it's ALL about the experience

Sins of the Recruiter

I had to laugh when I saw this newly launched blog which is all about the (mostly) clueless behaviors of recruiters trolling for fresh meat. Seen through the eyes of a software development contractor who launched his search for a new gig a few weeks ago, it is an almost-daily log of recruiting behaviors that are least endearing to candidates.  Talk about first impressions...the posting tags read like a scene from a bad bar pickup: clueless, desperate, moron, foot in mouth, rookie.

Call it morbid curiosity, but I'm going to stop by again soon to see what some poor recruiter-schlump has done now to warrant a public flogging.

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I'm Claudia Faust, and in my day job I’m the head of Products at Improved Experience, where we help employers use feedback to measure and manage engagement for competitive advantage in hiring and retention. Learn more about us here.

Technorati tags: recruiting, first_impressions, improved_experience

The DNA of engagement

I spend a lot of my waking hours thinking about engagement -- what it is, how you get it, and how it can be measured and improved.  It sounds strange, I know -- but I'm not alone (and hey, you're reading along).  The more I research the topic, the more I discover the variety of definitions and expectations: some folks think it's what you do to others, others think it's what you're responsible for yourself.

So what is the DNA of engagement?  What are it's most basic, combustible elements that, when combined, create passion, commitment, and competitive advantage?  Over at RecruitingBlogs.com today I'm exploring the topic from a slightly different perspective...here's a peek:

...it took a nanosecond to sum up the chaos: while mommy was speaking to a clerk a short distance away, the 4 year old was methodically loading up the basket with jars of jam. In the spirit of cooperation, his younger brother (about 2 and a half I think, seated in the basket and clearly enjoying the game) was liberating the jars by dropping them back out of the cart and onto the floor below. The baby watched in glee as the jars bounced, crashed, and generally made a really delicious mess...

Drop by for a read, and leave me your comments.  Who knows?  I may even reach out to you for a little more of that product research.

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I'm Claudia Faust, and in my day job I’m the head of Products at Improved Experience, where we help employers use feedback to measure and manage engagement for competitive advantage in hiring and retention. Learn more about us here.

Technorati tags: engagement, recruiting, recruitingblogs.com, improved_experience

Is the Cover Letter Dead?

At the Electronic Recruiting Exchange (ERE) conference in San Diego, we had the distinct pleasure of meeting and chatting with Joyce Lain Kennedy, the nation's first syndicated careers columnist. Her work, CAREERS NOW, is distributed by Tribune Media Services and appears in more than 100 newspapers and websites.  Now, Joyce is a busy woman, what with answering countless correspondence from her readers and revising the 3rd edition of Cover Letters for Dummies, due out January 2009.  No surprise then, after writing career advice for more than 40 years and seeing the paper method of job search move to an increasing reliance in the technological domain, what's really keeping the woman up at night is, "what do recruiters and hiring professionals really think of the cover letter?  Is it dead?" 

Of course, we thought that was a lovely question to pose to those of you who frequent our blog.  So, what do you think?  Is the cover letter a relic of yesterday's recruiting?  Has it been replaced with on-line profiles?  Or, do you still think it has value?  We'd love to hear your thoughts.

Technorati tags:  cover letter; Joyce Lain Kennedy, recruiting and hiring. 

Employee engagement, or something even bigger?

Eddie LeMoine is talking this week about the role of employee engagement in the attraction and retention of great talent.  Here's a snippet of my thoughts on the subject:

...By looking at engagement as increased and continuing commitment in the whole talent supply chain, the business is encouraged to synchronize its efforts of talent management. This touches employer brand (which helps well matched talent identify and self-select to the business), recruitment (which funnels that talent to the right place at the right time in the business), AND retention (which increases business ROI). In this manner the business totally wins: more engagement, higher productivity, and less turnover from day one.

To read the whole exchange, check out his blog here.

tags: employee_engagement, recruiting, retention, employer_brand, candidate_experience

Keeping Passive Candidates in Orbit -- a webcast

Hi there!  Claudia and I will be conducting a national webcast on Tuesday, November 13th.  This Human Capital Institute program is being sponsored by PeopleClick, which means that it is complementary for you to attend.  If you'd like to join us, please sign up today via either of the links below:

http://www.humancapitalinstitute.org/hci/tracks_creating_talent_pipeline.guid

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=6958589803&ref=mf

See you there!

Alise