Mobile Technology

Picked this up from a group discussion interesting findings - still think that I havent seen a great Iphone application - they are just mini sites online! they need a bit of wow factor !

------------------------------

A couple of weeks ago - Jobsite.co.uk - and Allthetopbananas.com hosted a round-table session by leading brands such as Google, Microsoft, the IAB and Reuters to discuss the future of mobile recruitment. They have just released the white paper. Here are some of the findings:

* More people now access social networking sites via
mobile than desktop
* In countries like India & Africa, mobile internet access has already far outstripped fixed line access
* In the UK, mobile internet will soon account for half, or more, of all internet access
* Mobile internet is now mainstream and featuring on the news pages of National newspapers
* Part of the delay with a business response is the lack of revenue for developers in the mobile space - this could change shortly
* Cloud computing is fundamental to the development of mobile and will help make it more powerful than desktop
* There was a 390% increase in traffic to Jobsite.co.uk via mobile between January 2009 & April 2010

Labour market figures for June

A strong rise in the number of candidates seeking long- and short-term employment in Scotland led to a mild deterioration in overall labour market conditions in June. Nevertheless, employment and demand for staff continued to rise during the month, albeit at moderated rates.

Latest data from the Bank of Scotland Report on Jobs also highlighted a divergence in conditions in the temporary and permanent jobs markets, with the stronger rises in appointments, vacancies and pay all recorded in the short-term sector.

The overall deterioration of conditions was signalled by the Bank of Scotland Labour Market Barometer slipping below the 50.0 no-change threshold for the first time in seven months. Nevertheless, at 49.4, the pace of worsening was only marginal, and driven principally through improving candidate availability.

Although signalling labour market slack, the rise in candidate availability suggests that workers are looking for employment following a period of inactivity. This in turn may indicate a transitional phase in the labour market recovery as opposed to an outright deterioration of conditions.


Donald MacRae, Chief Economist at Bank of Scotland, commented:

“Scotland’s labour market conditions deteriorated slightly in June due to a strong rise in the number of people looking for employment, causing the headline index to slip below the no-change threshold for the first time in seven months. However, permanent employment increased for the ninth month in a row, and demand for permanent staff improved, albeit both were at slower paces than previously. Despite June’s overall decline, the rise in candidate availability may point to a transitional phase in the Scottish labour market recovery, rather than outright deterioration.”


Availability

· Latest data highlighted a marked rise in the number of candidates seeking permanent employment in Scotland’s labour market. Staff availability rose at the fastest pace in eight months.

· June data signposted the strongest rise in temp candidate availability since September 2009. Firms operating in Scotland’s recruitment sector have posted rising temporary staff availability in each month for the past two years.



Sectors

· By sector, higher vacancy numbers were seen in seven out of the eight monitored permanent employment types, with the strongest rise recorded in the Hotel & Catering sector.

· For the second month in a row, all eight categories of temporary employment saw increased vacancy numbers in June. The strongest rise was recorded in IT & Computing, the weakest in Secretarial & Clerical.

The key source of weakness was strong candidate growth in both long- and short-term labour markets. Overall pay rates also fell fractionally, driven by a modest reduction in starting salaries awarded to permanent workers.

Customer feedback, why you should find out what customers or clients think of you !

A great article from Mashable by Susan Peyton - I have long since held out that clients should get more feedback from their customers, I mean how can you not know what someone who you deal with every day thinks of you and your team? Also speaking to your clients or your customers will bring out sales opportunities and clarify future goals. Check out one of my services below and read on -

http://www.momentumspk.co.uk/client_appraisals.php

--------------------------------------------------------------------
From Mashable
Susan Payton is the President of Egg Marketing & Public Relations, an Internet marketing firm. She blogs at The Marketing Eggspert Blog. Follow her on Twitter @eggmarketing. Download her newest e-book, “Content is Queen: How Article & Blog Writing Will Increase Your Sales.“

Companies love positive feedback. They share it on Twitter (Twitter), post it on their website and use it as marketing fodder. But what about when feedback is, well, less than pleasant? What can you do with a handful (or more) of irate customers? Do you ignore them? Bury them out back? Not in today’s social atmosphere.

