polished edge, which can be novel enough to stand out from the pack. Other applicants are hiring professional résumé writers to retool their career document. Most people who have tackled writing their résumé have found it is difficult to ‘find the forest despite the trees’, so having an objective ‘third party’ work on this important credential creates the opportunity to really drill down to specifics. While it can be a harsh process, it will also allow a clear distillation of the job seeker’s value to prospective employers. I recently ran across this innovative tactic from a previous client: People are offering “finder’s fees” to whoever refers an opening to them, which results in the applicant getting a job. In this example, the client let her entire network know that if someone referred a viable job lead which resulted in her getting the position, she would write them a check for $500. Think of this way: It is a great incentive to the referrer, but at the same time, this is actually a small investment when considering the cost of a longer, more extensive job search. People are also resorting to publicity stunts. Recently a woman created a website which asked employers to hire her husband, which, on a positive note, garnered him national positive media attention and multiple job offers. In January 2009, Christopher Adams of Sacramento, CA dressed up in a suit and a tie, holding a “Hire Me” sign at a freeway off â€"ramp, handing out his résumé to anyone who wanted one, which got him on the local news. A laid-off political reporter started a blog that covered different topics, which attracted the attention of a recruiter, who cited the blog as a clear demonstration of the job seeker’s communication skills. Others have posted video résumés online at YouTube… with disastrous results including bad lighting, horrible production value and embarrassing revelations. And finally, job seekers have resorted to going to Craigslist and posting a variety of pleas, threats and just plain pathetic attempts at cajoling employers into hiring them. Maybe not so effective approaches for those last few examples, right? Others are persistent, with a creative edge. In Australia, an art designer masqueraded as a window cleaner and washed the creative directors windows on a ladder while he was in the room. The applicant started showing examples of creative work through the windows, until he finally got asked to come inside. The result: He landed the job. The point here is that it’s time to pull out all the stops. But don’t go too far overboard: Creative fields might be fairly receptive to gimmicks and imaginative résumés, but most corporate cultures are much more conservative in nature, and not as receptive. The other point is that if you actually do land an interview, be careful about not coming across as trying to bribe the interviewer by bringing pastry treats, cookies, coffee, or even flowers. A few years ago, a person I was interviewing showed up with Starbucks coffee and donuts… and it felt entirely too contrived and ‘suck-up’ to me; the situation didn’t sit too well as a result. And there is a definite line between being politely persistent and screaming ‘stalker’ with repeated (and rejected) attempts to contact the hiring manager. Get creative, but know your audience so you don’t miss your mark by delivering a dud. Being polite, respectful but innovative can open doors. And that’s what gets you noticed!

Professional Resume Writing Service: Can They Help You Get A Job?

Professional Resume Writing Service: Can They Help You Get A Job?Professional resume writing service Spokane offers service to both students and professionals, offering extensive help. They have many styles and formats to choose from, including online and printed options. The online option allows you to create a resume right from the comfort of your own home, making it convenient for you to apply for jobs anywhere in the world.Service providers have wide experience and offer exceptional service. Their resume services are offered free of charge to your job search. They make it possible for you to create the perfect resume to stand out from the rest.Using their online services you can create your own resume that will be tailored to your needs. In addition, you can submit your resume online directly to the company, making the process quick and easy.Besides the online options, there are also some other special methods of resume writing service Spokane offers. You can choose one of their templates, which comes with pre-designed letters and cover letters. The design of the letter and the cover letter can also be changed according to your needs.You can also hire a freelance writer who is a part of the professional resume writing service. They can work on your resume on a project basis and then submit it directly to the hiring company. You will be able to pay the writer a specific rate and will have control over the type of material they create.Professional resume writing service Spokane has writers available to help you can hire a professional freelance writer to write a resume for you. You will have complete control over the content of the resume.You will have access to several online samples from the professional resume writing service to get an idea of what they can do for you. These samples are ready to go with samples of the best style and formatting for your job search. You can browse through these samples and select the best one for your needs.Overall, you will enjoy the simplicity of professional resume writing service Spokane offering. Their professional services are a win-win situation for both the student and the professional.