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Nearly 60% of SMB doesn't do online marketing

I opened my WebProNews mailing from earlier today and read an article title, "Small Biz Has An Attitude About Search" by David Utter.  He referenced a survey among the SMB market where 59% of the respondents do not do any type of online marketing. That's significant customer potential for the internet marketing crowd.  Those who can articulate value and a results-oriented game plan will be the ones to win this business.  There's a reason why 6 out of 10 aren't currently marketing online.  It's this nut that will be tough to crack...

Resume & Cover Letter Writing 101

I'm not sure what high school business classes or university career centers are teaching kids these days, but I see some lazy, boring, and sometimes downright awful approaches to pursuing job openings.  I'm assuming these entities are still teaching solid, professional ways to apply for a job- it's perhaps just the people on the other end aren't absorbing that info or simply not listening.  It's probably not fair to pick on the younger generation (geez I'm only 30, I can't believe I just said that), because I see bad practices across the board.

In case you're wondering, YES, a brief cover letter (in my mind) is necessary when applying for a job.  A person's resume is typically a generic document that isn't specifically tailored to various positions for which he or she may be applying.  Based on my job description, tell me why your background is a fit for what I need.  Give me examples of your past experience that highlight why you're a top-tier candidate.  Granted, it's not always the applicant's fault in this employer-candidate dance.  I've seen employers who have a difficult time articulating what they need in the form of a job description.  Some also don't make the job or company sound very attractive.  It's difficult to compose a cover letter at times if the job advertisement stinks.  Another reason for custom writing a cover letter... make yourself stand out from the other applicants.  Some people think employers don't read cover letters.  Sure, that may be the case in some instances.  But for me, as a recruiter employed by companies to source and attract the best talent available, I'm getting paid to read your cover letter.  I probably receive over 70% applicants without cover letters, not even a single word in the body of the email... just an attached resume.  C'mon.  Should you attach a cover letter as a file or embed it in the body of the email?  Personally, I don't care.  When I attach your docs to your file in my applicant tracking system, I need a word or txt file.

Now onto resumes... First of all, don't put an objective at the top of your resume. "Objective: I'm seeking a high-paying job in sales at a wonderful company who values their employees and offers advancement potential."  No kidding?  BTW, that's an actual section from a resume I just pulled.  I would rather see a Summary section about you, than an Objective section.  Secondly, make your resume results-oriented.  Some people simply list their past employers, job title, and functions.  That's extremely boring.  I can pretty much guess what your responsibilities were based on the job title and company.  Tell me what you did to make your company better.  Show numbers, percentages, RESULTS!

If you need assistance with this aspect of selling yourself, I know a couple good resume writing services who can help.  They're worth the cost (or rather investment!)

"How much does it pay?"

I don't know about you (assuming an audience of hiring authorities), but when I initially pitch a job opportunity to a potential candidate and the first thing they respond with is, "How much does it pay?", that kind of rubs me the wrong way.  The odds of me seriously considering this person for my client basically fall off the edge of a cliff.  Sure, $$$ is an important aspect to an employee/employer relationship, but in my experience when it is the predominant motivator for a person, then they'll not only join my client because of the $$$, but they'll also leave my client for more $$$.

I've responded to that question at times with, "Well, it doesn't pay anything until you get the job."  In reality, most jobs pay based on what someone brings to the table.  I have no idea what my client would be willing to pay you.  I haven't discussed your background with them yet, nor have they even interviewed you yet.  Sure, they might have a budgeted range (with perhaps some wiggle room) for the position, but I'm not going to share that with any candidates.  If I say they'll pay between $70-$90k, then 9 times out of 10 the person on the other end of the phone only hears the $90k figure.  And that puts both parties in a bad situation when it really does come time for offer negotiations.

It's typically a better approach for me to find out where the candidate has been from a compensation standpoint, and where he or she needs to be for opportunities to make sense.  Tell me more about your compensation history (salary, bonus, car, etc..).  Then I can see if we're in the same ballpark of where my client wants to pay without getting into the situation I described a moment ago.

Director of Internet Marketing - Cincinnati, OH

Position Title:  Director of Internet Marketing

Position Reports To: President/Owner

Position Supervises: 2 employees, 2 contractors

Budget Responsibility:   Yes

Role Summary:

As Director of Internet Marketing, you will be responsible for directing and overseeing the organization’s initiatives to grow the audience and the traffic across our network. This role is a key to achieving our vision of being the premier network of vertically-targeted, community-driven online properties. The techniques will include search engine optimization (SEO), paid search, email marketing, and affiliate program management. The successful candidate will be passionate about delivering measurable results, and they will embrace the challenge of staying abreast of best practices in this rapidly evolving field.

