interbiznet.com
Electronic Recruiting News
Our Rate Card
New
interbiznet Bookclub
interbiznet Listings
Find out more
About
IBN
Got a news tip?
Tell us at
bugler@
interbiznet.com
Our Rate Card
Articles
Presentations
Trends Reports
Archives
Suggestions?
It is better
to not be on
the web than
to be on and
not know why
John Sumser
Reality
is more
complex
than
it seems.
John Gall
OUR HOME
|
Home | ERN | Bugler | The Blogs | Blogroll | Advertise | Archives | Careers
Daily News. Archived Weekly. Click Here For The Current Issue.
Browser Stuff
(October 17, 1997)
Getting around the web can be a great deal easier if
you make your browser work the way you want. From appearance
to knowing where you've been, becoming familiar with the toolbars
allows you to individualize your browsers.
This column deals only with Netscape's Navigator. If
you use Internet Explorer, come back tomorrow. If you're
using an AOL browser, don't. You can run Netscape or another
browser instead. Directions for installing Netscape on
AOL can be found by doing a Go To Keyword NETSCAPE in
AOL.
Change your default page. You really don't need to
open up to netscape.com each day and see who their sponsors
are or where to buy their products. Choose your favorite
search engine (or another page you go to most often).
Make that your default.
- Click on Options.
- Click on General Preferences.
- Click on Appearance
- Look for the phrase "browser starts with" and click
on the home page circle.
- Then put in the URL for the page you want to start
with
- Click OK.
Can't read all that tiny text? Change your font size.
- Click on Options.
- Click on General Preferences.
- Select the fonts tab.
- Click on Choose Font and change the size to 12 or
14.
- Click OK and click OK again.
Need to see more than
just the toolbars? Increase your screen space.
- There are 3 tools bar selections in the Options
menu: Show Toolbar, Show Location, Show Directory
- Turn OFF the Directory Buttons at least. Leave ON the Show Location.
- Make the toolbar use less space.
- Pull down the Options Menu.
- Click on General Preferences
- Click Appearance.
- Under Toolbars Click on Text.
- Click OK and click OK again.
Don't site there; find another page. You can look at
another page while waiting for the first page to download.
- Click on File.
- Click on New Web Browser.
Make the browser browse. Don't scan entire documents
looking for a phrase, use Find.
- Click on Edit.
- Click on Find.
- Type in the word or phrase you're looking for.
- Click on Find Next.
Read messy mail more easily.
- In your mail window, click on View.
- Click on Wrap Long Lines.
Of course, there are other ways to individualize your browser
and make it work more the way you want. Take some time to
go through the tool bar and see what each menu does. Change as
you see fit. You can always change it back later.
Here's An Alternative
(October 16, 1997)
OurSquare, an online service for 1.7 million
students, graduate students, and alumnae/i from seventeen of the country's
top schools, announces today the start of Career Chat '97 -- where
employees and human resource professionals from top companies get to
chat online with students from the nation's elite schools.
"We're obviously delighted by the positive response of companies to this
first ever online event," says founder and CEO James L. Marciano. "For
us, it's about access -- giving members access to companies, and
companies access to students." While many brand name companies such
as Goldman Sachs, McKinsey & Co., Oxford Health Plans, and
Amazon.com will be participating, OurSquare hopes to attract other,
smaller companies which may not have the resources to pay for large on
campus recruiting efforts. Career Chat '97, which is free for both
companies and individuals, will run from October 15th through December
15th 1997. The official chat schedule is posted at the OurSquare website
OurSquare is a virtual community of 5,000+ students, graduate students,
and alumnae/i from the Ivy League, Wellesley, Williams, Amherst,
Swarthmore, UChicago, MIT, Stanford, Northwestern, and Duke.
In addition to a searchable member directory, OurSquare offers hosting
of members' homepages and small business sites, lifetime e-mail accounts,
personal ads, a career center staffed with executive recruiters, discussion
forums on topics ranging from travel to stocks to relationship advice, links
to the best sites on the Net, and special chat events.
Letters, We Get Letters
(October 15, 1997)
Our thinking about job postings has inspired lots of email. Here's one exchange that we think
adds illumination to the subject.
From:
To: "'jrsumser@interbiznet.com'"
Subject: Big Enough?
Hello John,
I just read today's Electronic Recruiting News and have just a few questions/comments.
You mention 4.5 million postings in the first three quarters of 1997. Can't you assume that some of those postings are duplicates of the same job? We post our job openings weekly in various locations and we have many of the same jobs from week to week. If other organizations are following this same practice, a job hunter would only need to look at the most recent postings to find most of the current available jobs.
Is being the 5,000,0001st Usenet posting really that bad? Someone looking for one of my jobs is not going to find it after reading five million postings. They are going to find it by searching for specific keywords that happen to be in my job description.
I would think that it doesn't matter how large the database is as long as the job hunter has the tools to efficiently search larger and larger databases. The bigger the database is, the better the odds of them finding multiple matches using very specific search criteria.
Just a few thoughts.
Thanks,
We replied:
From: John Sumser (IBN)[jrsumser@interbiznet.com]
To:
Subject: Re: Big Enough?
Your points are *very* astute. Of course there are cross postings and of
course a user won't read all of the postings.
But, given the volume of material and the quality of current search
tools, it's very unlikely that job hunter skills will ever catch up with
the material. Although the use of search engines can be mastered, your
approach assumes that the requirement falls on the shoulders of the
job hunter. Typical keyword search techniques produce
variable results. So, unless you are very fortunate, the total number of
postings simply increases the randomness of a connection between your ad
and a job hunter.
Given the demographic environment (generational labor shortages) and the
complexity of mastering search techniques, I believe that you do yourself
a disservice by relying on job postings. That's not to say that
trusting serendipity isn't important, just that you shouldn't depend on
it. The results will degrade as volume increases and the number of job
hunters declines. If your advertising method requires that a candidate
have mastered a set of search skills (most haven't), I hope that you do
it that way as a screening mechanism. Otherwise, you're simply
eliminating candidates from your reach.
I'm not suggesting that you stop using the tools. Just be aware that as
they decline in benefit to you, you'll need to find replacement vehicles.
Ultimately, advertising, in its current forms, will not be very useful
as a recruiting tool. The really successful players are taking a much
more proactive approach.
I'm glad you wrote.
In other news, RON keeps piling up alliances in its current aggressive move into the market. The latest partnership
is an alliance with Infospace. It brings the total reach of a job posted to
RON to about 500 sites. At about $400/year, a subscription to RON is fast becoming the best dollar value
for third party recruiters.
Subscription Site
(October 14, 1997)
Today, we're formally launching our password protected, subscription-only newsletter: Electronic Recruiting News: Subscription Edition.
We've designed the site to be a part of your continuing education in hands-on Electronic Recruiting. Updated weekly,
the newsletter includes:
- A Comprehensive Guides to Search Engines
- Browser Tips and Tricks for Recruiters
- Downloads of Critical Software
- Special Offers From Recruiting Vendors
- Online Assistance with Net Basics
- Industry Specific Tool kits
We offer a free one year subscription to this newsletter as a part of our two day seminar series. The retail price for a one year subscription is $395. Between now and
November 30, you can purchase a one year subscription for the introductory price of $295. Simply call our offices at
(800) 358-2278 with a Visa or Mastercard.
Our free newsletter covers the comings and goings in the Electronic Recruiting Industry. The subscription-only service focuses on helping individual Recruiters develop
Internet effectiveness. Our objective is to give our paid subscribers a solid competitive edge in exchange for an investment of 10 minutes per week.
Big Enough?
(October 13, 1997)
As of this morning, there have been over 4 Million Usenet job postings since January 1, 1997. The growth pattern is:
- First Three Quarters of 1995: 416,056
- First Three Quarters of 1996: 2,300,723
- First Three Quarters of 1997: 4,516,538
The major posters include some well known names and some not so recognizable players. For the most part, Usenet postings come from services that dump
their databases into the newsgroups. The current stir about who
delivers the biggest service is reminiscent of other macho bragging.
As the old song goes, "It ain't the meat, it's the motion." Practically speaking, it's entirely possible to be too big.
The official Usenet tally (derived from
DejaNews) includes:
While the numbers seem impressive, let's look carefully.
4.5 Million postings means a run rate of about 16 thousand
postings per day. It would take a team of 31 full time people looking at
each posting for an average of 1 minute each (without break)
simply to stay abreast of the material that emerges each day.
And, the volume is growing.
If we were in the newspaper business, we'd point to this statistic as proof that the web can't work.
We got to thinking about this because a price/distribution war seems to be breaking out amongst the services. At the end of last week,
Yahoo! and TMP proudly announced:
The Monster
Board and OCC, products of TMP's Interactive Division, will be featured
in the employment section of Yahoo! Classifieds
(http://classifieds.yahoo.com),
providing users will (sic) access to more than 100,000 quality
job listings.
Claiming "nearly two million visits in August" and "more than 100,000 quality job listings", TMP positioned itself as a solid second to
the Bernard Hodes solidly performing Career Mosaic
Still, we wonder if the fuss isn't misguided a bit. Is bigger better?
The way we count, the pure statistical opportunity for a job to be seen in a TMP setting is
20 times per month (2 million divided by 100 thousand). Seems like the bigger they grow, the less benefit anyone gets from a service.
We think that this is true for all job boards. More job postings is a negative, not a positive. Who wants to be the 100,001st TMP job, the 5,000,001st Usenet posting, the Millionth listing in Yahoo or the
next listing in Classifieds 2000?
