Remember when you were single and the amount of time you took make yourself look good? It was all like the gym, a shower and some cold brews with the crew on the weekends. Your plans were simple then and you took time to keep yourself in shape.
Posting a good job description is lot a lot of prep and fluff, you know kinda like you used to do before the weekends. Then one day you settle down. Work becomes loaded with tasks and meetings. And, now your job descriptions aren’t a priority.
And once you get entrenched in the daily battles of sourcing and recruiting, you rarely find the time to work on job descriptions. And when you do need to write one up, you slap some hand-me down job template. It’ not that you don’t care, it’s just you don’t have the time.
Plus, writing job descriptions is insanely cheesy like the acid jean outfit you wore while clubbing..yeah, that pic is soooo going on facebook courtesy of your college crew .
Most recruiters let their job postings get away from them. We’re too busy, or we don’t understand what the manager really wants is what I hear all the time. And, old school recruiters complain it-is-just-a-frickin-job-description-nobody-will-take-time-to-read.
And there you have it.
A job req posted on all the job boards that cost thousands of dollars and all you get are a handful of unqualified candidates or desperate visa holders scrambling for work.
Hey look, there is a reason why you don’t have many applicants and it starts with the job description and you. You want to improve the quality of applicants then you got take some action and work on the job description.
Here is what you need to do.
Research where the best places to attract the type of talent you want. Go for maximum exposure and post to major job boards and use tag words in the job title to grab attention.
Take time to write a good job description and highlight why your company is awesome and why everyone is oh-so happy working there. Mention awards in your job description that you company got within last few years. And most importantly, slash away all the corporate mumbo jumbo and actually describe the type of work performed.
Better job descriptions means less time recruiting. It works when recruiters spend the time to make a job description the write way.
I recently witnessed several spit takes in one meeting when the boss delivered news of a hiring slowdown. IT Recruiters are so freaking frustrated right now, they could easily drop kick an innocent pimply face recruiting intern. Yeah, sure some jobs are being canceled and plenty of recruiters are mumbling what they are going to do.
But there is something that every recruiter, sourcer….and intern should be going. Building target lists. Yep. Here is how.
TARGET COMPANIES Build target lists from Linkedin or search Indeed.com on competitors that hire same skills. Capture the data and add it to something like a spreadsheet.
TARGET NAMES Once you have list of company names, begin using Linkedin, Facebook, Jigsaw and other sites to find the people that work for the companies on your target list. Capture this data and then run searches on Google or use people finding tools like eGrabber.
Once you have a solid list of target companies with names that have contact info, store them into an candidate tracking system.
POST JOBS ANYWAY No doubt the job boards like Monster.com have desperate contractors who may need a visa. I see digital tumbleweeds rolling on these sites because nobody is posting their resume. They have become the MySpace for jobseekers.
However….
It’s still worthwhile to post jobs to career boards. When a slow down occurs, the rest of the world doesn’t need to know. In fact, your company should maintain an image of “always hiring”. Basically, you want the image of stability.
RELATIONSHIP BUILDING The best recruiters know you have to pick up the phone, make the calls, and establish relationships. This is the most critical piece for Sourcing/Recruiting. Gathering names and company names means nothing if you don’t have solid relationships being established.
Work on your sales pitch and keep your passive candidate targets informed of what your company needs.
The one thing that I’ve always experienced is that your passive candidates will eventually call you or send someone your way. Just takes a little patience and on-going effort.
Congratulations! You sourced one heckava nerdy IT software developer. You had a great phone interview where you both made fun of the iPhone crowd, and totally agree Iron Man 2 was a let down. Now what? You gotta get this Pizza-eating-Mountain-Dew-drinking-Supernerdyfragilisticexpialidocious developer a technical interview. And, you’re dreading it because he is going to fail unless he has Bill Gates super geek coding powers.
But before you make that dreaded call to your Hiring Manager who is going to hand the technical interview over to a guy that sits in corner cube displaying dungeons and dragons fantasy figurines, you might want to ask them if they really need a technical test.
Seriously, tests suck. But, we’ve all had to take them. The problem with these technical tests is that either way too broad (as in pulled in from a Google search) or they reflect the current role which is pretty much a hybrid type role. What do I mean by hybrid role? It’s when you combine several skills into one super duper geeky job. And this has been a trend since the economy tanked.
What I am really getting at here is quite simple. Tests aren’t that good sometimes because they are made for the current position. And in some cases, those giving the test failed it too.
