Scholarships Available to IAEWS Spring Congress
The IAEWS has announced that, thanks to the generosity of an anonymous sponsor, it now has a limited number of scholarships – free registrations – available for its Spring Congress. The scholarships are set aside for job boards only and are available to any site that is currently operating anywhere in the world.
The IAEWS Spring Congress will be held on April 26-27, 2014 in Nashville, TN USA. The conference will be our industry’s most important gathering of employment site executives and offers speakers you won’t hear anywhere else and networking opportunities that are second to none.
For more information about the IAEWS Spring Congress scholarships, please contact the IAEWS Executive Director, Peter Weddle, at director@emoploymentwbsites.org.
Scholarships will be awarded on a first come, first served basis.
Definition: Talent as in The War for
We and our customers use the term constantly. The War for Talent. But what exactly do we mean?
The phrase was popularized in a 1997 report by McKinsey & Company. Since the report dealt with workforce shortages, it was pretty clear pretty quickly that the word “war” actually meant the competition for scarce resources.
But what does the other noun – that ubiquitous word “talent” – mean?
If you put 100 recruiters in a room and asked them that question, 99 would probably say that talent refers to a person with a hard-to-find skill. A network developer with experience in virtualization, for example. Or a registered nurse, forensic accountant or civil engineer.
However, if you put 100 CEOs in a room and asked them the same question, you’re likely to get 99 with a very different response. They would each probably articulate it differently, but they would all mean the same thing: they think talent refers to a high caliber performer.
Why the difference?
Recruiters are charged with filling requisitions, each with a specific set of requirements. They’re looking for a match. CEOs, on the other hand, are responsible for performance. They’re looking for results.
From a CEO’s perspective, it does no good (and may even cause some harm) to recruit a person with virtualization skills or a degree in engineering if their on-the-job performance is mediocre. They want the top performer, whether that person has a scarce skill or one that is widely available.
The CEO’s goal is to populate their organization with workers who will excel on-the-job and thereby provide an example that will induce their coworkers to do the same. That’s how they ensure their own success. They create a high performing organization by hiring high performers.
Create a Bridge Between the Two Definitions
Which definition of talent matters most to employment sites? You could, of course, argue that CEOs don’t make purchasing decisions among employment sites, recruiters do. So, the key to success in our industry is to deliver what recruiters want (or think they do). We earn their business by providing a fulsome supply of whatever skill they need.
I think that’s shortsighted, however. Indeed, the fulsome supply of the skills we’re providing might not be so fulsome. On many sites, the content, features and functionality are designed solely for active job seekers. Nothing wrong with that – there are people with hard-to-find skills in that cohort of the workforce.
But, here’s the rub. Regardless of where a site operates – in the U.S., the U.K., the EU, Canada, Southeast Asia, South America, Africa or Australia – active job seekers make up only a small segment of the workforce. Most people are working and, as a result, passive.
So, do the math; there are proportionally more people with hard-to-find skills among those who are not looking for a job than among those who are. Similarly, there are also more people with hard-to-find skills who are also high caliber performers. And that’s the real fulsome supply.
What does that mean for employment sites? To be successful, we must build a bridge between the two definitions of talent.
How do we do that?
First, we should define talent as the “capacity for excellence” in any skill, including those that are hard-to-find. Second, we have to acknowledge that employed people represent the largest source of candidates with that capacity. And third, we must expand our value proposition – our content, features and functionality – to provide a reason for those talented people to visit our site.
Building that bridge will not only provide recruiters with more potential matches to consider; it will make the CEOs of their organizations happier with the results of their efforts. And, happy CEOs approve larger budgets and higher priorities for their recruiting teams, an outcome that is sure to make employment sites happy as well.
Thanks for reading,
Peter
Jobboarders Update
The redesign for Jobobarders.com is now underway. The site will shortly have an entirely new look, an array of new features and a host of new content.
Here’s a sneak preview:
We’ll have five topical columnists posting new columns every other week. They are:
- Dean Da Costa, widely known as The Tool Guy, who will explore sourcing and recruiting tools and services
- David Bernstein, VP of the Data Analytics Division at eQuest, who will cover the challenges and opportunities of Big Data
- Jennifer Baker, Director of CareerHQ for the American Society of Association Executives, who will discuss the unique aspects of managing and operating an association online career center
- Cindy Songne, Director of Agency Relations at Simply Hired, who will take us inside the world of recruitment advertising agencies and their work with both employers and employment sites
- David Lewis, the CEO of AllCountyJobs.com, who will address the principles and practices of effective leadership in the online employment services industry.
And we’ll have a team of daily columnists – some of our industry’s foremost thought leaders, innovators, and seasoned players – who will among them post a new column every single day on a topic directly related to the design, development, management, operation, business, current status and future of employment sites. They are:
- Ethan Bloomfield, ZipRecruiter.com
- Dave Bornmann, Boxwood Technology
- Sara Fell, FlexJobs.com
- Jeff Dickey-Chasins, The Job Board Doctor
- Chris Forman, Start Wire Labs
- Manuel Francisci, jobWings careers
- Tony Lee, Adicio
- Ken Levinson, EnchantedCareers.com
- Ane Ohm, Harqen
- Tom Ricca-McCarthy, Madgex
- Joe Stubblebine, Beyond
- Kara Yarnot< Meritage Talent Solutions
Add to that a bookstore, a job board for employment site professionals, a classifieds section, company and site groups, blogs and more, and you’ll have plenty of reasons to start your day – every day – at Jobboarders.com.
The ReSIs Are on a Roll
The Recruiting Service Innovation Awards or ReSIs (the rez-zees) are on a roll! They’ve been featured on Total Picture Radio, RecruitingBlogs.com and Twitter in just the past week or so.
Click here to see the Total Picture Radio interview with Kara Yarnot, Chair of the ReSI Selection Committee.
And click here to read Peter Weddle’s guest blog on RecrutingBlogs.com.
There’s still plenty of time to:
- Nominate one of your products or services
- Sponsor the year-long competition and promotional program.
or
For more information, please contact Peter Weddle at +203-964-1888 or director@employmentwebsites.org.
Membership in the IAEWS – A Smart Investment
We’re all watching our budgets these days, so why invest in membership in the IAEWS? Here are just a few of the reasons:
- Twice-a-year meetings to network with other employment site executives
- Interactions with senior HR and recruiting executives of global companies
- Interactions with thought leaders in the online employment services industry
- Discounts on attending major industry and recruitment conferences
- Free posting of press releases and white papers on the IAEWS site
- And much, much more.
With over 60,000 sites operated by its members worldwide, the IAEWS is the single best place to get the information, make the contacts and grab the opportunities that will promote your continued success.
For more details, please click here.