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HR Daily Advisor

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 15:30:29 -0500

To stay on top of the latest issues in HR Management, check out the HR Daily Advisor. Their blog and free email newsletter provide market insights, summaries of white papers on key HR Management strategies, and updates on changes to employment laws at the state and federal level.

Resume Updates

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:58:48 -0600

There are many costs involved in the service we provide at SourceSimple — the cost of advertising inventory, the cost of resume access, and the cost of time to perform the work, to name a few. As our service expands and we start to look for ways to move from start-up mode to profitability, we have to make sure the costs of our service never exceeds the fees that we charge. As expected for a start-up, we lost money in both 2007 and 2008; having a profitable 2009 is critical to our long-term success. As you know, our long-term success is critical to our clients receiving a service that provides significant benefits at minimum cost.

From this point forward, we will perform weekly resume updates rather than daily resume updates. Of course, we will still honor all search criteria change requests, and we will still deliver the resumes that result from a criteria change within 24 business hours, so you can continue receiving resumes every day by constantly revising the search criteria to match your needs better. Once you are satisfied that the criteria reflect your requirements, resumes will be updated weekly until the campaign concludes.

SourceSimple and Craigslist

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:56:00 -0600

Over the past year Craigslist has radically shifted its pricing structure. At the beginning of 2007, Craigslist only charged in 4 metro markets; they increased that number to 7 markets during 2007; during 2008 they significantly increased the number of areras where they charge, so that now Craigslist advertising charges a fee in every major city in the US.

At SourceSimple, we were previously able to include free Craigslist advertising in our campaigns but we are no longer able to do so. In the past we could offset the cost of advertising in “fee areas” by taking advantage of the plethora of “free areas” — as nearly all “free areas” have now been eliminated, the cost of Craigslist has become prohibitive.

Since many of our clients want us to continue offering Craigslist within our Ultimate Campaigns, we’ve reached a compromise that should have universal appeal — we will subsidize half of the Craigslist costs for any client who requests it. In other words, if you purchase an Ultimate Campaign in an area where Craigslist charges $25, you can include Craigslist in your Ultimate Campaign for an additional fee of $12.50 (we cover the other half of the Craigslist fee); in areas where they charge $75, we’ll subsidize $37.50 of the cost.

Coming Soon!

Wed, 21 Jan 2009 12:41:23 -0600

One of our goals for SourceSimple for 2009 is to maximize our use of technology to deliver a higher level of service while maintaining our famously low price point. We’ve tried numerous off-the-shelf applications to accomplish this objective but none have been satisfactory. Our chosen path is to be the low-cost provider, which means we use economies of scale to prosper; the existing applications in the industry are all designed for low volume, high price business models.

We’ve begun the process of creating a home-grown technology solution. The first step is currently in place — a filter that should minimize multiple downloads of the same resume. If you think about it, we pay for each resume we download but only charge our clients one low flat fee per campaign; one of our greatest sources of waste is downloading the same resume several times from several resumes, paying double or even triple for the same resume. Since we’ve already implemented this filter, you should see an immediate side effect : the bulk of the resumes you receive for a given camapaign will come from the first database we search, with less resumes from the second database, and probably very few from the third. We’ll periodically change the search order of the databases so that we spread our resume views equally among all three.

Within the next 12 months, you should see these technology improvements:

A “real” account management capacity that tracks active campaigns, past campaigns, and available campaigns
The ability to set up alerts to motify you of particular account activities or statuses
A private candidate database that stores all of the resumes you received, with sorting by campaign, date, name, and more
The ability to receive resumes both by email and in the database, or in the database alone
Tracking of multiple resumes for the same candidate, with all resumes stored under a common tab
The ability to download resumes from your private database, to add notes to candidate profiles, and to rank candidates based on qualifications
Complete statistics for all campaigns, including cost-per-fill and other critical business data

We’ll also be actively soliciting feedback every step along the way to make sure that what we build for you matches your needs as much as possible. This is just the beginning, and we fully intend to continue earning your patronage!

Partner with Us!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:16:29 -0500

Our resumes from SourceSimple create the baseline for recruiting campaigns. Though baseline campaigns can definitely fill open positions, there are many occasions where more work must be done. If you believe you have a service that can add value on top of the resumes we provide, we’d love to talk to you.

Using our low-cost resumes as a base, there are myriad opportunities for enterprising individuals and organizations to open up incredible revenue opportunities. Send me an email with your ideas, and we’ll figure out how to work together!

Price Increase

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 13:33:51 -0500

We are proud to call ourselves a “low cost provider” — it it critical to our company mission to supply the best possible service at the lowest possible price. We have been able to maintain the $30 entry pricepoint for the last two years.

Due to rising costs and growth, we are raising our base price to $40 for 7 days. This price is still the lowest in the industry. Quite frankly, we believe it is impossible to find another sourcing partner who provides more service, or even equal service, for a price this low.

As a courtesy to our existing clients, we are offering the ability to pre-pay for $30 campaigns until the end of this week. Pre-paid campaigns never expire, so you there is no risk in stockpiling if you believe you’ll use them. If you want 5 or more campaigns at the old pricepoint, please send me an email today so that we can put the campaigns into your account.

Starting today, new campaigns submitted through our website at SourceSimple.com will be billed at the new rates. The only way to obtain the old pricing is by contacting us directly and pre-paying for at least 5 campaigns of any type. After this week all none pre-paid campaigns will start at the $40 pricepoint.

EEK - Ike!!

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:59:53 -0500

Hurricane Ike moved through the Houston area like a freight train through a china shop… massive, plodding, and powerful, it wrecked havoc on the city’s structures and utility systems. It made landfall last Friday night, September 12, bringing with it winds, rain, and devastation.

I live in Houston, and all of our operations are based here. Friday night around 3am I could hear and see the electrical transformers “popping” on their poles along the street. With an enormous bang like a bomb exploding and a brilliant flash of blue-green light, transformer after transformer blew out. By Saturday morning, 97% of the city of Houston was without power.

Water pressure is low, but present. The water supply is not contaminated to date. Power, telephone, and Internet access are sporadic; the official estimate is 3-4 weeks before the power grid is fully online. Several stores are open, though the store shelves are largely empty. The US military and other support organizations are handing out food and supplies to those in critical need.

We at Kalypxo are fortunate enough to be able to continue work. Though not 100% uptime, we have power, Internet access, and the resources necessary to get our job done. There will most likely be some delays in our activities and communications over the next few days. We are also under a curfew forbidding outside mobility between 9pm and 6am until at least Saturday, September 20.

The city was very well prepared for this situation and is getting back onto its feet rapidly. I anticipate everything should be solved within the next week or so.

Guest Article : 5 Tips for Choosing the Right Job Candidate

Thu, 01 May 2008 13:57:51 -0500

Thanks to SourceSimple, you can now have an abundance of viable job candidates delivered right to you. This will save you a tremendous amount of legwork and leave you to the task of selecting the best prospects from the group. You have no doubt interviewed people in the past who seemed amazing, yet fizzled out shortly after being hired. Below are five tips to help you choose the right job candidate every time.

Consider the Applicant’s Soft Skills – Beyond an applicant’s education and work history, how are his or her soft skills? Personality traits and social interaction can greatly impact how a person handles a certain position.
Perform an Extended Interview – If you have narrowed your choices down to a few qualified candidates, do not rush an interview. In fact, you can call prospective hires back for a second interview if you have any doubts.
Review the Resume During the Interview – Keep the applicant’s resume handy during the interview, as you can go through it together for more clarification. This might help you to discover more about the candidate’s skills and experience.
Tour the Office Together – Sometimes, a tour of the facility will help you to get a feel for who is right for the position. How does this person integrate with the office? Does he or she ask questions and communicate well with potential co-workers?
Consider a Panel Interview – Sometimes, it is best to get other opinions about job candidates. You can do this by interviewing people with a few managers present. While this process may be a bit more intimidating for the applicants, it will also test how well they handle pressure.

Choosing the right candidate for a job is easier said than done. Even the most experienced recruiters will make the odd mistake and later realize they should have gone with another applicant. By following the above advice, however, you should become a bit more confident with your final selection.

By-line:

This post was contributed by Heather Johnson, who is an industry critic on the subject of becoming a pediatric nurse. She invites your feedback at heatherjohnson2323@gmail.com.

24 Hour SelectSimple Sale : Pay Less Now, Use Later

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 10:06:52 -0500

Today we launched the SelectSimple website. The service has matured substantially over the last month. Though it may not be perfect yet, we’ve been able to achieve positive actionable results for our pilot clients. If you decide SelectSimple is a service you’d like to try, I believe you’ll find it to be an incredibly useful tool in your recruiting arsenal.

To introduce the service, we are offering 10% off for the next 24 hours. We won’t be able to offer sales on SelectSimple very often because there are considerable fixed costs involved in delivering the services. This may be an excellent time to stock up on Contact Credits while the discount is still running.

Just visit SelectSimple at http://www.selectsimple.com before noon Central time on Wednesday, April 30, 2008, to benefit from the savings.

Make Money with SourceSimple

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:20:00 -0500

A number of inventive clients have found ways to make money on SourceSimple campaigns. By incorporating our resumes into their service offerings, some SourceSimple clients have created value-added bundles which they then sell to their own clients for a fairly significant profit. While we do not yet have a formal Partnership Process for such things, we are definitely willing to discuss any idea you may have to make money with SourceSimple.

Some of the ideas we are currently pursuing include:

Partners pre-pay for large bulk campaigns at a heavy discount, and then offer our campaigns to their clients for less than the list price on the SourceSimple website.
Partners refer clients to us, and then receive a portion of any revenue produced by the referral.
Partners write articles or create advertising for inclusion in our newsletters and anouncements.
Partners offer service bundles or discounted campaigns directly on our website, and we pass potential clients to them.

If you have an idea you’d like to implement, definitely contact me at phil (at) kalypxo (dot) com

To Catch a Thief - ERE Article

Tue, 29 Apr 2008 09:03:31 -0500

I’m trying to find the time to write a few articles on getting the most out of the resources you already own. Numerous clients have mentioned that they can access paid databases, but use our services anyway because we find resumes they don’t.

There are approximately 50 million unique resumes across the 3 major databases, so it’s a pretty fair bet that at least 1 candidate exists who matches your needs… if you’re not finding that candidate, there may be better ways to look.

Here’s my latest article on ERE: http://www.ere.net/articles/db/99CA714A22E24172BBB9F06770504BF6.asp

Applicant Review for Prepaid Campaigns

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 17:07:07 -0500

SourceSimple has offered discounts on Prepaid Campaigns for almost a year now. Many of our clients take advantage of our Prepaid Campaigns to save money and time.

In addition to the usual discounts and convenience, we are adding free Applicant Review to all Prepaid Campaigns purchased in April. This allows you to receive Applicant Review at no charge for as many campaigns as are in your prepaid account. As Prepaid Campaigns never expire, you can save quite a bit of money in both campaign fees and Applicant Review fees by pre-paying today for your future use.

To purchase a Prepaid Pack of Campaigns, please click here.

Announcing 'Applicant Review'

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:50:45 -0500

Quite a few of our clients have asked if we can review emailed applications from candidates. When a candidate applies to a current SourceSimple job advertisement, the resume is delivered directly to our clients without interference. This is a very effective strategy for clients who are seeking greater quantity of resumes; however we also have clients who would prefer to see only qualified applicants.

We are launching a new service called ‘Applicant Review’ to address this need. Applicant Review is very simple, and hopefully very effective — when a candidate applies to a job, we will receive the resume. We will then run it against the same criteria used to search the resume databases for that campaign. If it passes the criteria, we will forward it on; if it does not pass, we will not forward it.

Applicant Review is an optional add-on for SourceSimple campaigns. We are offering it FREE for a limited time on campaigns purchased during April. The ultimate pricepoint isn’t set yet, but rest assured that it will be appropriately low to add value cost effectively.

SelectSimple : Making Candidate Contact

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:33:17 -0500

We recently launched a new service to make the initial contact with candidates. The service is called SelectSimple. SelectSimple is a ‘baseline pre-qualification’ service, intended to establish a candidate’s interest, availability, and attitude.

Clients using SelectSimple provide us with the candidates they would like to be contacted, and as many as 10 questions they would like the candidates to be asked. We call and email the candidates over a period of 5 days — all contact attempts are made in the evenings and on weekends. Once we reach a candidate, we conduct the baseline interview and pass along the information we received.

Clients pre-pay for the number of candidates to be contacted. We hold the pre-payment as “contact credits” and deduct 1 credit for each interview. If a candidate is not interviewed, no credits are deducted. Credits don’t expire, so any credits not used in a given campaign can be applied to future campaigns.

SelectSimple is still in pilot mode with a small group of clients. Each day of the pilot we learn a new way to improve the service. We also discovered a fairly surprising positive consequence of contacting candidates in this manner:

Because we introduce outselves as a “pre-qualification service”, candidates tend to be more open in their conversations than they might be with a recruiter. We make it clear that we are not decision makers, and that our only goal is to save everyone time and effort by determining quickly if there is a reason for the candidate and the recruiter to talk. The candidates we’ve spoken to have been receptive and have had no qualms about sharing information with us.

Monster Courting Nurses

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:21:06 -0600

In early January 2008, Monster Worldwide acquired Affinity Labs, a San Francisco company that builds career-related communities. Among their 7 communities is NursingLink. Resumes uploaded at NursingLink go into the Monster database, and jobs posted on Monster can appear on NursingLink.

Affinity Labs also hosts communities for government, technology, education, and law enforcement. Monster is going after candidates where they are — in social environments. This will inevitably make them even more dominant in the recruiting space, and help to build out their candidate database considerably. As such, Monster will become increasingly important to SourceSimple and all baseline sourcing services.

Recession-Proof Your Recruiting

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 08:09:00 -0600

Economists seem to believe that a recession is on the way… either a recession or a slowdown which will put a damper on everyone’s day. One of the datapoints pointed towards is a 4.9-5% unemployment rate. This is a high figure for the United States. It signals that 5% of the workforce is not working.

But look at it from another angle: 95% of the people in the workforce have a job! If you scored 95% on a test in school, you’d be overjoyed. 95% is a pretty high number. It means that when you walk down the street and a huge crowd of 100 people walk past you, only 5 of those people don’t have a job. 5 out of 100 ain’t so bad.

Will this affect your business as an employer or a recruiter? Definitely. Does it mean recruiting will cease altogether? Definitely not.

95% of the population is employed. Life hasn’t stopped. Businesses haven’t stopped. People are working. Jobs exist. Recruiting must exist as well. There’s less money out there, so everyone has to spend less. The recruiting must go on, but it just has to be done with less money.

External recruiters fill a vital function that employers can’t do without. They tap vast candidate networks and utilize extensive candidate development prowess to locate and land the perfect candidate. However, there may be less recruiting work out there than before, so recruiters may have to cut back on expenses. External recruiters can let SourceSimple handle the baseline sourcing function, saving quite a bit of cash and allowing efforts and resources to be focused on client relationships, passive candidate search, and candidate development.

Employers with parse internal recruiting resources who want to compete in the same market as powerhouses may be looking for inexpensive ways to ramp up their recruiting efforts. SourceSimple provides the resources and manpower of a much larger organization without the risk and overhead of doing it yourself. It’s a very reasonable solution at a very inexpensive pricepoint.

There are, I’m sure, ways to save money that don’t involve SourceSimple… but for some reason I can’t think of them right now. =)

Use Resumes for Passive Searches

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:36:30 -0600

When an employed candidate puts a resume into a database, they are expressing their desire to talk to someone on the outside. They are willing to look outside of their current employment. They understand that the best way to explore other opportunities is to start some conversations. The resume is the conversation-starter.

It’s almost a guarantee that employed candidates with their resumes online will talk to you when you call them. In other words, they are the perfect entry point for a passive-candidate recruiter/sourcer to gather information about a target company.

When you start a passive search, ask SourceSimple to send you resumes for current employees of your target companies. Call up the candidates and interview them, even if they aren’t perfect for the job. Ask them whatever you want to know: who is their boss? what project are they working on? etc. You’ll be amazed at how much information you’ll receive.

Spend Less with SourceSimple

Wed, 30 Jan 2008 07:12:33 -0600

As the economy continues to slow down (the 4th quarter of 2007 was the worst quarter for the economy in 5 years), employers and recruiters are looking for ways to spend less without compromising their forward progress.

SourceSimple offers a very good solution.

Employers and recruiters can use SourceSimple baseline sourcing campaigns rather than paying for the staff and resources to do the work in-house. We use all the industry-standard resources (CareerBuilder, HotJobs, Monster, and more). All day, every day, we advertise and search for our clients. To use in-house resources to get the same results we deliver, you’d have to spend thousands of dollars per month.

SourceSimple campaigns start as low as $30 for 7 days of baseline sourcing. No long term commitments, no overhead, no risk. It really is the best deal in the recruiting world.

New 'Search Only' Option

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 12:29:42 -0600

Many of our clients already ran advertising before retaining SourceSimple, so they weren’t interested in the job posting portion of our baseline sourcing (BaSo) campaigns. Until today we used an ad hoc approach to this situation, calling the search-only campaigns ‘Modified Network Campaigns’.

Starting today we have a new option on our campaign proposals called ‘Search Campaign’ — we’ve been running these campaigns under a different name for a while now, so it’s great to have an easier and more intuitive method for clients to request this level of service.

Keep Longer Campaigns!

Tue, 01 Jan 2008 21:12:00 -0600

Though SourceSimple changed our campaign lengths from 10 days and 30 days to 7, 14, 21, and 28 days, any client who wants to keep the 10 day campaigns for $30 is able to do so. We are grandfathering all ‘active accounts’ to maintain the longer 10 day campaigns, if desired.

‘Active accounts’ include all clients with pre-paid packs of discount campaigns or with monthly subscriptions. Simply make sure that the account always has at least one campaign in it, and you’ll be able to refresh the account with 10 day campaigns in the future.

If you don’t currently have an active account with $30 10 day campaigns, it’s not too late to get one. To ensure our clients are afforded the greatest level of convenience and flexibility, we are keeping the option open for clients to purchase a pack of discount campaigns. This option will be maintained on this page of the site until Sunday, 06 Jan 08.

Here’s the URL for the page: http://www.sourcesimple.com/lastchance.html

If you would prefer a monthly subscription, please send us an email with the specifics of your needs and we’ll work out the best solution.