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The ZipLine: Location Revealed for DEAM12

Tuesday, April 10th, 2012

From the Circle City to the Wild West, check out the destination for the 2012 DirectEmployers Annual Meeting & Conference (DEAM12)!

Stay tuned for the website and registration. We’re seeking Members to volunteer for annual meeting committees such as programing, social media and activities. Please email Lis Dennis for more information: Lis@DirectEmployers.org

The Employment Line Blog is brought to you by DirectEmployers, a non-profit association of global employers, which provides simple, sophisticated solutions for human Resources and recruitment.

Tags: Annual Meeting & Conference, Arizona, DEAM12, DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, ZipLine
Posted in Employment Line Post | No Comments »

All 50 States and U.S. Territories Partner in Nationwide Electronic Labor Exchange

Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012

Since 2007, the National Labor Exchange has made over 13 million employment opportunities available to job seekers across the nation.

INDIANAPOLIS, April 3, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The National Labor Exchange (NLX), a sophisticated electronic job search engine, reached a milestone when Michigan became the 50th state to join, creating a truly nationwide electronic labor exchange.

Created in 2007, the National Labor Exchange has made over 13 million job openings available to state workforce agency job banks through a unique private-public partnership between the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) and DirectEmployers Association. Over 150,000 employers of all sizes can be found and currently has an average of 950,000 job opportunities per month available on the network.

The National Labor Exchange is the only tool allowing all employers, especially multi-state employers, to download jobs daily into state job banks in an effective and cost-efficient manner. This helps eliminate third-party aggregators and duplicated job listings.

Instead of using federal funding for operations, research and development the National Labor Exchange leverages private, nonprofit owned technology with existing state workforce agency resources. All of the labor exchange services offered are free for state workforce agency customers, both job seekers and employers, as well as the state workforces agencies themselves and federal partners.

About The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA)
The National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) is an organization of state administrators of unemployment insurance laws, employment services, training programs, employment statistics and labor market information and other programs and services provided through the publicly-funded state workforce system.

About DirectEmployers Association
DirectEmployers Association is a leading HR consortium of global employers that was formed to assist in the sharing of ideas, incorporating of best practices and research and development of technology where labor practices are concerned. Through this consortium business standards are shaped and technology is used with respect to the diversity that is reflected in the various cultures embodied in a global workforce. Our recognized expertise in compliance, recruitment and cost effective technology enables our members to reach the largest, most diverse pool of quality job seekers worldwide.

SOURCE National Labor Exchange

Tags: DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, jobs, labor exchange, NASWA, National Association of State Workforce Agencies, National Labor Exchange, us.jobs
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3 Ways to Track and Improve Your Sourcing Strategy

Monday, April 2nd, 2012

Technology has afforded us the ability to do more with less and get our jobs out to the public faster and more efficiently. With the addition of social media and other disruptive technology though, it’s important to continually assess our efforts to remain efficient and focused on what works. This includes frequently assessing short and long term goals and asking the right questions such as: How do we make sure we know which keywords resonate with job seekers? How do we measure how well our search engine optimization (SEO) is performing? How do we track each source to know where the overall traffic is coming from?

Have you ever taken a detailed look at metrics to uncover great sourcing opportunities? DirectEmployers Association provides three powerful tools to our Member companies that provide the data you need to help answer these questions.

1. Google Analytics is a free and fairly simple tool to use to track and analyze data and can be used to answer many of the above questions. Even if you’re a newbie, there’s a very resourceful Google Analytics website and blog dedicated to ensuring users get the most out of the analytics platform.

DirectEmployers Association provides access to your Google Analytics accounts through the member exclusive community the Pipeline.

Each member receives one .JOBS Career Microsite at no charge with their membership. This and any other microsite that you may have purchased has been setup with access to Google Analytics. The following is a screenshot of a Google Analytics report from a Member’s microsite.

