Stop me if you’ve heard these statements from Corporate or Agency Staffing Professionals “I never use job boards”, “We only use direct sourcing to find the best candidates”, “We post our jobs and select the best candidates” or maybe you’ve heard candidates tell you “I only work with one recruiter” or “I don’t post my resume”.

While I can respect someone for taking a stance for what they believe, I can’t stand by and let Recruiters and Candidates continue to make a HUGE mistake. I can substantiate my beliefs by using any number of clichés or analogies – “Diversify your portfolio”, “Use all of the tools in your toolbox”, “Don’t be ignorant”…OK that last quote was just me being rude.

After 16 years as an IT Recruiting professional, I can tell you that, whether you are an Employer or Job Seeker, you must use every resource available to achieve success. I’ll break this into sections for both Employers (Corporate or Agency Recruiter) and Job Seekers.

Employer

In order to find both Passive and Active candidates you must use all of the following to be successful:

» Internal Database – Applicant or Resume Tracking Systems. Once you have a candidate in your database, you have the ability to email jobs and get access to their resume/skills with a variety of searches. Once you build your internal database, you can rely on using it for those future “hard to find” searches. It will also come in handy for finding candidates that will not be readily available on job boards or readily available to your competitors.

» Direct Sourcing – This is an “Old School” approach that still works. Call directly into a company and speak with a passive candidate. This works well when coupled with Social Networks

» Social Networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter) – Social Networks are the fastest growing population of new web users and have an abundance of IT Candidate Resources. They are filled with both active and passive candidates. The status update sections are like sending a free job post to your network and LinkedIn provides free Job Postings to every Group that you join. This personally accounted for over 25% of my passive placements last year

» Internet Resume Databases (Also known as Job Boards) – DICE, Monster, Careerbuilder, etc. These are still the most utilized tools by Corporate and Agency Recruiters and provide access to a tremendous amount of talent. Utilize both Resume searching for candidates actively looking and Job Postings for passive candidates. Set up Search agents to notify you as soon as a candidate posts with your skill criteria.

» Job Fairs – Great resource for active talent that you can immediately screen. Job Boards, Outplacement Services, Municipalities and Networking Groups

» Networking Groups – Join at least 2 Networking Groups and actively attend and sponsor events. You can find these links at the bottom of this blog post and on LinkedIn under Groups.

» Referral Network Program – It “pays” to provide referral fees to both external and internal IT Professionals. If you do not have a program, I suggest you have a meeting with your recruiters and implement one immediately. I suggest 2 different programs for both Direct and Contract placements.


Remember to use all of these tools and put programs in place to measure ROI. The next time someone asks how you find resources you can tell them “My company uses an arsenal of tools to find both active and passive talent that includes…………..”



Job Seekers
See above…..just kidding. Whether you are an active or passive candidate you should use some of the tools above. I recommend the following:



» Career Sites (Also known as Job Boards) – Pick at least 2 sites and post your resume. This will give corporate and agency recruiters access to search your resume and provide you with the ability to set up Job Agents to email you positions that meet your criteria. If your job search is confidential, make sure that the site has the ability to post a “Confidential Resume” and provides a confidential email.

» Recruiter (s) – Select at least 2 (I suggest 3) recruiters to develop a relationship with. I have had a number of Job Seekers proudly state that they only work with 1 recruiter. To that I say “Congratulations on minimizing your options”. Agencies and, the recruiters that work for those agencies, vary in the client companies in which they have contracts. Maximize your options by selecting 3 companies/recruiters with a broad client portfolio and make sure that they don’ overlap too much.

» Social Networking Sites – Get a LinkedIn account immediately and connect with as many IT Recruiters, Staffing professionals and Networking Groups as possible. Every recruiter that is worth their salt in the IT Staffing Business (Corporate or Agency) uses LinkedIn. If you are working with a recruiter that is not on LinkedIn, I suggest you find a different recruiter.

» Networking Groups – No matter what your skill set may be .NET, Java, Oracle, QA, BI, ERP, there is a Networking group for you. Join your local DFW Network or Special Interest Group. These groups are frequented by recruiters, colleagues and hiring managers. You can find a link to Networking and Social groups at the bottom of this blog post.


Remember to “maximize your options”, “use all the tools in your toolbox” or “diversify your portfolio”. Whichever cliché you choose, I hope that it is successful.