Rather than try to sweep these unhappy customers under the rug, look at them as a challenge and an opportunity to improve your brand and leverage them for some publicity.
Why You Want Angry Customers

Well, maybe you don’t want angry customers, but let’s be honest — you’ll never have 100 percent customer satisfaction. No one does. So use those unhappy customers to better understand what you’re doing wrong, and learn from the experience. And while you’re at it, turn the angry customers into brand evangelists.

There are several ways to connect with unhappy customers in a meaningful way:

* Hold a panel or forum in person; give them a tour of your facility and hold a venting session
* Work virtually; host an online panel to get feedback from them
* Work one-on-one to understand their concerns and address them individually

In-Person Events

Dell recently held its first Customer Advisory Panel event at their headquarters in Round Rock, TX. They invited two groups of 15 bloggers and social media gurus. One group was full of people who had negative experiences with the company and who were vocal about their displeasure. The second group was made up of people that Dell considered brand evangelists; people who loved Dell and told others.

The attendees started the morning with their gripes; customer service issues came up again and again. The heads of customer service and marketing were present and actively engaged. As they listened, they took notes, then asked questions and they promised they would make changes.

That type of customer empowerment is important. Now, whether they’ll go through with the promised changes is another story, but it was clear that Dell understood it was time to start paying attention to the public’s perception of its brand, and make some changes to keep their customers.

Nestlé is another company that has been successful at holding an event to let people engage with its brand directly. After a resurgence in interest in the Nestle Boycott a few years ago, Nestlé decided to invite a group of bloggers to what it called its “Happy, Healthy Gathering” in 2009. Mommy bloggers, who’d been tweeting up a storm about the company’s stance on breastfeeding in third world countries, were invited to tour the facilities and give their input on the company.

Whether the event truly changed perceptions remains to be seen, but it did a great deal to show that Nestlé was putting in the effort to reach its audience.

Virtual panels are decidedly less effective than in-person ones. But they can be good replacements for focus groups. Pssst is General Mills’ online testing ground for new products. The company sends participants coupons and free products to try, and in return they are asked to fill out surveys. The program is so successful that bloggers who write about saving money are gladly turning others onto joining Pssst.

Similarly, the Starbucks Passion Panel was designed to get customer feedback — for better or worse. The community of Starbucks drinkers gives their input via surveys and forums.

Passion Panel member Jennifer Boyd said, “Being on the Passion Panel means that I have access to direct input and discussion with other members. It enables me to give my opinion on Starbucks’ current and future products through surveys. The panel is a great way to engage with their loyal customers and solidifies a relationship with a consumer to a brand.”

Wal-Mart’s Elevenmoms platform is another example of how a mix of online community, shopper experience and in-person visits can work together to help the company gather new insights. John Andrews, former Senior Manager of Emerging Media for Wal-Mart and founder of the Elevenmoms, said the community succeeded in getting Wal-Mart’s attention in a few areas where it was lacking.

When the iPhone was launched in Wal-Mart stores, the Elevenmoms were invited to go through the purchase process. Some had no problems, but others did. It took one blogger two hours to buy a phone. Each blogger published her experience, and Wal-Mart took the feedback to its operations staff, who took notes and improved the purchase process.

“The Elevenmoms used direct social media interaction to improve the shopping process,” said Andrews.

Other feedback caused Wal-Mart to reconsider its layaway strategy. Having canceled the layaway plan due to costs, Wal-Mart got some flack from the Elevenmoms, who felt it made it easier to make big purchases. As a result, Wal-Mart developed its Site to Store platform, which provided the benefit of layaway online, so that local stores didn’t incur extra costs.

When I grow up I want to be....

Research from the UK’s only dedicated recruitment agency review website has found that the majority of Brits would like to be an astronaut if they could choose their ‘dream job’, closely followed by a doctor.

