How many connections do you have on Facebook? Oh like 400... How many do you have on MySpace? Another 500... How about LinkedIn? Huh? What's that?

LinkedIn is the most important networking tool every college student must have. Why? Because on no other social network will you encounter the number of professionals and hiring managers who are open to having conversations and networking with you.

Myspace has long been seen as the popular network and while networking for job opportunities is possible, you don't always want your employer to see your profile. In fact, you most defiantly do not what that to happen. How about Facebook? Same story. It's too personal, too college oriented. Networking and keeping in touch with college friends is nice, but where will that get you after graduation?

LinkedIn is a professional career fair with experts willing and ready to answer any question you may have, recruiters trying to access your college networks, and managers looking out for fresh talent.

You will not find a better pale to search for internships during school. Every single Fortune 500 company is represented on LinkedIn. So why do so few college student know about LinkedIn? Perhaps, because LinkedIn originated as a tightly knit professional network with little concern for the younger people.

Check your Facebook profile, but build your LinkedIn page, you will not regret it!

By: Gene Leshinsky, The Boston Technical Recruiter

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 26, 2008 at 7:28 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

As you will have noticed on business blogs and websites, there are often invitations to subscribe to them through their RSS feed. But perhaps you have no idea how to do that?

In fact most business people I meet at my workshops on social media marketing do not understand how to subscribe to RSS feeds.

In summary RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication". Think of it this way - if you subscribe to a magazine, you don't need to visit the newsagent to pick up your copy each week - they deliver it to your door.

With RSS, by subscribing to a blog or a website, you will receive updates automatically so you do not have to remember to keep going back to the site to check when they have new content added to the site.

There are a number of different free tools you can use to keep you updated and these are called feed readers - I personally use Bloglines.

But what I have come to realise is that when I am under pressure, the one thing that will slip off my daily activity list is checking for new updates from blogs I subscribe to - in fact it's so long since I checked the feeds in my Bloglines account there must be thousands of potentially high impact articles I have missed.

What I am more likely to do is check emails that fall into my email in-box.

So if I see a great blog that I want to follow I always look to subscribe by email update - now I know some techies will say I am "old fashioned" - but hey that's my preference and i don't spend all day every day by at my computer!

But what do you do if you come across a blog that does not offer email subscriptions?

Well that's when I use Feedblitz, as they have a really cool feature that allows you to enter the URL of the website or blog and get emal updates or update to Skype, Twitter and a host of other ways.

So the next time you want to come across a blog or a website and they do not have an email subscription option and you'd like to have updates straight into your email every time they add content, try out Feedblitz.

Bonus Business Blog Consulting Tips

If you are authoring a business blog, in your design and management of your own feeds:

1. Make sure that you offer subscriptions to your blog through feeds AND by email - remember most people do not know what RSS means and what the benefit is to them.
But saying on your business blog,

"receive updates of our articles by entering your email address here"

is very easy to understand and if you are writing great content, you will increase the liklihood of someone subscribing to your business blog.

2. Make it easy for people to find the link on your page to subscribe to your RSS fees - top right of your business blog is ideal.

3. When you or your webmaster create your feed for your own business blog or webiste, for example using a tool such as Feedburner, do consider offering people access to the full version of your article/blog post.
Many people think that if they only offer an extract it will drive traffic to their blog. To do this you really must be compelling in your article headline and the first couple of sentances to ensure people know the value they will get in the rest of the article.

In my experience, when we get pushed for time, we often will not take that click through to the full blog post or article even if the author is extraordinary in their content. Make it easy for people to access your content.

Remember your goal in your business blog is to add valuable content to help you build your reputation as a THE person to know and do business with in your field so that people reading your business blog will want to connect with you when they are looking for services you offer.

Article by Krishna De and courtesy of Biz Growth News blog

Posted by Candice Arnold on February 25, 2008 at 8:49 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Are you wondering how to bet get started with video online to build buzz about your brand - be that your corporate brand, employer brand or personal brand?

Well over at "The Podcast Sisters" the focus of the show was about video and we discussed how you can get started in using video on your blog or website to support your business growth whether it be to generate moreleads, for training purposes, building community or simply entertainment.

We discuss why we should consider using video, the different options for creating video and tips for posting video's from YouTube or other video distribution sites to your website or blog. You can listen to this weeks episode about online video or download it here.

Article by Krishna De and courtesy of Biz Growth News blog

Posted by Candice Arnold on February 25, 2008 at 6:09 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Reprinted courtesy of TheCareerNews.com

LOS ANGELES, CA -- There are steps you can take that may help protect your current job and keep you employed. Right now, in this day and age, if anyone is working in IT, the closer you work on relationships with customers, the better the opportunities you're going to have.

In tough times, the first projects to be eliminated are the ones that are farthest away from creating customer value. To have a better chance of keeping your job, you want to be involved in work that is customer-focused. Things around infrastructure and security, and ones that are directly related to customer value -- such as projects around CRM, customer portals, revenue management are key. Customers are king right now. Keeping revenues growing are paramount for companies.

It's a good idea to get involved in those kinds of projects now by volunteering to help or gaining needed new skills. In the tech, engineering and scientific communities, there's pent-up demand from customers. There are projects in the pipeline, budgets have already been set, so those are big pluses in the marketplace because that work is already under way. The current demand is still strong, and that's where the optimism comes in.

Article abridged from ComputerWorld.com, and reprinted from TheCareerNews.com. Get the latest breaking News, Tips and Tools for your job search, Free!

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on February 25, 2008 at 1:10 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

You should always bring two things to your job interviews -- a few copies of your resume and a notebook (oh yeah, don't forget the pen).

The person that you are interviewing with likely has an electronic copy of your resume that they could easily print out, but don't rely on them to do it. Bring a few copies with you.

Make sure that you bring a notebook and pen to take notes during the interview. It is always a nice touch to ask the interviewer, "If you don't mind, I'd like to take some notes during our meeting... is that OK with you?"

The notebook can service a dual purpose -- jot down important points and pearls of wisdom offered up by the interviewer, AND before your interview you can write down in your notebook the key points that you want to communicate during your interview. When you're in interview mode (and in the hot seat) it's quite a challenge to remember the bullet points that you wanted to hit on.

