The New World of Social Media Recruiting

We live in exciting times. Remember the mid ‘90s, when the Internet was growing exponentially? It opened up the world with speed of communication and spread of information.

The Internet continues to transform the way people live and how businesses operate, including ours — search and recruiting. Now we manage databases and use new tools to efficiently prospect, manage relationships, and deliver for our clients and candidates.

After the Internet boom, media stories were written about what would be the next “big thing.”

Well, we have two big things happening now, in my view. The first is about energy. We can’t live without it and must find new sources of clean energy to satisfy increasing demand while protecting the environment. This is a topic for other experts.

But the “big thing” in recruiting and staffing is Social Media, and how it will increasingly change the way we do business.

Businesses are in the midst of great transformation. All centers around information: how to find it, manage it, and communicate it effectively.

We in recruiting are at the epicenter.



Each recession makes us take a hard look at our business model. In the downturn of the early ‘90s, my firm established strategic partners (via split networks) and diversified into other revenue-producing activities (training, career coaching).

During the current recession, we’ve focused on building our recruiting brand while offering additional “human capital” services.

A key to success in recruiting will always involve how we communicate in the beginning of the process – finding and engaging clients and candidates.

Before the Internet, recruiting was about building a rolodex, mainly through cold-calling. It still is, but to a lesser degree. Email and websites changed that first, allowing us to touch greater numbers in less time. Now with the interactive web, two-way communication is changing the game dramatically.

It’s not about who you know anymore. It’s about who can find you.

Until about two years ago, the first step in our marketing and recruiting process was gathering quick information; name, company and phone number. Then we would make the call, using techniques to “overcome objections.” After all, we were originally trained that recruiting was about the numbers.

Consider this: With the ease and low cost of creating information today, potential clients and candidates want to feel very comfortable with you before they conduct business. They want to trust you.

Many times, the best way to obtain new business is still through a referral. However, for those who don’t know you, they want a professional who is credible who can deliver. And, they will want to check you out before doing business. What does your “electronic footprint” say about you? Have you Googled your name lately?

We never get a second chance to make a first impression. New objective: Make a name for yourself before you talk to prospects.

Today, my firm does this with a mix of marketing, PR, and social media:


Marketing is a multi-step process to build your name in the minds of prospective clients and candidates. Do you know it takes 6 to 8 “touches” before a client remembers you?
PR is about gaining visibility in the media; by being quoted in traditional (newspapers, magazines, TV) or new (electronic, blogs) media.
Social media involves two-way communication. The Big Three are LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Key objectives are to build your profile and networks and connect them in the right ways.

Planting the Seeds
What do marketing, PR, and social media have in common? All require you to be proactive and plant seeds. All require building relationships. All enable branding and greater name recognition.

Over the last year, my firm has committed time and resources into building our brand.

We have taken the following steps:


Upgraded our website. Added visuals to help tell our story and highlighted three main areas: Executive Search, Training & Consulting, and Employment Expert services. The new site includes home-page testimonials and a resources page.
Obtained media coverage. Built relationships with editors of local and national media. Became “go-to” source for career trends/job advice. Quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, Yahoo! Finance, Forbes.com. Asked to write “Career Expert” column for our state’s largest newspaper. Guested on radio shows, including NPR and Recruiting Internet shows. Fox TV and CBS called.
Built social media presence. I was interviewed over Skype, and the recording was then distributed over online platforms, including Twitter and YouTube. It was clear that this was “the way forward” to gain greater exposure, market our services, and build our brand.
Added a blog to our website. It adds an interactive feature to our site in which we post our latest ideas on recruiting, marketing, and industry trends. It enables two-way conversation and drives more traffic to our site.
Trained at/attended conferences in recruiting & social media. We’re learning the latest trends at the front of the curve. We’re in the conversation. We’re seeing a convergence in everything staffing — recruiting, training, talent management, HR, outplacement, etc.

Social media enables branding, broadcasting, and engagement. When done right, the potential pay-off could be huge.

The good news is we’re still in the early-adopter stage, in the second or third inning of a nine-inning game. If you haven’t gotten on the train or are unsure about what to do, hopefully, this will help you.

Source: http://www.fordyceletter.com/2010/05/27/the-new-world-of-social-media-recruiting

Season's Greetings

Recruiting: What makes a perfect job? Applicants answer

When people were asked what’s required for a job to be “perfect” — meaning, the one they’d choose over others — five common answers popped up.

Good pay, not surprisingly is the most important element, ranked as necessary by 81% of respondents, according to a recent survey by Randstad. Also high on people’s lists were “interesting, challenging work” (66%) and health insurance (65%).

