We have some great hits from the community so let’s get started!
Here’s what’s going on in the ERE community this week:
- The dreaded employee referral?
- Internet background checks on prospective hires
- Being yourself and why it works
- Is the 6.2% payroll tax incentive helping to hire more unemployed people?
- How recruiters should respond to a vague sales manager
- Featured group of the week: New England recruiters
1. The dreaded employee referral?
Simon Meth writes: “Popular opinion is that employee referrals are the #1 source of hire in a corporate environment. I believe that to be true. But are employee referrals the #1 source of quality hires? I doubt it! Following are some thoughts from my own experience. Your mileage may vary.
Can employee referrals backfire? Are they the number one source of quality hires?
2. Internet background checks on prospective hires
A community member asks, “Are any of you on the corporate or in-house recruitment side doing routine Internet searches on prospective candidates or new hires? If so, do you have legal counsel support for it? And, how is it going? I have been tasked by the VP of HR at my site to look into this. I have consulted two attorneys — their opinion is that its okay to do but know that the info is not reliable and should not be used for a go/no go decision. Our third party background check company won’t touch it either. I’m interested to know if any of you out there are doing it and if so, what kind of results are you getting?
Do you do Internet background checks? Let this member know in the forum.
3. Being yourself and why it works
Matthew Hakaim writes, “My ‘perfect world’ had just crumbled in a matter of seconds. I was faced with the need to find new work, and I had no clue what I wanted to do. A few weeks later I was introduced to a guy who owned a recruiting company that specialized in finding talent for the video game industry. After a few short conversations I had accepted a job at their firm as a recruiter. There was a slight hurdle to overcome though. I was not a gamer by any stretch of the imagination and I really had no clue what a recruiter was.
I like the simple message: be yourself and life will be a lot easier!
4. Is the 6.2% payroll tax incentive helping to hire more unemployed people?
Maureen Sharib posted some interesting information in the Compensation and Benefits group: “Employers who hire unemployed workers this year (after Feb. 3, 2010 and before Jan. 1, 2011) may qualify for a 6.2-percent payroll tax incentive, in effect exempting them from their share of Social Security taxes on wages paid to these workers after March 18, 2010. More here.
I have to wonder if these incentives will actually help employ more unemployed people. Is this the start to recruiters preferring active candidates over passive ones?
5. How recruiters should respond to a vague sales manager
Lee Salz started an interesting conversation in the Ask the Sales Hiring Expert group: “Sales managers are infamous for asking recruiters to find “great sales people.” Yet, that isn’t enough information to surface the right candidates. What should recruiters do so they don’t waste time spinning their wheels?
What’s the best way to nail down criteria for sales people from sales managers?
6. Featured group of the week: New England recruiters
The New England recruiters group is a networking group based around the states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. While it has been dormant for some time, we’ve started to revitalize the community through some discussions and e-mails about where to take the group. Take a look at our most recent discussion about using Facebook as a recruiting tool or join up and start your own discussion!
To see what else you’ve been missing, check out the ERE community.