Good Luck... go get 'em!

By: Syd Kain, Global Pitch

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 25, 2008 at 12:47 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Is corporate HR and their executive team receptive to social media?

A commenter recently asked:

Curious of your thoughts regarding how receptive HR is in including social media strategy as part of their marketing and media mix. I think for many of us it is a no-brainer, and I believe Executives are beginning to understand the power of social media and the habits of their target, but from your experience, are you finding HR Execs receptive and willing to allocate appropriate portions of their budgets for this?

Julie O'Reilly
Marcom Village

What do you think when you hear "do you have a social media strategy?" Do you think about making media buys to run banners on sites like Facebook and LinkedIn; or maybe placing employment messaging within other publisher's podcasts? In recent years the number of sites where you can place ads and the forms these ads are offered in have increased. The introduction of these options for interactive recruitment advertising is exciting and the possibilities are growing by leaps and bounds. But, this is advertising - which doesn't happen to be the core competency of social sites and mediums. These sites are forums where millions upon millions of potential candidates are connecting with one another, participating in active conversations, and changing the very definition of thought leadership. The potential for social media to completely disrupt how companies find and build relationships with candidates is powerful, if they can be convinced to learn how to harness that potential.

I have spent the last eighteen months speaking with corporate HR leaders at some of the largest organizations in America on this very topic - urging then to adopt social computing in their recruiting and retention efforts. It is just in the last month that I have seen corporate HR realize that they have to begin "thinking" about adding social media to their recruiting and retention efforts. But when I discuss crafting a social media strategy, I am not talking about using these sites for advertising, I am talking about efforts such as:

• Publishing employee-generated content that shows the real soul of the company and tells the stories that make the company what it is.
• Using photo, video, audio sharing sites to help those stories come to life.
• Using RSS to distribute this content outside of the corporate career site.
• Having real FAQs sections where candidates can ask questions, get real answers, and have this exchange be indexed and searchable for others.
• Evolve the definition of "relationship marketing" to include building and cultivating your candidate community on your career site through real two-way exchange of information.
• Encourage recruiters, hiring managers (all employees really) to seek out potential hires and build relationships within online communities.

What is the "right" strategy for one company is not necessarily right for the other. The key is to allow your employees to express their stories in the way that is RIGHT for them, thereby authentically and quite literally showing candidates who your company is and what it might be like to work there.

So to answer Julie's question, in my experience, "how receptive is HR in including social media strategy as part of their marketing and media mix?" I think that companies are starting to view advertising within social networks as the no brainer, and they are using budget that they already have allocated to interactive advertising, but just changing where those dollars are being spent. When it comes to harnessing the power of social media to connect to candidates and literally give them the a behind the scenes view into the making of the organization - I would say, "not so much." The fear of creating "too much risk" for the organization due to not being able to control the message is the root of the hesitation.

I have spent so much of my time passionately trying to explain to HR execs what social media IS, describing the changing of the guard that is happening, how thought leadership is changing, how the ability to spread and amplify the affect of messages has evolved, all of this can be seen so clearly through growth and impact of social computing - that I have probably done a poor job of making a traditional bottom-line focused business case for why companies would benefit for using social media to attract and retain the best.

Shel Holtz, an author and blogger with 30 years of organizational communications experience in both corporate and consulting environments, just wrote a terrific post addressing the business case for using social media as a communication channel entitled, Business adoption of social media: It's not about employee rights, where he simply states:

My position on employee engagement in social media is based on my belief that doing so will produce far greater benefit--in the form of enhanced constituent relations--than risk, particularly when it is managed strategically. There are many dimensions to these benefits, some of the most important of which include the following:

• Recruiting and retention--Deloitte is frequently named the best company at which to begin your career. Deloitte is also the company that hosted an employee film festival, in which employees submitted creative videos articulating the company's values and culture. The best of these are now on YouTube. Deloitte has engaged in social media in a variety of other ways, which in part accounts for the company's ability to choose from the cream of the crop. Meanwhile, Clive Holtham, a professor at the Cass Business School, notes some California firms "are finding they cannot attract or retain staff because their IT infrastructure fails to meet the demanding standards of the new generation," according to an article in Data Storage Today. Let's face it: If employers in the don't want to pay for the lion's share of employee medical coverage. They do, however, because without it, they wouldn't be able to attract the talent they need to implement their strategies.


• Employee engagement--Companies with populations of mostly actively engaged employees tend to outperform those with populations of mainly disengaged employees. Engagement flows from a number of factors, but it won't flow at all without trust. Once employees are engaged, they produce discretionary effort on behalf of their employers.

In my view, using Social Media to provide a window into what it is like to work for an organization provides validation for a candidate against the marketing messages. This validation leads to a feeling of trust and genuine interest in the company (engagement), credibility (feeling that working for this employer is a good career decision) and ultimately loyalty (retention). I participate in social media everyday, it has become part of how I work, how I provide thought leadership, and how I judge the thought leadership coming out of other companies - that I know the potential for what it could mean for recruiting and retention - literally in my bones. Is it the only way? No, of course not. But the expectations of candidates are changing. They EXPECT to be able to find out what it is really like to work for a company, and they respect the companies that enable that process and help bubble that relevant information up to the top for them.

Shel says:

People may still want to work there even if they cannot engage in social media. The pay, the experience, the benefits all may carry greater weight than the ability to talk about work on a blog.

In general, though, based on dramatic shifts in culture, society, business and communication, most organizations will be well-served to integrate social media into their communication models.

But for any Fortune 500 company, it comes down to money - not passion for an idea. So my goal for the next month is to put together that financial business case for why Corporations cannot afford to ignore the potential of social media for attracting and keeping their best people.

Article by Julian E. Seery and Shannon M. Seery and courtesy of exceler8ion blog.

Posted by Candice Arnold on February 25, 2008 at 12:18 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Reprinted courtesy of TheCareerNews.com
Abridged: CareerJournal.com

MENLO PARK, CA -- Corporate recruiters have long surfed the Web to vet potential hires, but now they're also surfing blogs to unearth job candidates, expanding their talent pool and gaining insights they say they can't get from resumes and interviews. Most blog-related recruits are professionals in technology and media because jobs in these fields often require knowledge of the blogosphere. In addition, recruiters say they check candidates' blogs about non-career related topics for evidence of writing skills and clues to how well rounded they are.