The UK’s only dedicated recruitment agency review site http://www.HireScores.com has conducted research to see what jobs Brits would most like to have. The study was carried out on 1,387 members of the British public and posed the question “what job would you most like to have?”

69% of those polled said that being an astronaut would be the best job in the world, with 76% of those saying that they liked the idea of exploring space. 64% thought that becoming a doctor would be their favourite choice, with half stating the ability to help people and ‘make a difference’ as being its biggest draw.

61% said that being a pilot would be their ideal job with over half, 52%, stating they thought the role was sexy, and a third saying that they liked the thought of the power. Of those that didn’t wish to be a pilot, 22% said it was because they had a fear of flying.

Being a professional sportsperson came in at number 4, with 58% of people opting for this choice. 72% of male respondents said that they would want to be a football player, whilst 52% of women said that they would want to be a tennis player.

The top ten jobs that people would most like to be:

1. Astronaut – 69%
2. Doctor – 64%
3. Pilot – 61%
4. Professional sports person – 58%
5. Singer – 54%
6. Actor/Actress – 53%
7. Journalist – 49%
8. TV Presenter – 46%
9. Fireman – 39%
10. Detective – 37%

When asked the question “what job would you consider to be the worst?” 63% said that they thought that being the Prime Minster would be their idea of a bad job. The greatest reason was the huge level of responsibility, with 43% stating this.

Managing director of HireScores.com Lisette Howlett said;

“It’s no surprise that being an astronaut is considered to be the best job in the world by Brits, as it encapsulates being a hero with many peoples’ childhood fantasy, which is an ideal combination and truly a dream job.”

She continued;

“At HireScores.com, our job is to ensure that those looking for the help of recruitment agencies to find their dream job get all the help and support they need to achieve their goals. Having said that, we don’t currently work with any recruitment agencies that offer to help people make their way as an astronaut! Perhaps this is because one of our criteria for judging the effectiveness of an agency is whether they offer high quality and realistic feedback and support to job seekers.”

Original source ONREC

LinkedIn changing recruitment?

Premium LinkedIn customer Lee Cooper here discusses the impact he believes LinkedIn has had on the recruiting scene, in the UK and elsewhere.

Historically recruitment was a bricks and mortar model. That model hasn’t changed for 70 years.

In previous blogs I have talked of the threats to the recruitment industry. I have argued innovation is essential not only for our survival but frankly in order that we might evidence our true value for customers by unearthing the talent they need to realise their ambitions.

The key to the future of the industry lies in Technology. Take Skype by way of an example. I have an old business partner of mine who had a great expression: you cannot email a handshake. I couldn’t agree with him more.

I fail to see how you can do your job properly unless you have met and interviewed in-depth and detail the candidate you represent.

We are dependent on so much more than skills and experience. The interview gives us the opportunity to use our instincts, to assess a candidate through the essentials of non–verbal communication and in particular body language.

Historically this would have been done in an office. In prosperous times as markets were driven by candidate shortages the better recruiters recognised competition and went out in to the market to meet candidates on their terms, in a location convenient to them. Consequently we have had a proliferation of coffee bar and hotel lobby recruiters and long may this continue.

However, Skype has taken this on to yet another whole new level. I can now interview a candidate, with video (recorded if of course I have their permission!) on the other side of the world sat in flip-flops and board shorts if that is what suits them best and I still have the benefit of the face to face interaction that I need to do my job properly.

This is now so straightforward that I cannot last recall a time when my location was an issue for my customer. The question has gone back to frankly what this job is all about, and can you deliver the talent I need to meet the vision I have for my business?

The game changer has been Linkedin. A recruiter has only ever been as good as the talent he or she is able to attract to their network. Linkedin allows the recruiter to evidence to the client very visibly the strength of the network from which talent is derived.

Linkedin does what every good recruiter always did, it asks your network who else do you know that you can refer me to in order that I might continue to grow my network and deliver ever greater calibre of candidate to my client. Linkedin removes the need for cold calling. It legitimizes “just staying in touch”. It allows us to maintain the fine line between an appropriate level of contact with the customer and being a pain the proverbial.

