I’m embarrassed. Horrified and embarrassed.

It surely can’t have been 8 months since I last wrote on this ‘ere blog?  :-|

I mean I thought a month or two. Maybe something just before Christmas, but 8 months!!!

How many times have I talked and presented over the years about the dangers of the blog graveyard – and there’s ours, languishing without so much as a “we just launched this facility” or “guess who we’re working with?” or even “Happy Christmas”. tut tut tut.

So where from here. It’s all a bit awkward really. Like bumping into that person you had a bit of a passionate thing with for a week or two, but then missed a night, forgot to call the next day and then kinda got on with life until there they are staring right at you in the corridor to the toilet at the pub where you’d gone for a quick drink. I mean it’s not like there’s anyone else – and they still look good (well, “not so bad  - all things considered” in the case of this blog/site), and you’d actually still like to pick up where you left off, but how??????

(and BTW – that last analogy bit – it was all made up. Never happened to me like that. Not at at all. Must have read it somewhere )

Perhaps I’ll come back over the coming weeks (well – best intentions and all that) and fill in some of the pieces more thoroughly, but here are some of the highlights from 8 months (8 MONTHS!!). And if you’re a client reading this and think “how come we’re not featuring in that then?!” it’s probably because I’m building up to a big piece on our project or else I’m getting approval from your marketing department to include you (but drop me a line and I’ll confirm which – it’s almost certainly one of those two reasons – honest

SafestoreJobs – we host the entire careers section.

MonsoonJobs – no, seriously, ‘ickle us! We rebuilt and host the entire Monsoon Accessorize careers site and ATS

Shaun joined – he’s a baby developer, but he ROCKS!

ComicRelief – they probably won’t have any jobs on there as they’re a bit busy right now (Red Nose day this Friday you see).

HarringtonBoyd - a site we did from root to branch (you’ll get the pun if you look at the site) for this new SAP & Finance  focussed Recruitment Consultancy – so from the logo and letterhead to the site and facility underneath.

WWT – the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust (them of Slimbridge and other twitchery type places).

GolshieldCareers – “patience is a virtue”. That is all

National Skills Academy for Power website – will definitely have to write up more about this, it went live last week though so let’s let the dust settle first.

We’ve done some smaller campaign type facilities along the way for  Admiral, Barclays, Clarks, Newport City Council, RBI and Tai Calon amongst others.

We’ve done lots more with existing clients such as LSG and continue to support a number of clients who we are chuffed are becoming long serving by any businesses standing such as CIFF, Heinz and WeightWatchers.

Christmas saw us giving £250 to Comic Relief and £250 to Marie Curie from the clicks of those we wished the best of the season to (see the original page here).

And then bang up to date: This week we have two new members who have joined our team – take a bow James & Karen – and in 3 weeks time, exactly a year after moving into this office from being a home based business, we should be moving into a new HARBOUR HQ just around the corner (in Tiptree that is – which, trust me, almost certainly is not  ”just around the corner” from you).

Oh – and I’ve just spent 2 fantastic days in deepest darkest Somerset deconstructing the recruitment process with HR & Line Managers at Clarks (yes, that global footwear retailer!) who we are delighted to be working with to build a new site and all singing all dancing ATS for. Definitely much much more coming about that project as it takes shape through to delivery.

Right – I think that’s most things. I’m exhausted just writing that all up (& I’ve still got some of my day job to crack on with), so hopefully my heart felt apology for not paying you the attention you deserve has struck the right chord, you can see it was indeed nothing personal and that life really did just seem to “get in the way” – and maybe we can do this again sometime soon? Hope so -’cos it really has been nice to see you again

OK – so things are busy.

Damned busy. You know they (whoever they are) say “it never rains but it pours”, well at the moment I’m delighted to say we’re seemingly stepping into monsoon season. That’s why I think it’s time to be realistic with myself. Because whilst it might not show it, writing blog posts often takes me ages. Certainly far too long considering what else I should/could be doing and the number of early morning finishes I’m currently clocking up most weeks. But it’s good to talk. I certainly believe it’s good to blog, because it’s good to keep people up to date with what we’re up to (well, my Mum at least), so perhaps it’s time to change the way I use this ‘ere particular web 2.0 (does using that expression date me?) medium and see if that works better.