Greg Sterling, a strategy consultant for Internet companies and a blogger in Oakland, CA., describes job offers as "a natural byproduct of the exposure you get from blogging." He says he gets about 15 inquiries a month from companies and search-firm recruiters seeking to fill consulting gigs and full-time jobs. "My blog is a vehicle that keeps me exposed to people on a daily basis," he notes.

Job seekers who blog increase the odds that a potential employer will find information online that the candidate wants to be seen. Everybody has an online identity whether they know it or not, and a blog is the single best way to control it.

Article by George Gurney, DearHeadhunter.com, and reprinted from TheCareerNews.com. Get the latest breaking News, Tips and Tools for your job search, Free!

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on February 25, 2008 at 12:16 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

For those of you looking for new sales help in the New Year, let me offer you a tune-up for the way you hire salespeople.

Some of you have long, involved processes that include psych tests (better hope they're certified), questions about whether they were involved in sports in high school (yes, this question is still around), and the highly dubious, "Show me your W-2's" method that is supposed to show whether past performance is predictive of future success.

Forget all of that. And forget your "gut instinct," too. Salespeople are good at selling themselves, so anyone who has ever held a sales position and had any success should be able to convince you they know what they're doing. Most account managers can worm their way into a position by repeating this mantra, "I love the phone. All business starts with the phone, and if I just continue to make my calls, I'll be successful."

Of course, once they are hired, there always seems to be something that keeps them off the phone (I'm no exception, and have been guilty of it in the past, but you might consider adding this to your employment process in the hire of your next salesperson.

Ask them to write down a schedule of a normal day, their first week, the first 30 days, and the first 90 days.

Any experienced employee should know how to hit the ground running. A reliable indicator of what the employee has planned, and a good test question to see if they are detail oriented and looking forward to the job, is to ask them what they plan to do in the first 90 days.

This is just the first step. If they do a good job, you have a roadmap they have committed to if you hire them. If they give you incomplete information, you can work with them to create a timetable that looks right, practicing working together prior to actually hiring them.

In their head, you want to create the image of them working alongside you. You want to create the visual image of what it's like to work with you as a manager. If it's a bad fit, the two of you realize it quickly. And most important, it takes the focus off of the hiring process, where everyone wants to be liked, and puts it on the working process, where everybody makes money.

By: Jim Durbin, http://www.stlrecruiting.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 25, 2008 at 7:59 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Have you ever said, "I love kids. Is there are career for me?" Most likely the ideas that come up all have to do with teaching. Here are some other careers that might be for you, that you might not have thought of.

PEDIATRIC NURSING: A rewarding but possibly stressful choice. If you can handle the bad days there will be many good days where you get to see children get well. A medical career can be great, but a medical career focused on kids, can be amazing.

FAMILY PHOTOGRAPHY: Do you have the skills to make children smile? Photography is hugely popular as a college major, and family photography is one of the great careers that awaits an outgoing and friendly photographer. Making a child comfortable enough to open up and pose for, often long periods of time, can be just what you're looking for.

SCHOOL GUIDANCE & SOCIAL WORK: Having a patient and caring attitude might make you perfect to deal with educational disabilities, such as attention-deficit/ hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), to mental health disorders with children. You can gain great satisfaction from helping students who aren't doing well or succeeding in public school, all the way to helping someone get accepted to the college of their dreams.

MUSEUM EDUCATOR: Giving kids the opportunity to experience history, science, aviation, and more through hands on interaction can be a great fit for someone who wants to work with kids and have a chance to do research.

KID FOCUSED FRANCHISE: Kids are busier than ever, because of extra curricular activities. Many kid focused businesses have sprung up to fill the need. You can start a discussion on one of interest to you at franchisespeak.com and hear from current franchisees to see if starting your own business might be right for you. Kid focused Young Chefs Academy Franchise Discussion is going on right now here.

Here are a few other job titles you might like to research as well -- Librarian, Recreational therapist, Child-care provider, Camp counselor/director, Kids Fitness Instructor, Pediatric dentist/dental hygienist, Pediatrician, Children's retail store clerk/ manager, Birthday Party Entertainer.

By: Franchisespeak.com, the Franchise Information & Discussion forum.

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 22, 2008 at 12:11 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

If you want to start your own recruiting agency there are a few things you need to think about. Contrary to what a recruiter mentioned to me recently, there is a little more to this than buying a box of business cards.

There are many forms your business can take on. Some agencies only offer perm placement on a contingency basis. Others provide executive search and ask for up front retainers. Still others provide contractors for temporary assignments. What are you going to focus on? What is your geographical coverage area, what is your niche staffing market expertise?

You will need to think about getting signed fee agreements, recruiting top candidates, job board advertising, resume databases, applicant tracking systems (ATS), billing & collections, contracts, agreements, training, etc. When you work for a large agency all of this is provided for you. When you hang your own shingle you are on your own to figure things out. And the costs can get steeper than many people imagine.

One option is to join a network of recruiters. Many have tried, some have done well, and some have not. Think about it, what do you need to insure your success? Do you want to build equity in your new business by being able to generate a recurring revenue stream by offering contract placement services? An average IT contractor for example can generate $20/hr in profit, that's over $40,000 for a one-year contract. You will need to pay your contractor weekly, have workers comp insurance, file taxes...Having a partner in your recruiting network to handle this for you can be a huge asset.

Have no doubts, even a small agency consisting of you and only you can be a very profitable enterprise. At an agency many perm people can bill $200K/yr and earn about half or 50%of what they bring in. The agency covers your phone bill, provides you with an office, health insurance, a computer, a manager, a receptionist, a coffee machine, occasional training, support, a daily commute, and more. On your own you can keep the $200K and cover your own expenses..pretty tempting for sure!

The market is heating up and there's no time like the present to launch your own business. Be sure to make a list of your options, your costs and your required bank roll before you start. And maybe splurge on a really good coffee machine for your office.

