US Recruiter

Friday, December 1, 2006

How to use online communities to recruit more candidates faster

How to use online communities to recruit more candidates faster
By Lucia Apollo ShawHireWorks

Online communities generally refer to internet watering holes where thousands, or in some cases millions, of people with like-minded interests meet to share discussions and commerce. Some well-known examples include eBay, Classmates.com, and Yahoo Groups. But just like undiscovered farm ponds, there are lots of lesser known, niche-based communities that are loaded with talented candidates! Many online communities have similar attributes, such as discussion forums and resource links of interest to community members. From a marketing and recruiting standpoint, this is a treasure trove opportunity to monitor discussions, pose (relevent) questions to groups, and create a data base of users as the basis for an e-newsletter (more on this topic in the next issue!). Yet, all too often recruiting efforts ignore online communities as a means to find candidates. For those who take action, you will find less competition than other mediums. And you won’t have to spend vast amounts of money and time, either. I usually set aside about 30 minutes or so on Monday mornings to review my settings, profiles, and cyber “open invitations” I’ve created for the communities I participate in. Now if adding yet another commitment to your schedule makes you groan inwardly, consider these numbers:Presently, only 29% of eligible job seekers visit the "Big Three" (Monster.com, Hotjobs.com, CareerBuilder.com)Less than 12% of all hires actually made are as a result of these Job Boards (Monster.com, Hotjobs.com, CareerBuilder.com).Despite these figures about internet job boards, we also know that 85% of people conducting research use the internet. So we know we should be sourcing candidates on the net...But where are these people? The answer is: Everywhere! Online communities exist within specific trades and professions, hobbies, sports and entertainment genres, health interests, political and religious beliefs, and ethnic and cultural commonalities. You can view professional profiles, find out about specific projects a manager worked on, and much more. But the best part is you can work anonymously. No worrying about posting an ad only to waste hours and days screening hordes of unqualified applicants out (unless you’re into that kind of thing). You can search using specific keywords, hunt within a given industry, or seek out names. Need some benchmarking data or other competitive intelligence? This is a great way to find those people quickly who might have the information you need. Okay. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Here are several internet communities, and tools you can use, to gain ideas from and find those elusive candidates! LinkedInLinkedIn is probably the largest network to date. Don’t be put off that many recruiters already use LinkedIn. The fact is that a great many more do not. There is ample opportunity to make contacts, meet candidates, or partner and network with others in your field. As of this writing, the beta version still allows you to have five outgoing “requests for introductions” to people you’d like to meet (at no cost). Once those introductions have been accepted or denied, you gain the slot back again. Recently, “LinkedIn Jobs” has been unveiled. During the preview period, employers can post jobs at no cost. They cite access to 1.8 Million candidates, so this is a networking tool everyone should check out. SpokeSpoke was founded in 2002. While a bit slower to run and slightly choppier to navigate, this tool really does have some fantastic features. Spoke is really designed for those of us in sales. You can set “multiple alerts” features for those companies and/or people you’d like to know more about. Every Monday, Spoke emails me new “Alert” information. I usually request information containing a candidate’s name and title only. Complete contact information (phone and email) can be a bit harder to come by. But armed with a name and title, I can usually call into a company and find the person I’d like to talk to quite easily. Spoke’s tech support is the tops! Twice I’ve needed help and gotten a call back the same day, with the problem solved. Not only that, but Spoke also follows up with a courtesy call a few days later to be sure you’re all set. Who does that? KonnectsLaunched in February of 2000, Konnects is a free tool you can use to expand your professional circle. Konnects also has a notification feature to alert you to new contacts. Very easy to use. OpenBCOpenBC is a European community and is available in 11 languages. Do you recruit internationally? Would you be open to considering international candidates for those hard-to-fill positions? This might be a fantastic tool for you. I receive a short report each week that tells me how many times my profile has been viewed, as well as how many new contacts I’ve made. There is no charge for Basic membership. Plus, OpenBC offers a contact page with guestbook, as well as the ability to receive messages from other members. Premium membership is reasonably priced at 5.95 euros per month. While probably not a ‘must-have’, this does offer the ability to see who visited your contact page and why…Would having this information be valuable to you? You really can put online communities to work for you while you’re awake or sleeping to find talented job candidates. I just recently received a batch of unexpected key referrals from candidates, as well as a job order for a new client I’m now working with, all of which came only after months of collaboration within a niche biotech community. If you make even a modest, but consistent commitment to working online communities, you’ll see returns that soar way beyond your time and expenses. So make the habit of fitting these activities into your week. Soon enough you’ll be giving all those new hires “Welcome Wagon” packages to your neighborhood!

