tag:typepad.com,2003:weblog-567591 2009-11-09T19:38:22+00:00 Discussion and rants about the digital recruitment industry TypePad tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2012875688352970c 2009-11-09T19:38:22+00:00 2009-11-09T19:38:22+00:00

What's a brand all about? Well,...employer brands, they are a representation and reflection of an existing, living, breathing organisation and its' culture, no? its actual values, it's reality...it's aspirations to an extent. I was in San Francisco on holiday recently and the Yahoo -'It's 'Y!ou' campaign was literally everywhere you went. I thought it was maybe a west coast of America, Silicon Valley-type campaign, but sure enough, when I got back to London and climbed into my cab and had a look around - it was eveywhere to be seen too. I thought...big media budget....hmnn...wonder who has that account...:o) Seemingly the media budget was in the region of a huge $100 million - certainly it got my attention (on two different continents) but what impact did it make? It was interesting to be shown this chart below when I got back to work: It would appear that for all the...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a6b0b53a970c 2009-11-06T12:07:02+00:00 2009-11-06T12:07:02+00:00

Hey there, I'm back after a bit of a break - on hols and busy busy at work. Here's something I wanted to share which is really interesting - its a post noting how traffic to brands destination sites is declining compared to the rising traffic on social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Its all about the content and where its being consumed i.e. in the social web and less so at a brands own website. Is the writing on the wall for a company's website? Maybe not just yet, but it does reinforce the fact that clients should be engaging with their target audience where they are consuming media - on the social web. A considered, well thought-out social media strategy, where a clients site is integrated is key.

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a67973e5970c 2009-10-26T23:33:06+00:00 2009-10-26T23:42:26+00:00

Follow the trail of Farringdon's secrets and watering holes - two hours of light mental and physical exercise with socialising thrown in. Compete for prizes against teams from recruitment comms agencies and media.Help raise money for this worthwhile cause, in support of industry colleagues who have fallen on hard times.Thursday, 12th November, 2009 (from 18:30). £100 per team of 5 (including drinks, refreshments, and treasure).The RECaid Treasure Hunt has been devised by Ri5, and tested and declared fair and fun by experts.To enter please contact Karen Williams (Karen.williams@sabmedia.co.uk) with the name of your team. Your £100 entry fee will be exchanged for further instructions and incentives.The RECaid Treasure Hunt

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a630a581970c 2009-10-11T23:58:28+01:00 2009-10-12T00:00:18+01:00

This year has certainly been a memorable one and not often for the right reasons. However, despite times being so tough for our industry, it’s great to see that over the last few months so many people have come together via Twitter to network and collaborate on creating a more positive and innovative future. The point the social media naysayers always seem to miss is how much Twitter and other social media platforms actually enhance face to face interaction rather than stifling it. To prove this there are not one but two face to face events running in London on Thursday 19th November that I believe will prove invaluable to anyone interested in innovating their way out of the recession in 2010. First up during the day we have what I’m pretty sure is the first Recruiting Unconference held in the UK. The legendary @BillBoorman is organising everything and it...

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a5a52931970b 2009-09-28T19:13:00+01:00 2009-09-28T19:13:00+01:00

I came across (well - was pointed to it from twitter) this fantastic piece. I'm sorry to say it struck soooo many chords with me, but at the same time the satisfaction I got from reading someone else conveying a pain and frustration I've all too often felt compelled me to copy and paste it here for our 4 readers to enjoy too (hoping that at least one of them was involved in website project conception -> delivery). You can read the original here on DigitalSurvivors.com enjoy :) If Architects Had to Work Like Web Designers Please design and build me a house. I am not quite sure of what I need, so you should use your discretion. My house should have somewhere between two and forty-five bedrooms. Just make sure the plans are such that the bedrooms can be easily added or deleted. When you bring the blueprints to...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a5cbafc0970c 2009-09-16T18:16:10+01:00 2009-09-16T18:17:26+01:00

I blogged the original version of this video way back in 2007. Great to see it updated.....well worth watching

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a55e12db970b 2009-09-09T22:07:54+01:00 2009-09-09T22:38:22+01:00