By: Andrew Stock of Hireability.
HireAbility Connects the World's Recruiters and Parses the World's Resumes

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 22, 2008 at 9:39 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

In the late 90's, the staffing industry witnessed a proliferation of job boards available on the internet. Since that time, this once nifty tool has turned into the crutch on which much of the staffing industry places their weight. Of course, there were (and still are) staffing professionals that shun the job boards in favor of what I'll call "old school' recruiting. As time and innovation have progressed, there has become a divide between these two groups.

A lot of the new folks in the industry don't know what it's like to really recruit; as in 'headhunting' (yes, this kind of recruiting works fine for corporate recruiters too!). This is what our industry was before the internet. These days, most recruiters are really sourcers, leaning entirely on sourcing job boards and databases for resumes. And the old school folks may not use job boards and may have no idea that Infogist, Zoominfo, Linkedin and a plethora of other tools out there even exist. In fact, I've heard many people tell me that using all this new fangled techno stuff is a waste of time that could have been spent cold calling someone.

I'm not faulting either of these groups necessarily. Both methods of runnning a recruiting desk have shown to be successful. But in my personal quest to improve our industry, I feel obligated to expose as many people as possible on the ideas, training and tools we have available to elevate us as an industry. As we've all heard, a high tide raises all boats.

So, I'm proposing a middle ground between the two extremes. The middle ground is this: If you live and breath job boards only, start looking into other methods of recruiting. It's a small difference between what a $70k per year earner and a $200k earner do in a given year. My advise would be to sign up for an account with AccordingtoDanny and learn some of the small things you can do to really make a difference in your daily activities. Or pick up some of the products from billradin.com and read at your leisure on some of the same 'old school' ideas. Note: as the Director of Marketing for HireAbility, I can get you a discount on either of these as well as many other common training tools you may be considering. Trust me when I tell you that I've seen a few simple 'old school' ideas result in a recruiter earning triple the revenue. And yes, you'll have to work a little harder for it, but you'll retire 10 years sooner, too!

If you are the 'old school' recruiter who thinks using the internet as a crutch creates weak recruiters, I can assure you that this isn't always the case. With Zoominfo, for instance, you can locate high level contacts who are 100% passive and 100% cold calls. You specify the job title and industry (or more info if you have it) and they tell you the person in that job and their contact info. It's the ultimate tool for tracking down hard to find contacts.

Or perhaps Infogist is right for you. Imagine a single software tool (so you only have to go through the learning curve for one thing, not several) that can search almost every available database of candidates and bring them to your desk. The candidates are passive as well as active and can come from 1400+ different locations, so there's a great chance you'll be the only recruiter talking to them.

And you can't overlook the online networking tools on the market. Linkedin has over 10 million registered users. Look me up and you'll see all the people I know and who they know, etc. It's like a huge virtual cocktail party except you don't have to print and bring business cards. Can you imagine 10 million business professionals at the same cocktail party carrying lists of every person they know? How could you not go to that party? I could go on and on, but trust me when I tell you that there are some really great tools just waiting to be had. Feel free to contact me for more information on any of these tools, or register an account with HireAbility to recieve free trials and member discounts on many of the ones I mentioned above.

I call on all the 'old school' recruiters whom I admire so much to reach out and learn some of the new tricks. And if you're in a position to do so, learn from some of the new folks out there. And for all of you who source job boards for candidates, do yourself a favor and check out some of the resources above for learning the art of direct recruiting. It'll make you feel better about what you do, you'll make more money and most importantly: you'll have a lot more fun!

By: Andrew Stock of Hireability.
HireAbility Connects the World's Recruiters and Parses the World's Resumes

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 21, 2008 at 9:30 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

The biggest question on your mind, if you're considering the purchase of a franchise should be, "What do I get for the money I'm sending out?". No, I mean it. You really need to stop, quantify and put a value on, "What You are Being Sold". Take a step back forget for a moment that you really like the idea, forget that you want to work for yourself, forget everything you've been told about the franchise. Now ask two questions.

1. Did you know the name of this franchise before you considered the purchase, and do you know what emotion that name draws from people?
2. How many other people have bought into this franchise, are there enough people, where as a group, you can collectively purchase national advertising?

Only if, the answer to those two questions is a resounding YES, is this company worth further consideration.

Why? Read on...

The number one reason is simply because... If you have what it takes to run a successful business, then you will be successful with or without a franchise. Qualities like, risk taker, persistence, perserverance, dedication, and a love for what you do are absolute musts, no matter what. Do you have these qualities? It's time to be honest with yourself, before you write any large franchise fee checks. No franchise system, is going to give you these qualities, and no franchise system is going to be successful for people who don't have these qualities.

So you do have these qualities? Well then...

There are only two things that make your franchise fee and monthly royalties worth a dime. Brand name recognition, and collective national advertising. If these don't already exist for the company you're considering then you will be paying for the chance that some day these might exist. If these don't already exist, then what your franchise broker is telling you, about it being a proven system, is a lie. If it was a proven system, these things would already exist.

Take it slow. Really spend time doing a lot of research on any franchise you're considering. The best thing to do is to call current franchisees of the franchise you're considering and ask, "If you had it to do again, would you?". Then wait six months to a year and call them back and ask them the same question again. If they have the same answer, then and only then is it worth considering further. Research and find owners yourself, do not take a list from the franchise to call. That list is edited to include only the people they want you talking to.

Further... do not, listen to anything the franchise broker has to say. Not a single word. This franchise broker does not own or run a location. This franchise broker does not know anything about the business except, what might convince you to buy it. This franchise broker will mislead you no matter how honest he/she comes across. Just remember this franchise broker's livelihood and family's well being depends on selling this franchise to you. It does not matter how honest someone is, this fact will trump that in the end.

By: Young Chefs Academy Franchise

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 21, 2008 at 7:12 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

In an IT service company the most important business function is that of sales. You can have the best ideas in the world, the best personnel, and the brightest management but if your sales team falls down the entire operation will fall down.

