Complete Social Media Plan From Scratch

First question: What is your target audience, where do they spend time? Brand yourself in social media with them in mind.

Here are a few of the major social networks and what you can / should accomplish with them:


1.LinkedIn:
A. Make your profile 100% full of content.
b. Join lots of groups in your field and put yourself out there to network through discussion postings
C. Create an alumni network (group) and drive traffic to that page by inviting all past and current employees to join. You can have all new employees sign up for a company LinkedIn account (I don’t do this)


2. Facebook:
A. Create a designated work profile, or make your personal profile safeguarded and work appropriate
B. Create a company group page. Use this to advertise jobs, post real time company news / events / pictures. Make this a place that is updated multiple times a week and a relevant place for people to go
C. Head hunt profiles by searching jobs and company info…directly message potential candidates and drive them to your web page
D. Head hunt other company and industry groups and drive them to your web page

3. Twitter:
A. Create a Twhirl account, much easier to navigate
B. Join a twitter group on LinkedIn and promote yourself
C. Search Twitters database using keywords and location to “follow” those in your field
D. Make 10-20 tweets a day with about 75% business or advertising related but the rest semi personal…it is a long term relationship you are developing on twitter. You are keeping a real time eye on your specific community

4. Blogs:
A. Create a blog and try to blog once a week or at the least every other week
B. This establishes your brand
C. All blogs / LinkedIn and Facebook posts you need a tag line with your name, company and link info…it will up your Google search engine optimization

5. Viral:
A. Depending on the size of your marketing department you can create a video to post virally and on Facebook.
B. You can consult on second life – very advanced (I don’t do this)
C. Create a company Wikipedia page

6. Social Media Manager
A. Consider designating one or two people to investigate what social media has to offer and make it their job to establish your presence. Make sure they meet with you prior to posting anything on the net to ensure they are keeping your vision in mind.

Consider embarking on social media not as turning your back on traditional recruiting methods, just as a new source of generating candidates and clients. The number one rule is once a connection is made in any social media realm to pick up the phone and establish a “real” relationship. Always move out of social media as soon as possible, use it as a place to court long term candidates and advertise but never primary mode of conversation.

Making a Real Connection

Consider embarking on social media not as turning your back on traditional recruiting methods, just as a new source of generating candidates and clients. The number one rule is once a connection is made in any social media realm to pick up the phone and establish a “real” relationship. Always move out of social media as soon as possible, use it as a place to court long term candidates and advertise but never primary mode of conversation.

Working From Home

Working from home should not hinder your productivity one bit with all of the technology available. You should have access to all of your candidates information through databases, you can still make your calls on a personal line. If you have face to face meetings or interviews, these can still be conducted over a web cam. Often final rounds of interviews involve negotiations and culture fit discussions and you loose the advantage if you can not see your opponent, invest in a web cam, they are only around $20.00 now.

Finally I find it much easier to stay productive by having a dedicated home office. It is set up much like my office at work so once I get into the swing of the day I do not notice any differences in how I conduct my daily tasks. If you are dedicated and driven you can use bad weather and working from home to your advantage, because chances are people will be slacking off. If you are one of those who isn't viewing being snowed in as a vacation day then you will have the advantage over your competitors. Stay creative and aggressive to find ways to complete all of your normal tasks.

Identify and promote your personal brand

It is important to think of the bigger picture and beyond your current situation. Who you align yourself with now will determine the opportunities and networks you will have down the road. If you can put a concrete stamp on who you are as a recruiter and what you bring to the table, then you have a brand. Recruiting is as much of an art as it is a job and to excel at it you must perfect and master the finer points of the craft that so many people overlook. Once you have perfected your methods, that is your brand.

My personal brand is I offer a blend of traditional recruiting methods that have been proven effective over the years with the newest cutting edge technology of social networking. It is what I do. I can develop long term loyal candidates who become friends while simultaneously marketing myself and my company. I have found it is very important when looking for technology to further my brand to investigate, and really get to see if it reflects the values I have determined as part of my brand. If the next new bright shiny object technology does not reflect or take into account what I deem valuable, I will not use it.

