5 factors to attracting talent

"Cater to your client, the customer is always right." Identifying great talent is a relationship a recruiter has with their company, their client and their candidate. When the needs of the company, client and candidate are in place as a perfect fit for the three; the talent will be knocking down your doors to work for you. Greatness attracts excellence. My target audience has five important factors they look for. By demonstrating through out all aspects of the recruiting process I can provide those key 5 factors at the highest level I am able to give my candidate the most positive recruitment experience they have ever had. They are as follows;

1. Location-lack of travel

2. Exciting projects

3. Reputation and seniority

4. Culture, real people working for a real company –work/life balance

5. Career growthThat is it, simple and easy.

My recruiting process is flawless, my company is transparent and exciting, we cater to what A+ players are looking for. In other words we provide a place that top talent wants to be.

Jordan Shaw

Social Networking Expert

Social Networking Done Properly

Do you attempt to develop business and relationships through LinkedIn with short blurbs to someone you have never met? How about get others interested in the release of a new product through messages and marketing on Facebook? We all use our own set of tips and tricks to make our lives more convenient, efficient and especially cheaper. The question is how does one stay a head of the curve networking with the most recent technologies while still keeping a personal relationship. The answer is to stay focused and go the extra mile.

Staying focused in your approach means getting to know the social networking technologies you plan to use, inside and out. How will your message / add / marketing campaign be perceived and by whom? How can you cut through the clutter, get right to the core and address each person your coming in contact with as the sole individual your are on these networks for, because they are. Refine your pitch, eliminate the waste and personalize it to individuals, not the masses.

Go the extra mile and ensure every add, message and marketing campaign is tailored for a specific person or group of people in mind and then never drop the ball when it comes to following through. It is critical that in the midst of a messaging or marketing blitz across social media platforms you check these platforms multiple times a day and respond to any inquiries immediately. Take your conversations "off line" and pick up the phone, go have coffee and develop a personal relationship.

I believe social networking done properly accomplishes making an initial connection and to develop and sustain long term relationships. "Hey Jordan, my sister's friend just got laid off, you are a recruiter can you help them?" I hear questions like this more and more. In situations such as these I will make a connection for the person I am trying to help and coach them on how to follow it through. I often do this for complete strangers who contact me on LinkedIn and Facebook. To ask for help is a heroic move, and to deny the tools one has to someone in need is cowardly. Going the extra mile to help a friend of a friend or complete stranger in social networking will develop long term loyalty, especially when the market turns around.

To display a personal touch with high moral and ethical values across social networks will generate more business, increase your quality connections, advertise and market your cause for free. For specific questions please directly contact me and I will be happy to show you the finer tips and tricks of LinkedIn and Facebook.

Happy Networking,
Jordan Shaw

Stop by and join all of these exciting LinkedIn and Facebook networks.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/itrecruiterjordanshaw
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?about=&gid=1548057&trk=anet_ug_grppro
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=15366183507
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=49189756441
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/group.php?gid=18940299270

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.

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.