Standard reporting is automatically setup for each member, however Google Analytics is extremely versatile and has many features and options available to create customizable reports. Above you see the Visitors Overview with a breakdown of how many unique visitors there was to the site for the month of March 2012.

The Traffic Sources Overview report shows the top 10 traffic sources. If you need to dive deeper you can view all of the sources if you choose. By knowing the highest source of traffic , you can reallocate your budget accordingly.

We have noticed state workforce agencies are a major source of traffic for Member companies. State workforce agencies are a resource for sourcing candidates that employers don’t always know how to leverage. DirectEmployers Association’s partnership with all 50 states provides an easy solution.

2. NetInsight by Unica powers the Direct Traffic reports provided to all Member companies by DirectEmployers Association. Direct Traffic reports provide detailed reporting for all of your jobs that are syndicated through our 3,000+ partner sites. Just like Google Analytics, Direct Traffic reports have many options to tailor the reports to meet your particular needs.

Viewing the Keyword Summary Dashboard, as seen above, provides this Member with detailed information about specific keywords candidates are using to try and find their job listings. This data can then be incorporated into the company’s SEO strategy, job descriptions, and be used for sourcing candidates through keyword search strings on LinkedIn, Google and other sources. While many of the keywords used are already familiar to you, there may be unique keyword phrases that are being used to find your job listings. Below is a screen shot of the Job View Dashboard for a Member company. We can see again that many of the states are top traffic providers.

In addition traffic sources include, XML Feed, NACElink Alumni, JobCentral (now US.jobs), IMDiversity and Direct SEO (now .JOBS Career Microsite). Many of the syndication partners are great for candidate sourcing. Of course, part of your membership benefits includes syndication to these 3,000+ partners sites. However, knowing which partners are performing for you can help you to know where you could put additional resources to source resume databases or create targeted keywords for your SEO strategy.

DirectEmployers Association provides access to Direct Traffic in addition to user tutorials in the Pipeline.

3. Finally, we can provide an XML feed or an API of your jobs to job boards and vendors. These feeds have tracking source codes embedded into the URL string to enable tracking all the way into your ATS. (Please contact your membership development team member for more detailed instructions on how to implement this very valuable feature.)

This option is a huge benefit because DirectEmployers Association has most of your jobs (second to your ATS), therefore, the feed is more robust. This tracking option enables you to track all the way to the hiring point. This is an extremely valuable feature that requires very limited work on your end.

By utilizing all three of these reporting features you are provided with a centralized place to pull your data and reduce duplicate information while saving you time. Understanding all of the features and options DirectEmployers Association provides you as a Member benefit can help you analyze your metrics and ultimately improve your sourcing strategy.

Tags: Direct Traffic, DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, Google Analytics, HR, Human Resources, NetInsight, recruiting, SEO, sourcing, traffic sources, Unica, unique visitors
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

The Employment Line, Episode 7: College Recruiting Tips from NACE, 10,000 Jobs Challenge & 2012 Annual Conference Date

Tuesday, March 27th, 2012

In this episode:

Suggestions for college recruiting efforts from NACE, 10,000 Jobs Challenge for veterans and military spouses, and the 2012 Annual Meeting & Conference

Keeping you connected, with no waiting—The Employment Line. Thank you for watching.

The Employment Line is brought to you by DirectEmployers, a non-profit association of global employers, which provides simple, sophisticated solutions for Human Resources and Recruitment.

Tags: 10000 Jobs Challenge, 2012 Annual Meeting & Conference, college recruiting, DEAM12, DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, NACE, veterans; military
Posted in Employment Line Post | No Comments »

5 Advantages of Using a .JOBS Top Level Domain for Your Job Search

Friday, March 23rd, 2012

Your stellar résumé is prepared and your interview outfit is chosen…now how do you find relevant job opportunities? As a job seeker your first thought is probably to search out different employment opportunities via search engines, job boards or company career sites. However, a growing trend amongst employers is the use of a .JOBS top level domain (TLD). So how does this impact your job search?

What are .JOBS Domains Anyway?