All recruiters need to be honest and to identify exactly what makes them unique, special and valuable. If you go to any job boards right now you will see that there are countless recruiters out there looking for work, how does one set themselves apart from another? The development of a brand makes you an asset and not just a head count.

Great People Great Opportunities

If your not doing these 5 things your behind in the game

I have compiled a list of things all recruiters / companies need to be participating in, in addition to the typical recruiter responsibilities.
1. LinkedIn: Form an alumni group, network heavily
2. Facebook: Form a group page and attract talent there, use it to source passive candidates
3. Twitter: Connect with your target audience directly
4. Blogs: Promote yourself and your company through personal blogging
5. Video Recruiting: Establish a brand and demonstrate what potential candidates what career experience would be like

Boiler Room / Wall Street approach as a recruiter…. only friendlier

These are two of my favorite movies. I have also read, "The wolf of Wall Street" by Jordan Balford, who the main character of Boiler Room is based after. He lives an amazingly incredible life on his rise to the top, and experiences a monumental freefall to loose it all. Wall Street teaches some brutal life lessons when it comes to high stakes sales, and business negotiations. Charlie Sheen's character also experience a swift rise followed by a terrible fall. The lesson here; you can be a Recruiter who is focused on selling, as long as you keep your integrity you can avoid the fall from grace.

The main hat I wear is as a recruiter, but I often find myself being more of a salesman when I really think about it. Working for a smaller consulting company my initial phone call always consists of selling my expertise and my companies reputation and brand. I am basically selling the candidate on my company first and the opportunity second. I use many techniques I have picked up regarding the art of selling i.e. learn the candidates expectations, obstacles, rate and hot buttons very early on and use them in my pitch later in the process. That is what sets my opportunity apart from any other recruiter calling with an opportunity, is the experience a candidate gets for working with myself and my company.

Another area I find myself acting the part of salesman more than recruiter is in the networking department. One specific example being reference checks. I ask all my candidates to provide 3 references of people they either reported to directly or their manager's manager. I call every single reference and use it as an opportunity to develop business. I begin my reference checks explaining why I am calling, and what company I work for. I spend a few minutes explaining our reputation and some of the high profile projects we have and are currently working on. Then I usually ask "are you happy with your current vendors? Does my company sound like an improvement in what you currently work with?" The answer is almost always positive and leads down the path of making arrangements for a formal sales meeting down the road. Sometimes the sales opportunity might not be for months down the line or even a year or two. This is where being a friendly and good person comes in hand. The Boiler Room and Wall Street approach will not work here in developing long term relationships.

As a recruiter it is important to understand the entire scope of your companies business and how you can help it grow in all aspects; its core competencies, stretch capabilities and its goal. Us recruiters talk to a lot of people on the phone and online, each interaction is an opportunity to generate; 1. a good candidate 2. a quality referral or 3. new business opportunities. Keep your mind focused that you should always be selling, but do not make the same mistake as in Boiler Room and Wall Street, be a good person as you sell and you will be more valuable to your company than just a recruiter, you will be a multi-talented indispensable asset.

How to send mass messages on LinkedIn

I have over 1,300 people in my network on LinkedIn. I can't spread the word regarding a hot job or the next big thing sending 1,300 messages. What I can do is forward these messages in bulk and I will tell you how.

Have a trusted friend or colleague write the message you want to send i.e.: Come check out my hot new job of "xyz", they send the message to you. The next step is you take that message and forward it by clicking "forward" in the bottom right hand corner of the screen. Identify who you want to send the message to, you can do large groups of individuals. In the subject line remove the part that says "FW" so it does not appear to be a forwarded message. Alter the body of the message to make sure it does not reflect it is a forwarded message. There is also a box you can click to make sure your contacts do not see each other on the email line, I prefer to click that. I want this message to look as individually crafted as possible. Then click send

There you have it, now you can leverage your LinkedIn contacts and spread the word regarding job openings to large amount of target contacts with out spamming.

