Recruitment and the human factor

Finding the right job in London is like walking along a really long tightrope. Whilst juggling. Thankfully there are agencies to offer support and guidance along the way. Whatever their reasons for helping, it works for me.

For employers, finding the right candidate for a position generally comes at a hefty price. So you can understand why companies are looking to use latest technologies to cut out the middle man. Last year recruitment accounted for a quarter of all online advertising, and brands continue to experiment with new technologies to gain direct access to potential candidates.

Last year a virtual recruitment fair was held on Second Life which was hailed as a success by the companies participating. Blogging has become quite important in attracting candidates, as have PPC campaigns and (some would say) Social Networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. 

I tried using Facebook to search for jobs and I found it confusing and unprofessional. However it's not a bad place for recruiters to advertise, as ads can be targeted towards the right candidate profiles. Having said that, most people I've asked aren't even aware of any advertising on facebook - a phenomenon known as 'banner blindness'. An innovative approach to advertising is needed for this kind of advertising to pay.

From my perspective recruitment agencies are in no danger of being ousted for now. They provide a valuable service to people like me, and it's in their interest to get it right for all parties. They connect the right people to the right jobs and it seems to work. 

It's certainly the right thing to do for companies to divert their ad spend from offline to online. And there is a great deal of untapped potential for recruiting using new media methods. But the loss of recruitment agencies would mean a loss of the human factor, and isn't that what the recruitment industry is all about?

Video CV's - a novel approach, but not always the right one.

Simply semantics

In my quest to appear knowledgable in interviews I've been trying to stretch my geekness as far as it will go. My latest quest is to understand the semantic web and what it means to the future of the web. Here are some of the definitions that I have found:

1. Semantic web - 'the meaning of the web'. Huh?

2. Semantic web - 'an extension of the web'. Ok. Still not understanding.

3. Semantic web - 'a way of sharing data and content'. Right, similar to mashups or something, yes? Well, sort of. Not quite. Mashups use web applications to pull in data from different sources and present it in a single form, making potentially dozens of Web calls (for example: www.flickrvision.com).

On the other hand, the Semantic web is a web of data. It needs no application and makes no web calls. The data is the web and the web is the data. It doesn't use javascript or HTML, it uses a different language altogether. Semantic web is potentially the most powerful and efficient way of distributing data and content.

It uses a language called RDF (Resource Description Framework), which is apparently even difficult for developers to understand. RDF was designed to provide a common way to describe information so it can be read and understood by computer applications. Go any deeper and you start getting into terminology that sounds like something out of Harry Potter so I'm going to stop there.

In my research I also stumbled across SWOOGLE, a semantic search engine. This actually left me more confused than I was before, and more convinced that this technology is not for the likes of me to concern myself with for the time being at least.

The semantic web is a work in progress and has the potential to transform the web into one giant, immensely powerful database.

Keep up the good work, Superbrains - rather you than me.

How do you win online?

How people use the internet is changing every day. Users are becoming blind to banner advertising and tend to tend to engage more with interactive ads or games.

Right now silver surfers are the fastest growing online population, although they tend to use the internet to stay in touch with family rather than shop online. Men use mobile internet more than women and nearly all of all internet users in europe read the news online.

However tomorrow's metrics may well tell a different story.

How then to digital marketing agencies know what's best for their clients? Perhaps the truth is that they don't, which is exactly what makes the industry such an exciting one to be a part of. Marketing and advertising agencies cannot rely on tried and tested methods any more - instead, they are much more likely to go for an integrated and innovative approach if they want to succeed. Take a look at Pot Noodle's latest effort as a good example.