Most agency recruiters who have been in the business for a while are fantastic salespeople and great negotiators.  But they can always take a few practical tips from their counterparts in corporate HR.  While developing and managing relationships may be your strength as a third party recruiter, thinking from the perspective of a recruiter in a corporate setting can set you apart from the competition.

How to Think Like HR

Stay on top of employment law.  A corporate HR person has to know and comply with employment laws.  And while they should know the laws for their state and industry, not all recruiters do.  But staying educated about employment law helps you appeal to clients with higher level, niche positions to fill.

Build Better Companies.  Corporate HR depends on making great hires to grow their company and keep their jobs.  Are your placements making companies better?  HR people have to look at the bigger picture – how will this hire affect their company in the long run?  Will they end up being an asset or a liability?  They run assessments that not only determine culture fit, but predict future job performance.  Placing candidates that not only fit the job description, but will be an asset to your client’s business gives you a great reputation – a necessity for longevity in any business.

Prove Your Worth.  The HR department does not generate revenue directly, so every decision is weighed by how it can save money or grow profit.  Show your clients why their investment in you is valuable.  Demonstrate to your client how paying a fee upfront and getting a phenomenal employee now will pay off big in the end.  Provide the right candidate at the right time to stop productivity loss and ease strain on your client’s resources.

Care About Your Brand.  To get the best hires, HR has to create and promote an enticing corporate brand.  Don’t rely solely on your client’s brand, leaving your own brand out of the equation.  Brand recognition helps to develop expectations and trust among the best talent, making you just as enticing to work with as the companies you are recruiting for.

p.s.  for 8 more ways to think like HR, download “Breaking the Barriers:  8 Tips for Working with HR” →

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Meet Ben.

Ben is the currently reigning singleton on ABC’s The Bachelor.

Ben is not unlike you, a recruiter.

Ben has a predicament.

Ben has a gang of women in a heated battle over the opportunity to win his heart and to be the last woman standing at the Final Rose Ceremony.

You have a database full of potential candidates.  One of them could be the last candidate standing in front of your client, winning you your next placement.  But it’s not always easy to get them there.

Ben has a lot going for him. Attractive. Young. Co-owns a winery in Sonoma.

But there’s one thing you have that Ben just ain’t got.

You have access to great technology developed specifically to give you every opportunity to fill your job order.

And with the latest Sendouts release, Version 8.8, this technology has been refined even further to help you make better matches, faster.

If Ben had Sendouts, he’d be more like you.

If Ben had Sendouts, he could automatically choose the women most likely to fit his marriage requirements.

With Sendouts, Ben could keep better tabs on all of the budding relationships with his lady friends. He could easily see which stages all of his relationships were in. If one relationship was moving too slow – reject. If one looked great on paper, and had been approved by his Jack Russel terrier, Scotch, Ben could send her out to interview with the final decider, his mom.

If Ben had Sendouts, he could save weeks of painstaking decisions and bouts of unnecessary heartache over the wrong candidate.

Ben may not find his match. But you will.

With Sendouts, you can automatically select the best candidate matches in your database, track them through the hiring process, and fill the job order. And because much of the process is automated, you can do it all without being bogged down by administrative tasks within the application.

Love can be hit or miss. So stick with Sendouts to make matches that really matter, and add to your bottom line.

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28% of employees check their smartphones during downtime.

For recruiters, this means that the pool of passive candidates is increasingly on-demand.  Leveraging text messages, email, and mobile-accessible websites can be a powerful way to engage these passive candidates who are consistently accessing their smartphones and tablets.

Just One Problem…

Until very recently, there has not been an easy way for candidates to apply to jobs on their smartphone or tablet.

Imagine filling out an online application via your touch-screen keyboard.  It’s frustrating enough to fill out online applications on your desktop computer, much less on a palm-size screen, one letter at a time.

Likely, if you came across a job you wanted to apply to while browsing on your smartphone, this is going to be your drop-off point.  Maybe you’ll forward yourself the link to apply at a later date.  If you are browsing on a job search app, you might be able to save the job to your favorites list, and access it from your desktop or laptop later.  But both of these scenarios leave a big chasm between the interested candidate and the actual applicant.

Closing the Gap

The LinkedIn Apply button lets candidates apply with the information that is already available in their LinkedIn profile.  This means that with one click – or one touch – a passive candidate can become an applicant.

