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Articles tagged 'technology'

Editor's Corner

Yes, Sourcing Tools Matter


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Across the street from my place, there is a large park I like to walk through when it is nice. Beside the tall trees, there is also a large, green field. That large, green field requires maintenance in the form of mowing 2-4 times a month.

I’ve mowed my share of lawns and when the landscapers bring out the big mowing machine and start taking out 6 feet swaths of grass in a few seconds time, I’m pretty impressed.

What does this have to do with sourcing?

The sourcing tools you use matter. That’s why landscapers don’t spend all day doing an easy job like mowing a huge lawn and it’s why sourcers continue to explore and master better tools.

Technology & Resources

Contactually May Be A Sourcer’s Best Friend


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When I first saw Contactually, I didn’t think it mattered to the world of sourcing.

It won’t help you find more potential candidates. It won’t help you do a deep dive of Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter. It also won’t help you narrow down results for searches that are overwhelming in size.  And it won’t help you construct the latest cutting edge Boolean strings.

So why is Contactually potentially one of the best tools sourcers can use to beat the competition?

It all comes down to relationship building.

Technology & Resources

Recruiting Technology Finds a New Home: The Cloud


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I don’t know when or where I first heard the expression “cloud computing,” but I recall thinking it must be something revolutionary. Maybe a breakthrough in quantum computing?

Then it began turning up in conference workshops. Speakers talked about “being in the cloud,” as if there was no better place. No recruiting technology vendor’s demo was complete without a reference to how their SaaS product was “in the cloud.” No tech article was worth publishing without at least one reference to “the cloud.”

Chances are excellent you’ve used the term yourself, only sort of knowing what it means, divining an understanding from the multiple contexts in which you’ve heard or seen the term used.

Chances are excellent you got it sort of right. But in that “sort of” understanding of what cloud computing is lay all sorts of implications and potential complications that can scuttle all the good that cloud computing has to offer. And it does offer plenty of positives, which is why in recruiting, as in some other business areas, software vendors have been actively rebranding, if not entirely rewriting, their products to take advantage of the cloud.

All the cloud boosterism notwithstanding, is cloud computing something you and your company should consider?

Social Media, Technology & Resources

Disrupt-ed Sourcing


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TechCrunch put forth a few contests over the last few months in which readers were asked to provide a compelling reason why they should be awarded a free pass to come to the Disrupt conference that is currently going on this week in San Francisco. Yours truly has always wanted to attend Disrupt so I gave my reason back in mid-June and was selected as one of the recipients of a free pass to the conference this week. So here I am in San Francisco, checking out some of the latest and greatest technology being launched and presented to over 2,000 attendees.

Naturally, my interest in the technology this week leans in the direction of recruiting and sourcing. And I’m not disappointed! There are some pretty neat companies here whom I’ve been able to chat with and, in some cases, catch a quick video with. There are two to me right now that stand out from a sourcing standpoint — and later this week I’ll share a video from some of the other cool companies I’ve chatted with.

The two companies that caught my eye early this week are MindJet and Quixey.

Industry News

Taleo’s Sourcing Partnership with LinkedIn


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The biggest Taleo World ever opened in San Francisco with news the company has forged a partnership with LinkedIn that will streamline candidate sourcing and help keep candidate resumes up-to-date.

The collaboration, one of several developments Taleo Chairman and CEO Michael Gregoire outlined during his keynote to some 1,600 conference-goers this morning, uses LinkedIn’s “Apply Now” capabilities to let candidates apply for Taleo-client positions using their LinkedIn profile.

Industry News, Social Media, Technology & Resources

Gigwalk — A new Mobile Workforce App


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Companies want to get third party information on their customer service, get local pricing information, map buildings and cities, and conduct various other market research projects. So, what better way to do this than to enlist the very individuals who live near and patronize their businesses and communities?

Gigwalk takes “secret shopping” mobile and has created an app (only available on the iPhone right now) to help connect companies with individuals who want to make an extra buck. “Gigwalkers” get paid to collect, capture, and report real-world data while going about their everyday activities. Currently, its clients range from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses across industries, including mapping, real-estate, local, travel, government, consumer research, and retail.

