Everyone seems to agree that generalist large scale job boards are in trouble, and others are profiting. The decline of the Monster share price to below five dollars, parallel to the success story of LinkedIn stock, and the recent valuation of Indeed.com nicely illustrates these shifting dynamics. Generalist job board revenue per posting is declining, and they are facing tough competition from smaller niche job boards, job aggregators, and social networks. Will job boards remain relevant in recruitment?

The main question is not whether job boards are relevant, but whether their search results are relevant for their users. Do job seekers find the job they want, and do employers find the candidates they need? It is a simple equation of attention andrelevance, and currently the competition happens to play a better card on both aspects.
Read the full article “Are Job Boards Still Relevant for the Future of Recruiting? 

by Tony Schwartz (HBR Blog Network)

More than 100 studies have now found that the most engaged employees — those who report they’re fully invested in their jobs and committed to their employers — are significantly more productive, drive higher customer satisfaction and outperform those who are less engaged.

But only 20 per cent of employees around the world report that they’re fully engaged at work.

It’s a disconnect that serves no one well. So what’s the solution? Where is the win-win for employers and employees?

The answer is that great employers must shift the focus from trying to get more out of people, to investing more in them by addressing their four core needs — physical, emotional, mental and spiritual — so they’re freed, fueled and inspired to bring the best of themselves to work every day.

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By John Kotter.

The Boston Globe just ran a front-page story in their “Ideas” section on organizational culture, inspired by some depressing events involving the Boston University hockey team. It was much more impactful than the average writing about culture, and raised the important question: Why do conversations about an important topic like culture typically go nowhere, leading companies to waste time and money with “cultural change efforts” which very seldom work?

Here is the problem: First, virtually no one clearly defines what they mean by “culture,” and when they do they usually get it wrong. Second, virtually no one has read the original research that shows why culture — when clearly defined — is so important, how it is formed, and how it changes.

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By Josh Bersin

Today we see an explosive change in the world of work: people work remotely with high degrees of connectivity, companies are globalized and organizations are flatter, employees are less engaged than ever, and talent markets are rapidly changing.

Is it time for a whole new model for HR?We think the answer is yes.

We are completing several years of research into the modern High-Impact HR Organization and we have uncovered some very significant findings.

(Come to IMPACT 2013: The Business of Talent, on April 22-24 to hear the details.)

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By Viren Naidu

At Beryl Call Centers, in Bedford Texas, the CEO once rode through the office on rollerblades dressed as a matador. Sounds crazy? Michael Kerr, an international Hall of Fame business speaker and president of Humour at Work shares more insights:

Humour, take it seriously

Studies find that people tend to respect people more who laugh at themselves. It also helps leaders come across as more authentic and real, and therefore, helps build trust at work. One simple activity to do is to have a ‘bonehead award’ or ‘blooper award’ as a prize once a month for whoever committed the biggest ‘oops’. Another key is to practice what I’d call ‘relevant humour’ (humour that is linked to your company’s brand and style and tied to your particular profession or trade). Celebrating an offbeat, fun theme day once a month is a simple, fun way to keep humour alive. For example, ‘High-Five Day’ where everyone high-fives each other; ‘Monochromatic Day’ when everyone dresses up in black and/or white, or ‘Third Person Thursdays’ where everyone talks about themselves in the third person are workable plans.

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By Alaister Low

Today I found out one of my good friends left their position at a well known technology company that many people would “kill” to work for. I asked him why he left, expecting an answer like “I needed more of a challenge”, or “I outgrew the position and there was no where for me to grow”, but instead he said “I couldn’t work with my boss”.

As he said this I thought about all the people leaving their positions because they simply couldn’t work with their manager. The work was stimulating, the team was great but their manager was unbearable to work with. In these situations, what seems to happen is companies lose good employees on a regular basis and all the managers sit around a conference table trying to address employee attrition, developing strategies for employee retention.

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By Erin Osterhaus

If you’re not getting the quantity or quality of job applicants you want, you might think you have a recruiting problem. But rather than spend time working on efforts like re-wording your job descriptions to make them more exciting, or looking for yet another job board to post them on, you might instead consider approaching your recruiting problem as a marketing problem. Here’s how to apply four basic strategies marketers use to win new customers to help you win more and better candidates.

Build Awareness Among Candidates

Companies with little to no name recognition have it tough when it comes to recruiting. All else being equal, most candidates would rather pursue a job with a company they’ve heard of, rather than the one they haven’t. Posting job vacancies in all the usual places isn’t going to get you noticed. Your best bet: try an unusual tactic.

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By JOSHUA BJERKE (recruiter.com)

Though the work style of Gen Y workers is frequently denigrated by veterans of the business world, they also possess a knowledge base completely foreign to many upper managers and executives and shouldn’t be ignored for their tech savviness and the productivity benefits that come from this know-how. In fact, there are a number of unconventional productivity lessons that can be learned by the so-called Millennials with their expertise in social media, the Internet, and even new-styled management practices.

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