Thanks for visiting JobSyntax!  We closed the JobSyntax blog in August 2007, but check out the archives ... there's lots of employer and jobseeker tips still hanging around.

Best of luck in your job or talent search!

I'm an incredibly lame blogger of late, I know.  Let's just say I'm taking a little "break."  I think every blogger is entitled to a break every now and then. :)

But anyway ...

An interesting conversation going on in the comments section of Microsoft's JobsBlog got me thinking about that age-old communication gap between jobseekers and employers ... this being JobSyntax's (whose mission it is to bridge that gap) 1 year anniversary and all!

In Why I Wish I had Studied Computer Science/IT/Technology in College, Janelle discusses the decline in computer science college enrollment .  She lists a few assumptions - don't need a degree to get a job;  your major isn't important; the material is too outdated and irrelevant - and asks readers why they think the decline exists.  This is a topic that I'm also very passionate about, and I have to say I've just always assumed the decline existed because people who may be interested are too gun-shy of the technology industry.   They think opportunities will dwindle and/or be off-shored - so there isn't a strong future in the field.   Certainly, those reasons were mentioned, but they weren't the majority.

While the blogosphere hardly serves as scientific research, it does provide good data points.  And the data points here tell me that there's yet another disconnect between what jobseekers think and what employers think.  A large share of the responses mirrored this sentiment:

A formal degree in Computer Science is not really essential to get into the Software/IT industry. What is more important is having passion for what you are do.

Now, I'm all for passion, and I'm not here to kill the dream, kids.  (And to be fair, the person who wrote this specific comment has an advanced degree in CS.)  I have seen many people have great careers in the technology industry without degrees.  But I was just really surprised to hear that same reasoning echoed over and over again.  It NEVER occurred to me people may not be majoring in CS because they don't think they need to.

In my experience working as a technical recruiter, I have encountered maybe 2 or 3 hiring managers who have said a CS or related degree is not a requirement ... or least a very, very, very strong "nice to have."  (And those hiring managers were usually ones who didn't have degrees themselves.)  As a recruiter, education is usually the first thing my eyes notice.  And back in the day when I'd mined resume databases or job boards, "computer sci*" OR "computer eng*" were always in my search string.

I'm not arguing that you aren't qualified if you don't have a degree ... but I am arguing that you will be perceived as unqualified if you don't have one.  The standards and requirements will only continue to increase - and those without degrees (and lacking experience to back it up) will only find it more difficult to break into the field with a good job.  You may find a job - but you also may find that those 4 years of time and tuition costs were more than worth it in the end.

Like I said, just an interesting response.  "I don't need a CS degree" was something I never expected to hear.  In 1999?  Sure.  In 2007?  No way!

Am I off-base?

I was traveling last week so I'm a little behind - but I finally got a chance today to listen to the Recruiting Animal's radio show (aka live podcast) on the topic of recruiting blogs:  Have Recruiting Blogs made it big?  I wish I could have listened live and participated - but such is life.  It was great to listen to the Animal after reading him for so long.  First, it was very cool that he gave a shout out to our very own Liam Goldring.  Lil’ Liam is a blogosphere celebrity! ;-)

Anyway, the Animal argues that recruiting blogs have not yet “arrived.”  They can be effective, and recruiters and marketers alike are getting some value out of them … but they haven’t caught on like people predicted … especially in the corporate / 1st party space.

A few thoughts … first, I agree with a lot of what the Animal says.  My feeling is that blogs are one of many, many, many, many different channels that a corporate recruiting department can use to promote their company’s openings and general employment brand.  And in general, I’ve seen very few companies (especially the big guys) who do a good overall job of promoting their company’s openings and employment brand in the first place.  Employment marketing, in general, has been slow to evolve.

I also don’t think that corporate recruiters should spend their time writing a blog.  I've always said that.  They need to be recruiting, not marketing.  The person who manages your career site or your ad campaigns or your events should be the person managing your blog.  It’s just another channel to get the word out.  It’s another channel to assist with your site’s SEO.  It’s another channel to connect 1:many with candidates. And it's a way to do all these things very cheapy, very quickly, and very easily as compared to more traditional marketing approaches which require mondo overhead.  I don't think it’s not a great channel for sourcing or immediate / short-term results.  And if your organization doesn’t have dedicated resources or budget devoted to recruiting marketing (which many don’t), effective blogging probably isn’t going to happen.  It’s icing on the cake.

The Animal does use Microsoft’s recruiting dept as an example.  He says if recruiting blogging was really that great, Microsoft would have more than two recruiting blogs … Heather’s blog and JobsBlog.  So, as you know, I no longer work at MS so I’m not going on inside knowledge here … just past experience and such.  First, Heather has said time and again she’s not a recruiting blogger.  She’s a recruiter who happens to blog.  If she attracts candidates through her blog, cool, but from what I understand that’s not her mission, and her professional success/failure does not hinge on her blog. :)  It's more of a hobby and professional passion than job responsibility. 