Tips for working with Hiring Managers:

It is crucial recruiting and the hiring authority work as a team, I have compiled a list of a few helpful tips.


1. When working with a HM for the first time, sit down with them and dig deep into what type of employees they like working with them (personality traits, favorite colleges, technologies etc.)

2. Learn the managers schedule and peak time to communicate. Programs such as 'Xobni' can help track your outlook usage and communication with specific people

3. Train them to respond and make sure your needs are met. It is important they understand you need to be given all the resources possible to succeed to provide the quality they want

4. Be persistent and hunt them down. If your HM is non responsive be persistent when reaching them try their cell, send instant messages and text messages.

5. After a stressful hiring loop sit down and evaluate what worked and what didn’t. Clear the air regarding any tensions that could have built up and work towards correcting them going forward


These are a few quick tips that have helped me maintain a good relationship with some extremely busy hiring managers and solidify quality candidates were hired in a timely manner.

Rent not Buy

What a roller coaster its been for the economy. Americans are uneasy, scared and frustrated. Many of us who are in the tech industry had previously thought we were immune from a recession. We might be better off than most industries but that doesn't mean companies aren’t making adjustments. Yahoo and Microsoft have put into place plans to essentially freeze from hiring FTE's.

What does this mean for you as a consultant or recruiter for a consulting company? In times like this companies are more prone to "rent" consultants rather than "buy" full time employees. I had someone ask me just the other day how the crisis was affecting our business, and I said it wasn't. Consulting is a very lucky niche that is still in high demand. With Covestic's deep relationships and extremely senior offerings business is great and we are in need of more talent.

I encourage you to come stop by the site at your leisure and view our newest hot jobs.http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15366183507Tell me about how this down economy has impacted your in our discussion board question titled "The credit crunch and consulting"

I am including an interesting article in the 'Wall Street Journal' this morning regarding the effect the crisis has had on our industry.http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122359422742921079.html

Know your competition

In the recruiting industry it is important to really know what others are up to. If you are in a small to medium sized market it is safe to say the talent pool is rather small and competition is fierce. Get to know what other firms are offering in terms of pay, benefits, culture and interview experience. Try and learn what projects they are working on and how you can sell your projects as more interesting.

Any leg up you can get counts as the search for top talent becomes more and more difficult. Follow the niche blogs and web sites where people might spill out information, casually talk to your candidate regarding what their experience was like with the other firms they spoke with. Network and get to know your recruiting competition directly.

Don't shy away from them as the enemy but embrace them as a resource that can help you put a brand stamp on what you offer. As wise teacher told me, recruiting is an educated sell. The more you know about your competition the better you can service your candidate and client.

Twitter and international recruiting

I started out my morning checking email's, following up with candidates and getting geared up for another day. Of course drinking dangerous amounts of coffee. Part of my routine is checking the pulse of the SharePoint community on Twitter. SharePoint is a rather large initiative my company is investing in, and I am always on the look out for the best and brightest Architects and Developers. I am still on the fence with Twitter. It is interesting, it helps me build long term relationships and exposes me to new people and ideas. However the quick return of potential candidates or business developments isn't there, at least not yet. What keeps me coming back is knowing this is where my talent pool is hanging out, how do I as a recruiter integrate myself into their community?

I think the answer to that question is to add as much value to Twitter as possible. I can't afford to be just another person discussing what I had for breakfast or complaining about the meeting I just got out of. I also can't be a shark of a recruiter constantly posting open positions, no one would pay attention to what I had to say. I need to engage my Twitter audience and give them a reason to want to network with me on other platforms (Facebook, LinkedIn), and consider using my services once they are on the job market again. Typically my blogs have something to do with social networking and recruiting. Today I thought why don’t I use my social networking knowhow to generate my next topic. I typed in to twitter "what topic do you want to see discussed in my next blog." Almost immediately one of the terrific people who follows me on Twitter (thank you 'Julioc') responded with "Advice for foreign people wishing to work in the US." What a terrific topic. I will preface my advice with the notion that 1. I am not an international recruiter 2. I have not been trained in international recruiting. This is simply what I would do if I were to put together a strategy to help foreign people with advice for working in the US.

