Friday, November 16, 2012

Mini Post- Hiresignals!

Here is my mini-post of the month, go check out the following:

I received an anonymous tip today to check out a new resource, http://www.hiresignals.com/. Stay tuned for more information, but to all my recruiting associates out there, you may very well want to register.  Essentially this is a filter for Firefox that goes over LinkedIn.  It registers people as "confidential jobseekers" and certain settings for their security, then broadcasts that to recruiters.  You can then reach out like a standard first contact, but have a little more certainty regarding what you are about to contact.

Check it out!  I am still waiting on my link, but this promises to be an interesting addition to recruiting efforts.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Features! Features! Features!... (LinkedIn Endorsements)


LinkedIn Endorsements was just rolled out by LinkedIn.  I was immediately suspicious of the whole thing as another way to suck up some of my time endorsing people (I have already written over 70 recommendations  but I gave in and started playing around with the new features, and plugged in some keywords for myself.  Within about the couple of weeks, I have about 25 endorsements in my lead category.


Features:
  • Easy way to give a "thumbs up" to someone who did a good job for you. -Digital Trends.com
  • Share parts of your experience you are hoping to get more recognition in.
  • One click as opposed to a recommendation like this: 


Socialmediaexaminer.com writes:
"This new feature is a very easy way to endorse the skills of others and vice versa. When coupled with LinkedIn’s already robust Recommendations feature, it’s a very positive way to promote not only your personal brand, but also the brands of your connections."


My Conclusions:
  • This is a good supplement to the already robust recommendation feature of LinkedIn
  • It is extremely surface level.  Its equivalent to a "like" on facebook as opposed to a comment
  • It adds up over time.  "Expertise" can be in part shown by a significant quantity of +1's 
  • I would ALWAYS rather get a recommendation from someone than a simple +1, but I will never turn down more exposure on LinkedIn

Resources:
http://www.digitaltrends.com/social-media/linkedin-rolls-out-skill-endorsements-and-its-as-easy-as-one-click/
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/linkedin-endorsements/

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

The role of “Advanced Internet Sourcing” in your sourcing plan

After about five years of recruiting, and about three years of being a certified Advanced Sourcer, I wanted to speak about the need, and the place for advanced sourcing. I find that the majority of advanced sourcing training points to this set of tools that eliminates difficult sourcing, shortens your sourcing time, helps you develop other ways to find candidates. The problem I have is that most training is bandaid training as opposed to a “cure”.

Advanced Sourcing are “tools” to assist in your recruiting efforts, and should NEVER replace a traditional sourcing plan of getting people on the phone. We as recruiters have a huge power to impact people’s lives as a whole every single day. It is incredibly tempting for anyone learning advanced tools to assume that they can simply do everything online and never have to pick up a phone anymore. The phone is and will always be the most valuable sourcing tool.

Careerbuilder writes, “Most highly qualified people will not likely volunteer referrals unless you have shown them their due interest, and they have decided that your opportunity is not a good fit for them personally. Only after will they be likely to give you the name of someone who might be worth your time.”

You will never, I repeat that, never ever achieve any sort of candidate pipeline unless you are able to establish a good personal connection. Advanced Sourcing are “tools” that can help you contact people

With a good group of Advanced Sourcing tools like PIPL, Whitepages, LinkedIn, Googlemaps, and a few others, you can get access to phone numbers easily.

Buckman Enochs Cross writes, “Social media works. Job boards work, but neither one is a silver bullet. There is no such thing when it comes to successful staffing. Recruiting on job boards or through social media is no different than recruiting anywhere else. Without a well-executed strategy for how and why you are using that site, whether it is a job board like Monster or a social media biggie like LinkedIn, you will likely fail.“
The good Advanced Sourcing plan is key to any recruiting efforts, and has huge potential value when used as a supplement for traditional recruiting efforts. For example, with a good sourcing plan, less disconnected candidates, more direct contact to people, more submittals, more interviews, and better overall results. I highly recommend a mixed holistic sourcing approach, and a strategic element to all great sourcing plans.

-Staff or Die