The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is conducting a challenge to find online career and search tools. This is a perfect challenge for CareerScribe as we are a free, ongoing virtual career management system for individuals to develop their personal brand.
The DOL has created a website for this challenge, that allows a company in enter information about its solution. After a company enters into the challenge, it is up to the public to vote (and comment) on entries. CareerScribe has already submitted our application and would love your help in securing a top spot in this challenge, as we provide opportunities for both individuals and companies to utilize our online platform and services for career management and development.
One vote already cast for us summarized our tool in a great comment:
"As a Career Coach, I find this tool to be extremely useful in two primary ways.
1. Information -
While preparing my clients for a job search, this tool gives them the ability to collect all of their valuable information about their career in one place.
2. Presentation-
The CareerScribe system allows for a through and organized presentation of their skills to potential employers.
I am confident that this system has helped many of my clients in the acquisition of their next opportunities, and I intend on using it for years to come."
To cast your vote and help us continue the CareerScribe movement, and grow our community, follow these steps:
1) Visit the U.S. DOL Challenge
2) Click "Login/Signup"
3) Enter unique email address (each email counts as 1 vote) and create password
4) Answer the 2 questions and click "post data"
Here's the important part!
You are now logged in and can submit your vote.... to do so:
5) Visit the CareerScribe entry page
-
Be sure it says "CareerScribe" before you vote!
6) Click "Recommend Tool" to vote
And your done!
We appreciate all your help, and look forward to helping more individuals develop their personal brand and manage their careers! For more information on how CareerScribe works with companies for quality hiring and our applicant tracking system, you can find more information here.
A resume tells me what you've done in the past. Yips.
A bio or cover letter tells me the process that took you from point A to point B. Yeah.
A portfolio shows me the artifacts from your past. Mmm Hmm.
Have you ever noticed the irony of using your past to change your future. Which is fine, except most people do it badly. See, they are so focused on the past when creating their career marketing tools (including, of course, online career portfolios), they forget to keep their eye on the prize i.e. where they want to go. Simply detailing your duties at previous or current employers will not attract future employers. Potential employers want that information AS IT PERTAINS TO THEM. If you used a proprietary system at your last employer, you next employer won't care...it was proprietary for crying out loud! There is no chance that skill is meaningful to them. BUT if you streamlined that proprietary system and saved the company 100K, now a potential employer cares. See the difference? You have to show results and relevant information, not just a list of the facts. But if you like facts, here's one for you - they are going to train you on their way of doing things, so even if you already know how to oil a widget, you're going to be trained on their widget oiling method. Better to demonstrate a history of quick learning and adaptability. So go back through your professional portfolio and make sure it projects you forward, rather than holds you back.
I was speaking with someone about their job search today. They were frustrated by their job search. They were being selective about the jobs they were applying to through the big boards and not receiving any calls back.
This caused them to stop and reflect. The result of that thought, though, produced some interesting results.
Instead of concluding that he needs to find a way to seperate from the rest of candidates that are sending the same cover letter with the same resume attached to an email, the conclusion was that they were not sending to enough jobs. The odds were not in their favor.
What we are proposing is a change in philosophy. What a lot of people do not understand is that for good jobs, they are not entering a pool of 20-30 candidates. They are entering a poole of several hundred or more inside of a talent management system. They usually just use the big job boards for candidate sourcing.
Every hiring manager knows the secret to quality hiring is getting past the several hundred into a manageable amount. There are many different ways that different managers use, but obviously, someone that sticks out as interesting or deserving of more attention gets included in this.
The short story is most professionals are only beginning to realize they have to market themselves just like any other product a company buys. CareerScribe is a great tool that allows people to do just that. It allows you to market all of your skills and value in a professional and dynamic way and share a rich amount of information beyond a boring resume/cover. If you want that first interview, you can still be selective. It's just time to start being your own biggest fan and spend some time with CareerScribe.
Have you ever met someone who lacked the experience, but made up for it in enthusiasm, professionalism, and drive? Those candidates are often some of the best hires, but they rarely make it through applicant tracking systems. Level the playing field for quality candidates and ask for CareerScribe Profiles.
Candidates in the Indianapolis job market know how tough it is get in front of the decision makers, especially if they lack one or two qualificaitons. Perhaps there is a sales person who misses the "3-5 years of experience" by 6 months, so your applicant tracking system omits them. But a tenacious, driven rep who is a little green is usually preferred over the guy with 10 yrs of experience in beating the system. On online career portfolio that includes video will help you include those candidate who lack some skill/experience without spending the time, energy, and money to bring them in for an interview.