So unless the technical test is customized for each candidate, I think you are throwing out the baby with bath water when the candidate fails. And for all the sourcers that I know, this strikes a nerve especially the amount of effort it took to source the candidate. And once candidates begin to fail technical test regularly, sourcers often find themselves screening candidates with the technical test.
The big question still remains. Do we really need to give a technical test? And, if you do need to give tests, where in the process? I can tell you right now, technical test that are used to screen out candidates is a flawed concept.
When the first chance to switch from recruiting to sourcing came my way, I jumped on it like a Spider Monkey. Yeah, sure, sourcers are labeled nerdy, geeky, and homely, but our work is fun. And, to be good a sourcer you shouldn’t have to guzzle Red Bull, and bang out hundred complex Boolean search strings. You just need to know these three rules.
Cold Calls
Some good sourcing blogs are Boolean Black Belt and Research Goddess but you’re NOT going to find training materials on how to cold call candidates. And to be honest, good sourcers need to know how to make a cold calls. Unfortunately, most companies don’t want sourcers to make ANY calls. That is the recruiter’s job they say. But, if you really want to reduce time to fill, sourcers need to make the first call and SELL the candidate on the job. And, that requires cold calling.
Know How To Treat Passive Candidates
Great sourcers find tons of rock star candidates and toss them over to a recruiter who then sends out a generic email with a lame job description and link to a job req. If you think this method works, please stop reading now and go back to your teddy bear filled bed. Passive candidates are NOT actively looking for jobs. So don’t treat them as if they applied online. Establish a relationship and court them like a horn-dog politician in a room full of sexy interns.
Stay in one place
A lot of companies shuffle sourcers around like a deck of cards. You won’t find much success if sourcers are constantly changing job verticals, geographies, and job profiles. And who gets blamed when the job requisitions have been open for months? The sourcers! And it’s not their fault. To be effective sourcers, we build pipelines according to profiles. We research the competition and target those key players. So, stop moving sourcers around. Keep them put. You will get better results.
Cold calls, treating candidates better, and staying in one place are three rules for success. Lastly, good sourcers use tools, they snoop, and know things like birthdates, mortgage loans, and divorce settlements. Given the opportunity to apply these three rules, makes sourcers even better.
Recruiters know that the client always comes first, but that is changing. Candidates are becoming more important than the client. In the past, recruiters always focused on the client needs and ditched candidates that didn’t pan out.
Today, IT companies are in a hiring frenzy. But finding candidates has been tough. Businesses have not changed how they interview or find candidates. It’s sort of like trying to pull water from an empty well.
So, recruiters are cultivating talent via online networking. And, they are building relationships within online communities. Spam them with job links and these online communities will bounce recruiters out.
Recruiters are matching candidates to a company rather than a job. And funny thing is recruiters just want to be accepted into the online communities as an equal contributor.
When I got into IT recruiting 10 year ago nerds frustrated the hell out of me. I called them. They never call me back. I called again and again. No return calls. And, you know why? I never gave them a reason to call me back.
Candidates typically use their mobile number on resumes and they are less likely to answer a call from an unfamiliar person.
So if you are going to leave a message here are the 3 steps to get that rock star candidate to call you back.
#1 Never ever sound like a salesman, which means don’t sound like a door-to-door salesman. Recruiters often sound like a cheesy 80’s DJ when calling. Just be yourself. Sound like a normal human being.
#2 Give them a reason to call you back. Sure you got a job, but so what. You really want the candidate call you, then throw out the salary range, or bonus plan. I used to invite my passive candidates to social mixers at trade conferences. Whatever it takes, give the candidate a reason to call you back.
#3 Answer the freakin’ phone! You called them, they called you back and now you’re screening the call because you don’t recognize the number. Honestly, you’re a total tool if you do this on a regular basis. You spent all day tracking down candidates and then you turn around and screen the calls, waiting to listen to the voice message. Don’t do it. Pick it up EVEN if you are on the other line. Take the call.
Recruiters leave long boring messages that get deleted within seconds. It doesn’t help that we have bad rep for not returning calls too. But consider these three steps when calling candidates and remember to leave a short and simple voicemail.
Selected, rejected and ejected. That’s the wash cycle Recruiters use on their candidates. But what I’m about to tell you is extremely important. So important, that it’s the very root cause why 99.99999% of all candidates despise Recruiters. It’s the very same reason you hate your Ex (all mine live in Texas), the same reason you hate the bank, the same reason you dislike nightclubs, tryouts, college applications, and why-even-frickin-bother-applying-online!
Rejection, dude! It’s a punch to the gut. A major pimp slap to your ego when you get rejected. But you know what dogs and poodles? Rejection is good for you. Yep-per, rejection does you some good.
Rejection makes you try harder. It’s the stuff that makes better athletes. It’s rejection that creates the successful entrepreneur. Even getting denied a bank loan makes people want to save money.
Rejection sucks royally, but you need it. Trust me. We all do. And, it hurts.
And you know what else hurts, verbally rejecting candidates (notice I said verbally). When you screen or interview candidates and they are not a fit, you need to tell them why. Your rejection goes a long way. It helps them improve and stay hungry in the job search.
When Recruiters fail to give solid rejection or even feedback, it’s an open puss filled wound that never heals. Candidates despise rejection, but nothing is worse than zero feedback, follow up, or unreturned calls. Unfortunately that is why candidates are a little sour to recruiter calls. And, I don’t blame them.
I’ve never met a Recruiter that likes giving rejection, but the good ones do it. They know it’s good for the applicant. It’s also good for the company. It shows you care enough to call them back and let them know why they weren’t a fit.
In fact, Recruiters are fairly used to rejection. We get it all the time from uninterested candidates. We really appreciate when passive candidates tell us why they are not interested in our opportunities.
Simple. Pick up the phone today and do some good rejection candidate calls.
Congratulations, you’ve managed to keep your job last year. While everyone else was laid off or fired, you worked harder to survive. You sacrificed health, social and family time. And, now you don’t have a life. In fact, you were so overly productive last year the company doesn’t see the need to hire someone now.
You’re stressed. We know. We see the bags under your eyes. So, put down that cup of calming herbal tea. My friend, you need to quit.
Yeah, we know you got bills, credit cards and a spouse that has the divorce attorney on speed dial but trust me on this. There are a lot of Recruiters looking for highly productive people.
What we need you to do is dust off that resume and, start the following: Post it on the popular resume sites, join our Facebook fan page, follow us on Twitter, and send us a Linkedin invitation.
The truth is you have a lot of knowledge around the entire business. Once you walk out the door, all that knowledge leaves the company. Gone! And if you quit for another job, you’re helping others find a job. Plus, you’re giving a chance for a starving recruiter to backfill your old spot.
It’s simple. Quit. Get another job and keep doing this until Recruiters and their HR minions blog about things like retention and sign on bonuses.
In the end, businesses will plan better and focus on realigning duties once the job market is up. In the meantime, reach out, or just answer that pesky recruiter that calls you daily. We have a job waiting for you, but we need your help.
Craigslists job postings are popular because they don’t price gouge recruiters, unlike newspapers did years ago. A job posting on Craigslist in certain cities it’s about $25. For smaller cities, job postings are free.
When I first got into recruiting, it was expensive to place a job ad in the local paper. Along come the job boards and job classifieds faded away.
Nowadays I read the online newspaper, Atlanta Journal Constitution. But, I was surprised to learn they charge $429 for online job posts. I don’t know one recruiter that advertises a job there.
It took newspapers forever to get online and they are light years away from embracing social media technology. When newspapers go all digital, the best way to make a profit is the Craigslist approach.
Newspapers can flourish if they charged a reasonable job posting price like $25. I will continue to go there to check the weather and sports but not to a job any time soon.
As an IT Recruiter, I’ve dealt with thousands of nerds. I’ve sourced them. I placed them. I pestered them. I kicked them. They punched me back. I’ve befriended them. Heck, I have even become one of them.
One thing I can say about every nerd I have ever recruited, they all despised recruiters. I say despised because a lot of nerds were dependent on us last year. Many were tossed out of a job. So, the nerd nation CALLED on the recruiters for help.
And then we did the unspeakable, the unforgivable, we told them we would call them back when the market picked back up.
Instead of building relationships, we worked on our own Linkedin profiles. Instead of helping them, we built Facebook fan pages. We blogged about networking and spewed our opinions on resumes, careers, and coaching – blah-freaking-blah-blah.
Now, business has picked up. Companies are hiring again. And wouldn’t know it, recruiters are once again calling the IT nerds.
All the IT nerds are taking down their online resumes one by one. They are unfollowing us on Twitter. They aren’t reading our blogs anymore and they don’t care about our stupid Facebook fan page.
It’s their turn to tell us. “Hey, I’ll follow up with you tomorrow.”
Or, how about this line: “I don’t know of anyone right now, but I’ll keep your number handy in case I run across anything.”
Remember “Once in a Lifetime” from the Talking Heads?
“You may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile. You may find yourself in a beautiful house with a beautiful wife. And, you may ask yourself: How did I get here!”
What you should be asking yourself, “Why didn’t I do some scenario planning?”
Scenario planning is a very flexible long term plan based on plausible scenarios. It’s sound like a fancy method for predicting the future.
Let’s say you want to future proof your career in the coming years. You’ll need to identify forces likely to bear on the problem, organize them into future possibilities, envision paths that would lead to those futures, and devise a strategy for surviving them all. (Wired definition)
So, on a side note, the future is full of uncertainties. The last 10 years has been bumpy. Hard working people are getting the laid off, and some right before retirement.
Share holder value is way more important than the employee. As a result people don’t give a frog’s fat ass about being loyal employees. What they do care about is their future
This generation of self employed is doing scenario planning. It may seem trendy, but it’s been around for over 20 years. Your company does it. And, you should to.
A lot of people lost their jobs, their homes and even their families this past year.
With the housing market, healthcare, unemployment, and the rising cost of living jobseekers won’t get fooled again. They are plotting a course to navigate through turbulent times and adapting to the environment so they can survive.
“And you may ask yourself, where is that large automobile? And you may tell yourself this is not my beautiful house. And you may tell yourself this is not my beautiful wife!”
Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was. Same as it ever was….
Atlanta is home of the SEC football championship. This week we breakdown the profile of Southern Recruiters (SEC Football Fans). Yes, we salute you Southern Recruiters out there in the parking lots getting ready to crack open a cold one and tailgating.
The Southern Recruiter (SEC Football Fan) is really not at all hospitable and nor is she so kind. At the moment, he is a major A-hole with his orange Gator pants. And, she is totally high maintenance with her black dress with Bama straw hat. Hear them roar!
When approaching the male Southern Recruiter offer up a fat pinch of dip, otherwise he is going to busy singing some Kenny Chesney song. When approaching the female Southern Recruiter, take a picture of her and her drunk friends with their camera.
Southern Recruiters (SEC Football Fans) are completely different in the office though. They come across professional and intelligent. Sure they are good Recruiters, but don’t fool yourself. They are just working until - Daddy gets him another job or she marries an attorney.
So if you are in Atlanta this week and plan on attending the SEC Championship AND if you are a Recruiter, then raise up that bottle of Bud Light and may the best team win.
In the 70’s it was quite common to see men with thick bushy chest hair and a sporty moustache. Today, we are clean, shaven, groomed, waxed, and polished to a shiny gleam.
Hiring managers in Corporate America discriminate against men with moustaches and beards. Now I know a lot of you have some facial hair and you’re gonna get pissed after reading this. And Rightfully so. You worked hard to get that Justin Timberlake thin razor cut (aka The Rap Industry Standard).
But listen up my bearded buddies. If you’re interviewing for a Lumber Jack job, then keep that full beard that extends to a point.
Or if you’re going to be a Roadie for ZZ Top, a long beard is a sure way to get hired.
But if you’re Bob in Accounting, growing some mutton chops or a Fuman Chu will likely keep you at home watching the kids as your wife brings home the bacon.
Cut the beard, Sparky. There I said it. Go smooth, clean and shaven Captain James T Kirk look. You need to fit in. You need to do a Power Point presentations without looking like the Unabomber – Ted Kaczynski. And, you need to shave every day.
But if you insist on having facial hair, keep it trimmed and groomed and short enough so that it’s not a bird sanctuary. Be smart, look good, and be normal.
Your careers web page is a Snore Fest. In fact, if I had insomnia, I would go to your Careers web page and apply online a few times. Boom! I’d be out cold sleeping like a baby and snoring like a big dog.
Seriously, all corporate career websites are painfully dull and rigamarole to even apply online.
Recruiters need to step up here and change this!
Adobe owns Flash and they make billions from it. All web videos (like YouTube) is Flash based. Adobe collects royalties off Flash based movies too.
So a lot of companies don’t want to go hog wild in Flash due to these restrictions.
Flex on the other hand is open source. It is also owned by Adobe. And, it will replace Flash because it is much better in delivering media rich content. Plus it’s free after you purchase the software.
So you are if you are a Recruiter, then get ready for an exciting world ahead.
Flex is the future platform for full rich media. It allows streaming videos and better interactive experience. An Applicant Tracking System built using Flex gives job seekers a better experience online.