So I’m going to try and keep it succinct. I’m gonna TRY OK? No promises, but lets see.

For starters a pop quiz. I’ve just come off a call to a prospective customer. The technology of the web meeting didn’t go so well TBH, but we muddled through. Anyway – the feedback on our core product (HARBOUR ATS) was very encouraging. This person had been using a “leading global talent management software” facility in their previous role as well as having undertaken a very extensive ATS provider market assessment a year or two ago. So see if you can spot which comments related to HARBOUR ATS and which the other product(s):

• “Wow, I love it”
• “Clearly execution is informed by good digital principles, which is refreshing to see”
• “Love the intuitiveness”
• “It looks sh*t”
• “Streets ahead of anything [sic. other ATS'] that I’ve seen”

And for an extra bonus point – see if you can tell me which other ATS a soon to be announced customer was describing when they said that “using it is like rolling over a corpse to try and find a candidate”.

No prizes – all for fun – but answers on a postcard please

It’s all been a bit busy of late, which is why my blogging has been neglected (what? you didn’t notice! , but there are some things that you just have to stop and acknowledge. And what better to acknowledge than us moving into our 3rd year of trading.

2 years old eh?! Where the flippin heck did that evaporate to? It wasn’t long after we started out on this little (ad)venture that the news turned to the somewhat cataclysmic global economic tailspin – the worst since the 2nd World War they said. Oh great. Brilliant. So we start a business that services the recruitment sector at one of the most difficult economic times for a century. Just fan-bloody-tastic.

And apparently it might not be over yet. But whether or not we hit the much talked about double dip recession, it’s still a tough climate to be operating in that’s for sure – and you’d think the long established ATS vendors have probably had a royal sized kick up they’re collected backside too. So over the coming months I expect the competition to be doing all that their bloated, legacy-code-limited carcasses can to raise their game too. Interesting & challenging times for sure – but when you’ve known no different then I think it could be argued that these are indeed ideal times in which to start a business. Certainly we know how important every single client relationship is – whatever their size or spend.

Sure, we still lose out from time to time for being “too young a business” and therefore in some people’s eyes a risky proposition, but despite that our portfolio has grown exceptionally well by anyone’s measure, proving our delivery credibility long the way. Our clients are giving great feedback, each one willing to stand as a reference, and with every new requirement HARBOUR goes from strength to strength. I mean who’d have thought that 2 years in we’d have brands such as Heinz, Weight Watchers, The Environment Agency, Kimberly Clark & Comic Relief being delighted by what we do. Not to mention having a server established in China just waiting for our first full project there to get the sign off.

There’s been plenty that we’ve learned the hard way, and there’ll of course be plenty more to learn over the coming years. But it’s with lots of excitement that we look ahead. Having our own office has been a great leap in the right direction (let’s just say the novelty of home working very much lost its shine for me). We have a support team in place who have so quickly become embedded with the business it’s hard to remember a time when they weren’t here – or indeed consider how the business would run without them being there. And some wonderful client relationships blossoming, with a couple more (fingers crossed) very close to being announced.

In some ways Tony & I of course feel like a proud Parents looking at what we’ve achieved, but at the same time it’s as much us who are the toddler here, so the luxury of standing back and admiring isn’t one we can really afford – it’s about concentrating on the next step and the next and the next – ensuring we continue our progress smoothly and without coming a cropper on the corner of a coffee table that we didn’t spot.

Two hellos / welcomes from us today.

Firstly I’d like you all to meet Amy. “If it seems too good to be true then it most probably is” is something I’ve often heard said – well we’re hoping that Amy proves “them” wrong. A trilingual Project Manager with specific Recruitment and Start Up experience, who’s already spent some time using HARBOUR ATS and has experience of other ATS’ to bring to the party too. Oh – and she lives in our neck of the woods. I’ve had to make some tough calls in setting up this business – but I’m sure you’ll agree that this hire probably had to be one of the easiest. This is a great hire for our clients (existing & potential) as Amy can not only assist in delivery but also bring fresh perspective and relevant experience to the table, but I’m mostly hoping she’ll help maintain whatever shred of sanity I still have left 

Secondly – say hi to Kimberly. Kimberly Clark that is (of Kleenex and Andrex (amongst others) fame).

Screen grab of Kimberly-ClarkGraduate.com - Graduate recruitment site underpinned by HARBOUR ATS

www.Kimberly-ClarkGraduates.com – A nicely integrated grad recruitment site underpinned by a quickly turned around HARBOUR ATS – it’s so beautiful when things fit together so nicely it brings a tear to my eyes (reach for Kleenex – as the strapline says “it’s time to let it out”).

Quite a perky start to the month of March really

Someone commented to me before Christmas on how, having won a mile-stone piece of business, they were surprised that we didn’t seem to allow ourselves any time to enjoy the moment. It’s true – we barely acknowledged let alone particularly celebrated the success.

The reality is that time for reflection and self congratulation is, as a start up business, something I consider to be a luxury, all be it one we’re working hard to earn. And whilst I can’t tell you whether this is something that is reflective of the current economic market or just the way that I approach building a business, what I do know is that right now just about every moment we have is about delivery (not that I’m in any way grumbling of course, but this also explains the tardy blogging of late too).

But it was in creating a presentation for some potential new business at the end of last week that I allowed myself a little swell of pride as I added a new slide to the now quite estalbished “About us” section. Up until now our client references have always had to be about the clients we’ve worked with in the past – something we termed our “pedigree”. And rightly too as we’ve delivered site’s and systems for some pretty impressive brands over the years (as displayed on our About Us page (note to self – make time to refresh that now as well)).

Since HARBOUR (our Applicant Tracking & Content Management  platform) was “born” and became pretty much the sole focus for the business, we’ve been working pretty damned hard to both evolve the system and build a portfolio – it was prepping for Friday’s meeting that helped me realise we’re probably not doing so bad, all things considered. Our first HARBOUR ATS facility went live back in August, and since then, through the worst economic depression since the second world war,  here’s who have used and proved it to date:

HARBOUR Clients (so far)

So whilst we rub our bleary eyes coming out of a very busy January and muster the energy for what could be an even busier February, during which we’ll also hopefully bolster our team with a new member, I hope you’ll allow us a bit of a public smile to ourselves. And if you don’t hear me waxing lyrical about how we’ve done this for these and that for those and delighted such and such over something or other – don’t mistake it for me not being immensely proud of all that we’ve done so far within our business – we’re just building a client at a time and know we’re only really as good as our last delivery.

Towards the end of last year we set about recruiting to expand our development capability (which has, thankfully and with some great results & delighted clients, been working flat out for some time). I can confirm what I’ve read other people reporting to be true, in that irrespective of the swelling ranks of the unemployed, when you’re looking for talent you’ve still got to search damned hard (although ironically in this instance it turned out we actually hired one of the very first applicants).

I have to say as well though,  the quality of many of the applications was appalling. I wonder if anyone could create an index for the %age of job seekers who deserve to stay where they are/without a job on the basis of number of random applications outside of skill set they make (many have a clear inability to read a simple job description), terrible overall presentation (be that CV or answering questions in legible English) and overall seeming apathy towards life?!  :-/

So firstly let’s welcome Brett on board. A few weeks in and he’s clearly a nice guy who, I think, has settled in well (certainly there’s plenty to keep him occupied) and quickly become part of the team, but most importantly he clearly “LOVES code” – which is what you want in a developer in our opinion. We all spend more than enough time doing our day to day, so having a passion for what you do makes such a difference to both your life and the end result, so here’s to many years of keeping his passion stoked and delivering great facilities and service for our clients.

Secondly – I thought I’d just share with you some of the recruitment MI, because that is, after all, what we built HARBOUR ATS to do, and because it’s good to share .

The media channels used were: our website; twitter; google docs; PHP forums; Gumtree; CWjobs; Planet Recruit (& Hot Group network); Jobserve.We paid for CW Jobs, Planet Recruit and tried the new Pay Per Application model with Jobserve (limiting it to 10).