It allows us to keep candidates informed, staying in touch with them through our updates. It is the most cost-effective marketing window to the world that we could ever have dreamed for. It evidences our true value as recruiters, a great network populated with genuine, quantifiable talent. It evidences in the simplest of ways our ability to connect people, for that is what we do and in that lies enormous value for people and organisations.

I am stunned to see that there are still recruiters who have yet to embrace the single biggest game changer in recruitment in 70 years. Job Seeker, Hiring Manager, Recruiter, ignore it at your peril.

Original source :
http://talent.linkedin.com/blog/index.php/2010/06/uk-perspective-recruiting-game-changers/

Think Before you Speak

Another cracking article from Michelle Rodger in the Sundays SOS - a few wee lines from momentumspk as well !
Original source:
http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business/Michelle-Rodger--Think-before.6399210.jp?articlepage=2
---------------------------
IF I were to say to you "don't think about purple spiders", you would. Immediately. The image would be the first thing that would pop into your head. That's because of the power of language.
It's also the reason England is out of the World Cup, if neuro-linguistic programming experts are to be believed.

You see, on the eve of the match against Germany, team captain Steven Gerrard unconsciously predicted England's defeat when he said:

"We have to make sure we play well and have no regrets afterwards."

Apparently he was presupposing defeat, since had he been presupposing a win the concept of no regrets would not have arisen.

According to Helen Doyle of the Business NLP Academy, the words and language we use are part of the surface structure that reveals the thoughts and beliefs unconsciously influencing our speech, behaviour, actions and responses.

When we understand what our language reveals and how the words we use influence our own destiny, NLP expert Doyle says we can begin to make subtle changes that create a deep impact on the performance of ourselves and those around us.

Which raised a discussion, both online and off, about the importance of language in business, and how we can influence outcomes by the language we use, in order to close a sale, win a pitch, negotiate a deal or handle an employee performing poorly.

Fortunately, it's not necessary to be NLP qualified or trained to maximise the benefits of better use of language, there are simple skills and techniques you can employ.

For example, in a sales context how many times have you been told "that's expensive" as a reason not to buy?

But if you counter with "compared to what exactly", it gives you the opportunity to learn more about the objection - and perhaps alleviate concerns - and even gives you more information about the competitor you're up against.

Tony Harding knows language is hugely important in business; it can convey both knowledge and lack of knowledge.

Founder of Momentum SPK, Harding insists personality is more important than training in the long run.

The most important part of sales is your own appeal, and making certain you communicate the tangible benefits.

Being firm and fair in negotiation is crucial, but Harding also suggests using silence - as opposed to powerful language - as another tool. "Those who speak first can sometimes give away more than they need," he warns.

No matter what words are used, they have to be used with sincerity. Most of us are good at sensing when it's not meant, says Jackie Cameron, of Cameron Consulting.

She coaches clients preparing for interviews, and focuses on how they express skills and abilities in the best way possible.

Just like the football analogy, somebody has to be successful, which means that others won't, so focusing on the small words that creep in can have a big impact on the outcome of the interview.

Little words can have a limiting effect, like being "quite" good at something instead of simply "good", or having "some" experience, rather than "experience".

"In my experience we Scots find it particularly difficult to talk positively and proudly about our successes," says Cameron. "I always strive to use positive language, even in very trying situations."

So what are the best words to use in business?

There's been a lengthy discussion on business networking website LinkedIn about the single most powerful positive word in the English language. "We", "yes", "think", "now", "please" and "sorry" came up first, almost nine months ago.

At the end of the day, whichever words you use - and how you build them into your conversation - will paint a picture of you, your colleagues and your business. They will dictate how much you get out of your teams and how you engage with customers.

Gerrard didn't plan what to say, he simply answered a question and clearly he had no idea about the unconscious message in his press conference comment. But, in business, can we afford to be unaware of the messages we are giving about ourselves, our business and our customers?

Join us on LinkedIN

We now have a group on the LinkedIn forum for Scottish Digital and Social Media Recruitment - get yourself involved !
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=2838328&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr