Standout Jobs has made another innovation to their Reception hosted career solution with some features to help employers track and research job candidates:

New applicant tracking features include:

• Candidate Sourcing: Improved sourcing through the Talent Scout bookmarklet for finding candidates and researching them online.
• Employee Reviews of Candidates: Invite employees to review candidates voting and leaving comments to improve collaboration throughout the hiring process.
• Add Files to Candidates: Associate files to candidates including portfolios, assessment tests, and more.
• Research Candidates: Quickly gather online information about candidates from Google and social networks, and associate it to their profiles in the Candidate Relationship Management Tool.
• Improved Usability: The Candidate Relationship Management Tool is the easiest to use on the market. Streamlined features and well-organized interfaces ensure quick adoption for the HR staff and entire team.

Source: Standout Jobs Adds Applicant Tracking to Online Career Sites - CEO to Speak at ERE Expo in San Diego, March 31 to April 2 | Standout Jobs

Are we ready for the social media job application?

I wonder if people are going to be wondering about the researching candidates through the Net.  Of course, we know it happens and we do it all the time.  When I’ve hired bloggers here at b5media or previously with One By One Media I always check out what people do online.  Sure this is because I need to check out their blogging, but still…

It should be common practice, I think, to see what job candidates are doing online. However, are employers ready to make the distinction between someone’s work and non-work activities?  This has come up in discussions about Facebook and that everything you do online, stays online forever.

Reception is the next-generation career site

Don’t think this is a criticism of what Ben and Standout Jobs are doing, I think pulling all these data together is a great thing for employers.  Not to mention the ability to consolidate the other information and give people the chance to contribute to the process.  Hmm, wonder if they have a system to check if people have reviewed a candidate.  Now that would be a great feature.

Photo by Tris Hussey

Ben posted something today that, as a member of a credit union, I think is pretty cool.  Through their Reception product, Standout Jobs and CUhire will give credit unions their own social media (and easy to maintain) careers site:

I’m very pleased to be announcing a partnership with CUhire to provide credit unions with our product, Reception. CUhire focuses exclusively on helping credit unions with their recruiting efforts, and there was a natural fit for us to work together - leveraging CUhire’s expertise in the space & their services, alongside our focus on employer branding & job marketing with our product. Source: Standout Jobs and CUhire Provide Free Job and Career Sites for Credit Unions | Standout Jobs

From the press release you can see that this is just an example how Reception has the potential to be a game-changing product for HR:

Standout Jobs has partnered with CUhire, a recruiting solutions provider to the credit union industry, to provide credit unions with free Job and Career Sites. With Standout Jobs’ RECEPTION product, CUhire customers can create employment branding and recruiting sites in minutes, with no I.T. support or resources, by visiting http://standoutjobs.com/cuhire.

[snip]

To showcase the ease and effectiveness of setting up a site, CUhire has created its own Career Site at http://creditunionjobs.standoutjobs.com. Other CUhire partners in providing recruiting solutions for credit unions include Back Track Screening, Dot Jobs, Jobster, NEI Global Relocation, Prime Advertising, and The David Group.

HR sites, the kind with resume, job, and prospect management, have traditionally been not only expensive, but rather hard to deal with.  Often the third party provider makes it pretty hard to get the site to look the way you want it (read polished and professional).  Reception, just looks awesome from the start, and from my demo I got at DEMO, it’s really easy to use.

Disclosure: I’ve worked with Ben in the past and b5media uses Standout Jobs for recruiting.

Contrary to what folks might think down south (i.e. the US), Canada is has a very hot tech scene.  There is great stuff going on across the country, which btw keeps me busy, but I have to say of the tech cities here in Canada Vancouver and Montreal are the hot spots as far as I’m concerned.

The Montreal Gazette ran an article called Silicon Island on Saturday talking about the growing tech and start up culture on the island of Montreal.  Heri of MTW, Joey at Global Nerdy, and Rob at Techvibes all picked up on it rather quickly and built on the whole Montreal buzz.

A few common threads keep coming up in the articles (oddly enough no one commented on Montreal’s weather, which in winter is pretty harsh).  I’ve talked about the need for more VC funding up here and the need for people to take more risks in trying new startups as well.  But I have this nagging feeling that we’re still missing something.  Some piece of the puzzle just isn’t there.

Maybe we just don’t have the concentration of tech people in one location to get ideas going.  Maybe we need some kind of start up incubator city or something.  Of course I wouldn’t move to Ottawa, Toronto, or Montreal even though they are all lovely cities to visit.

Regardless of these questions and musings, I’m glad Montreal is getting some attention for their booming tech scene.

