We are all aware that using the internet today for a job search is a huge time saver. Webcam interviews and emailed resumes save potential new hires hours of driving, printing, mailing, and air travel time not to mention the countless hours just waiting for flights. Americans are also beginning to realize that webcam technology offers solutions to problems other than time issues: environmental concerns related to dependence on fossil fuels are reframed by the possibilities of electronic communication. Digital technology has given HR and job candidates the “green interview” and eco-friendly employment.

     According to the Sierra Club (sierraclub.org) more than 50 percent of adults believe that their employers should do more to be environmentally responsible. Many companies have already taken steps to do so by embracing technology and using electronic methods such as websites to advertise available positions. Requesting emailed resumes and correspondences is also ecologically conscious. Paperless communications are invaluable in the fight to reduce a company’s carbon footprint; in the production of regular office paper, mills pollute water, air, and soil. Paper production is one of the most polluting industries in North America (ranked 3^rd) and uses chlorine-based bleaches that result in toxic emissions.

     Webcam interviews are also greener than many realize. Americans must cut carbon-dioxide emissions 80 percent in the next 40 years in order to successfully combat global warming. According to the EPA, more than 30% of carbon dioxide emissions in the US result from gasoline engines in cars, light trucks and SUVs.  Additionally, drivers in cities such as Los Angeles and New York City waste over 600 million gallons of gas annually while idling in traffic. The use of webcam interviews reduces the release of carbon dioxide from cars driven by job seekers attending interviews in the job search process.

     The EPA also estimates that air travel causes 3.5 percent of global warming and predicts that the amount could rise to 15 percent in the next 40 years unless America changes the way it does business. On average, an airline flight from the west coast to the east coast requires over 12,000 gallons of fuel, and emits 252,000 pounds or 126 tons of carbon dioxide. Further, the impact of carbon is 2.7x greater in the stratosphere than if emitted on land. In other words, air travel is leaving a colossal carbon footprint on the planet, one that might easily be reduced by eliminating unnecessary air travel via webcam interviewing and webcam conferencing technology. Business travel may be necessary in some cases, but air travel for employment interviews is not.

     When all factors are considered, Internet technology may offer solutions to many of the environmental problems vexing the nation today. Reducing America’s dependence on fossil fuels while further developing alternate and renewable resources is most important; using today’s technology to do this is the easy part.     

Article Title:  Interview Do’s and Don’t’s
Author Byline:  the medical sales recruiter
Author Website: http://www.phcconsulting.com/WordPress

So, who do you like in the presidential primaries?  No, don’t tell me.  I don’t want to start something here.  I do know that there’s an interesting horse race going on in both camps.  So, if the presidential race is on your mind, I found a couple of great posts on Bulls Eye Resumes that take a little something from the candidates to help you with medical device sales rep, laboratory and clinical sales rep, or pharmaceutical sales rep interviews:

Interview Do’s From the Presidential Race:  (a few of my favorites)

Bring your personality to the job interview.  You can be engaging and friendly and yourself while answering interview questions without feeling like you have to have false cheer.  The hiring manager is a person, after all, and will likely be as turned off by that as you would be. 
Answer the specific question asked.  Be prepared, but don’t have your answers so “canned” that you answer by rote and don’t seem engaged in this conversation.  (For a laugh, see some really honest answers here…)
Own your failures.  Don’t act like you don’t have any, because the interviewer knows better.  Focus on what you learned from them.
Interview Don’ts From the Presidential Race:  (again, some of my favorites)

Don’t make false claims about your past job performance.  You will be found out.  Recruiters, especially, will look up your references. 
Don’t schedule your interview during a time when your energy is low.  Are you a morning person, or are you more alert in the afternoons?  You don’t want to walk into an interview looking like you need a nap.
Don’t use the same tired lines everyone else is using.  Buzzwords, yes.  You show that you’re informed on the latest developments in your industry.  Using standard “interview speak” when answering won’t get you the positive attention you want.   
These really are very informative posts, with even more information than what I’ve highlighted here.  Definitely worth the read. 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 students looking for internshipshttp://www.collegerecruiter.com/jobs/ graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

"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.

Ask Not…

     During a recent business development conference, a human resources speaker reminded us of the Mary Tyler Moore show and her character’s job interview with her soon-to-be boss, Lou Grant. As funny as the encounter was, it did bring to light an interesting point: what questions can we as business owners ask our perspective employees?  Lou Grant asked Mary about her religion.  She responded by reminding him that he wasn’t allowed to ask that… intimidated, she did finally answer.

     Discrimination is an issue that we business owners and human resources directors must keep in the back of our minds. EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) Laws were designed to protect potential employees.  Employers, however, must protect themselves against the perception of discrimination. An employer might not hire a 52 year old man because he lacks computer experience.  BUT if during the gentleman’s interview, the employer asks pointed questions regarding the man’s age and when he graduated from high school, college, etc., the perception of discrimination may become a huge issue.  

     The best way to avoid this problem when seeking additional personnel is to steer clear of interview questions related to age, religion (thanks Lou Grant), gender or children, race or ethnicity, or disability.  Interviewers should focus on the candidate’s ability to meet the demands of the job and the candidate’s employment background, training and experience. “Friendly” interviews sometimes lead to a discussion of children and their extracurricular activities… and it’s fine if a candidate volunteers such information.  But human resource directors must be careful to not to ask, “Will Johnny’s Little League schedule interview with our company’s meeting schedule?”  If Mom isn’t hired, she may believ e her status as a mother is the reason why.

     By the way, Mary was a Presbyterian.

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/

     It’s been proven that interviewing a candidate via a webcam saves companies time and money. But there are more ways to streamline hiring and improve your interviewing and employee selection process.  Hiring staff members who don’t have the ability or training to be successful in your company is a waste of your time and forces the interview process to unnecessarily begin again.  How can you avoid this?  Systemize your interview by creating a standard series of questions based on the behaviors of your best employees.  Then ask those questions and demand concrete, behavior-based answers:

For example, Why did you leave or are you leaving your previous place of employment?

Why are there gaps in your employment history? How much experience do you have with the computer systems we use? Direct, fact-based questions and answers keep the interview moving quickly while supplying a vast amount of information. 

     Behavior-based questions also demand concrete answers: Specifically describe your current job description. At what aspects of the job are you best?  Have you worked on team projects that were successful? Describe the projects and your specific roles. Behavior-based questions are task-specific and demonstrate a prospect’s ability to concentrate and complete job and project responsibilities. Questions that precise demand focus and detail-orientation.

     Hypotheticals and imaginative questions may be interesting to ask, but unless you are seeking candidates for predominantly creative or artistic jobs, concrete, behavior-based interview questions will get you the most useful information in the least amount of time… the most bang for your buck. It’s still about the bottom line!

What is LiveHire?

            LiveHire is a new way to Interview for jobs on the internet. It allows Employers and Candidates to interview in real-time via a webcam from any location. LiveHire is a tool made specifically to interview candidates for potential employment.

Why Use LiveHire?

            Simply put it’s easy. It’s the next best thing to actually being in the same room as the candidate. Recruiters and Managers will be able to make quicker hiring decisions, decrease costs associated with flying and relocating candidates. You can save time and money on College recruiting while increasing the number of schools to recruit from. You can interview graduates from a handful of schools without leaving your desk. See the candidate; speak with the candidate, Interview the candidate live.