Make yourself the perfect Recruiter

With all the of recruiters out there looking for work right now, what sets you apart? The average age of the profession is sinking, are you don't want to become yesterday's news with an obsolete skill set. No longer is it good enough to have a deep rolodex and 10+ years in the profession to make yourself marketable. A recruiter who is truly in demand in a down economy will have that experience and be on the cutting edge of social networking. In essence the type of recruiters who will get hired in this market will be a networking guru. This guru will be able to blend traditional and new age recruiting styles to form tight relationships that will give them a true brand. I will detail the two aspects of recruiting that anyone on the market must have; relationship building and social networking, and then how to blend them.

The first and most important thing to keep in mind if your on the job market is to remember what made you a top recruiter in the first place, traditional relationship building. This means picking up the phone and not emailing, meeting for lunch rather than settling for a phone call. Staying late on nights to work on behalf of your candidate and calling them over the weekend to give them an update in real time. Call your old candidates and contacts to check in, even if you don't have a job for them but to just the relationship strong. Take the step from being just a recruiter to a career confidant who will make each and every candidate feel like they are the only person you are dealing with. This type of services gets lost when dealing with huge behemoth staffing agencies, and trust me candidates appreciate the personal touch. It is okay to keep notes regarding what their dog's name is, where they last went on vacation and what their summer plans are. It shows you care about them and you are working as a team to find the best fit, not just get your commission. Your goal is to find them a role that fits at this point in their career, and is building towards their goal, not to fill your job order.

What are some of the new school tricks and tips to brush up on? Gone are the days when you source from the job boards only. And if you are waiting for applicants to apply to your job with out sourcing at all then forget about it, try a new profession. Sourcing and relationship building needs to also take place on social networks like LinkedIn, Facebook and TalentBar. These is not just an extra tool recruiters could be using, its an absolute must to find passive candidates who might be, or at least know the perfect fit for your roles. Facebook allows you to search as much or more detailed information than Monster does, LinkedIn has passive individuals secretly looking at new opportunities every single day. You want to be on the forefront of passive candidates' mind when they are looking, and you want to be the first one to see them. Consider social networking as a virtual long term pool to keep contacts, friends and potential candidates informed of yourself and your company. Twitter is an excellent example of virtual networking pools. Social Networking can also give you a brand as specializing in SharePoint Architect recruiting for example. By putting it out there on the networks that you are a top player in SharePoint Architect recruiting, you will be contacted by the top SharePoint Architects who want to work with like minded recruiters.

If you are on the market at this point in time I do not envy you and wish you the best of luck in these tough times, I really do. Ask yourself; "am I really doing everything I could be to market and sell myself ?" If not, consider blending traditional and new school recruiting methods and give yourself the one two punch that will make you irresistible to any employer looking for a truly plugged in recruiter. We are in a strange world of instant wired communication. Anyone can be tracked down by a 2nd or 3rd degree connection and given the whole back-story of a recruiters past. Carve out your place in the market, stamp your brand on that place and let your community know why you are the best at what you do. I wouldn't expect anyone to hire me unless they thought I was the absolute best.

Good luck to all of you job seekers out there. For more tips and tricks, and in dept suggestions on how to make all forms of social networking (not just the ones I detail in this article) please contact me and I will be happy to help.