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Social Network Your Way to the Right Candidate
February 11, 2009 by Candice AA lot has been written about employers using social networking sites as tools to vet entry level job candidates. In his article for ERE, Social Networking and “Fit,” Dr. Charles Handler talks about employers who use social networks in a different way. Instead of trolling around looking for any kind of dirt they can dig up on potential employees, some employers seek out and connect with those candidates whose values and habits would make them good cultural fits with the companies.
“The use of social networking to help provide accurate pictures of the culture (also called work values) within an organization” will serve to help recent college graduates and college students to decide which companies they should apply to for entry level jobs or internships.
Although the practice of matching the preferences of candidates with those of potential employers isn’t a new concept, it is one that can be extremely helpful when it comes to attracting top talent. “Collective data about an organization’s characteristics, values and culture could have major value for those who are thinking about working there,” Handler says.
Sites like Climber.com and jiibe.com allow visitors to “complete a culture/work values questionnaire as part of the matching and searching process. In essence, a selection of employers is offered based on how the job seeker answers the questionnaire, in addition to his work history and education. These two sites are job-boards-as-networks in the sense that they bring together companies and candidates with similar qualities in an effort to facilitate hiring and job searching efforts.
“Internet job searching has traditionally provided the job seeker with little control, information or feedback about [his] job application,” says Handler, but thanks to new Web technologies like those found at Climber and jiibe, that may become “one of the biggest changes we are going to see” in the world of job searching. -
Follow Up and Stand Out From the Rest of the Online Job Applicants
January 02, 2009 by Candice ASo many companies provide online job applications on their Web sites, that paper applications have almost become obsolete. That’s interesting when one considers that they have the same disadvantage – the applicant has no way of knowing whether his application made it to the chosen employer or not. Following up after mailing an entry level job application was probably recommended back in the day … and it’s recommended now to any and all who submit applications online.
Recent college graduates looking for entry level jobs and college students looking for internships can apply to any company in the world in a matter of minutes because of the Internet; however, online applications get misdirected the same as applications sent through the mail. That’s why experts in the field strongly suggest following up every application submitted online with an email, letter, or – best of all – a telephone call to confirm that the application was, indeed, received.
Karen Grigsby Bates, co-author (with Karen E. Hudson) of The New Basic Black: Home Training for Modern Times, said, “Applications can get lost – think how many e-mails you have disappear into cyber space – so for important documents that are sent online, it’s a good idea to follow up with a call, even if you need to leave it on voicemail.”
For example: “Hi, this is Joanna Smith at Kenyon College. I just wanted you to know that I did fill out the online application
DataWorld requested, and sent it in on January 3rd. If you could confirm that you received it, that would be great. And if you need anything else, please contact me at (your phone number or e-mail here), and I’ll make sure you get what you need.”
Thanks for your consideration. I hope to speak with you soon.”
“It’s a good practice to follow up with employers after submitting your resume,” advised DeLynn Senna, executive director of North American permanent placement services for Robert Half International. “You can take this opportunity to ensure the hiring manager received your application materials and reiterate your enthusiasm and fit for the position.”
Teena Rose, author and resume writer added this insight: “Applying to positions online is inherently unreliable, mainly due to the inability to verify any one person [who] views your application. Besides, following the same path those before you and those after you took hardly sets you apart. By conducting a follow-up call or making contact with via email or additional letter, you’re taking an added step to further distinguish your candidacy from all the others.”
Finally, author and recruitment/job placement veteran, Tony Beshara, suggested foregoing emails or letters entirely in favor of telephone calls, even if the job posting has a “do not call” notice on it, because he believes “most of the online applications do not wind up in front of a real, true hiring authority. They usually wind up in an administrator’s folder on their desktop and the probability of having your application or resume reviewed by someone who can actually hire you is very, very slim.” Beshara’s advice may sound risky, but it can’t hurt to try.
Finding the right job is especially difficult in today’s economy because there are so many people competing for them that employers can afford to be choosy. Anything you can do to make yourself stand out in a positive way to potential employers is worth the effort. Plus following up indicates to employers that you really want that job and not just any job. -
Are Recruiters Too Dependent On Technology?
