Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on May 1, 2008 at 11:18am

Staffing firms should write local industry blogs that specifically address the concerns of candidates in their niche. Populating the blog with content written by candidates and contractors, it's the most effective way to build a local pool of talent, and improve their SEO for their website.

The blog should interview their recruiters, to make sure searches for their names identify them with the company, and the blog can also be set up to add free job postings that can be sent to vertical search engines.

Every recruiter should have a LinkedIn profile that links back to the blog, and the company should have a Facebook and MySpace profile that also links back to the blog.

If you are in an industry where a lot of candidates are on Twitter, you should have an account and listen to pick up buzz in the industry.

That's the DIY version. The other version is to hire a a consultant with a background in recruiting who can do this for you through training and blog consulting.

Permalink Reply by Ben Gotkin on May 1, 2008 at 3:58pm

From a corporate recruiting perspective, I would suggest that you take a strategic and tactical approach.

Strategic
- Develop a Facebook page to use primarily for marketing purposes, but also to build community (with interns, alumni, etc.).
- Launch a blog to educate candidates and leads about your organization and what it's like to work there, with the purpose of providing a less-filtered, deeper-dive view.
- Place video clips on your career website with interviews/testimonials from your employees. Also, post these videos on YouTube, Facebook, your blog, etc.

Tactical
- Every recruiter has a LinkedIn account and is proactively building a large network with a high level of integrity. They use their LinkedIn network not to blast out jobs, but to connect with relevant talent in a highly personal manner.
- Every recruiter has a Facebook page where they promote themselves as a recruiter for their organization, and also join Facebook groups that are highly relevant sources of talent.
- Anyone who does college recruiter absolutely must have a significant presence in Facebook and MySpace, but fluent in text messaging capabilities, etc.

Overall, I would advise just selecting a few things to do in social media and do them really well. Do your research in advance and Identify the social media that is most relevant to the type of candidate that you are seeking. As for MySpace and Twitter, I haven't done much with them personally, so I can't speak to using those tools myself.

Permalink Reply by Amber Powell on May 5, 2008 at 2:52pm

Hi Bill,

My understanding of your questions refers to how to prepare to use the tools, not so much as in how to use Linkedin etc, but how to prepare a recruiting firm/agency to get to the point where they are web 2.0 ready. In order for a company to use Web 2.0 tools and resources I feel there are several key things that need to be done to make this effective for the entire company as a whole:

1. Knowledge: Everyone (all employees) need to be on the same page and knowledgeable about web 2.0 tools and resources along with what and why they need to be implemented in the first place.

2. Best practices for use of tools such as Linkedin, etc. need to be understood and used wisely. Otherwise it could also adversely affect the entire company.

3. Publish employee-generated content that reveals all of the tools and update it often. Share it and promote it with co-workers instead of keeping it a secret.

4. During meetings discuss the benefits of the tools and how it has worked for your employees on an individual basis..

5. Provide training to employees who simply find it difficult to keep track of all the information from the tools.

6. Prepare, update, modify existing software applications in order to parse the tons of information from the millions of users and applicants.

7. Use RSS feeds to distribute content outside of the corporate career site.

8. Have a real FAQs sections on the candidates end where candidates can ask questions, get real answers, and have this exchange be indexed and searchable for others.

9. Include building and cultivating the candidate community on the career site through real two-way exchange of information.

10. Encourage recruiters, hiring managers (all employees) to seek out potential hires and build relationships within multiple online communities.


It only works if you work it. These tools are simply that. They are made to be used.

Permalink Reply by Susan Hand on May 5, 2008 at 5:27pm

As the future moves to WEB 2.0 Recruiters, Firms, and Agencies, must evolve their strategies to use the tools and networks to the best advantage. Strategies are more than tactical steps in using Web 2.0 tools, but there are some critical success factors that all firms using Web 2.0 should define.

