recruiters

If you thought patents were intruding into the tech industry just a wee bit too much, brace yourself. Now they can be part of the recruiting process.

TalentBin, a San Francisco startup that scrapes social media sites ranging from Quora to Twitter in order to index hiring prospects for recruiters, has added the U.S. Office's patent database to the sources it scours for information on prospective employees.

Call it novel or horrifying, but I can see how it would be useful for recruiters, particularly in areas like biotech and manufacturing. And, yes, software, though you could argue that … Read more

LinkedIn is so 2011.

In the red-hot market for skilled software engineers, companies looking to make great hires are discovering that relying on traditional services that showcase candidates' work histories -- but not their actual work -- is a great way to miss out on the best available talent.

These days, there's a new game in town -- GitHub, a place where hiring managers and recruiters alike are increasingly turning to find not just the potential employees who look best on paper, but the ones that actively (and publicly) demonstrate their capabilities.

Last month, Andreessen Horowitz, one of the … Read more

Looking to hire smart college kids? Here's a new tool that will help you find them: MindSumo.

It lets you create challenges, or contests, to help you solve problems you have at your company. You have to put up prize money, but in return, you get (hopefully) solutions to your problems, and (more hopefully) youth you can hire to work for you full time.

The prizes are not winner-takes-all; the challenge posters select the top solutions and the prize money is distributed among the best of them.

CEO Trent Hazy says that even for the entrants who don't … Read more

Apple is seeking to ramp up its cloud leadership as the company puts a greater emphasis on how customers store and access their data.

The company is looking to recruit executives with backgrounds in Web-based software, according to a Wall Street Journal report tonight. One prominent Internet entrepreneur has already been approached and recruiters have been briefed on the company's needs, people familiar with the matter told the Journal.

The talent search comes on the heels of Apple's launch of iTunes Match, a cloud feature that stores music tracks in the cloud and makes them available on any … Read more

I was once introduced to a chef who believes that bacon is a fine ingredient in a dessert.

Such chefs I would describe as beyond cognitive salvation. However, Microsoft appears to suddenly believe that bacon can play an even higher social role: as the commercial equivalent of an aphrodisiac.

For, as the Seattle Times reports, the company has decided that the best way to hire engineers to its Kinect for Windows team is to offer them bacon.

Yes, free bacon.

Engineers, you see, aren't moved by vast package full of stock options, housing allowances, or multiple-hand massages. No, no. … Read more

According to several sources, John Lilly, the well-regarded CEO of Mozilla, is preparing to give up his post at the open-source software nonprofit foundation, which is also a for-profit start-up.

[Update: Lilly confirmed the move in an e-mail to Mozilla employees, which you can read below in its entirety.]

Lilly (pictured here) is moving to Greylock Partners as a venture partner, sources added, although the affable entrepreneur could eventually end up doing a start-up.

Lilly became CEO of Mozilla in early 2008, after serving as its COO. He took over from Mitchell Baker, who remained the company's chairman.

Sources … Read more

Apple and Google are said to have had an unofficial agreement not to poach each other's employees--or at least they did while Google CEO Eric Schmidt served on Apple's board, according to TechCrunch.

Unnamed sources told TechCrunch that no formal, written agreement exists, and that employees of one company were welcome to apply for jobs at the other, but that the two companies said they would not actively pursue hiring away each other's workers.

It is unclear whether any such agreement would still be in effect now that Eric Schmidt has stepped down from Apple's board of directors. … Read more

There are those who believe that the NCAA is an iniquitous organization.

It takes advantage, they say, of unpaid student/athletes while large-stomached coaches enjoy huge deals from sneaker companies and colleges make their fortunes.

It's the equivalent of slave labor, so the story goes.

Surely not. Surely one can see this as an organization of America's brightest minds anticipating every downturn and recession and insulating itself smartly by ensuring the wages of workers are kept far beneath the level of inflation.

Which is why I was unsurprised to see that the NCAA's enterprising spirit has come … Read more

By now, many prospective college students have received responses from all the colleges to which they've applied. But now comes the hard part: deciding where to go.

Luckily, there are some sites that help them in that endeavor and provide them with valid insight before they make their final decisions. Even better, these sites can also help those who haven't applied yet and are starting their initial research.

For the high school junior who is considering applying to different colleges or the high school senior who needs to make a decision, these sites are outstanding resources.

BeRecruited: BeRecruited is designed specifically for the high school athlete. Instead of waiting for a team to find the student, BeRecruited gives them an opportunity to find colleges across the United States that have the kind of athletic program for which they're looking. They can then upload information about themselves and their high school athletic performance to attract the attention of team recruiters.

CampusExplorer: CampusExplorer allows students to search more than 6,000 colleges in the United States to find which campus is right for them. They can search by area, curriculum, or type of school. The site provides information on the size of the school, what it offers to students, and the attendance cost. It even has advice on getting into the school from students who have asked questions about the college on Yahoo Answers.

Cappex: Cappex requires students to sign up and create a personal profile that includes grades, extracurricular activities, and SAT/ACT scores. Once that profile is completed, they can search for colleges, learn about the schools in which they're interested, and use a handy tool called "What are my chances?" to help them determine if they really have a chance at being admitted to a particular school.

CollegeAnswer: Owned by college financial-aid company SallieMae, CollegeAnswer provides students with information about all facets of college admittance. From basic research on schools to information on paying for a college education, the site has it all. It provides in-depth information about colleges, including their demographics and attendance costs. But where it really shines is in its information about college life in general. It's an outstanding resource for prospective and current students.… Read more