December 29, 2008 by Candice AMuch of recruiting is done electronically these days through social media sites, text messages and targeted emails. Some thoroughly embrace it, while others, like Stephen Lowisz, still believe in the personal touch. In his article for ERE, “Technology: Recruiters’ Friend or Foe?” Lowisz tells a story about one person who told him email and text messages were the only means of communication recruiters should use to get in touch with candidates. Like Lowisz, I doubt the wisdom of such an idea.
Although text messages and targeted emails can help recruiters reach more desired entry level job candidates in a shorter span of time, I still advocate campus visits. Meeting the people who will one day fill the jobs or internship positions that companies have to offer could make all the difference in the world. It would give recruiters the opportunity to observe how certain candidates relate to others. And in this world of emailed resumes and video interviews, having recruiters come to the campus to actually shake their hands and look them directly in their eyes might make them feel extra special.
“Within the recruitment profession today, technology has moved from a tool to identify candidates and create efficiencies to a mechanism that replaces real relationships,” Lowisz laments.
Recruiting, he says, is sales and should be conducted as such. According to Lowisz, “Every Sales 101 class teaches us that there are five main steps in the sales process:- Develop a relationship
- Identify the need
- Overcome objections
- Fill the need
- Advance the sale”
I guess the real solution is something that falls in between relying solely on technology and continuing the practice of campus visits. As Lowisz sees it, technology should be used to complement the more personal, “hands on” side of recruiting entry level job candidates, not replace it altogether.
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How Would You Like to Write for a Video Game?
December 22, 2008 by Candice AIf you’re a gamer, how many times have you sat down and read the bio of one of the characters you wanted to use? Did you ever wonder who wrote the back stories for characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, Lara Croft, or Super Mario Brothers? Did you ever think you’d like to be one of the people who wrote the story lines for video games like Resident Evil or the Final Fantasy series? Well, guess what … if you’re a writing major, that idea isn’t as far out as you might think.
Interactive-media writer, Carol Handler Miller, tells writers and aspiring writers how to expand their professional horizons in a really cool way. In her article for the December 2008 issue of The Writer magazine, Miller explains the job and advises on how to break into the industry. -
RadioShack Corporation
November 19, 2008 by amy mRadioShack is a leading electronics company that helps customers overcome technology barriers by educating, supporting, and encouraging questions. The company began in Fort Worth, Texas when two young men, Norton Hinckley and Dave L. Tandy (1889-1966) decided to work together by opening an electronic mail order business in 1919. It was unknown at the time, but Dave L. Tandy’s oldest son, Charles Tandy, would acquire his father’s niche for business. Charles Tandy’s abilities kept his ambitions alive during the WWII when many companies were struggling.
Half way across the nation, two brothers named Theodore and Milton Deutschmann, opened a small company called ‘RadioShack’ in Boston. By 1921 RadioShack was the leading electronic mail order business in Northeast of Boston. The small, hobbyist store sold radio equipment to the ships throughout the US. Soon, the company focused on local neighborhoods throughout the Boston area which lead to its expansion in 1960.
In 1960, franchises were established in nine retail locations. RadioShack remained a small, enthusiasts store until Charles Tandy acquired the struggling company in 1963. The role of electronics was in a booming stage by 1970s which lead to more coverage in the areas of personal computers (TRS-80), citizen band (CB) radios, and the first mobile cellular phone. Charles Tandy’s vision for success is the reason recent college grads have an opportunity to continue his legacy and accomplish their dreams of leadership in technology.
RadioShack offers an array of employment opportunities in their corporate office in Dallas- Ft. Worth, Texas. Some entry level positions and internships are available through these departments:- Accounting/Financial
- Administrative/Clerical
- Communications/Public Relations
- Customer Service
- Human Resources
- Information Systems
- Inside Sales
- Marketing/Advertising
- Merchandising
- Real Estate
- Security
- Supply Chain/Logistics
Recent graduates have an opportunity to work in an entry level job or internships that encourages growth within the company. If corporate is not in your location, you can apply to one of the hundreds RadioShack locations for a retail position such as a Sales Associate, Seasonal Sales Associate, Store Management, or Wireless Sales.