The specifics were that this was a Junior Developer role in North Essex (although we were pretty flexible about remote working).

The applications came from:

• 3dmarcomms.com – 3
• Jobserve – 6
• Gumtree – 9
• Planetrecruit (et al) – 12
• CWjobs – 35

The campaign MI headlines are:

• Worth testing: Planet Recruit – 1; 3DMarComms.com – 2; Jobserve – 3; Gumtree – 5; CWjobs – 15
• Telephone interview: Jobserve – 1; Gumtree – 1; 3DMarComms – 2; CWjobs – 2
• Talent Banked: CWjobs – 2; 3DMarcomms – 3
• Hire: Gumtree (specific cost = £0)

My personal feedback:

I thought that Planet Recruit was, to be blunt, absolute bobbins. The team there were very nice and tried hard (with a lot of additional collateral), but for this role I was very disappointed with such a poor response (particularly in quality – but also in volume, which may, considering the quality, have been a blessing I guess). My conclusion is that Planet Recruit (& network) has a very poor for Junior PHP Developer reach, particularly in the East of England.

I didn’t take to the Jobserve experience at all really. The lack of ability to integrate directly into an ATS (something I’ve long rallied against as a real barrier to use on this site) proved an issue here where out of 10 applications I paid for (on the PPA model) 4 then couldn’t be arsed to complete a simple application form I directed them to (although of course I’m sure some bright spark at Jobserve will try and sell this as a useful “motivational fit” sift :-s). However when you’re on a Pay Per Application basis, that kind of lazy candidate reflects very badly on the site. The lack of human involvement I also found made it a poor overall posting experience & actually as it all worked out rather expensive for only 3 OK applicants (despite the filters set in the Jobserve facility) who were even worth inviting to partake in our online test. On this experience (and if I can make the time I’ll blog some more on this for sure ) – Pay/Cost Per Application isn’t a model I’ll be looking to use again (or at least certainly not on the Jobserve site).

I have to admit to always having like CWJobs as a site – but perhaps the thing I liked best about it was the fact that it generally delivered for my clients in the past. And I wasn’t let down this time either. Good service that delivered good volume and decent quality of applicants. Thanks guys.

And what can you say about Gumtree? Well for me it just emphasised what’s so difficult about the crowded web, proving that you have to do your damndest to think like a candidate in a very noisy market place – in this instance thinking local to “get our man”.

I also, of course, had quite a lot of interest from recruitment consultants trying to sell me their “stella” candidates. There’s probably a blog post there too in regards to how important it is to get the attention to detail right first time every time, particularly when you’re trying to open a door that’s pretty firmly closed anyway. All I can say is there are a lot of Recruitment Consultants out there who will rightfully (and hopefully) go out of business if their terrible attempts to win my business accurately demonstrates their overall integrity, ability & professionalism. However, it’s always good to find the exception that proves the rule – and I was so impressed with Kirsty Brewer’s quirky, personal & through that ultimately stand-out approach (she’s from Senitor (although god knows their website needs some serious overhaul!!)) – that I’ve made sure I’ve kept her details just in case.

Anyway – that’s more than enough reminiscing about how we stepped into this year. It’s back to the grind stone, but all very much feeling glad that we have a grindstone to return to and that it’s thankfully seeing some serious action already this year

Are you:

• looking for an opportunity to prove yourself?
• interested in getting in early with something that will certainly test you?
• hungry to build something you can put your mark on? Something that you can be proud of?

If you are and PHP means something different to you than the alkalinity or acidity of a swimming pool you’ve just used as a toilet, and Linux isn’t just a misspelling of a kid with a blanket in the peanuts cartoons – then we could be looking for you & you could have been waiting for us. Check out the opportunity here

One of the things that Alex and Tony told me about 3D MarComms and HARBOUR was the speed at which they could deploy a facility. And not just an off-the-shelf system, but a bespoke system designed to fit a client’s particular recruitment requirement like a glove. AND not just a great back-end , but a front-end that looks just like the rest of the clients’ site, meaning seamless integration, improving the candidate experience. AND I’ve just witnessed first hand what they mean.