Having an effective sales strategy as well as the right person to implement can it mean the difference between a successful innovative operation and a dud. I have seen several companies with good potential fall flat when it comes to sales. The number of sales people notwithstanding, if the sales strategy is not effective and there is no drive behind implementing it the product or service will not be marketed effectively.

Sales and marketing come hand in hand and while large companies separate the two, in a small firm the function can be combined into one individual with a commensurate salary.

When choosing your team, a startup must be exceptionally judicious about who they hire. A misstep particularly in the sales department will thwart successful operation. The only way to resolve a situation like this is to reassess the sales approach and either replace the weak link or coach the fumbling sales team to success.

Inability or unwillingness to change the business process in the face of adversity will bring down a business despite the best efforts of management.

By: Gene Leshinsky, A Boston Technical Recruiter

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 20, 2008 at 12:05 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Easy answer: It's Both!

If you're considering a franchise purchase, you're considering whether you want to make running your own business your job. That may sound obvious, but if you have never run your own business you may think that it isn't a job, its an investment or a ticket to riches, or many other things. It most certainly is however, a job, and its a job that is almost guaranteed to take more of your time than traditional employment ever would. Working for yourself is, and should be more work than working for someone else.

That is why you can't take the idea of purchasing a franchise or any business lightly. You will need to put your heart into the business, and therefore it has to be something you love to do. If you're in the market to make a large investment of your time and money you will burn yourself out if the reason for investment is to just make money. Money is a motivator to only a small extent. If money was the top motivator in the world, then Yugo Cars would still be around. Things like, status, prestige, power, freedom, community, charity, and much more are often a stronger motivator, and a much longer term motivators.

Whether its a job or an investment in business you're looking for, the same holds true. Look for something you love, because when you realize its something you don't, money won't motivate you during the lean times as there won't be any.

By: astock, FranchiseSpeak.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 19, 2008 at 4:28 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

About two days ago, I stumbled on something that made me cringe at the thought of having missed a technological opportunity. Virtual world recruiting is something fairly new to the industry, yet many major companies such as IBM, GE, and Accenture are utilizing a new environment called Second Life for recruiting and marketing.

Second Life is a virtual world that is fully customizable and allows complete control of the environment down to creating gravity defying floating houses to weapons of mass destruction. By writing scripts or using thousands of written scripts, you can modify your character and environment in a thousand different ways. From combat to running your own advertising agencies to recruiting real world candidates, Second Life is a dreamscape with some serious potential. Second Life even has a currency which can be exchanged into real life money at a 1RLD to 278SLD ratio. In other words, everything you may need to live it up.

From the perspective of business communications, Second Life is being used as a training ground, conference room, or company propaganda platform. Cannon, Routers, L word are all advertising inside the game. The opportunity to market to over a million individuals with limited competition is nearly irresistible. I considered marketing my own blog before thinking better of it and exploring the world further.

But how viable is second life in terms of creating a viable recruiting business model? I considered leasing 100 square meter office and advertising my open real world opportunities in game. At the same time I ran across an article which clearly demonstrated that many people in SL would not take kindly to RL intrusions into their fantasy world. Would it make sense to offer recruiting services within Second Life to Second Lifers? How about advertise real life jobs to Second Lifers. It is clear that the latter is already being done and is something that I will probably engage in as well. One of the secrets within the game is that everything is based on your position in search results. If you can figure out a way come up to the top of search results in ingame searches, your traffic can potentially explode. May SL gamers will find good real life opportunities marked ingame hard to resist.

Second life is an interesting new medium that is largely underutilized by small recruiters. But as technology advances and virtual reality becomes more commonplace, have a virtual store in a virtual environment will not seem so far fetches. I've always wanted my own island, even if it is inside a server.

By: Gene Leshinsky, Boston Technical Recruiter
Need Career Advice? Resume Help? Visit Us!

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 19, 2008 at 2:13 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

The Volere Requirements Process is a full lifecycle method for gathering project requirements.

Requirements Types

Functional requirements are the fundamental or essential subject matter of the product.

Nonfunctional requirements are the properties that the functions must have, such as performance and usability.

Project constraints are restrictions on the product due to the budget or the time available to build the product.

Design constraints impose restrictions on how the product must be designed.

Managing RFC's(Request for Change). If you can't lock in your stakeholders to some basic delivery guidelines you could be headed for a requirements gathering nightmare.

By: Gene Leshinsky, A Boston Technical Recruiter

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 19, 2008 at 9:27 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Margaret Heffernan discusses 10 habits of incompetent managers:

1. Bias Against Action. There will always be reasons not to act, but a good manager has to be decisive and actually has to display a bias for action.
2. Secrecy. Secrecy leads to a very political environment and shows people below you that they cannot be trusted.
3. Over-Sensitivity. If you're always worried to hurt your staff, you probably won't have the courage to fix what's wrong. If you see a problem, it is your duty as a manager to address it.
4. Love of Procedure. Procedures are there for a purpose, to help expedite things so the business can run more smoothly. If procedures become the problem, they have lost their purpose.
5. Preference for Weak Candidates. If you feel threatened by qualified candidates when comes the time to hire or to recognize the contributions of people below you, you may not have what it takes to hold your position as a manager.
6. Focus on Small Tasks. As you go up, you need to delegate and focus on your core responsibilities. If you focus on the wrong things, it leads people to wonder whether you have a sense of direction.
7. Allergy to Deadlines. Deadlines are commitments you make to yourself and to others. Failure to follow them shows a lack of commitment and achievement.
8. Inability to Hire Former Employees. If you're a good manager, you probably had people working for you and that respect you. If you fail to attract any employees to follow you in your new position, it leads [others] to wonder what your subordinates think about you. That's definitely not a sign of a good manager.
9. Addiction to Consultants. A good way to put off taking decisions or putting the load of the decision-making process on someone else's shoulders.
10. Long Hours. Good management means the ability to pace yourself and have a long-term sense of direction. Working very long hours is one of the biggest signs of incompetence actually.

Article courtesy of WorkBloom, an employment blog incorporating a comprehensive career resources section, including the largest database of professionally written resume and cover letter samples on the Web.

