New Jersey's work force lagging
For neighboring New York City, jobs growing at twice Garden State's rate
Wednesday, April 04, 2007
BY BETH FITZGERALD
Newark Star-Ledger Staff

New Jersey's employment growth should slow to 34,000 jobs in 2007 from 35,900 last year, while New York City is likely to create jobs at twice that rate even as the city also slows down a tad, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

The region's economy is decelerating modestly in line with the nation, and the region "entered 2007 with good momentum," on the job-creation front, Fed Senior Economist Rae Rosen said yesterday during a conference call with reporters.

New York City's private sector job growth is slowing slightly to 1.7 percent from 2 percent last year, while New Jersey jobs should grow at less than half that rate, 0.8 percent, about flat with 2006. Compar ing February 2007 with the same month a year ago, New York City has added 11,200 securities indus try jobs, 6,300 accounting jobs, 7,200 jobs in the ambulatory health-care category, and 6,900 leisure and hospitality jobs.

The city's job growth creates opportunities for New Jerseyans, since almost 10 percent of the in come of residents of northern New Jersey is earned outside the state, Rosen said.

In New Jersey, private sector job growth in February compared with the previous year included ambulatory health care, 4,700 jobs; services to buildings, 4,200; limited service eating places, 3,200, securi ties industry, 2,300; computer systems, 2,000 and management, scientific and technology, 2,400.

The Fed predicted New Jersey will gain 8,200 government jobs this year, compared with 7,300 in 2006, while New York City is expected to lose 100 government jobs this year, compared with a loss of 200 in 2006.

New Jersey's unemployment rate in February was the lowest in the region at 4.1 percent, compared with 4.8 percent for New York City and 4.4 percent for New York State.

While New York City's economy is growing faster than New Jersey, "keep in mind that during the 2001 recession and after, there were huge job losses in New York City, but New Jersey did not get hit that hard," said Fed Economist Jason Bram. "New York City employment has not quite come back to where it was at the peak, and New Jersey employment is past that peak."

"New Jersey is growing a bit more slowly than New York City, but the fact that it is adjacent to New York bodes well," Rosen said. "New Jersey is a mature economy that is operating at a high level of activity."

"We have a regional economy, and jobs in New York City are available to the whole region, and that helps to explain why New Jersey's unemployment rate remains so low," Bram said.

Rutgers University economist Jim Hughes said the Fed forecast is an extension of the past three years, when New Jersey has averaged 33,000 jobs per year; the state has a total work force of about 4 million.

"For the past several years New York City has become the regional economic locomotive and that is the role New Jersey played from 1980 to 2000," Hughes said. "We're not the caboose, but we're cer tainly not pulling the region along."

Hughes said the Fed expects government jobs to grow 1.3 percent in New Jersey this year, outpacing the private sector's 0.8 percent employment gains. "This is the culture in New Jersey--people want high levels of government services," Hughes said.

Strong job growth in Manhattan is good for commuters from New Jersey, but it doesn't help New Jersey's fiscal situation, "be cause you pay taxes where you work, although these jobs do bring purchasing power back to New Jersey," Hughes added.

N.J. jobless rate drops to five-year low

Saturday, March 10, 2007

By JEANNINE AVERSA
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- The nation's unemployment rate slipped to 4.5 percent in February, even as big losses of construction and factory jobs restrained overall payroll growth. Wages grew briskly.

The latest snapshot, released by the Labor Department on Friday, offered a picture of an employment climate that remains in fundamentally good shape despite slower job growth due in part to bad winter weather in parts of the country, economists said.

The latest job figures for New Jersey showed that the state added 4,600 jobs in January, dropping the unemployment level to 4.2 percent, the lowest in five years, according to the state Labor Department. The state will report job figures for February on March 21.

The slight decline in the national jobless rate, from 4.6 percent in January, came as hundreds of thousands of people left the workforce, a development that economists believe was related to the bad weather in February, which made it difficult to get out and look for jobs.

