Yesterday I attended the Tuesday part of the weekly Tuesday/Thursday lunch chat with Maureen at Magic Method. The topic vary but almost always phone sourcing but sometimes sourcing as a whole (internet & phone). Being a corporate recruiter it serves me twofold: one I get to learn about new and different sourcing techniques and second I get to hear what is going happing in the agency world.
This Tuesday we had a special presenter Glen Cathey who shared with us some of his thoughts, techniques, and logic on how he approaches his internet searches Boolean style. He also took some time to put together some search strings for us to get a real life example of how this thing actually works. I am actually working on a pretty niche search and have been able to apply some of his techniques.
Subscribe to Glen’s blog it will make you better. If you don’t…well it will be your loss.
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Don’t Lie on Your Resume!!!!
Here is an article about the President of Tetra Tech getting demoted because of discrepancies in his education. He has over 40 years of experience in the industry but due to these discrepancies he has been demoted. The lesson here…DON’T LIE ON YOUR RESUME or any other document. This guys was the President; do you think that they would have any problem getting rid of anyone else? Nope, so keep that resume up to date and honest.
True personal story – I sent a guy to interview for a mid level position and asked if he graduated from the university on his resume his answer was “not exactly” not the right answer. It was a YES or NO. It is ok to put that you attended the university and even what you were studying but do not elude that you graduated unless you actually have! Needless to say he did not get the job and we did not work with him anymore after that. What sucks is that he was actually a great candidate.
Here is a link to the Tetra Tech article.
http://enr.ecnext.com/coms2/article_necoar081008a
True personal story – I sent a guy to interview for a mid level position and asked if he graduated from the university on his resume his answer was “not exactly” not the right answer. It was a YES or NO. It is ok to put that you attended the university and even what you were studying but do not elude that you graduated unless you actually have! Needless to say he did not get the job and we did not work with him anymore after that. What sucks is that he was actually a great candidate.
Here is a link to the Tetra Tech article.
http://enr.ecnext.com/coms2/article_necoar081008a
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Rejection Letter
This was sent to me when I asked the question on Linkedin regarding rejection letters to send out to candidates that we will not be considering. In the recent weeks there as been some conversation on ERE groups regarding sending rejection letters and closing the gaps with applicants. I agree that applicants that fit the job description should be contacted to close the loop but when people reply to your posting that can not in anyway be considered a candidate they need to get something like this.
This letter is only reserved for those folks at there who don’t take the time to read the job description. Please feel free to make any additions or submit your own letters.
*Note - this letter was sent to me from a Linkedin question regarding rejection letters. I laughed to I feel the need to share
Dear Candidate
Thank you for submitting your resume. Unfortunately, we are unable to consider you for this position.
While not expressly stated in the position description, one of the primary required skills is "reading comprehension". Based on the submission of your resume for this position, we are confident that you may be lacking in this regard. There was no match whatsoever between our requirements and your resume.
We understand that sometimes there are other factors that result in a mismatch between an applicant's skills and a position description. Perhaps your resume was submitted by vandals, or maybe applying for our opening was the only way to extricate yourself from being eaten by wolves. If this is the case, we here at [company] understand.
But we still won't consider you for this position.
We hope you understand, but given your history with us and all the reading involved here, we're pretty sure you won't.
Warm regards,
Director of Unqualified Candidate Rejection
This letter is only reserved for those folks at there who don’t take the time to read the job description. Please feel free to make any additions or submit your own letters.
*Note - this letter was sent to me from a Linkedin question regarding rejection letters. I laughed to I feel the need to share
Dear Candidate
Thank you for submitting your resume. Unfortunately, we are unable to consider you for this position.
While not expressly stated in the position description, one of the primary required skills is "reading comprehension". Based on the submission of your resume for this position, we are confident that you may be lacking in this regard. There was no match whatsoever between our requirements and your resume.
We understand that sometimes there are other factors that result in a mismatch between an applicant's skills and a position description. Perhaps your resume was submitted by vandals, or maybe applying for our opening was the only way to extricate yourself from being eaten by wolves. If this is the case, we here at [company] understand.
But we still won't consider you for this position.
We hope you understand, but given your history with us and all the reading involved here, we're pretty sure you won't.
Warm regards,
Director of Unqualified Candidate Rejection
Monday, September 15, 2008
QUOIN Educators Conference
Last Thursday & Friday the Quoin Foundation hosted the Educators Conference for Region 5 which includes schools in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, & Louisiana. We had two presentations and some healthy round table discussions.
