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.

Recruit Ireland first job board in Ireland to integrate Facebook's Like Button

Recruit Ireland once again showing that they are carefully watching technology's evolution and responding quickly to social media. This time in the form of Facebook's new Like Button feature which is set to change the web towars a new social semantic web. Well done. Early contender for an Irish Recruiters Hat Tip. Learn more in one of their recent blog posts 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.

Monster launch new iPhone app in UK market and plan for one in Ireland soon

I got a mail from one of Monster's directors this morning explaining that their new iPhone app for the UK market is now out. While not disclosing a specific date one will also come out specifically for the Irish market very soon.  It could very well be the first recruitment iPhone app in the market! You can learn more  here!

Ever heard of "in memory" analytics?

The possibilities of "real time recruiting" is becoming ever more transparent. It'a topic I am planning to discuss in more detail in FY10 Irish Recruiter conferences and a newsletter I will be launching for members next year. The world of real time computing is hugely exciting and the cloud is only getting smarter.

Irish Recruiters Toolbar Update

Also, to the 45 users of the Irish Recruiters Toolbar I've added 3 new Irish Recruitment bloggers to the RSS feed.

If you simply go to the left hand side of your toolbar >click on the Irish Recruiters logo > scroll down and hit "refresh toolbar" they should then populate when next you open the broswer.

The toolbar is also now available in Safari as well as Explorer and Firefox!

For those who want to try it just check out the right hand side of the blog for the necessary information.

#irishrecruiters

LinkedIn *finally* opens its Apps Platform

I've been banging on about this for sometime so it came as no suprise to me when like, Facebook and Twitter, LinkedIn have decided to create a development platform. Expect lots of amazing cool new apps to appear.  In Facebook's case we got FarmVille and Facebook Connect. I've lost count of the number of Twitter Apps out there - it seems to be well into the thousands.

LinkedIn is clearly trying to recreate their success. Their launch today of LinkedIn Platform, marks a watershed in the company's development. They now have opened up external applications to use LinkedIn's data.  TweetDeck have been super quick to the game and will be launching LinkedIn integration this week which I'm looking forward to playing with.

I'm delighted to see this happen!!! With social media now permeating most businesses, and having waited the extra year to make this announcement, it  seems to have been a very good position to hold back. LinkedIn this time last year may have alienated their business customers with such an announcment. With social media now increasing in omnipotency in all facets of business it's probably less the case and great timing.

I think this positions the company very well for IPO which will probably happen in the next 6 months. We'll have to wait and see.  Hopefully, we can get them over to one of the future Irish Recruiters events to learn all about it and how they expect this to change the recruitment industry. This is a big step forward for cloud recruitment. I wonder when Monster will open up their platform with an API?

You can learn more here.

Outlook 2010 with Social Connector including LinkedIn

Yesterday Microsoft made a very cool announcment about the new social connector functionality that will be coming out in Outlook. I'm excited about this as it's Outlooks first move into the social arena and the opportunity it offers in terms of sheers numbers is very compelling. Imagine, all the Outlook users in the world, integrating their social media feeds into Outlook!

The Outlook Social Connector is a set of new features to help keep track of your friends and colleagues while enabling you to grow your professional network. The Outlook Social Connector is available now as part of the Microsoft Office 2010 Beta.

LinkedIn will be the first networking site to support the Outlook Social Connector. The LinkedIn functionality will be available in early 2010. To learn what LinkedIn have to say about it go here. 

Office 2010 is looking great and I think it is going to enhance recruiters productivity. I know it has mine. 

Going back to some of my final comments and the Future of Recruitment - Part 2, conference in October get ready in 2010 for "Integration, Integration, Integration"!

LinkedIn signs deal with Twitter

The idea is simple: When you set your status on LinkedIn you can now tweet it as well, amplifying it to your followers and real-time search services like Twitter Search and Bing. And when you tweet, you can send that message to your LinkedIn connections as well, from any Twitter service or tool.

The feature will roll out to everyone over the next couple of days. Great deal for both companies but especially for LinkedIn.

Check out the video to learn more:

Google Announce Social Search

How the search engine worlds changes. First it was universal search, then it was semantic search, now it's social search! At Web 2.0 Expo yesterday VP of search, Marissa Mayer, gave the surprise announcement.

So far all I know about it is:

• The bottom of search results will soon have social networking information from your friends, like their Flickr photos or their status updates. It’s a blended search integration, similar to seeing news or image results
• These are pulled from social networks connected to your Google Profile. The more that are connected, the more social information that will appear in search results.
• They have also improved searching for images using social networks. Images become more relevant using social networking data.

