Different Kinds Of Talent Search Methods

 

Ok, I’ve noticed that as an industry we spend quite a bit of time discussing the process and strategy around talent acquisition. The ways that employer branding, personal branding, diversity and inclusion and social media platforms help create a foundation on which a compelling story and a candidate engagement strategy can be formulated and implemented. But what about the “hunt” for talent? Even if we have the best processes and strategies in place, we still need to ensure that our sourcers and/or recruiters understand how to use those processes to their advantage and that they understand how to find the talent needed to fill their requisitions.

The thing about sourcing is that everyone thinks about it differently. If you’ve ever attended a SourceCon (which I highly recommend that you do if you take sourcing talent seriously) then you’ll notice that to get the same result and to fill the same skill set, sourcers can have widely varying techniques for locating talent from one person to another. This is why it is so important for us to communicate with one another, so that we can step outside of our own way of thinking and try out different methods that some of our counterparts use when finding targeted talent for very specific niche opportunities.

 

Below, please feel free to take a look at some examples of searches that I’ve conducted when looking for talent:

Image Search For Resumes

This is a search that I usually perform for more technical skillsets but that you can try out with any open requisitions that you may be actively sourcing for. Google is very good at finding what you want which it can then break out into urls, images, maps, videos, etc.

By entering some basic Boolean logic into Google’s search bar and then selecting “images” we can pull resumes from across the web. Please see the example below:

String

~resume AND java developer AND (“gmail.com” OR “hotmail.com” OR “outlook.com”) “fort Lauderdale” OR “ft. lauderdale”

Results

 

“Natural Language” OR “Natural Speech” Boolean

Put yourself in the shoes of any candidate. What does the candidate worry about when beginning a job hunt? What does a candidate think about when building an online profile or writing a blog post? How does a candidate most likely construct the sentences that they are sharing on the web? What point of view does a potential candidate usually write in? To get an idea of what I’m talking about, just go look at a LinkedIn profile of a candidate that you’ve recently tried contacting or read through any number of resumes that are saved on your computer. You will typically see that online profiles are written in first person point of view (on occasion you’ll see some third person point of view as well) while resumes are usually written in third person point of view but avoid using the words “she”, “he”, “her”, and “his”.

These details are important when running a search using Natural Speech Boolean because you’re using quotations around full sentences or common statements seen on resumes and profiles.

Your results will not always be neat, clean, pdf files or profile pages. Instead, you may find quite a few Q&A sites where a candidate has commented with matching criteria, or even blogs/sites that the user has posted some personal data on. This is a great way to find niche talent that maybe is not easy to locate through traditional means. Please see the example below:

String

~resume AND “I’m a*” OR “currently working” AND “responsible for” “java developer” OR “java engineer” AND “Location..San Francisco” AND “gmail.com” OR “hotmail.com”

Results

Notice the bolded words and information within each of the returned search results pictured below. You’re looking for information on people that have the skills you’re hunting for. Once you’ve identified those people through the results you should hopefully be able to reach out to them through info that they’ve posted online. Give it a try and play around with it. It may become a new favorite technique of yours!

 

Custom Search Engines “CSE”

One of the main things that I start new recruiters off with is how to use LinkedIn thoroughly. Whether we agree with it or not, LinkedIn is probably the first tool that most recruiters will fall back on once they get an open requisition. So how do we ensure that they are making the most of searching through all of the profiles that LinkedIn houses?

I implement a triple-search strategy in regards to LinkedIn.

First, search LinkedIn using the advanced filters and ALWAYS use Boolean logic in all of the search fields. The next thing I urge recruiters and sourcers to do is to pull LinkedIn profiles through Google by utilizing an X-ray string. The last method of searching LinkedIn should be through a CSE (click here to use one I put together).

I have yet to have a search run using all three of these methods produce the exact same candidates. I always find other profiles that I would not have found by using LinkedIn’s platform alone.

Screenshot

 

These are just a few methods that can be used to locate talent, but there are quite a few more that can also be implemented in your sourcing search strategy. I’ll be sure to put an article up on X-ray searching and other techniques but for now, please feel free to try out the ones that I’ve outlined above.

