A Day in the Life of a Recruiter

Many job seekers often wonder what their recruiter does all day. They have to leave messages for their recruiter and may not get a return call until the next day. Along with the wonder, frustration starts to set in. The popular statement, “There is never enough time in a day,” is a reality for most recruiters. To build a rapport between job seeker and recruiter takes trust. To gain trust, takes time.

The race against time is what will make or break a recruiter. When positions are posted by client employers, there are many recruiters searching at the same time for the right candidate. Sometimes a job opening will be created by an employee who is immediately terminated or who leaves without providing two weeks’ notice. This increases the risk of losing precious time as a result of working around current work schedules for interviews or appropriate start dates.

The next step is to contact candidates who match the criteria of the position as quickly as possible. Delays may happen from leaving messages, e-mails or working around work and personal schedules. Once an employer contacts a recruiter regarding a new opening, the recruiter has to review the details of the opening and confirm permission to submit job seeker profiles. A large percentage of the client employers utilizing outside staffing resources have a specific profile submission checklist of requirements. Any delay on the recruiter’s part in completing profiles could mean the loss of an opportunity.

Candidates are submitted by either fax or e-mail. As a rule of thumb, you never rely on office equipment to get the job done. So, the phone tag process between client employer and recruiter will begin. If a candidate is chosen for phone a interview, then that job seeker is added to become a three way relay of communication to tie down an interview. Previous communication of start dates, request off time, available dates, times available for phone interviews and all means of communication access will alleviate potential time barriers. Additionally, if recruiters are able to leave messages at the job seeker’s current job site, it may save valuable time.

If no immediate candidates are available, the recruiter will start searches for a match and potential new hire. This also will affect timing, as new hire candidates have to complete the recruiting firm’s new candidate requirements before being submitted for positions at the recruiter’s client employers.

All of the above information references the amount of time invested for just one job seeker with one position. Recruiters vary on the maximum amount of job seekers they maintain in their individual database. Take a moment to imagine that if you were going through the described above placement process for an average of 4-5 candidates per week. Factor in all the phone calls, e-mails and paperwork completion involved at various levels, all at the same time. How much of the day is gone and I have not even begun to reach the bottom of the daily to do list?

Recruiters that do contract or temporary placement have the added task of maintaining relationships with the candidates they place on jobs. Relationship building is not something that can be achieved with automated systems. Once you begin with an employee, regular weekly communication to maintain the relationship is important. Employee satisfaction, trust and loyalty are built into the relationship over a period of successful assignments. An average once a week check in call per job seeker will approximately last an average of 15-30 minutes per call.

Additional tasks that may end up on a daily to do list may include: time slips, schedules, contract extensions, housing, insurance, referral calls, paychecks, file compliance, renewals and complaints requiring additional problem solving.

Approximately 50% of these tasks will be pre scheduled in advance and the other 50% will be unplanned and worked into the week as needed. Over communication combined with patience are the top two ingredients for a successful relationship. A “great” recruiter will develop strong relations with their job seekers to the point of knowing their daily routine and what it takes to meet their individual expectations.

If you are curious as to how the above listed activities fit into a 8/10/12 hour day for a recruiter, grab a piece of paper and outline a day in 15 minute increments x 5 days. Start filling in 15 minutes phone calls for a database pool of 25 job seekers allowing some calls a slot of 30 minutes in case you get behind, although you will not be behind all day. Add in time for 4-5 candidates to complete the submission process along with the additional tasks just listed above. Oops! Don’t forget to schedule in there somewhere a lunch hour! To many recruiters, lunch and bathroom breaks are considered a privilege. Some recruiters will even take work with them to their second job or otherwise known as home. Are you able to identify and relate with where the time goes?

To summarize, here are some steps you can take as a job seeker to help busy recruiters to be better able to help you:

1. Give recruiters as many contact options as possible. Providing a phone number you can be reached at during the day – whether it’s an office number, cell phone, etc. – will make it easier for recruiters to coordinate opportunities with you.