Posted by Candice Arnold on February 18, 2008 at 10:07 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Reprinted courtesy of TheCareerNews.com

HARRISBURG, PA -- A number of employers are looking to hire more new employees and graduates to feed their talent pipeline. Employers are looking for their future leaders and want to groom them for those roles. Hiring projections are strong across the board - regardless of industry, economic sector, or geographic region.

Hiring expectations are especially strong in the Midwest, where employers anticipate hiring 25% more new hires and college graduates this year. Competition is expected to be particularly fierce in the engineering, computer science and accounting fields.

Employers are optimistic about hiring, but don't sit back and wait for an employer to find you! The better job market doesn't mean finding a job will be an easy ride. If you want a job soon, you'll need to begin your job search early and work hard to find the right job.

Article abridged from JobWeb.com, and reprinted from TheCareerNews.com. Get the latest breaking News, Tips and Tools for your job search, Free!

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on February 18, 2008 at 12:16 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Reprinted courtesy of TheCareerNews.com

RICHMOND, VA -- One in four U.S. workers is resolving to get a new job this year. The survey found that 26 percent of employed Americans said they will look for a new job in 2008. Nearly one third (31%) of hourly workers, 40 percent of Americans ages 18-34 and 54 percent of employed Hispanics said they plan on job hunting. Conversely, 19 percent of salaried workers said they will be in the market for a new job.

The survey also found that, given the uncertain direction of the U.S. economy, several circumstances could have U.S. workers considering additional work. When asked what economic conditions would cause them or someone in their household to contemplate a second job, 27 percent of respondents cited an increase in energy prices, with an identical percentage citing higher monthly housing costs and the same number indicating the inability to get ahead on their current salary.

The overall employment picture in the U.S. remains strong, but this survey suggests that there are underlying concerns in the work force. With such uncertainty, and with a desire to get ahead, many American workers will be seeking new or additional employment in 2008.

Article abridged from USNewswire, and reprinted from TheCareerNews.com. Get the latest breaking News, Tips and Tools for your job search, Free!

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on February 15, 2008 at 3:22 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

Reprinted courtesy of TheCareerNews.com

BETHLEHEM, PA -- Your chances of getting a job - maybe even the perfect entry-level job - are great! According to many of the employers who are currently recruiting, this is the healthiest job market in three years. Overall, according to Job Outlook 2008, employers plan to hire 16% more graduates in 2007-08 than they did in 2006-07.

The growing demand for entry-level employees and new graduates is a result of an increased demand for employers' products and services. It's also important to note that many employees are retiring, and other employees are leaving organizations for new opportunities. Employers expect the good job market to continue - or perhaps get better!

Employers plan to target business, engineering, and computer-related degrees in 2007-2008. The Top 10 degrees in demand are: Accounting, Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Computer Science, Business Administration and Management, Economics/Finance, Information Sciences & Systems, Marketing/Marketing Management, Computer Engineering, Management Information Systems/ Business Data Processing.

Article abridged from JobWeb.com, and reprinted from TheCareerNews.com. Get the latest breaking News, Tips and Tools for your job search, Free!

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on February 15, 2008 at 1:11 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

It's not easy to find the right person for a job. Weeding through resumes and conducting interviews can be time consuming and even discouraging if no one really seems to stand out. Finding quality interns isn't any easier; however, if you offer quality candidates internships that provide them opportunities to apply what they've learned at school and to participate in work groups with regular employees, you will probably solve the problem of how to find quality new hires.

More and more, companies are looking to former interns when they want to hire someone for an entry-level job. This can work out well if the company provides a challenging and enjoyable internship, and if the interns are hard working, qualified, and eager to learn and become a part of the team. Jim Stroud, in his article "When Recruiting Interns Remember, You Can't Fake Being 'Cool,'" he recounted a story about an intern who had a disappointing experience interning with Intel. The intern in question told a friend who then told Stroud, and the story continues to spread, because students will talk about their internships. And they'll talk more about a bad internship experience because they feel cheated. The complaints of the Intel intern got around to the career services department of his university and they are no longer interested in working with Intel. According to Stroud, "many companies have blacklisted themselves at major universities" by not providing enjoyable internships.

Dr. John Sullivan, Professor of Management at San Francisco State University's College of Business offers 13 ways to find quality interns in his article "Internships: Recruiting the Very Best College Interns."

First: Make use of graduate assistants because they often work closely with the best students.

Second: Use interns who are already doing internships with your company. Dr. Sullivan suggests paying the interns a stipend to recruit other students.

Third: Seek help from recent graduates who are new hires with your company.

Fourth: Use student referrals. Offer some sort of compensation ( i.e. mugs with the company logo, daily planners, t-shirts, etc.) to students who send top candidates to your company for internships.

Fifth: Use online contests to attract students and assess the level of talent that's currently in the market.

Sixth: Use professional student groups. Offering to sponsor the group or one of their meetings, Dr. Sullivan says, will give them a positive of impression of your
company, which can serve you well when seeking referrals.

Seventh: Use networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

Eighth: Conduct Internet searches, looking for students who have won
scholarships or awards.

Ninth: Enlist the aid of faculty internship advisors. They know which students are looking for internships and which ones show the most promise.

Tenth: Offer scholarship contests.

Eleventh: Request faculty referrals, but be prepared for the possibility of rejection. Not all faculty agree with this practice.

Twelfth: Attempt to recruit student mentors.

Thirteenth: Purchase an ad in a campus newspaper.

These methods can help you to find just the right candidate for the internship your company is offering.

Posted by Candice Arnold on February 15, 2008 at 10:15 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Recruiting Skilled IT Workers a Challenge for Many CIOs, Survey Shows

Locating experienced people tops the list of staffing concerns for technology executives today, a new survey shows. Nearly one in four (24 percent) chief information officers (CIOs) polled said finding skilled information technology (IT) professionals is their greatest staffing challenge. Providing employees with adequate skills training ranked a close second, cited by 23 percent of respondents.

The study, developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm, is based on telephone interviews with 1,400 CIOs across the United States.

CIOs were asked, "Of the following staffing issues within the IT department, which do you consider to be your greatest challenge as a CIO?"