I am hoping that Flex will be answer for the boring Career websites we have these days. Plus, the negative image of career websites is the dreaded “black hole”. Basically, applying online is a waste of time.
I encourage you to look at Flex as an option to bolster your company careers page. Job seekers will enjoy a careers website that has better content, streaming videos, and an interactive experience. In the end, the candidate will have a positive experience and that is a better image to have than a “black hole” careers web page.
It’s Monday morning and I’m going to work with a nice raging head cold. I feel like a Python curled around my head as slept last night. My throat is sore and a I got a cough. I could use a sick day, but Ive only got two left and I need them. So, I will be in the office today and I will be spreading my germs.
If you a co-worker reading then please accept this preemptive apology if I sneeze in your direction.
And for everyone else, here is something for your viewing pleasure.
Last week we had a lot of Recruiters screaming on blogs about unemployment and the future of Recruiting. You know what? I don’t really give a frog’s fat fanny about unemployment. But what I do care about is the impact of businesses doing more work with less people.
It’s going to be a Contractor’s paradise in 2010. Most companies will not increase headcount by much, but they will hire temporary workers.
Sure we will have retention problems due to some folks feeling overworked, but rest assured contractors will replace full time employees as they leave.
If you are in the staffing business, now is the best time to start your engines because you will see a lot of openings for contractor in 2010.
Be honest. You had a pager once. Admit it. It was your alarm clock in the morning. You had proudly clipped it on your belt everyday. You asked all your clients, candidates and friends to page you. You were a sophisticated jet setting Recruiter. If only your pager were a human, you would’ve made love to it nightly.
Then one day somebody got a mobile phone. You had to have one too. It was huge and weighed 15 pounds but you didn’t care, you bought it anyways. Your first bill came. You needed to make cutbacks in other areas. You tried to cancel your Columbia House CD club. No go. Locked in on that one. So, you dumped your girlfriend.
Then over the years, you went from the Motorola Star-tac, to a flip phone, and then to a cell phone so tiny only a midget could use it.
Then the Blackberry came. Thank you All Mighty Heavenly Father. The Blackberry consumed your life like crack cocaine. Your friends quit calling. Your wife filed for divorce once…maybe twice… you can’t remember, your kids talked to you like a stranger in the house.
The iPhone came. You were there waiting in line. You paid $600 for the first model. This was it. No longer were you going to need another phone. Your prayers had been answered. Everyone gathered around you as you gave them a demo of it.
A few months later, the battery died. You bought another for only $400.
But then they came out with Android 3G technology. Crap. This never ends you say to self. It’s true. It doesn’t end.
These days you can stalk plenty of people online through Twitter, Facebook and Google.
But, if you want to get your foot in the door, don’t over stalk Recruiters.
Here 8 things you should avoid doing to a Recruiter.
1)No more than 20 Tweets in an hour.
2)Never follow the Recruiter to the bathroom and talk him while they are taking a whiz.
3)Don’t call a Recruiter’s Boss’s Boss and ask him to call you back.
4)Calling for updates is ok. Email is better, but texting a cell phone for updates is a scary annoying
5)Never tell your Recruiter you like boiled rabbits.
6)It’s not wise to call us from OUR parking lot as we leave for home.
7)Don’t call Recruiters at home. Don’t!
8Never ever ask a Recruiter to write a Linkedin recommendation letter when she hardly knows you.
If you have to break the rules to get a job, then be prepared to accept the rejection and a closed door. Move on gracefully and maybe Recruiter will call you back for another opportunity.<–>
As an IT Recruiter, I’ve dealt with thousands of nerds. I’ve sourced them. I placed them. I pestered them. I kicked them. They punched me back. I’ve befriended them. Heck, 
getting the laid off, and some right before retirement.
Atlanta is home of the SEC football championship. This week we breakdown the profile of Southern Recruiters (SEC Football Fans). Yes, we salute you Southern Recruiters out there in the parking lots getting ready to crack open a cold one and tailgating.
In the 70’s it was quite common to see men with thick bushy chest hair and a sporty moustache. Today, we are clean, shaven, groomed, waxed, and polished to a shiny gleam. 
Be honest. You had a pager once. Admit it. It was your alarm clock in the morning. You had proudly clipped it on your belt everyday. You asked all your clients, candidates and friends to page you. You were a sophisticated jet setting Recruiter. If only your pager were a human, you would’ve made love to it nightly.
House CD club. No go. Locked in on that one. So, you dumped your girlfriend.