2. Be able to quickly provide a recruiter with dates you would be available for in-person interviews. Let the recruiter know the best times for you to do phone interviews.

3. Having a well-written resume available in Word format can also speed up the process of working with recruiters. Often, job seekers’ resumes are not written clearly enough so the recruiter has to re-write the resume before it can be presented to the client employer. Think about it: if the recruiter has to choose between two equally qualified candidates and one has a more presentable resume, which one do you think they’ll choose?

The next time you are unable to immediately speak with your recruiter or waiting for the much anticipated phone call, take a deep breath, smile and remember, “A day in the life of a recruiter.” You might just be amazed at what tomorrow’s perspective may look like.

This article was contributed by Tracy Montgomery, Regional Manager at Alacrity Healthcare Staffing.

Source: https://www.livecareer.com/jobs-tips/a-day-in-the-life-of-a-recruiter

11 surprising things that your physical appearance says about you

Everybody judges.

Within a few seconds of seeing someone — whether on a date or at the grocery store — we decide on numerous things about them, from how smart they are to how likely they are to commit a crime.

Surprisingly, our first impressions can be remarkably accurate in some instances. In others, they can be wildly off base.

Here are a few of the things we determine about people based on how they look.

Thanks to a phenomenon that social psychologists call “the halo effect,” we tend to assume that good-looking people possess other positive qualities aside from their looks, such as intelligence and commitment.

Daniel Hamermesh, a University of Texas at Austin psychologist who studies beauty in the workplace, found that, among other things, this cognitive bias means good-looking people tend to get paid more.

Similarly, in a study of male undergrads who were asked to evaluate an essay written by an unnamed female peer, the participants judged the writer and her work more favorably when they were shown a photo of an attractive woman whom they believed to be the writer, as opposed to when they were shown a photo of an unattractive woman or no photo at all.

People can tell a surprising amount about your personality from your portrait.

In a 2009 study, researchers showed participants the photos of 123 undergrads from the University of Texas at Austin in which the undergrads either were told to have a neutral expression or were allowed to pose however they wanted.

No matter which position the people took, the viewers were better than chance at judging the following: how extroverted they were, how high their self-esteem was, how religious they were, how agreeable they were, and how conscientious they were.

In 2013, a group of psychologists, neuroscientists, and computer scientists from Europe and the US had a small group of participants look at portraits of 47 white men and 83 white women and evaluate them first on their height and next on their ability to lead.

The researchers found that people used factors in the photos like gender and face length to make guesses about people’s height and then used these same factors when they judged their leadership qualities. Faces that appeared to belong to taller people were rated as belonging to better leaders.

A small 2013 study by researchers at the Center for Behavior Change at the University College London suggested that men with higher testosterone levels were (not surprisingly) more likely to have wider faces and larger cheekbones. Men with these facial features also tended to have more aggressive or status-driven personalities.

In a 2015 study, scientists showed people photos of 10 different people with five different facial expressions and then asked them to rate how friendly, trustworthy, or strong the photographed person appeared.

Not surprisingly, viewers tended to rank people with a happy expression as more friendly and trustworthy than those with angry expressions. They also tended to rate people with broad faces as stronger.

It’s unclear why some of us appear more trustworthy than others, but this quality may have life-changing consequences. Researchers from Israel and the UK had volunteers look at photos of men and women that had been randomly selected from two photo databases and rate the emotional state, personality traits, and criminal appearance of the people pictured. The first set of photos came from a police mugshot database; the second were controlled photos in which actors had been told to look happy, neutral, or angry.

Regardless of where the photos had come from, people who were rated less trustworthy and more dominant also tended to be seen as criminals. In the controlled photos, angry faces were seen as the most criminal.

For a 2015 study, a pair of University of Toronto psychologists collected photos of real inmates who were, at the time, incarcerated by the Florida Department of Corrections after having been sentenced for first-degree murder. Roughly half were serving life sentences; the other half were awaiting execution.

