National Roadshow to Help Jobseekers through hard times

Just arrived back into the country after another work trip to San Fran and it's good to be home on Irish soil. Last week was all about management meetings in LinkedIn and also planning for a new recruitment training series for all our recruiters and members of our hiring solutions and recruitment product consultancy departments.

Something I wanted to draw your attention to was a new roadshow that CPL are running designed to assist thousands of job seekers throughout Ireland. It will take place from Friday the 13th of May until Monday the 23rd of May and it will be a free of charge series of talks around the country where job seekers can learn how to prepare a great CV.

To learn more go to here

Also, I am currently searching for a world class full-time recruiter to join my European recruitment team, based out of London, here's the spec for the role if you know of anyone interested.

Looking forward to 2011 and some of the things on my mind

I hope you’re all feeling well fed and watered after the break.  I know I am and I’m looking forward to loads of innovation evolving the recruitment industry this year. Here are some of the things I have my eye on.

Search technology continues to fascinate. Serendipity search is going to be a hot topic. The ability for Google to take your location, a piece of information about you (context) and then serve you up relevant results without you searching for anything (serendipity) is going to open up a world of new search potential. It will take a lot of time for this to seep into relevant recruitment examples. To learn more read how to build a serendipity engine and Google creating a serendipity engine. As well as contextual search instant search is something I’m watching closely as well as the continued excellence being paved with companies like Siri (which Apple recently bought)and Google with voice recognition which is improving in leaps and bounds on the Android platform

Social Ads are a very interesting topic. Expect Facebook to lauch their competitors to AdSense soon. I’m still surprised that more recruiters in Ireland aren’t advertising via LinkedIn and Facebook rather that Google’s AdSense. I’m expecting more to shift some of their advertisement budget over to these mediums. I’ve been using LinkedIn’s DirectAds for the last year, and they are a simply excellent in terms of the high response rates a recruiter can get for targeted passive candidates. You can learn more here

Apps are all the go. I've found that these days you are more than likely getting the lads in the pub speaking about their apps rather then the week’s heroics of their favourite soccer, rugby or GAA superheros. This wasn't so much the case last year, but it was very noticeable this year. App mania has caught hold. This Christmas I spent a lot of time, playing around with Iphone, Ipad and Android apps. The ones that I’ve been enjoying the most are: Live Tracking for family members flight details, IST for speed traps on the road, Bump for sharing details, heart rate, just because it’s so cool, but also handy after a work out and then Instagram for photo sharing which I’m beginning to enjoy a lot.

2011 will also see some interesting entrants into the Irish market. The one I have ear marked for success is Social Talent from Jonathan Campbell. This company offers a number of services worth investigating but one service they will have a  lot of success with in 2011 will be consultancy and development of social media recruitment strategies. If you want someone else to manage your entire social media recruitment strategy and don’t want to go through the trouble of setting up the strategy, the platforms, the content calendar, the analytics then they may be able to help. Check out their site here. They have 4/5 clients already in just a few weeks and I expect this to grow quickly.  I’m also expecting to see the job boards to try something this year, we might see some basic social networking integration into their platforms, maybe even allowing you login to certain sections of your site using Facebook connect, we’ll also more than likely see some partnerships with the likes of Careerbuilder and others to provide more coverage.

 The latest edition of the Irish Recruiters and CIPD social media recruiter course (CSMR) is finsihed – there’s lot’s of rich content in it worth exploring. If you want to get a quick 6/7 hour update on the basics of social media recruitment this could be the one course you want to do in 2011. The course costs 499 euros for non annual members of Irish Recruiters, and 399 for members. It is run over 2 evenings with 3 hours training on each night. Here’s the course content:

• Understanding the importance of social media with examples of best case scenarios from world class brands
• A deep dive into the world of social networking and the variety of networks that exist around the world
•  How to create a social media recruitment strategy that scales. This section will dive into the main considerations that need to be taken into account before you build your strategy.
• A deep dive into LinkedIn and the plethora of tools and techniques that can be deployed on the site to drive your social media recruitment strategy. We’ll take a close look at some of the more advanced features that most people do not pay close attention to but offer huge advantages when deployed properly.  We’ll also look at managing groups and communities.
• A deep dive into Facebook and how it can be used to build brand.  At this part of the course we’ll dive into some world and Irish examples of Fan Pages in the recruitment industry worth reviewing
• The course also takes a close look at using Twitter and picks a small number of recommended apps to be aware of.
• We’ll also look at the power of using YouTube to build brand and we’ll take a close look at how building your own YouTube channel into your social media strategy is worth considering
• We’ll look at the interesting topic of widgets and buttons and why they are so important
• The important topic of metrics will be carefully analysed with recommendations given for free and paid tools that can help you understand your ROI on investment.
• We’ll then look at the innovation that is currently taking part in the world of social media with plenty of time spent reviewing apps, blogs and other social tools and sources that every recruiter in Ireland interested in the world of social media recruitment should be aware of.
• Finally, we’ll talk about the future of social media recruitment and some of the trends and technologies that will shape the industry in the coming years.

There are so many social media tools to use out there but for those already deeply ingrained in the management of their social media recruitment strategy one that you may want to review is Hootsuite that hit the 1 million user mark in December 2010.



QR codes continue to be all the rage in the east and are slowly continuing to appear in Ireland. Check out Audi's latest use of QR Codes:

Just like we are seeing people "Liking" things on Facebook and "Recommending" things on LinkedIn... tagging is going to become more important for products and people in 2011. This will open up a whole new world of micro-social graphs. More on that in future posts.

Wishing you all a very successful 2011.

Happy Hunting!

Irish Recruiters Survey 2010

Thanks to all that took the Irish Recruiters Survey in 2010. Here is the results. Just click on each image to see it in larger format.

LinkedIn is recruiting recruiters!

LinkedIn is recruiting recruiters!

I’m a week into my new job in LinkedIn and I’ve been amazed at the energy and creativity in the company. Lots of exciting products, services and iterative innovation on the way.

I wanted to let the folk of Irish Recruiters know that I am currently building out an international recruitment organisation and as such there are 4 recruitment opportunities on offer at the moment, and there will be more to come:

• Full –Time Recruiter role based out of Dublin (Sales and Marketing)
• Full-Time Recruitment Coordinator based out of Dublin
• Contract Recruiter role in Dublin, 11 months (Sales and Marketing)
• Contract Recruiter role in London, 11 months (Sales and Marketing)

Full-Time and Contractor Recruiter Roles

At LinkedIn we are looking for incredibly passionate recruiters who don’t want to just recruit, but also want to take on some interesting high-impact project work as well as come to a company and culture where we will expect you to contribute heavily to come up with ideas of how we can develop new world class recruitment products and services

Skills needed are:

• 5+ years  in-house sourcing experience in a IT/Online Media/Traditional Media multi-national, with experience recruiting for sales, marketing and operation divisions across Europe (at this time no agency recruiters need apply).
• 2+ direct sourcing experience with strong knowledge of Boolean logic and data mining techniques.
• Huge passion for social media and feel at home talking about walls, tweets, hashtags and updates.
• Experience using LinkedIn Recruiter or LinkedIn as a recruiting tool.
• Be client focused and sales oriented with excellent relationship management skills.
• Strong project management skills (experience running Europen wide projects a plus).
• Knowledge of online media and traditional media industries is a huge plus.

Recruitment Coordinator

At LinkedIn we are looking for a Recruitment Coordinator with multiple language skills who has huge passion for social networking and has flexible skills which allows the candidate take part in a number of areas in the recruitment function

Skills/Responsibilities needed are:

• 2+ years experience supporting an in-house recruitment function in an IT/Online Media/Traditional Media multi-national.
• Strong coordination skills organizing interview schedules between applicants, hiring managers and the recruitment team.   
• Experience conducting reference checks for all candidates at offer and accept stage. 
• Help to maintain an up-to-date recruitment database. 
• Follow up with applicants in collaboration with recruiters. 
• Help create and manage departmental documentation.
• Conducting sourcing work occasionally for junior open roles.
• Ideal candidate will have fluent English (written and oral) plus one of the following (French, Spanish, German, Dutch)
• Other duties as assigned.

Please send your CV to me answering the following questions:

• Why do you want to join LinkedIn?
• Why should LinkedIn recruit you?
• What experience do you have with deploying social media technology to recruit candidates?
• How do you think location based technologies such as Foursquare or Gowalla can be used to recruit or brand open requisitions at LinkedIn?
• What is your salary expectations?
• And if successful what is your available start date?

