It took us a while - well, all of 10 seconds - to weedle out of Thayer why she was wearing a Cheshire cat grin. Check out the article in its full glory and get her insight on getting into the games industry, whatever your qualifications.
Is there a dearth of candidates in the digital industry? Is it hindering the growth of the sector? And what do employers, recruitment consultants and HR professionals think is going to happen next year?
All questions that we talk about constantly here at Chinwag Towers, but we thought with the year rapidly drawing to a close, it’s high-time we put these issues out to a wider audience with a quick survey. It’s designed to provide a quick barometer on what 2007 held, and what’s in store for 2008.
This short survey only takes a couple of minutes to fill out and there’s an option to get the results emailed to you when we’ve crunched the numbers. If you’re involved in recruitment in the digital sector, whether directly, as a recruiter or if you’re involved in recruiting for the digital department of a company, we’d love to get your input.
As always, if you’ve got any opinions, thoughts, comments or sugesstions, we’d love to hear from you. Feel free to comment below or drop us an email.
So, don’t hesitate, why not fill in the survey now?
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Update:
The next Chinwag Live session will be addressing this issue on 29th January - Chinwag Live: Skills Emergency
Update:
The results of the survey are now available online and for download (PDF).
This has nothing to do with recruitment. If you’ve ever had to talk a parent, grandparent or technophobe through any kind of tech support issue, then this video will really resonate.
Can’t wait to show my mum. After I’ve explained that both the monitor and the PC need to be turned on before she can see anything. Again.
Thanks to the King of Widgets for bringing this to my attention.
According to this article from Articlesgratuit.com, Wednesday morning is the sweet spot for getting hired. The article goes on to say that:
The best time to interview is between 9:30 and 10:30 am.
This is apparently because your energy levels and those of the person ineterviewing you, are higher in the morning - which makes sense. There are a whole list of interview tips too, some of which are quite amusing!
So, you now know the day that you’ll get the job offer, but you really need to think of some excuses to get some mornings between 9:30 and 10:30 off work…..aha! The chaps at About.com have handy list for you to peruse, so now you are all set.
Happy job hunting! Why not start here?
It’s a general consensus among recruiters and companies alike that there is distinct shortage of qualified staff in the digital industry. Across Digital the lack of skilled professionals is causing concern.
How do we resolve this issue? Can we encourage professionals in traditional industries to come into the light and join the digital fun? Are training and information the answer to the problem?
In January 2008, Chinwag Live plans to run an event which focuses on the skill shortage issue. Attending will be speakers from across the industry, who will debate and create the best solutions to the crisis. Further information about this event can be obtained from baz@chinwag.com 0207 183 2923
Chinwag Jobs will also be getting involved by launching an exciting new content feature early in 2008. The monthly feature, Career Profile, will focus on a particular job title within the Digital sector. We will speak to seasoned professionals about what their typical working day entails, how they got started and their advice to others looking to enter or move into the industry. Career Profile will focus on a different profession within the Digital sector each month, with a testimonial and career overview from experienced industry types.
02071002034.
Like comedy, timing is everything. It appears that employers and recruiters could be missing job hunters when they’re most receptive to ads.
According to research from Reed Employment (via Recruiter Magazine), 21% of recruiters are posting vacancies at 5pm on Fridays. That’s certainly true from the experience of many recruiters who are under the kosh to get their roles advertised before the weekend. Anyone whose seen the Chinwag Jobs office late on a Friday afternoon can testify to that fact.
However, a recent 12-month survey conducted by Jobpilot (via VNUnet.com), shows that candidates are actively job hunting between 10am and 3.30pm on Tuesdays. The Reed Employment survey reports that Monday and Tuesday lunchtimes are the sweet spots for filling empty vacancies. Either way, it’s the opposite end of the week.
Anecdotal experience from Chinwag Jobs backs this up, with interest in recruitment tailing off over the weekend, with surges during the first three days of the week. Perhaps the best advice is to head out to the pub on Friday afternoon (our fave haunts here, here and here) and save posting those job ads until Monday morning, when you’ll be fresh and so will the candidates.
Sit in an interview and you just know, at some point, you’ll be asked, “So, where do you see yourself in 5 years’ time?”. It hangs in the air, waiting for a response. A careful pitch is required to make clear you’re neither an ambition-less worker-drone nor Attila-the-ambitious happy to use the careers of colleagues to climb the career ladder.
How would you answer that question, if it’s posed for the new media world? It’s 2012 and whilst the recriminations about ill-prepared venues are flying, what’s the state of the Internet biz?
Is Facebook still around, or has it been swallowed into MSN? Does online advertising still exist, or have we all become Fan-sumers, ready to hawk our favourite products, brands and artists to our friends and family? Has everything finally gone mobile? Will I be able to actually synchronise my phone and my email without fits of swearing? What does the future hold?
Good question. Which is why we’ve put together our latest Chinwag Live Q&A session: “Xmas Futures, Crystal Balls?” on 5th Dec in central London. We’ve asked our panel of experts to don their time machines and peer into the future. Why not come along and see if you agree with their predictions, better still, what are yours?
The panel features:
This Chinwag Live event is kindly sponsored by bigmouthmedia and mediaCentrix.
Tickets are still available at the special early-bird rate of £25+VAT (until 30th Nov), but they’re going quickly, so it’s probably a good idea to book early.
If you can’t make it along, but would like to share your predictions, we’d still like to hear them. We’ll share the best ones at the event, so if you’d like to email or comment on the post, please feel free.
We came across this little gem on the Digital Recruiting blog this morning and it really made us chuckle!
Video sharing platform Vimeo put this video together to demonstrate their work environment and we think it works a treat 
