SourceCon Conference 2010, San Diego California Recruiters are turning out in droves to the online space, making their marks with videoing, blogging, social networking and other creative outlets. I was observing at this year’s SourceCon Conference how the online venues have changed with the increasing prevalence of recruiters using blogs with photos, videos, social networks, etc. This raises interesting conversations around how we...
Read More

Over the weekend I attended and was one of the Speakers at SourceCon 2010 Conference. What is SourceCon?   It was becoming an urgent need in the recruiting industry to have a conference that was focused on the art (some say science) of Sourcing and Researching – SourceCon was born and launched in 2007. In today’s challenges a growing need in specialization of identifying and attracting talent. This specialized skill is...
Read More

This is part 2 of 2.  See the first 4 skills in yesterday’s post. 5. Transparency – Recruiters will ask straightforward questions, but are sometimes met with less-than-forthcoming answers. Why is this? Well, some say because candidates become shy about circumstances in their past that didn’t go so well. Here is some straight advice: better that the recruiter know what may have happened now, than having to do damage...
Read More

1. Realism – Recruiters are one way to get into your choice company when looking for a new job. However, they are not nor should they be the only way you take. My advice is that you work multiple recruiters and be honest about it, because the recruiters will find out eventually. Get involved and build your social network, and be active in professional associations. As recruiters, we’ll do our very best to find the best match and create...
Read More

I titled this blog post for developers, however, I believe it’s sound advice for anyone writing a resume.   What jobseekers need to keep in mind is that skilled recruiters are masters of Boolean logic.  We use it in search engines, metasearch engines and job boards.  I use it to find people’s profiles, blogs and resumes on your webpage.  So how is this information helpful???  The data in these mediums...
Read More

Dear Candidate: When I like your resume enough to pull you out of our database and we’ve arranged a time to talk on the phone, I hope you’ll to be prepared to talk to me.   When I ask you to “tell me about yourself,” I hope you’ll be ready for the question.   There should not be a long, uncomfortable silence from you when I ask this. When you get on the phone during...
Read More

I have spent a total of almost 9 years working for prominent IT companies and I’m in the middle of my 3rd week at Microsoft.  What makes Microsoft unique?  What is unique to Recruiting at Microsoft?  I could fill countless pages of information on this topic, but let me try to summarize on a few things stand out to me.  It may sound like lip service, but the most amazing thing about Microsoft is the people.  I feel...
Read More

Some job seekers don’t fully understand a recruiter’s role. They view recruiters as getting in the middle of their job search, preventing direct contact with the hiring manage(s) for available positions. Well this is actually true and these job seekers are going to have a long and frustrating search for their next job, because the vast majority of companies now use recruiters almost exclusively to facilitate the hiring process...
Read More

Recruiters will be a huge part of your job search. I know most of you wish you could join some kind of secret society allowing direct contact to hiring managers. Well, some believe LinkedIn is that answer, however even if you think you can reach out to them through this network, which I would still encourage you, just know that they will refer you to a recruiter to do the first contact. Of course it is possible to have unrealistic...
Read More

A recruiter walks into a bar…    I was sitting in a bar in Bellevue last week, waiting for my to-go order.  I started chatting with two gentlemen sitting next to me and one happened to be a new hire in my organization, hired by one of my fellow Bing recruiters.  As we were talking, he asked me what I thought was a strange question: “Are recruiters incentivized to hire people?”  He wondered if we were...
Read More