On Thursday Nancy Barry spoke to us from her book When Reality Hits: What Employer Want Recent College Graduates to Know. It was a great presentation and fit the audience of industry members and educators. Our round table discussion brought up some great ideas on what universities can do to teach their students about what to expect when you come into the workforce and what we as the industry can to do train and develop those graduates.
Friday morning Joe Powell of Rice University Building Institute spoke about performance characteristics of the world's most competitive A/E/C firms as well as what will be needed to join the next generation of global market leaders. Joe Powell is the author of The New Competitiveness in Design Construction. I was not able to attend but the feedback I got about the presentation was that it was very beneficial.
I plan on writing more about Nancy's presentation since it deals strictly with college graduates and that is currently what is taking up all my time right now. Stay tuned
On Thursday Nancy Barry spoke to us from her book When Reality Hits: What Employer Want Recent College Graduates to Know. It was a great presentation and fit the audience of industry members and educators. Our round table discussion brought up some great ideas on what universities can do to teach their students about what to expect when you come into the workforce and what we as the industry can to do train and develop those graduates.
Friday morning Joe Powell of Rice University Building Institute spoke about performance characteristics of the world's most competitive A/E/C firms as well as what will be needed to join the next generation of global market leaders. Joe Powell is the author of The New Competitiveness in Design Construction. I was not able to attend but the feedback I got about the presentation was that it was very beneficial.
I plan on writing more about Nancy's presentation since it deals strictly with college graduates and that is currently what is taking up all my time right now. Stay tuned
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
September HR Carnival
The new HR Carnival is up at Guerilla HR. Have a look and see what all the blog is about.
Thursday, September 04, 2008
Things Learned in Construction Internship 2008
This was given to me from one of our interns this summer. It is very interesting to see what they actually "learned"
1. Most important piece of equipment on the job site: copy machine.
2. When you totally screw up in class everyone laughs at you and you fail the test. When
you totally screw up on the job, no one laughs and people die.
3. If there is a clean spot anywhere on or around your desk, you need to be assigned more work.
4. The smallest shower can turn the site into a mud hole faster than you can blink.
5. Coffee level = Productivity level
6. Desk quality is determined by distance to the copy machine.
7. It's polite to warn everyone before you send massive emails that clog the network.
8. If the architect ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
9. Never sign something unless you're damn sure it's right.
10. If you say you'll have something done by the end of the week, come hell or high water, you get it done by the end of the week.
11. The network is always clogged just after the first crack of thunder; as everyone in the office goes to weather.com at the exact same time.
13. Most everyone in construction and architecture writes in all caps, and no one really knows why.
14. Building towers before the time of computers must have really sucked.
15. Pedestrians may have the right-of-way over cars, but bulldozers have the right-of-way over everything.
16. Gasoline : Cars :: Coffee : Contractors
17. If your crane gets stuck in a muddy pit, just use your other crane to pick it up.
18. Spanglish.
19. You'd trade most of what you learned in college to know how to read a set of blue prints.
20. Anti-rain dances don't work.
21. Mixed up submittal numbers? Bad concrete pour? Rain? Just blame the intern!
22. Construction fatalities are horrifyingly common.
23. At any point in time, there are about 100 different ways to get killed on the jobsite.
24. The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.
25. Never promise anything about the future until it's the past.
26. Do not, under any circumstance, let one of your sub-contractors push you around.
27. In everything you do, do it as if your going to either sue, or be sued about it.
28. Neither the Constitution or the Bill of Rights applies to interns.
29. The mere presence of a person wearing slacks and a college ring will dramatically increase productivity and safety in his immediate area.
30. If you really want to, you can keep concrete alive for 3-4 days, even in the Texas summer.
31. Rarely do accidents kill the person at fault. Instead, they normally kill someone who was doing nothing wrong.
32. Double punch Tuesdays.
33. Never delete emails; create a filing system instead.
34. Office mistakes are fixed with the "undo" button. Field mistakes are fixed with concrete chippers.
35. Lunch meetings = free food.
36. The time between 4PM and 5PM is the longest hour of the day.
37. Nothing of any substance or consequence is accomplished after lunch on Friday.
38. For the love of God, don't forget to attach the file to the email.
39. If you see someone running on a job site, follow him; He's either running to someone who needs medical attention, or away from something that's about to go catastrophically wrong.