 I'll track what is happening and report back soon. Rumour has it that it will launch in Google labs real soon.

Google deal with Twitter too!

Just out on their blog a few hours after the Microsoft announcement:

“Given this new type of information and its value to search, we are very excited to announce that we have reached an agreement with Twitter to include their updates in our search results. We believe that our search results and user experience will greatly benefit from the inclusion of this up-to-the-minute data, and we look forward to having a product that showcases how tweets can make search better in the coming months. That way, the next time you search for something that can be aided by a real-time observation, say, snow conditions at your favorite ski resort, you’ll find tweets from other users who are there and sharing the latest and greatest information.”

Interestingly, with two large partnerships in place this probably proves that Twitter are in it for the long haul and won't be selling anytime soon!

How will WiMax change recruitment in Ireland

Good article out today, here, from Silicon Republic on WiMax and the the looming "Battle Royale" between wireless-broadband standards (and I thought the App wars or the war for "mobile O/Ss were bad enough)

There are some obvious cloud recruitment advantages to having speeds of 8 to 50mbps for your wire-less connection. We're still a bit away from the magic 50 mbps but when that does come along with more sensor recognition and proximity technologies using GPS we might just be a little closer to talking ads as you walk down Grafton street "hello Mr Fitzgerald we have a job we think you would be interested in" greetings, ala Minority Report. I'm looking forward to seeing just how quickly we can achieve these speeds and when how affordable it becomes. If we have it in 3 years I'd be delighted.

Shaping Ireland's Future - Does the Irish Recruitment Industry have a part to play?

Today I took some time out to study Chris Horn's (CEO of Iona) excellent presentation "Shaping Ireland's Future - Communication for a Smart Economy" that he posted on his blog this Saturday. You can find it here. It's an excellent report and one of the things that caught my eye was on slide 24 bullet point 2 he calls out as one of the country's basic challenges as the "need to attract overseas innovators to add to our own". I couldn't agree more. Not only do we need to grow, foster and cultivate our own indigenous innovators but we also need to be able to find the best talent the world has to offer and bring them to these shores. I believe the Irish HR and Recrutiment industry has its part to play in this particular piece of the economic rebuilding jigsaw. We need to learn how to raise the level of recruitment sophistication in particular so that we can identify where talent globally exists. It is the "identification" and "sourcing" of this talent that I think we can have a tangible impact in as an industry. By creating and supporting a culture of recruitment innovation we can try improve ourselves. Just as Google have Google Labs and Microsoft have Live Labs we should have our own "recruitment labs" in Ireland to fine tune our skills, get better at what we do as a collective, and help bring innovators and talent to this country not just to take jobs which we are predominately focused on but also to create jobs. I sometimes wonder with the recent TCD and UCD R&D Innovation Academy (launched last March) do they have a centre of sourcing excellence in their HR departments focused on these issues. Likewise what is the capability of the enterprise Ireland or the department of enterprise and trade to do likewise. I hope we have people in both "experimenting" with technology to understand how best to leverage it to help us source Phd students in gaming, bi-technology, green technology, ecetra. Likewise have any of our employment related government bodies developed their social media recruitment strategy to let the world know we want to tell them about some of the excellent innovation that is already taken place using the latest and most leading edge channels and tools available. -?-

Crowdsourcing and letting the community build your JD

I'm back in Seattle and just come back from a walk to the famous Pike Market. The salmon run from Alaska has just come in and the Seattle folk are all talk about the latest seasonal salmon receipes they can throw their hat at!

Speaking of receipes I read a very interesting article today about a firm that cleverly decided to let their community cook up their job description for a recent advetisment they had. Over in this part of their world the mentality around recruitment innovation and creatively is still light years ahead of our own industry. I'm hoping we'll see many other examples of this both in the US and in Ireland. It's exactly because of this forward thinking that I am a big believer in wiki-nomics and crowd sourcing. You can catch it here. Looking forward to seeing which company is brave enough to give it a go back home.

Microsoft Unveils New Window Phones Worldwide

Here's the press release:

REDMOND, Wash. — Oct. 6, 2009 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the availability of a new line of Windows® phones around the world that are available in a broad range of styles and prices. With a Windows phone, people can navigate their phone easily with the touch of a finger and browse the Internet on a great mobile browser. People can also connect to two new services that allow them to back up and share data from their phone to the Web and buy a variety of useful applications from the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Microsoft expects partners to deliver more than 30 new phones in more than 20 countries by the end of 2009.

“We all want to connect quickly to the people and information that’s important to us from across our lives at work and at home,” said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. “A Windows phone lets people take their entire world of digital information, communications, applications and entertainment with them wherever they go.”

One Phone for Work and Play

With a Windows phone, people can rely on their phone to balance their lives, from work to home to play. Whether it’s editing a document or sharing several vacation updates through a social networking application, Windows phones help people stay connected to the people and information they care about most. Because people’s phones often match their personality and unique needs, Microsoft now offers the Windows phone Custom Theme Creator. People can create personalized themes for their Windows phone by choosing the color and design that suits their style at http://www.windowsphone.com/theme.

With a Windows phone, people will have familiar work and play experiences right from their Start button, including these:

• A new enhanced Windows Live experience with What’s New feeds and improved Windows Live photo sharing across major social networking sites (such as Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and Flickr)

• A best-in-class e-mail experience and the ability to manage multiple accounts right from their phone with Outlook Mobile and Exchange Server synchronization

• The ability to use PowerPoint and open and edit Word and Excel documents from their phone with Microsoft Office Mobile

• The power to sync files on the phone through Windows Live Media Manager and play media files seamlessly with Windows Media Player

• A redesigned Windows Internet Explorer mobile browser with Adobe Flash Lite2 that brings the mobile Web browsing experience closer to what people have come to expect from their PC

Powerful Mobile Services

With the launch of these new Windows phones, Microsoft debuts new services that bring added value to people.

My Phone is a free service that helps people manage and back up the invaluable information stored on their phone and provides peace of mind and an easy restore option in the event of a lost or damaged phone. My Phone automatically synchronizes the specific types of a phone’s content the user chooses — from contacts and appointments to texts, photos and more — to a password-protected Web site. People can also publish their photos from the My Phone Web site or their phone directly to Windows Live, Facebook, MySpace and Flickr. As part of the free service, people can go online and map the last known location of their phone from when it was last synchronized. In addition, a set of more advanced “lost phone” features are being offered as a premium package that people can activate as needed. The My Phone Premium package includes the ability to immediately locate the phone’s current location on a map (in the U.S. only); remotely lock a phone and post an “if found” message to its screen; loudly ring the phone even if it is set to vibrate or silent mode; and ultimately, if needed, completely erase the phone to protect personal data from falling into the wrong hands. People using My Phone on their phone running either Windows Mobile 6.0, 6.1 or 6.5 can access the premium package free of charge until Nov. 30, 2009. After that date, seven-day access to the premium package will be available for purchase for $4.99 in the U.S.

Also launching today is Windows Marketplace for Mobile, which offers people an easy way to find and purchase high-quality mobile applications for both work and play, while creating a new opportunity for developers to reach millions of people using Windows phones worldwide. Microsoft is pleased today to introduce 246 quality mobile applications initially in Windows Marketplace for work and play, with more than 753 ISVs worldwide on board to continue building out the catalog. People will have access to not only important line-of-business applications for work, but also popular mobile applications for play such as Facebook, MySpace, Netflix, Twikini, WunderRadio and ZAGAT, as well as leading game titles including Sudoku, “Guitar Hero World Tour” and the “PAC-MAN” series, all of which can be easily purchased and installed directly on a Windows phone. All purchased applications are certified by Microsoft to run on Windows phones and are backed by a simple return policy. Over the next few months, Microsoft will continue to evolve Windows Marketplace for Mobile to bring to market a fresh take on the app store that delivers strong value for developers and a great shopping experience for people.

Choice and Availability: A Phone for Everyone

Windows phones give people the power to choose the phone that best fits their style and budget by offering phones with a full physical QWERTY keyboard, others with just a large touch screen, and some with both touch screen and keyboard. Microsoft and its partners now deliver a variety of Windows phones for people to choose from in several regions:

In North America:
• HTC Pure from AT&T
• HTC Imagio from Verizon Wireless
• Samsung Intrepid from Sprint, available Oct. 11, 2009
• HTC Tilt 2 from AT&T, available in the coming weeks

In Latin America:
• Samsung Omnia II available in the coming weeks from TIM Brasil

In Europe:
• MDA Vario V, MDA Compact V and HTC Touch2 and the Samsung Omnia II from Deutsche Telekom in select European markets
• HTC HD2 from Orange, available in the coming weeks in France
• HTC Touch2 from Orange, available in the coming weeks in France, Spain, Switzerland and Romania
• A software update for the HTC Touch Pro2 from Orange, available in the coming weeks in France, U.K. and Romania
• Samsung Omnia II from Orange, available in the coming weeks in Poland, Switzerland and Slovakia and from early December in France
• Samsung Omnia LITE from Orange, available in the coming weeks in France and Spain
• Samsung Omnia PRO B7320 from Orange, available in the coming weeks in France and the U.K.
• Toshiba TG01 W from Orange, available as an update to the TG01 in the coming weeks in France, the U.K., Switzerland and Romania
• LG GM750 and Samsung Omnia II from SFR in France
• TMN Bluebelt 2 and TMN Silverbelt, made by ZTE Corp., from TMN in Portugal
• Samsung Omnia II and Omnia LITE from TMN in Portugal
• HTC Touch Diamond2 from Vodafone in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Australia, South Africa and Central Europe
• HTC Touch Pro2 from Vodafone in the U.K. and Switzerland
• LG GM750 from Vodafone in Germany, the U.K., Spain and the Netherlands
The following phones are available on the open market in Europe:
• Samsung Omnia II, Omnia LITE, Omnia PRO B7320, Omnia PRO B7330 and Omnia PRO B7610 available in October

In Asia:
• ZTE X60 from China Unicom
• HTC Touch Diamond2 from Telstra
The following phones are available on the open market in Asia:
• Acer beTouch E100, beTouch E101, beTouch E200 and Acer neoTouch
• Garmin-Asus nüvifone M20
• HTC Snap, HTC Touch Pro2, HTC Touch Diamond2 and HTC Touch2
• LG GM730 and LG GM550
• Samsung Omnia II and Samsung Omnia PRO B7320, Omnia PRO B7330

Information about the latest updates and new Windows phones is available at http://www.windowsphone.com/

Additional information about Windows phones and on companies bringing the new Windows phones to market can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/newsroom/mobile/default.mspx

Did you know?

Sonru to sponsor Irish Recruiters conference and Fergal O'Byrne to present!

Unfortunately, Flexitimers will not be giving a presentation at October's Future of Recruitment conference but I'm very glad to say that one of Ireland's most respected IT professionals, Fergal O'Byrne will be replacing them and giving his views on the future of recruitment and also talking about the new venture Sonru he recently jointed as CEO.

Here's Fergal's bio and very much looking forward to his presentation:

Fergal joined Sonru, as Chairman in 2008, having previously been a business mentor to the company. He subsequently became CEO in September 2009, after serving as CEO of the Irish Internet Association for 4 years. He is an internet industry entrepreneur and founded Interactive Return (formerly webBusters) back in 1998. He is on the Board of Directors of IGOpeople.com, WINC, and CCD Ltd. He is also Chair of the Project Advisory Group for Fáilte Ireland's eBusiness Support Initiative.

He regularly mentors start up and seed capital companies in Ireland and Denmark. In 2004 he was awarded the Microsoft/IIA Net Visionary Internet Marketer of the Year Award. Fergal is a member of the Irish Internet Association, Marketing Institute of Ireland and Engineers Ireland.

Fergal's most recent book - 10 Online Marketing and Search Engine Essentials was published by Thompson Books. He has been a guest lecturer on the MBA course at the Smurfit School of Business, Dublin. He was part of the original team that helped to set up eircom.net and was Content Development Manager in charge of such projects as the Doras Directory. He holds an Honours Degree in Electronic Engineering from DIT, Kevin Street.

I'm also glad to say that Sonru will be also one of the sponsors for the event!

Cloud Recruitment, the Ovi App Store and LiveCasting!

I'm looking forward to the Irish Recruiters future of recruitment conference-part 2 on the 7th of October. I'm currently researching my 2nd presentation on what cloud recruitment is and what is happening in the current app war that is raging on smart phones. I'm learning loads of new exciting stuff! Some of which I couldn't wait until the conference for and wanted to share now!

For examples, as part of my presentation I'll be mentioning some of the very futuristic concepts that Nokia are working on to catch up with iPhone and Android. Interestingly, with the scale of their business and the number of customers they currently have on the long tail of the scaling curve for apps on smart phones Nokia could be a serious competitor in the market place if Ovi takes off.

Check out the following video to see some of the exciting functionality they are planning that will allow you connect with employers and potential job seekers even easier in the cloud.

Google to launch new upgraded version of its search engine and Facebook getting serious about search

Today Google announced it is launching a new upgraded version of its search engine. It even went as far as releasing the developers preview of it today, code named "Caffeine". In the announcement they explain that it will improve the speed, accuracy, size, and comprehensiveness of Google search.

Learn more here

Also, it looks like Facebook are getting serious about search. In particular the FriendFeed acquisition looks very exciting. Learn more here and here. The race for a private and public real time aggregated semantic capable search market has got a lot more interesting. This union is a very significant move that could be Twitter's biggest challenge yet. And it is the joining of the very talented industry recognised founders of the FriendFeed engineering team who were instrumental in launching Google Mail and Google Maps at their time in Google that could be the biggest cout of all.