So I really want to know...do you prefer experience or enthusiasm? Your comments are requested!
For awhile now, I've been telling professionals that doing a good job managing your career is like dieting and excercise. No one can argue that you should be doing it, but unfortunately, our educational system is only now starting to incorporate(require) students to learn some of the very basic skills/habits, such as maintaining a career portfolio as a routine.
State workforce development offices are starting to recognize the importance of these skills. Realizing it's only a bandaid to provide resume services and certain types of training. These things may help the person at the time, but you're not equipping them with skills to help them throughout their career. Professional portfolios are the way to go when it comes to candidate evaluation.
The bad news is, like dieting and excercise, many of the career management skills and habits being taught to professionals with 5-10+ years of experience, likely won't stick. The employment pool has been so negatively reinforced with their habits, i.e. "I only update my resume when I'm unhappy or been told I'm going to lose my job", that it's very tough to unlearn that way of thinking, and realize the good career management habits can be fun. Documenting your successes and accomplishments, which ultimately creates more value and can help you further your career, should be fun. If you own a house, doesn't it make you feel good when the house has been freshly painted, you've planted flowers, mulched and just mowed the lawn? All these things add value, and you feel that inside.
Hopefully, the current employment market issues will translate into long term changes to our education system and the services our tax dollars provide through regional workforce offices.
I'll admit, I hesitated for a moment to join twitter - but I'm glad that moment has passed. I'm following Chuck Gillespie, and I recently viewed a tweet that stated, "Amazed at how orgs worry about their applicant experience ten times more than employee experience. Why?" (http://crgillespie.wordpress.com) OMG, LOL!
But it's true, right? Firms wine and dine potential, but neglect assets? You'll knock yourself out to create a quality hiring process, spend countless hours screening potential employees, and endure long meetings to discuss candidate evaluations. But once you have found your golden boy, he's just another cog in the works.
Create an experience that's meaningful and lasting for candidates on both sides of the process. Those who want in should create a professional portfolio through CareerScribe so your evaluation is effecient and successful. Once that candidate is on board, they utilize that same application to create an on-going talent mangagement system that allows you to easily recognize and promote high performing employees. In the end, you're creating an environment that's attractive to people inside and outside of your organization.
Tweet, tweet.
I attended an unconference today sponsored by Catalist Jobs (catalistjobs.com) where experts (including our own Jeff Bockelman) spoke to candidates regarding strategies to a successful job search. So I was curious, does the information being given to your potential candidates match up with what companies are saying they want?
yes and no.
There was a consistent message of uniqueness, creativity, and professionalism in the tone and content of today's speakers. And companies say they want a stand out candidate to fill the position. But are companies utilizing opportunities in candidate evaluation, beyond just an applicant tracking system, to screen employees and get the result they are looking for? Not unless they're using CareerScribe.
A resume is a good start, but it's just a start. If someone handed you a yearbook and asked you to pick a spouse, you'd laugh, right? But you'll get about as much info from a yearbook as you will a resume. A general understanding of the person, but hardly enough info to make a smart commitment. Ask for more.
Ask for a professional portfolio through CareerScribe. This online employee employee screening tool brings you a giant, efficient step forward in the commitment of hiring an new employee, teammate, bottom-line impacter!
Give candidates the (mutually beneficial) opportunity to present themselves in a unique, creative, and professional way.
So, I just met with a client who is now using CareerScribe in three distinct ways.
Numero Uno | Candidate Evaluation
Despite the current economic conditions, this company is hiring. Lots. There method prior to CareerScribe was quite conventional. Lots of resumes. Hours of phone interviews, most ending without enthusiasm. They are now working alongside their current applicant tracking system to invite all promising candidates to connect with their open positions via CareerScribe. Now they've got 5X the information on all interested candidates and plan to review the candidates' professional portfolios as a team ... before the synchronous phone call.
Numero Dos | Intern Assessment
This organization is actively employing interns over the summer and intentionally giving them a comprehensive, working tour of the organization. Their asking all of the interns participating in this program to build their profiles on CareerScribe. This will give hiring managers throughout the company a deep sense of the interns' accomplishments and where they may fit best in the company in the long run.
Numero Tres | Internal Performance
One group within the organization is asking all of their individual contributors to track their accomplishments on a week by week basis in CareerScribe. At the end of the year, the manager will have all of the detail and insight necessary on each individual.Performance reviews and merit increase conversations will be very informed.
Wow. Pretty Cool.
Need more money? Work harder.
Want to look/feel better? Lose 10 pounds.
Need more time? Tough luck.
Time is the one factor we cannot replace, create, change, store, borrow, loan, or renew.
Time - it is what it is. Even as you read this it slips away...
What we can do, however, is assign a value to our time. You probably get paid X number of dollars per month, right? And based on X numbers of hours per week, you can say within a few dollars what your time is worth. And how many of those valuable (and your organization would likely say expensive) hours do you spend trying to recruit, identify, and hire quality applicants? If I told you that you could save the ONE thing you cannot create by making a simple request of your candidates would you do it?
By requesting a professional portfolio, you can weed out 25-40% of candidates you would initially consider bringing in for an interview. CareerScribe allows you, at your convenience, to view a broad, yet detailed, picture of candidates and offers the ability to conduct candidate evaluations before conducting time consuming interviews.
Candidates complete their free online portfolio, your talent management system runs like a well oiled machine, and you find the right fit quickly and effeciently.
Father Time would be proud.
Isn't it overwhelming? Your focused on quality hiring, but are challenged at every turn. Applicants seem to seep in from every crack, but identifying the best ones can be elusive. Applicant tracking systems help, but it's a blind process that can leave out great candidates. And there's no way you're going to thumb through the 2,000 resumes you received to see if you're golden boy didn't make the cut. But it's all you've got, right?
No.
Welcome to 2009, where technology conqueors and innovation reigns. Applicants who are creative and proactive can create profiles that sell their skills and expertise, document those claims chronologically, and provide the proof. Candidates even have the opportunity to provide a brief (less than 3 minutes) video for you to view at your leisure. Which means you don't have to sit through 2 hours of interviewing to get a broad picture of the candidate.
Having a tremendous number of candidates respond for each position lessens the chances of you finding your needle in a haystack. So ask for more than just a resume. Simply requiring more than the bare minimun will dissuade many candidate from even applying. If all I have to do to apply is click "send" it's a piece of cake. Spray and pray, right? That makes finding quality candidate more challenging on your end.
But a system that allows you to understand the candidate in a dymanic way, and requiring thought, effort, and proof from their end, makes a better match. And that's the goal here - quality hiring and talent management.
Check out Craig and Jeff's profile on our home page and then ask yourself these questions - How much more do you know about them vs. having had only a resume. Would that type of knowledge be helpful in considering candidates to fill your vacant positons? How much more effecient is this than inviting a dozen candidates in for an interview?
Here's the last question - How much better can you hire if you have a career profile for each of your candidates?
Better people = better outcomes.
I hope this has given you something to consider as you move forward with your organization and cadidate sourcing. Have a great day!
Susan
The resume database. Drop it in. Spray and Pray. Yours among thousands of others.
It just doesn't work that well, right?
In contrast to databases that house a Candidate's resume in static state, CareerScribe Profiles can be continually updated to account for new activities, goals and experiences. Just as a Facebook account can be continually updated and modified, the CareerScribe Profile permits Candidate to continuously refine their Profile, adapting to the needs of specific industries and employers, and adding new experiences and skill sets to your professional portfolio.
It's a dynamic professional profile, it can endlessly updated and shared with whomever you wish.
Think how much value this could bring. Companies conducting candidate evaluation, probably won't find your resume. But what if you send them you CareerScribe profile? Now we're talking.
This is a great way to bypass the applicant tracking system. Heck, you're going to get lost in there anyway.
It was encouraging to see CareerScribe featured on some pretty major blogs and news sites this past week. For example, here's what appeared on Yahoo Finance:
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CareerScribe-Launches-Beta-bw-14713461.htmlHere's some of the CareerScribe features most talked about:
- Sharing - Candidates can load their entire career portfolio into CareerScribe and, with the click of one button, share it with anyone they choose, even if the recipient is not a member of CareerScribe.
- Candidate Sourcing - For companies, the big benefit is being able to screen potential employees in a dramatically better way. Rather than look through a stack of resumes, companies are conducting online screening by looking at CareerScribe Profiles. So much more information, so much more quickly.
