Four Questions to Ensure Your Recruiting Is On Point

As a recruiter there are limitless things that you can do to snag the right candidate and even more ways to track those activities. In my (sometimes) humble opinion there are four things that need to be happening to ensure you are staying on point:

Is your phone screaming for mercy at the end of each day? Recruiting is a people business and if you are not reaching out via the phone each and every day you are missing the boat.

Do you regularly have to fill in a CAPTCHA for Google to deliver search results? One of the quirky things with Google is that if you do enough searches in a given period of time they assume you are an automated search bot and make you fill out a CAPTCHA to prove you are you. If you are not being forced to fill them in on a regular basis you are missing a huge candidate pool.

Do you regularly find the problems with the technologies you are using? If you are using each and every tool offered to you to its max you will be the one finding bugs within said tools. If you aren’t finding them then you probably aren’t pushing them as hard as you should.

Do managers at other companies have your picture on their dart board for trying to pull their top performers out from beneath them? They should.

What other check-point questions should be included on this list? Look forward to reading your suggestions in the comments!

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

Best Recruiting Thought Ever….

Last week I was fortunate enough to go to LinkedIn’s Talent Connect event in Las Vegas and from all accounts (mine included) it was a great event with great speakers, great content, great networking, and a great time had by all.

In the midst of all that happened and all that was said last week there was a simple comment made by one of the speakers that had the most impact – be constantly curious.

That one comment has been my ‘Field of Dreams’ moment (ie “build it and they will come”) and I am now on a mission to be more curious and open to the new in everything I do recruiting wise.

Hope you join me….

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

if you want to see a whole slew of writeups on what went on and what was learned and shared search out #inTalent on Twitter and you will find a ton of information

Guest Post: Why Recruiting in Bare Feet Can Make You More Successful

I have long felt that as a recruiter that there is no need to work in an office everyday as most of our work is on the phone and computer. Today we have another guest post from Lisa Gebhard on the virtues of being able to do just that.

Bare feet.  Relaxing.  Free.  No constriction.  Allows for movement.  Frees your mind.

All great reasons why everyone should work in bare feet. Ok, I understand if you are in construction or a tradesman – probably not the smartest idea.  But I work behind a desk all day long, so why not be free?

One of the benefits in working virtually is that you do not have to be in dress code – you can really wear whatever you want! Some people do not get out of their pajamas but I often choose a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

My mother has often challenged me to “dress up” on some days as if I were going into the office.  She thinks that it would boost my spirits or spark my professional speak.  I tend to disagree.  Bare feet are the key to my success because it allows me to be free. 

My job as a recruiter is a great fit for me because it allows me to utilize my top skills and traits and allows me to talk to people, especially getting them excited about a company that excites me.

All dressed up in a stuffy suit and shoes that are cute but are uncomfortable may hinder my enthusiasm.  When you are using the telephone for your work tool, tone is most important. If my “piggies” are all crunched up and I’m sweating in a suit jacket – my candidates will hear that on the other line!  My exciting tone and energy is conveyed beautifully because I am in my bare feet and relaxed.

I think that more companies should encourage working from home environments.  You have the comfort of your surroundings, you do not have a commute that can make your irritable and you can wear what you want.

As working virtually  continues to gain popularity, I hope that the option of bare feet does too.  Just think about how much more work you can get accomplished and how much more at ease you’ll be.

Take those shoes off!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Make sure to follow Lisa at @lisarecruitsadap and connect with her on LinkedIn.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

The Recruiting Mentality

I am a huge fan of The Far Side and think Gary Larson’s comics are still relevant and funny even after being out many, many years.

A couple of weeks ago I came across one that I had not seen before that really tied all of recruiting together for me and I firmly believe that if you don’t strive to be the antagonist in this picture every single day you are probably in the wrong business.

Now go out, put on a penguin mask, and make things happen!

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

How Twitter Saved My Marriage and Got Me Hires

You can’t go on Twitter and NOT see recruiters and you can’t talk to recruiters and NOT hear about Twitter so as a special treat we have brought in one of my favorite sourcing tweeps (Lisa Gebhard) to share how the site has helped her put butts in seats and in the process impacted her personal life.

I hope the title brought you in to read my post – as silly as it sounds, it’s true!  I’d love to share with you how this great world of Twitter has not only helped me recruit talented sales reps, but assisted in bringing calmness in my personal life.

There are so many social media sites out there to choose from it’s often hard to decipher which one is the best and which will provide the best outcome.  Giving them all a trial run has worked best for me. 

I have had a LinkedIn profile for years  and Facebook allowed me to connect  with all of my old friends from college, old co-workers, high school acquaintances and truly made me feel like the master of networking. 