Employers, meanwhile, added 97,000 new jobs to their payrolls in February, the fewest in two years, as bad winter weather forced construction companies to slash 62,000 jobs, the most since 1991. Factories, feeling the strain of the troubled housing and auto industries, also continued to cut jobs. They eliminated 14,000 positions last month.

On a more encouraging note, job gains in the previous two months turned out to be stronger than previously estimated. Employers added 226,000 new jobs in December, versus the 206,000 last estimated. Payrolls grew by 146,000 in January, up from a previous estimate of 111,000. Although construction businesses and factories cut jobs last month, health-care providers, financial firms and retailers boosted hiring.

The new tally of jobs added to the economy in February was close to economists' forecast for a gain of around 100,000. They had predicted the unemployment rate would hold steady at 4.6 percent.

"While we may not be creating as many jobs as we would like to see, the labor market is still in good shape," said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economics Advisors.

Conflicting trends cloud hiring outlook

By HUGH R. MORLEY
STAFF WRITER
Sunday, February 11, 2007

New Jersey Collegiate Career Day at Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus drew a strong response from employers amid increasing demand for graduates.

Chart: North Jersey Job Market: The retailer, the builder and the health care provider

New Jersey is at an economic crossroads.

A year ago, economists predicted the state would add 35,000 to 44,000 jobs in 2006 -- a mediocre yet solid performance.

Then, midway through the year, two economists released a study that showed a growing, long-term departure of well-paid New Jersey jobs for lower-cost states.

Worse still, employment figures released last month show the state actually created only about 21,000 jobs last year, less than a third of the number generated during similar economic growth spurts in the '80s and '90s.

So where does that leave New Jersey, with its declining manufacturing base, drug industry that leads the world, ascendant service sector and reputation -- warranted, or not -- for being a tough place to do business?

"We are an economy at risk," said Joseph Seneca, one of two Rutgers University economists who reported the ongoing job loss.

Yet for all the grim predictions, some local businessmen -- for the moment -- seem buoyant, and confident in the state's economic health.

"Business is booming," said Ray Pizzo, senior managing partner at Prime Dynamic Technology in Hackensack, a software and Web site design business. He said that due to strong customer interest in a new software product, the company expects to add half a dozen employees to his staff of 14 in 2007.

That doom/boom scenario reflects the complexity of the state's economic position -- still an economic powerhouse and yet seriously challenged for new, well-paid jobs by lower-cost states. The question is: Which one will prevail in the long term and shape the state economy?

Seneca and another Rutgers economist, James Hughes, expect the state's economic performance in 2007 to be much like that in 2006: lackluster job creation but solid gains in personal income. They predict the economy will grow by about 21,000 jobs, or about one-half of one percent.

"It's sort of treading water," Hughes said.

In the long term, the fate of the economy will depend a lot on the success of Governor Corzine's efforts to turn the economy around.

Corzine, the former head of Goldman Sachs, has won widespread praise in the business community for his fiscal savvy and desire to make the state's economic health a top priority.

Shortly after taking office 13 months ago, he introduced two modest corporate tax reductions, which took effect in June. In October, he proposed the creation of two investment funds to help start urban and high-tech businesses, and outlined ways to improve efficiency in efforts to boost commerce and better market the state to corporate leaders.

Those measures are designed to tackle what Hughes describes as a worrisome dynamic in which the local economy creates few high-paying jobs but large numbers of low-paid positions in big-box stores, restaurants and hotels.

"We still have a very powerful core economy," he said. "The problem is, corporate America is directing growth largely outside of New Jersey."

Whatever the success of Corzine's remedies, they are for the most part still in the planning stage, and will have far less impact on the state's economy in the short term than the national picture.

Economists predict the national gross domestic product will grow in 2007 by just over 2 percent, down from 3.3 percent in 2006. The nation is expected to add about 1.8 million to 2 million jobs in 2007, about the same as last year.

Economist Mark Vitner, a New Jersey specialist for North Carolina-based Wachovia Corp., said he expects both the state and national economies to experience a "soft landing."