I saw a really interesting tweet today from one of my favourite blogs READWRITEWEB - a blog I really recommend for the latest news and developments in technology and communications. Jobvite a new start-up venture has secured $8.25m in venture capitalist funding. 'The company pioneered social recruitment with the first on-demand application that enables the whole company to participate in hiring and allows recruiters to tap employees’ existing professional and social networks to increase referral hiring.' “This recession is fundamentally changing recruitment, pushing companies to become more cost-effective, innovative and strategic. Companies are looking to the technology industry to make this possible,” said Dan Finnigan, President and Chief Executive Officer of Jobvite. Technology, social media and a companies best ambassadors - employee's - sounds like a great combination. Speaking of which, I've been pretty busy lately - working on the global social media strategies for one of our global clients...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a5a7cd08970c 2009-09-07T00:32:36+01:00 2009-09-07T07:44:56+01:00

Last week I read an article from the Daily Mail (a link I followed I don’t hesitate to add) from the inimitable Theo Paphitis entitled “Why ALL bosses should copy me and ban Facebook from the workplace”. I think it’s fair to say that it wound me up. REALLY wound me up. It's true that many articles I happen across from that "journalistic (and I use the expression in it’s loosest sense) stable" do, and that why I try to give it a wide berth – but this one got me fired. His key points were: the internet is responsible for “an orgy of self-indulgence and exhibitionism”. Ryman stopped all time-wasting by imposing a “non-draconian” ban on ALL websites that couldn’t be justified as useful for work. The internet has undermined dialogue in so many ways. Online socialising (unchecked) could cause the end of the world – or something like...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a55e8a31970c 2009-08-20T09:24:05+01:00 2009-08-21T08:10:19+01:00

Dear me - where did that last month go?! Anyway - it was my intention that after posting the original article to follow it up quite quickly with my thoughts on it as a marketing piece, then I looked around and it was Mid August. For anyone who can't be bothered to click through to that original post here's the video: Matt commented: "I'm all for a bit of stealth marketing and this is certainly entertaining but I really don't think it pulls it off. A phone that has everything and Nova Scotia.....I can't really see any kind of link that would make the humour and the surprise reveal resonate in an effective way " And I agree - it's indeed a clever and entertaining piece, and I agree that if you look deep there's no perceptible resonance between what's being sold and the execution. But my biggest frustration/disappointment with...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20120a4cd0f7b970b 2009-08-06T14:48:30+01:00 2009-08-06T15:24:47+01:00

Here we go again. The FT delivered an article with the above headline this morning. I know this, because I was just given a scanned copy by a colleague. And once again, a big headline with pretty much a nothing story behind it. Basically, it’s saying that the proportion of 15-24 years olds with a profile on Facebook fell for the first time last year from 55% to 50%, according to the communications regulator (no doubt a spotty teenager they thought they’d ask who was walking by the office). I think the key word in this statement is ‘proportion’, because actually, the site (or the medium itself, if we’re going to be fussy here) has become no less popular, but when you read on (in the same article), it continues by backing up the grand claim made in the headline by stating that ‘the number of 25-34 year olds claiming...

Ben Nunn tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011571593d2a970c 2009-07-31T16:47:17+01:00 2009-07-31T16:52:40+01:00

A lovely example of how copyright owners can interact with and benefit from unlicensed content users. The future of copyright and content use was demonstrated by Sony when a Bride and Groom filmed themselves and their wedding party dancing up the aisle to the song 'Forever' by Chris Brown. The clip uploaded on youtube has recieved nearly 13 million views and 65,000 comments. Instead of blocking its use, Sony 'added a simple pop-up overlay that offers users a chance to purchase the song from iTunes or Amazon. According to YouTube, in the last week, the year-old song has risen to #4 on the iTunes charts and #3 on Amazon.' A sign of things to come.

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011571467719970c 2009-07-27T11:43:19+01:00 2009-07-27T11:43:19+01:00

A belated thank you to everyone who came to the Summer Recruitment Tweetup a couple of weeks ago. Particular thanks must go to my co-organiser Jamie Leonard (now working at The Ladders) and our generous sponsors TwitterJobSearch and 1Job.co.uk We’ll be looking to do another one in October or November so if anyone has any good ideas about formats or venues please get in touch. For those of you who couldn’t make it on the night this is what you missed…..

