Repost of readers comment regarding "phantom job postings"

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

Chris Wallace

Fri, 29 Oct 2010 7:57:03 pm

I'm glad someone is addressing this. Sadly, after 5 months of perusing job boards I've come to the conclusion that every single recruiter is doing this. There is no sense in listing names since they all do it. Some are worse than others, though. The bigger the name, the worse they are. Someone from Robert Half went so far as to email me and tell me to stop submitting resumes. They are still posting the same jobs.

I see the same positions and job description pop up week after week. If I change my profile on Careerbuilder, for example, it will generate automated "interest" and I will get an email about a position. My responses to these are never acknowledged. I suppose they are as desperate as us job seekers but that does not excuse dishonesty. If I lie on my resume, that is really bad. If they lie about jobs, no big deal. Nice hypocritical double standard there. "Unscrupulous" is think is most appropriate word. Just a step above Nigerian scammers.

It is really common right now for government contract work. REcruiters want those government contracts bad and most related job postings are to pad their databases with degreed people with ACTIVE clearances. That means the recruiter nor the government have to pay the investigation costs and is a selling point to government agencies. Really beware these postings. Most are fake.

What to do about it? I don't know. Like any business I am displeased with, I tell anyone who will listen what kind of low-lifes they are. They will ultimately ruin their own reputations with professional job-seekers and hopefully go away.

Role of a Recruitment Agency

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

How they can help the Employer looking to fill a role

Aug 11, 2007 Megan McConnell

When you approach a Recruitment Agency to fill a role, do you know exactly what you want? And just how can the Agency do what you can do yourself?

As a Recruitment Consultant, one of the objections that is constantly thrown by prospective clients is "why should we use you when we can do everything that you can, and for free".

Well, you probably can, but it's certainly not for free!

What it costs you to fill a role yourself

Many people think that because they are using the existing resources of their company to fill a role, that it's free.

This is not the case.

Even if your company has an active HR department that includes a recruiter, the cost of it will be billed to you; and there are some things that the HR department cannot do, so your time will become involved.

So, your time (and the cost of that time) starts to be involved in the cost of hiring the right person. You need to review resumes and interview candidates. If you've got no HR department, or choose to handle everything directly, then you also have to screen the original applicants.

Then there is the initial preparation - writing the job ad, uploading it to the internet or putting it in the newspaper.

You need to screen applicants, and also take telephone enquiries about the position. Unsuccessful applicants from your first screening need to be contacted to advise them, and then you need to contact those who you want to interview, or check further, to arrange for an interview, or even just have a quick conversation with over the phone.

Even if you have somebody else do all of this, their time is still used. And while you or somebody else is doing this, they are not doing their normal work.

So - add up all the hours it takes to do all this, including interviews, second interviews, preparing letters of offer, and then look at what your hourly pay rate is, and then the lost productivity while you fill an empty position.

When it all comes down to it, it will cost you over $15,000 to do it yourself - and we're not even looking at what happens when you make a mistake and have to start all over again!

What does an Agency cost

Many agencies have a sliding scale of costs, depending on the role to be filled. As an average, though, 15% of the total package is the charge.
This means, that if the package is $40,000 per annum, then the cost you will pay to the agency is $6,000.

What do you get for the cost?

The agency you choose will work with you to fill the role. They will prepare all advertising (everything except newspaper display ads are included in the cost), screen all applicants, take the enquiries, and even help you to prepare a position description.

They will conduct interviews and shortlist 3 or 4 candidates for you to see. They will make the offer to the successful candidate, advise all the unsuccessful ones, and help you prepare the letter of offer.

They will also offer a replacement guarantee (usually 3 - 6 months) that if the person doesn't work out, or leaves of their own accord, the Agency will find a replacement free of charge.

How the Agency will help you

The key to getting the best results is to be prepared yourself. Get recommendations from other companies as to the agencies they have success with. There are also "co-ops" of agencies, where if you use one of the members, you, effectively, have all of them working for you, at no extra cost.

The best known of these is NPA Worldwide, based in the US, but with members all over the world.

One of the advantages of using a member of a group like NPA is that the members have to meet specific standards in service, which is a big relief!

Also check with the Recruitment Industry Association in your country. They can assist in finding a reputable agency, and can also assist in letting you know of any that there have been problems with.

When you contact the Agency, they will usually assign a Consultant to look after you and your vacancy. This consultant will usually visit you at your workplace so that they can discuss the position in detail with you, and to find out not only the sort of role, but the type of person who will fit in best within your company.

If you like, they will also help you do a HR audit to refine the role, and prepare a position description.
Then, they move into their main role: filling the job. The Consultant works with the other people in their agency to prepare a job ad, and also search their own database for prospective candidates.

They screen, and shortlist. You will receive 3 or 4 resumes, and a short summary of each candidate from them. This includes the salary/wage they are looking for, and their availability.

By the time it comes for you to interview these candidates, it's more a "get to know you" meeting, as the people that the Agency has sent will have the skills to do the role.

