The Simplicity Is Beautiful

 

Gone are the funky pixel fonts, over the top headers and forever loading times. They’ve been replaced by simple, easy on the eyes, and easy to use web interfaces. The new ‘effective” is definitely simplicity with focus on good content, and ”TWEETAJOB” is that and a bag of chips!.

TWEETAJOB  has a simple and effective web design which gives the accomplishment of a few important things:

You want to stay longer and play! On average, visitors stay on the same page for about 90 seconds (maybe shorter).  So, within the first 90 seconds, it’s important to capture the visitor’s attention. TWEETAJOB does that! Their content captures not only the reader’s attention, but it engages the reader as well.  Sure they could use pretty flash intro, but why?  Sorry my friends, but nifty flash headers are unnecessary distractions (especially the ones that could induce a seizure, but let’s not talk about those)

 

Much Easier Code and Clean Design as most designers and coders of sites, you’d rather create a simple and effective website for a client instead of a complex one; TWEETAJOB is providing this! The time invested in creating their slick, clean, color pleasing intro is just phenomenal.

TWEETAJOB  allows the user to focus on their content and the ease of using it, please appreciate the simplicity!  Let’s reference back to those near seizure-inducing animations. Have you ever tried to read something on a site, only to find that you can’t concentrate on the content because of its surroundings, and that you had to copy and paste the content into Notepad just to read it? You hear what I am saying?

Loads faster there’s no doubting that less images, less flash and more reusable graphics help in optimizing load times, TWEETAJOB has done this!  You don’t want thirty seconds for a page to load… well do you?

As a huge fan of TWEETAJOB and a recruiter who is always looking for ways to connect to top talent that on the cutting edge of technology, this is one resource worth is giving two thumbs up   

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

The Gatekeeper & 3 other Roles that Recruiters Play

Some job seekers don't fully understand a recruiter's role. They view recruiters as getting in the middle of their job search, preventing direct contact with the hiring manage(s) for available positions. Well this is actually true and these job seekers are going to have a long and frustrating search for their next job, because the vast majority of companies now use recruiters almost exclusively to facilitate the hiring process. These are 4 roles that recruiters play:

·         Corporate Representative

·         Gatekeeper

·         Educator

·         Negotiator

Corporate Representative

Whether you like it or not, the recruiter is the company's representative to the talents available. We are the "faces" of the company at events, job fairs, social networking, etc. The title “Recruiter” has changed and been given multi-layers in order to promote the benefits and advantages of working for company they represent. This evolution of change is an effort to attract the best and brightest job candidates. Recruiters' responsibilities have grown tremendously role as the job market has become more and more competitive. Some industries, where diverse talented candidates are difficult to find, the recruiter's job has taken on many characteristics of a marketing professional, trying to "sell" the talent on the company and get them excited about working there, regardless the reputation of the company.

Gatekeeper - Recruiter

The Gatekeeper source screens and submits you—the talent. This is particularly important to remember when you receive a phone call as the recruiter usually has the opportunity to speak with talent and learn a bit more about you and your interest. One of the biggest mistakes the talent can make is to be dismissive or impatient when speaking with recruiters. This is a very poor choice, as the recruiter will consider personal interactions with candidates as one factor in whether or not to grant an interview.

Educator - Recruiter

The Educator holds important information and knowledge of job opportunities. They can provide important details and insights about specific jobs and responsibilities, as well as provide a good overview of the company culture and what to expect when employed. The recruiter is also a source of information about salary, benefits and other aspects of overall compensation, which can be very important indeed when considering more than one job offer.

Negotiator - Recruiter

The Negotiator often is in the position to negotiate the specifics of job offers. They partner with hiring managers to ensure salary ranges are appropriate based on internal and external facts, and may also act as the primary negotiating contact for salary issues. Many companies, the hiring manager has to gain the approval of the recruiter in order to extend an offer or alter the terms of the offer extended. Bet you didn’t know that one!

