We recently ran across an article posted on CNN.com that may be reason for both recruiters and job-seekers alike to get excited. Check out the fastest growing salaries in the U.S. As sales recruiters, we were thrilled to see that Insurance Agents made it in to the top ten.
Top 20 Fastest Growing Salaries
March 19th, 2010 by HillaryMobile Email Recruiting
March 12th, 2010 by BrianWith all kinds of mobile devises providing e-mail access anywhere you can get cellular reception, job seekers are checking e-mails about job opportunities from just about anywhere. So, if a job seeker is out and gets an e-mail about a new job opportunity, how will you make sure he revisits that e-mail later to apply?
We’ve worked very hard at CareerPlug to come up with a solution to this problem.
Target Qualified Candidates
It may sound obvious, but its important! If a job seeker is looking for an outside, B2B sales job with base salary and commission, sending him an e-mail about a career in customer service isn’t going to encourage him to check back later to apply. But, if we send Joe an e-mail about an outside, B2B sales position with a growing company, he’s more likely to remember!
Concise, Informative e-mails
Even if you’re at a computer you don’t want to ready a wordy e-mail. But, if you’re out and about, why would a job seeker waste his or her time reading a 500 word e-mail? E-mails should be concise. By highlighting why Joe is a good fit and why this is a great opportunity, we’ve both informed him about the job and kept from boring him with a wordy e-mail. He’s informed without being bored and even more encouraged to remember to apply.
Call to action
How would he remember to apply if we didn’t’ ask in the fist place?! A strong call to action in the end of the e-mail will reinforce that he needs to come back to this e-mail later when he can focus on the opportunity and apply directly on his employer-branded microsite.
With the ability to check e-mail almost anywhere, it can be a while between the time somebody receives an e-mail from CareerPlug and when they are finally able to sit behind a computer and apply. Getting them interested and excited about the opportunity and following with a strong call to action makes sure that we don’t lose our mobile-savvy job seekers!
Engage Me With Your Soft Skills
March 9th, 2010 by HillaryWhether a recruiter or a job-seeker, it may be helpful to be reminded every now and then that soft skills are an important component to a well-rounded candidate. A recent article in SI Review reported that strong work ethic is the most sought-after soft skill, according to the respondents of an Express Employment Professionals survey.
Here’s a recap of the soft skills cited in the survey and how respondents ranked them by importance:
- Strong work ethic – 23%
- Positive attitude – 17%
- Communication – 11%
- Being a team-player -10%
- Flexibility – 9%
- Being a problem solver -7%
- Being self-directed – 5%
- Working well under pressure – 5%
- Being a quick learner – 4%
- Organizational skills – 3%
- Creativity – 1%
Soft skills are also known as transferable skills and employers are always looking out for valuable examples of those that transfer most directly to their open position. A resume should pinpoint a few (1-3) specific soft skills and how they have been applied in a current position. Substantiating them with strong examples will add more credibility and engage a hiring manager. A resume with a laundry list of soft-skills can have the opposite effect. Hiring managers will learn more about your soft skills during the interview, so on a resume be sure to highlight only those most relevant to the open position, don’t build a generic list. For more examples of how you can infuse valuable soft skills in to your resume, check out these tips from Executive Resume Writer, Laura Smith-Proulx.