- Quality Hiring - Companies have all the chips on their side of the table now. And yet struggle is still present: the challenge now is to work around the applicant tracking system and find good candidates in a more meaningful way. There's just too many resumes to wade through.
CareerScribe continues to gain momentum. Perhaps this truly is the "resume of the 21st century."
I was watching tv this weekend; something I rarely do, but it's March Madness; and TheLadders commercial came on where they are chasing chairs on a wild safari.
It made me think about the whole concept of quality hiring and candidate marketing and the current state of the matter.
TheLadders has a good idea, but it's not fully baked. The notion that a service fee will keep the clutter down of qualified candidates is noble. Reducing volume is something many companies with great jobs try to do, but reduing volume through a service fee is the wrong plan.
CareerScribe allows candidates to use their career portfolio to keep someone alive when companies do a search. Through the use of this free online portfolio, candidates that have no business being in that search are eliminated. Also, companies can then use CareerScribe as an applicant tracking system that updates itself. No stale information.
So it brings me back to the commercial. If they want a high-back executive chair, they should get a sight that filters out the low-back chairs instead of only looking for chairs at a golf course
On Monday, March 23, we were excited to announce some significant enhancements to the look and feel of CareerScribe. This announcement was placed on the Business Wire and received a great response. Two days later, we have well over 40 websites, social media portals and search engines that have picked up the story.... very exciting!
Here are a few examples :
Yahoo - Finance
MarketWatch
Morningstar
Reuters
CareerScribe offers a career management tool for professionals that includes a free online portfolio and the ability to use video to introduce yourself. For companies,
CareerScribe has created a tool that allows companies to view these online portfolios, which adds much deeper insight to the candidate evaluation process, and eliminates bad interviews that should never happen. In addition, companies can develop a more meaningful applicant tracking system.
Companies and Universities typically ask CareerScribe, "How many candidates are in your database? And candidates usually ask," How many companies are in CareerScribe, how many jobs are posted?"
Reasonable questions. But, not the best questions. These questions limit the utility of CareerScribe to a job board.
Questions Companies Should Ask- There's too many resumes to functionally screen future employees. How can I conduct candidate evaluation and find the best candidates?
- How can I track the accomplishments and performance of my internal people in a meaningful way?
CareerScribe is the best means to see into candidates presence, accomplishments and aspirations, after you've done the work of candidate sourcing. The free online portfolio candidates populate gives you deep insight into the their work; it's so far beyond a resume. (Of course, candidates can post their resume on CareerScribe.) This concept works the same for internal talent management. You can see their accomplishments and potential so much more clearly. And they're responsible for maintaining it.
Questions Candidates Should Ask- The resume is so limited. Two pages? How do I share best stuff, my professional portfolio?
- How do I stand apart from the sea of candidates out there now?
CareerScribe enables candidates to document and
share their professional profile (i.e., portfolio, introduction video, goals, etc.). With anyone, even if they're not in CareerScribe. This places an excellent, free resource in candidates hands. It can really set a candidate apart.
This utility for candidates and companies is where CareerScribe's immediate value is found. It changes how good people share their stuff and how they're found.
So, the chicken or the egg is a reasonable question, it's just not the most relevant one.
We live in a very connected world full of facebooking and twitter updates and we're still providing information about our careers and professional portfolios based on two pieces of paper.
It's absurd.
The trouble, of course, is that we're very comfortable with resumes. It's the system by which companies do their employee screening and it's what applicant tracking systems are based on.
But this will shift.
The era of online portfolios and video job interviews is here. Companies are cutting unnecessary expenses. Why would they not pursue more tangible evidence of an individual's professional contributions before contacting them by phone, let alone bring them in for an interview? The change is coming. The more progressive companies will lead.
CareerScribe offers a means to build and share your professional portfolio with anyone. Make a profile and be part of the revolution.
So now you've created this wonderful professional portfolio and careerscribe profile. You're documenting your career and you're creating contacts. How are you going to get this info out there?
CareerScribe allows you to send your profile now. All you have to do is publish your profile from your profile screen, set your settings and then send your profile to any email in the world. It's password protected and safe. It's the best website for yourself that allows your information to instantly be consumed by that company and their applicant tracking system using CareerScribe.
You also get a public version that just includes your name and position. This is at your own url that you can use as a virtual business card. Someone would still need a password to access your professional portfolio so your info is safe.
Now you can set the example for your friends. Publish your profile and start sending it out when you find new opportunities, no matter what job board you may be on.