"The slowdown in the housing sector is likely to bottom out," he said. "The economy will gain momentum in the second part of the year."

That would reverse the trend of 2006, during which fears of an economic downturn were stoked by the rise in energy costs, the slowdown in house sales and relentless foreign competition.

The growing trade deficit also raised concern, as did a drop in the gross domestic product from 5.6 percent in the first quarter to 2 percent by the end of the year.

Yet there were bright patches. The country created enough jobs to push the unemployment rate to a six-year low of 4.6 percent. And the Dow Jones industrial average hit several record highs. The S&P 500 rose by 15.4 percent in 2006, compared with 4.9 percent in 2005 and an average of 10.4 percent since 1926, according to Morningstar Inc.

The ascending stock market certainly helped Mike Ramer, owner of Livingston-based headhunter Ramer Search Consultants, which predominantly fills financial service positions that pay more than $100,000.

"Right now, I'm pretty bullish on jobs," he said. "If you talk to people in my field, '06 was the best year since the late 1990s."

Others beg to differ. The annual survey by the New Jersey Business and Industry Association, the state's largest business lobbying group, found members more pessimistic about the state economy than at any time since the 1990s. More than half the participants expected the picture to get worse in the first half of 2007.

That was doubtless fueled by the state's weak job creation -- the 21,000 jobs added in 2006 fell far short of the 46,000 added in 2005 and the average of 77,000 added in economic surges between 1982 and 1989 and 1992 and 2000.

Unemployment, too, was disappointing: Even as the national rate fell, state unemployment rose steadily in the first nine months of the year. It fell to 4.5 percent in November, the same as in January.

Some jobs went abroad. Global competition squeezed New Jersey in a variety of industries as U.S. companies looked to cut costs by sending work to Chinese factories, Indian software laboratories, Colombian call centers and a variety of other foreign locations.

The beneficiaries included the Teaneck-based outsourcing company Cognizant Technology Solutions, which used record earnings to spend $200 million on new facilities in India, and Hackensack-based Ness Technologies Inc, which has software development sites in India and Europe.

Some of New Jersey's problems stem from hard times in industries traditionally considered to be pillars of the state economy.

Employment figures for 2006 showed that the manufacturing employment continued to slide, losing 11,300 jobs. In recent months, for instance, the window and door manufacturer Deceuninck has announced 74 layoffs in its Oakland facility, and in January, Smurfit-Stone closed its Teterboro plant, at a cost of 132 jobs.

The difficult manufacturing environment was demonstrated by Elmwood Park-based Marcal Paper Mills, which filed for bankruptcy in November, blaming a 40 percent increase in energy costs.

The trade, transportation and utilities sector lost 1,200 jobs in 2006 and the information sector -- which includes publishing, telecommunications and internet companies -- suffered too. It lost 3,300 jobs, including 300 cut by Newark-based IDT in April after a long-distance telephone service failed to attract customers.

Verizon Communications Inc. said in May that it would cut a "significant" number of its local phone business employees. And the state is still suffering fallout from the $16 billion acquisition of AT&T by San Antonio-based SBC Communications. Completed in November 2005, the purchase is expected to mean the loss of 13,000 jobs from the combined workforce of 197,100.

The dominant pharmaceutical industry, too, is facing a variety of problems, from the shortage of new blockbuster drugs to public concern over medicine prices and legal battles over the side effects of drugs such as Vioxx.

Although the HealthCare Institute of New Jersey said in June that pharmaceutical companies employed 60,555 workers, or about 500 more than in 2005, drug giants continued to shed employees or create jobs outside New Jersey.

Pfizer said in November that it would cut 2,200 U.S. sales jobs, some of 5,000 positions the company has said it will eliminate since 2005. And in June, Schering-Plough announced cuts of 1,100 jobs, including 500 in Kenilworth and Union.