First establish contacts, networking does not adhere to countries boarders. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the rest of your favorite social networking sights are perfect for developing that initial contact in the US. Your first goal should be to establish a credible source of information who you trust. This person's role should be to answer questions and concerns you might have as well as steer you in the proper direction and offer advice. Find someone who is credible and knows their industry, and has a presences across many social networking platforms. Do you research on this person and don't solicit advice from an unworthy source.

The second piece of advice I would suggest is to identify companies that are familiar with international recruiting. As you are embarking on such a large change it is important your transition goes smoothly. When dealing with visa issues things can get tricky and you will want an expert. Ask about their relocation package, and specifically ask about their relocation department. Who will be handling the moving of your things. How long will you be in temporary housing? Will you be offered a broker to help you secure a more permanent residence? What kinds of points of contact will be provided to you to get settled and hit the ground running? Moving from house to house in the same town is hard enough, for an international move I can only imagine how difficult that must be. The more resources and expertise that is made available to you the better.

Finally, once the move is complete and you are now enjoying your new position I would be extremely interested in your company culture. This is going to be critical to your long term happiness. Are there groups or associations of people from the same country as you on campus? If not are you given the freedom to create such a group and express your cultural values. What is the local community like, will your loved one and / or children thrive there. The competition for top talent is fierce, identify the companies who understand what you are going through with an international move and can put you in touch with someone who has been there and done that.
These are a few common sense suggestions that could get overlooked when faced with the excitement of the perfect job being presented in another country. Remember to take your time and really do your homework prior to making such a huge change. This should be a celebrated decision, the more time you invest into it you can continue to be happy many years after the move.


You can follow me on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Covestic
Joining my company site on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=15366183507
Read my personal blogs: http://seattleiitrecruiter.blogspot.com/
View my open positions: http://www.covestic.com/careers_opportunities.html

Making sense of all your information

If your like me you have an account on Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Twitter, Twhirl, TalentBar, RecruitingBlogs, WirelessJobs, Plaxo, Jobirn, Doostang, Jobthread, Spoke, Naymz, and RecruiterRockstar. Those are just the websites, my membership in user groups probably doubles that. Logging into each and every one of these sites could be a full time job. True relationship building gets lost in an effort to be the most connected.

Is it quality or quantity we are after? Or both? I am always on the look out for tools that can help me access more than one site at once. For instance I can log into Facebook and get a feed of my twitter information. I can follow my RecruitingBlogs and TalentBar contacts on Twhirl and see what they are up to with much less effort than it takes to view their individual profiles on a web site and look for updates. For a recruiting department to best leverage the vast social networks available, serious time and investment needs to be made into merging company knowledge with individuals networking ability. I recently attended a webinar titled "Integrating Social Networks into the Business" that was very encouraging. Its core point was how to merge all information and tribal knowledge and make it as easily accessible.

Access to information from a recruiters standpoint should not be to data mine, rather to develop deep relationships. Sometimes an introduction is all I need to get my foot in the door, but I might not ever get that introduction if my co-worker doesn't offer it up, or I don't happen to notice they are connected on LinkedIn. A platform similar to what Xobni does for Outlook would be tremendous if it could be applied to someone's online profiles.

My ultimate goal is to have a virtual network of those who follow me across a wide spectrum of social networking sites and vice versa. When the time comes we could do business together we can pick up our face to face conversation as if we were old friends. Should the business never develop then I have made a new friend who I am able to share information with and mutually help each other gain knowledge. The tech world is small, its much better to have friends than enemies.

PS: If someone politely asks to network with you on LinkedIn and you are not interested, simply do not reply and archive the message. Do not hit "Don't know." It’s a "ding" against your profile and 5 dings will kick you off. I understand people add to their contacts with a wide range of how they actually know the person, but there is no need to tattle.

Does culture attract talent?

YES!