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e20115722294a5970b 2009-07-22T09:42:15+01:00 2009-07-22T09:42:15+01:00

The wet weather did nothing to dampen the spirits at the Paramount Club last Friday night, when over two hundred people turned out to launch RecAid. Steve Halford chaired a lively auction, with holidays, drink and a cricket bat signed by the England team among the items for sale: the bat is now very probably priceless. Andrew Wilkinson, Mark Horley, and three Simons (Barrow, Bolton and Howard) also went under the hammer for varying sums; we will attempt to bring you news of how wise and valuable these investments turn out to be. Full Story on RI5 The RecAid total now stands at just over £10,000, of which £8,000 was raised at the Paramount. It's a great start but there's a long way to go. Already there are plenty of ideas for other events and many offers of help, as well as donations arriving at the RecAid website. To donate...

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011571192d0d970c 2009-07-16T16:32:20+01:00 2009-07-16T16:35:00+01:00

Now’s your chance. On Friday 17th – tomorrow night – some of the biggest names in the industry will auction off their services in aid of RecAid, the fund set up with advertising charity NABS to help those hardest hit by the downturn in the recruitment advertising industry. Simon Howard, Andrew Wilkinson, and Simon Bolton are amongst those taking part. Other Auction prizes are: Fully paid weekend in Classic British hotel worth £500 Cases of wine worth £200 Premier League football tickets worth £1,000 Week golf holiday including £250 flight vouchers worth £ 1,500 All inclusive Safari Holiday worth £3,000 Signed Chelsea football worth £400 And many more….. Plus lots of Raffle prizes too! To bid, you have to be at the fundraising party to launch the fund, which will take place at the Paramount Club in Centre Point from 6.30pm to 1am. Tickets are a donation of £10 (feel...

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e201157206cbf8970b 2009-07-15T03:28:15+01:00 2009-07-15T03:28:15+01:00

well - maybe not really, but this is a very involved, high production piece that is clearly aimed at going viral promoting the Pomegranate Phone "the one device that puts more things in the palm of your hand than you ever thought possible." I don't want to spoil it for you so go have a look - I'll post an observation about it as a marketing piece later. Will you be chucking in your outdated smartphone to upgrade to a Pomegranate?

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011571f0c155970b 2009-07-11T22:51:11+01:00 2009-07-13T10:19:07+01:00

RECaid Help for the Recruitment Advertising Industry RecAid was launched in July 2009 by a group of senior managers and leaders from across the UK’s recruitment advertising industry. Formed in response to the plight of former employees of Barkers, the world’s oldest advertising agency, which went into administration the same month, it is designed to help people from the recruitment advertising industry who find themselves in financial difficulty. The immediate aim is to raise £100,000 to help those who were hit when Barkers went into administration. Although the company was bought out of administration, saving many jobs, up to 250 former employees of the company lost their livelihoods and the redundancy pay that they were promised, leaving many facing severe hardship. The fund has been launched in partnership with NABS, the National Advertising Benevolence Society, which will oversee the management and use of the fund. However, the fund will be...

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011571d1bd69970b 2009-07-07T09:51:36+01:00 2009-07-07T09:51:36+01:00

So we may all remember the supreme Ferrero Roche 'Ambassador's Party' TV ad - 'Delicieux'...'excellente.'...'Monsieur, with this Roche, you are really spoiling us!'. Ah - Ambassadors - it's generally recognised that your employee's are/can be the best ambassadors of your employer brand. A lot of my Aunts's and Uncle's worked in Marks & Spencer's when I was growing up - they were lifetime employee's and I remember they were the very best ambassador's a company could hope for- they weren't shy about telling you all about the benefits (and trials and tribulations, of course) of working for what was certainly a premium employer, back in the day in Belfast. It's no coincidence that so many companies are using their staff in their TV advertising - Sainsbury's with their Mum returner to work character - brilliant dual branding ad for the employer and consumer brand. B&Q with all their regional staff...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011570b117f2970c 2009-07-03T02:09:32+01:00 2009-07-03T09:24:25+01:00

Just wanted to pop a quick post about a little pioneering that's been going on quietly in the job board sector. What with the massive leaps in interface technology on mobiles that have happened over the past couple of years, most notably of course the darling of the sexy smart phones, the iPhone, it was only a matter of time until job boards started trying to really push into that space to further their candidate reach and engagement too. Now I'm sure there are plenty of iPhone job apps out there (if you've come across one then write up a little review below or send it to us and we'll post it in its own right) - but I felt one I came across did a particularly good job in terms of making the most of the technology. That was the one by 1job.co.uk I've had a little play -...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-6a00d83452355c69e2011571a086a5970b 2009-07-02T12:32:23+01:00 2009-07-02T12:32:23+01:00

We attended the CIPD awards on Tuesday night at the Honourable Artillery Company near Old street. The sun was shining, the location lovely and MediaCom's work was recognised with three gongs. Two for our work for Shell with JWT (Digital and Innovation) and one for The Met Police with aia (Outdoor) - an integrated media campaign that involved a media recruitment first with a digital six sheet. This outdoor recruitment first, was one, in a long line of innovative firsts, planned by Celine Marshall in our team here for the Met Police, and so, we were delighted that this was recognised with an award. It's a fantastic example of how media choice can bring a great creative message to life and make it a real success. The Met police campaign put me in mind of Dave Trott's recent posts on his blog at Brand Republic on Upstream Media thinking where...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68450397 2009-06-24T17:38:53+01:00 2009-06-24T17:40:32+01:00

I was at one of my oldest friend's Charlotte's Solstice day party on Saturday. It started at 3pm and ended at 3am and was hosted at the commune/shared-housing home that Charlotte lives in in Islington. The day involved a fig tree ceremony where all party goers congregated in the garden, meditated and made a wish for the community and for themselves. Yup - was full-on, tree-hugger, liberal paradise. The sun was still shining when a lady came up to myself and a friend and asked could she have a cigarette, we happily obliged and we got to talking. She was in her fifties, already a bit tipsy and was a journalist - an investigative journalist. She was now teaching a journalism course in a London Uni and as she put it, was delighted to be giving something back to the younger generation after an illustrious career, working for all the...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68140241 2009-06-15T23:09:11+01:00 2009-06-15T23:47:30+01:00

So for those of you who don't follow @mattalder on twitter (or work in whatever corners of Barkers Matt's cheery demeanor brightens each day, or belong to his close family and are in regular contact with him) you won't know that he's currently hobnobbing with some of the great and most connected of digital recruitment world at the Social Recruiting Summit - being held at the uber webcool venue that is google HQ. Anyway - as part of the stream of tweets coming out of google HQ (which, as I write this with the day only just starting, has me thinking that it won't be long before twitter falls over as a direct result of this event!) Matt sent this: "accuracy of personal info when user has more than 10 connections better than a resume, people don't lie in public" RH #socialrecruiting Now the RH he references is Reid Hoffman...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-68118339 2009-06-15T13:31:18+01:00 2009-06-15T13:47:11+01:00

With the recent launch of Workthing+, the “is it right to charge candidates?” debate was certainly re-ignited (read some of it here on Recruiting Futurology). I wanted to step a little away from that particular cut and thrust and, having tried to give it a bit more time to look at all that’s on offer, give my take on the Workthing+ offer itself. It probably is worth stating for the record though that I have no problem with anyone charging for a service, whatever that may be - I actually kinda prefer that sort of transparency because it allows you to make an informed decision about the value for money you receive, and because you’re paying you are more bought into realising the full benefit of any facility – in short, putting more onus on you to make it work for you. OK – to the site/facility. My first observation...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67669979 2009-06-05T12:19:49+01:00 2009-06-05T12:20:21+01:00

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67668249 2009-06-05T10:28:07+01:00 2009-06-05T10:28:07+01:00

Interesting analysis of the US newspaper industry's cost base by Moody's Investors Service (though most of the rest of the report is unsurprising). Written by Moody's vice president and senior analyst John Puchalla, the report contends that publishers spend far too much on producing and delivering a printed paper rather than on creating its content and selling it. Here are the figures behind what Puchalla calls a "structural disconnect": only 14% of cash operating costs, on average, are devoted to content creation, while about 70% of costs are spent on printing, distribution and corporate functions. The remaining 16% of costs are related to advertising sales, a first-class example of devoting too few resources to the principal revenue driver. Puchalla sees this as a legacy of the industry's vertical integration and the result, of course, is that the high fixed costs - combined with high debt among many newspaper companies -...

