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How Much Hiring will you be doing in 2012? …

So how do employers perceive the coming year, well, sampling nearly 250 votes from dedicated hiring managers & business owners 55% are expecting to be more active in the hiring market in 2012 than last year. OK, not a decisive industry forecast, but an interesting and optimistic snapshot none the less. See the full results below…

Take a look at the results and comments in full: LinkedIn Poll

A small mention also needs to go out to Guru’s Marketing Director, Richard Hamilton who is also up for the “Personality of the Year Award”. Designed to recognise exceptional work done by an individual within the industry.

The video features Joey DeFrancesco, a disgruntled employee of the Renaissance Hotel in Rhode Island, US, handing his manager a resignation letter while his brass marching band buddies strike up a glorious racket in the background.

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Considered a folk hero amongst countless other workers who feel mistreated in their own jobs, Joey has since launched a blog to share similar stories… (http://joeyquits.tumblr.com)

Well, pondering this question over my breakfast this morning it made me realise that 2012 could well be about the rise in remote working with improved mobile access, cloud services and changes in employer attitudes all playing a part.

A recent report by Cisco highlighted that a third of young professionals and students prioritised flexible working over salary, with 7 out of 10 believing that being in an office regularly was unnecessary (source: Is social media access a right? Generation Y think so). These results seem fairly indicative of what I hear first hand, business leaders often say to me that in order to remain competitive they have to offer more than the standard 9-5 work culture if they are to capture the best talent. Changing attitudes and advances in technology such as smart phones, laptops, cloud services and fast remote networks (and not to mention rising travel costs) are certain to result in changes to work trends over 2012.

Positive and progressive thinking also manifests itself in how candidates apply to jobs. Infographics, augmented reality and social media profiles are now all commonplace. 2011 has seen the rise in unconventional applications made possible by outside-the-box thinking candidates, good techniques and new online services such as Job Lander and visual.ly. On one hand they are great but on the other they can provide a real headache for ATS/Recruitment systems, presenting new challenges for employers, recruiters and the technology companies that supply them. With this in mind perhaps the true technological advancements in 2012 will be made by harnessing this candidate information effectively?

Either way, 2012 should be about embracing the unconventional, whether you are hiring or being hired look beyond the traditional 9-5 working hours or 2 page word CV to get noticed and get behind productivity.

Read the full article in: The Recruiter

To remain competitive it appears businesses need to act to changing attitudes and advancements in technology in order to attract the best talent and get one over on the competition.

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Social Media, Mobile Devices and Time Off Boost December Hiring…

Other infographics you might also like: Do You Pay Your Programmers Too Much? | Behavioural Trends of the Online Jobseeker | How to build a strong employer brand through social | How are businesses using social media for recruitment

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The Holstee Manifesto

Get your holstee manifesto here: Holstee Manifesto Poster

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Digital Recruitment Study: A Social Media Recruitment Survey…

Other infographics you might also like: Do You Pay Your Programmers Too Much? | Behavioural Trends of the Online Jobseeker | How to build a strong employer brand through social | How are businesses using social media for recruitment

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Kindred have produced a quirky little online app designed to measure management style. Run for the Chartered Management Institute this integrated campaign has been designed to get audiences thinking about their management styles cannily deducing which celebrity manager you are most like – for example Richard Branson or Fabio Capello. Good work…

Compare The Manager – CMI

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From ecommerce and email, to search and social media, The Wall features expert commentators and analysis of digital developments. As a future glance of what is waiting just around the next corner then who is better placed to comment on all things recruitment, social hiring, talent acquisition or similar than our very own Marketing Director Richard Hamilton.

With 15 years in the hiring business Richard will be sharing his knowledge with the Brand Republic and The Wall audiences divulging insight and thoughts covering Social Media, Marketing and Digital Strategy relating to the HR and Recruitment sectors.

If you are not familiar with The Wall digital blog, take a peek here: www.wallblog.co.uk

Also feel free to connect with Richard here:

Twitter: @Ric_Hamilton
Wallblog: Wall Posts
Linkedin: Profile

1. Will my advert be professionally copywritten?

The best candidates respond to the best adverts.

2. & 3. Which job boards will my vacancy appear on? and Can you provide me with a media schedule to highlight advert coverage?

Clarify that your vacancy will appear in front of the correct audiences.

4. Do you send out advert links to live campaigns?

Ensure bold posting claims are backed up.

5. Do you search CV databases?

Be careful of job re-posters, ensure you get value add.

6. How much time do you allocate into searching my role?

Find out how much resource you are actually getting.

7. Do you engage candidates via social media?

LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are powerful hiring tools, don’t miss out.

8. Do I get an experienced recruitment Account Manger?

Recommendations whilst your campaign is running will prove invaluable.

9. Do you filter my candidates and get back to them on my behalf?

Don’t get lumbered with unnecessary admin or a bad name for not responding.

10. Will I receive analysis on my flat fee recruitment campaign?

Find out applications, views and filtering breakdowns. How do you know if it has really worked otherwise?

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It seems to have taken an age for Google to launch the company pages for Google+. Well, 6 months in-fact, but has it been worth the wait? Under first inspection it is not Facebook, there are no 3rd party apps, no vanity URLs (i.e. https://plus.google.com/b/101780331240664521355/) and even simple things like assigning admin rights to pages is not available at this stage. With over 40m user accounts and still touted as a genuine long term competitor to Facebook, Google+ does have some killer selling points (circles, hangouts and sparks) and as highlighted in The Social Hiring Potential of Google+ these could certainly play a key role in a strong in-house social hiring strategy…

So what does the addition of Google+ pages bring us, well, being Google they have integrated searching between Google+ and Google Search via “Direct Connect”, this means by simply adding a + before a Google search it will send you straight to the corporate page within Google+ (see video below). Also, Marketers take note, the amount of users that add brands into their circles is going to have a direct impact on how those brands rank in Google search engine listings (essential to know when pushing an employer branding / social hiring strategy). Where Facebook “Likes” are just a social sharing/acknowledgement tool the Google +1 will have a direct worth and value when trying to achieve high search engine listings.

Take a visit to our Google+ Page: Guru Careers and +1 if you like what we do.

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Is this a case of Gen Y being spoilt by the latest smart technologies and an age of easy communication, or, is it their natural right in a modern world and should employers react to this in order to attract and retain the best talent?

Well, Cisco are predicting a dramatic shift in workplace priorities, where:

• 80% of young professionals want to be able to choose their devices for their job.
• 71% of young professionals want to use corporate devices for social media and personal use too.
• 56% of young professionals would not accept a job from a company that bans social media (or they would try to circumvent the policy).
• 66% of young professionals ask about social media policies during interviews.

Are these attitudes a realistic mainstay or a fad bi-product from high profile super employers like Apple and Google? Either way, the new generation of talent is socially engaged, less money motivated and seeking opportunities that combine the work and home life like never before.

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The emergence of infographics as a CV format…

Guru typically receives anywhere between 5-8k applications per week, so I like to think that we sit pretty close to the front row when it comes to monitoring jobseeker trends, changes and fluctuations. The insight we collect underpins key decisions on advertising and engagement strategies, helping us drive application effectiveness and ROI within the business. All very nice, but what does all this have to do with infographic CVs? Well, we keep noticing them and have made the following observations…

First observation: Only people applying to design or social marketing roles have infographic CVs.

This sort of makes sense as data visualisation is centric to what these people do to make a living. Referring to old reports and input from our digital gurus (the social/talent acquisition team), it is extremely rare for us to see an infographic CV outside of these job types.

Second Observation: Infographic CVs are on the rise.

We are talking fractions but we are definitely noticing more of them. Taking a sample from last quarter, our results showed 0.25% of applications were in an infographic format, compared to less than 0.1% from the same period last year. OK, not industry changing numbers, but is this an indication of things to come or just a bi-product from the increased popularity in social marketing roles?

Either way, infographics don’t appear to be going away and with the introduction of mainstream data visualisation tools I expect we are going to be seeing a lot more of them too. Take for example Job Lander, an iPhone app that can instantly convert employment and academic information into a graphical timeline for your CV, or, Visual.ly, a social infographic sharing site with tools that can help create superb visualisations in minutes. Simple tools like these and many others are opening the world of infographics up to the masses making the process of creating an infographic CV easy and accessible, but is this a good thing?