Defining, Assessing and Organizing intent, results, and relevancy of Web 2.0 tools will be critical for recruiters success. LinkedIn, Facebook, Blogs....all provide a reach that if used resourcefully will provide an Advantage to Recruiters world wide. If used randomly it may also create a poor message, and brand to recruitment agencies, recruiters, and candidates. Think of that message that misses the mark, or the recruiter that never called back--now its not one candidate lost, or one firm declined but potentially thousands.

The information, collaboration, network and reach that Web 2.0 resources provide us can be exhaustive. Therefore, a plan, with organization, thoughtful messaging, anticipated measurable information flow, user training , available resources and metrics should serve if not as a strategy than at the very least a framework and flow of inflow and outflow. After all, what good is any tool if it doesn't provide relavant, helpful results.

Some Steps not to miss when dealing with Web 2.0 Tools:

1) Align your message, brand, and communications with the firms vision, and mission will benefit.
2) Define the how, why, what and when tools should be used ie) Is there one site on Linked in to post a company profile or several--is it about the individual or the company?
3) Train the representatives from the firm on the spam vs. competitive strategy
4) Organize the results---do you have metrics to measure the source, do you have $$$ to support the results
5) Information Flow---are there gaps, are there updates, are they reasonable for the resources to complete? Ie) One blogger, several bloggers add to it. One page for Linkedin with links to every recruiter
6) Goals--follow the SMARTprinciple IS STILL Relavant in Web 2.0. Specific, Measurable, Achievable Reasonable/Relevant, and Timeline. Is your process and goals for the tools SMART?


Organization and collaboration of the tools will save effort, money, and time. From a simple template message, the response, the intake, the output, and of course the contacts and networks.

recruitment firm or any recruitment organization should take more than tactical steps in order to use Web 2.0 tools to the best advantage. A strategic plan that incorporates, assessment, alignment, relevancy,

Key elements of a Web 2.0 Recruitment Strategy must include, alignment to a firms strategic goals; collaboration of tools, assessment and relevancy of tools, design, and usage. As the future generation of social networks, web 2.0 tools, software service as a solution evolves--The potential for collaboration skyrockets, and the need for Organization, Directed Marketing, and Monitoring of Results will Everything from messaging, to profiles and banners should have some alignment so no matter what the tool used---the brand connects the firm with its potential stakeholders, clients, and sourcing avenues.

Web tools can create linkage once only dreamed about. Image having a company profile Web Page on Linked in with instant messaging to facebook, your blog and client networks. Well its being done today. Much like a simple booleon with a targeted result has worked for sources, interactive strategy in Web 2.0 to Each tool should be assessed for its individual value, and comprehensive value. Ie) a recruiting firm that specializes in Tech might have a more aggressive objective in using.

I could write for hours, but in short, don't be bitten by the Shiny Object, Make sure you have a plan, use your resources and the WEB 2.0 companies Resources ie) lInkedin has a great help, so doesn't blogger. Then coordinate all and Go AT IT!

Happy Recruiting,

Sue Hand

Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on May 5, 2008 at 5:38pm

Bill, this is an open-ended question, meaning non-quantitative . . . therefore I'll keep this simple. Essentially, your question is one of the Marketing function at its core.

1. Once you've identified your 'target market' (*see note below), the question becomes where that target market is 'located' or where they choose to congregate. Please note that the important thing here is about where they (themselves) choose to meet up, congregate, conversate, etc. It's not about us driving them somewhere they don't want to go; it's about us meeting them where they already like to go. They're not selling us; we're selling them. Perhaps the philosophy of disrupting them out of their own status quo and sending them somewhere new can be successful, but you better have a tremendous brand (personally or organizationally) and ample cash reserves to weather the early storm of hesitation.

2. If you have more than one tgt market, understand that there may be things they have in common, but don't assume so. Treat each in mutually exclusive fashion. The term is to 'sub-segment' because enterprise-BI architects in the Pac-NW may be different than the same job role in the Mid-SE. Assume nothing and be willing to re-examine your reasoning. What you've 'figured out' today might be old news tomorrow. In fact, that's the nature of how fast ideas grow up and die off in our new world.