Finding skilled technology professionals		24%
Providing staff with adequate professional development resources to keep skills current		23%
Keeping employees productive		17%
Dealing with personality conflicts between employees		11%
Developing defined career paths for IT staff members		10%
Other		5%
None/don't know		10%
		100%

"The need for experienced IT staff has grown in recent years as a result of increased investments by companies in new and updated systems and software," said Katherine Spencer Lee, executive director of Robert Half Technology. "In areas such as web development, database management, wireless networking and applications engineering, the supply of qualified professionals has not kept pace with the demand, leading to multiple job offers for candidates with the right mix of skills and experience."

CIOs at the largest firms (1,000+ employees) are having the greatest difficulty locating IT talent: 27 percent of IT executives from big companies named this their top staffing challenge. At smaller-sized companies, skills development is a greater concern than hiring. Twenty-six percent of CIOs at small companies (100 to 249 employees) said providing adequate training is their biggest concern, above finding qualified IT professionals (22 percent). (See table 1 for a breakdown of response by company size.)

Lee noted that while companies with less staff may lack the budget for formal, in-house training or tuition reimbursement programs, their employees don't have to forego technical education. "Smaller firms often rely on affordable external training providers or web-based resources that can help employees keep their skills current or earn valuable technical accreditations," Lee said.

About the Survey
The national study was developed by Robert Half Technology, a leading provider of information technology professionals on a project and full-time basis, and conducted by an independent research firm. The study is based on more than 1,400 telephone interviews with CIOs from a random sample of U.S. companies with 100 or more employees. In order for the study to be statistically representative and ensure that companies from all segments were represented, the sample was stratified by geographic region, industry and employee size. The results were then weighted to reflect the proper proportions of employee size within the region.

Courtesy of Robert Half Technology. With more than 100 locations in North America, South America, Europe and the Asia-Pacific region, Robert Half Technology is a leading provider of technology professionals for initiatives ranging from web development and multiplatform systems integration to network security and technical support. Robert Half Technology offers online job search services at www.rht.com.

Posted by Sarah Ennenga on February 15, 2008 at 9:48 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

"What job board should I use?" The most important thing is to remember to ask yourself this question before you post any position.

Too often employers fall back on what they know and what they are comfortable with. Back in the day that was the traditional ad in the Sunday paper. Now that the 'classified section' is no longer the end-all-be-all, don't allow any one site to become your only source. No site, despite what they tell you, works for everything.

Every type of job board has its place. In general, there are four options to advertise your position. National boards, regional-general boards, industry/trade-specific boards, and non-employment sites that offer career sections as ancillary content.

Factors that should affect your decision:

The position. You should advertise for a seasoned, high-end professional in a much different manner than you would for a lower-level position.

Your budget. Assuming you can afford $500 for a campaign, a good approach is to target a national site, regional site, and an industry site.

Your timing. How quickly do you need this filled? If you are proactive, and therefore hiring is not urgent, you can take a more conservative approach and test the waters on fewer boards.

Active vs. passive. Are you going after active or passive job seekers? By definition, passive job seekers will not be looking regularly at certain job boards, but may be responsive to opportunities appearing on sites that they frequent for other reasons.

What's worked in the past? If you're doing it right, you've been tracking what sites have been working best for you, by position. Over time, you'll see that every site produces different results for different positions.
If you are a life science Company looking to add 50 employees in the next six months, unless they are all the same position, you should not run out and buy a 50-pack on xyzjobs.com and call it a day.

Putting all your eggs in one basket does have advantages -- it can save you time, money, and headaches -- but making your life a little easier isn't the point.

What will really make your life easier is accomplishing what you set out to do -- which is to attract the best candidate for the right position. That tends to involve a little more effort.

By: Thomas Torresson, PostBetter.com

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 14, 2008 at 4:43 PM | Leave a Comment (0)

We were candidates before we were recruiters so, fundamentally, that began our career. In reality, how can you be a recruiter if you never had to search for a job? It is part of our training, development and often our character. I still on occasion search as a candidate, not because I am unhappy in my job but because as a recruiter it is my job to understand things from all perspectives. What does the candidate see out there? What is my competition offering to attract talent? Is my company competitive? How is our employment branding/identity compared to others?

Beginning of passionate rant #1020087 - Help me up on my soap box.

To be an exceptional recruiter, you must ALWAYS with out exception be able to view the process from all prospectives, first and foremost, without negotiation through the candidate's eyes. I am not being naive with that absolute statement. I do understand the politics of the internal and external recruitment processes but remember why you actually are in this field.

ATTENTION INDIFFERENT RECRUITERS:
Hey you! Yeah you! The one with sandwich in your hand, I am talking to you! Go ahead, take another bite of your ham on rye while you are meeting with a candidate, take another phone call during an interview and answer that incoming email while meeting with a vender.

Don't you get it! It is all about the people! The people you work for, around and with were all candidates once! Your most respected, colleagues and role models got where they are by developing there talents not by osmosis! Maybe you are really in it for the payday but, really, get another job and leave this to the passionate people, it is too important! These are people's careers, their lively hood. Take it seriously, I sure do!

Learn something about this process or GET OUT OF MY BLOG! You do not belong here! Poser! Wash Up! Go find a different seat on another bus!

If you are offended or smiling will really determine if you belong in this recruiters playground!

Ending of passionate rant #1020087 - Help me down from my soap box.

Wow, that was cleansing. I needed that.

My husband, who is also in the field on the vender side told me once that I have to be patient and remember not every recruiter has the passion I do, I shouldn't offend. I don't want to offend...much; I am sensible, I don't expect everyone to be overly-enthusiastic and live and breathe the process. I just hope recruiters and hiring managers while on the job remember that we were candidates before we were recruiters.

By: Nikki Gordon, http://recruitnik.net

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 13, 2008 at 11:40 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

Earlier this week I attended a breakfast seminar hosted by Leadership Austin called "Planting Seeds, Growing Strong Entrepreneurs" which featured Laura Kilcrease, Managing Director of Triton Ventures, and Andrew Martinez, President of the Greater Austin Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Thom Singer moderated the program. The program was lively and informative and one of the gems I picked up has to do with obtaining capital as an entrepreneur.

