Comments on: how to thrive in a recession

By: Ashish Belagali

Ashish Belagali — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:41:55 +0000

This post serves as a guiding lighthouse to the recruiters throughout the world. Thanks a million, Dan. You have hit upon precisely the things that recruiters need to be thinking about.

We provide a recruitment management software http://www.headtracker.net, and believe that a part of the solution could be something like it, as it can assist the recruiter to answer some of the concerns raised by you. Its very low on demand pricing will help the recruiters keep their costs low as well.

Let’s hope that more and more recruiters benefit from your advice and there are minimal casualties during this tough period.

By: Dan Finnigan

Dan Finnigan — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 18:41:03 +0000

I appreciate the kind remarks, especially from a pioneer like Bill Warren. Again, as we can see from the news from former CareerBuilder colleague and founder, Rob McGovern, the very smart founder of JobFox, this economy will not be an easy one to navigate. Many people now dispute whether or not the Chinese character for the word “crisis” (”wēijī”) means both danger and opportunity. But, whether or not it does, my primary argument is that it must. We must take this time now to hit the “refresh” button in our industry, and figure out ways to provide a lot more value for a lot less money. And, moments like this get the most energetic, creative and courageous people moving.

To Ted’s question of “how to” be proactive and engaging with candidates? The passive posting of jobs and searching in resume databases will not do it. But, more and more people are interacting in on-line communities, like this one. Libby Sartain at Yahoo, now an Advisor to Jobvite, often talked about her HR team’s investment in reaching out to the most talented engineers and product professionals by reading and commenting on their blogs, and “linking” with them on Linked In and Facebook. That is just one way. Making one’s careersite behave less like a list of jobs, and more of an interactive on-line experience that enables people to feel as if they have experienced your company, is another. There is no one solution, of course. The best approaches, honestly, have yet to be invented…but something tells me, at this time, right now, folks are inventing them, given the imperative to find better, cheaper ways to improve quality.

By: Luke

Luke — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:49:43 +0000

This is an excellent article, covering the recruitment and staffing issue in 2009. The other part of the story is the overall business strategy and mainly HR Strategy – just to attract the best potential on the job market. People prefer the security, the companies have to find their creative way to provide certainty to the job candidates. And – this will be a real challenge, both for the companies and recruitment agencies.

By: Todd Lempicke

Todd Lempicke — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 17:39:45 +0000

Great article. Some recruiting companies are tapping into new income streams with a career services/outplacement program that is turnkey, costs less than a typical CareerBuilder subscription and can be setup in a week. Check out http://www.optimalresume.com/outplacement.html (OptimalResume.com) and review this. Perfect for employment professionals who are nimble and entrepreneurial.

By: Bill Warren

Bill Warren — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 09:19:04 +0000

This is an awesome post from an industry expert who knows what he is talking about. I have always had great respect for Dan who shows great insight into the possibilities and power of the Internet.

I couldn’t agree more that “…..when it is over, recruiting will be permanently changed. These challenging economic times provide recruiters an opportunity to prove their worth to employers and stand out from the crowd.”

Dan provides great advice to recruiters who have a unique opportunity to rise and shine.

Thanks for sharing Dan and the very best to you as we all navigate these difficult times.

By: Martin Snyder

Martin Snyder — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 19:35:41 +0000

Solid post- esp. on the importance of closing- thats you D’Amico !

Human Capital is marching forward replacing Financial Capital as the limiting factor for most enterprises- Paulson said just that as this crisis got underway. Now, especially when dollar capital is dicey, organizations better pay heed to the change, or they will become history in a hurry.

Not as sure about performance management as its currently practiced, but thats for another day….

By: Ted

Ted — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 18:43:00 +0000

Outstanding post – one of the smartest I have read on Cheezhead in recent memory. Great statistics/examples to back up your arguments. I found the statistic between number of hires from job boards to time spend on job boards to be very insightful. I completely agree with you that companies need to be proactive and engage candidates. But, I think everyone would agree with this. I guess the question is how to do it? And, how to do it in a way that spends the least amount of resources to yield the most talented candidates.

By: D Jacobson

D Jacobson — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 16:14:14 +0000

Great blog, and you hit the mark about social networking. I will be sure to spread the word about your website at my staffing agency, Hollister, Inc.

By: Jim D'Amico

Jim D'Amico — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 15:38:50 +0000

Excellent post. From my perspective (after 15 years I’ve seen good times and bad times) it is of the utmost importance that recruiters use this time to focus first on their ability to close. In my career I’ve found that less than 10% of folks in our field have truly strong closing skills, and as you pointed out, know when to walk away.