Speaking of which, you might like my DEMO videos on Intruders.tv Canada, since most of the Canadian companies presenting were from Montreal.  Just because he’s a friend of mine, and a former blogger here at b5media, I have to post my interview with Ben Yoskovitz here.  Ben might cringe at this (he seemed a tad embarrassed on Twitter, but said his hair did look good), but hey I’m proud of the guy!

Less chatter, but still live …

Live Blog:

DEMO 2008 Day 2 Morning

(01/30/2008)  Powered by: CoveritLive

  

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8:44	Good morning from DEMO08 Day 2!  Chris Shippley did a great morning dance, with giving away free software … got us going. BitGravity is talking about their streaming service.  Which many of you have been watching.  Did you know it was in HighDef?  Yeah no kidding.  It’s amazing

8:49

[Poll]

Will streaming HighDef video over the net change things dramatically? Yes, omg, yes  ( 100% ) No way  ( 0% ) Someday, not now  ( 0% )

8:54	Cozimo, from Montreal and CA is on stage talking about their interactive, collaborative fim-making.  So I guess like ConceptShare for video.  Think about that. Looking at Cozimo www.cozimo.com/ – very interesting tech to see the collaboriative video process

9:00

xtranormal, also from Montreal, on stage. I got a demo from them yesterday … www.xtranormal.com Very easy to use, the auto camera stuff is fun … now okay this is amazing stuff … but what is the market?  Who will really use it?  It seems to me (fitting since Shel Israel is sitting next to me) … that Canada is really leading the way in animation and 3D

9:05

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9:07	Capzles on stage … more video.  This is for building an online video diary.  Videoblogging … in timelines …  etc.  Flash-based interface.  Good, but … yeah not a solid demo … I didn’t get the answer to the “yeah so…” question.

9:10

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9:10	HubDub … I’ve be hearing buzz about them. This is a service for forcasting news … what will the future hold.

9:11	www.hubdub.com

9:13	They guys started good … but why do I want to try to predict the news?  What should I do this on their site.  Maybe I’m a cynic.  Okay, I am a cynic.  Sorry I’m not getting it … They are saying I can use this to “prove” my credibility?  Isn’t that what my writing does?

9:15	iLeonardo … on stage.  Umm where is the demo part?

9:16

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9:17	www.ileonardo.com

9:19	iLeonardo … this is search with social bookmarking.  Okay you’re building notebooks of information to share and gather.  I’ll get an invite code to try it.  The demo didn’t do it for me.

9:20	www.atlaspost.com

9:21

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9:25	Blogging with geography … the question is why.  Okay … be blunt.  We’re hot in Taiwan give us money in the States … and we’ll be big in China.

9:29	youchoose.net/

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9:31	YouChoose … how will this succed where CoComment failed?

9:34	Buzka PopNets ..  another notebooking, searching … focusing on travel … popnets.com/

9:35

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9:37	Redux social networking and online dating … meeting new people.  Connecting people who don’t know each other.

9:40	redux.com/

9:42	Here is the essential problem.  Building more and more social networks, isn’t all that helpful.  Sure Redux might help you find people who share similar interests, but gee I already do that.  Again … this is a critical mass issue

9:43	W00t! Standout Jobs is in the house!

9:44	“HR isn’t about Human Resources, it’s about human relationships.” — Ben Yoskovitz

9:46	I got an early look at this offering called Reception.  It is great.  Having had to help HR build career sites — it sucks.  I like the fast and easy layout options.  It’s fun, interesting and lets people get an inside look at companies.

9:47

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9:48	Yes, I’m biased.  I’ve know and worked with Ben for nearly two years.  I think he’s sharp and cool.  I chatted with him this morning in the press room … gave him tips on presenting–doesn’t look like he needed them!  Great job!

9:50	www.standoutjobs.com

9:51	Liquidus Corp … video creation and sharing.

9:57	The product is called Spotsense … yeah, bad demo.  Sorry guys, you lost me

9:57	TubeMogul on stage … listening

9:59

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10:01

Interesting … upload through them … send your video to multiple places and give you analytics on them across the site.

10:02

Just closed their Series A VC round … didn’t say how much.  It looks really interesting.  Wonder … hmm

10:07

Visible Measures … analytics for video.  See how people are interacting with video.  How it’s being watched and where it’s going online.  This is an umet need for sure. Hmm, parters with BrightCove … which is doing the video I guess … wow gelocating where people are watching.

10:08

You know this it pretty darn cool, of course I’m a stats wonk … but I liked what I saw.

10:11

PCHealth Check … I got their demo at their space.  I dunno … you run their free app and it it scans your machine for problems, etc. then recommends changes.  I can’t remember if it supports Vista.

10:16

The thing that scares me about these auto scanning fixing things is that sometimes they make things worse because they are based on general assumptions.