CareerScribe has formed a great space in the new way companies and candidates are connecting. If you haven't seen it, check out our new article in the Indianapolis Star.
1) Candidate Evaluation Time - Companies spend a lot of time and money evaluating talent. In order to correctly achieve quality hiring, companies have traditionally gone to great measures to gather information about potential employees.
CareerScribe allows companies to get a wealth of information much earlier in the hiring process by leveraging items like free online portfolios for candidates, video, document sharing, and other items that indicate what that particular person is looking for in a new opportunity.
2) Future Talent Management - Companies aren't always hiring. We know that, but the top companies are always keeping in touch with emerging top talent and existing valuable veterans in the industry. This is hard when the talent pool is deep as it currently is with layoffs.
CareerScribe allows companies to maintain contacts or even track candidates and tie them to potential future positions. It's a talent pipeline that feeds your company.
3) Up-To-Date Data - Unfortunately, many companies collect resumes for the future because they understand the importance of issue two. However, by the time it's time to call on that candidate, that professional portfolio or resume is out of date.
CareerScribe has become a destination for that new talent. As they stay up on their career objectives and accomplishments, so do you. All of a sudden those stale resumes don't seem so stale do they?
4) Screen Candidates - A lot of larger companies have some sort of Applicant Tracking System. It's clunky and old and has been there since the 90 year old Recruiter (no offense to the 90 year olds out there)! This has even hightened the pain of issue 3. Smaller companies can't afford a first class Applicant Tracking System and even if they could, it's too complex for the resources of a medium sized business, not to mention the small business owner.
CareerScribe brings tools to allow candidates to pass through stages during the hiring process. Since CareerScribe already shortens the process at the get go, you start with a more qualified talent pool. Now taking those candidates and tracking them with an online tool...how much more could you get done? Ask CareerScribe companies.
5) Employee Screening - It's very hard for someone who does not manage an employee daily to really get insight into how much value they bring to the company, especially when it comes to evalutations. Most direct managers are doing those evaluations, but even they struggle to remember all the accomplishments that the best employees accomplished. All the while, that top employee may be looking or being pursued by the competition.
Many CareerScribe companies are using the tools to help organically grow their company and growing new managers and executives from the incredible talent inside. With CareerScribe, they are able to keep evaluations and notes on a particular person safe and secure, digitally. Documenting HR actions is great, not only for legal reasons, but for employee development.
Check out CareerScribe and see how much it can help a successful company become even better!
It's ironic.
Evaluating and securing top talent is among the most inefficient and inexact things companies do. That's no suprise for anyone. It's a truism. Especially if your in HR. The irony comes out of the reality that "people are the most valuable asset." (Another truism.)
I used to work for a global pharmaceutical company. Where the candidate evaluation system was actually quite rigorous; it was just terribly inefficient. It would take months, in some cases, to find, evaluate and hire the right person.
This needn't be the case. Candidate evaluation can now be managed almost entirely via the Web.
CareerScribe offers candidates a free online portfolio opportunity. After companies have done the work of candidate sourcing, they can simply ask the pool of candidates to upload their career portfolio into CareerScribe. Much of the administration time goes away. It's better than a video job interview; this still requires a coordination of calendars. With CareerScribe, candidates upload their professional portfolio, including their video, and companies can view this information at any point they choose. They can view the profiles as a team or individually. It's all asynchronous.
CareerScribe is also an Applicant Tracking System. Every click is recorded and available for all of the EEOC reports.
Have your candidates fill out their own free online portfolio. It'll save you time and will be a lasting resource for them.
www.careerscribe.com
In a recent survey conducted by Spherion Corp, approximately 33% of U.S. workers plan to look for a new job in 2009. That works out to somewhere around 45 million people that plan to change jobs.
So is this bad news... well it certainly isn't good news if you're one of the 45 million, but if you're an employer in this market, it's great news. The bad news is existing candidate sourcing processes may not work, since there may be a deluge of candidates to screen through. Employers should be considering advanced online employee screening tools such as CareerScribe, which offers free online portfolios to candidates that in turn significantly helps employers screen employees in a more insightful way and in much less time.
This candidate rich market is an inventory building opportunity for any company that plans to hire someone in the next 2 years. Statistics would say that candidates not normally as active in the employment market, are now looking, but they will become passive again.
Companies should be investing in better talent management systems that allow for the database to be linked to regularly updated career information, like CareerScribe offers.
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