Career Affirmation – Why Sourcing?

I love it when I receive affirmation for my career choices.  Fistful of Talent (do I ever talk about any other site?) published an article today entitled, “Sourcing… It’s Becoming a Hot Commodity Once Again!”  To which my obvious response is, “no shit.”  Isn’t pipelining qualified talent the most fundamental business need a company has (with the exception of fixed-cost overhead)?  A good sourcing professional is arguably the linchpin of a well-functioning organization, the gatekeeper between talent and hiring managers, the “internal agency” of an HR organization. 

As someone who has managed, architected and implemented sourcing organizations and innovations, with varying degrees of success and trial-and-error, what resonates the most with me is the statement that “you’ve got to train and invest time in developing your experienced sourcer” (or sourcing team).  Most companies need people yesterday, and seldom invest the up-front time to develop a good sourcing capability.  In turn, most sourcers (or sourcing teams) spend 90% of their time playing catch-up with organizational hiring needs, and 10% trying to innovate and stay ahead of the curve. 

I am fortunate to now be part of an organization where we are thinking through the sourcing question strategicaly and systematically, and investing in time, tools, and direction with sourcing top-of-mind.  My partners understand that sourcing is an entirely different animal than traditional recruiting, but certainly no less important, and one that requires a different kind of person, a different timeline, and a different set of priorities. 

Thanks for the affirmation, Fistful. 

Read the full article

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Windows Mobile 7 and Blackberry Developers needed – Denver

Looking to bring on a Windows Mobile 7 developer for a full-time/permanent position.

Also, need a Blackberry app developer for contract/project work.

Email josh@bwbacon.com for more info.

Comedy Works agrees …

Another Fistful of Truth

Fistful of Talent  has yet again published an article that resonates – like it or not – with the modern talent acquisition market.  On social media sourcing:  “Sure, you may really want to leverage your vast networks on LinkedIn and Twitter to find, attract, and convert the right prospects for all your spots, but the truth is not everyone is out there to be found on those networks …”  Social media breathed life into candidate sourcing, and made the entire enterprise fun, but that’s not to say it’s always the most effective (or efficient) way to generate candidate pipeline.  Stated more succinctly, “just because you ‘prefer’ to source and connect in a particular way doesn’t mean it is the best or right way.”  Amen, FoT.  Although we like to spout off about the demise of the job board, and they are indeed a much less sexy means of attracting quality candidates, postings and job board resumes reportedly still account for a quarter of total hires.  A fistful of food for thought …

Read the full Fistful of Talent article here.

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Mobile App projects – Denver, CO

We are working on several cutting-edge mobile app development projects currently.  Any and all local mobile app dev resources (or resources open to spending their spring/summer in Denver), email josh@bwbacon.com or apply online http://bit.ly/gsYFnt.

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Ruby on Rails developers needed in Colorado – will relocate!

I am looking for several Ruby on Rails developers in Colorado, for full-time positions ranging from junior to very senior-level.   Pay is exceptional, company is outstanding, relocation is available, referrals are valued and compensated.  Email josh@bwbacon.com

We are looking for a unique developer who thoroughly understands and enjoys the rhythm of an agile project and the feel of a well tested code base.
Below are listed a few of the things we believe in–if they line up well with your beliefs we would love to talk with you:

. Testing infects every part of our day. We write tests to help explain
our requirements. We write tests to guide our design and coding. We believe that a small amount of continuous investment in our tests pays off large returns in the end

. We build by feature. This means that our developers have to be fluent
from the UI all the way back to the database. We have no use for specialists that want to live solely in one architectural layer

. We work as a Project based team. This means that the team will have all
the roles necessary to complete the project. No matrix’ing, no functional groups, no shared resources. We are it.

About the interview process with us:

We will ask you to sit down at a computer and actually build something.

We will ask you to stand up at a white board and think through a design challenge.

We are more interested in your thought process than your specific answers in many cases

Finally, we know that everyone has to start somewhere to cut his or her teeth. Just not here. We are looking to add to a small and extremely skilled team. We believe firmly that five or six stellar people can out perform ten or fifteen good people.

Requirements:

. Master’s Degree (MA) or equivalent, or four to ten years of
related experience and/or training, or equivalent combination of education and experience.

. Knowledge and experience working with front end web development.

. Ability to design, write and test Ruby code in a Rails framework.

. Must be fluent in the following testing frameworks – TestUnit,
Cucumber, Selenium, Webrat and Shoulda.

. Must show mastery of chosen editor (Textmate, vi, etc).

. Must be able to productively participate in Agile/Lean based
development shop and constantly work in a paired development environment.

. In depth knowledge of HTML, CSS, Javascript, Ajax, CSS, XML,
XSLT, Javascript, Passenger, MySQL

. 5+ years of programming experience with C or C++

. Prefer experience working with Unix

Benefits
In exchange for your hard work and dedication, we offer a competitive salary, excellent benefits package and positive working environment.

Freelancers needed for Denver interactive projects

I am currently in need of the following consulting resources for several Denver-based projects.  All urgent!

2 iPad developers

1 IA/UX type for wireframe project

1 frontend developer (Javascript/Jquery/Ajax/PHP)

1 asp.net developer with C#, CMS and frontend experience

Email josh@bwbacon.com for more info.  Referrals welcome, and paid for if hired.  Hiring immediately.

The LinkedIn Recruiting Debate

Fistful of Talent published a compelling article on how recruiters should be using LinkedIn in an optimal way, and dispelled some common rumors, in an article published earlier this week.  This debate has been raging since LinkedIn’s inception, and has been a complex moving-target for us recruiters.  How do we do our job effectively, and attract the best talent using the most comprehensive professional networking site on the web, without being written off as a spammer or a shark?  I think Fistful’s article nailed it, and I fully concur with their assessment of the current state of affairs.

BUT …  it seems to me the discussion is mostly occurring among recruiters.  Shouldn’t we want to know how the talent feels?   My guess is they would say things like:

A) know what the hell you’re recruiting for; B) know something about the client you’re representing; C) if you don’t hear from a candidate, they’re probably not interested; D) having a 30,000-person network is meaningless – instead of investing in TopLinked, how about building relationships with your actual network? 

But I’m just a recruiter.

Fistful of Talent’s March 8th article, entitled “Attention Recruiters:  10 Ways You Should Be Using LinkedIn”

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BWBacon representing at tonight’s CSIA C-Level @ Mile High

C-Level @ A Mile High is your opportunity to meet and network with more than 900 technology professionals, and if you want guaranteed future face-time with one of the 60+ C-Level “Celebrities,” you can bid on them in the silent auction!  No other event has this many technology executives and professionals in one place at one time.  So, if technology is your space, then this event is the place!

When:	March 10, 2011 5:30pm – 9:30pm
Where:	Invesco Field 1701 Mile High Stadium Cir Gate 7 Denver, CO  80204

Click here for more information, or for last-minute registration.

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Denver Interactive – new LinkedIn group

For those of you digital media pro’s who are local to the Denver/Boulder area, or interested in moving here, join the new Denver Interactive LinkedIn group.  Looking forward to building a dialogue with this local community!