Well, putting this subject out to my HR and Recruitment connections on Twitter (hashtag #InfographicCV) resulted in divided opinion, while some agreed that they can look visually great, others found them frustrating, hard to read and incompatible with ATS / Recruitment systems. What people did seem to agree on was that a CV should be there to spark a conversation, grab interest and say look, I am here and the right match for your job. If an infographic CV can get this information across faster and clearer, then it has succeeded, if not, then it will only succeed in isolating the very people it was meant to impress.

A well written CV, relevant to the vacancy it is intended for, will always stand out regardless of any graphical interpretations. I suppose relevancy is the underlying key point here, the best applications are always the most relevant ones infographic CV or not. Relevancy is the golden rule of jobseeking.

So, before the next generation of jobseekers embark on CV enhancements they should ask themselves this question… Simplifying complexity, does this form part of my job role? If the answer is yes then an infographic CV could work in your favour, for everyone else, the humble two page CV is just fine.

What are your thoughts on infographic CVs? Comment on Twitter… #InfographicCV

Images used are those from Interaction Designer Ritwik Dey

Web: Raid71
Emporium: Raid 71 Big Cartel
Twitter: @raid71

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Chris Thornley with “Make your mark”

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Digital Life: Today & Tomorrow – 15 Key Facts.

Digital Life: Today & Tomorrow from Neo Labels on Vimeo.

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With more than 10,000 votes cast across 15 categories this year’s MARAs have been hugely contested. It seems that we are becoming at home with these types of accolades as this is our 3rd nomination for an innovation award in just over a year and on top of that we hold a New Media Age website award. It is great to get the recognition.

With the winners announced on the 23rd November, Guru will be joining fellow marketing, recruitment and advertising peers to discover the outcome. Wish us luck.

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If you get hired you, you get all the stuff below. No joke.

Visit the Sonar website and view their careers page in full… Sonar

No longer is the best talent restricted to applications made from the best job boards, intelligent social hiring, search and optimisation techniques ensure that we can take great career opportunities and put them directly in front of the best professionals who may or may not be looking.

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Our Social, Search, Digital Gurus…

James Smith – Head of Talent Acquisition

Hi, I’m James, I head up Talent Acquisition @GuruCareers. Think of me as your helpful tweet aficionado on all things #Digital, #SocialMedia & #Recruitment.

Twitter: @DigitalGuru
Linkedin: James Smith

Daniel Masters – Talent Acquisition Specialist (Design / Creative)

I’m Dan and basically I look under rocks to find the best #Design / #Creative talent @GuruCareers. Hey, come on out, I know you’re under there.

Twitter: @Daniel_Guru
Linkedin: Daniel Masters

James Kydd – Talent Acquisition Specialist (Development / Programming)

Digital Recruiter Type for @GuruCareers. I specialise in acquiring talent for #programming #development roles and on a personal note, I still buy video tapes.

Twitter: @James_Guru
Linkedin: James Kydd

Helena Hanson – Talent Acquisition Specialist (Marketing)

Talent Acquisition / Marketing Recruiter @GuruCareers, Sun Worshipper, Chocoholic and I love finding people their dream jobs. Say hi!

Twitter: @Helena_Guru
Linkedin: Helena Hanson

Craig Symon – Talent Acquisition Specialist (Client Services / AM / Sales)

Digital Talent Acquisition Specialist / Social Recruitment Advocate for Digital Client Services roles (Sales, AM, SAM, AD, Client/Agency-side ) @GuruCareers.

Twitter: @Craig_Guru
Linkedin: Craig Symon

Tom Hall – Talent Acquisition Specialist (Gaming)

Gaming specialist @GuruCareers enhanced by World of Warcraft, MMO, XBOX, Sensible Soccer and Fray Bentos. Follow me if you’re interested in great #Gaming #Jobs.

Twitter: @Tom_Guru
Linkedin: Tom Hall

Kim Murray – Talent Acquisition Specialist (Project Management)

Digital Talent Acquisition (Project Managers / Producers) @GuruCareers. I love travelling, social media & Brighton and I am the newest member of the team. Say hi!

Twitter: @Kim_Guru
Linkedin: Kim Murray

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Social Hiring Stats

Other infographics you might also like: Do You Pay Your Programmers Too Much? | Behavioural Trends of the Online Jobseeker | How to build a strong employer brand through social

Job Searching with Social Media, Source: Career Enlightenment

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TBWAChiatDay’s Culture Video

TBWACHIATLA CULTURE VIDEO from 5353 on Vimeo.