EmploymentMetrix.com

Finding a Job is All About Location, Location, Location

In anticipation of Beyond.com’s Q3 Trends Report being released, we thought that we’d whet your appetite with some highlights from the report—particularly regarding the location of jobs. 

Find out:

• Top 10 States for Hiring.
• Industries with the most opportunities.
• And Top 5 cities for each top hiring industry.

Download the “Where The Jobs Are" [INFOGRAPHIC] Now

 

If You Don’t Factor Mobile Into Your Recruitment Plan You’re Making a HUGE Mistake

Sometimes when I’m in a public place—riding a train, walking down the street, or even sitting in a restaurant, I love to observe how many people are engrossed in their cell phones.  And I will tell you I’m no different. 

My Smartphone is my lifeline, I don’t leave home without it—I don’t even leave a room in my home without it (but don’t tell my mother that, because then she’ll wonder why I don’t ALWAYS answer the phone when she calls).

But I have become so addicted attached to my phone that I do EVERYTHING on it, from paying bills, checking movie times—and buying movie tickets, sending emails, playing Words With Friends (I recently discovered that “Nachos” is not an acceptable word—I know I was shocked too!), to reading my favorite blog, EmploymentMetrix (shameless plug!).  So with so much reliance on our Smartphones and unfortunately a large number of people out of work, it is little surprise that job searching and recruitment has gone mobile—in a big way!

Mobile job search apps are BOOMING and the number of candidates searching for jobs on their mobile devices has skyrocketed by more than 100% in the last year alone. So if you’re an HR Pro that has yet to factor in mobile into your recruitment plan, you’re making a BIG mistake.

Check out the latest infographic from Beyond.com—it shows that more than 77% of job seekers use mobile job search apps.  Job Seekers use these apps to quickly react to new job postings, discreetly search for jobs, and simply the freedom it allows them to search for jobs anytime from anywhere.  Potential candidates are no longer tied down to their home computer to search and apply for jobs, now they can do it on their commute to work, while they’re waiting in the doctor’s office, or even waiting for that barista to make their favorite tasty beverage.   So if you have yet to jump on the mobile bandwagon you’re going to be left behind—that goes for HR pros and job seekers alike!

Beyond.com and HireADroid Partnership Delivers Top Job Search App for Android Users

Android App Helps Job Seekers Find Job Listings Quickly from Anywhere, Anytime

Beyond.com, today announced its partnership with HireADroid, the number one job search application for Android, enabling users to search jobs across Beyond.com’s thousands of top-tier industry and local career sites directly from their Android device. In today’s competitive employment market, the mobile device is an imperative tool for job seekers needing to search, share and react in real-time to job opportunities.

Beyond.com is the number one tab amongst a roster of six major job search engines, which feed job search results into the HireADroid application through one single query. The Android app boasts a simple user interface and a wealth of features to help job seekers more easily find the ideal job by allowing users to save jobs to “your favorites,” search based on a current location, send an email or tweet the opportunity, and apply for the position right from the phone. Job postings span across multiple countries, so non-U.S. residents can also benefit from the HireADroid app.

“As the mobile recruitment space continues to evolve, Beyond.com is broadening its reach across all mobile devices with the most reliable and inclusive set of tools to help job seekers navigate through today’s highly competitive job market,” said Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com. “With the power of the HireADroid app, we’re able to share the Beyond.com network with a growing audience of Android users through the app’s unmatched functionality and tools to connect job seekers with the most relevant and latest job postings.”

With more than 230,000 downloads, the HireADroid app has been positioned on Apple’s Top 100 list in the business category for the past year, currently holding at number 45. The traffic to Beyond.com increased by more than 11 percent since the engine rose to the number one tab on the app, demonstrating the demand for Beyond.com’s unique niche approach to within the Android job search app market.

“Beyond.com has helped drive downloads and brought tremendous value to not only the success of the HireADroid application, but to the thousands of users who, particularly in the challenging economic landscape, often depend on job search apps for its immediacy in accessing the latest job postings, along with the ability to easily search, apply and share jobs when, how and where they want to,” said Bo Stone, founder of HireADroid. “Through this partnership with Beyond.com, we’re looking forward to continuing to make upgrades and add new features to help job seekers find the right job – through the convenience of their mobile device.”

The Benefits of Searching for Jobs and Candidates via Mobile

Beyond.com CEO, Rich Milgram recently had the opportunity to create a guest post on the HR blog, Recruiting Trends on the topic of mobile recruitment strategies for both employers and job seekers. With the trend of mobile phones to do everything but make phone calls, this post further examines the benefits of searching for jobs and candidates through mobile devices.

Read the full post.

Facebook: An Intern’s Tragic Downfall

The Intern Overview: Part 5

Being an intern can be confusing, especially in a world of social media.  Let me explain…

I recently came across an article titled “Facebook Got Me Fired” and being somewhat new to the professional workforce the titled got my attention.  The article talked about an intern that requested time off (on Halloween) due to a family emergency, however later that evening a picture emerged on Facebook of said intern at a Halloween party obviously not tending to a family emergency—long story short, the intern was fired.  That got me thinking—1. I would NEVER do such a thing and 2. I wonder how much of my Facebook account is exposed to the world.

After all, the days of Facebook being a college thing are long gone, in fact according to Boston University Professor Kabrina Chang, 72 percent of 18-to-29-year-olds have a Facebook page and 40 percent of people over 40 do too. 

So in this week’s post I wanted to focus on how an intern’s Facebook page can come back to bite them.  While my Facebook page was created for a fun social reason, I am coming to the realization that it might be time to start pulling on the reins and increasing my privacy settings—this must be what it’s like to become an adult—when Facebook goes from fun to…less fun.

When transitioning into becoming a candidate in the job market, I always knew it was sort of an unwritten code that you should either disable your Facebook account or at the very least make sure it is on the most private settings possible, but honestly I didn’t think I was there yet, but Miss Halloween has me thinking otherwise.

Chang also reported that 85 percent of businesses do not have policies for guiding employee online behavior. But think of it this way, if you are an intern—someone has given you the opportunity to join their organization, learn their business, and represent their brand—so do you think your manager or their clients really want to see pictures of you at a party?

So all of you interns out there, be smart about what you post (if you don’t want your Mom to see it you probably don’t want your boss to see it either) and show your superiors why you should hold a position in their firm.  And as for you managers of interns out there, let your mentees in on the secret of the privacy settings on Facebook, after all—you don’t just have to teach us how to file, pull data, and make coffee.  Who knows, this whole Facebook thing might be the most useful piece of information we take away from the job.

More than 25 Million Professionals use Beyond.com to improve their Careers

The Beyond.com Career Network surpasses 25 Million members, offers powerful new communication tools and rewards members with free premium subscription.

Beyond.com, Inc., the premier Career Network^TM focused on helping people grow and succeed, announced today it has exceeded the 25 million member milestone.  The Beyond.com Career Network allows professionals to showcase their talents, find the best job opportunities and efficiently manage their career with a personalized online Career Portfolio^TM.

As Beyond.com continues to hit new benchmarks, it is also undertaking a site redesign, with the first of many new tools now live and available. Overall, visitors will experience an easy-to-navigate interface guiding them through job search functions, networking features, statistics and social and industry research – integrated with powerful communication tools that keep members informed 24/7. With more than 70 unique career channels and 3,000 focused sites, the Beyond.com Career Network is extremely effective in connecting and cultivating personal relationships specifically around an individual’s career growth.

“Career growth and success are top-of-mind for business professionals.  In today’s competitive job market, professionals need to be well-informed, organized and stand out from the crowd.  We are thrilled at Beyond.com to offer business professionals a Career Network where they can focus on improving themselves, their current position are their career options,” said Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com.  “We are also excited to offer every member a free subscription to our premium online Career Portfolio, which spotlights each person through a powerful, personalized web site that showcases their talents.”

Beyond.com is exhibiting at the upcoming SHRM 2011 Annual Conference in Las Vegas on June 26 – 29.

Five Crazy Reasons to Not Apply to a Job

So it is not surprising that a few months ago Donald Trump announced that he would be running for president. And it is even less surprising that this week he reneged.  While he has experience heading corporations that are floundering financially, Trump is instead committing his time to another season of Celebrity Apprentice, where instead of offering a job to a real person, he offers several opportunities to celebrities, lets the cameras roll and captures the crazy (only positive about this experience—money is donated to charity). 

It is being reported that there is a documentary in the works that portrays Trump as a bully and this film apparently pushed “The Donald” to take his name out of the running.  As Trump is backing out as a possible presidential candidate, he inspired us this week to have some fun and to put together a list of the “Five Craziest Reasons to NOT Apply to a Job” (in no particular order they are as follows).

1. Documentary Film Portrays You in Bad Light.
2. The world is supposedly ending on Saturday so why bother finding a new job?
3. I used all of my personal days to watch the Royal Wedding and now I don’t have time to go an interview.
4. I’m too lazy to update my resume and I no longer have Oprah to encourage me to do more with my life.
5. I’m staying at my current job for spite as my boss “The Terminator” fathered my baby.

While this list demonstrates there’s a lot of craziness going on in the world, it’s never not a good time to better your career and apply to your dream job.  While we may see reasons such as relocation, salary, and benefits as factors that may hold us back when considering if we should throw your hat into the ring—just remember that there could be crazier things preventing you from clicking apply.

Special thanks to our intern, Brittany Gavin for researching for this post.

Beyond.com Mobile Job Search Apps Hit More Than One-Million Downloads

Beyond.com, Inc., the world’s largest network of niche career communities, today announced that The Beyond.com network of mobile applications have reached more than one-million downloads. As the use of mobile devices continues to rise, Beyond.com recognizes the role that mobile recruitment strategies now play in the way employers and candidates connect with one another.

In today’s market, the ability to search for jobs anytime, from anywhere, can provide job seekers a competitive edge by staying informed, quickly reacting to new job opportunities and getting in front of prospective employers before the competition. The Beyond.com applications are designed to meet the job seeker’s need to search and share relevant jobs, with features such as push notifications of newly posted jobs, as well as valuable articles and videos to help them find a job faster.

A Morgan Stanley analyst report predicts that by 2014, the Internet will be more frequently searched on a mobile device than on a computer, bestowing tremendous implications for the recruitment industry. Mobile recruitment creates an opportunity for companies to engage with targeted candidates in a more immediate way, delivering content when and where people want to consume it – which is on their mobile device. By incorporating mobile strategies into an overall recruitment program, employers are able to effectively connect with job seekers the way they want to be reached.

“Mobile technology has changed the way people communicate in every aspect of their lives,” said Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com. “Professionals today are often on-the-go and prefer a discreet and faster way to receive and respond to job postings. This is evidenced not only by the significant number of application downloads, but by the exploding mobile traffic we’re experiencing at Beyond.com, with a 183 percent increase over the past year in mobile traffic coming to our site. Job search apps are proving to be a key component in a recruitment strategy as an effective method to bring together employers and candidates.”

Beyond.com also provides employer-branded mobile applications, which allow companies to create stronger brand recognition and provide direct access to jobs and company information to increase the overall value of the application. For more information on how Beyond.com apps can be incorporated into a mobile recruitment strategy, please visit http://www.Beyond.com.

Survey of Job Seekers Reveals Experience Matters More When Finding a Job Than "Who You Know"

Beyond.com, Inc., the world's largest network of niche career communities, polled job seekers across its network of thousands of geographic and industry-specific sites to learn what is most helpful to business professionals when searching for a job. More than 1,600 Beyond.com Network visitors responded to the poll that asked:
With the unemployment rate hovering at 8.8 percent according to the United States Department of Labor and a large pool of candidates vying for similar job opportunities, applicants are placing more value than ever before on their actual work experience than they have in the past.

"At one time it was all about who you knew and who in your Rolodex© you could connect with in order to secure an interview," says Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com. "While networking is and will continue to be an important component of the job search, it can only get you so far in the process. Employers are looking past just 'who you know' and making sure candidates have the right qualifications and experience before hiring."

For more workplace-related resources, visit the Beyond.com Career Resource Center.

How Can You Use the Favor Bank in Your Job Search

Please welcome back guest blogger, David Brensilber, Senior Vice President, Business Development for Beyond.com.

I came across a video snippet (see below) in which Mary Abbajay spoke about how you can cash in on your Favor Bank.  Her thoughts could be summarized in the following six points:

• You have to Give to Get
• Be Realistic in Your Requested Favor
• Be Specific in Your Request
• Be Considerate
• Don’t Abuse a Person
• Be Thankful Regardless of the Results

My interpretation of what she is saying is first, when asking a person for a favor, you should always be thankful and considerate of the person’s time and effort.  This should be your approach in most things in life.  The harder you make it for the person you are requesting a favor the less likely he or she will do it. 

For example, if you want a friend to forward your resume to their contacts, you should try to be clear in your request to them as opposed to being vague and difficult.  You should avoid requesting a generic help from a friend since the friend would then have to figure out how he or she can help you.  A better way is to say that you would like them to forward a resume to the appropriate people that they feel could help you in your desired field.

The second takeaway is that you should try to ask for favors from people you have already performed favors for.  It is easier to get someone to do something for you if they feel indebted to you.  People may feel more reluctant to do you a favor if there is no benefit in it for them.  In our day and age, people are asked to do a whole bunch of things for others all the time so think how you can convince a friend or associate to help you out.

Thirdly, you need to understand the favor that you are requesting.  If you are asking someone to send an email that is one thing.  But if you are asking them to spend hours in order to help your job search that is quite another.  It is doubtful that you have too many friends or associates who would be excited about spending hours helping you.  A smaller favor that takes 15 minutes is more likely to be granted than one that takes 2 hours.  If you request large favors several times then you are asking too much.  By abusing your friends and associate, you will destroy all of the goodwill that you accumulated with them.  You really need to considerate of the help you are asking for.

My recommendation is to treat favors like you treat networking.  You should build up your favors and network before you need to use them.  When the timing is right you can ask a friend or associated for a favor and if you do it the right way, they will be more than happy to repay the favor.