Adding the LinkedIn Apply button to your job postings connects mobile with the job search process.  Now, passive candidates can scroll through their Twitter feed or Facebook news feed, see a job you posted, click on the link, and apply with one click using the LinkedIn Apply button.  They never need to leave their smartphone.  The loop is complete.

The Downside?

In his article, Linked in profile vs The CV: Face off…  Gareth Jones used a CV rating service to rate his CV against his LinkedIn profile.  The results were in favor of the CV.

Resumes are a bit cumbersome when it comes to the application process.  However, in terms of content, the Resume is much more flexible.  The #1 rule of the job search process is to tailor your resume to the job description.  And this is where LinkedIn falls short, because the job search process is not conducive to a one-profile-fits-all solution…

A Good Start

As Jones points out, LinkedIn will most likely adapt as their “Apply” button picks up steam.  Perhaps LinkedIn will allow their users to easily maintain multiple profiles, each tailored to a specific purpose.

LinkedIn Apply is not the perfect solution to linking mobile with recruiting, but it’s a good start. It creates a jumping point for recruiters to capture a passive candidate’s information, reach out to them and ignite their interest enough to move forward with the process. Whether the applicant’s next step is sending a resume, replying to an email, accepting a phone call, or coming in for an interview, will be up to the recruiter.

p.s.  “Apply with LinkedIn” is now available through the Sendouts website integration!

You don't have to hire Clydesdales to get a return on your advertising investment.

Every year we can expect to see Budweiser fill several spots during the Super Bowl. But an ad engagement survey shows that Budweiser is the brand least likely to see a return on its investment in Super Bowl ads this year.

Maybe you throw money at the same ad spots every year – in trade publications, on job boards, or in newspapers. While you may gain brand awareness in these spots, are you getting a return on your investment?

Ads are More than Skin Deep

A Budweiser Super Bowl ad certainly has high production value, and (depending on your tastes) entertainment value, but buyers aren’t engaged, and aren’t buying more Buds.

You can put together a great looking ad, but it’s not going to automatically bring you more applicants or clients.

Go Beyond Awareness to Engage Your Audience

Instead of letting ads stand alone, execute integrated campaigns. Engage your audience by tying an ad together with a whitepaper, a webinar, a job fair, or even something as simple as an informative blog post. Give prospects a good sense of what you’re about by reinforcing your message in every facet of your campaign.

Measure

Not only do integrated campaigns engage your audience, they also give you opportunities to measure a return on your investment.

If you have static ads in a print publication, offering a whitepaper download or job fair sign-up online can give you insight into who your message is reaching.

You can measure clicks through online ads, but giving away content is an excellent way to gather more information.  You can ask for information like name, email, and job title in exchange for a download.  Then, you are poised to follow-up with more targeted messaging down the road, driving further returns on your initial advertising investment.
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Obama on Instagram

A recent article from Forbes delineates a few ways the Obama campaign has been using social media in its political outreach efforts:

• -Fielding questions and speaking with ordinary citizens in a Google+ hangout after last night’s State of the Union address.
• -Holding a Twitter townhall meeting to get a greater sense of voter concerns.
• -Using Instagram to document the campaign trail.

Recruiters have integrated social media into their day-to-day business activities, posting jobs on their networks and sharing content with their followers.  But President Obama’s campaign demonstrates how you can take social media to the next level, using it as a vehicle to drive events and connect with people outside of your network.

Whether you’re attending a job fair or tradeshow, hosting a webinar, or conducting interviews on a college campus, don’t leave your twitter handle behind.  Social media is as big an aspect of the event as renting a booth or booking your flight.

Executing Social Media Events

Unlike holding spontaneous day-to-day conversations with your networks, holding a social media event takes some planning.

The Focus.  What do you want to get out of the event?  Are you curious what technologies your candidates find most effective in their job search?  Or maybe you want to pick the brains of a few thought leaders in your industry.

The Medium.  Choose a platform that will best suit your focus.  If you want to hear from a large pool of candidates, Twitter.  If you want to have a deeper discussion, video chat may be the way to go.

The Moderator.  Choose a moderator who can keep the virtual conversation on-topic.

The Marketing.  Get the word out with other pre-event marketing through press-releases, emails, articles, and print materials.  Let people know why they will benefit from participating, & how they can get involved.