Happy Sourcing!

Is This A Way To Leverage The Massive User Base Of SnapChat For The Recruiting Industry?

So, not too long ago I mentioned trying to use Snapchat as a way to engage with potential candidates in my article titled What’s The Root Of Your Sourcing Woes?. The problem was trying to figure out how to use the platform to gain viewership and positive candidate engagement.

Recruitingsocial.com released an article that gives what I believe to be, a great way to implement snapchat into a brand’s employer branding campaign. It involves using a Geofilter and a customized template.

Please take a look and let me know if what they’ve outlined seems like a strategy that could potentially benefit your employer brand initiatives. I’d be willing to try it out, who knows, maybe I will!

READ RECRUITINGSOCIAL’S FULL ARTICLE HERE

New Tech Hubs… There’s Now More Than Just Silicon Valley

 

Ok all of you tech-savvy recruiters and sourcers. We talk about sourcing strategies, neat Chrome extensions, etc. but an area that you should also be well versed in is the market intel surrounding different geographic locations and tech talent hot spots.

Companies are beginning to catch up with the way that talent researches and engages with different potential employers which is why they are putting much more focus on employer branding, candidate engagement and social media platform usage. This additional focus has allowed these companies/brands to highlight other geographic locations across the country that have budding tech communities.

The cost of employing tech talent in Silicon Valley is astronomically high. The perks, salaries, bonuses, and in some cases the “work day” schedule can all be draining on employers in the San Francisco Bay Area especially if they are not mostly focused on technology, but instead, employ technical talent to support several different lines of business. For this reason there have been major investments in cultivating and nurturing developmental programs in other more affordable markets which have now become almost like smaller tech-incubators.

Read the article from Mashable to see where you could potentially target your sourcing efforts with your clients and possibly convince your hiring teams to either allow for remote opportunities or maybe even consider developing offsite tech teams if there are no satellite offices currently in the area.

CLICK HERE TO CONTINUE READING…

 

Which Apps Are On Your Smartphone?

Hi everyone! So… with all of the talk around mobile recruiting and social media strategies for talent acquisition, I thought it would be a great idea to see which mobile apps people tend to have on their phones.

This isn’t necessarily restricted to other people in the same industry as me, I see this as a chance to collect some interesting data around what people are using on their phones. Popular apps should be the focus of serious recruiting and sourcing professionals since this is how you can get to engage with potential candidates. I mentioned Snapchat in my last article but what other apps could potentially offer up a great way to interact with talent pools and otherwise hard to reach candidates?

What’s The “Root” Of Your Sourcing Woes?

*Find The Root Of Your Sourcing Problem*

 

So, you schedule time to train your sourcers, you show them great Boolean strings, X-ray strings, and share really cool Chrome extensions. Everyone says that they “get it” and then you release them into the world to become sourcing pros. A week later you run reports from your ATS, CRM, and social platforms to see how engagement looks as well as production and…. Nothing has changed? What happened?

Welcome to the world of leading sourcing teams. Don’t worry, many of us have been there. Don’t freak out, don’t complain, try not to cry, all will be OK. We just need to finesse your approach to implementing your sourcing strategy across the team. Grab your notepad, we’re about to deep dive into finding the “root” of your sourcing issues.

 

*write-up your sourcing strategy*

 

Perform A “Discovery”… What Is Present Day Like vs Where You Want To Be? Also, Start Building Out Your Sourcing Strategy

To fix your sourcing issues, you must first know what they are. Start at the beginning. Once a sourcer/recruiter gets a requisition to work on, how do they start locating candidates to submit for consideration? Are they diving straight into the ATS? Are they running a quick search through available “talent pools”? Are they posting the job across their own personal and corporately owned social platforms? This is important to understand because based on what you’re recruiting for and which tools are at your disposal, your method may be either slightly or greatly different than that of another organization.