And as for JobsBlog, of which I have first hand knowledge, I know I worked pretty hard to reign in rouge recruiters who wanted their own recruiting blogs.  That’s why JobsBlog is a group blog.  JobsBlog has google juice and it’s well read … so instead of fragmenting the reader base and increasing the blog management overhead, it was a deliberate decision to gather recruiters interested in blogging in one place.  Just wanted to get that on the record. :)  That, of course, may change - but it's my opinion that a company like MS is better served by one central recruiting blog, just as it's better served by central career portal.   Anything more is just spinning your wheels and replicating work with diminishing results.

Okay, well, it’s about 20 minutes into the radio show, and I’ve got to roll.   So if anyone talks about later in the show, do let me know.  ;-)

g

A lot of you have been asking and I got official permission to release the news to the blogosphere so ... :)

I'm happy to announce that our very own Zoe (and Mr. Zoe) have their very own JobGuy.  Liam Donovan Goldring was born on Tuesday, Feb 20 at 11:21 pm.  He was 21.5 inches long and weighed 7 lbs, 1 oz when he was born.

I finally met him today, and boy, is he the cutest!  Zoe probably doesn't want me telling you this but she went through 68 hours of labor to bring that little guy into the world.  She's one tough mama!

But all is well with Zoe and family so I just wanted to update you all.  When things get settled, I'm sure she'll check in and say hi.

g

It’s a jobseeker's market.  At least, that’s what I gather based on the technologies and tools which were presented to Zoe and me when we asked you to share with us the best of the best of the employment industry and let us give the tools the Zoe and Gretchen treatment. :)   A couple weeks ago, Zoe reported on Improved Experience, a business intelligence tool which allows companies to track their process highs and lows through the eyes of their candidates.

Today, I’m reviewing two tools which both aid jobseekers in navigating their job search:  JibberJobber and Isabont.  My conclusion is similar for both tools, so I'll first describe the tools and then give you my 2cents.

JibberJobber

JibberJobber was founded by Jason Alba who, as a jobseeker in early 2006, felt overwhelmed by the amount of information, contacts, appointments, and statuses he had to track.  Recruiters use Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to keep appraised of this data, so he sought to level the playing field by creating a similar tool for jobseekers. 

At its core, JibberJobber is a CRM, and in fact, Jason says that small businesses have used it as such.  The site also offers a user-generated library to share links, book recommendations, advice, and personal experiences and an interview prep section which allows the jobseeker to save a 30 second pitch, power statements, and interview Q&A for easy review.

Basic membership, which includes limited but still generous use of the CRM functionality, reporting, and library features among others, is free.  Premium use is $9.95 per month (with discounts if you sign up for a longer term contract) and allows you more flexibility with the features such as entering in unlimited contacts, importing / exporting to Outlook, tracking expenses, and pulling summary reports.

For more information on JibberJobber, you can also visit Jason’s JibberJobber blog and listen to this podcast with Peter Clayton interviewing Jason.

Isabont

Isabont, created by Simon Clay Michael, had similar beginnings to JibberJobber.  Simon developed the site after struggling with data management during a 2004 job search, and in fact, Isabont is very similar in experience, cost and functionality to JibberJobber, with the added convenience of a resume creator (which, keep in mind, only outputs a resume as good as the information you input).  Isabont also has a strong advice section which, while not based on user generated content, currently boasts more information than JibberJobber’s library.  Premium accounts, allowing you to export calendar and contact items as well as email, download, and print documents like resumes and cover letters, run $9.95 per month.  For more info, check out Simon's isabont blog.

Gretchen's 2cents

Both JibberJobber and Isabont are perfect tools for high volume jobseekers who want to get organized in their current search and track activity and results for future searches.   The basic features for both services are free so if a motivated jobseeker wants to get his ducks in a row, there’s no harm in giving these services a test run.  Plus, each offers a different feel and flow so chances are the one you end up liking best will be personal tatse.  They also serve as good personal CRMs, whether you are looking for a new job or not.

If you aren’t an uber-organized type or dealing with lots of contacts, appointments, and recruitment processes during your search, these tools may be overkill.  I believe it was Jason who said that JibberJobber gives jobseekers access to the tools recruiters have had for years and hence levels the playing field.  But as a former recruiter, I can tell you that most of my ATS interaction was just a necessary evil I had to fullfill in order to globally track candidates and results along with all my other recruiter cohorts.  I'm all for data integrity, but as a one-woman operation, Outlook and Excel worked just fine for me and my hundeds of candidates.  But that's just me.  The point:  Don’t be that jealous of recruiters and their tools. :)

But fulfilling a need for organization or not, these tools do offer more outside of the CRM functionality like Isabont’s resume builder and advice center and JibberJobber’s library and interview preparation center.  Those are worth checking out even if you don't need help organizing your search.

gretchen

Recent dust-ups, misunderstandings, and their associated apologies in the blogosphere have got me thinking about transparency and blogs as communication tools. 

Specifically, what ever happened to good old fashioned in-person talks to resolve issues and annoyances?  Gone are objective reviews in favor of all out rants that end in hurt feelings, retractions and “updates” (read apologies).  It seems, particularly as of late, that a lot of people have their knickers in a twist about a lot of different issues.  But what gets me most about this recent trend is that, in most cases, these people know each other. 