Are you an alpha factory taking newly graduated Ivy Leaguers and stamping out the future CEO's of tomorrow or are you wearing cargo shorts, Teva's with socks and banging out code while your golden retriever sits at your feet? Either of these cultures has their benefits and attract their specific target audience like clockwork. But not every company has an identified culture, or at least not one that is a selling point when attracting top candidates. What sets you apart? How are you going to have a top notch player say "yes I want to work there"? It could be your web site, your interview process, daily office life or perks. I will explain why it is important to identify and embrace your culture depending on what your target generation audience is.


Fresh from college green thumbs:

For the current crop of real world nubbies, it is all about what can you do for me now, what career path can you bring me into, and cool factor; especially in the IT world. Never before has a generation been so technically sound and expected to be treated with instant respect. For the companies not willing to give a warm fuzzy hug and pat their new hire on the back five times a day, there are multiple new start ups willing to do so. No telecommuting, no Facebook and MySpace at work, no willingness to approach problems with new ideas…? Then no way will you attract the best and the brightest young creative thinkers. This culture needs to be embracing, informative democratic and exciting!


Industry veterans and journeymen:

It could be argued this group relies less on culture and more on pay and security. I beg to differ. When attempting to attract top talent many candidates will be weighing daily happiness and creative aptitude equally with pay and security. This group realizes their skills are valuable, the money and security will follow a well created product ahead of schedule. What is going to separate getting the A+ players from the B? You need a brand. Even if your company feels they are void of a culture, there is still something to be played up. Are your projects exciting and co-workers truly experts in their field but office life is drab and boring; then play up the first two. The trick is to find the most positive aspects of what are your top selling points and enhance. It is a simple scenario of need and fulfillment; your target audience is asking for X then you better be prepared to provide X and Y and Z or else they will go elsewhere. Not every company has a perfect culture, very few do but it is much like a skill and needs to be worked on constantly.

Identify your target audience and realize what points will make them excited. Remember that you need to reel them in quickly and have something that sets you apart from the organizations who are your competitors. Be innovative and take risks, the worst that can happen is nothing, who knows you might just catch lightning in a bottle and come up with the next cool thing. If you feel your void of culture don't be afraid to speak with your fellow sales and recruiting co-workers about "how can we sell this thing" and make a change from the inside out. Remember, half of life is just showing up….but the other half is showing up with style!

-IT Recruiter

A Positive Candidate Experience

As a recruiter you have an important responsibility, one that should be understood and upheld at all times. You are the voice, the face, and the main point of contact for your company. More often than we care to admit we forget that our candidates are not a means to an end, that they are our clients as well. Regardless of wither a situation results in a hire or not, a positive candidate experience is a must every single time. I approach every conversation as an information gatherer and find the correct situations to inject my opinion, knowledge, and recommendations. Each conversation I consider the "5 Rules of Recruiting" I learned a while back.

1. Developing the relationship
Developing the relationship in the first few minutes of the conversation will establish the tone for all future discussions. It will also be your opportunity to let the candidate know they can trust you, cheesy sales talk works on no one. For a candidate unfamiliar with your company an immediate judgment is made from this initial few minutes. This is an opportunity to generate a working relationship style that suits the need of your candidate and you need to make the necessary adjustment to fill that need. For example you will learn your candidates preference of communication methods; email, calling at home or cell, text message and time of day preference. You will get an insight into their own communication style, are they laid back and friendly or hard nosed and down to business. Be adaptive.

2. Creating and identifying the need
A mistake often made by recruiters is focusing on just their need and their companies need, not the candidates. Keep the messy details behind closed doors and always present a polished view of your company. If you scrambled to put together their information packets and booked a conference room 5 minutes prior to their arrival, keep it to yourself. One must be very considerate of the candidates impressions when discussing future career options in such a highly competitive market. Be tactful and act as a career guide, someone there to help them achieve a more fulfilling life through the possibility of a new opportunity.