Technical areas of Service Technician Service Centers are for highly-talented grads and students with experience in electronics repair. With only six centers available, these positions are very important. Service Technicians are responsible for repairing PCS, cellular, consumer electronics, and computers. Each position offers a challenge to overcome fears of sales and increase your skills as a young professional.
Recent college grads and students can apply for RadioShack entry level positions here. Before you make the decision, remember RadioShack is an equal opportunity employer that embraces recent grads and current students from diverse backgrounds. With RadioShack, you can evolve into an experienced professional in your given field – not necessarily your college major. Diversity is the key to success; RadioShack prefers individuals with a multiple set of skills that allow flexibility in job responsibilities.
You may ask yourself, ‘What makes RadioShack employees stand out from the rest?’ RadioShack’s employees love electronics and love to educate consumers on the latest technology. Employees enjoy life-long learning opportunities and challenges. Find an entry level job and apply if you are ready to take the next step with RadioShack.
Entry Level Job Placement From a Recruiter’s Point of View
October 30, 2008 by Candice ATwo recruiters from Todays Office Professionals, Sean Rice, district manager in Dallas, TX; and Kenneth Davis, account manager in Alpharetta, GA gave insight to all the things recruiters have to consider when working with entry level job seekers.
1. What is the recruiter’s responsibility to the candidate?
Sean Rice: A recruiter is responsible for assisting candidates in making successful, well-suited job placements. In order to successfully place a candidate on a job order, a recruiter must know how to listen and they need to ask the right questions of their candidates. I believe that recruiters need to establish a trusting relationship with their candidate in order to receive honest information in return. The candidate needs to feel confident in their recruiter, as they are relying on that individual to assist them is finding a job.
Kenneth Davis: I feel that the recruiter’s responsibility to the candidate is to always be honest. I always put myself in the candidate’s shoes and think of the information that I would like to know if meeting with a staffing company, especially if this is the candidate’s first time signing up with a staffing company. It is important to always deliver 100% customer/quality service.
- Always be up front about the positions that are available (whether they are temporary, temp to hire or direct hire)
- Discuss the hiring process in detail
- I explain the benefits of working for a staffing company such as Todays Office Professionals (what makes us stand out from other companies)
- I really feel that it is important to make sure that the candidate not only has a pleasant experience when coming in for their appointment, but that they leave with all the necessary information they need. By doing this will make the candidate not venture off to another staffing company
2. What should a candidate do if a recruiter isn’t serving his/her best interests?
SR: A candidate should communicate effectively with his or her recruiter if they feel that they are not being assisted properly or that their best interest is not being served. It is essential that the candidate be completely honest with the recruiter as to what their expectations of the recruiter are and make certain that all lines of communication are always open. In order for a successful placement to be made, both a candidate and the recruiter need to be on the same page.
KD: I think that the candidate should bring this issue to the recruiter’s attention in a professional manner because the recruiter may not even be aware that the candidate is not happy with the service.
3. What is the recruiter’s responsibility to employers?
SR: It is the recruiter’s responsibility to do their best to find the appropriate candidates to fill their clients’ orders. Recruiters are responsible for listening to and observing all of the important details of their clients’ needs in order to ensure that they can make a successful match between client and candidate. A recruiter should always make certain that they have a clear understanding of a job description before they present a candidate. They need to be sure to apply thorough follow up and quality assurance checks to the employer.
KD: Outside of delivering 100% customer/quality service, I think that as recruiters we need to go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure that the client is serviced (“The Todays Way”, which entails weekly quality checks, customer visits etc.)
Always make sure when filling a new order that the client is always aware of the pricing, company policies, benefits (vacation pay, holiday pay etc..). If I am working with a new client, I always set up an appointment to view the facility. This helps me to place the most qualified candidate in the client company’s culture and allows me to better describe the work environment to potential candidates.
