GerardMcLean.com

Imagine for a moment I am standing outside of a Target store in Trotwood, Ohio on a Wednesday morning and I have all these merchandising skills, an iPhone, a NARMS Recruiter Profile and the new app called JobCompass.

Now, imagine on the other end of this project is a stress-out recruiter trying to find someone to complete a product change-out for a manufacturer in all the Targets, Kmarts and Walmarts in the Midwest by an ad break on Sunday. The recruiter’s company is a NARMS member and has placed the ad in the Recruiter and the JobBank that get aggregated out on Indeed.com, SimplyHired.com, Alltop.com and blasted out using Twitter and has gotten responses. But, as with any project, there are pockets that just are not filling.

“I wonder if there is work to pick up in this Target,” I think to myself. I fire up JobCompass, look for jobs in my area and a job for the Target Store I am standing in front of pops up. I zap the recruiter a text message in real-time to see if it has been done. She sends me back a reply in seconds with a link to all the job information.

“Can I get this hour job done today?” she asks? “Yes,” I reply. “I am here now.”

I complete the job, send in the completion report using iPhone on the Synergy web site and I am good. I may even send the recruiter a text message asking if the Kmart across the street needs to be done as well. And the Walmart by the freeway interchange.

Is this all possible today? Yes, it is, with a little foresight and planning and just good old common sense when listing your job online.

Think local. Sidewalk local
People don’t live in “states” or “regions.” They live on city blocks and in neighborhoods. Think about how to get the closest people possible to the job site. The easiest way to do that is to list the city and the ZIP Code on your job listing. As you can see from our example above, I was not looking for jobs in Ohio. I was looking for jobs in the 45426 Zip Code. Even more specifically, I was looking at GPS 39.818648,-84.288084. (Most job listing services, including the JobBank and Recruiter at NARMS.com will translate that for you as long as you provide the ZIP Code.)

Give Details
If you want to pique interest about your job, give details. Let prospective applicants know when it starts, stops, how much they get paid and other expectations. Include the specific local information (like the city and Zip Code.)

Be ready for a “Yes, I can do that job now.”
The easiest way to make sure you are ready to get the job done by someone qualified is to have the materials ready and available on line by pointing to a simple link. With my iPhone (or Blackberry if you must) I can download and read web sites, PDF files, MS Office documents, etc.

Applicants care about the job first, then you.
Don’t spend the first paragraph telling a potential applicant about your company. They don’t care unless the job is attractive. Plug the job, link to your company web site.

The job market is changing quickly and the ones who will be successful will focus on narrowing that time between listing a job and filling the job with a qualified candidate. The losers will almost always worry just about how many resumes they collected.

Tags: alltop, at retail, JobBank, Jobs, merchandising, NARMS, Trade Associations

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