Recruiting Online: Options and Search Techniques
(August 05, 1997): We will be delivering an intensive two day seminar around the country.
Designed for Staff Recruiters and Researchers, the seminar
covers the basics of Electronic Recruiting and Search Techniques. Graduates of the 2-Day Seminar receive
- A CD Chock-Full Of Net Software and Tools
- $2,000 In Special Offers From 5 Online Recruiting Services
- A One Year Subscription ($395 Value) To Our Protected Web Site
- All Course Materials
Click here for detailed information and online registration. The schedule is:
Directions to the hotels in each city are available by clicking on the city name. You can register online or
call our offices for more information at (800) 358-2278
Advanced Internet Recruiting Seminars
(August 05, 1997): We will be delivering the Advanced Recruiting Seminars again in December. The schedule is.
Dec 01: Houston
Dec 03: Atlanta
Dec 05: Metro DC
Dec 08: Philadelphia
Dec 10: New York City
|
|
Dec 12: Boston
Dec 15: Chicago
Dec 17: Seattle
Dec 19: San Francisco
|
Click here to learn more about the Advanced Recruiting seminars. Class size is limited to 30 per seminar. The seminars run from 9:00AM to 4:30PM and are designed for owners and managers. Take a look at a list of companies who have been to the seminars.
See a detailed index of our past issues
October 12, 1997
- Places To Post
- Job Resource
- BYO Network
- Leveling The Field
- Resources
|
October 05, 1997
- Hot Bot Redux
- IE Nightmare
- Job Posting Engine
- English 101
- MRI
|
September 28, 1997
- Phones
- What's It All Mean?
- Ugly: Only Skin Deep
- Critical Mass
- Why Learn HTML?
|
September 21, 1997
- What's New
- Will They Stay?
- Another Look At Chat
- Inbound Links
- Collecting Email Addresses
|
September 14, 1997
- Meet On The Web
- Will They Stay?
- Pre-Employment Screening
- Bits 'N Pieces
- Requiem
|
September 07, 1997
- Individual Branding
- Older Workers Arise
- Toolbox Refill
- New and Improved Design
- TV and The Web
|
August 31, 1997
- HR and Recruiting Software
- Breaking News
- Does Email Work?
- More Search Tips
- Alliances
|
August 24, 1997
- Alternate Future
- Staffing Page
- NorthernLight
- Tidbits
- Search Tips
|
August 17, 1997
- MRI Berkeley
- Bits & Pieces
- Links Are Relationships
- You Are Your Links
- Here It Comes
|
August 10, 1997
- WSJ Careers
- Desktop Search Tool
- Immigration Notes
- Computemp Job Fair
- ESpan Again
|
More Archives The past 32 months of the Electronic Recruiting News | More Archives |
"Recruiter's Resolutions For 2003:
1. Finally, clear the resumes off my desk
2. Take a speed-reading course to get through resumes faster
3. Find three new places to source good people
4. Lower cost-per -hire (make that, determine cost-per-hire...then lower it!)
5. Find a talent Management system to help with all of the above.
We know what you're up against. And we've got the answer.
Hodes iQ, brought to you by Bernard Hodes Group.
From adopting our talent management system or enhancing your own system to providing new sourcing strategies on the web, we have proven solutions to make your recruiting enterprise better. Find out how Hodes iQ and Hodes iQPost can help you in the new year and beyond.
Put Hodes iQ to the test.
Call 888.438.9911 or visit
http://www.hodesiq.com today.
Home | ERN | Bugler | The Blogs | Blogroll | Advertise | Archives | Careers
Contacting Us:
Call, fax, write, email. We'd love to consult with you about your
project.
Copyright © 2013 interbiznet. All rights reserved.
Materials written by John Sumser © TwoColorHat. All Rights Reserved. Mill Valley, CA 94941 415.377.2255
colleen@interbiznet.com
|
Electronic Recruiting News
FEATURES:
2003 Trends Whitepaper
interbiznet Bookclub
interbiznet Listings
interbiznet Trends
EMAIL NEWSLETTERS:
- Bugler (Sign-up) Daily Industry News
- ERNIE (Sign-up) ERN in Email
RESOURCES:
BlogRoll
Integrated Employment Branding Presentation
Trends Whitepaper
interbiznet Listings
interbiznet Trends
interbiznet Bookclub
Top 100 E-Recruiters
Presentations - Recruiting Then/Now
Recruiter's Toolkit
Seminar In A Box
ERN Archives
1st Steps In The Hunt
ADVERTISING:
Our Rate Card
Demographics
RESOURCES:
BlogRoll
ERN ARCHIVES
Stocks We Watch:
Public Companies in Electronic Recruiting
© 2013 interbiznet.
All Rights Reserved.
Materials written
by John Sumser
© TwoColorHat.
All Rights Reserved.
|