Diary of a Recruiter

Picking up where I left off…

The afternoon presentations were equally insightful.  For starters, the Cool Tools Panel (Craig Fisher, Jim Schnyder, Geoff Webb) offered some AMAZING new web sites to consider in regard to building & managing Twitter followers, utilizing a variety of social media tools in your sales/recruiting efforts, and an intro to mobile ”information gathering” tools, such as Layar (this is one of the coolest ‘augmented reality’ apps I’ve ever seen).

“eHarmony for Recruiters” was the next session I attended.  This was presented by Gail Houston, Social Media Program Manager at Intuit, and Dirk Spencer, Sr. Corporate Recruiter at Goodman Networks.

I gained a lot from this presentation, in regard to personal & company branding… and “little things” I can be doing to make myself more visible and SEO-friendly.  Branding consistency was a key focus here as well… consistency in electronic signatures, URL anchors, and pretty much any element that makes you easier to find!  A strong, well-branded web presence is critical.

Useful tips included:

- Keep things “fresh” — consistent (albeit minimal) editing is important for SEO and overall visibility.  This relates to anything with your name (or brand) on it.  Examples are your blog, web site, or Google profile (which uses real-time indexing of web info).

- Add your company’s Twitter handle to your LinkedIn profile.

- Promote yourself on Amazon.com… by promoting published experts in your industry.  A well thought-out review of an expert in your “space” promotes your own expertise!

Following this, I attended the Location Based Recruiting session with Craig Fisher and Travis Blythe (of corner6labs). Much of this was focused on how to incorprate Foursquare (and similar LB apps) into your recruiting efforts.  I generally feel that the expression, ”thinking outside the box” is overused… but if it’s applicable anywhere, it’s applicable here.  There are numerous tools that many recruiters and hiring managers simply overlook in their search efforts (whether they have knowledge of them or not).  Foursquare is a perfect example of how, as someone in the “candidate acquisition” field, you can be thinking outside the box — and separating yourself by doing what the majority of your competition is failing to do!

The long day wrapped up with a presentation on Mobile Recruiting, by Joel Cheesman, SVP at Jobing.com and widely-read recruting blogger. Joel shared some valuable insight on the importance of the internet and technology as they relate to Human Resources; and how it is critical for organizations to become familiar with–and effectively apply–the tools available in order to be successful in tomorrow’s economy.  It’s all going mobile!

All and all, I’d say TalentNet Live was a great experience.  It would have been nice to see every presentation, but I walked away with A LOT of great information, and a variety of new ideas and tactics that I look forward to putting into effect.

Figured that was an appropriate title for this post.

After attending yesterday’s 2nd annual TalentNet Live conference — presented by Craig Fisher of alistsolutions.com, and hosted by PepsiCo/Frito-Lay — I realized how much more I can be doing as a recruiter in the interactive space.  There’s SO MUCH out there, and so much to learn.  I’d like to think I’m in the higher “percentile” of recruiters who effectively utilize social media in their day to day efforts; yet I am still far from where I could be.  Yesterday’s event was so eye-opening in so many ways, I almost feel born again.  It got me excited… and now I need to APPLY what I’ve learned.

Here’s some great new info I walked away with:

The “5 T’s of Recruiting,” as explained by PepsiCo Talent Acquisition Manager, Jim Schnyder.

Tactics, Tools, Technology, Training, and Techniques.

- What have I done (and what am I doing) to learn new strategies? (this can be applied to both the tactical/recruiting side of things AND the management/strategy side).

- Am I studying the background of current employees, in order to find the best candidates possible for this particular client?

- Am I asking clients about “regrettable losses” in order to reconnect with these people, or possibly mirror these people?

- Am I keeping track of the “Silver Medalists?”  2nd place candidates are typically pretty darn strong.

- Am I being truly proactive, and keeping the pipeline full?

- Am I applying the Lou Adler technique, and asking unavailable/uninterested candidates, “Who are the three best people you know?”

- Am I using the Boolean “NEAR” operator?

- Am I implementing the takeaway close when need be — and remembering the ABC’s of recruiting?  And how can you not love Alec Baldwin’s amazing performance in Glengarry Glen Ross?

Developing genuine partnerships with clients/hiring managers; by Michael Goldberg, Mark Sullivan, and Marianthe Verver.

- Asking the question, “Are we partners, or am I merely an order taker?”

- Asking myself the following questions:  Am I presenting my clients with the best talent? Am I meeting my hiring managers’ needs?  Am I showing them that I have a true passion in this business? Am I establishing guidelines as to what I expect in return?!

- I need to develop a formal recruiting strategy!  In the client/recruiter partnership, the following areas should be considered:  Practices, Technology, Training, Management.

Here’s a GREAT web site that was provided to us, chock full of market insight; and a variety of tools, tutorials, and tidbits to help recruiters surpass their competition.

Social Media and Online Marketing guru, Mike Merrill, offers some invaluable information on inbound-generated ROI for businesses and recruiters alike.

- 100% of inbound marketing is measurable (SEO, Google analytics, tracking web site traffic), whereas outbound marketing is FAR more difficult to measure… primarily due to lack of control.

- When viewing performance graphs as they relate to Social Media marketing, you overlay the non-financial metrics to the financial.  The return is not immediate, but the ROI will outweigh that of traditional marketing in several months time (and in the years to come, as SM eradicates its competition with other mediums). Your ROI on social media advertising is lifetime value!

(This is part 1 of 2)

Last month, a contact of mine sent me this article written by Christopher Leonard at Chron.com (Houston news & entertainment web site).

“Many who feel taken for granted, overworked growing confident enough to apply elsewhere”

See the article HERE.