Common Thread

The recruiter who plays each of these roles will vary from company to company. They may divide some of these responsibilities with fellow colleagues or HR partners. Either way, no candidate can afford to dismiss or ignore the role of the Gatekeeper. So if you hope to have a successful job search you may want to think twice about how you interact with a corporate recruiter.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Why Do We Blog?

Are you curious about blogging? Have a concept or idea? Do you have an opinion and you want to express or share knowledge that can be helpful? Here are a few things to know about blogging.

How many bloggers are there?

The thing to remember is that a blog is just a tool or to some a portal. There's really nothing special about it, no requirements for any particular capabilities for one to start a blog. Common usage is feel of a diary-like and allow comments from readers to be included, but its not required. Unlike social networks there are no groups or fan pages that need to be see how many members/followers. So, this means in reality it's basically impossible to estimate how many blogs or bloggers are out there and maybe that is a good thing since to some it might be to scary to jump in and create a blog of their own.

"However, if we hold ourselves to sites that have comments section and do allow user to add their feedback, we're still in the millions of blogs, people ranging from pre-teens to senior citizens, with the bulk of bloggers in their late teens to 50 or thereabouts."

Why do people blog?

"Why people blog, well, in my opinion is to have a voice, however small. Think about just like those who write fancy opinion columns for newspapers or journals, you too can share your knowledge, vent, etc. to the public. Still, there are many really smart bloggers who have interesting perspectives on the news, politics, sports, business, etc., people who wouldn't otherwise be heard in the typical media. "That's why I read blogs daily, in hopes that I can share my perspective on things.

How about you? dear blog reader (and, probably, blogger in your own right). How would you answer these three key questions?

How many bloggers are there?

Why do people blog?

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Animoto.com

"UnFriend" - Makes You Think....

The word of the 2009 was announced as “unfriend” in the Oxford American Dictionary http://tinyurl.com/yzy6dw5

I start to think about how many of us like to think that we’re highly organized and efficient when it comes to our social network, there is in fact a lot we can do to make our lives easier and faster.

I’ve adopted some radical measures to streamline and improve my use of Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn and even my several Blogs.

1 – Cut the Number of People You Follow/Friend

The temptation when you first start using social networking’s its to embark on a ‘following rampage’. You add the sites you read, the bloggers you respect, friends, family, business colleagues and in return many of the people that follow wants you to follow them. This of course seems like a great idea at first, but you’ll find a tipping point – in my own case, by following close to 2000 people in Twitter alone, Social Networking has become nothing more than a never-ending deluge of noise, with useful and informative updates getting lost amongst the funny stuff. Even by setting up a aggregator on my desktop I am finding it ever harder to keep up and yet… addicting too.

I made the decision to cut back on who I accept, follow, friend. And It was time to ‘purge’.

Before hitting the unfollow or unfriend option in earnest, I realized it would be a wise idea to set myself some criteria for who I should keep in my network:

- Is this person I’m following/friending  bringing any real value to me?

- Is this person I’m following/friending  tweeting unique information and links?

- Does this person I’m following/friending me and if they do, do they ever communicate with me or re-tweet what I put out there? (GREAT DECISION MAKER FOR ME)

There is plenty of reasons of your own that you could add, but this is what suited me at the moment.

Next, I realized it takes me many hours to go through everyone using Twitter on its own. Thankfully there’s some great tools available to help you. I used Digsby (www.digsby.com)  this is what you get using this tool specifically.

When you log in to Digsby you automatically get logged into your numerous social networks (twitter, facebook, linkedin, etc) including your IM’s and emails. At this point… the plurge, start unfollowing or unfriending those in these locations.

2 – Effectively Manage the Remaining People You Follow/Friended

Once I’d got over what I’d done, it was time to effectively manage who I was left with.

This next step is very easy to undertake. Each application allows you to set up groups, whereby you can classify the people you follow/friended into distinct groups, such as ‘friends’, ‘colleagues’, ‘business’,  etc. In future when you get a new tweet/status update for someone you have allocated to a group it will appear in the appropriate group column. This way you can find and read it with less difficulty.

