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Bad Idea: Companies creating Personal Profiles on LinkedIn

Lately I noticed a fast growing trend that companies are creating personal (user) profiles on LinkedIn and start connecting with people and joining groups. As an owner of a large Recruiter group on LinkedIn, Recruitment Consultants with over 64.000 members, I’ m getting 100+ requests per day to join. More and more of these requests are from companies (like NAME .COM) and not from a natural person. Last year I saw 1 out of 200+ requests like that, today it’s approximately 1 out of 50!

But don’t that. It’s a bad idea. I understand that you are trying to build a network around your company but this is not the way. First of all, LinkedIn is a PERSONAL and SOCIAL network and its members expect to connect with real people. People want to connect with people. For this reason it’s not allowed by LinkedIn to “Create a user profile for anyone other than a natural person” (see 10.B.5 of the User Agreement). So all the effort you are putting into it now is a waste of time.Bad Idea: Companies creating Personal Profiles on LinkedIn

1:1 direct job marketing

Experienced security personnel is hard to find these days. Only a few specialists can fulfill this narrow job profile and they tend to work ln the border patrol or as airport police. That’s why Shield Security came up with a unique tool: the Jobcase. This custom-built briefcase contains a recruitment message, written in steel letters. When passed through a security scanner, working security officers can read the job offer clearly.

1:1 direct job marketing

Facebook Like for recruiting?

The Facebook Like button was released 1 year ago and has been a great success. According to Facebook, 10.000 new websites are adding this social tool every day. More than 2.5 million websites have integrated with Facebook, including 80% of U.S. Top 100 websites and over 50% of comScore’s Global Top 100 websites.

The result of all this? Every month, more than 250 million people engage with Facebook on external websites. Moreover, a study last month by Eventbrite concluded that a “Like” is more profitable than a tweet.

And Facebook’s success hasn’t gone without notice. Google recently launched +1, its answer to Facebook’s Like button, and also LinkedIn has a Share button these days to integrate in your website. Facebook Like for recruiting?

Show, share and find workplaces

Lounge Google Taipei Office
Lounge Google Taipei Office

I recently wrote about the importance of work location and showing your workplace on your (career)site. Transparency is everywhere, except when it comes to workplaces. Because people spend a lot of time at work it’s important to find a nice workplace. And for this, you want to taste the workplace experience. But corporate websites and job vacancies just don’t deliver.

Meet Amsterdam based WOVOX.com. The Elevator Pitch of WOVOX is a Facebook, Youtube, Flickr, Match.com, and Wikipedia, sitting down in a bar, having drinks and a laugh, brainstorming about workplaces.

This website lets people show workplaces the way they really are through pictures, videos and reviews. It gives potential customers, partners and job seekers an authentic impression of the companies they’re interested in. Of course, it’s a free and open platform. Both companies and individuals can share their workplace.

Show, share and find workplaces

New study reveals penalty for not keeping up in relentlessly changing mobile category

TNS, the world’s largest custom research company, launched TNS Mobile Life 2011, the largest ever global research study into today’s mobile consumer. Now into its sixth year, TNS Mobile Life is the result of more than 25,000 hours of interviews with over 34,000 respondents in 43 countries. It provides a complete understanding of consumer experiences with mobility today and insights into how this will change tomorrow.
The findings highlight that as “static” functionality such as SMS and still imaging become commoditised, growth will be driven through further demand for social functionality and new demands for video calling, streaming and sharing services: New study reveals penalty for not keeping up in relentlessly changing mobile category

Work Location, Work Location, Work Location

Often people say that location is the most important thing for a business. Then, the most important things is… location. And so on. There are many different reasons why location is important to a business and attracting the right staff is one of them. For many people the work location is an important criteria when searching for jobs.

According to research, women attach more importance on location when choosing a new job. Up to 33 percent will not travel further than they already do. If your company is based on a location that can easily be reached by car and public transport this could be a great pull factor when trying to attract new staff. For example, if you are looking for a new Management Assistant the work location is probably in the top three job criteria.

Choosing the right location matters if you want to hire the right skills at the right price. If you are looking for particular skills some locations are more suitable than others due to related industries in that area, unemployment rates or competitors.

Take also into account the image and work atmosphere you want to create. High class businesses require top locations and a high class interior. Be consistent. Too often career sites are filled with stock photos and don’t give insight, literally, in the working environment. That’s a real shame because it’s so easy to add a video or photos to the career site.

Here are a few examples of companies who put extra effort in creating a great work atmosphere…

Adobe

Adobe’s office in Waltham, MA. Photos by Stephen Searer, Office Snapshots.

Adobe officeWork Location, Work Location, Work Location

Next generation mobile recruitment apps become social

For over one year, we have mobile Apps in the iTunes Store specifically designed for Recruiters, HRM and Employer Branding specialists to follow the latest news on the iPhone (and also on Android Phone and Windows 7). In the latest version we go social! Now you can profile yourself*, like, share and comment on articles. You can also follow the activities of other users in the community!

Check out the new Recruiting Roundtable iPhone app and download it directly from the iTunes Store. Next generation mobile recruitment apps become social

Career Site and Social Media Recruitment activities go mobile at PepsiCo

Mobile recruiting is becoming increasingly popular to reach a target audience ‘anytime, anywhere’. Moreover, candidates start expecting that the information they are looking for is easily accesible via their mobile devices. With the latest generation of Mobile Apps and, now also iPad Apps, it’s never been easier to stay current on what’s happening around career possibilities or to connect with the talent.

The team at PepsiCo understands this very well and made a new mobile suite of Apps available today. With the new Possibilities… application you’ll now have the latest video, tweets, blog entries, job search tools and alerts all in the palm of your hand. And wow, it looks good!

Connect:
At your fingertips you’ll find the latest video releases from PepsiCo, updates from
the ‘Living the Promise’ employee blog and have the chance to read and respond
to the latest tweets from the recruiting team behind @PepsiCoJOBS

Career Site and Social Media Recruitment activities go mobile at PepsiCo