Don’t drop all the other job boards for Twitter just yet

Lately there has been a lot of buzz about  how Twitter is changing the face of recruiting and job searching.  Job seekers are praising Twitter for helping them find a job.  Corporate recruiters are talking about how posting on Twitter is saving them money (it’s free). But I heard warning bells when I recently read that some recruiters were using Twitter as their primary job posting tool because it has greatly reduced the number of unwanted applicants that are applying for jobs.  I am all for reducing cost per hire and streamlining the recruiting process.  But any tool that restricts your applicant pool by leaving out a segment of the population, that would be otherwise qualified, can appear to be discriminatory. 

You can use niche boards and restrict your ads to sites that would specialize in reaching candidates that have the skills and/or certifications that are REQUIRED for the opening.  But you should not use sites that may eliminate a segment of the candidate population based on their age, race, sex, etc. 

For example, it is acceptable to limit your posting to the Society of Actuaries  website if you have an opening for an actuary.    You are restricting your candidate pool to those people that would have the designation required for the role.  You don’t have to post that opening on a general job board where HR, Marketing, and Sales professionals would view it  But, if you only advertise your actuarial opening on Twitter, where the demographic could be skewed to people that are under a certain age, you may be unintentionally discriminating against older employees. 

So, by all means, use Twitter to reach out to more potential candidates.  Tweet about the openings at your company and provide a link back to the company website or to the job board where the listing can be found.  But don’t throw out all the other job boards just yet.  Don’t rely on Twitter as your main source of advertising for candidates, unless of course, you are hiring social media experts

Looking for a job? Make yourself easy to find.

Whether you are actively looking for a job or just want to hear from recruiters from time to time, you have to get on the radar of executive search firm and staffing agency recruiters.  Once you are found and entered into the recruiter’s database, you will hear about all those unadvertised  jobs everyone has been whispering about. 

To understand how to be found you have to think like a recruiter.  Recruiters aren’t just looking for people that are looking for jobs.  Recruiters are looking for candidates that are currently working in a job very similar to the one that the recruiter is trying to fill.  So, recruiters search for people with specific titles, from specific companies and industries in places like LinkedIn, ZoomInfo and Jigsaw. 

Most importantly, if you don’t already have a profile on LinkedIn, sign up and create one.  If you do have a profile, make sure it includes:

• Your picture – and make sure it is a conservative head shot.  The picture can be in a casual setting.  You don’t have to be in a business suit.  But don’t use that Facebook picture of yourself on the beach with friends, or hiding behind sunglasses, etc.   Adding a picture gives you instant credibility and makes viewers feel like they already know you.
• Your complete profile.  Treat your LinkedIn profile like an online resume – but make it a short one.  List all of your relevant jobs and a summary of what you did in each role.  Think about the keywords you use when searching for a job, and make sure those same keywords show up in your profile. 
• Your title – this should be a functional title, something that expresses in broad, generic terms what you do, such as “Risk Manager” or “Project Manager” or “Recruiter”.  Don’t use titles or acronyms that are unique to your company like “HR Specialist II”  or  “Account Rep for FSO”.  Remember, recruiters will be searching for keywords in the title field.  So reverse the process and think about  the search terms you would use when looking for a job.  Give yourself that title.

 ZoomInfo  collects information from company websites and press releases, pulls it all together and creates profiles for individuals.  Recruiters regularly search these profiles to find candidates, so you should make sure you can be found here. 

• Go to ZoomInfo and search for your name. 
• If you find a listing, “claim it” and update it. 
• If you are not already listed, you can sign up for a free account and add your information to the ZoomInfo database.  All you have to do is enter your contact info and current employer.  You can add more information if you like. 
• You will also have the opportunity in the “Additional Information” area to add links.  Use this to connect your ZoomInfo profile to your LinkedIn profile, and to your blog or website. 

Jigsaw collects business card type information and publishes it on line. 

• Go to Jigsaw and search for your name. 
• If it is there, make sure it is correct. 
• If not, create a free account and add your name and contact information. 

Good luck with your job search!

A Little Sourcing Yields BIG results!

I just learned what BIG results I can get from just a little sourcing!

The bulk of the “executive searching” that I do is for actuaries.  I have a database of just about all the actuaries in the U.S. and Canada, so the sourcing I do for these projects is typically just slicing and dicing my database.  I search LinkedIN and run a few Google searches for each new search.  But honestly, I typically turn to sourcing when I need a break from the monotony of leaving hundreds of voicemails.  I have accepted that searching for the right actuary is like searching for a needle in a haystack.  I already have tons of names and contact info and lots of notes on prior conversations.  I just need to TALK to them, so I find it hard to justify spending time sourcing when I should be on the phone talking. 

Well, not anymore!   I am a convert!  Yesterday, my FIRST call on this new search yielded 6 referrals – yes – I said 6!  And that was because in my quest to learn more about hedging programs, I did a little Googling.  Okay, to be honest – I wasn’t totally comfortable with my pitch on the position so I was procrastinating by “researching“. 

I found a presentation on line that my first potential candidate had done, so I mentioned it in my message to him.  He called me back in less than an hour!!!  Unless you have recruited actuaries, you might think this is not a big deal.  Trust me, this is like getting George Clooney to call you back.  And then to get 6 referrals? Amazing!

It doesn’t end there.  Today I called two of the referrals from my first candidate, but I Googled them and looked them up on LinkedIn first.  I found out that they had done similar presentations on hedging.  So, I mentioned that as well as the fact that they had been referred to me, in the messages that I left for them. One of them returned my call in less than 5 minutes! 

It gets even better!  Since I was having so much luck sourcing prior to calling, I looked at the “Viewers of this profile have also viewed” section on LinkedIN  for the candidate I had just called.  I found someone else with an ideal title, who is an actuary and was NOT on the list I had created using my trusty database.  I called him and he is IDEAL!

I have to admit, when I wrote a recent article for The Source Newsletter , titled “Is Sourcing the Silver Bullet of Recruting?” my position was that sourcing may be great, but it’s just a part of recruiting.  I love to learn about the latest and greatest tools just like everyone else, but I used to see these sourcing tools as a luxury that I could not always afford to spend time on.  Don’t get me wrong – I believe good sourcing tools and skills are essential to a recruiter’s success, and I have trained many recruiters on how to use these tools.  I guess I was just taking a “do as I say, not as I do” approach because I was not fullly utilizing sourcing in my own searches.

I now believe that even if you have a great list of names, and even if you have spoken to those people in the past, you can still get BIG results by spending a few moments researching your key potential candidates to learn just a little bit more about them!