You must:

1. Identify the current sourcing process that your team is following (is there even a process?) What needs to be reviewed or outright changed?
2. Understand what tools are available for use which could include not only platforms like LinkedIn, Dice, etc., but also internal talent pools, diversity and inclusion groups, as well as each recruiter’s personal network or talent pipeline.
3.  Create a Sourcing Funnel based on known metrics and market analytics. How many people need to be located, spoken with, forwarded to the hiring team, and then ultimately offered a position in order to meet your hiring initiatives? You can then get a daily and weekly productivity number to help create a structure, around which, your sourcers can gauge their own productivity and keep themselves on track for success.
4. Start to build out your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level sourcing tactics. Start with your easiest, readily available route to viable candidates and then add on more complex sourcing strategies after. Ask yourself, “Where can you locate and engage with niche talent that can fill your role the easiest?” After that, where is the next best place or what is the next best sourcer activity that would uncover talent to engage with? Allow your steps to get more difficult progressively. This way you can get your first slate in front of a hiring team quickly and by the time that slate is reviewed you can have a second slate available that took more time to compile if necessary.

 

*Leverage Social Media To Enhance Candidate Engagement And The Candidate Journey*

 

Ensure That Your Sourcing Team Is Also Cultivating And Staying Engaged With Potential Candidates Through Social Platforms

Obviously you should make sure that your team is closely following any outlined “Rules Of Engagement” or social media usage guidelines before setting them free in the realm of tweets and updates. Even though it might entail a certain level of trust and monitoring, social media should definitely be one of the main avenues of focus for your sourcing teams. The goal here isn’t to shoot out job descriptions all over the internet, it’s to consistently engage with potential candidates through social platforms that they, the candidates, are consistently utilizing.

According to a 2015 pewinternet.org article…

 

http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/04/01/us-smartphone-use-in-2015/

 

What the above snippet means is that a nice portion of the population is consistently using a smartphone to browse through online content. If that’s where 19% of the entire USA population is throughout each day, then why would you not focus on the content that they are viewing when considering your sourcing plan or strategy?

Check out this article on The 16 Social Media Apps Everyone Should Have from 2015

If I were developing a long-term social media plan for sourcing I would definitely utilize the following apps/platforms within my strategy:

 

1. Facebook and Facebook Messenger
2. Pinterest for sharing industry specific infographics and articles
3. Instagram to share a more personalized image of who I am as a recruiter/sourcer so that candidates can “feel” like they have a connection with me outside of formal emails
4. Snapchat… haven’t figured this one out yet, but look at this screenshot from snapchat.com

 

 

Obviously we aren’t concerned with those snapchatters that are below the legal working age, but I believe that there will probably be more and more uses for this app as its popularity continues to grow. We’re talking about a huge chunk of the Millennial population.

*Keep your eyes open for new apps and platforms to utilize. Just think, “Which apps and social media platforms are the candidates that I need using?” Then try to figure out a way to use those same platforms and apps for communicating and engaging with them.

 

 

*Find a way to track ROI on the methods used to source candidates*

 

Track ROI To Ensure That Your Strategies Are Working… That Means Use Source Codes Or Trackable Links

It is very important to use source codes within your CRM and ATS systems. You may have a team that can create different codes for each resource that you use for sourcing candidates or you may have an easily customizable platform that enables you to create those codes yourself (this all depends on your company’s platforms so you’ll need to research this).

If we look at this from a team level, then maybe you want your team to use a spreadsheet to track candidates that they are moving forward so that they can type in the source of the candidate and any notes regarding the candidate’s individual situation. This is more laborious but it will allow for a much clearer understanding of where your sourcers are having success as well as create a sense of accountability within the sourcing team, especially if you implement a weekly review of each spreadsheet. You will have to customize your approach based on how your company is set up. Just remember that if you can’t easily track where your successes are coming from, then you are potentially wasting time, energy and money that will most definitely affect productivity.

 

*Implement a plan that will enable and empower your team resulting in boosted confidence*

 

What’s Wrong With Being Confident?…. NOTHING!

At the end of the day, your goal is to empower your team so that they can not only locate talent, but consistently engage with and groom talent for future roles so that the process of sourcing the candidates in the future becomes easier. When a strategy is in place it gives structure to the entire sourcing process which gives sourcers a foundation to develop their talent pools and communities around.

Unfortunately, many teams wait until there’s a open requisition before attempting to find and engage talent. Even when they wait for the open job, they tend to wait for candidates to apply to the job through job boards or they dive into an ATS or CRM. These habits may work short-term, but eventually the team will funnel through all of the candidates that fit the desired skillset and then panic will set in as they find that no candidates matching the requirements can be found. Let’s nip it in the bud by developing our sourcing teams and finding the roots of the issues that they keep running into. By working from the ground up, we can prevent future sourcing shortages and overly long time-to-fill ratios.

This is just one way to get started with uncovering and fixing/repairing a sourcing strategy. I’m sure that there are many other variations out there so please don’t be afraid to borrow some of the methods listed here while supplementing others with your own.

Please reach out with your own tips and tricks, I’m always happy to hear how others address their sourcing dilemmas.

 

 

What’s Your Personal Brand?

 

So I thought, “Why not kick off our discussions with personal branding as a topic?”

I just attended the #EBrandCon in New York City this past week which covered Employer Branding and Recruitment Marketing. As I sat and listened intently to others in my industry like Allison Kruse, Celinda Appleby, and Craig Fisher, I began to realize that today we are putting major emphasis on the overall brand of each employer, but I wonder, how many of us are focused on our own individual brands? Sure, it’s a great topic to discuss with our peers, but when we really self-reflect, are we practicing what we preach? Who does the world think you are when they “see” you online?

 

 

What Does Your Online Presence Look Like?

We’re recruiters, sourcers, and talent acquisition pros. We are passionate about our jobs and we work hard to find the talent that our companies or clients want. In a day and age where we are connected to the web in every way, are we doing enough to create a trail online that the candidates we reach out to can follow back to us?

Think of it like this…

When you hear about something that peaks your interest, do you wait for someone to explain more about it to you or do you jump on your smartphone or computer and “Google” it? Well, candidates do the same thing. They want to know that we are who we say we are. They want to hear what we have to say in order to determine if we are worth the conversation or effort of applying to one of our open positions. Make it easy for them to find these things out! Perform a self-audit of your social media platforms and online profiles. Who is the audience that you are speaking to on each platform? Is there any engagement or are you just posting content that you find amusing or interesting and not concerning yourself with your audience? Are you consistent with sharing relevant content or do you tweet once a year about your cat Matilda? Jump in and clean up your online footprint and then create a strategy around how to engage with the candidates that you want to recruit.

 

Here’s A Video To Get You Started On Your Brand Self-Audit

 

Welcome To Purple Squirrel Diaries!

Finally! That’s how it feels to finally get this initial post out into the world. It’s not a feeling that stems from delays or time changes, but from the need that I know exists.

Every week, the sourcing and recruiting teams that I work with reach out and ask for different ways to locate niche talent in somewhat rural markets and it’s my job (and pleasure) to guide them in developing the right approach to meet their sourcing and recruiting goals.

Whether it’s Nurses…

 

Tech Talent…

 

Financial Pros… 

 

Or Senior Level Executives…

 

These are some of the kinds of roles that I am consistently helping our teams pipeline and screen for, and this has led me to realize that more guidance is needed when dealing with our recruitment front-lines. So… here’s my attempt at a way to make sharing what I know easier.

In the coming weeks I will review things like Boolean logic, X-ray searching, and tips and tricks to use across more common industry platforms. Later on, we’ll also deep dive into not so well known technologies and sites that can benefit sourcing and recruiting activities.

So please, prepare yourself and come ready to share. Comments are always welcome and hopefully I’ll learn something from this project as well.

Thank you and I can’t wait to share knowledge with you!

Till next time,

Marcus

P.S.  The creator of my site’s mascot is Chris Mroczka, in case you were wondering. If you like “Chip” the Purple Squirrel and are interested in seeing what Chris could design for you, reach out and I’ll put you in touch.