By

Stephen O'Donnell

Imitation and Flattery

Did you know that it was Duracell themselves who invented the Energizer Bunny? Coppertopped battery manufacturer Duracell began using a pink bunny in their adverts in 1972. Famously one of those adverts featured a lineup of similar pink bunnies, with the logos of other rival firms, which of course ran out of power long before...

Guardian Article on Universal JobMatch

DWP plans to ditch ridiculed jobs website Universal Jobmatch set to be jettisoned after it was found to be carrying a series of fake, repeat or fraudulent jobs ads The government has drawn up plans to scrap its official jobs website, Universal Jobmatch, after recognising it is too expensive and that its purpose is undermined...

Independence – Ach, what the hell!

Freedom’s just another word for “nothing left to lose”. The word Freedom is bandied around a lot these days, and not just by Mel Gibson in historically inaccurate movies, or politicians invoking it ironically, whilst invading other countries. Consider the song title though. We are indeed most free to take any course of action, when...

10 ways to Convert a Passive to an Active Candidate

Or – NO, I WAS INTERVIEWING YOU! With the inexorable rise of social media and the relentless pursuit of so-called passive candidates, recruiters now, more than ever, find themselves being grilled by candidates. In this role reversal, potential jobseekers who have been approached are much more likely to demand good reasons to take your call,...

Firefish Recruitment Software – Review

In recruitment, we have become used to technology that performs at least some of the tasks we need, and then trying to match that solution with other technology we might use, to fill the gaps. In an industry which once relied entirely on paper based systems, we have always been keen to use tech solutions...

Nae Luck! Unfinished short story

I knocked up the beginnings of this short story in afternoon during the Christmas holidays. It was just a bit of a distraction, and will probably remain incomplete, as so many things do. Anyway, here goes. ————————————————————— To the rest of the world, Mary McAleese gave the appearance of being unsteady on her feet. Not...

Before you commit to a new ATS

Does your heart sink whenever the topic of Recruitment ATS systems is brought up? I know mine does. It’s almost as if all the logistical problems surrounding the ongoing management of data within a recruitment firm have been deliberately made all the more complex on purpose, just to drive agency owners round the twist. In...

My Recruiting Predictions for 2014

T’is the season to be … well, predicting what could happen in our industry in the next 12 months. There will be a slew of these, and perhaps where our predictions overlap, there may be some agreement. Anyhoo, here’s my take. It will become clearer that Greater London and the rest of the UK are...

Extra Cool Recruitment Tools

It seems that every week throws up more online tools being used by recruiters to research, identify and communicate with great candidates.  Here is a summary of new tools, including those developed by Recruitment Geek (Ben Carter) himself. Recruitment Geek’s Tools Before I give away everyone else’s freebies let me tell you about my own. I have...
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