10:16

No link to PCHealthCheck ’cause you can’t get to it!  Dude, lame.

10:17

Pathworks Software … providing customer service help

10:21

Helpstream … how is this better.  You need to answer that question in your demo.  Helpstream is integrating “crowdsourced”  help (forums, etc) … okay so what it means that customer support can flag an answer as the best answer from the community.  So if this is tied into their support ticket system … I can see that this would be helpful.  Now, the question is … is that a good thing?  How good are their forums?  Wouldn’t it be better if they just tied into standard forums?

10:22

Wow, Helpstream … is free?  www.helpstream.biz

10:22

Okay, how, pray tell, will they earn money?  What are they selling?

10:24

supportspace  www.supportspace.com

10:27

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10:31

This is a little different … people register as “experts” and they help people … and sometimes for cash.  Risky?  What do you think?

10:32

To any new readers … you can comment live in this little window thingy

10:33

[Poll]

Would you use and online support tool to fix your computer Yes, I am a computer idiot  ( 60% ) Hands off buddy  ( 40% )

10:36

[Comment From Keith from CiL] Hey Tris. Just opened up some popcorn. Kicking back watching this. Like the pics.

10:36

[Comment From Keith from CiL] Guru.com 1999

10:36

[Comment From akshay] what do people think of http://www.tvduck.com

10:36

Aternity, another support solution.  You know I didn’t get their “I’m different because ..”

10:38

MANDIANT … eek the Internet is a scary place!  Oh no there is stuff that spyware and anti-virus can’t find and clear!

10:38

“Find evil, do good, justice … ”

10:41

MANDIANT … okay their solution is a box.  This is an enterprise solution … but what about the people who work at home or connect remotely?

10:42

[Poll]

Should MANDIANT release a consumer product to find evil? Yes, like yesterday  ( 67% ) Eh, why bother  ( 33% )

10:44

Symantec is up next … I’m not a fan of their software … always bogs things done.  Their solution is a “family safety initiative” …

10:45

[Comment From Jevon] Great work Tris!!

10:45

Thank you Jevon!

10:47

This sw needs to be installed on every computer in the house.  Oh boy another Symantec product to slow down everyone in the house.  Charming.

10:49

In my house, the kids’ computer is in my line of sight.  I keep tabs on what is going on … you know this is about trust.  Dad being able to block specific people on IM … keep tabs on Facebook, etc too …

10:50

I’m not sure about this.  I know it’s important … but I’m not sure that this is the answer

10:52

good2gether … helping collecting people to non-profits to volunteer. www.good2gether.com

10:53

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10:55

[Comment From Andy] They've got good branding. their tshirts' call to action: DoGood

10:55

[Comment From Keith from CiL] Tris, how many of the demos in the last two days have some sort of charming cutout of a person involved in their logo/homepage…got to be 65%

10:55

Yes, non-profits suck at online marketing.  Yes, they need help.  Yes it would be great to help them more … This is why I just help organizations I like … whatever they need, they get my time.  Simple as that.

10:56

DoGood is a great slogan.  And I think we should all consider how we can help?  What organization that you support could use even a little SEO help?  How about a nice WP-powered website?

10:57

Yeah I guess that the cardboard cut out seems to be the style du jour.

10:58

And this is wrap for the morning … Chris is just wrapping up.

11:01

Thanks to all of you who have been reading along, and esp people who have commented.  Catch you after lunch!

11:01

This Live Blog has now ended.

Wow, what a journey to get here.  Now, I didn’t have the roller coaster flight in that the folks from San Fran did (I’ve been hearing stories all night), but I had my own struggles.

Regardless the DEMO08 mixer was tonight and it was great re-connecting with my usual peeps here.

Tomorrow the real fun begins.  Okay I have my badge and bag, but tomorrow I start blogging in earnest.  In fact, I’ll be giving CoverItLive a real-world test.  Why? Because I heard from Keith today that after the post is “done”, it can be transferred to your blog!

Now that rocks.  Rafe Needleman and I will be giving it a shot together I think.

The way it will work is that I will put some special code in a page and it will update live.  Including polls, etc.  When I’m done, I’ll get code for the final post to “live” here.

Pretty darn spiffy.  Chatting with Rafe about it tonight, I talked about the next step being a little app that chat handle intermittent network trouble (it always happens are conferences).  One step at a time.

For tonight .. well I have a couple more posts in me, then I’ll get into things double time tomorrow.  Yes, I didn’t get the Standout Jobs announcement out today, even though Ben gave me a demo last week.  Traveling just kills my blogging schedule.

Also don’t forget Marshall Kirkpatrick’s great RWW DEMO Toolkit post.  If it isn’t published from one of the places he cited … it isn’t news!