****Twitter now also allows you to set up lists as well, so you can group together people in a similar way.

3 – Be Prepared to Fall in Love with Social Media All over Again (don’t tell your significant other)

What I’ve described sound quite drastic, but trust me, if your social networks has become an out of control stream of status with mafia war that you can’t keep up with, it really is your only option… UNFRIEND/UNFOLLOW.

Since I made this choice to cut the number of people I follow/friended down to my comfort level of engagement, I’ve rediscovered my love for social medial.

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

Our Angel Baby Turns 5 -

My sweetest son, Deacon Blue,
He is sweet in every way.
Now we celebrate with joy
His big 5th birthday.

We’ll always remember the day he was born into our hearts,
2 years, 3 weeks and 4 hours, we waited to see his loving face.
In our arms he was so calm and content, the angel baby

Our son, Deacon chose his place.

Such a wonderful little guy,
With a caring and gentle loving face

Older than his years in ways,
Very smart and so wise.
When strength was made of character,
Strength made Deacon up to size.

Deep talks we have together,

Our heart-to-hearts, so bright.
He's just the greatest young man,
He always sheds a light.

When his little brother Chase was born,
Deacon was right there
He was first to hold Chase,
First to show such loving care.

He loves pizza and brown soda

With Chase, Mama and me
Deacon, wonderful brother, extraordinary son.
Keep on touching our hearts,
Keep on having fun.

Deacon, you truly are so special,
A miracle from stars above.
Happy birthday, dearest one,
With all our hearts and love.

Mommy, Mama and Chase

Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log

***ATTENTION, ATTENTION....

Well now that I have your attention, I have tips to get the recruiters ‘attention

Grab the Recruiter’s Attention

Given today’s high unemployment rate, recruiters are being inundated with a higher than normal volume of resumes by interested candidates.  The question is, as a highly qualified and interested candidate for an opening, how do you stand out in crowd?  How does your name rise to the top?  Darn it… how do you get that recruiter or hiring manager to call you and find out just how perfect you are for this role in question?  An attention grabbing resume is one of those ways!!!

Don’t open with a run of the mill objectives about how you want to expand your career and knowledge

(BORING!)

Open with a more descriptive headline describing who you are.

Toss out the common objective that says: “A full-time position to apply my knowledge and skills as a Software Engineer or C++ Developer.” Try this statement instead: “Talented C++ Developer  with extensive experience in developing E-commerce, internet/intranet and client/server applications using C++, C, VC++, ATL, MFC, OOPS, COM/DCOM, COM+”

.”

Use a headline to grab the attention of the recruiter; you’ll stand out from the rest.  Be clear and concise so the recruiter doesn’t have to read through your resume to figure it out.

Minus the Fluff

Candidates tend to list “soft skill”  that recruiters would expect, such as: “good communications,” “detail oriented,” “flexible,” and my favorite “ability to pick up new skills fast”. http://tinyurl.com/y8umkju

STAND OUT! from the rest by adding a summary of your skills and accomplishments followed by the attention-grabbing headliner.

You should target your skills, history, and what industries your strength lies in, letting the recruiter know your specific accomplishments

 example:

• Ten years of programming experience in SAS (Base, SQL, and Data Steps) in Windows environments

• Expertise in data analysis, data mining, and modeling, including customer segmentation, predictive behavior analysis.

• Five years expertise in analytics, and time series forecasting in the online marketing industries

NOTE, this is the place to showcase your resume based on the needs of the job you’re applying and focusing on the specific needs of the company and the job description. 

.

Words are Powerful!

I think people hung up on creating the ULTIMATE one-page resume. To ensure your significant experience is delineated, but also make sure you aren’t being repetitive or going on and on to make it look as though you been busy.

Be A Marketing Machine

Build your network and market that touts your skills and experience. Talk about your passion, educate and get people to interact with you within your social networks. A simple, blog that showcases your eye-catching headline, a summary of accomplishments, education, technical skills, industries you have worked on.  Provide a quick 360-degree view for anyone who comes across your blog or other social networks. Today, social networking and ways we are finding talent is important to consider using this format the way to market what you want others to know about!

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Posted via email from Kay Kelison's Digital-Log