These roles are not open to agencies, please do not forward any applications, all applications should be sent to dfitzgerald@linkedin.com

Twitter launches new web site and some new recruitment jobs

It's been a very busy few days with lots of recruitment conferences taking place around the world with my own team in the US presenting at SocialRecruitingSummit and then a number of announcements from the world of tech. The one that caught my attention was the launch of Twitter's new web site last night.

While a lot of us use shiny tools to use Twitter the vast majority of people access Twitter through ww.twitter.com.  The new site is rolling out to users all over the world over the next couple of weeks and although Twitter are dressing this up as some sort of great new user it experience (it will improve things).  It seems like this is a big play to support the company's revenue generating model.

Here is some of the commentary from the web on what some people think: TechBytes here and TechCrunch and here.





 Hays are recruiting recruiters in Ireland and all over the world. To learn more cantact Richard.Eardley@hays.com

Philip Finane also has a recruitment manager role open in Saudi Arabia -

http://directsourcenetwork.blogspot.com/2010/08/expat-jb-opportunity-recruitment.html

Hope to see you at the next Tuesday Club on the 26th of October.

As ever thanks to the annual sponsors of Irish Recruiters: Prima.ie, Loadzabjobs.ie, Arithon.com and Hays.ie!

LinkedIn Deepens Integration with Twitter

It's been on the cards for a while that LinkedIn has been steadily trying to make its platform more social and interactive with users. LinkedIn integrated with Twitter a few months ago, allowing users to Tweet from the platform and pull Tweets into the network with a #in hashtag. In fact, over 1,000,000 users have tied their LinkedIn and Twitter accounts. And this year the network added the ability to “follow” companies, taking a page from both Twitter and Facebook. Today, LinkedIn is furthering its Twitter integration by allowing members to easily find and keep track of their LinkedIn connections on Twitter and more, essentially becoming a full-fledged client

Install the app here.

New Tweetdeck Version

The King and Queen of Location Based Services

First fully functional ATS on the iPhone

Jobscience doing a great job and bringing us all one step closer to the cloud.

TwitJobSearch integrates video interviewing with Skype

With over 400 million individuals engaging with social media and over 500 million Skype users, TwitJobSearch has just introduced a product that facilitates the linking of Skype IDs to Twitter accounts and then allows them to be attached to job offers in Twitter.

Nearly 1 million unique job opportunities have been posted to Twitter in the last 30 days. This makes Twitter the largest job board in the world. TwitJobSearch uses semantic search technology to filter and index these job offers. The new feature allows job seekers to quickly find a job that suits them, attach their Twitter/Skype IDs to the job and to send a tweet to the recruiter notifying them that they've applied. The recruiter then simply clicks on the candidates Skype ID and can instantly be conducting a video interview. A job offer can be tweeted and a video interview commenced in under a minute. That could make TwitJobSearch the "world's fastest job search."

Google announces two Twitter updates

Yesterday Google came out with two Twitter updates worth checking out.













The first is a “replay” feature for public Twitter posts. Look for it as “Updates” on the left options sidebar. This feature is still rolling out, if you didn't hear about it already check here.

The second Twitter related feature comes out of Google Labs and is called Google Follow Finder; you can use it at http://www.followfinder.googlelabs.com/

Twitter buys Tweetie and iPhone OS 4,0

Looks like Twitter are modest enough to realise its failings and have at last gone out and bought Tweetie. Learn more here.

Looking forward to the new iPhone OS 4.0, the new folder functionality, added camera zooming and spell check are going to make my life a lot more easier.

Check out the video review from Cnet here:



And all last week while away I had a chance to play around with the Ipad and I like it alot. Ok, so it doesn't have multi-taking, it still isn't out with 3G functionality, which it will be soon, but it's still great value for 499 dollars for the 16 gig version and very handy on a plane in particular for long haul flights considering the amazing 10 hour battery life. In particular, I really like watching HD YouTube and reading books on it. So far i've downloaded the iBook app and Tweetdeck app built especially for the iPad and am enjoying the easy of use with both.

Check out the video review here:



On another note good to see the Irish econonmy getting some new jobs. Google is currently trying to hire 10 contract recruiters. If any of you out there, especially unemployed recruiters, have 3 years IT recrutiment experience and are interested, check out the roles here:  Suitable candidates can contact: stevengrant@google.com

Glove Mouse Recruiting?

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.