3. Preventing and overcoming objections
Everyone has things they just hate about the work place. These can include management style, inability to telecommute, lack of personal growth options to name a few. Red flags such as these should be identified and addressed. Dismissing the issues will set a candidates mind at ease and offer them hope that the new opportunity you are presenting them with will be a welcome improvement. Of course not all issues can be dismissed; some offices do not offer telecommuting for example. Address this problem head on and be upfront, perhaps you can talk your candidate through the roadblock and leave them realizing they can indeed change their lifestyle a bit for the right opportunity. Other times the right move is none at all, part ways as friends and plan on doing business again in the future when the situation lines up more properly.

4. filling the need
Filling the need is an excellent section to focus on candidate experience. Rather than selling the position as something your company desperately needs to fill. Focus on selling the candidate that this is the position they have been looking for. You will know exactly what they are looking for if you handle steps 1-3 correctly. This section should be a marriage of your companies need and the candidates search criteria and fit together for a perfect partnership.

5. Closing the sale
Now is the time to earn your money. Lay your cards on the table and win the game. You should have all the information you need to lock down your candidate through a series of buying questions. Questions designed to get the candidate used to saying yes; "If I could do x, y and z for you, then would you accept this position"? "Do you see this as the next logical step in your career growth"? A few questions like these are a great way to start the final compensation discussion. Get the thought in the candidates mind that this opportunity is too great to pass up and you will make them take your offer and feel great about it in the process.

It is no wonder that great recruiters come from such diverse backgrounds. There are a lot of hats to wear in this job and a lot of people to consider and make happy. Hopefully these suggestions can offer you a guide to presenting excellent candidate experiences every time.

How to Create a Career Page on Facebook and MySpace:

In a previous blog I discussed the importance of social networking. Utilizing web 2.0 services gives recruiters the tools to source deeper than ever before, and the ability to find specialized passive candidates. This is only 50% of the equation. To fully implement the effectiveness of Facebook and Myspace it is essential to set up a "Careers Page". Creating the Careers Page offers you as a Recruiter the ability to maintain your own company job site; one that is easily adaptable and very targeted. I will give two examples of how my Social Networking Career Pages have come in handy and then explain how to set them up.
1. I was working to fill a remote project with a candidate living on the East Coast, I am on the West Coast at our Companies' headquarters. This candidate and I had spoken on the phone several times and had met a representative of our company back east for a few hours during the interview process. Offer stage was rapidly approaching and I needed to lock the candidate down. I received a phone call, "Can you tell me about your companies culture before I accept this offer, I have never been to your headquarters and only met one person in real life" said the candidate. How do you explain culture to someone when they can never see, hear or touch it? I immediately coached my candidate how to sign up for Facebook and directed them to my Career Page. Once on the Career Page my candidate could see pictures of post work events such as bar-b-q's, bowling parties, and golf tournaments featuring members of our company. There were white papers written by our consultants detailing some of the cutting edge projects they were working on asking for feedback. An open form discussions of ideas and suggestions through out the company. Through that easy step my candidate was able to put a face to a voice, a feeling to a company and a place to call home. The candidate quickly accepted the offer a few days later and is still happily employed with us.
2. Working for a "boutique" company allows me to be creative in how I spread the word regarding my open positions. I post (for free) all of our open positions on Facebook and MySpace. The opportunity to post a position for free should never be turned down. The more traction you have the greater chance you have of hitting your target. I am currently working to fill an extremely Sr. Level Sales role. It is not my forte and requires me to post the position on sales niche sites I am not necessarily frequenting often. I also posted the position on my Social Networking Career Pages and with in a few days I got an email from an interested candidate who exceeded my requirements. The person told me they were passively looking for a new position, did not want to post their resume online for fear their current employer would see it and thus is not on Monster, Dice, etc so would not have seen my job posting had it not been for Social Networking. We are currently still in the process of speaking with this candidate and hope to develop a mutually beneficial relationship, all formed from the Career Page.
Here is how to set up a Career Page:
Facebook:
1. From the main page click on "groups" in the upper left hand corner
2. Click on "create a new group"
3. Generate information for "group info" for category I recommend leaving the group open
4. Generate information for "customize" I recommend taking sole responsibility in terms of who can post and add things to the page
5. Generate information for "members"
6. Put the final touches and polish up your page, source for potential members and send them invitations
Myspace:
1. From the main page click on "more" drop down on the upper bar, select "groups"
2. Click "create a group"
3. Fill in appropriate information and click "create group"
4. Put the final touches and polish up your page, source for potential members and send them invitations
It is important to monitor your Career Pages daily, update immediately as jobs open and close and answer any questions members might have. The advantage of these pages are to add a personal touch and increase your scope. I hope these tips help others open up to a new audience and find them as useful as I do.