Merck & Co. said late in 2005 that it would eliminate 7,000 jobs, including several hundred in Rahway. And North Carolina officials revealed in December that Merck would spend $100 million to expand its $300 million vaccine manufacturing facility built in Durham in 2004. The expanded facility will employ about 200 people.

Nevada showed how vulnerable New Jersey is to rivals looking to lure corporations and jobs, launching a marketing campaign in August to attract New Jersey biotech companies.

Corzine's response is to make New Jersey more business-friendly and create programs that will promote investment and cultivate start-up and entrepreneurial companies.

The legislature, for instance, approved a $270 million package to help establish stem cell research centers in New Jersey, and make the state a leader in the field.

That and other initiatives are designed to capitalize on the state's strengths. In 2006, they included leisure and hospitality, education and health services and professional and business services, which added 5,000, 10,900 and 11,300 jobs respectively.

And for all the focus on New Jersey's weaknesses, some companies arrived or expanded in the state. Unilever U.S., having closed a research center in North Jersey three years ago, announced plans in 2006 to expand its headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, adding 300 to 400 jobs to the 1,200 already there. And Brooklyn candle maker Star Candle moved to Ridgefield, bringing 200 jobs.

Indeed, several North Jersey business owners interviewed at random in recent weeks appear optimistic about the state's economy this year.

Robert Waller, president and owner of Ridgewood-based Walker Personnel Service for 30 years, said he expects the company's business in 2007 to surpass its healthy performance last year.

He said one encouraging sign is the preference of many clients in his two main business areas -- health care and the business and industrial sectors -- for making permanent hires. An emphasis on temporary hiring usually means employers are uncertain about the future, he said.

"I'm probably the most optimistic going into 2007 that I have been in the last four or five years," he said. "A lot of our companies who call up and start out with a temporary job because they are not sure, then offer them a permanent position after a month or two -- which is another very good sign."

A similar outlook also surfaced at the New Jersey Collegiate Career Day, which drew more than 250 businesses and government agencies to Rutgers University's New Brunswick campus last month. They included major corporations such as Merrill Lynch, Target, Toys "R" Us, J.C. Penney and Schering-Plough.

Staffing a table this year, human resources manager Karen Espinosa of Morristown-based Schindler Elevator Corp. said employer demand for college graduates was "definitely picking up."

"This time around, there's more competition," she said, noting that student interest had been slow for the half-dozen engineer and financial positions she wanted to fill.

Indeed, some of the more than 2,000 students at the fair had little doubt that they would find a decent position on graduation.

"There's a lot of companies here with a lot of opportunities," said Michael Wolfin, 21, of River Vale, an Indiana University student who hopes to get into marketing or advertising when he graduates in May.

And the National Association of Colleges and Employers, in its annual survey of employers, concluded that the class of 2007 will face the best job market in four years. It reported that employers expect to hire 17.4 percent more graduates in this year than in 2006.

Economists, too, said there were encouraging signs in the state economy's 2006 performance.

Seneca said that one "very positive aspect" was the state's 7 percent increase in personal income. And the state's total of just over 4 million jobs is a record, added Hughes, noting that state employment figures had been significantly stronger than the nation's for several years, falling behind only this year.

Corzine, the economists and the state's business leaders all agree that the way out is to improve the state's business environment, and that also means improving the budgetary position of state government and even its reputation.

A high priority of most business leaders is curbing the state's high property and income taxes. Other issues that scare off corporate executives and investment are high home prices, the thicket of red tape that entrepreneurs must negotiate to start up or expand a business, and the state's rigorous environmental protection regulations.

Hughes said that's why the state's job creation is so weak, compared with the past.

"The job growth that we would have gotten in the 1990s is now going to North Carolina, Georgia and Virginia and the like," he said.