4. To the recruiting agency?
SR: A recruiter needs to make certain that the employees they hire are individuals that will represent both the agency and their clients. They need to make certain that they are hiring quality candidates that have the skill sets they can place and sell to customers. The recruiter needs to make certain that they are checking all proper employee identification and that reference checks are being completed to agency standards.
KD: The responsibility a recruiter has to the staffing company they are working for is commitment. It is important for the recruiter to be totally committed to their company’s mission and follow the policies and procedures 100%, while giving both the candidate and client the absolute best quality/customer service.
Entry level job seekers have a lot to think about when deciding to enlist the aid of recruiters in their job searches. But it’s clear that recruiters, too, have a lot to consider before taking on new candidates or clients.
What is a Recruiter’s Responsibility to an Entry Level Job Seeker?
by Candice ASometimes entry level job seekers make the mistake of believing that they are their recruiters’ clients, but this is not the case. The employers, who pay some pretty healthy fees, are the clients. The job seekers are candidates, which is not to say that they aren’t important. On the contrary, the better recruiters are at providing employers with the best candidates, and vice versa, the greater their chances of attracting more employers and more high quality candidates.
Unfortunately, candidates and employers who seem like a good fit during the interview process end up not working out later on. When this happens, don’t blame the recruiter, says Tom Ruff, founder of the Tom Ruff Company, a company specializing in pharmaceutical sales recruiting. A recruiter only suggests what companies he thinks would be a good fit, it’s the candidate who makes the final choice. And if a candidate suspects that a recruiter isn’t serving his best interests, “find another recruiter,” Ruff says.
“Your job is the right job for you. These goals may not be aligned, so if a recruiter is trying to force you into the wrong job for you, find a new recruiter,” advises Dr. Rachelle J. Canter, president of RJC Associates. “And more important, don’t depend on recruiters as your primary job search strategy.”
“The recruiter’s loyalty is to the employer,” he explained. “The employer is the one paying the recruiter’s fee and if the recruiter doesn’t find candidates that match the client’s criteria, the recruiter doesn’t get paid. Period. It is in the recruiter’s best interest, however, to build strong relationships with the top candidates in their respective field. When the recruiter is contacted with a new job opening, a good recruiter will already have a pool of well qualified candidates that they can contact for the position.”
Canter agrees. “A recruiter’s responsibility to the client (the company with a vacancy) is to find the best candidate for the opening, or at least an appropriate candidate for the opening.” Their responsibility to their firm is to maximize placements so they generate money for the firm — and hopefully do so in an honest and professional fashion. And the recruiter’s responsibility to you, the job-seeker,,” she concluded, “is to present appropriate opportunities. But it is easy to think the recruiter is working for you and that his/her job is to find the best job for you. WRONG! You are the only one with the responsibility and the mission to find the best job for you, so do not delegate this responsibility to anyone else or you are apt to find yourself in the wrong job.”
Ruff concluded with some guidelines for working with recruiters that bear repeating:
- “Be careful and selective about choosing recruiters to whom you will send your resume.
- Meet face-to-face.
- Ask the recruiter to secure permission from you before presenting your resume to any company.
- Ask for advice about each person you are interviewing with.
- Follow the recruiter’s advice about preparing for an interview. Do what he or she says to do.
- Let the recruiter see your brag book and suggest ways to improve it.
- Follow up with the recruiter after each interview.
- Do what you say you are going to do.”
“Follow these guidelines,” Ruff said, “[and] you will greatly increase your chances of working successfully with a recruiter.”
Workplace Gossip: Where’s The Harm?
June 04, 2008 by pink_rain09@msn.comAs you begin your career working in an entry level job you are likely to encounter the workplace gossip problem. Often called office politics, this little troublemaker has been the ruination of many promising careers. To avoid having your entry level job wind up on the chopping block due to workplace gossip, it is a good idea to understand how harmful it can be and why.
Workplace gossip is relaying information, true or not, person to person about a third person or even the company itself. Usually, this information is of a negative tone such as impending layoffs or terminations in the case of corporations or snippets of an individual’s personal life and derogative commentary on their job performance. As we stated before, this information may be truthful or it could be misconstrued observations or even outright lies. In any case, relaying such derogatory information is a dangerous proposition for those employed in entry level jobs.