Many of my clients have been or will be entrepreneurs at one time or another and access to capital is an issue that entrepreneurs think about constantly.

Laura Kilcrease is a founder of Austin Technology Council, the IC2 Institute at the University of Texas, and she is the Managing Director of Triton Ventures, a venture capital firm that invests in spinout and startup technology companies whose products give them a defensible position in large and growing markets. So, Laura certainly qualifies as an expert in financing for entrepreneurial ventures. One comment that she made at the seminar really stuck with me. Ms. Kilcrease said that there are stages to getting financing and that those stages are a chain. From an economic perspective, if any of the links in the chain fall apart (run out of capital, make bad loans), it becomes more difficult for business owners to get financing.

If you are an entrepreneur who needs capital to get started, following are the steps in the investment capital chain that you should expect to work your way through on your way to building your business.

FFF (Family, Friends, and Fools)
This is the first stage of financing in which an entrepreneur obtains relatively small amounts of money from friends, family, and "fools" (I think that term is meant humorously) to start a business. The FFF stage is high risk because you, the entrepreneur, probably have little or no experience in building a business so your investors may have very well thrown away their investment capital.Tip: Be aware of SEC regulations that govern investments.

If all goes well after the FFF stage of financing, you will have paid back your investors and the business will be growing. However, your business may not be stable enough, large enough, or have been in business long enough to qualify for a low interest bank loan. So, what's an entrepreneur to do? Look for Angel Investors.

Angel Investor
An Angel Investor is an affluent individual who provides capital for a business start-up, usually in exchange for shares of stock in the company or ownership equity. Some angel investors organize themselves into angel networks or angel groups to share research and pool their investment capital. Angel Investors, like FFF's, are taking a risk by investing in an entrepreneur so the terms of the deal may be very high interest or may result in the Angel owning a large part of the business.

A company that is still growing after wisely using the Angel capital may need even more money to take the business to the next step. Maybe your company needs to invest in new technologies or a new building which costs more than Angel investors are willing to contribute. But, the company may still not qualify for bank loans. What now? Polish up your business plan and call on a Venture Capital Firm.

Venture Capital (VC)
Venture capital is a type of private equity capital typically provided by professional outside investors to new, growth businesses. Funding is generally made as cash in exchange for shares in the invested company. A venture capital fund is a pooled investment vehicle that primarily invests the financial capital of third-party investors in enterprises that are too risky for the standard capital markets or bank loans. Venture capital can also include managerial and technical expertise. Most venture capital comes from a group of wealthy investors, investment banks and other financial institutions that pool such investments or partnerships. This form of raising capital is popular among new companies, or ventures, with limited operating history, who cannot obtain a bank loan.

The downside for entrepreneurs is that venture capitalists usually get a say in company decisions, in addition to owning a portion of the equity. Venture Capitalists are a little like loan sharks in that they are making high risk loans so they expect a hefty ROI and they expect to get continuous feedback about the business. They may even insert their own hand-picked executives into your company to keep an eye on their investment. Further, if you don't perform the way your investors expect, you could lose your entire business to the VC firm.

If you have gotten this far your business is probably large and profitable thanks to the combined efforts of you, your financiers, and the management team that you and the VC firm put in place. At this stage your VC investors will want to get their money + profit back so you either need to buy them out or, if you want to continue to grow the business either for sale or IPO, there are a couple more steps to go. The business probably qualifies for bank financing so if the company needs an infusion of cash a bank is a good way to go because they will charge much less interest than a VC firm will.

Debt Financing (Loan from a Bank)
At this point, bankers may be courting you for your business. If not, bring your business plan to a reputable commercial banker and get a loan to take your business to the next level of growth and profitability.

Ready to get rich? An IPO is the way to go. Contact an investment bank about taking your company public. You may want to stick around as part of the management team and continue to run your company. In fact, the bank may insist on that. On the other hand, some CEOs take their companies public and then retire to enjoy the good life.

Initial Public Offering (IPO)
An IPO, also referred to simply as a "public offering," is the first sale of stock by a private company to the public. IPOs are often issued by smaller, younger companies seeking capital to expand, but can also be done by large privately-owned companies looking to become publicly traded. In an IPO, the issuer may obtain the assistance of an investment bank, which helps it determine what type of security to issue (common or preferred), best offering price and time to bring it to market.

So there you have it, the steps to getting financing as you grow your business. Not all steps apply to every business. If you want to own your own small or home-based business and you don't plan to grow the enterprise beyond a certain point then you probably won't need to move all the way through the financing chain.

But if you are thinking if founding the next Microsoft or Apple you need to know who to approach about investing money in your venture and you need to know what they will expect you to have accomplished before you make the request. Good luck!

Tip: If you would like to start your own business but aren't sure where to start try contacting your local Chamber of Commerce to what workshops, mentoring, or other help is available.

By: Liz Handlin, Author of The Ultimate Resumes Blogspot

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching entry-level jobs and other career opportunities.

Posted by Lisa Colbert, CollegeRecruiter.com on February 13, 2008 at 11:08 AM | Leave a Comment (0)

I just wanted to bring some attention to an excellent article over on the Ideal People blog in regards to Linkedin and the worlds most influential headhunters.

Although Ideal People used it to self promote and rightly so, I did want to add a few of my own thoughts.

If I had found the time to put together my predictions for 2008 like a few of my peers, Linkedin would have been top of the list in its growing influence on the recruitment market place.

When I think of the criticisms aimed at our industry from clients and candidates and in many cases they have a point, I cannot help feel that Linkedin can re address this. There is no reason for anyone to say that "x consultant knows nothing about my industry" because their background and track record is all there to be seen, as Ideal People clearly outlined.

Linkedin could single handedly put the word "Consultant" back into Recruitment Consultant, and we could then be judged again on our ability to do the job we are asked to do and not be judged on the ability to send the fastest cv.

I cannot help think that Linkedin could be the most influential product for our industry, in its ability to expose the cowboys, something the REC couldn't do!

So as recruitment consultants we need to continually show our credentials with our Linkedin profile to candidates and clients, if we are to improve the standards within Recruitment and stand out from the crowd.

Article by Stephen Fowler and courtesy of Recruitment Views blog.