The Sourcing Function

Kettlebells and the Parallels to Sourcing and Recruiting


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kettlebells

My Introduction to Kettlebell Training

Three years ago I had a bone spur ground out of my right shoulder. I waited longer than I should have to move forward with the surgery because I was getting married and didn’t want my arm in a sling for the wedding photos. My own sense of vanity overrode my common sense, although the pictures did come out great. There was a very intense 3-times-a-day rehab phase where I wondered, “Is this shoulder ever going to regain full motion, and will it ever be the same?” I have been working out for 30 years so not being as strong or active initially was a bummer. The kettlebell turned out to be an experiment that proved to be the solution.

Off I went to Dick’s Sporting Goods where I bought my 16kg Kettlebell (recommended starting weight for most men) and a little DVD. 16kg or 35 lbs., not much for a guy used to incline benching 315lbs in a workout…or so I thought. 45 minutes later I was drenched and promptly lost eight pounds in the first two weeks doing this “simple” “basic” routine. My mental gears went off and began to equate basic with fundamental, which sent me off into some thoughts… “There is something here that feels so much like sourcing/recruiting.” The results were great and I decided to dive deeper, buy some books, begin educating myself, and follow my intuition, which ultimately proved very accurate. (Note to self, don’t overthink things too much.) 

Technology & Resources

Three Recruiting Technologies from CES


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Marie Curie once said,  ”Nothing in life is to be feared.  It is only to be understood.”

Technology is a risk.  From learning to adapt to new wireless devices to software platforms, technology can hinder productivity in its failures and increase performance with its shortcuts.  The dualism that new media offers is enough to make any professional second-guess efficiency and weigh the pros and cons.  How many times have you heard someone’s primal scream echo a few cubicles down, or a litany of expletives over a lost document?  Technology is often given a bad reputation for the sins of its forecreators.

Armed with passion and purpose to find products and innovation that would increase productivity and decrease fear for recruiters, I packed comfortable shoes, exactly eight maps with which to navigate, and set out to Vegas to attend the 2011 Consumer Electronics Expo last month.  

Editor's Corner, Technology & Resources

Why Robots Shouldn’t Replace People In Sourcing


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I read an article from AdAge yesterday titled Why Robots Shouldn’t Replace People For Social Media Monitoring, by Darrell Jursa. The article is summed up brilliantly by this quote from it:

“…algorithms and keyword-searches are not a substitute for social skills.”

We in sourcing roles fight this battle with all of the new tools, resources, and technologies that are introduced on a nearly daily basis in our world. Search aggregation tools, semantic technology, auto-monitoring services like the one mentioned in the AdAge article, these tools are all designed to assist us, not to replace us, in monitoring our audiences and what they are talking about.

Technology & Resources

Home Office Technology Suggestions for Sourcers


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It really helps when you have the right tools for the job at hand.   Yes, we can be creative and draw blood from a turnip occasionally, but would it not be nice to have a shovel to dig a ditch rather than a toothpick?  People in the know consistently evaluate their technology gear to ensure they have the best suite of tools for the work they perform or will be asked to perform in the near future.  I believe you will see some reasons that will support the benefit of having the right tools for your home office. Not necessarily as expensive as some people think, either – there are plenty of free tools out there.

There are three reasons I am performing this ritualistic check – survival, timing, and training.  Survival is driven through adaptation and having what you need, when you need it.  Timing (now) – as the busy season at least comes off peak levels and we prepare to enter the New Year ready to hit the ground running.  Training relates to the time it takes for the user (that’s you the reader) to become comfortable, or at least solidly familiar, with whatever changes you make to your tool set.  All of these three drivers will greatly impact the success of your tool time and help fuel the additional speed you will need to continue to advance yourself.  Who couldn’t benefit from being faster, provided the quality stays at least the same?   Sourcing/Research is “cool”, and for people who want to enter the profession or expand their work location options, here is some information to get you started.