It's important that you trust your Recruitment Agency. They will build a long term relationship with you, getting to know who you and your company are and working with you to build a workplace that people will enjoy working at.

You won't loose productivity when you have a vacancy to fill, and will find the whole process less stressful.
Recruitment Agencies are experts - and can save your company time and money in the long run.

Used vacuum salesmen of the new millenium??

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

Why has the recruitment industry earned such a poor reputation in some circles? A story from a friend over the weekend paints a picture.

A close friend who is a high level HR manager was over on the weekend and we were discussing recruitment and the HR industry as a whole.

The friend, while gainfully employed, was told of a posting with a recruitment firm we’ll call “comfortable fit staffing solutions”.

Now, this friend doesn’t typically apply to postings however this particular posting was looking for an HR Manager with the specific background he had, given it was posted only days after he called the recruiter he felt he could at least get an idea of the position before applying if he liked the opportunity.

After playing phone tag with the recruiter he finally got him on the phone but was a little confused when the recruiter kept asking when he sent his resume in, as he had told him the previous three times that he hadn’t yet and identified that in the email.

Additionally the recruiter didn’t know which position he was referring to, even after he read out the entire posting to him.

When his memory was finally jogged he was sorry to tell my friend that the position had been filled, when my friend questioned him about the timeline (as the position had been posted only 2 days earlier) the recruiter stated that they often fill openings the same day (although most reputable companies will have more than one interview so we’re not sure how that timeline works).

He then began to pressure my friend to submit his resume so when they get another “great” opportunity, he can be one of the “lucky ones” that they call.

When he stated that he wasn’t looking for opportunities only to discuss that particular one, the recruiter from “comfortable fit staffing solutions” became agitated and told him that he wouldn’t get any calls unless he submits his resume beforehand because that’s how their process works!!..

Now we are all for being proactive with people that really want you to keep your eyes open for opportunities, however misleading people with phony phantom jobs and using high pressure sales tactics to force them to submit their resume is ridiculous and cheapens the industry, at Revolution we don’t post jobs as it is, but to post jobs when there isn’t even a job as represented??!!

In today’s market job postings aren’t effective for getting the truly qualified game changing employees anyhow so posting phony jobs surely won’t bring in the best talent.

As my friend demonstrates the best talent can sniff out a phony sales job instantly, however not only will this hurt the recruiting industry as a whole but how will it help the image of the company who decides to use one of these “recruiters” who are turning the industry into the used vacuum sales people of the new millennium with these ridiculous tactics.

The New Challenge the Best Candidates are Already Gainfully Employed

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- An increasingly fierce debate is raging over the reason why unemployment is still so stubbornly high.
While most people think businesses simply aren't hiring enough to absorb the millions of unemployed workers, a rising tide of prominent economists dispute that. They claim that there are jobs out there, just not the right candidates to fill them.

Are you ready to capture restless talent?

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

hrreporter.com

Oct 5, 2010

One-quarter of workers will look for new jobs in next 6 months: Poll

Managers, sales people and IT professionals are the most likely to go looking

As the labour market improves, Canadians are starting to think about changing jobs, according to a new Ipsos Reid poll.

Build a Better Workplace found 27 per cent of workers were likely to seek a new job during the next six months. Among employees who work for organizations where there has been a wage freeze, this figure jumped to 34 per cent.

Managers were even more likely than rank-and-file employees to indicate they plan to be out there looking (31 per cent). Sales people and IT professionals are also more likely to consider a job change than the average.

When asked if they would stay with their current employer if they were offered a comparable role with higher pay elsewhere, only 22 per cent said they would stay put and 31 per cent said they would jump ship. Nearly one-half (46 per cent) said it would depend on the size of the increase.

“Organizations caught in a tight race for survival can ill-afford wide-spread desertions, especially if the people who are lured away are their best performers,” said Greg Leach, senior-vice president at Ipsos Reid and author of the study. “While the sudden departure of any single group would derail any organization, it appears that the greatest threat may be the potential loss of managerial talent. This could lead to a domino effect that could bring the organization to its knees.”

Asked about their main job-related concerns, 29 per cent of respondents cited compensation, followed by work-life balance at 26 per cent. Managers were even more likely to cite work-life balance at 31 per cent. Amid cutbacks, layoffs and the search for greater efficiencies, employees are feeling that they are being asked to work far too hard for the compensation they are getting, said Leach.

Other findings:

• 22 per cent said their optimism about their own future within their organization is decreasing

• 7 per cent said their optimism about their own future within their organization is increasing

• 20 per cent said their motivation to help their employer succeed is decreasing

• 15 per cent said their motivation to help their employer succeed is increasing

Recruiter Tactic #2 Reposting what you have already posted

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

This tactic goes to the very core of why Revolution HR and Recruiting was started.

As mentioned coming from the HR industry previously I had dealings with a specialty “tech” recruiter, I believe I referenced them as “Diamond” in an earlier post.

Although I will be rehashing some earlier posts I think it will truly paint the picture of this tactic.