• Tracking and analyzing traffic data

• Creating and managing the marketing budget.

Primary Job Functions and Contributions:

Manage, lead, and develop the Internet marketing team
• Set goals, conduct performance reviews, coach and develop iNET’s Internet marketing team
• Recruit, hire and build the team to keep up with iNET’s aggressive growth
• Develop and implement training programs to keep the team current in a rapidly changing field

Develop and execute marketing plans that expand iNET’s communities, increase traffic, and improve the clients’ results. This may include:
• Search engine optimization campaigns
• Paid advertising campaigns including paid search, link buys, display ads, and print ads
• Customer communication including email newsletters, seminars, and direct mail

Develop and execute product launch plans. This may include:
• Product positioning
• Promotional plans
• Press and analyst relations
• Collateral development

Secondary Job Functions and Contributions:
• Track and analyze marketing data
• Create and manage the marketing budget
• Assist with corporate marketing

Minimum Competencies:

Candidate must have 5+ years marketing experience including 2+ years of Internet marketing experience and 2+ years of solid team management and leadership experience. Search engine optimization, pay-per-click advertising, and affiliate marketing experience strongly preferred. Additional attributes include:

• Must possess a passion for marketing
• Enjoy working on the Internet
• Seek and thrive in a high growth environment
• Want to continue growing personally and professionally
• Are comfortable using Excel and basic statistics
• Ability to exercise common sense
• Excellent writing, marketing savvy, computer and Internet skills
• Knowledge of web analytics applications

One-Size Doesn't Fit All in 3rd Party Recruiting

I've learned over my 7-year career that some hiring authories are under the impression that recruiting firms are inflexible, rigid entities who try to ram square pegs in round holes.  That their only purpose is to refer resumes and if someone is hired then pay them an exorbitant fee ranging between 20-35% of the person's salary.  Let me explain what causes me to make that assertion...

I've had a couple initial discovery conversations with prospective client companies over the past few weeks where the first questions out of the client's mouths are, "What are your fees?", "What does your process look like?" and "How big is your database?"  Well, those are all good questions, but they were posed at the absolutely wrong time in the conversation.  When someone does this, I know right away that they've had experience working with a 3rd-party contingency recruiter before.  I know this because 95% of the traditional recruiting firms out there work according to a sliding scale fee schedule based on percentages of the candidate's first year salary (which I'm not sure how basing a fee on salary makes any sense, but I'll save that for another discussion).  They also have a structured "process" they follow which has been ingrained via training in every new recruiter working a desk at that firm.  Assuming that I charge a placement fee based on percentage of salary, I've also had people's first question be, "What's your fee percentage?"  Whoaaa, hold on buddy!  We're getting ahead of ourselves here.  I don't even know what problem(s) you have yet that I'm supposed to solve!  Tell me more about the challenges you're experiencing with your talent acquisition (and perhaps retention) game plan...  Then I can work on drafting a solution and proposal for you.

1) Are you having difficulty sourcing candidates?
2) Are you having problems processing incoming resumes/candidates?
3) Are you spending too much money on job postings?
4) Are you looking to increase efficiencies across your whole process?
5) Are you having issues with your temporary workforce structure?
6) Are you looking to ramp up hiring by 50% over the next 12 months and need to expand recruiting capacity?
7) Are you simply looking to fill a single high-level position and that's it?
8) Are you looking to leverage our investment of resources so you don't have to build an in-house operation from scratch?

These are all problems that require different solutions.  And the full-service recruitment process outsourcing firms should be able to custom tailor a program to meet those needs.  The pricing structure is going to vary based on the solution (eg. a 12-month RPO engagement isn't going to be based on a percentage of a hire's salary.  That would be a very expensive proposition for the client if they had to pay 25% on 50 new hires.  An RPO firm can dramatically reduce costs because they can realize efficiencies in working for a specific client as a partner).

It's important to keep in mind when working with a recruiter that it's not necessarily an "all or none" proposition.  There's many levels of service below the traditional 25% of salary mindset that many folks have when considering using a 3rd-party recruiter.