10 Tips for a Jr. Recruiter

1. Understand your place on the totem pole (ears open, mouth shut)
2. Study your craft, do your homework, learn all aspects of your companies business. The bigger the picture you understand the better
3. Pick traits both positive and negative from those above you and either emulate or shy away from
4. Own your work in all situations
5. No question is too stupid the first time you ask it, the second time you have to ask something you are not learning
6. Pay your dues, work harder than those above you and don't complain
7. Don't email when you can pick up the phone
8. Be persistent and confident but not pushy and salesy
9. Follow things from A-Z, do not drop the ball under any circumstance. Do not allow anyone else to drop the ball either
10. Client and Candidate experience is always most important

How to beat the Summer Recruiter doldrums….? Web 2.0 networking

How to beat the Summer Recruiter doldrums….? Web 2.0 networking
You show up to the office Monday after a great weekend and are ready to source, the instinct of hunting takes over. You sign onto your favorite job sites, write you Boolean and search. Thinking to yourself, what interesting talented people will you get to talk to this week. There is a problem, why are there only 3 new candidates, and none are a fit for your role? The answer is that you are experiencing the summer doldrums! It is well known that Mondays and Tuesdays see a significant drop in the amount of job seekers posting new resumes online. it is also well known that once the sun comes out people are more content to vacation than search for jobs. That is particularly true in places such as our lovely state of Washington where each day of sunshine enjoyment needs to be capitalized on. How are you to stay busy and proactively beat this drought? You still have jobs to fill and there are still people looking to fill them. The answer is social networking web 2.0.
If you haven't accepted the fact that MySpace and Facebook can be used for Recruiting then you are probably too old and need to start filling out your social security forms. Passive candidates offer up a plethora of unsolicited information regarding their job title, company, dates worked for, duties and most times their direct contact information. Facebook is my personal favorite for candidate searching. From the main home page in the upper left hand corner is a 'search' button, click on it. Then on the right hand side of the page in bold it says 'profile', click on that next. Now you can fill out the search template any way you see fit i.e.: search by companies you wish to headhunt passive candidates; search by positions of people in your local who you may have skipped over on other job boards. Once I have identified a candidate I find of interest I always write a personalized message that is short, sweet and too the point. Social networking sites receive just as much, if not more junk mail that your box at home, don’t waste people's time.
This action can be repeated on MySpace, Talent Bar, and LinkedIn. It serves as a way to network on a more personal scale while digging a little deeper than the person at company X who is reviewing the same 3 resumes you looked at hours ago. Another great feature to check out are group pages on MySpace and Facebook. The group pages can be used to create an adaptable company profile where job openings can be posted, company information shared and news discussed. Group pages are something I will have to discuss in a future blog.
Happy Hunting,

Looking for IT Talent

Hello All,

The purpose of my blog is to continue to promote Covestic as a company and the exciting projects we are working on. At Covestic we have a work hard, play hard attitude, and that is more than just a saying. Talented IT people who come to work for us can expect to be challenged, excited and encouraged to work on projects that stretch their creativity and technical backgrounds. Our consultants are on the forefront, leading change in some of the top fortune 500 companies. I personally am interested in speaking with all leaders of their IT field, whatever background they might have. If you are a leader in your field and would like to speak with me regarding our opportunities I would be happy to do so and can be contacted through my email address. You can view open Covestics positions at our web site http://www.covestic.com/careers_opportunities.html. I also update and maintain a facebook careers page at Covestic Consulting Careers. This site has real time updates of our openings, company information and industry news and would encourage you to view it and become a member. That wraps up my initial blog. I look forward to networking and speaking with career seekers in the near future.