So let me introduce you to our www.heinzgraduates.co.uk

Heinz Graduate Recruitment site 2009/10 (c/o ThirtyThree & 3D MarComms)

ThirtyThree created the quirky but very on brand design and our job was to create an application facility to seamlessly underpin this – and so only those of you with the keenest of eyes (fixed on the URL bar) will spot the transition to www.heinzgraduates-apply.co.uk for the application section.

Happy client and happy Ad Agency – what a nice combination.

So it seems that 3D MarComms do indeed ‘walk the walk’ as well as ‘talk the talk’, but hey – if I had doubted that I really shouldn’t be here anyway. However, it’s still good to see first hand how the 3 pillars of the 3D MarComms Ethos (Dynamic solutions; Delivery focussed; Digitally-centric) translates to delighted clients – maybe that’s the 4th D?.

Ok, so Google Wave has been released now to 100,000 people, with many more being invited as time goes by. At first, the userbase will primarily be geeks and Google fans. Nobody really knows how much Wave will evolve, or how important it will end up being. It could flop drastically and become a niche community like Orkut and Knol, or it could achieve its goals and become the de facto online communications tool. All we know at the moment is that it’s a bit slow, has gaps in browser support, and people are quite confused. But it’s fun, quirky, and here to stay.

At the time of writing this, the invites are still going out. The nominations we made as first batch users don’t appear to have been sent out yet, so Wave is currently full of strangers writing haikus, limericks and putting pins on maps together. The majority of the users don’t even realise there is a huge public scene on Wave yet (tip: search for ‘with:public’ to enter the scene, and search ‘-public’ for all your private waves) and are most likely bored of making waves on their own while waiting for their friends to join. Seems the majority of the people getting involved in the public waves were us folks from the developer sandbox, and we pretty much rehashed everything that we did before in this new system. Before long, we had FAQs, Tips and Tricks, and Keyboard Shortcut waves broadcasting their light over stormy waters. Not to mention the all-important community etiquette guidelines, which brings me onto my next point: flame wars. No corner of the internet goes unscathed from that most fundamental human desire to tell somebody just how wrong they are…

That’s right. In a wave created to share funny limericks, we have guys hurling insults over parental guidelines. But it’s not all like that – there were many examples of collaborative behaviour, and it works very well indeed. At one point, there were five people contributing to the same document – all in harmony. Correcting each others mistakes, focussing on their own little areas. While the wave was being built, there were many little blips appearing offering comments on the content, which were noted in real-time, and edits made. These were all strangers. A glimpse of the future? From my perspective, it was great to see the possibilities of shared coding as well, I hope something interesting comes from that too.

We even have robots to make it pretty for us while we type! Confusion is rife though, we’ve been handed this alien technology that goes against everything we’ve learned. One of the more popular waves (135 messages) is titled “I really don’t know yet what to use Wave for.” In the words on one fanboy: “Now all we need to do is figure out what Google wants us to do, and pray in its general direction.”

So, here at 3DMarComms, we’re looking into how we can embrace Wave into HARBOUR ATS. Let’s be honest here, our product names were just born to sail together. Ride those choppy waves into our safe harbour – right? Nomenclature aside, we think Wave is going somewhere interesting and – regardless of the hype and confusion – we’ll be keeping our eyes open. We suggest you do too!

P.S., Say hello if you’re already on there – toneee@googlewave.com

OK – week 2 and I’m like Johnny 5 in Short Circuit – input, input and more input!  (furrowed brow? click here).  In any case, what I mean is that I’m immersing myself in 3D MarComms, HARBOUR® and the whole ATS market, so that I can add value to our client base as quickly as possible (and add a few clients too, of course).

In the meantime, Alex took part in the first ever Recruiter Cast (61 mins) as put on by CareerSiteAdvisor last week.  I thought it might be useful to link to this, to demonstrate the angle that we are coming from.

An abridged version of just Alex’s input (10 mins – quite succinct for him! ) can be seen below, covering where 3D MarComms and HARBOUR® ATS came from, to the state of the economy and the future for job boards: