White Pages and Transparent Thoughts

WhitePages is hiring. We have seven open positions across the company ranging from Ruby on Rails developers to Sales folks across the country to name just a few.

This past year, I have worked with a number of people who were trying to land jobs. Not just any job, but jobs in specific industries and even specific companies. I quickly noticed a few common mistakes folks were making as they went about their job search, even if through no fault of their own.

Even in a tough economy, there are creative ways to find leads for employment.

Many of the folks I’ve worked with relied on looking for job leads via the usual sources. Job boards, online newspapers, and going to recruiters. Here’s what I think about the following:

Job Boards: In my opinion, they will show you what companies are hiring, but I don’t know of very many people that actually have gotten jobs via a job board.  Companies use Job Boards to keep their names out there, but I don’t have confidence that they are going through the resume’s that are submitted for individual positions.  The exception to this is Craigslist.  I am continually surprised to the effectiveness of this non-descript classified, especially contract positions.

Recruiters: Recruiters are good people to know, but at the end of the day, they aren’t trying to get YOU a job, they are trying to fill a position for the hiring company.  They are PAID by the hiring company.  They can only help you if your skill set matches their IMMEDIATE needs.

SO, WHAT CAN YOU DO?

Use your network: I know folks who have sent an email with resume to everyone they know.  Explain what you are looking for, what types of companies or positions you are interested in.  Write this in a language that EVERYONE can understand.  Not everyone in your network is in your industry or as technical as you.  Keep it simple.  Remember, it only takes one person to hear of an opening and yes, it works!

If you have a significant other, use their network: Your S.O’s network for immediate friends may be the same as yours, but their business contacts and secondary friends will be MUCH different.  Most people I work with do NOT leverage the Significant Others network.

Within your network you know people that ARE connectors: These folks know people because of their profession or are just VERY SOCIAL.  Because of their professions, real estate agents, dentists and the like know a lot of folks.  Leverage this group.  Everyone knows someone who is VERY SOCIAL.  A “connector”.  Approach these folks.  They usually receive personal satisfaction in helping out others so don’t feel like you are bothering them.

Post on social networks. Try Facebook, Linked in, Twitter and other professional networks. Leverage these social networks. Most networks have a feature where you can be introduced to someone if they are a 2 or 3 degrees removed from the person you are trying to meet, and sometimes you can even message them directly.

Offer a bounty: Offer to buy a steak dinner or a night on the town to anyone who provides you a lead to a job that you are hired into.

TOP TALENT KNOWS TOP TALENT

This is V.2 of “It’s not What you know, it’s Who you know”.  All companies pride themselves on having smart employees. At WhitePages, we pride ourselves on our top tier talent. We hire “A” players who are innovative, out of the box thinkers and recognize that our culture isn’t for everyone. We are Agile, we are nimble and we move fast. We are looking for like minded folks to join our family.

This past year, 33% of our hires came from employee referrals. At the end of the day, no one understands our culture better than someone who currently works here. Not all tech companies are alike or created equal.  What does it take to be successful here?  What personality type will work best with any particular hiring manager?  Is our overall comp philosophy a fit for the candidate?

We have in house recruiters whose networks are vast, but we also like to leverage the networks of all 140 of our employees. We have even added a tab to our Facebook page so that prospective employees can better navigate and connect with the application process, and current employees can share jobs they think their networks would care to know about. This is why we stress our employee referral program so much. We not only offer a cash bounty AND an iPad as a referral bonus, but we also offer iPads to 2nd degree referrals. We value our employee networks so much, if you are a friend of a WhitePages employee and refer someone who is hired, we give both the employee and the friend a iPad!

How many of us have taken a class on “how to land a job”, “how to write a resume”, or even “how to interview”?  Over the next few months, I plan to add to this post and provide advice and insight from the not just the company, but from our recruiters’ point of view as they go about hiring the best candidates. Stay tuned…

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Today, we’re excited to announce the official launch of DealPop, your local source for the best insider deals on both your favorite and undiscovered places, right in your own neighborhood. DealPop is all about discovery, and it’s our hope that you’ll get out there and enjoy discovering your city at a great discount!

With DealPop, WhitePages now brings you a different deal on all kinds of cool stuff—You not only get incredible values, you get to discover great new things to see, cool places to eat and awesome places to shop right in your own city. We like to think of it as our way of making you insiders in your own city.

DealPop launches in Seattle with a deal on sweet treats from Yellow Leaf Cupcakes

And the way it works is simple:

• Just purchase your deal on www.DealPop.com.

• Then print out your deal voucher and take it to the the restaurant, club, theater, or store to redeem it.

• You can share your deal with your friends through Facebook, Twitter, or email too. Odds are if you wanted it, they’ll probably be into it, too.

DealPop is immediately available in Seattle and will launch with popular local favorites such as the Yellow Leaf Cupcake Company, the Alibi Room, Twist, Mad Pizza, Knows Perfume, and Unexpected Productions. DealPop will expand to major metropolitan areas in the coming months.

In case you’re wondering why we decided to enter this space, consider this (and read Kevin Nakao’s post from last week): We’re a top-50 online and mobile website where more than 20 million people per month visit to find personal and business contact information. We thought it’d make sense to use our knowledge of local businesses to hook people up with deals of up to 70 percent off. With each deal available for purchase for a set number of hours, you’re able to share with your friends and get out there an explore your city.

We realize many of you actively participate in other sites similar to ours. Here’s how we’re special:

• Discover cool things to do and hot places to go based on popular local business searches on WhitePages as well as picks by DealPop’s local insiders;

• The ability to share via Facebook, Twitter and email, turning the deal into a social activity that can be enjoyed with friends or family;

• The opportunity to receive DealPop points that can be applied to a future purchase by sharing a great deal with someone who then signs up and purchases that deal;

• Access to helpful customer service representatives to answer any questions about each daily deal;

• Unlike other social buying sites, everyone gets the deal at DealPop because there isn’t a minimum number of people who need to purchase before the deal goes through;

• Email reminders before the expiration date of a voucher to encourage consumers to use their purchases

We’re excited to bring you deals from the places you love, and help you discover the places you will love. Visit www.dealpop.com and let us know what you think!

Twitter: DealPop

Blog: blog.dealpop.com

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