So why are they blogging their grievances versus interacting with each other directly?  While blogs might be a great way to share your opinions is airing your dirty laundry always such a good idea?

Or is this all an effort to get more site traffic?  Some would argue no, but I get the strange impression that we are seeing the Rosie O’Donnell vs. Donald Trump type publicity stunt for our medium.  Wouldn’t you rather read and comment on a provocative piece vs. a ho-hum review?  I would.  It gets me involved and maybe I will even go back to your blog.  Just check me out; I am linking to these stories myself. 

That said I’ll be the first to argue that transparency is a good thing.  People want to know what’s going on inside your company and what independent bloggers are thinking about.  Whether bloggers admit it or not, this medium is also an astonishingly good way to drive interest in your business or other pursuits.  It’s a marketing tool.

However, maybe it’s a good idea to take a step back and evaluate the purpose behind your opinionated post before unleashing it on the public.  Maybe instead of fueling a blog with negative emotions and rants, we can chant the mantra “can’t we all just get along” and create compelling content that drives readers to return for more then just cat fights.  Or maybe I’m just being the Pollyanna of the blogging world.  I'll leave that up to you to decide :)

A few weeks ago we put out a challenge to send us your best employment based tools; for job seekers, employers or both.  A few brave souls stepped into the ring and we will be rolling out our impressions in the next few days and weeks.

For our first review, we were delighted to be contacted by Claudia Faust and Alise Cortez of Improved Experience.  They are both experts in the industry and, in addition to having a firm understanding of challenges in the space, were a pleasure to speak with!

What we learned is that Improved Experience is a suite of business intelligence tools designed to help companies gather real time information on their recruiting process and practices in order to provide a better candidate experience.  Based on Claudia’s experience with companies such as T-Mobile, she and Alise developed the concept for this tool as a way to help companies show how the hiring process, good and bad, can impact their bottom line.

And why is this important?  Every company is driven by their profits and if you can show a data-driven overview of success and failure points at each step of the way AND benchmark those against the other corporations in your industry, you will have a much better chance of changing the way your executive leadership views staffing within your company.  As a result, your chances of getting funding for marketing and much needed tools and resources will increase.  Since this is a third party tool, you will also save money on outsourcing your candidate satisfaction surveys with the added bonus of receiving data interpreted by experts.

The one potential pitfall for employers in buying this tool is one that almost everyone faces when being part of a “cost center” – getting executive buyoff or even recognition that there is a recruiting problem in order to spend money to make changes.  At the same time companies that value talent as well as care about saving time and money in the long run on recruiting costs will line up in droves to be on Improved Experience’s client list.

The first offering that will be rolled out is called Get Better Hires.  However, they are in the planning phases of launching applications to address all phases of the recruiting lifecycle.  Basically, you’ll be able to find out what’s happening within the process from resume submittal to terminal conclusion with the company or candidate.

As Claudia and Alise walked us through Get Better Hires, we were very impressed.  What’s different about this application is that it provides a closed feedback loop to both employers and job seekers.  In fact, after completing the survey, job seekers have the opportunity to view data about their experience against others who have taken the survey for the same company.  I don’t know about you, but I would love to have information that I wasn’t the only one having a great or lousy interview experience with a company.

In the same vein, employers will have the opportunity to view their results benchmarked across several data points. The power in this is the ability to see how you might fair against others in your same industry or more globally, in attracting, hiring and interviewing talent overall.  This is great information to have readily available as you vie for budget dollars or to implement new programs.  While the tool customizable for each employer, it isn’t recommended to develop too many unique questions as this will skew your comparison data with other companies.  Plus there are plenty of free form dialogue boxes for job seekers to input anecdotal information about their experience in a number of areas. 

There are two key features of Get Better Hires that job seekers and employers should be aware of.  First, job seekers have the opportunity to chat live with support professional while filling out their questionnaire.  This is such a win/win feature for both getting accurate data and helping job seekers feel engaged.  Second, for employers Claudia and Alise provide expert interpretation of your data and follow up consulting services if needed so you aren’t left hanging either trying to figure out what the data means or what you should do next.

While the tool itself is intuitive and easy to use, if you are looking for a slick Web 2.0 user interface, you won’t find it here, but you also won’t miss it.  The proof is really in the power of the data, not necessarily the look of the tool. 

Claudia and Alise have truly thought through almost every aspect of developing this tool from privacy to accessibility to data integrity.  We’re bullish on their business and can’t wait to see how their launch and subsequent offerings are received in the industry.

The Facts:

• You can learn about Improved Experience here
• Pricing varies based on your business needs, but Claudia and Alise have worked hard to make this accessible to all business sizes

As we announced yesterday, Gretchen and I have developed a partnership with JobBurner.  As part of our work with this new company, we will be blogging and moderating some of the community based forums.  If you have the chance you can check out our new blogging efforts at the JobBurner Employer HotSpot and the JobBurner Job Seeker CampFire.

Looking forward to seeing you there!

zoe