While meeting with “diamond” and hearing of their immense expertise and contacts, I was asked what recruiting activities I had engaged in, I quickly filled him in that I had posted the job on Workopolis, he also asked me for a copy of the posting so he could efficiently match the skills to his current candidate list.

After the meeting I emailed him the posting/Job description and look forward to some receiving some unique, qualified candidates.

The next day I logged on to Workopolis to view my ads results and decided to check the postings to see how many similar tech positions were posted.

To my shock and surprise there was an identical title posted as to my job (insert sarcasm) only it was posted by “diamond”.

When I reviewed this new posting I was a little taken aback to see it was the EXACT posting I had only under the “diamond” banner, which coincidentally appeared directly under my posting.

As the candidates started rolling in from “diamond” not surprisingly there were the exact candidates that had already applied to my posting.

I immediately called “diamond” to discuss my findings and was assured by the rep that they have some unique candidates coming my way; needless to say they never materialized.

Not to bring about some discussion we accept that many companies use job boards, but if you are hiring a recruiter would you not expect some ingenuity? Isn’t that why they are professional recruiters? Isn’t that the value proposition? Isn’t that why you pay commission? Typically between 20-35%!

If your postings are simply reposted isn’t the assumption that you will attract the same candidates that applied to yours?

I’ve seen a definition of insanity that lends well to this tactic- Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

It’s time for a change!

Recruiter Tactics

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com
Today we discuss the widespread practice of posting a “phantom” job to collect resumes.
Many job seekers are skeptical when they continually see recruiters posting the same job over the course of a month or longer, many have a sneaking suspicion that there is not really a “job” to apply to per se, rather that there is a recruiter merely trying to “compile resumes”…..
Could this be true…………………
Well as many of you already know it is true and it’s a common practice with most “recruitment firms”
Will you get higher quality candidates if you continually capture the people combing job boards?
Now some of you may find this acceptable depending on your company needs, certainly for temporary labour positions this may be a best practice.
But if you’ve contracted a recruiter do you really want to get “flooded” with resumes that you could have gotten yourself (or perhaps have already seen from your previous posting?)
Before my formal entry into recruiting, while working as an HR/LR manager with the recruiting responsibilities of the company, I contracted with several recruiters and experienced the resume flooding and the same candidates over and over.
Until one day in a meeting with a major recruiter we will call them “Bob Half” I questioned them directly about their methods, measurable etc.
There were quite open in their methods about using craigslist etc to post “phantom” positions to compile resumes, in fact as a measureable for their reps, they are required to “compile” a certain number of candidates per week.
I was a little shocked when the rep and manager were glowing about the amount of resumes there were able to compile by using craigslist.
This was a defining experience in our creation, one of our core principals is that if you are seeking to use a pay per job recruiter, would you not expect better quality and scrutiny than simply flooding you with candidates from “phantom” postings and allowing you sift through them?
I spoke in my previous post about our experience with a well known tech recruitment firm who simply reposted our job and sent us the same candidates; unfortunately this practice is quite common and has given recruiters a bad name in some circles.
Luckily it’s time for a change in the industry

Why we do what we do

www.revolutionhrandrecruiting.com

When I was in the hr field for a regional telecom company, I found myself doing a search for a tech position specifically someone with a Cisco background.

I was contacted by an agency that specializes in tech; we’ll call them Diamond Recruitment, inquiring about my position.

I scheduled a meeting with Diamond Recruitment during which I learned of their experience in tech recruitment and their 35% fee.

Needing assistance with the role I signed their agreement and expected to see some better fits than what I had been receiving through my posting on Workopolis.

The next day I logged in to Workopolis to check my applicants and decided to search what other tech positions were posted.

Much to my surprise there was an ad for the same posting I was searching for, however it was posted by Diamond Recruitment, in fact it was the identical posting I had word for word, a little irritated I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt.

When I began to receive resumes from them much to my dismay they were the exact applicants I had received with the names cleared out (none of which had the attributes I was looking for)

I decided to call our rep from Diamond Recruitment, disappointingly his response was that, “postings is where they get their applicants” I asked him about the identical post to which he had no valid explanation except for “that’s how they attract applicants”

Now to me this didn’t make sense, I decided to go with Diamond due to their stated expertise and expecting some different approaches to find the right staff (I told them about my posting before I signed by the way)

This didn’t sit well with me as I expected some innovation as they were a “professional recruitment firm” charging a substantial fee (although it was and still is pretty consistent across the industry). Now I respect that recruiting can be extremely tough and that the industry isn’t one that supports any particular player with lower rates as it means they all have to re evaluate their pricing methods to remain competitive.

This lead me to thinking that a professional recruiter shouldn’t simply post and wait for applicants, they must bring more to the table and if they did and could give you really amazing candidates that can immediately come in and help your business that are also differentiated from the masses answering these job ads, wouldn’t that be an amazing value??

Furthermore with all the innovation the internet has brought in terms of efficiencies shouldn’t there be a better pricing structure, is it wrong to question pricing structure in an established industry for fear of rocking the proverbial boat?

This is the basis for the formation of Revolution HR and Recruiting and our philosophies.