Being an avid user of LinkedIn myself, I’ve learned a lot… and continue to learn.  And I have a reason to believe in its power, considering I’ve landed my last three jobs due to connections I’ve made (and relationships I’ve built) on LinkedIn.  The following is a list of what I feel are some of the most important aspects of LinkedIn – a “cheat sheet” for job seekers if you will.  This is based on what I’ve taught myself, as well as tips I’ve learned from LinkedIn/social networking gurus, Neil Schaffer and Lewis Howes (who have both written excellent books on the subject – and are both people you should be linked to).

Beginner Tips:

1. Make sure that your profile is 100% complete (and make sure to add specific keywords and skills into your summary).  This greatly increases your visibility. Similar to Google analytics, you will show up higher on the list in search results.
2. Make a point to grow your direct network to 100+.  Connect with LinkedIn’s most “linked” users.  You can find them here: http://www.toplinked.com/toplinked.aspx.  Most have contact information either at the top or bottom of their profiles.
3. Use a photo of yourself… smiling.  Users are more likely to connect with you… as it’s more welcoming :)
4. Update your status regularly.  It shows that you are active!
5. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people who you don’t know (we are living in a “pay-it-forward” society, and this is what social networking is all about).
6. LinkedIn offers A LOT to its not paying members.  For your own edification, you may want to review the additional features for Premium account holders; but I would only consider something like this if it directly relates to what you’re trying to accomplish on LinkedIn (obviously the ROI needs to be there).

Once you’ve done this, here are some Intermediate Tips:

1. Join relevant LinkedIn groups.  Think about starting your own group (I started one called Texas Interactive, which now has close to 700 members).  Get active in your niche!  Also, the more groups you’re in, the better.  And… if you don’t have an individual’s email address, but share a group with him/her, you can connect that way.
2. Become an “open networker.”  Join groups such as LION (LinkedIn Open Networker) and TopLinked.  Get into the habit of accepting everyone’s request to expand your 1^st degree network… which will ultimately expand your 2^nd and 3^rd degree network.  And don’t stay in a “box” – expand to new individuals who don’t yet know what you have to offer!
3. Participate in group conversations. Represent yourself as someone who is knowledgeable in the subject matter by providing valuable content. If you have a question about something, utilize LinkedIn Answers (http://www.linkedin.com/answers/).  Whatever your query, there are plenty of industry professionals out there who are happy to assist you (going back to the pay-it-forward statement).
4. Write recommendations for others.  The more recommendations you have, the better.  If you give a lot of value, you will receive a lot (according to the ‘rule of reciprocity’).
5. Utilize LinkedIn’s “Advanced” search option.  This gives you the ability to narrow down your search; locating members based on things like keywords, geographic location, company/school, industry, etc.  Advanced search also supports “Boolean strings,” which allow you to narrow (or broaden) your search in a very specific—effective—manner.  Learning how to use Boolean operators and formulate strings is not as complicated as it might sound, and there are many sites/tutorials that can assist you with this.  I personally like http://www.internettutorials.net/boolean.asp.
6. Use LinkedIn as a cross-referencing tool.  For instance… if you apply to a job online (and know the name of the company), you can often times locate the hiring manager on LinkedIn — or at least locate someone who can get you to the right person.  This can be an effective tactic for getting past gatekeepers.



Very creative ideas, and as a recruiter in the interactive space, I appreciate people thinking “outside the box.”  However, for more traditional roles (and to be found easier via keyword search), the classic, reverse-chronological resume will be FAR more beneficial to a job seeker looking for responses.  Either way, you still have to sell yourself once you get the phone call.

Due to the current surge, I feel like my head is on a swivel right now.  I make a CONSCIOUS effort to return all calls and emails, but I am human and I simply drop the ball sometimes.  The reality is, recruiters are VERY client-driven at this time.  Our focus must be on the live, “hit ‘em hard, hit ‘em fast” job orders.  And sometimes the search is highly specific and targeted, making it that much more of a challenge.  Priority is critical for us right now… and there are just certain things we are forced to keep on the back burner for the time being.  Sometimes this can last longer than we like.  And I speak for many professionals in my industry when I say this is not intentional.

Well one guy [we'll call him John] decided he needed to take this personally… and what he said just put me over the edge.

The day after I responded to this, I felt somewhat regretful… I don’t like losing my cool, especially in this arena.  In seven years of sales & recruiting, there was only one other time I lost it like that.  I promised myself that would never happen again.  And then I thought… as long as I’m passionate about what I do, this kind of thing will likely occur on a few more occasions!

