5 Key Lessons to Fluency

Savvy travelers who plan extended visits to foreign countries have learned that the best experiences are presented when they assimilate with the locals. So they immerse themselves as much as they can in both the language and culture.

Social staffing and recruiting can feel like “a new land” for many of us. It represents a language many of us strive to master. The good news is that learning social recruiting is far easier than mastering a new language. Tour guides are everywhere. All we have to do is follow them, learn and practice the art of social recruiting.

A few of our favorite social guides have offered lessons which appropriately prepare us for 2014.  Join us this year as we listen and mimic the social recruiting lessons they are teaching us.

Oh, and don’t forget to follow these social gurus. They are some of the best choices for guiding you around the land of social recruiting.

Social Recruiting and Staffing – Lesson 1

“Work LinkedIn for Referrals”

Bond Insight:

Search for candidates on LinkedIn by job skill. If a member of your network is connected to them you have a referral in the making. This is especially effective if you do your job as a social recruiter by maintaining and nurturing a vast number of meaningful relationships. And, of course, you do this in a non-spamy way.

Stay in touch in an authentic way with your LinkedIn network. When you do, reaching out to your WARM referral community will feel as easy as lounging on the beach on St. Barts!

Social Staffing and Recruiting – Lesson 2

“Looks Count”

Bond Insight:

It’s proven! Search anywhere and find studies that agree. Photos create engagement. And that’s what you want. Right? When a candidate visits your personal profile page you want them to clearly understand your personal brand. You certainly don’t have to look good in a hula skirt, but reflect on what your photo really says to your candidates.

Does it say, “I’m a recruiter who’s here to help you advance your career.”

Or does it say, “Hurry up now, I’ve got some job orders to fill.”

So take note and assess your photo. Perhaps a professional headshot is due!

Social Staffing and Recruiting – Lesson 3

“Honor Social Profiles”

Bond Insight:

Top candidates are often not in “job search” mode. So why should they spend any time updating their resumes? Likely they’d rather spend their free time planning their next trip to Fiji!

They are seemingly just fine to be working in their current job. On the outside maybe. But isn’t it your job to see what’s really on the inside? Remember, you need to demonstrate the opportunity that exists with your client.

So why find a great candidate only to halt the discussion by putting up a “resume” hurdle?  If they are on LinkedIn, they have likely documented their job history. After all LinkedIn prompts members do so each time they log in (and log out)!

Bottom line, adopt the use of social resumes and you’ll widen your candidate pool.

Social Staffing and Recruiting – Lesson 4

“Remember to Tweet”

Bond Insight:

Twitter is easy to search. In fact many consider it to be a search engine, running right behind Google and YouTube. When you search for candidates, get creative. Search for concepts your candidates might be tweeting about. Or search for hashtags like #jobs. Because your next perfect candidate might be tweeting about their desire to leave their current #job and escape to #Jamaica!

You can also broadcast your job – ideally to a following of past, present and future candidates. Reduce your job description to 140 characters, and even less so it can be re-tweeted.

Social Staffing and Recruiting – Lesson 5

“Google is for Techies”

Bond Insight:

Looking to fill STEM positions within an ever shrinking pool of qualified candidates? Get on Google+.  It may seem as foreign as a vacation to Minnesota, but Google+ is the land of tech candidates! Upload your list of past candidates and see who they are connected to. +1, comment and engage in a meaningful way.

And don’t forget to setup your circles. Circling is basically a Googly way to describe list segmentation. With Google+ you can easily sort your candidates by skills, location and more. Then send messages targeting your communities with relevant job offers and referral requests.

Ready? Repeat after me: “Social Recruiting” and “Social Staffing.” That’s right.
Now with more emphasis on the “SOCIAL.”

Excellent!

Connect, follow, like and circle our favorite social recruiting pro’s. Study their lessons and you’ll soon master the language of social recruiting. Do this and you’ll have a greater chance of vastly increasing your placements!

And after you close out a record year of filling job orders, we highly recommend you reward yourself with a bit of R&R to an exotic location like Maldives!