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.

An abandoned shopping cart is THE WORST for online retailers.  So close to making a sale, but the customer just didn’t bite.

Maybe the shopper couldn’t find the shipping costs, and decided to skip it. Maybe an item was out of stock when they went to checkout, so they left the site feeling disappointed. Perhaps they had a question, but it was too difficult to contact someone for an answer.

Getting candidates to apply to your jobs online is exactly the same. They’re shopping for an opportunity, and you want them to apply to yours. But what if the perfect candidate searched for jobs on your site, found an opening that piqued their interest, clicked to apply, and then….dropped off?

Turn strong candidates into applicants, and avoid application abandonment.

Save Every Shopping Cart. Give Candidates a Profile.
Make it easy for candidates to come back to your site and immediately know their place in the recruitment process. Do they have interviews coming up? Are there assessments they can complete online? Is it easy for them to update employment history or skills set? Who is their recruiter, and how do they contact them? Giving candidates an area to keep tabs on their job search keeps them coming back for more.

Display Product Availability. Keep Your Jobs Fresh.
How long has the job been open? In the new economy, the mindset among candidates is that there are a lot of qualified workers available, and jobs go fast. If a job has been open for three months, a candidate may assume that it has been filled by now, or in the later stages of the hiring process, and skip the time investment in filling out an application. So if a job has been hanging out there for a while, re-post it to attract new applicants.

Provide Shipping Costs Upfront. Give Salary Information.
A little transparency can go a long way. Most candidates are capable of self-screening based on salary. Providing the salary range upfront gives applicants a sense if a job is the right fit, and can motivate a passive candidate to take the time to applying, knowing the job fits their requirements.

Make it Easy / Eliminate Lengthy Applications.
It may be convenient to have every single stat on every candidate, but to a passive candidate who isn’t really looking in the first place, a lengthy application process can be an immediate turn-off. Get the basics, but avoid asking for the nitty-gritty, like the name, address, and phone number for their manager from three jobs ago. Save it for round two.

Eliminate Registration. Let Them Apply with LinkedIn.
While a LinkedIn profile may not be as fleshed out as a resume, it still captures basic information about a candidate, and gives you a starting point for building a relationship with them. Widen your applicant pool when you skip the username and password, and let them apply with just a click or two.

Build Trust.
You probably aren’t posting jobs on Craigslist to get top-tier candidates. So don’t operate like some shady Craigslist poster. Return inquiries. Avoid cryptic job descriptions. Make contacting a real person easy.

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inspired by this post.

image from here.

What makes a good recruiter great?

While everyone has a different opinion on what success really is (wealth?  notoriety?  the elusive work/life balance?), there are a few themes on what makes a recruiter a big success that keep popping up again and again.

Here’s a quick look at what the successful recruiters do...

1.  They track metrics.

At the end of the day, all that really counts is the number of job orders you fill.  But it’s so interesting to look at all of the steps in between.  What factors correlate with increased placements?  Is it the number of cold calls you make per day? Is it sharing jobs with social networks?  Successful recruiters know what numbers they need to hit on the way to their targeted number of placements.

(p.s. want to measure your recruiting metrics, but don't know where to start?  here's a great resource --> the metrics blue book.)

2.  They adopt new technology quickly.

Part of closing a new client or gaining the trust of a hot candidate is always being available.  And we are constantly evolving in how we are available to each other.

Right now, tech-savvy recruiters are adapting to mobile recruiting in two ways:

a.  Being accessible in mobile web browsers.  People want to do everything from their smartphone.  They want to shop, reserve a table for dinner tonight, and they want to search for jobs.  So having a website that is accessible via a mobile device is a no-brainer.

b.  Being accessible on the go.  As a recruiter or account executive, you aren’t always tied to your desk.  You’re out networking with people, facilitating interviews, and giving presentations.  Having access to your ATS from your smartphone or tablet is a major part of being productive while you’re away from your desk.

3.  They pick up the phone (see item #1)

If you’ve been tracking metrics, then you know that a certain amount of output yields a certain amount of input.  Whether it’s cold calls or touching base with old clients and new connections, dialing out helps bring them in.  Whether they use VOIP technology to slice through lengthy call lists faster, or dial the old-school way, successful recruiters are putting their time in on the phone.

4.  They get there first.

Especially in high-volume contract staffing, the early bird gets the worm.  Presenting a hot candidate means nothing if someone else has gotten there first.  If speed isn’t your game, you may want to work on marketing your exclusivity agreement.

5.  They move forward with purpose.

Whether you work a blended desk, or run a large firm, growth is always a goal, and making more money is always a goal.  But it’s easy to burn out on the way to either of these goals without a core purpose.

Call it a value proposition, call it a mission statement, but your purpose defines why you come into work every day.  It helps you to move past setbacks and disappointments, and helps to make your brand more enticing.  And successful recruiters have a great purpose - to help companies grow by find them great talent.

What do you think?  Do you find these habits present in all successful recruiters, or are they just myths?

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image from here

One of the biggest highlights at Sendouts for 2011 was the release of the revamped Sendouts mobile.  The mobile recruiting landscape had changed quite a bit from the initial launch of Sendouts mobile in 2004.  Advances in technology, not to mention the proliferation of touch-screen devices meant that it was definitely time to reinvent our mobile app.  Mobile will continue to be a big topic in the recruiting industry in 2012 as recruiters make their websites mobile accessible, connect with contacts via text messaging, and find innovative ways to use QR codes.

Here are a few more highlights of 2011:

→We had fun with Taylor, our summer intern, and learned what the job search looks like from a gen-y perspective.

→“The Economy” has been a big catch phrase the past few years, and 2011 was no different.  While job growth inched forward, the recruiting space still remained crowded as recruiters joined, or re-entered the market.  Staying competitive was key for TPRs.

→As a recruiting software, it’s sometimes hard to think of Sendouts as anything more that that screen that’s always open, or that little green dude on your desktop.  But we made a real impact last year.  By August of 2011, over 45,000 people had been placed in a job via Sendouts.  That’s enough people to fill Busch Stadium, and a lot of opportunities created.

→We hit a hot button with our post about the love/hate relationship between third party recruiters and their counterparts in HR.  “Recruiters vs. HR:  Breaking Down the Barriers” was tied for most commented-on post on the Sendouts blog this year.

→As for the other post tied for first in comments?  It was a look at Charlie Sheen as a disgruntled employee.

image from here.