Chances are you are more familiar with websites that end in .COM, .EDU, or .GOV extensions. Similarly, .JOBS is also an extension. What makes this extension unique is the fact that only verified job content is permitted. One of the benefits helps protect job seekers like yourself from scams – which according to the Better Business Bureau was one of the biggest scams of 2011. (http://mashable.com/2012/03/10/top-scams/) Each job listing links directly to the company’s career site, without having to fill out a profile or view irrelevant content.

While .JOBS sites are being utilized by many different employers, you can also search for jobs by specific field of interest or location. If you have a specific company you would like to work for see if they have a .JOBS site by entering the company name in your browser followed by .jobs. If you have a specific field of interest, such as marketing, enter http://marketing.jobs in your web browser. For location you can search by state, city or metro like http://Indiana.jobs, http://Indianapolis.jobs or http://DCmetro.jobs.

So How Does this Benefit a Job Seeker?

Privacy Protected: You aren’t required to set up a user name and password to search through job openings like other job boards. Since a registration isn’t required, you don’t have to worry about uploading your resume and having it distributed to any parties that you are unaware of, keeping your personal information safe and secure.
All Job Seeker Focused: Each .JOBS domain is highly targeted so you no longer have to navigate through an entire website to find the careers or job section. Also, if you are searching for a specific career field, you have a variety of verified companies listed for you to search and find the job that fits your unique skill set.
Current Job Opportunities: The .JOBS top level domains offer companies a way to better connect with job seekers by keeping only current, legitimate job listings on each site.
Access to More Jobs: The .JOBS domains collectively contain nearly 1,000,000 employment opportunities from over 90,000 global employers helping create a robust network of jobs.
Mobile-friendly: Companies have recognized that people are constantly on-the-go and need of a way to easily search for employment in the same fashion. The .JOBS domains have been optimized for viewing and searching on a mobile device.

Whether you are a seasoned professional now looking for employment or a college student just starting your career, consider searching on a .JOBS domain to help streamline your employment search. The time you’ll save can be used on polishing up you those interview skills.

Tags: .JOBS TLD, .JOBS Universe, DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, dot-jobs, dot-jobs domains, hiring, job seekers, jobs
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

Hiring the College Class of 2012

Wednesday, March 21st, 2012

The following blog post is a companion to the March 21, 2012, webinar, “Job Outlook: Class of 2012,” led by Edwin Koc, Director of Strategic and Foundation Research, National Association of Colleges and Employers.

If you plan to hire new college graduates this year, expect to face more competition than in the recent past. There has been steady improvement in both the overall economy and job market and in the job market specifically for new college graduates, creating more competition for new grads in a variety of fields.

In fact, overall, employers taking part in NACE’s Job Outlook 2012 survey anticipate hiring approximately 10 percent more new college graduates at the bachelor’s degree level this year than they did last year. Some industries—notably retail trade, energy, engineering services, and consulting—have especially aggressive plans to hire Class of 2012 graduates, projecting hiring increases that exceed 18 percent.

Employers taking part in the survey were most likely to cite finance, accounting, computer science, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering graduates as their target hires. Beyond major, employers are also looking at the diversity of their new hires; and nearly three-quarters have formal diversity recruiting efforts in place.

Employers have a healthy list of requirements for their new college hires—the right major, of course, but also a high GPA (3.0 is the standard cutoff), relevant experience (most likely gained through an internship), and a variety of skills, including teamwork, verbal communication, and decision-making and problem-solving skills.

At the same time, however, new college grads have their own expectations, and organizations that want to compete successfully for top college talent need to be prepared to meet those.

Student Expectations and Preferences

NACE research indicates that new grads seek opportunity for personal growth and development, job security, good benefits, friendly co-workers, a high starting salary, and an opportunity to improve the community.

In terms of benefits, student expectations have changed little since NACE began tracking this 20+ years ago: 100 percent employer-paid medical insurance, annual salary increases, and an employer-matched 401(k) program are consistently at or near the top of students’ wish list.

