ComputerJobs.ie optimises site for iPhone

Congratulations to Niall Kelly of ComputerJobs.ie who has recently launched a new optimised iPhone mobile version of their site. This is a very good example of a job board in Ireland realising the importance of providing a much cleaner and intuitive UI for mobile users rather than just leaving visitors come to their standard web site through a mobile browser. 

What's interesting with the approach that ComputerJobs.ie have taken is to make the dashboard very simpe which I think looks great and they also have created a LinkedIn group which they are driving traffic to in an attempt to create a talent community for the IT Irish industry.

Other news on the hiring front for recruiters, especially those who have recently been made unemployed or will be soon, Google and Facebook are still hiring contracter recruiters. Check out their web site if you are looking for work in this space.

LinkedIn set up European HQ in Dublin and continue to innovate

In another coup for Ireland Inc LinkedIn have decided to set up their European HQ in Dublin. See here for more detail. This is great news and is a clear signal of their intent to expand into Europe. More than likely you can expect like Facebook and Google a European Operations/Sales type facility to be its main focus but time will tell.

Also, I see on their blog that they also have released a new version of their Iphone app here as well as new innovatiion with real-time profiling matching now out in beta-format, learn more here.

Any bets on when Twitter will set up their European HQ in Dublin? Anyone take 2 to 1 for a fiver, before 2011? :)

Twitter List for Irish Recruiters - It's time we create one! And don't forget to take the Twitter Poll!

In the last few months it looks like there has been an explosion of recruiters in Ireland using Twitter. Here are some of the handles I know of. Please add yours if you aren't on the list already to the discussion I started in the Irish Recruiters LinkedIn Group. Even if you are on the list already but know of handles that are not on it please go in and add them as a comment. Will be interesting to see the category breakdown for example how many or employers versus agencies versus job boards, etc.

@cplhr @cplmarketing @marketingeire @irishrecruit @cplitsupport @CPLMultilingual @careerscoacheu @cplhealtcare @janrosa @RecruitmentSoft @FrankBrown @MedicalJobsIRL @VantageLtd @EDENRecruitment @CareersRegister @medicaljobsguru @permjobs @selectpeople @ScienceIreland @mynewcv @irish_jobs @Jobs2Ireland @Workyworks @jobsdotie @Flexitimer @TalentTank @recruitireland @RecruitDirect

If you are looking for hashtag to discuss all things recruitment in Ireland, feel free to use #irishrecruiters like a lot of us at the moment.

If you get a chance please add yourself to my members list: http://twitter.com/irishrecruiters/members

Once we get a comprehensive list in place I'll try categorise the list, put it in an excel sheet and send it out to those whose handles are on the list. This report will be particularly useful to find out what recruiters are specialising in specific disciplines and will allow you a means to form wider and deeper micro-twitter groups to drive conversation in your own specialism's.

Finally, give me your best guess as to how many recruiters in Ireland have a professional Twitter account by taking the poll http://polls.linkedin.com/p/81625/zkdsr I’ll circle back in a few months with what I think the answer actually is.

Twitter's new @anywhere platform

Twitter are taking on Facebook Connect with their own new service called @anywhere. This is another step towards integration with the web and a number of 3rd parties like eBay, Digg, Salesforce.com, Bing and much more are queuing up for a piece of the action.

Basically what is does is when you visit a website that supports @anywhere, you’ll be able to follow any Twitter account associated with that site without navigating away to the profile at Twitter.com. The Twitter blog suggests that the platform will let you follow a participating journalist from his or her byline. It also suggests that you’ll be able to tweet about a YouTube video without interrupting it.

Twitter says the above-mentioned items are are “just the beginning.” Integrating with the rest of the web is a wise move and I'm looking forward to learn more about it in mid April when they say they'll be letting the world know more.

Microsoft Turn Skin Into Touch Screens

I'm fascinated with UIs and one that I have been paying close attention to for quite some time is skin-touch-technology. When you think maybe 5 to 10 years out about what kind of devices I could be carrying in my pockets while I walk down Grafton Street after a week's busy work on my way home it quite easily could be something like a small wireless transmitter, maybe in jewelry format, and a small camera and pointer device, like a small plaster on your index finger. 

In Microsoft we've been looking at this space very carefully and doing a lot of innovation of our own. We've recently developed a technology to turn your skin into a touch screen and make this once theoretical idea a reality. Users wear the "Skinput" device strapped around the top of the arm which projects a screen onto the hand or forearm.

The technology transforms skin into an input interface by using acoustic signals that travel through the body to track touch and movement. PHD student Chris Harrison developed the technology and believes it could replace touch screen phones in the future. Here's what he had to say in a recent article I read.

"Your palms could do everything an iPhone could do. If you consider your palm and fingers provide about as much surface area as an iPhone screen, you might begin to wonder if we shouldn't just use that as the touch screen surface."

So let's say your doing a recruitment podcast you could just tap your fingers to start recording, change the volume, or pause the set up. Likewise, if you are typing a discussion topic for Irish Recruiters, maybe you just type the words on your arm and push your thumb and index finger together to post it.  Although the prototype is still in its testing stage, this technology will probably make it to market some day in the not to distant future.

More to come soon. We are entering the SENSE ECONOMY!

I'll be talking more about what I think the sense econoomy is and why I think it is important to watch  in up and coming Irish Recruiters newsletters.

Windows 7 new phone on the way and the App Wars have a new edition

Just checked out some of the new features coming in the new Windows 7 phone and they look impressive. You can check out some of what's in store in the video below. More to come soon.



Also as the App Wars raging on, interesting to see Google open up its own market place yesterday. You can learn more here.

First iPhone recruitment app hits the market !!!

The last month I've been away getting married and on honeymoon but I'm back now as of Sunday and looking forward to catching up with what has been happening in the world of recruitment and technology in Ireland. From what I can see there has been lots happening!

First off congratulations to txtajob.ie for launching Ireland's first recruitment iPhone app. It's great to see such innovation taking place and I applaud their creativity. I haven't had a chance to download it or play around with it yet but it looks impressive from some of the UI screen shots I've seen so far.Simple, slick and easily navigatable like all good apps should be.

As Derek O'Neill, director of txtajob.ie let me know, "The online and mobile platform, Txtajob.ie, which provides job seekers with relevant job vacancy alerts via mobile phone, has launched Ireland’s first recruitment iPhone application. The txtajob.ie app has been exclusively developed by iMobile and is their second application to launch in the first 8 weeks of operation. The first app for java/symbian phones is compatible with over 92% of all mobile phone handsets currently in use in Ireland.(you can download this one by texting “mobile” to 51000 or by pressing on the green phonie widget on the txtAjob website). Additional features of the new iPhone application are its direct link with txtAjob’s social networking sites including Facebook,Twitter and you tube and a live link to provide up to the minute updates on new job(s) postings. You can down load it here.

Well done Derek and I'm really looking forward to checking it our further. You can get the press release here.

Also, congratulations to Sonru for winning the Bank of Ireland Bright Ideas Challenge Grand Final. You can learn more about what it entails and the prize they won here. Great to see another Irish home grown company constantly pushing the boundaries of recruitment innovation and going from strength to strength.