Now, more than ever the ability to develop and deliver an effective recruitment strategy is imperative. Candidate lifestyles have changed dramatically over recent years and many companies are still behaving as though it is 1985. Candidates and people in general are on the go more than ever and using technology in ways we never imagined. Social relevance, personalized experiences and transparency in activities and communication are prevalent in this wireless inter-collaborated world we now live in. The days of help wanted signs and newspaper job ads has passed and now people with media power and large advertising budgets are competing against no or low cost methods like a blog or webcam to post information.
The mindset of recruiting departments needs to move from spending money, time and resources developing processes and tools to screen people OUT and begin to embrace the media tools of today and focus more on what a company's recruiting message should be to invite the right type of profiles IN. This can include better analyzing a career website, how it is indexed, and the verbiage used for web engine crawlers to tag, including RSS feeds that potential candidates can opt-in and receive information when it is convenient for them. Organizations should evolve their mindsets to opening their virtual doors to allow people to get to know them. Because if they don't, then bloggers, tweeters and other internet groups will do this for them, which can have positive or negative results. This being considered, it is important for you to evaluate the tools in your recruiter's toolbox, remembering it is not about the quantity of tools you have but more importantly the ability to understand and effectively utilize the tools.
A lot of people are talking on the web today, but are they listening to YOU?
1. Use niche websites, many of the general job boards have become flooded with resumes often taking more time to review and not focusing on any one industry. Niche sites give you a better chance of targeting that passive industry expert you are looking for.
2. Make social media a part of your toolbox. Facebook, xing, myspace to name a few. Find the one that works best for you and ensure you manage that ONE site properly, contributing to communication and updates at least daily.
3. Set up a company or recruiter specific linkedin profile and regularly update it with information about your company and culture, as well, use the events feature to inform people when you will be at job fair and industry events.
4. Author or sponsor industry specific white papers and post to your website and link to these when advertising and communicating in blogs, social media, etc.
5. Develop and present webcasts that showcase your company and culture, product or a best practice. Thought leadership demonstrates a good place to work and gets people interested in what you are doing and saying.
6. Blog in places potential candidates and industry experts are listening. Use microblogs, like twitter to communicate with people.
7. Automate your sourcing efforts with webtools and products to allow your recruiters more time to communicate directly with candidates and their hiring managers (ie. TalentSeekr).
8. Revisit and use your own applicant tracking system (ATS). Many companies have a great database right under their nose and neglect to use this as a sourcing tool. Previous candidates not qualified for one position, may be qualified for a current opening, as well often candidates you don't remember or never talked to are uncovered in effective searches. Do you have or use a CRM tool?
9. Join on-line groups and participate. Be seen as an industry expert and get people interested in what you have to say. Depending upon the forum, this may be a good opportunity for the recruitment team to engage help from the operations or management teams to speak more specifically on industry topics. This also features your employees as thought leaders and industry experts.
10. Build a passive candidate database through on-line searches and use of sites like resumeblaster.com or resumezapper.com, to name a few.
The internet is overwhelming; a sourcing toolkit should be tight, but effective. And remember -- it's not the tools that make the difference in a sourcing toolkit, it is the expertise of the people who use those tools to attract the right talent for an organization. Combined with energizing recruitment marketing/messaging (ie. 'what is the story you want to tell candidates about your organization'), and fluid process and technology, an experienced and effective sourcing team can position you for success.
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