Then there is Twitter…

For me Twitter connected my professional world to my personal world and allows me to connect with people in a conversational type way. 

It’s not an email, it’s not going to a company website, but it’s real time information about positions/company 411 from a real employee. In 140 characters or less, I can discuss salary, benefits, community programs, awards, recognition and really get candidates excited about my company!

Through my tweeting activities, I began following different regional groups in the spaces that I recruit to follow their members.  As I discussed my geography (always hashtagging it), I began to gain followers in those areas. 

My first hire was a candidate who said that I was connected with many important people in his region and engaged in a conversation with me.  This is where it all starts! Simply, by hitting REPLY. 

My second hire searched several hashtags and found me through the following – #State #Sales #Hiring.

My motto is if you are not OUT there, you will never know.  So get on Twitter, begin engaging.  It’s yet another place to connect with the right candidates.

The part about saving my marriage?

Well, it’s kind of a joke but I love talking on Twitter so much that I feel like I get all my ideas out before the end of the professional work day.  When my husband comes home, I’m not running my mouth to him anymore.  Less listening for him, more relaxing for me and that is how Twitter has helped me in my personal life!

Hope you enjoyed it as much as I did! Make sure to follow Lisa at @lisarecruitsadap and connect with her on LinkedIn.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!

Why I Am Starting To Hate Recruiters (and I am one)

I’ve been in the recruiting business for many years now and love what I do and if I am being completely honest some of my best friends and favorite people call the job function I love their (career) home.

However, there is one thing that recruiters as a whole do that drives me up the wall and makes me want to scream bloody murder at the top of my lungs.

Why can we (recruiters) as a whole NOT figure out that, in a LinkedIn Group, if we are going to post a job that it goes under the job discussion area (on the jobs tab) and not in the regular discussion stream?

It’s not that hard people – click (on the jobs tab), click (on the jobs discussion button), post. 

Say it with me – click, click, post.

Again – click, click, post.

Once more – click, click, post.

If you need help with the concept please look me up on LinkedIn and I can walk you through it.

I ‘own’ seven groups on LinkedIn and manage another and I have to say that the two that I do not allow recruiters into are the two that give me the least amount of trouble. Over the years I have found that recruiters as a whole (and again, this is coming from a recruiter) ruin the group experience on LinkedIn with our inability to remember to click, click, post.

Again, to recap – I love recruiting, recruiters drive me crazy because we cannot figure out how to click, click, post, and contact me if you need help with the concept.

Until next time – good luck and good hunting.

A Little Something For The ‘Post And Pray’ Recruiter In All Of Us

If you’ve been around recruiting long enough you have probably heard (but hopefully not directed towards you) the phrase ‘post and pray’ recruiter. In the event that you are unfamiliar with it check out the definition (with examples) from one of my new favorite sites (Paul McFedries Word Spy):

Whether you admit to it or not everyone has high hopes (and wishes) anytime they post a job. Sometimes a posting works out well and you get a couple of good candidates but many times they don’t and you feel utterly ignored by all of mankind.

That got me thinking a little bit about how potential candidates view things – are they more likely to send in their info for a job if it was as easy as hitting ‘send’? So, a couple of days ago I put together a one question survey that asked just that – “Are you more likely to submit your information to a job if all you have to do is email a resume vs. fill out an application?”

After receiving 520 results (I know that’s not a huge, huge number but I think it will do for now) the answer is a resounding YES (420 or 80.8% said so).

One of the things I like to do on surveys that I put together is to give the people who respond a chance to add their own two cents through a comment box and this time the response was a bit overwhelming (140 comments).

While some were answers you would expect to find in a survey like this there was one that stood out as ringing true with me:

“Excellent question!! Those applications take a long time to fill out. If a person has a full-time job (usually > 40 hrs/wk) and family responsibilities spare time is precious. A person has to be highly motivated to find and take the time to fill out the application.”

This comment leads to a very important question – could organizations be driving away the ’passive’ talent that they so desire because of the fact that an application is required instead of just sending in a resume?

Just answering for myself (and probably everyone else out there) – if I was just passively open to listening to new opportunities the likelihood of me taking 15 minutes to fill out an application is oh, about 0%.

If you want to see the ‘official’ results and read all of the 140 comments that were left you can download the PDF here (Application vs Resume Survey Results).

Now that you have learned a little something about what job-seekers think I would surely appreciate it if you would take 30 seconds a fill out an anonymous survey (a whole two questions) that I will use to share with job-seekers about what recruiters think. You can find the survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/82GVZY6 and will be able to read the results in a couple of weeks on my job-search blog.

Until next time – good hunting and good luck!