Also important to many people are free lunch (56%) and a lifetime gym membership (40%).

One item that doesn’t factor into most employees’ vision of a perfect job: corporate social responsibility, which was was only list by 32% of respondents.

Source: http://www.hrmorning.com/recruiting-what-makes-a-perfect-job-applicants-answer/

The sought-after skill that actually hurts productivity

Your managers probably think it’s great that employees can juggle several things at the same and still get their work done. But a new study says they should hold their applause.

Many employees, especially younger ones, see no problem with listening to an iPod, reading e-mail and browsing the Web while working. Managers may call it time-wasting, but the employees refer to it as multitasking.

Turns out that multitasking might be horrible for productivity.

That’s the word from a recent study out of Stanford University. Researchers had students fill out a questionnaire asking them how many tasks they usually perform simultaneously, then observed them taking three cognitive tests. They found that multitaskers:

were much more easily distracted than others
had more trouble remembering certain things, and
were even worse than others at switching from one task to another.

That’s bad news for many departments these days, when over-taxed employees could try to use multitasking as a way to get all their work done.

But as this study shows, that strategy could backfire — and that’s before you even factor in all those non-work distractions, which can only multiply the problem.

Bottom line: Multitasking may not be the efficiency answer or desirable skill we all thought it was. Managers might want to recommend staffers get into the habit of focusing on one job at a time.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/hrmorning/~3/3izsQCFe9o0/

Survey: Staffing Firms to See Slight Uptick in Permanent Placements

The use of staffing firms for permanent placements is expected to increase in the 4th quarter compared to more cautious expectations over the last three months, according to CareerBuilder’s quarterly Staffing Supply and Demand Outlook, which tracks current and projected use of staffing firms by employers and job candidates.

Nearly 15% of hiring managers expect to use a staffing firm in the 4th quarter, compared to only 13% in the 3rd quarter.

Just over 10% of hiring managers expect to use a staffing or recruiting firm to help them search for permanent employees in the 4th quarter, compared to only 9% during the 3rd quarter. Hiring managers at companies between 20 and 99 employees showed the largest gain, increasing by nearly 1.5 percentage points compared to last quarter.

More than 7% of hiring managers and HR professionals expect to use a staffing firm to help fill temporary or contract positions in the upcoming quarter, up slightly from 6% last quarter.

Turning Tides?

So is the market turning? Will you “catch the wave” and be ready?

Here’s an idea for one potential way to make more money in 2010…join industry trainer Mike Ramer and PR expert Susan Young in a new webinar on social networking and media strategies. They will share insider secrets, tested strategies, and effective tools for today’s market. The webinar will be offered on your choice of two dates, either Friday, December 4 or Thursday, December 10. For more information on this webinar, approved by NAPS, visit www.prtoolbox.net/Recruiting_PR_Teleseminar.htm.

Source: http://www.fordyceletter.com/2009/11/10/survey-staffing-firms-to-see-slight-upti

Recruiters See Signs of Improvement in Employment Market

Despite mixed economic reports, recruiters anticipate the demand for executive talent will increase during the next two quarters, according to the results of ExecuNet's Recruiter Confidence Index (RCI) released today. "There's a consensus among the nation's top recruiters that the worst is over for the executive employment market," says Mark Anderson, president and chief economist of ExecuNet. "We're already seeing an uptick in hiring, as companies look to improve their management teams with a quality of talent that wasn't readily available in recent years."

According to September's survey of 165 executive recruiters, 56 percent are confident or very confident the executive employment market will improve during the next six months — up from 49 percent last month. This also marks the RCI's second highest reading during the past 13 months.

Confidence in the Executive Employment Market — Next Six Months

Source: ExecuNet

Recruiters' short-term confidence reached a 12-month high in September, as 27 percent are confident or very confident the executive employment market will improve during the next three months — up from 24 percent in August. An equal number (27 percent) of recruiters are not confident the job market will improve during the next three months — down from 34 percent last month and the lowest reading since August 2008.

During the fourth quarter, 65 percent of all executive search consultants are expecting at least a 10 percent increase in search assignments received from corporate clients.

"Any increase in six-figure job growth is good news for executives, but clearly, finding these opportunities will be more challenging than it was before the recession," added Anderson. "Companies are less likely to advertise openings in this environment given the sheer volume of talent in the market and their focus on improving existing leadership teams. This means infiltrating the hidden job market will be more important than ever before."

Introduced in May 2003, the Recruiter Confidence Index is based on a monthly survey of executive search firms conducted by ExecuNet, a private network for business leaders. A leading indicator for the economy and the executive job market, a reading above 50 percent indicates recruiters expect the number of search assignments in the next six months will increase.

Remembering Gandhi