The danger comes from the fact that you may be spreading a story that you firmly believe to be the truth, which in actuality is not true, or even worse, was intended as a confidential communication. The company is losing production because the employees are busy spreading the word about the latest gossip while the reputation of the third party is being tarnished by the story being told. It doesn’t take a lot of thinking to understand that eventually the story is going to get back to the individual who is being gossiped about or to the management of the company. When this happens, two things can start to happen.
First, the individual will get angry. They may quit the job over the humiliation of having a private matter disclosed in such a way or they may go looking for the source of the information whether it was true or false. If the story being spread is false, there are even laws to protect the individual and the source of the information can be subject to penalty. It is not unheard of for corporations to terminate entry level employees for being involved in such cases.
Secondly, the company can take action. If the gossip being spread is about the company or its private communications is false, you can bet the management will let a few heads roll. Companies don’t like it when their happy employees become disgruntled because some wise guy decided that the memo about a possible layoff next winter needed to be spread around as a plant closing in June. The wheel of blame gets shifted easily and anyone who relayed the message can be held accountable for it.
Final thought: If you want to keep your entry level job, keep your mind on your own business. Workplace gossip is destructive and costly to companies. By steering clear of office politics, you make yourself a more productive worker.
Negotiating Raises Made Easy
by pink_rain09@msn.comNearly every college graduate will enter the workforce by way of an entry level job and, while this is a wonderful place to start, the pay scale for these jobs often leaves something to be desired. If you find that your entry level job is not meeting your financial responsibilities, then the time for negotiations is at hand.
To be honest, there are a lot of people currently employed in jobs that should be paying them a much higher wage but one main thing is preventing this… their failure to ask for it. If you honestly can say that you are doing a good job and bringing something to the company where you work, there is no harm in asking for a pay increase. Get over the fear and ask but, before you do that, do your homework.
There are multitudes of resources available for those working entry level jobs to discover just how much their particular job is worth. One of the best places to look is the Internet where one can find tools such as salary calculators, which can give you a fair estimation of your jobs value. Determining what you are worth before sitting down at the negotiation table can help you argue your case better and reduce the impulse to jump at just any offer your employer might make. Understand before you set out that you may not get an offer as high as the calculator says you could be getting but knowing what the job is worth will help you decide if the offer is enough to make you happy.
Finally, make yourself more valuable. Adding experience gained through internships or additional education can go a long way towards increasing your value in the eyes of your employer. An extra class or educational workshop from time to time keeps you current with industry standards and brings this knowledge back to your company’s resources. In companies with limited budgets or cross-trained personnel, a little extra education or experience can mean the difference between getting a raise and getting excused.
Negotiating for your raise doesn’t have to be hard. By following these simple tips, you can make negotiations for higher pay on your entry level job a simple procedure.
Moving On
by pink_rain09@msn.comWe all worked our way through college and made the grade to find entry level jobs in our chosen fields. Our entry level jobs have been successful and we feel quite good about our success so far. However, something is missing. Either we lost interest in a field that isn’t as exciting as we dreamed it would be or the profit margin just isn’t high enough. Whatever the reason, it has become apparent that it is time to move on. Knowing when it really is time to leave and how to bow out gracefully can make future career moves easier.
Don’t burn your bridges.
This little gem is very good advice. No matter how frustrated you are with your current coworkers or employers, don’t say anything you may regret later. While your current entry level job may appear to be designed for your own personal torture, six months with no job can make it look like heaven on earth. Always leave on good terms, as you might need to come back later.
Take a vacation.
Sometimes, our frustration with our current entry level job is no more than being overextended. If you find that you are contemplating a new career after years of success, take the time to think about the last time you took some time off. If it has been awhile, consider using a few vacation days to think about it before discarding the time you have spent in your present career.
The boss can’t read your mind.
Believe it or not, your employers probably don’t want to see you leave. Unfortunately, if you don’t ask for what you want, they aren’t likely to give it to you. If you are considering a career change based on financial needs, ask for a raise or benefits and support the request with well thought out reasons as to why you need and deserve this consideration.
