Archive for January, 2009

The iPhone Competition

Sunday, January 25th, 2009

With catchy tunes and market saturation, television ads for Apple’s ever-popular iPhone have been garnering attention for quite awhile. Now that it’s become a household name, TV ads for the growing number of iPhone’s downloadable applications or “apps” are hitting the airwaves. From maps to MRIs, it’s a virtual candystore for smart phone users. According to The Industry Standard, the iPhone sold 6.9 million units in the three month period ending September 27, 2008.

androidAs of last fall, however, there’s a new kid that’s joined the playing field: Android. This mobile platform is available under one of the most progressive, developer-friendly open-source licenses, which gives mobile operators and device manufacturers significant freedom and flexibility to design products. Enter T-Mobile’s G1 with Google, the first smart phone to use the Android platform, and so far so good, as the product sold over one million units in just the first two months of release. While there aren’t as many apps as the iPhone just yet, more and more are being developed everyday. News is that T-Mobile should get ready for competition from the smart phone industry as Motorola, Sony Ericsson and Samsung are gearing up for their own Android-powered devices later this year.

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Indian, U.S. Employees Most Confident

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

A new survey conducted by the Kenexa Research Institute finds that Indian employees are the most confident in their organization.

The study came from a randomly selected group of over 16,000 workers from 12 different countries.

Approximately 81 percent of the Indians polled said they were confident, followed by those in the US (76 percent), Brazil (75 percent), and Russia and Canada (both 74 percent). Employees in Japan have the lowest levels of organizational confidence (46 per cent).

The results from India indicate that approximately four out of five employees feel that they are not at risk of being laid off and approximately three out of four believe there is a promising future for them at their organizations. However, Indian employees are slightly less positive about their current employer helping to prepare them with the necessary skills for the future (72 percent).

“The levels of optimism among the workers in India are quite high. In fact, across the 12 countries we studied, the results from India achieved the highest rank. Indian workers are very optimistic about the future of their organizations, their management and the products that they produce. The vast majority does not have fear of losing their jobs, and for those who do lose their jobs there is confidence in being able to find another,” said Jeffrey Saltzman, industrial psychologist and principal, Kenexa.

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Search Firm Launches Free Instructional Videos

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Staff Financial Group, Inc., an Atlanta-based search firm, has launched a new site that provides job seekers free instructional videos on how to navigate the job change process.

OneMinuteInterviewTips.com is currently offering instructional videos on these topics: How to create your 30 Second Resume; How to use LinkedIn in your job search; Video Resumes – Leveraging the Power of Video in Your Career Search; The Hidden Pitfalls of a Lunch Interview; How to organize your search with FREE online tools; How to create a Marketing Email to sell yourself; and more. While new videos are added continuously, candidates can also request answers to their questions.

Job seekers who register can also subscribe to the Career Coaching Group.net for more in-depth tutorials and tools on how to market themselves in a down economy

Site founder Gus Cawley said, “Candidates spend tens of thousands of dollars on their education; they work countless hours building their careers but no one has taught them how to market themselves effectively. Most job seekers do not know what to do or even where to begin their job search. We built CareerCoachingGroup.net and OneMinuteInterviewTips.com because our candidates were getting displaced due to the economic downturn and didn’t know what to do first. In some cases, candidates with years of service were shocked to get their pink slips with little to no warning and minimal severance if any.”

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Shaker Advertising To Provide Virtual Career Fairs

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

Shaker Recruitment Advertising and Communications has announced a partnership with InXpo, a provider of real-time virtual events.

The alliance will enable Shaker’s customers to attract talent by hosting their own virtual career fairs.

“Because this online career fair is managed in a completely virtual environment, HR departments can cut costs of traditional, on-site events while moving toward more environmentally-friendly recruiting methods,” Tina Krater, Director of Sales said. “By capitalizing on the strength of the InXpo product, we are able to provide an easy, convenient and cost-efficient means of interaction between recruiters and job seekers.”

Virtual career fairs are just like traditional meet-and-greets at career fairs, except they are held online. The fairs incorporate elements that parallel job boards and social networking sites. Individual booths promote a company’s career opportunities similar to the customary on-site career fair and allow job seekers and recruiters to interact via instant chat or personal message. Recruiters can also collect resumes from qualified job seekers.

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Job Search Boot Camp Kicks Off

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

If you’re living in the Austin area and are in need of some job search advice, you might want to consider attending this job search boot camp.

On February 28, 2009 from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m., at the Job Search Boot Camp seminar at the Wingate Conference Center in Round Rock , Angela Loeb, author of What You Need To Know To Get A Job Now!, Michael Kranes, award-winning resume writer, and Jay Markunas, career coach and HR specialist, will help job seekers with tools and training to jump start their 2009 job search.

“This is an idea born out of my desire to get people moving forward as they seek new employment,” says Jay Markunas, who also volunteers as facilitator of the Compass Career Networking Group at Unity of the Hills Church. Markunas has noticed a significant increase in the number of out-of-work professionals showing up at the group’s monthly meetings. “Too many bright, intelligent people are walking around wondering, ‘What do I do next? What is the most effective way to find that new job?’ There’s a definite need for this seminar in our community.”

At the Job Search Boot Camp, Markunas, Loëb and Kranes will provide training and share their expertise in resume writing, interview techniques and job search strategies. “We will provide focus and training in the technical aspects of the job search, as well as the emotional aspects of looking for a job,” says Loëb. One of Loëb’s clients, a senior project manager, related her experience after going through this two-pronged approach. “After a disappointing interview, I was feeling pretty depressed. With this training I now go back to my job hunt a stronger, more confident person.”

Visit jobsearchbootcamp.net for more details.

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Contractors Growing at Twice the Rate of Traditional Employees

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

According to new research by MBO Partners and Human Capital Institute, the segment of the U.S. workforce that includes contract talent, such as independent contractors, freelancers, and independent consultants, is growing at more than twice the rate of traditional employment.

The study, released today by MBO Partners, HCI, and industry partners, examines the use of contract talent in U.S. organizations. Gene Zaino, President & CEO of MBO Partners, noted, “As the workforce changes to reflect the emerging knowledge economy, organizations increasingly rely on contract talent – independent contractors, freelancers, and project-based consultants — to augment and even replace their traditional workforce.”

Over 90% of organizations surveyed use contract talent, and 34 percent said use has increased or increased dramatically in the past three years.

The composition of the contract workforce is also changing in this economy; more than half are skilled consultants performing mission critical functions. The study indicates that human resources and procurement professionals will need to collaborate to manage contract talent strategically.

Click here to request a copy of the report.

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TheLadders Commercial

Wednesday, January 21st, 2009

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Google AdWords Go Mobile

Wednesday, January 14th, 2009

Google has shaped its online advertising system, AdWords, for display on Android and iPhone devices.

By clicking a new checkbox in the AdWords set up process, advertisers can now create targeted ads directed solely to mobile customers with full internet browsers. These ads are entirely different from Google’s regular mobile ads which are meant to be displayed on devices with smaller screens that cannot render full HTML web pages.

“All AdWords advertisers will be able to target their ads to display on the iPhone, Android and other mobile device with an Internet browser HTML,” said Alexandra Kenin, product marketing manager for mobile ads team.

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Verizon Opts For MSN Over Google, Yahoo

Monday, January 12th, 2009

In a blow to both Google and Yahoo, Verizon Wireless has chosen Microsoft to be its default mobile search engine. The news comes after a year of speculation about the nation’s number one mobile carrier. In fact, Verizon bid on Yahoo last year, but walked away after a pricing conflict. The five-year deal is quite a coo for Microsoft, known more for its software than its search market.

According to Nielsen Mobile, only about 20% of cell phone users search the mobile web, but that number is set to increase dramatically in the next few years due to the convenience and popularity of smartphones.

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Hello world!

Friday, January 9th, 2009

Ah, mobile. There’s no denying it’s potential impact on the recruitment space. Additionally, the SEO is clearly evolving into an important component of mobile sites as much as traditional Web sites. That said, this post is the first notice of this journey the kids at Cheezhead are taking with the hopes of fun, discovery and, oh yeah, a little bit of profit.

Over the next few months, we’ll be busy getting this site completed, beta tests done and building a brand. We encourage you to sign-up for our feed or follow us on Twitter with each step we take in this process.

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