Then the researchers had a group of participants look at the photos and rate the trustworthiness of the faces pictured on a scale from 1 (not at all trustworthy) to 8 (very trustworthy). Those who were rated as less trustworthy were more likely to be sentenced to death than those who looked more trustworthy.

In the second part of that study, participants looked at photos of people previously convicted of murder but subsequently exonerated, usually on the basis of DNA evidence. In a disturbing twist, people who were rated less trustworthy were still more likely to have been sentenced to death, even though they were later found not guilty. “Facial appearance affects real-world criminal sentencing independently of actual guilt,” the researchers wrote in their paper.

Pruney skin can reveal more than just age — it may also tell us something about how our hearts are doing. A 2012 study compared the number of wrinkles on the faces and upper inner arms of a group of 261 people with long-lived parents to a random group of 253 people the same age. Women with the lowest risk of heart disease were described as looking more than two years younger than their age compared with those with the highest risk of heart disease.

Source” http://www.businessinsider.com/things-your-appearance-says-about-you-2016-7?IR=T/#if-youre-attractive-people-assume-you-have-other-positive-traits-as-well-1

5 Sought-After Careers (That Didn’t Even Exist 10 Years Ago)

The working world has changed. These jobs are driving our economy – but a couple of years ago they weren’t even a thing! Here are the careers that are still in their infancy, but changing the world.

1 Social Media Manager
You can’t manage what doesn’t exist, and 10 years ago, social media didn’t. (How bizarre is that?) Now, almost three-quarters of online adults are on social media in some way or another. The importance of social media has only been recognised in the last couple of years and has brought with it plenty of cool digital careers.

2 Blogger
Though blogs have been around for a while, a few years ago blogging as a profession was pretty much unheard of. It’s extremely difficult to turn your hobby and passion into a lucrative business, but in the past few years some lucky people have successfully managed in a big way. Just look at the Huffington Post!

3 SEO Specialist
Did you know what SEO stood for in 2007? Probably not. Now it’s a term being thrown around no matter what company you work for. An employee who can get a website to the first page of Google’s search results is an invaluable addition to any business.

4 App Designer/Developer
Even though apps rule your life, they weren’t even a thing a couple of years back. (Wait, does MXit count?) Now, apps are basically the reason you own a smartphone. Suddenly, every business wants an app – and designers and developers are more sought-after than ever.

5 Uber Driver
It seems like every second car on the road is an Uber. The company, founded in 2009, has created thousands of job opportunities for people worldwide – just look at South Africa. In fact, it’s become the preferred mode of transport for tons of people living in the city (and it’s only been around for a few  short years!).

Source: http://www.cosmopolitan.co.za/career-money/sought-after-careers-didnt-exist

How Cryptocurrency Has Introduced New Careers In Tech

Cryptocurrency has exploded over the past year or two. And while you may have heard friends, relatives, and coworkers talking about Bitcoin, you might not know that it’s creating more than a buzz: it’s creating jobs. From crypto startups to established companies, the job market has never looked so good for blockchain enthusiasts.

Let’s look at the state of the cryptocurrency job market, what kind of work is available, and how to potentially land one of these roles yourself.

Job Trends In Cryptocurrency

According to research from job search site Indeed, job postings mentioning “blockchain”, “bitcoin” or “cryptocurrency” have increased by 621% since November 2015. And supply is growing along with demand: they also report a 1,065% growth in searches for jobs mentioning those three terms.

Some of the companies searching for these skills may surprise you. Uber, eBay, Capital One, Match.com, and GEICO number among the ranks of companies that have searched for and/or contacted candidates who have listed “bitcoin” or “blockchain” in their skillset. Whether this indicates that more widespread adoption of cryptocurrency is on its way or not remains to be seen–but the interest is certainly there.

As with most tech fields, cryptocurrency is a male-dominated field…but women can always seize the opportunity to change that trend while the technology is still in its early days.

What Kinds Of Crypto-Related Jobs Are Out There?

From developers to project managers to miners to data scientists, there’s a broad spectrum of jobs available in the cryptocurrency business. There are even specific job search sites featuring these postings now, such as CryptocurrencyJobs.com. Some roles merely incorporate blockchain technology; others focus on it.