40. Some of the scariest words a mechanical contractor can say are: "I don't think it's supposed to make that sound..."
1. Most important piece of equipment on the job site: copy machine.
2. When you totally screw up in class everyone laughs at you and you fail the test. When
you totally screw up on the job, no one laughs and people die.
3. If there is a clean spot anywhere on or around your desk, you need to be assigned more work.
4. The smallest shower can turn the site into a mud hole faster than you can blink.
5. Coffee level = Productivity level
6. Desk quality is determined by distance to the copy machine.
7. It's polite to warn everyone before you send massive emails that clog the network.
8. If the architect ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
9. Never sign something unless you're damn sure it's right.
10. If you say you'll have something done by the end of the week, come hell or high water, you get it done by the end of the week.
11. The network is always clogged just after the first crack of thunder; as everyone in the office goes to weather.com at the exact same time.
13. Most everyone in construction and architecture writes in all caps, and no one really knows why.
14. Building towers before the time of computers must have really sucked.
15. Pedestrians may have the right-of-way over cars, but bulldozers have the right-of-way over everything.
16. Gasoline : Cars :: Coffee : Contractors
17. If your crane gets stuck in a muddy pit, just use your other crane to pick it up.
18. Spanglish.
19. You'd trade most of what you learned in college to know how to read a set of blue prints.
20. Anti-rain dances don't work.
21. Mixed up submittal numbers? Bad concrete pour? Rain? Just blame the intern!
22. Construction fatalities are horrifyingly common.
23. At any point in time, there are about 100 different ways to get killed on the jobsite.
24. The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy.
25. Never promise anything about the future until it's the past.
26. Do not, under any circumstance, let one of your sub-contractors push you around.
27. In everything you do, do it as if your going to either sue, or be sued about it.
28. Neither the Constitution or the Bill of Rights applies to interns.
29. The mere presence of a person wearing slacks and a college ring will dramatically increase productivity and safety in his immediate area.
30. If you really want to, you can keep concrete alive for 3-4 days, even in the Texas summer.
31. Rarely do accidents kill the person at fault. Instead, they normally kill someone who was doing nothing wrong.
32. Double punch Tuesdays.
33. Never delete emails; create a filing system instead.
34. Office mistakes are fixed with the "undo" button. Field mistakes are fixed with concrete chippers.
35. Lunch meetings = free food.
36. The time between 4PM and 5PM is the longest hour of the day.
37. Nothing of any substance or consequence is accomplished after lunch on Friday.
38. For the love of God, don't forget to attach the file to the email.
39. If you see someone running on a job site, follow him; He's either running to someone who needs medical attention, or away from something that's about to go catastrophically wrong.
40. Some of the scariest words a mechanical contractor can say are: "I don't think it's supposed to make that sound..."
Tuesday, August 26, 2008
Summer Interns
For 12 weeks each summer Austin Commercial has the opportunity to impact the next generation of builders in the form of our Summer Internship Program. This year we had a record 27 Interns in 5 locations on 18 projects. They came from 15 different universities throughout the southern half of the United States. Our Interns really enjoyed the chance to get real life construction experience that they can take back to school and apply to their studies. Here are some things that they had to say about their internship experience:
- Everyone here at St. Ann Court made it interesting and enjoyable to come out to work everyday. I remember coming in the first day, intimidated by the foreign environment and feeling completely clueless. I truly came a long way now that I look back. I definitely feel like I’m more capable in the construction and architecture field. – Tracey – St. Ann’s Court
- I really enjoyed the type of quality people that choose to work for Austin and how the company is ran. This was a great experience for me and I look forward to talking to you in the future. Stan – JW Marriott
- I had an amazing time this summer, and learned an incredible amount. For the first time, I had an internship that prepared me for the workplace, and gave me responsibilities that I would encounter in the future. The team I worked with was beyond helpful, and was great to work with/around. Again, I really appreciate the opportunity I was given, and look forward to seeing you in the fall! – JD – ASU Dorms
- I have had a very good experience working with Austin this summer, and I am very thankful I had the opportunity to participate in this summer’s internship program. Kim – Charlton Methodist Hospital
In addition to providing interns with an educational experience, Austin Commercial also uses the intern program to recruit future hires. Historically over 2/3rds of the interns that participate in our program come back to work for us.
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