Genotrope Gets Some Ink

We were pleased to see Genotrope receive some positive press in a recent Mass High Tech article.

Hiring strategies shift toward social media

We have been watching the number of positions available at start-ups creep up by about 100 every week for the past month and a half, indicating the end of job depletion and the beginning of a return normalcy.

Our timing might be right on the money for a change. We just introduced the new job posting functionality for companies and user ability to find jobs at companies within their professional graph, as hiring increases but the need to keep costs low is still high priority.

Major Rollout of Job Postings and Search

Although we do a new build almost every week, today we have rolled out major new functionality.

We believe heartily in the process of “finding the company first and then the job”. But it is swimming upstream against an industry that is built around the job posting.

Candidates look for jobs and Companies want to post jobs. So instead of fighting against this fact, we have released job posting capability.

Now companies can register with Genotrope and manage their company record, post news as well as create and edit job postings.

The difference is that now when Candidates are viewing the list of job posting the Genotrope Icon will be present in the job listing to indicate companies where the candidate also has an affinity match through their professional graph. These jobs will be the better fit matches when compared to matches done strictly by position or industry.

Along with the new job postings, we have added major new search functionality.  Both Browsing and MyGraph mode on the FindJobs page can be searched by zipcode proximity, Industry and Company Status. This means you can slice and dice the company database to find very specific matches, such as all B2B companies with a series A investment that are 25 miles from my home town.

One last thing, registered users will notice the new home page not only displays All Recent Job Postings, it also shows the New Jobs from Companies in your Graph.

These changes reflect the fact that the job market is picking up and Genotrope’s increased focus on helping People and Companies connect.

Thanks to Ganesh and his team for a release well done.

Register Company New Feature

Now it is possible to register your company in Genotrope. Once registered, your company administrator is now the only one able to add or update information to your company page.

Registration if free and allows companies to more actively target potential candidates. We currently offer sponsorship of our home page, VC Directory and blog.

In the future we will introduce a subscription model which will include job postings.

The Talent Target page shows the list of companies connected to yours through our graphing algorithm. Users with these companies in their work history will be updated with your company’s news and jobs and receive a feed of this information.

The Hiring Target section allows your company to reach users at competitors or companies deemed to have quality potential candidates that are not in your Company’s Graph. Once added users with these companies in their work history will be updated and able to view your companies news and jobs and receive a feed of this information.

Make sure to frequently add Press or news announcements as well as jobs from your website. This will maintain a steady stream of information going out to your targeted talent pool.  Add your career or job page to these links. Use the title Careers, and the link will always appear at the top of the list. Otherwise entries are in  chronological order.

Search by Location New Feature addition

We are pleased to announce that now you can filter Companies by proximity to your location on your Find Jobs page.  The default zipcode is taken from your profile.

We have also added the ability to filter by Industry and Investment status on both the MyGraph and Browsing lists. That is the good news.

The bad news is that not all companies have address information in their records. We are working hard to populate that information. Please lend a helping hand and add company address info for your company as well as when you are browsing around the database.

A Few Problems after Switch to New ISP

Our move to a better service provider has gone smoothly. There may be a lingering issue with the redirect, but that will be cleared up soon.

Unfortunately, some of our new features have regressed, with some build mishaps.

One of the new features is the ability to filter your FindJobs list based upon location. We hope to restore the  location filter later on this week.

Thanks for your patience. If you find any other problems, please let us know.

New Linkedin view of Companies

We have a couple of things to tell you about this month.

Now registered users can view their Linkedin connections to a company by clicking the icon next to the companies name on the Companies Page. This powerful feature will help you discover if you know anyone at your target companies so when you you will have an internal contact to find out the scoop on the work environment.

You may also have noticed the Feedback icon   in the bottom right corner. We always welcome input and with this addition, we hope to make it very easy to send us your comments, suggestions or problems.

New Features for October 2008

We heard from our users that hadn’t yet worked at a funded or connected startup that the Find Jobs page was less than fulfilling. Thanks to you guys for the feedback.

Check out the Find Jobs page and you will see that in addition to the companies in your MyGraph listing showing companies connected to your work history, we have added a browsing feature. When browsing, users can filter companies by Industry as well as Funding Status. This feature lets you go beyond your professional network to slice and dice the market and view only the sectors and stages you want to see. As you view the list, the MyGraph icon lets you know when that company is in your graph.

Another cool feature we have added is the detail window to the right where a short company summary will appear, as you mouse over a company of interest.

Now it is much easier to compile a list of interesting companies and apply to each directly.

Let us know what you think.

Sorry, were having problems with IE rendering the company graph

We are working on the problem and will resolve it as quickly as we can. The problem we are seeing is when an unregistered user views the Companies page in IE, the graph does not complete. It happens randomly and often. A refresh sometimes works, but unfortunately not always.

You can still see the parent and child relationships, just not the cool little graph. For now you can either use Firefox or become a registered user. The second option will provide you some cool stuff, like being able to contribute to the database, feeds about your connected companies as well as powerful search ability for finding your next career move.

Sorry for the inconvenience.

Do we really need better Job Descriptions?

I have recently read a couple of blog posts at some new job board companies concerning the need for better job descriptions. I am wondering if that is really the case?

Do we need job descriptions at all? We’ll leave that topic for another day.

Does a detailed job description effectively target the exact talent being sought or screen them out?

My experience has shown that a significant percentage of the time, the hire that is made does not match the job description. Why is this?

I. The requirement changes over time.

II. The job description was the “kitchen sink” variety that actually described three positions

III. The company hired the best talent not the best “fit” to the description

IV. The great software engineer didn’t apply when they read the term “rockstar or ninja” in the description.

We think about recruiting using the concepts of Attractors and Promoters.

Attractors are what draw people towards your opportunity. The magnets pulling in candidates such as the background of the company including the stories about the founders, the “cool” product, the interesting or difficult problem being solved, the exceptional work environment, the high quality team and the investors. Anything that makes the company attractive to potential employees.

Promoters are the ways you get the word out about your company. Blogs, articles and media exposure, Events, and advertising. Job postings are one of your promoters.

So how do you make your job postings most effective as a promoter of your company?

First of all consider how they will be viewed. Job postings usually come in large groups as a list of results from a search. Therefore, to be effective, bringing the viewer to your site is the primary goal. This way you will have their attention and a much higher chance of generating interest.

So is a long and detailed job description going to the most effective means to get the viewer interested? Maybe not. A job posting may be better used as a description of your company, using your attractors, and a succinct overview describing the position. Candidates already know what the general requirements are for their current job. Too much detail regarding duties and may send a candidate packing because they do not fit that description, even though they could do the job.

Potential employees make the decision to work at your company based on the quality of the people they will be working with (the Company), the vision and problem the company is solving and if what you want them to accomplish is something they will love to do.

Maybe it is a semantics issue, but this information is not going to be contained in a job description. Better to write copy that makes your company interesting and attractive to potential employees. People go to work at Companies, not jobs, so spend your posting real estate mostly on promoting the attractive qualities of your company and less on detailed job descriptions.

New Improvements for July 08

A few things to check out.

New VC Directory Page

Registered User Home Page now shows new companies added to your graph as well as articles and career postings.

Weekly count of start up jobs in the Boston area on Home Page.

Tell a friend link on Company Page now makes it easy to alert your friends to companies you think they may find interesting.

We are continually adding and improving. let us know what you think.