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67410271 2009-05-29T17:31:02+01:00 2009-05-29T17:31:02+01:00

As Alex tells us all about the latest 'wave' of advertising below - I thought we could end the week with some stats from attending the recent EIAA conference (European Interactive Advertising Association). - Total Internet spend in 1999 came to £40m, which was seen back then as massive growth. Ten years later, we're now at £3.3 billion! - Ten years ago the three largest reaching sites in the UK were MSN, Yahoo and Freeserve! (remember Freeserve? and where is Google?) - Today, 45% of our Internet time is spent on just 10 sites, meaning the thousands of remaining domains have to fight it out for our remianing online time. Today our audience are'media multi-taskers' - consuming more than one media at a time - e.g. surfing online while watching TV etc etc In terms of the incredible transformation of the communications landscape, I really liked Evan Williams sentiment, on...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67396605 2009-05-29T08:10:37+01:00 2009-05-29T08:10:37+01:00

Global recession or not, the pace of internet technology development waits for no economic cycle it would seem. Recently google have announced their latest project – something that’s potentially so big they’ve broken with their usual “release it in beta & then keep working on it” approach and have started drawing attention to it months before it’ll be ready for public release. Google Wave promises to be a “new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year”. Twitter killer? Certainly looks like to me. It’s gonna dent the hell out of FaceBook & other such platforms too you’d have to bet. So what is Wave – well in their own words: A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message,...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67322137 2009-05-27T15:44:22+01:00 2009-05-27T15:47:19+01:00

Dell have launched Della - a website for women and how their computers can help enhance their lives by looking cute, fashionable and help them count calories. Look above, at how the happy women, sit closely together with their pastel coloured laptops and share laughs, horopscopes and no doubt, are on Cosmo online, gleaning pearls of wisdom on how to make their relationship work. Puts me in mind of one of my favourite Harry Enfield schetches - Women know your limits So, how can I expect to benefit from a netbook as detailed on the Della site? Well, once I get beyond how darn cute they are I can easily find recipe's, count calories, watch fitness videos and ensure I shop successfully at vintage clothing stores. Then there is the accessories section - where I can shop to my hearts content. Oh dear...why are women seen as a specific niche...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67287287 2009-05-26T19:00:39+01:00 2009-05-26T19:07:03+01:00

Lately, I've been mulling over the reports that newspapers intend to charge for their online content. A futile exercise by Murdoch and the like, long after the dam wall has bust? or justified compensation for valuable content that in fairness should be paid for? It's a tricky one for sure. To pay or not to pay. In terms of recruitment, we blogged about the subscription model on recruitment sites, such as The Ladders a while back and more recently and much deeper into the recession, Matt has got the debate going nicely on his own blog. I read an article from the Observer recently and it made me think. It was all about Charles Percy Snows 'infectious idea/meme' that there exists two cultures in society. Literary Intellectuals v. Natural Scientists - both who had mutual incomprehension and mistrust which had negative repercussions for society. According to John Naughton, today its...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-67272241 2009-05-26T12:02:02+01:00 2009-05-26T12:02:02+01:00

This was in the FT yesterday ... Future of Newspapers some very interesting points ... have a good old read.

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66660453 2009-05-11T23:38:09+01:00 2009-05-11T23:52:38+01:00

We don’t tend to plug many conferences on Digital Recruiting but I couldn't let the opportunity to mention mine and Paul Harrison’s double header and double bill coming up over the summer pass by. As well as both speaking at the Onrec conference next month (Paul is talking social media and I’m chairing the panel debate) we are also both doing a turn at the UK’s first, Social Media Recruitment conference in July. Paul will be regaling the audience with his thoughts on how to put a corporate social media strategy together and I’ll be getting my crystal ball out to predict how social media will evolve in the future. Rumours that we’re both in the running for the most overexposed digital recruitment professional of 2009 award are of course completely unfounded ;-) Matt

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66360841 2009-05-04T20:31:14+01:00 2009-05-04T20:39:17+01:00

It's Bank holiday Monday and in the absence of anything decent of TV, I've put on one of my favourite movies, Gone with the Wind whilst I tip-tap on my laptop. The opening quote of the movie describes the fall of the American old south - Look for it only in books, for it is no more than a dream remembered. A Civilization gone with the wind..." Simultaneously I've been catching up with the latest news online and came across the article on how The Evening Standard is about to launch an advertising blitz ahead of it's relaunch this month- Evening Standard launches ad campaign to say sorry to Londoners After carrying out market research it found that Londoners have deserted the paper due to it being overly negative, too partisan and anti Ken Livingstone, too national in its outlook and not London focused enough. '...Buses and tubes will carry...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-66353959 2009-05-04T17:57:19+01:00 2009-05-04T18:43:19+01:00

So, I have a little brother and sister who are twins and are in university at the moment. Gavin and Louise are their names, they are the babies of our family and although I may be biased, they are pretty great. They are looking for a paid internship to start in September for a year and are finding it pretty tough to get one. Lou studies marketing and Gavin studies engineering. It's looking like they may have to go to plan B and volunteer for a few days a week at a company and continue to work in their part time jobs to keep them going. It's pretty critical they get experience in the workplace if they are to stand a chance of getting a job when they graduate. And you know, I don't think its a bad thing to volunteer in exchange for really useful experience, especially in the...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65610259 2009-04-17T15:33:05+01:00 2009-04-17T15:35:43+01:00

This is pretty much a completely lifted article by Sean Carton posted on ClickZ.com, but I just thought it was so well put that I wanted to paste it across. I have taken the liberty of amending it in a few places to make it more UK recruitment industry relevant (talking about TV ads isn't really us), but I think the parallels are so striking overall it holds up. See what you think (oh - and there are some great posts linked to from the article too - so give yourself 15 minutes, get a coffee and have a good read). The end of Advertising agencies as we know them Do we really need advertising agencies anymore? Are we witnessing the great "reboot" of the advertising industry hastened (but not caused) by the current recession? It's pretty obvious to any reasonable person watching the tens of thousands of layoffs in...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65606777 2009-04-17T14:01:12+01:00 2009-04-17T14:01:12+01:00

Twitter, the microblogging website, is focusing on creating value for consumers and companies before attempting to increase its revenues, but doesn't think traditional advertising will be a "good model", says co-founder Biz Stone. WARC

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65450307 2009-04-14T16:44:14+01:00 2009-04-14T16:44:14+01:00

Interesting discussion about the future of the workplace ... very interesting points on how the design of the building helps to attract the right level of talent. http://www.monocle.com/sections/design/Web-Articles/The-Future-of-the-Workplace/

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-65259901 2009-04-09T11:32:50+01:00 2009-04-09T17:04:11+01:00

So, I was at the SouthBank centre last night attending a talk by one of my favourite writers, Alain De Botton. I've read all his books since one of my good friends bought me the book Status Anxiety a number of years ago for my birthday (take from that, what you will....). The genius of Alain is his ability to articulate and make simple the biggest challenges and issues we face in life, be that love, success, friendship etc. He makes philosophy accessible to the masses. His latest book is all about work called The Pleasure and Sorrows of Work. He noted that if you were to look to art - be that TV, movies, books etc there is very little coverage of our real working lives - something that takes up a huge amount of our time. It would seem in movies and TV that everyone works in three...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64990655 2009-04-02T15:46:19+01:00 2009-04-02T15:46:19+01:00

When Stars Twitter, a Ghost May Be Lurking - IHT Is Twitter becoming like MySpace - Brand Republic I actually have no real opinion on twitter as I do not use it ... but i thought i would try and get down with the cool kids and post a few links to interesting articles about twitter. I am going back to my hole now, texting people, searching for things and checking email ...

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64824787 2009-03-30T09:57:21+01:00 2009-03-30T09:57:21+01:00

There have been some very welcome developments with the UK Recruitment Tweetup over the weekend and we now have some extra capacity. You can read more here or go and register here if you haven't already Matt

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64717659 2009-03-27T14:27:28+00:00 2009-03-27T17:05:06+00:00

Having just read Jamie's posting on the above, which I think is a great post, pretty much summing up a lot of the evening, I did feel it missed a couple of elements that, from an ad agency perspective, were really key failings on the night. - The winners - what did they do to win? No-one knew, no-one was shown, and it was all a little disappointing/frustrating. - The cost - much as Jamie says, for circa £1800 for a table (which, I believe, is pretty comparable to the RADS/CIPDS) - or £185 per head, it just doesn't seem value for money. We were lucky enough to have a client there, and won our category, but you know normally at these events you feel like you've got value for money - plenty of wine (certainly not just 4 bottles between 10-12 people), entertainment (pre-drinks (which I missed but looked...

Ben Nunn tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64475151 2009-03-22T21:39:24+00:00 2009-03-22T21:40:30+00:00

A quick follow up to the last post to announce that Twitter Job Search will be sponsoring the UK Recruitment Tweetup on 1st April. You can find more details on my Recruitment Futurology blog or just go straight to the sign up page if you want to attend

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-64276605 2009-03-17T19:21:43+00:00 2009-03-17T19:21:43+00:00

Just a quick post to let everyone know that registrations are now open for the UK's very first Recruitment Tweetup. You can read more about the event here or you can just go and sign up straight away here. The only rules are that you must be a Twitter user and connected in some way with the recruitment or HR industry The Tweetup is going to be held at an undisclosed Farringdon bar in association with MyLongLunch and another major sponsor who we are just finishing negotiations with. More news when we have it! @mattalder and @jamieasleonard

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63906543 2009-03-10T22:51:15+00:00 2009-03-10T22:51:15+00:00

Well - here it is. There was a bit of a ripple in the webosphere about two weeks ago when we heard tell of a Star Trek Spoof video viewable on YouTube from Tribal Resourcing, fetauring the Senior Management team. Unfortunately it seemed to get beamed back up nearly as quickly as it arrived amongst us. But the web has a habbit of Kling(ing)on to tomfoolery and one keen eyed & public spirited citizen managed to capture the footage before it hit warp 5 and so, hoping Tribal phasers don't go any higher than just stun, we thought we'd share and let you make your own mind up about it. Personally - I think if nothing else it shows a bit of personality and a senior management team willing to not take themselves too seriously. And if it doesn't raise a smile (certainly 2nd or 3rd time of watching) then...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63384635 2009-02-26T17:54:57+00:00 2009-02-26T17:55:45+00:00

We started this week with a bit of a ripple in the recruitment advertising twittersphere from a certain agencies video post - a ripple that despite the apparent best efforts of the generating agency to remove the video almost as quickly as it was posted has left a bit of a phasers to stun kind of afterglow. A few lucky people got to see it and I have it on good authority from one such person that Tribal have produced a spoof Star Trek-esque spoof promo. Im afraid all I can show you is where it clearly isn't (you'll get what I mean if you click on the main video as it comes up "we're sorry, this video is no longer available") - http://www.youtube.com/user/BHTribal1 It seemingly flashed onto the web Monday morning but within an hour or two was gone again. For me it begs the question – how can...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63231097 2009-02-23T16:19:08+00:00 2009-02-23T16:24:57+00:00

I read the following headline in my digital newsletter today: 'Government slammed for £160,000 digital-czar job posting' Crikey, I thought - is that the price of a job posting these days? - no wonder people are a bit upset - back to the Sunday Times we go.... On closer inspection, the government has created a new post for a Digital Czar to help the government connect with people through the digital social environment - on such things such as Twitter, Facebook etc Is this a grotesque use of public money, as one opponent exclaimed? - well no, I don't think it is. If the role is to genuinely engage the public in dialogue, share information and involve them in the democratic environment, staving off apathy in the process, then it is to be welcomed. Enabling participation and giving people a voice is one of the most positive lessons we can...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63050411 2009-02-19T11:00:54+00:00 2009-02-19T11:00:54+00:00

I was recently approached by OnRec.com ("The Magazine for Online Recruitment around the world") to contribute to an article. You can read the article here - Using social media and Web 2.0 effectively (with additional contributions from Jamie Leonard, Euan McDonald & Lucian Tarnowski). I thought I'd post my full thoughts here too. How can recruiters use social media and Web 2.0 effectively to engage candidates? The best way to use social media to engage candidates is by first ensuring you understand your target audience. If you have an idea of where they may already be congregating online or what they’re consuming (by way of web content) then it’s a great idea to ‘listen’ to them first whilst you work out what you can bring to the party. If you’re hoping that a couple of tweaked press releases every other month will in any way be engaging then you’re setting...

Alex Hens tag:typepad.com,2003:post-63009295 2009-02-18T13:47:39+00:00 2009-02-18T13:48:02+00:00

So, I was reading the Sunday Times at the weekend and had a look at their best blogs article. I was of course, shocked and bewildered that digitalrecruiting.co.uk wasn't on there, but hey ho.... Anyhoo - there's a blog on there on the Advertising world from a copy-writing fella named Dave Trott. I've been reading it ever since and am loving the content and his writing style. Check it out if have a moment - some great content on what a client briefs you and what they actually mean, a fantastic post on whether in design, all elements should be purely functional or should include non essential emotional elements to enhance and complete the full design- the WW2 story of the British colonel, the Nazi concentration camp and lipstick made a real impact. The oft-fricticious relationship between the client facing Account Manager and the internal creative department . This particular...

Sinead Bunting tag:typepad.com,2003:post-62817729 2009-02-13T18:24:29+00:00 2009-02-13T18:24:29+00:00

After having a conservation with someone about student marketing this week, I couldn't help remembering the video below. I first posted it on Digital Recruiting two years ago and I'm pleased to say that, despite some formidable competition, it remains one of my favourite worst recruitment videos ever. However having clocked up nearly a million views maybe bad is good after all! Have a great weekend

Matt Alder tag:typepad.com,2003:post-62697875 2009-02-11T16:45:53+00:00 2009-02-11T16:52:29+00:00

You may have seen a rather nasty post about me recently ... i thought that is odd as I had never met the person. From further investigation I have had to remove the content because not only had they made the comment but it had been linked to to make sure it ws listed highly in the google search results. It is rather sad that this industry forum was used for a personal attack. Sorry as I am a great believer in free speach ... but this was done to play a rather nasty trick.

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-62695275 2009-02-11T15:49:53+00:00 2009-02-11T15:57:18+00:00

The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) have just released the latest AGR Winter Survey 2009 Phil Lane discusses overall ideas and especially David Lammy’s solutions over in the Barkers Blog But I want to look at a different side … the increase in investment in websites and campus activity vs. the decrease in paper and online advertising. I just want to say – at last! For many years I have seen pointless campaigns running in the media and I am sure no one asked why are we doing this? And if anyone did question the ideas we were hit with the same old response – we have to do it. Do we have to? Campus based activity will always give the best rewards … and back it up with a great search campaign and a well optimised website. Have a dialogue and let people find you. It makes a lot...

John Whitehurst tag:typepad.com,2003:post-62652157 2009-02-10T18:28:55+00:00 2009-02-10T18:32:48+00:00

Last Friday we held a seminar for clients on Obama and his fantastic use of marketing and branding to help bring him to power. One of the speakers was an author, who is currently featuring in our 'Smarter ways of working bookclub'. It was a corker of an event and myself and hopefully our clients found it really useful. The author Ian Leslie talked us through amongst other things, Obama and his teams use of technology (iphone apps etc), social media, the positioning of the campaign as a grassroots campaign as opposed to the traditional top down approach, fund raising and the the Obama logo itself being a symbol of change and optimism. The country, as a result of Bush etc was crying out for change and 'man did meet the moment.' The presentation climaxed with a clip from Youtube, (where else) of the man himself delivering a speech to...

Sinead Bunting