Minnesota Headhunter

Who’s Hiring? Week of 9/25/09

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Phil Rosenberg, President of reCareered

Who's Hiring is a weekly survey of companies showing the highest hiring activity. Not only is this valuable for job seekers, but for business analysts, corporate strategists, marketers, salespeople, investment analysts, financial advisers, and others who are interested in companies experiencing growth. Despite the recession, these companies are all expanding.

Total Job Openings:
The Telecommunications, Banking, Business Services, Health Care, and Retail verticals are the top industries currently hiring based on a survey of active job advertisements from the nations’ top job boards.

Based on surveys of US job advertisements in the top job boards and aggregators, the following companies added the most job openings:

Twitter Is A Silver Bullet: Do You Know Anyone Who Has Said That?

I need some help. Do you know of any articles, podcasts, blog posts, etc where a truly knowledgeable, experienced and practicing professional in any industry has said Twitter is the end all?

Here is why I ask. I am doing research for an article I am writing and a well known Recruiter/HR guy is poo pooing the use of Twitter and Social Networking sites in general. And he keeps talking about how people are talking about Twitter as the end all of recruiting much like people spoke about Monster.com and the job boards in the late 90’s.

The thing is I cannot find who this person’s sources are.

Sure a lot of folks are talking about this revolutionary new tool (memo, Twitter has been around a while) and how it can help companies, marketers and yes recruiters get their message out and find people to “sell” but I have not seen anyone say it is the end all.

Can you point me to any credible person in or outside of the Recruiter/HR world who says Twitter will change the axis of our planet?

Job Search Marketing Toolkit - Thank You Letters

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: CareerAlley

Thank you letters are another important part of your Marketing Toolkit. The main purpose (besides the obvious thanks) is to ensure that the interviewer knows that, not only are you are a good match for the job, but that you heard everything that was discussed during the interview.

There is an expectation that everyone will send a Thank You letter, and those that don't may not get the opportunity to continue in the interview process. This is your chance to list those characteristics that match the job and company profile.

As with all writing related to your job search process, the Thank You letter should be well written and tailored to the interviewer. While you may have similar text in your Thank You letters, under no circumstances should your letters look similar to other letters for any one interview process (i.e. don't send the same letter to different interviewers at the same company).

3 FREE Online Seminars: Job Search Tool Kit September 29th | LinkedIn A-Z September 30th | Social Media October 1st

For those not familiar with me and are wondering if a session(s) would be a good use of your time I am an IT Recruiter with 11 years if experience and have been speaking to groups of all ages and skill sets in groups of 20-200 and now online for 7 years.

Here is some background on presentations and interviews I have been a part of and recognition as a Minnesota Social Media Innovator:

• Presentations
• Interviews
• Minnesota Social Media Innovator

While Be Your Own Headhunter is under going a facelift this is how to stay in touch with upcoming seminars:

• MN Headhunter RSS Feed
• MN Headhunter RSS Via EMail
• MN Headhunter Newsletter

All presentations are 60-90 minutes with a Q&A that follows.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to attend the sessions during these times (or are seeing this post after sessions have been held) either click MN Headhunter Blog or Be Your Own Headhunter where you will find a calendar of upcoming events or register anyway so you can get the slides via email.

Four Job Search Frustrations

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Kevin Donlin

I just spent the morning reviewing several hundred emails from job seekers across the country, looking for common frustrations among people looking for work.

As you might imagine, many things are bugging many job seekers in this economy.

But I boiled them down to four prominent job-search frustrations.

Here they are, with suggested solutions.

Which ones apply to you?

Are All Your Job Search Eggs In One Basket?

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Jessica Holbrook is a former Executive Hiring Manager for Fortune 500 companies and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast.

Are all your eggs in one basket?

I knew a guy once that would apply to about 100 jobs and get two call backs. First off, those aren’t great odds and pretty much tell me something isn’t right here. But, secondly – what was even worse was that after he received the call backs he promptly ended his job search. He would declare, I know I’ll get one of these jobs so I don’t have to look anymore. Ok, well maybe he wouldn’t march around, sword in hand, declaring these statements boldly; but that is pretty much what he was saying by abruptly stopping his job search. This wasn’t that long ago and I know you’re thinking who would do such a thing is this economy? Here are some no brainer tips for a successful job search:

So Tell Me About Yourself - STOP! It's A Trick Question

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Jessica Holbrook is a former Executive Hiring Manager for Fortune 500 companies and President/CEO of Great Resumes Fast.

After reading this the ‘Hiring Powers That Be’ are going to revoke my membership and then cut me off from ever working in the Human Resources field again. OK that may be a bit dramatic but I am revealing one of a hiring manager’s secret weapons.

The first question an interviewer most likely asks is “So tell me about yourself.” It may sound harmless but watch out, this is where it can get you in deep trouble and cost you the job! Yes, before you have even discussed qualifications and background experience your answer to this question will either keep you in the running or boot you out before the interview is over.

3 FREE Online Seminars: Job Search Tool Kit September 22nd | LinkedIn A-Z September 23rd | Social Media September 24th

For those not familiar with me and are wondering if a session(s) would be a good use of your time I am an IT Recruiter with 11 years if experience and have been speaking to groups of all ages and skill sets in groups of 20-200 and now online for 7 years.