---Lucia Apollo Shaw

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Biography : Lucia Apollo Shaw is the President and CEO of HireWorks, Inc. HireWorks is a professional search firm specializing in the Life Sciences. HireWorks offers research services, contract staffing, and permanent placement services.

Advantages of Job BoardsBy Keri Wissell

Advantages of Job BoardsBy Keri Wissell

The SearchLogix Group’s Research Department utilizes job boards. Job boards, such as Monster, can be very useful. The “perfect” candidate is rarely found on a job board; however, we almost always find someone who could potentially “lead” us to a candidate who might be. The SearchLogix Group uses job boards as another tool for building relationships to connect to new people.Our Internet Research Team spends hours digging through thousands of candidates who have chosen to post their resumes on job boards. Here are a few things our team looks for initially before a call is placed to qualify candidates found on a job board:

Date resume posted or updated
Spelling errors
Qualifications

Dates, salary information, relocation, commute distanceIt is important for candidates who want to be found to stay in control of their resume while it’s on the internet. It is also important that they take it off if they are no longer open to new opportunities. Candidates should be honest when speaking with recruiters. Let them know upfront if, when and who they are interviewing with. A good recruiter will ask! If you are already interviewing with the company that the recruiter called about, that’s fine. They won’t submit you again to the same company but they will keep you in mind for other opportunities. Recruiters are all about building relationships. If candidates are not honest with the recruiter, you can bet they won’t be called again.Finding candidates on the internet is a great supplement to cold calling and networking. Hiring authorities pay good money to have recruiters find the best candidate to fill open positions. They should expect the recruiter to do everything possible to find these candidates. Asking a recruiter to avoid using the internet is not in a company’s best interest. Internet researchers are trained and are specialists in digging through the internet in ways that others are not. These candidates in some cases go through “more” of a screening process than the others but this is to protect all involved. A final thought… the best candidate for a position may be an internet candidate. Can you tell the difference between candidates sourced thru networking or sitting in a database or listed on the internet? Filling the position with the best and most qualified candidate is what matters most!

---By Keri Wissell.

All copyright Reserved with Keri Wissell

BackgroundCheck Complete | The Truth Must Prevail

CONFIRM REAL PROPERTY DATA

Prepare for real property transactions by verifying or correcting public ownership and transfer data. Identify past buyers and sellers; compare assessed land, improvement, and market values; check lender information, loan amounts, and mortgage holder information; and track results of quit claim, grant, property records and other deeds.
Help your career thrive by verifying the public data available to potential employers. Establish the validity of legally-registered professional licenses, permits, and credentials; clarify past criminal records search and occupational disciplinary actions; review your past worker's compensation claims; and double-check basic personal data for employee background checks.
Accomplish a quick and careful examination of an applicant's history. Substantiate social security numbers, current and past addresses, and other names associated with those addresses; detect possible bankruptcies, liens and judgments; and get documentation on other personal info submitted to help screen background information of possible tenant or roommate background checks.

For more info:

url=http://www.backgroundcheck-complete.com
http://www.backgroundcheck-complete.com

Background Search Agency

Though now a days many recruiting companies are also doing the backgrounbd check,other might not have the resouce for doing the same.