Source: NorthJersey.com

Technorati Profile

Mobile Recruiters Discover Passive Talent From The "Hidden" Internet And Sometimes A Whole Lot More
MOBILE RECRUITERS DISCOVER PASSIVE TALENT FROM THE “HIDDEN” INTERNET AND SOMETIMES A WHOLE LOT MORE
By MobileWirelessJobs / MobileContentJobs
November / December 2006

NEW YORK – Bryan Stickfield hasn’t looked for job in almost 6 years. He graduated from college in June 1992 and was employed for 7 years at a major telecom carrier before he decided to return to graduate school in 1999 for two years to pursue an MBA in Corporate Finance.

During that brief period, however, he almost forgot that he posted his resume to an obscure site that was used to find MBA internships and left a record behind of his brief, but half-hearted attempt of looking for a job. Low and behold six years later, Bryan received a call from a Talent Sourcing Specialist at HROnlineMarketing.com who found traces of his old resume in a search and was shocked to learn that he became a candidate for a senior level position based in nearby St. Louis as a result.

“I was honestly shocked to receive a call from them, “said Stickfield. “I haven’t been in the job market for a long while and the resume they found was so old that I was embarrassed to tell them I hadn’t updated it in a long time. I was also confused because that particular website no longer exists and always thought that my resume was no longer searchable."

“Ah yes,” confirmed Rob Salerno, President of Cinnamon Entertainment Group LLC and parent company of HROnlineMarketing.com, “the hidden internet has something recorded on all of us”. HROnlineMarketing.com specializes in online talent acquisition using the latest techniques in candidate sourcing and HRSEO. Some experts estimate that only 33% of the entire Internet is actually indexed by Google and other tier 1 search engines. The remaining 67% is unclaimed and uncharted territory for most spiders and search bots where many, if not all, hidden documents and links are yet to be found.

“Whether it is a link, message board thread, photo, music clip, document, resume, Instant Message, email or whatever, there’s a good chance your Internet activity has been recorded somewhere somehow,” asserts Salerno. This may include new or recent activity as well as past activity on websites that no longer exist but have been linked and archived on other servers.

“Even people who have never used a computer before can be found through public records, motor vehicle databases, or even commercial bank servers if you have the technical know-how to access them. The truth is most of our personal data is captured electronically somewhere and a good deal of this data is linked and unfortunately poorly secured. The hard part, and perhaps the fun part for Internet Recruiters, is how to tap into these resources without violating someone’s privacy. Of course, I am not advocating any form of hacking but utilizing the hidden Internet is almost a goldmine - an alternate universe exclusively set aside for talent sourcers,” Salerno said.

While many social activists argue that the hidden Internet leaves many privacy and personal security issues unresolved, it has not prevented Mobile Recruiters from sourcing passive, yet qualified talent in a new and innovative way.

“The level of boolean searches we are talking about here is fairly complex. If you can understand the algorithms behind Google, you can search for hidden documents and someone’s Internet history rather effectively. While this activity may yield the low hanging fruit such as contact information, it is often a very time-consuming task that requires some real Internet savvy and a little luck,” Salerno added.

Unfortunately the good news can often be short-lived. “I would say it’s a double-edged sword. While the opportunity exists to unearth some great passive candidates you may also unintentionally find a few not-so-glamorous details about that person and these past actions can adversely affect your opinion,” Salerno noted.

In a way, talent sourcing specialists conduct informal background searches on you so that others (i.e. Employers) might make conclusions based on your past online social behavior. Activities such as posting a profile on a dating site, threads on a sports message board or a resume that contains false and made-up details can and will be found. “I can’t tell you how many times we (HROnlineMarketing.com) have sourced multiple versions of the same candidate’s resume that contained some form of conflicting dates of employment, bogus references, incorrect company names or even false contact information,” Salerno confirmed. “It’s a sad but true reality that if you lie on your resume (no matter what level you are in your career) or even for a short while there’s a strong chance it has been recorded somewhere on some server.”

Many of these candidates often admit to doctoring their resumes early in their careers to gain entry-level opportunities. But be warned, don’t let your skeletons catch up with you. Online activity, whether present or past, is being saved and linked almost as soon as you do so.

While millions of dollars are poured into pay per click advertising that tracks a passive candidate’s search criteria, the real meaningful data being recorded is online behavior. Indeed, if you are in the business of tracking click trends and paying top dollar for the most frequently used search term you are, in effect, a behavior specialist.

“Well, we (HRSEO companies like HROnlineMarketing.com) have flipped the model around. We’re saying that we can still track the online click behavior of passive candidates. However, instead of leveraging this data to maximize a paid inclusion ad, lets push relevant content to these passive candidates through optimized career pages which can be found in high, natural search results,” Salerno offered.

HR Search Engine Optimization (HRSEO) experts thus create career pages and job postings that are optimized, rich in content without compromising high link density, link reciprocity and link relevancy or any investment in Pay Per Click advertising. “Its sort of the anti-thesis of PPC,” Salerno added.

Meantime, Bryan has just completed his final round of interviews for a mobile accessories company. He’s fairly certain he will receive an offer. “While I’m both flattered and relieved that they found me through a complex search, I’m also far more aware that everything I do online is being recorded somewhere. I’m just grateful that my details were never misrepresented.”

MobileContent Careers is the monthly eNewsletter of MobileWirelessJobs. Each issue contains one or more HR interviews or HR Stories in the mobile content and wireless industries. These article help our candidates learn more about the companies listed and hiring trends trends listed on MobileWirelessJobs beyond what can be found in a job posting. Our research has shown that employers who participate in our HR interview receive a much greater resume response for their time and effort.

Ah yes, good ole Recruitment Ad Agencies. Where have they gone? I worked for three of them: Shaker, Bernard Hodes and for 1 week...Davis Advertising (Philly)...oh my. What is their role these days in online talent acquisition? Some of these firms are a mix between a technology firm (ATS solution provider) and a creative shop. What though do they really excel at? Some say branding. Some say ad-taking.

As we continue to migrate away from database recruiting (i.e. resume databases, traditional job boards, etc), the usefulness for Recruitment Ad Agencies continues to remain in question. For many companies, they outsource projects to RAAs for specific projects (e.g. collateral, career page design, e-cards, etc). For some, they rely on ad agencies to manage their messaging and place (yeah you guessed it) print ads in their local markets! Its almost 2007, folks.

So, what is their real value proposition though? Since the dot com bust, the agencies have been gutted of most of their talent. I know of at least 5 people that have gone on to finish their masters degrees / start their own firms and break away from their old employers. Layoffs, decreasing revenues, shaky business plans and poor vision / management have essentially reduced RAAs to a mere shell of what they once were.

The account management staff at most of these companies are inexperienced and disengaged from the strategic hiring agendas of their clients. While fees continue to rise at these firms, the ability to deliver compelling employment brands, innovative sourcing methods and performance-based campaigns remains in doubt.

Very few can truly deliver talent pipelines. Companies continue to sink more money into these RAA media plans with little regard for ROI. Has anyone seen a recent RFP from one of these firms? I have. Wow! Thats all I can say. Is this 1997 or 2007? I can't tell. The level of sophistication of these plans is quite laughable.

Without getting into too much detail, here's a simple exercise for you. Find an RFP from any Interactive Agency (not Recruitment-related). Say for instance, Avenue A/Razorfish, Digitas, or Reprise Media. Might be a little difficult but get your hands on one. Compare this document to a RAA RFP. You will giggle out loud. The metrics, strategic direction and performance-based models of these leading IA's completely blows away the RAAs. Not only for PPC, but also for SEM, blogs, email, etc.

So what's the conclusion? So-called "Recruitment Advertising" is a remnant of a passing generation. The bar has been raised for talent sourcing that you must possess a precise mapping of your lead costs (in terms of candidates and sorted by requisition), a strong editorial/content response rate (segmented by specific media: PPC, SEM, etc), quality of hire (i.e. how long did the hire stay on board?), solid decision tracking (what key decisions did the people you recently hired make and how did they impact your company in the last 3 years in terms of dollars and cents? do you need to hire better decision makers?), movement tracking (tracking your top peformers is critical and you should track how often, how high and for what reason people are moving inside and outside your organization), and effective delivery method (i.e. mobile, broadband, etc).