Here is some background on presentations and interviews I have been a part of and recognition as a Minnesota Social Media Innovator:

• Presentations
• Interviews
• Minnesota Social Media Innovator

While Be Your Own Headhunter is under going a facelift this is how to stay in touch with upcoming seminars:

• MN Headhunter RSS Feed
• MN Headhunter RSS Via EMail
• MN Headhunter Newsletter

All presentations are 60-90 minutes with a Q&A that follows.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to attend the sessions during these times (or are seeing this post after sessions have been held) either click MN Headhunter Blog or Be Your Own Headhunter where you will find a calendar of upcoming events or register anyway so you can get the slides via email.

2 FREE Online Seminars: Job Search Tool Kit September 16th | LinkedIn A-Z September 16th

For those not familiar with me and are wondering if a session(s) would be a good use of your time I am an IT Recruiter with 11 years if experience and have been speaking to groups of all ages and skill sets in groups of 20-200 and now online for 7 years.

Here is some background on presentations and interviews I have been a part of and recognition as a Minnesota Social Media Innovator:

• Presentations
• Interviews
• Minnesota Social Media Innovator

While Be Your Own Headhunter is under going a facelift this is how to stay in touch with upcoming seminars:

• MN Headhunter RSS Feed
• MN Headhunter RSS Via EMail
• MN Headhunter Newsletter

All presentations are 60-90 minutes with a Q&A that follows.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to attend the sessions during these times (or are seeing this post after sessions have been held) either click MN Headhunter Blog or Be Your Own Headhunter where you will find a calendar of upcoming events or register anyway so you can get the slides via email.

New Job Search Ideas -- 50 Cents Each

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Kevin Donlin

I've written before that you can learn more about finding a job by emulating marketing experts than by reading every employment book in the library.

And I still believe that's true.

To illustrate, here's a tactic from Bob Bly, publisher of The Direct Response Letter (www.bly.com) and author of more than 70 books on advertising, copywriting, and other topics.

Bly suggests the following for publishers of email newsletters (e-zines), but it applies to your job search, too, as I'll explain below:

6 Creative Ways to Stand Out in Your Job Search!

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Peggy McKee, The Medical Sales Recruiter

Can’t get an interview?

Can’t get past the first interview?

Are you demonstrating the levels of commitment, drive, tenacity, skills and organization employers want?

Here are 6 tried and true ways to separate you from other candidates and be the candidate everyone wants to hire:

How to Get Into the Mind of an Employer

The following post is courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap:

From: Kevin Donlin

There's an old marketing maxim I live by when advising job seekers.

It comes from Robert Collier, one of the best writers of sales letters and advertising who ever lived.

And it goes like this: To create successful advertising, the writer must enter the conversation already going on in mind of the reader.

Because, everybody is always thinking about something. If you can tap into a person's thoughts with your message, they will pay attention to you.

Applied to your job search, it means that your cover letters should address concerns that are already in the mind of the reader, in this case, your future boss.

Would you like to know two ways to do that, stand out, and get hired faster?

Here they are ...

TCF Bank Stadium Tour Pictures

I am working on updating Gopher The Roses (Gopher football blog) in time for Saturday's kickoff but for the moment thought you might enjoy these photos.

Back on July 31st, 2009 I was invited to be part of a tour group of the new TCF Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Golden Gophers football team (marching band too).

Maybe I was included because of my involvement on the Tailgate Committee (a subcommittee of Gopher Game Day), my volunteer activities on and near campus, my 27 years years as a season ticket holder or maybe because the squeaky wheel made enough noise.

I was not shy about my wanting to get in on a tour and I want to thank my friends at the university and athletic department for including me.

Phil Esten, Associate Athletic Director, gave the tour and to be honest I remember very little of what he said. I was too jacked up, taking pictures and trying to take it all in. Someone said (and I agree) that I was the little kid in the group.

What follows are many of the 100+ photos I took that day:

Minnesota Golden Gopher Football And Head Coach Tim Brewster Using Social Media Sites Like Twitter And Facebook

Over the past year the University of Minnesota Athletic Department has done a wonderful job using social media and social networking sites to promote Gopher football and Head Coach Tim Brewster.

The main site or home for all things Gopher sports related is GopherSports.com

For Gopher football and Head Coach Tim Brewster the following sites have been created using social networking sites allowing for more access, news, photos and video:

Web Sites

• Play4Brew.com (official web site)
• Brew Crew Report (official blog)

Twitter:

• Head Coach Tim Brewster
• Gopher Football
• Gopher Athletics

YouTube

• Play4Brew

Facebook

• Play4Brew

2 FREE Online Seminars: Job Search Tool Kit September 9th | LinkedIn A-Z September 10th

For those not familiar with me and are wondering if a session(s) would be a good use of your time I am an IT Recruiter with 11 years if experience and have been speaking to groups of all ages and skill sets in groups of 20-200 and now online for 7 years.

Here is some background on presentations and interviews I have been a part of and recognition as a Minnesota Social Media Innovator:

• Presentations
• Interviews
• Minnesota Social Media Innovator

While Be Your Own Headhunter is under going a facelift this is how to stay in touch with upcoming seminars:

• MN Headhunter RSS Feed
• MN Headhunter RSS Via EMail
• MN Headhunter Newsletter

All presentations are 60-90 minutes with a Q&A that follows.

PLEASE NOTE: If you are unable to attend the sessions during these times (or are seeing this post after sessions have been held) either click MN Headhunter Blog or Be Your Own Headhunter where you will find a calendar of upcoming events or register anyway so you can get the slides via email.