Cryptocurrency analysts design investment strategies. Blockchain developers use blockchain technology to implement solutions for their companies. Mining technicians assemble, run, and maintain the “rigs” that mine cryptocurrencies. There are crypto-focused jobs for traders, sales associates, reporters, DevOps engineers, consultants, technical product managers, and more. Even a few internships are available.

These jobs may entail working with a currency that’s already been built, such as Bitcoin or Ethereum–or they may be an ICO (Initial Coin Offering) project where team members build an entirely new currency using blockchain.

How Do You Get A Cryptocurrency Job?

Obviously, in such a new industry, the specific duties of each role will vary widely between companies–and may even change while you’re actually on the job as the space evolves. Your day will look very different if you’re at an early-stage startup versus a large, publicly-traded company.

The first step is simply being familiar with (and ideally enthusiastic about) cryptocurrency and the technology that powers it. Whether you’ve been investing personally, running your own mining rig, or soaking up information about how blockchain tech works, if you’re going to land a job and dive into doing this 9-5, it’s something you should be passionate about.

Many companies won’t require in-depth knowledge of crypto technology right off the bat; they know it’s a new industry, so they may be willing to train talent on the job. That said, going in with as much knowledge as you can will only increase your chances. Taking a course like Princeton’s Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Technologies on Coursera is a good place to start.

The second piece of the puzzle is simply having a background in the kind of work you want to do. If you want to be a blockchain developer, holding a “normal” developer role first will make you an attractive candidate. If you want to be a cryptocurrency project manager, have project management experience to show.

Debating what kind of company you’d like to work at? According to AngelList, cryptocurrency startups are hiring in record numbers due to the massive amounts of funding they are acquiring. Another cool perk: if you end up working on an ICO, you’ll probably receive some coins as a form of “equity” in the project in addition to your salary.

Bitcoin was invented in 2008, which means it’s coming up on its 10th anniversary next year. Since it doesn’t seem to be going away, now might just be the perfect time to embrace the new career opportunities the crypto world has to offer.

Laurence Bradford is a product manager at Teachable, an EdTech enthusiast, and the creator of Learn to Code With Me, a blog and podcast helping self-taught coders get ahead in their lives + careers.

Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/laurencebradford/2017/12/18/how-cryptocurrency-has-introduced-new-careers-in-tech/#71d3aae53e79

Gabrielle Union’s Twists Were Once Called “Unprofessional”

2017 is the year when we were finally able to find the perfect foundation match with the help of an app (and also Rihanna), and unlock our iPhones with our faces — among a long list of other advances. Despite all of those gains, though, there’s still one real-life feat that hasn’t been achieved: total freedom for people with natural hair and protective styles to wear their hair at school and at work without backlash.
Thankfully, there’s been some progress — in January, the U.S. Army lifted its ban on dreadlocks and two-strand twists. But the war wages on in Hollywood, and Gabrielle Union is still fighting. The actress and author of We’re Going to Need More Wine revealed that she’s received pushback from producers for wanting to wear her own twists on camera.
2017 is the year when we were finally able to find the perfect foundation match with the help of an app (and also Rihanna), and unlock our iPhones with our faces — among a long list of other advances. Despite all of those gains, though, there’s still one real-life feat that hasn’t been achieved: total freedom for people with natural hair and protective styles to wear their hair at school and at work without backlash.
Thankfully, there’s been some progress — in January, the U.S. Army lifted its ban on dreadlocks and two-strand twists. But the war wages on in Hollywood, and Gabrielle Union is still fighting. The actress and author of We’re Going to Need More Wine revealed that she’s received pushback from producers for wanting to wear her own twists on camera.
“I was doing a project and with the character the producers were coming up with what they wanted to do for her hair,” she said in a recent interview with Byrdie. “And they were like, She’s beautiful, sophisticated, and professional. I was like, Well, I want to wear braids.“
She says that the producers then replied, “Well, I mean, she’s beautiful, sophisticated, and corporate America,” So she repeated her request. “Yes and specifically, I want twists. And they went on to say, We just really want her to look more polished. I said, You all really don’t understand what are we talking about here?”
Larry Sims, Union’s longtime hairstylist, has seen these interactions firsthand. “There have been times where she has had to fight for a certain style for certain roles. Her hair always looks professional. The push is more about creative direction,” he tells Refinery29.
Of course, this is something that occurs in print, too. Solange and Lupita Nyong’o have both had their beautiful curls and natural styles Photoshopped out of recent magazine covers. “There’s a larger conversation with people of color when it comes to our hair and our skin color,” Union told Byrdie, in response to these incidents. “People will try to lighten our skin tones and alter our hair, which says a lot of about how we feel about ourselves versus how other people feel about our blackness and textured hair. We need to showcase the fullness of our beauty.”
Union hopes to change the conversation — especially regarding natural hair in the workplace — with her own roles, like the title character of Being Mary Jane. In the series, her character MJ admits that she wears a weave to assimilate at work, wears her hair wrapped, cuts it, and will possibly (and finally) show her true texture during the series finale next year. “We always want to push the envelope and change people’s perspective on what is acceptable,” Sims tells us of the title character’s evolution. “This last season, Mary Jane had an edgy choppy cut. It’s something that you wouldn’t see traditionally from a newscaster. Their hair is usually specific and straight.”
Coincidentally, Union is at a place where she feels ready to do the same as MJ in real life. As she once told us: “I plan on [wearing my natural hair] more often, because I want to show… that as much as I wear weaves and extensions, I’ve been treating my own hair with as much care as possible.”
Source: http://www.refinery29.com/2017/12/183477/gabrielle-union-twists-hair-experience

Here’s How To Deal With Shady Co-Workers in The Office

In a dream world, you get to be the office wifey to at least a handful of people and universally adored by your colleagues. In reality, whilst you may have a few people who have your back when times get tough, or at least a work BFF, you’re bound to butt heads with someone eventually. Nobody can deny it’s awkward when you don’t get along with someone you have to share an office space with for 8 hours a day. How to deal with personality clashes or someone being shady? We’ve got you covered.

1 Don’t be afraid of confrontation

Confrontation is an inevitable part of working, especially with tight deadlines and a high-pressure environment. Don’t completely loose your cool, or you may loose your job, but do be willing to have a constructive conversation with whoever’s trying to stir the pot. Trying to get to the bottom of what’s really going on by having some real talk with a co-worker can help smooth things out. If all else fails, start to consider taking it to management.

Via GIPHY

2 Try not to jump to conclusions

If you’re in an office spat, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild. Whether you’ve been subject of workplace gossip or you find out your project manager may or may not like you, don’t be hard on yourself. You can’t control people’s perception of you so try not to internalise unconstructive criticism or office pettiness.

3 Don’t get caught in the feels

It sucks that we can’t just scream and/or ball our eyes out in the office when we need to but there’s not a lot of space for showing your full range of emotions. Especially in male-dominated industries where gender roles and stereotypes are still a part of office culture, women have to fight to be taken seriously and it’s shitty that crying is perceived as a weakness. Try to hold it together until you are in a situation or safe space to let it all out.

Via GIPHY

4 Leave the gossip at home

The petty side of us all just wants to dish on some dirt and call-out the haters making life difficult at work. The thing about gossip is it’s bound to get back to you at some point, one way or another. Gossiping at work is a sure-fire way to make you seem immature and unprofessional, even if your feelings are valid. Everyone has to vent, so confide in a trustworthy friend you don’t work with to listen to your woes and keep it moving.

Via GIPHY

5 Stay slaying

At the end of the day, you’re working, on your glo up, and making your paper. Be proud of that and remember that not everybody is going to like you and that’s totally okay. Even if someone is being nasty or unnecessary, stay focused on your goals and keep your eye on the prize by being your best self.

Source: http://www.cosmopolitan.co.za/career-money/career/heres-how-to-deal-with-shady-co-workers-in-the-office