Salary-wise, employers can expect to ante up more this year. More than half of employers taking part in NACE’s Job Outlook 2012 survey expect to raise starting salaries; overall, the average anticipated increase is 3.7 percent. For the most sought-after disciplines, starting salaries can be steep (computer science grads, for example, average nearly $61,000 as a starting salary), and NACE research shows that students are fairly savvy about what they can command. In fact, salary is a key reason why they reject job offers.

Positioning Your Organization to Compete

The first step to positioning your organization to compete effectively for new college grads is identifying target schools—schools that will provide you with the best matches for your opportunities.

Employers invested in college recruiting and relations select their target schools based on majors offered, perceived quality of the schools’ programs, previous experience recruiting at the school; diversity of the student body, and location. Look for quantity and quality, and verse yourself in the student demographics so you have a handle on who you are targeting.

Building your efforts around the right schools for your organization is a critical first step to success, but college relations and recruitment is a long-term strategy for developing a high-quality work force. For those willing to make the commitment, the return on investment can be enormous.

Learn more: NACE offers a variety of resources for college recruiting, including salary information, benchmarks, best practices, custom research, and more. Sample some of these resources at www.naceweb.org/sample-resources/.

Mimi Collins is director of communications for the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

A special thank you to Mimi and NACE for providing such great content for our blog! If you liked this post, you might consider reading Best Practices for College Recruiting.

Tags: campus recruiting, college recruiting, DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, NACE, National Association of Colleges and Employers
Posted in Soapbox Holland Post | No Comments »

Visually Enhanced Homepages Launched in the .JOBS Microsite Platform

Tuesday, March 20th, 2012

Billboard Homepages now will be available to employers looking to add further reach to their national brand presence.

INDIANAPOLIS, March 20, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — As the Internet transitions into a more visually stimulating environment, DirectEmployers Association, a leading HR consortium of global employers, launches the Billboard Homepage feature to the 50 U.S. States, Washington D.C. and three U.S. territories within the .JOBS platform. For a better example of the new Billboard Homepage design, see http://california.jobs/.

“DirectEmployers Association is taking the .JOBS platform to the next level with upgraded Billboard Homepages,” stated Bill Warren, Executive Director, DirectEmployers Association. “Emerging social media sites, like Pinterest, are visually oriented and you have to have pictures and graphics that help cultivate both visual stimulation and user engagement. The upgrade to Billboard Homepages will help achieve this.”

The change to Billboard Homepages was prompted to improve the overall user experience within the .JOBS platform. “Implementing new Billboard Homepages was a natural progression from standard site headers. Images evoke emotions within people. In essence, humans have built-in instincts for recognizing landmark and corporate branded images. If we can appeal to regional, civic or corporate pride in job seekers we can better align them with employers,” commented Rick Wehrle, Vice President of Product Development, DirectEmployers Association.

As an added benefit, DirectEmployers member companies have an opportunity to sponsor the Billboard Homepage image on relevant sites to proactively strengthen outreach, target local candidates and enhance their recruitment brand. “AT&T finds great value in the sponsorship opportunity featuring a user directed slideshow which encompasses landmarks and corporate photographs to further enhance our branding strategy,” said Carrie Corbin, Strategic Staffing and Talent Attraction, AT&T. Among the many new feature releases scheduled for 2012, DirectEmployers anticipates Billboard Homepages will be available on city and veteran.JOBS microsites later this year.

SOURCE DirectEmployers Association

Tags: .JOBS microsites, .JOBS Universe, Billboard Homepages, Carrie Corbin, DirectEmployers, DirectEmployers Association, HyattCareers, Rick Wehrle
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Technology Essential in Talent Acquisition, But Recruiting Still About People

Wednesday, March 14th, 2012

“It’s not about just filling a job, it’s about matching talent to the need, because that’s the differentiating factor in great companies.”

Dennis Smith,
Recruiting Manager, St. Jude Medical

Dennis Smith admits his journey into human resources was slightly unconventional, but once he found his niche, it’s been a great ride ever since.

One the home front, Smith also discovered a true passion – his family. He is married and has spent, in his words, “Twenty-six awesome years,” with his wife, Katherine, and is a proud father of 5 kids. Although that has meant sacrificing golf for the past 18 years, he has enjoyed writing his blog, jobgeeks.com between soccer and softball games.

Smith sat down shared what it’s like working as a Recruiting manager at St. Jude Medical, the shift in recruitment technology and what really resonates with him about the HR profession.

Nancy: What is your current role at St. Jude Medical and how did you land there?

Dennis: I am Recruiting Manager for the Neuromodulation Division in Dallas. My first corporate recruiting job began in 1997. The person that hired me into that role then called 12 years later about an opportunity with St. Jude Medical. I was told there were so many jobs that “your children’s children could probably have a job when they’re ready.” So I took a good hard look the company, and I couldn’t pass it up. My personality is such that I don’t work well just in a job. I really have to be connected with that company and its purpose, its vision and its mission because that’s where I get my drive. That came easily at St. Jude Medical.

Nancy: What does your team do really well?

Dennis: We are extremely focused on doing the hard things very well and consistently, even though they may seem like minor details. That can be different for anybody, but we look at the real mechanics of what it takes to be a great recruiter. We all have to talk, but if you can communicate well with the candidate, you can differentiate yourself from your competitor. We really try to become a partner, not just somebody who’s calling and asking you to take this job for a dollar an hour more. We’re trying to help people find that right fit. If they’re not the right fit, then they’re not going to be happy at our company and they won’t stay.

Nancy: In your opinion, how has recruiting changed over the years and how has recruiting stayed the same?

Dennis: Some of the things that were very basic to recruiting 20 years ago haven’t changed. We still reach out and make a connection with people, and that is done best through a one-on-one telephone conversation, ultimately leading to a meeting where we endear somebody to ourselves, to the company and a purpose.

What I don’t like about how recruiting has changed is how it has become impersonal. We send an email, instead of picking up the phone. In the past we’d pick up the phone because that was all we had, right? In 1996 when I started recruiting, the only guys who knew what Google was were the IT guys. We weren’t using social networks, and in a sense, we’ve done ourselves a disservice by immersing ourselves in the social piece of it when it’s not really that social.

I love that we have technology at our fingertips, and if we can use that to enhance those relationships and connect with candidates, I’m going to have an edge over my competitor. Nothing can replace the basics of recruiting, and that’s why I emphasized we do the basic stuff really well.

Nancy: You know what I love about what you’re saying? You are unabashedly an advocate for seeing the benefit of technology, but when it comes down to it, it’s about people. If you miss out on that human component, you risk losing big.

Dennis: It is a big difference. It’s not until we sit down face-to-face and have a conversation about what makes you tick that the whole thing comes to life. That’s the difference to me. You can connect with somebody on a whole different level. I won’t forget a job seeker sitting in front of me when we make a connection and I really get to look inside their heart and figure out what they want to do and why. You know the old saying about people might remember what you say, but you know they’re definitely going to remember how you made them feel? I can’t make you feel what I’m really passionate about to come across in email. And I love social networks, but if you’re not great at communicating on a social network, you’re just going to you know compound your chances of being misunderstood. It’s much easier to be understood face-to-face and that’s what a job seeker has to do well.

Nancy: What about HR really resonates with you?

Dennis: I really look at what we do as a calling. I know that sounds a little strange, but we’re in the business of changing people’s lives. In HR, we help people – we help them get better. We help solve some of their problems and we challenge them to do their best. Obviously over the last couple of years we have seen our share of unemployment, but we get the joy of helping people.

A special thank you to Dennis Smith for his time and enjoyable conversation. Dennis recently participated in the Social Jobs Partnership by sharing advice to job seekers. Check out his video: http://vimeo.com/33531145

DirectEmployers Association A non profit association of employers