Top 10 Screening Mistakes made by Recruiters [INFOGRAPHIC]

Top 10 Screening Mistakes made by Recruiters [INFOGRAPHIC] Recruiters can make mistakes too! Here are the top 10 screening mistakes made by recruiters, as reported by Resoomay in an interesting infographic. Takeaways: 79% of business hired candidates that had exaggerated their CVs/résumés, whereas  ignoring an overqualified candidate can cause harm, as there is never a perfect match. Too many recruiters dont ask the right questions in interviews they ask superficial questions instead that waste time however an interview only increases the chance of finding the best candidate by 2%, so should not be the only aspect of recruitment. Recruiters need to get a clear idea of respondents personalities or  temperaments  before interviewing, and also need to check references!  25% of recruiters dont check references which is a BIG mistake. A good  communication  strategy between your hiring team is crucial to gain a perfect recruitment result. Taking a candidate on simply from the résumé because of lack of time, can increase turnover costs and cause more harm than good. A vague job description means more job applicants, and recruiters need to ensure they sell the company to the candidate to make them excited and interested. RELATED:  How Employers Use Social Media To Screen Applicants Featured image: Shutterstock

Focus on learning in the face of recession

Focus on learning in the face of recession I announced last week that Ill be running a poll on my sidebar each week. Im aiming for a new one every Tuesday. The poll is a fun way for me to think about career topics. A new format always gets me going. But its also fun because even after writing about careers for ten years, I have a lot of questions in my head that I have not found research to address. Todays poll is one of them. I know the research about who is bulimic and what happens to them. Mostly because I was bulimic all through college and I thought becoming an expert on the topic would help me stop throwing up. (That didnt work, but the mental ward did). But there is no workplace research. And Im curious. So I wrote the poll question because I genuinely want to know the answer: What percentage of women in corporate America are bulimic? I think the answer is higher than anyone would expect. I know that my poll would not pass scientific muster. But I like that we are at least going to start talking about my question. Well, thats what I was thinking. But then I realized that my poll ideawhile a grand opportunity for snark, and also an opportunity to fulfill my dreams of writing quizzes for Cosmois not the depth of conversation I am hoping for. So maybe, I am thinking, I will write a post about the poll each week, to hear what you all think of the topic. I still want you to vote on the poll. Who doesnt love a good statistic about sex (last week) or bulimia (this week) or the intersection of sex/bulimia/work (maybe every week)? So you all should love the poll archive. Some of you will ask, Why are we talking about bulimia and sex on a career blog? Here is some career advice for you: The best thing to do in a recession is make your focus on keeping your learning curve high. Forget about rank its going to be hard to get internal raises or big jumps from job hopping. But eventually the recession will end, and you want to make sure youre in a good position to take advantage of that. People who are always curious and always learning are keeping the recession from killing their career trajectory. You dont need to have a job to be learning, you dont need to have a great title to be stretching your skills. And really, really, you dont need to go to graduate school and earn a degree to prove that you are learning. In fact, maybe you need to take a job youre not thrilled with, but remember that no one can dictate your learning curve. You control that. My curiosity about bulimics at work is a reflection of the curiosity that got me through the recession that existed when I entered the workforce. When I was unemployed, I worked in interesting jobs for free. When I was employed, I read outside my expertise at night. When I was out with a group of people, I looked for the people who could teach me something new. So, some of you will go for the bulimia poll, and some wont. But regardless, each of us should ask engaging questions each day. Its a lifestyle, and its cheap, and it keeps our learning curve steep, so its a great way to face down a tanking economy.

Brand-building in 18 Minutes - Lessons from TED.com - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Brand-building in 18 Minutes - Lessons from TED.com - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If youre interested in writing and marketing a book to build your personal brand, you should spend a little time each week at www.TED.com. There are over 700 free videos you can watch, analyze, and learn from. The lessons you can learn at TED.com can help you become a better writer and presenter, essential skills you need to build a strong personal brand. Background TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out (in 1984) as a conference bringing together people from Technology, Entertainment, and Design. Since then its scope has become ever broader. The annual TED conferences, in Long Beach/Palm Springs and Oxford, bring together the worlds most fascinating thinkers and doers, who are challenged to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes, or less. There are also additional events around the world. Be great, but be concise! The 18 minute presentation limit plays a major role in the lessons you can learn from the videos you can watch at the TED.com site and the audio and video podcasts you can subscribe to at iTunes. In less than 18 minutes, a presenter comes out on stage, and has to immediately engage the audiences attention on a topic they may have never thought about before! Not only do presenters have to immediately explain sell or explain the relevance of their topic, but they also have to present themselves as memorable, likeable, individuals. Then, in the remaining time, they have to present evidence that will inspire the audience to either get involved or want to learn more about their topic. Many subject area experts could probably make an impression and inspire action in an hour, or two. But, only the best can create a memorable personal brand in just 18 minutes! Thats why you can learn so much by studying the TED.com presentations! Creating a TED.com learning strategy Here are some ideas and tips for making the most of your time at TED.com: Choose the right presentations. Avoid the temptation to pick topics in your field, or that youre interested in. Instead, expect the unexpected! Invest time watching presentations about topics you know little, or nothing, about. This will help you better understand how your presentations are likely to be perceived by your clients and prospects. You can never predict where youll encounter a good idea or technique! Creativity experts recommend you expose yourself to out of field ideas you can apply in your field. This is one of the big lessons Carmine Gallo discusses in his Innovation Secrets of Steve Jobs. Know what to look for. Dont concentrate on the presenters specific message, or the topic-specific information theyre delivering. Instead, concentrate on your reactions to the ways each presenter engages the audiences attention, the likeability techniques they use, and the way they describe introduce their topic and present new information. Track your impressions. Create a worksheet that you can print-out on 3-hole paper and save in a 3-ring binder. List the presenters name and topic at the top of the page, and provide space to jot down your impressions as you watch each presenter introduce themselves and their topic. Provide space to answer questions like, What are they wearing? How energetic is their delivery? How do they encourage audience response? Are they speaking above, or below, their audience? Are they presenting too much, or too little, information? Rate each presentation. At the bottom of your worksheet, provide space to add a brief overall impression of each presentation. Remember that its not the information thats important, its the presenters way of engaging his audience and convincingly covering his topic in just 18 minutes thats important. Concise writing. As you spend time on the TED.com site, note the concise titles, descriptions, and presenter background statements. Notice how complex topics and long careers can be summarized in just a few sentences. Let these examples guide you as you learn how to write as concisely as possible. Create the TED habit As always, consistency is the key to success. Set aside a half-hour, or so, two or three times a week, to view a new TED.com video and fill out one of your worksheets. You may find it useful to schedule your viewing sessions late at night, Mondays, Tuesday, and Wednesday evenings, for example, in order to create the TED habit. Or, if youre a commuter with an iPod, commit to watching a new video on the way to work every morning. Save your worksheets in the 3-ring binder, and review them at the end of each month. Takeaway The Internet offers us a universe of learning opportunities. Its up to us, however, to take advantage of free online learning resources like TED.com. The value of the personal branding lessons you can learn from analyzing the 18-minute presentations at TED.com make it imperative that you develop an ongoing system to profit from new writing and presenting ideas each week. Author: Roger C. Parker shares ideas for planning, writing, promoting, profiting from brand building books in his daily writing tips blog and his latest book, #BOOK TITLE Tweet: 140 Bite-Sized Ideas for Compelling Article, Book, Event Titles.