"Sell me this Pencil"; personnel and sales managers used to ask applicants this question during interviews on a regular basis.  Believe it or not, it is a relatively effective way of finding out how well an individual thinks on his / her feet.  Can she speak well and make eye contact when she is surprised?  Can he smile and behave professionally when he is at a loss for words?  Clearly, job applicants will do a better job of “selling that pencil” if they are prepared for the question and have some knowledge of various types of pencils.

The one benefit of this interview strategy for the applicant is that the pencil serves as a focal point of discussion; it is a visual aid that actually allows some description to be “acted upon” by moving the pencil.  It is a real example with which the candidate can dazzle the interviewer.

The point is that preparation and real examples of an applicant’s skills serve to illustrate the qualifications and fit of that applicant. Human resource managers and personnel directors should expect applicants to come in prepared with information abut the company, its mission statement, and the available position.  Candidates should prepare a “portfolio” or project review / summary in order to present a real example of proficiencies, skills, technical and computer knowledge.  The potential employee can reference the portfolio while he or she answers the interviewer’s questions.  This can be done during a webcam interview as well because the portfolio can be emailed, faxed, or snail-mailed to the human resources director or interviewer prior to t he act ual or electronic meeting.

It is very important that an applicant’s portfolio or visual presentation be professional and of the highest quality.  The design of the portfolio must reflect an organization and demonstrate the culture of the profession.  For example, an applicant hoping to fill a graphics position must present a graphics-heavy portfolio, etc.  Further, the applicant should have his or her own copy of the portfolio to reference during the interview.

Author Byline:  Kevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes and the creator of GetHiredNow.TV. Since 1996, he has provided job search assistance to nearly 10,000 people. Author of "51 Ways to Find a Job Fast -- Guaranteed," Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio and others. His latest product, The Instant Job Search Sys
Author Website: http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php

You can learn a lot about networking to find jobs by asking recruiters how they do it to fill jobs. That's because recruiters, also known as headhunters, have to network every day to locate and place candidates in positions they're hired by employers to fill. And recruiters don't get paid until they succeed. So you'd better believe that successful headhunters know a thing or two about networking.

Here are two things, to be exact, you can do to network like a pro and get hired faster ...
1) Google And Call Past Employees
Recruiting expert David Perry, author of "Guerrilla Marketing For Job Hunters," shares a unique way to research potential employers using Google. It's this: Find and call people who used to work where you want to work now. "The fastest way to learn the real workings of an organization is to Google past employees and call them up. This is exactly what I do. Before I take an assignment from a company to place an executive there, I want to know if I'm walking into a hornet's nest," says Perry.

Here's how to do it ... Google the name of your target employer and the word "resume." The search results you get back will include resumes of people who used work there. (You may want to add the word "experience" to "resume" in your search; experiment using Google's Advanced Search options.)

Once you find some resumes, pick up the phone and call. Say: "Hi my name is _________. I'm researching XYZ Corp. and I think you used to work there because I found your resume online. I'm thinking of applying for a job there. May I ask you a few quick questions to see if it's worth my time and effort? I know this is an unusual way to do a job search ..." Most people will be impressed by your initiative, flattered to be asked for their opinion and willing to help you out. "You want to learn about three main areas: the company and its culture; the department you would be working in; and the name of the manager you would be reporting to," says Perry.

Finish your conversation with this all-important question: "If I decide to talk with them, may I say that I spoke with you?" "You ask this for two reasons," advises Perry. "First, if they left on good terms, you can drop that former employee's name when contacting the company to ask for a meeting. Second, that person may phone his old boss and tell him or her to keep an eye out for the smart person who just called -- that would be you." If you're at all hesitant about this technique, try it on a company you have no intention of applying to. Work out the bugs first, then network your way right into your ideal employer.

2) Make Recommendations On LinkedIn
Tom Stewart, VP of Executive Search at Genesis10 in Minneapolis, advises job seekers to use LinkedIn.com as a way to get found by recruiters and employers.

"I tell people to think of LinkedIn as a sort of 'Who's Who' for the Internet savvy professional. It's a great way to expand your visibility -- and the more people who can find you, the better," says Stewart. Key to using LinkedIn effectively is to give and ask for endorsements, also known as recommendations. "Writing recommendations for those in your network benefits everyone. I have found candidates accidentally by clicking on the endorsements they wrote for other people on LinkedIn. I can count at least 6 passive candidates I placed in new jobs this way," says Stewart. Start with your network of first-level connections at LinkedIn. Pick one person you feel strongly about and endorse them. After you write a recommendation, the system prompts the recipient to endorse you, which leads to reciprocity.