CFO Magazine recently did a study and indeed pointed out that "the old HR measures, such as head count, the cost of compensation and benefits, time to fill, and turnover, no longer cut it in this new world of accountability."

In sum, none of this is being addressed in the RFPs of RAAs these days. Its all about creative and account management. Are they really useful or wasteful? How about laughable?

Well, I just returned from the Kennedy Information Recruiting 2006 conference. Interesting show. Some good ideas being exchanged.

Main points I took away:

• HR Managers are quite a bit behind the curve when its comes to online talent acquisition. I literally heard people asking several panels about tracking job board response. The Source of Hire protocol issue was addressed back in 2001 and really pained me to see this still being a point of contention. Not only does this illustrate the poor job ATS have done in tracking source of hire (or making their clients aware this has long since been developed), but it also alludes to the fact that many HR professionals are really far behind in sourcing metrics. Sad but true. Do these people measure quality hires at all? Whats the difference between a qualified hire and a quality hire? What is your time to fill? Which keywords delivered the highest rate of resumes for PPC, boonlean searches, etc? What eSourcing projects have you worked on and what specifically were the results? Doubt most HR people in that room could tell me. Of course, our clients aren't in this group - thankfully! And if this comes across as being boastful...I apologize....however at the same time, we're quite proud of the progress we have made in the last several years. It pains me to see how out of touch some HR depts really are these days (in some cases).

• The SimplyHired.com staff was a blast to hang out with and a real positive group. Only positive vibes from this bunch and really dedicated to "getting it right". My quick suggestion to them was to aggregate more than just job listings. I think all things related to job search should be found through their engine. Just my little 2 cents of course. Would love to see more recruitment video content, for instance, and more job search articles segmented by industry. That said, they have lots of energy and openness to new ideas so I think we are only scratching the surface on their product offerings.

• The Conference itself was too high-level for my liking. I would rather see break-out sessions where each of us can contribute thoughts and ideas in square-table discussions, as Jason Gorham likes to call it. I think we already know that tier 1 search engines work as a talent acquisition tool. Thats old news. I'd like to see application not "top down" theory that you should put your recruitment message in front of passive candidates. Yeah ok....I got that...but what's the sell? How are you turning eyeballs into candidates? What are the search terms that work? What are the current cost per click trends for hot industry specializations? What are the conversion on these terms? What editorial content that drives conversions more than others? How many uniques to conversions do you receive per job? Per industry? What are the ceiling rates for diminishing candidate returns? Exactly...this was hardly touched upon. You either work in PPC or you don't. Its pretty obvious to me who does.

• As usual, many people were there to sell themselves and their products rather than connect on forward-thinking recruitment strategies. Thats hardly Kennedy Information's fault but the fact is we actually expended valuable conference time on whether resumes would still be in existence in the future or not. What are the trends in HR relationship marketing? I hardly saw anything about HR Email Marketing, Recruitment Videos and SMS Text Messaging Job Alerts (which by the way, is not a job alert but rather an off-line networking event text alert). What are the delivery rates for HR Email Marketing pieces? Which creatives are more effective than others? What are the common talent segmentation ratings in ATS? Do you even have a working email marketing list of candidates segmented by skill set, geography and experience? I doubt it. Wasn't even discussed.

• Lastly, if I hear one more person approach me with "this new portal / application is going to change the face of recruiting forever"...I will jump off a cliff. Please! Just stop! Whatever you are doing isn't new. Its been done before...Trust me. What really counts is the market, approach/strategy and resources you have to sourcing candidates more effectively...not the technology idea. Even so-called "social networking / Web 2.0"...a term I hate by the way....has been around since the 1950s...it was just called Employee Referral back then (and today as well) and doesn't require technology to be effective. Give me recruitment tactics not stories about your new server that can store 5 billion resumes or profiles. Nobody cares.