In matters of public record, resolve questions about an individual's civil rulings and criminal convictions with an extensive legal documents inquiry.
From bankruptcies, liens, and judgments to misdemeanor and felony verdicts, research and verify a person's records in local, state, online public records and federal annals for the best public records search results.
for more info: http://www.backgroundcheck-explorer.com

How to search resume in Google.com

Brief, pithy and to the point. You might know about targeting free resumes via the title tag in Altavista or Alltheweb, but are you aware of how many more resources Google offers you to find the same thing?

Google is a recruiter's dream, yes it is. It results are based upon link popularity (among other criteria) so you can be assured your searches will yield you a much more targeted selection of documents for your needs.

Google doesn't use the OR construct. Thus, the more keywords you use, the fewer results you'll get (because you're providing more and more specifications).

Some of Google's special search thingees include:

intitle: (corresponds to the title tag). intitle:resume should return results that have the word 'resume' within the title.

allintitle: makes sure all the words specified show up in the title tag. allintitle:resume engineer will return pages that have the word 'resume' and 'engineer' in the title. Oddly, note how no quotes were required.

inurl: (corresponds to the url tag). inurl:resume will return pages like http://www.lingstar.com/docs/resume.html (yes I mocked that up for a photo shoot for one of my books. Note the teapot reference).

allinurl: all the words specified shows up in the URL! allinurl:resume new will return pages like http://www.dis.org/dice/resume-new.doc
site: (correesponds with the host: or domain: tag) site:free-for-recruiters.com will return results only from that site.

You can learn more about what's available at http://www.google.com/help/operators.html
So! How can you take advantage of this rather superb ability in Google? Let's say you wanted to target resumes from Unix professionals in near NYC. NYC's area code is 212: you could search for:
intitle:resume "New York" 212 unix

You could then vary the area code and state to target NJ and surrounding locales.
Try the following interesting searches:
resume inurl:resumes.*.com
"view resumes" intitle:resume

The above touches only the tip of the solar system regarding what you can accomplish with Google... upcoming ezines will reveal even more.

Have a Great Search.Good Luck.

List of US Recruiting and Staffing Associations

Blogs Could Become Newest Recruiting Tool

Blogs Could Become Newest Recruiting Tool

As reported by SHRM, Employers, recruiting analysts and consultants all have begun to extol the virtues of using web logs—better known as blogs—as a way to identify and attract job candidates. However, corporate web logs that are specifically used as recruitment tools are few and far between.
“I think employers are well aware of the value of blogs as a recruiting tool,” says Ted Demopoulos, management consultant and co-author of the book Blogging for Business (Kaplan Publishing, 2006). “There just aren’t many that have made recruiting the specific goal or focus of their organization’s blogs.”
But blogs offer businesses an excellent and interactive communications tool, and many leading corporations have extensive web log programs. Microsoft, for example, is one such company with close to 3,000 blogs posted by the company’s employees. Blogs can give an insider’s view of an organization and could provide the best and most accurate picture about a company’s work environment to potential job candidates.
A number of other high-profile companies such as General Motors Corp. and Boeing Co. have joined the corporate blog bandwagon this past year and are following the footsteps of high-tech firms like Microsoft, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Honeywell Corp. The primary reason companies are choosing to make the blogging leap is because they don’t want to risk being left out of an online phenomenon in which an estimated 5 percent of Americans maintain blogs and 20 percent read them. A Gallup poll conducted in February did find that the number of new blogs is tapering off; however, the number of people reading blogs regularly definitely seized the attention of corporate boardrooms around the nation.
Companies that don’t have employee blogs clearly could find themselves at a competitive disadvantage in recruiting qualified workers. A good example of blogs’ benefits, Demopoulos says, is the story of a man who recently read employee blogs at Microsoft to learn as much as he could about the company. He discovered that Microsoft employed many people who shared his interest in long-distance cycling and that the company also encouraged participation in cycling events. The man then decided he wanted to work for Microsoft and interviewed with the company.“This shows how blogs offer the information that job candidates can use to make a very informed decision about their careers. And the job candidates that employers want and need are the savvy and well-educated people that blogs would tend to attract,” says Demopoulos. “So it’s a tremendously powerful tool.”

-Source Recruiter.com