Think of your LinkedIn recommendations as free advertisements you can run on other people's profiles. If they are successful and highly visible in their industry, your recommendation -- with your name on it -- will be
highly visible, too. Which increases the likelihood that a recruiter who sees your endorsement will click on it, read your profile, and contact you.

Now, go out and make your own luck!

Kevin Donlin is President of Guaranteed Resumes and the creator of GetHiredNow.TV. Since 1996, he has provided job search assistance to nearly 10,000 people. Author of "51 Ways to Find a Job Fast -- Guaranteed," Kevin has been interviewed by USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, CBS Radio and others. His latest product, The Instant Job Search System, is available at "http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.php">http://www.collegerecruiter.com/guaranteed-resumes.
copyright (c) 2007 by Kevin Donlin Article courtesy of the http://www.recruitingblogswap.com/  a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for http://www.collegerecruiter.com/pages/internship-job-postings.php  college students looking for internships"http://www.collegerecruiter.com/jobs/">recent graduates searching for entry level jobs</a> and other career opportunities.

Article Title:  Second Life Recruiting: The Future?
Author Byline:  Need Career Advice? Resume Help? Visit Us!
Author Website: http://www.boston-technical-recruiter.com/

About two days ago, I stumbled on something that made me cringe at the thought of having missed a technological opportunity. Virtual world recruiting is something fairly new to the industry, yet many major companies such as IBM, GE, and Accenture are utilizing a new environment called Second Life for recruiting and marketing.

Second Life is a virtual world that is fully customizable and allows complete control of the environment down to creating gravity defying floating houses to weapons of mass destruction.  By writing scripts or using thousands of written scripts, you can modify your character and environment in a thousand different ways. From combat to running your own advertising agencies to recruiting real world candidates, Second Life is a dreamscape with some serious potential. Second Life even has a currency which can be exchanged into real life money at a 1RLD to 278SLD ratio. In other words, everything you may need to live it up.

From the perspective of business communications, Second Life is being used as a training ground, conference room, or company propaganda platform. Cannon, Routers, L word are all advertising inside the game. The opportunity to market to over a million individuals with limited competition is nearly irresistible. I considered marketing my own blog before thinking better of it and exploring the world further.

But how viable is second life in terms of creating a viable recruiting business model? I considered leasing 100 square meter office and advertising my open real world opportunities in game. At the same time I ran across an article which clearly demonstrated that many people in SL would not take kindly to RL intrusions into their fantasy world. Would it make sense to offer recruiting services within Second Life to Second Lifers? How about advertise real life jobs to Second Lifers. It is clear that the latter is already being done and is something that I will probably engage in as well.  One of the secrets within the game is that everything is based on your position in search results. If you can figure out a way come up to the top of search results in ingame searches, your traffic can potentially explode. May SL gamers will find good real life opportunities marked ingame hard to resist.

Second life is an interesting new medium that is largely underutilized by small recruiters. But as technology advances and virtual reality becomes more commonplace, have a virtual store in a virtual environment will not seem so far fetches. I’ve always wanted my own island, even if it is inside a server.

http://www.recruitingblogswap.com/

http://www.collegerecruiter.com

http://www.collegerecruiter.com/jobs/

Reprinted with permission from ERE (http://www.ere.net/) 

Interactive recruiting strategies to meet Gen Y expectations

September marks the beginning of another year at colleges and universities across the United States. A few days ago, I was at Dartmouth University watching the frantic scramble of groundskeepers, maintenance staff, and academics as they prepare for their 239th school year!

   2008 and the explosion of Recruiting on the internet.  The past year or so has seen the proliferation of social networking sites like Facebook, Linkedin and Ning--where you can build your own network. The recruiting industry has especially benefited from these sites and we all know there is a huge number of Job Boards out there. There's even a site for people who work at job boards. Anyone can put a job board up and be searched by linking to Simply Hired or Indeed.  For me personally Linkedin is a GodSend, by nature we recruiters are social beings, the fact we can multiply our contacts and social status by sitting at our desks only increases our ability to find passive and great candidates. Of course along the way we make great friends as I have. 

 There has also been an increase in Video Interviewing or Video Resume sites. An employer can list several questions and a potential candidate can answer them online, saving the video and forwarding it to the employer. I call these sites the 8 Track of internet Recruiting.  They soon will be obsolete, and taken over by a new technology an idea for recruiting on the internet just how the 8 Track of the 70's was replaced by the casette, and then replaced by CD and so on and so on.  The CD of Internet Recruiting is Real-Time Job Interviewing or video conferencing for job interviews.  Employers are able to Interview immediately over the internet making fast hiring decisions and decreasing costs. 

 These are exciting times, and the internet is exploding with new ways to find and recruit great talent.  Let's use the internet to also Interview Candidates.