3. Once you've segmented, the goal is to then deliver 'killer value propositions'. Ask yourself why a person in your target market should be interested in your LI, Facebook, Twitter, Blog, etc. presence. Remember that notion of "Build it and They Will Come" is a myth - people don't care about us and they're already over-marketed to. We need to stand out and always remember that our target individual always asks "WIIFM" ("What's In It For Me?") You'll know when your value proposition is working when your groups (LI or FB) and Twitter account is growing exponentially. Another trend to view is the increase in your Blog traffic. Now those previous 2 were quantitative metrics, so the qualitative check is one of conversation quality - are more people sharing in the community? Are you getting more personal emails? Are you being quoted in any other material? (such as magazines, other blogs, etc.)? Perhaps most important is whether you are receiving more high-quality resumes? Are clients or internal hiring managers finding you and reaching out for your help?

4. Form hypotheses. This sounds complicated, but it's not - it's what banks, telecom companies, consumer packaged good companies, etc. do. Just take a few minutes each day to think of non-status quo or "cool" ways to stimulate activity. Don't be afraid to try things out. For example, try a Twitter post (with a 'tinyurl' linking to an article) for your target market in the Pac-NW and the same for the Mid-SE. Were the results comparable? Why or why not? Can you better tweak your Twitter posts?** (Another example would be to add a new Facebook widget and let all your 'friends' know.)

5. Once you've found a hypothesis that worked in limited fashion, scale it out. You've done the hard work and put in the experimental phase, so enjoy the fruits of your efforts. It's not every day that you earn a win.

As a former techno-marketeer (like Matt above), the only thing I'd like to conclude with is to remember that LI, Facebook, Twitter, Blogs, etc. are tools. When I say tools, I mean tools of the overall marketing mix, such as email, direct mail, etc. If our strategy is sound, then we can interject tools into the game . . . and each tool has its own nuances and idiosyncracies. Sorry if I bored anyone here, but what I often see is adoption of new Web 2.0 tools for technology's sake. The issue is that it's not very fiscally responsible on our part to start tossing money out the window unless we know it will offer the results we're looking for.

Unfortunately, there is no silver-bullet and 'perfect' way to roll out or implement a Web 2.0 tool - what works for Baby Boomers may or may not work for Gen-Y and vice-versa. The one thing we know, hands-down, is that you need eyeballs or ears (if you're podcasting), but once you have someone's attention, you better really stand out if you want to keep it.

What I often tell clients when it comes to implementing a Strategic Talent Sourcing strategy is that while it's fun and exciting to start off on a trip to Mars, let's relax a little and perhaps meet somewhere mid-way first (say, the Moon, for example). If the trip to the Moon is successful, then we can get more audacious and shoot for Mars next :)

Joshua Letourneau
Mg Director, SSF (Strategic Sourcing Framework)
LG & Assoc Search / Talent Strategy
BLOG: www.lgexec.typepad.com

Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on May 6, 2008 at 1:59pm

Just found something I thought to pass on to our community: TellAPal.com

As we know it's all about accumulating eyeballs and achieving a critical mass, here's the value prop of TellAPal.com:

Advertisers
TellAPal is simple. Our platform allows your customers to:
Write an online recommendation of your product or service
Share it with their friends (via e-mail, IM, blogs, or social networks)
Allow their friends to sign up for a special offer
Earn rewards when their friends sign up

Benefits
Fully automated referral marketing program
User generated recommendations generate viral word-of-mouth
Leverage the power, reach, and relevance of social media
Incentives motivate and reward your existing customer base
Comprehensive campaign management tools, metrics, and reporting
Convenience: no software to purchase or develop
Value: 100% pay for performance

Now, the value prop isn't 100% inline with our own, and I would caution that your interest in something better be sincere and authentic or people will see you were bought . . . and bought people are immediately transparent nowadays.

That being said, think about ways to virally market the value prop you're offering to your target market of candidates . . . don't be afraid to experiment. Just thinking out loud . . .

Joshua Letourneau
Mg Director, SSF (Strategic Sourcing Framework)
LG & Assoc Search / Talent Strategy
BLOG: www.lgexec.typepad.com