—–Original Message—–

From: John

Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011

To: Cococcia, Bret

Subject: 3rd Email

Bret,

Should I take it that you aren’t interested in helping me since I didn’t

accept the first offer from Paladin and that’s why I get no response

from you?

I would have thought you would want to help me get a position paying as

much as possible.

Just curious why you haven’t responded to my other email?

Thanks,

John

TO WHICH MY RESPONSE WAS…

Hi John,

This is not intentional.  I can say with absolute conviction that this has

been the busiest week I have had in YEARS.  All of my attention had been

focused on three particular job orders for the past 9 days now.  I have

NUMEROUS emails in my inbox that I have not a chance to follow up on…

not just yours.

And for what it’s worth, John, I tried contacting you SEVERAL times about a job three months ago — to no avail.  You did not respond to any of MY

emails or phone calls in a timely manner.  I felt like I was “chasing”

you, and after awhile, determined it was an ineffectual use of my time.

I really wish candidates understood how incredibly busy recruiters can

get.  I guarantee you that 99% of the time, that ‘lack of communication’

is not deliberate.  Do you honestly think that I would hold a “grudge?”

That I am that immature?  I’m far beyond that, John.

-B 

This was my response:

Hopefully this gives you some ideas to work with.

I usually suggest 1 of 2 things to job seekers like this:

1. Add the consulting work to your resume, while removing info in other areas (ie. bullet points that may be less important, or any information that is “assumed” given the job title).  A resume ALWAYS contains some info that simply isn’t as pertinent.  Just make sure not to drop too many key words!

2. Keep the resume as is, but make sure to mention current consulting work in an email/cover letter.  This way hiring managers and recruiters will see that you are staying “fresh” (and not sitting on your couch all day waiting for your next job offer).

Remember, the sole purpose of a resume is to elicit a phone call… that’s it.  Once the communication begins, you can always add information and explain things further in order to continue effectively selling yourself.

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.

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)

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

See the article HERE.

I’ve been thinking… since you are the expert… What percentage of marketers (like myself) use a one pager? And do HR professionals want a one pager; or is it just a recruiter thing?

The only reason why I ask is that the market is so competitive and companies are looking for an exact fit, so if you’re only providing the top 6 highlights, chance are you’d be passed over…right? Tons of friends/contacts have sent their resumes to me over the years, all are 2 pages (and was under the assumption because their experience is so deep).

>>

Fair question. It’s all about “key words.”  The one-pager goes for recruiters and hiring managers alike.

It’s the old “Less is More” adage. But it’s also about having the right “less.” Your fate is determined by a computer half the time (awesome, right?) that is looking for specific matching words/terms. I don’t care if you have 5 years of experience or 30 years. Your resume has to be set up in a way where both computers AND people can quickly see that you’re what they’re looking for; Which brings me to another point: If you come across an opportunity that you’re really jazzed about, take 10-15 minutes to get creative, and essentially “mirror” what you see in the description before you submit your resume. And then continue to be proactive, and try to locate the hiring manager/recruiter (or at least someone who can help you get in touch with that person) via social media “detective” work.

I could go on and on, but that’s what I have for now.

“We are happy to announce a few new enhancements to the Paladin web site! After weeks of brainstorming, mock-ups, and opinion-gathering, the new Paladin splash page has features that will appeal to job seekers and employers alike. Needless to say, we want our viewers to have a successful web experience. We understand the importance of a user-friendly environment – and the ability to locate specific elements without having to go two or three layers deep.

To begin with, the site has a cleaner all-around feel. The softer image of pastel-colored pencils replaces the harder image of the three solid-colored category boxes. As the eyes shift from left to right on the page, the viewer immediately sees “How can Paladin help you?” They have one of three options to click on that are highlighted during scroll-over: One for employers, one for job seekers, and one for our associates.

Heading back to the left side of the page (under the pencils image), the viewer sees a simple, straightforward paragraph on what we do, who we work with, how we operate, and why we’re different from the rest. Directly to the right is a Job Search column that allows the job seeker to search via keyword entry, or by selecting the geographic location or job category. Adjacent to this column is the Available Jobs section, which gives job seekers direct access to immediate openings. The last column to the right features thumbnail images of our talent Portfolios. A potential employer can easily click on an image that will take them directly to an imbedded version of that individual’s portfolio.

The top and bottom tabs of the page have remained the same, to comply with traditional professional home page standards. The social media directory is clearly noticeable as well.

In summary, Paladin’s home page is now easier to navigate than the previous version, allowing you to find what you’re looking for in a much shorter period of time.”

www.paladinstaff.com