Louise's UK Recruiter Blog

The Main Problem Recruiters Have With Candidate Management?

.... it appears to be clients!

In the run up to our Candidate Management Workshop on 2nd May we have created a LinkedIn poll asking the above question.  The options we gave were:
 

Too many candidates to properly handle
Lack of client feedback to give them
Candidates who lie
Candidates who have no intention of moving
Job assignments that are already filled.

So far, with over 50% of the votes, it’s a lack of client feedback that is the problem.
 
Would love your input into the survey and your comments here on the findings!
 

Tracking your LinkedIn Network

Here are two lovely little tools for recruiters which Simon Lewis suggested I check out and blog about.  Once you've built your large and relevant LinkedIn network (which of course includes clients, previous clients, candidates, possible candidates, etc) you'll want to know when one of them changes jobs and becomes a potential new client or influencer. OR when an “obstacle decision-maker” quits!

Firstly check out Job Change Notifier.  It's exceptionally straight forward and does exactly what it says.  You go to the website and log in with your LinkedIn details, enter the email address you want notifications sent to and then choose which LinkedIn connections you'd like to track (I selected all of mine).

They monitor the people you choose and email you when any of them change jobs. Handily your tracking's are 100% anonymous.

The other tool you can use for this part is of the Bullhorn reach toolkit; Radar

Again it's simple to use.  You go Bullhorn Reach, choose the Radar product and create a free account.  You link your LinkedIn account (and Facebook if you wish) and immediately you can view "movements" in your network.  With Radar you aren't just shown job title changes but also people who have added lots of new recommendations and/or made profile updates.   You do have to visit the Bullhorn site to see what's happened since you last logged on - but it is displayed all one one easy to read page.

I think these are great tools which recruiters should ALL be using!

Executive Research Association Webinar – “Back to Basics”

Heather Travis of The ERA has written a brief guest post about their recent annual webinar; held recently on the topic of “Back to Basics”.

The Agenda was: -

•    Overview of the misuse and over reliance on technology.
•    The difference between passive and proactive candidates.
•    The lost art of building relationships over the phone.
•    The top five reasons why the phone beats the internet every time.
•    How the world’s top recruiters are combining the usage of technology and traditional recruiting.

The webinar was split over a 2 day period, with c25 dialling in per day, the feedback we had was extremely positive and our survey has shown that 90% of attendees would be happy to attend ERA webinars in the future. Webinars are an easy solution for an Association who has members spread across Europe, there is no travel involved with attendees able to sit in the comfort of their office surroundings with minimal technical experience required.

A high proportion of attendees found it confirmed their existing views that there is no substitute for the telephone; it was thought provoking in the sense of a gentle reminder of how not to forget the basics in the research profession.

“Five Top Tips”
•    There is a growing level of call reluctance and the telephone is as relevant today as ever, there is no substitute for it.
•    Do not rely solely on LinkedIn, the passive talent/candidates will be missed.
•    Be aware of the “internet savvy candidates”.
•    By having a telephone conversation you can gain insight and emotional intelligence not just information.
•    The most common communication strategies (in no particular order) are; social networking sites, text messages, blogs, emails, twitter, micro sites, voicemail, job boards and career webinars.

For further information about becoming a member, future events or finding a suitable researcher for any search requirements visit www.theera.org or find The ERA on Twitter or phone 01442 828846

Profile on the ERA

I've known Heather Travis for years and regularly recommend her as a recruitment research guru. She has been joint Chair of the Executive Research Association (ERA) for the past 5 years and has been involved in research in its entirety for over 25 years.  I thought it might be useful to ask her to share some information about the ERA - as despite its profile within the niche of recruitment research I'm pretty sure it's not rearched the radar of everyone within the recruitment industry.... and it's worth knowing they exist!

The ERA was conceived in 1984, initially as an informal forum for researchers in the search industry to meet and share ideas. In 1986 the organisation was formalised into an Association managed by an industry committee, with subscription members. The ERA is now the leading Research Association in the UK and we maintain strong links with our peers in the US and on the Continent. Setting industry standards, we provide a strong networking facility to our members.

Over the years the shape of research has changed significantly and can now be split into 3 distinct areas:

•    Independent researchers who outsource their services to headhunting consultancies & direct to corporate clients.
•    In-house researchers sitting in headhunting consultancies.
•    In-house researchers sitting in corporate companies within their internal resourcing/talent teams.

We have members from each category represented in the ERA and the events we organise are relevant to all.

We hold 3 events throughout the year:

•    Conference which in 2012 will be as follows:
Wednesday 18th April 2012 our annual conference titled “Best Practice in Research” to be held at the Royal Society of Arts, London.

•    Summer networking event

•    Autumn Webinar

Our recent 2011 Webinar was a huge success titled “Back to Basics” conducted by Helene Buchanan-Dunne.

Members and non-members can advertise any Researcher vacancies at a very reasonable price on our website and LinkedIn Group.

For further information about becoming a member or finding a suitable researcher for any search requirements please visit the website, follow us on Twitter or check out our Facebook group (Executive Research Association)

REC Annual Trends Survey - key findings

I've just got my copy of the REC's Annual Trends Survey and have been taking a look.  It's certainly a well researched and chunky read crammed full of data.  

Their summary reads:

Turnover in the UK’s recruitment industry has bounced back by over 25 per cent to just under £25 billion over the past year (April 2010 to March 2011), according to the latest annual industry report by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC).  The Medium Term Forecast is for single digit growth over the next four years with the industry expected to peak at over £30 billion in 2014/15.

The sharp upsurge in the annual turnover to £24.6 billion, an increase of 25.3 per cent, compares to £19.7 billion in the same period the previous year (April 2009 to March 2010). More recent data from agencies confirms that the growth has decelerated– reflecting ongoing economic uncertainty.   However, the upbeat message from the REC’s Annual Industry Trends Survey is that the industry has an innate ability to re-energise itself and to come back stronger.

Some key findings of the survey are as follows:

•    Turnover in temporary/contract staffing has returned to 2006/2007 levels at £22 billion compared to its low point last year of £17.8 billion, a rise of 24.1 per cent.
•    Permanent recruitment also rallied to reach £2.5 billion in the past year, a massive 37 per cent increase on £1.8 billion recorded in 2009/10.
•    Volumes of perms placements rose by 38.3 per cent from 436,822 last year to 604,193 in 2010/11 while temp placements were up 19.3 per cent and top the million mark again at 1,049, 333 compared to 879, 000 last year.
•    The number of people working in recruitment has gone up 13.1 per cent from 80,528 last year to 91,114 this year.
•    A rise overall industry turnover to £24, 683 billion compared to £19.7 billion in 2009/10. This represents a 25.3 per cent increase in overall turnover.
•    Overall turnover for temporary/contract staff went up to £22,095 billion from £17.804 billion, a rise of 24.1 per cent. Total turnover for permanent staff also grew from to £2,587 billion from £1.888 billion, a rise of 37 per cent.
•    The largest number of temporary placements was again in the Industrial and blue collar sector which grew to 24 per cent compared to 21 per cent last year. This was followed by secretarial/clerical at 17 per cent and computing/IT at nine per cent.  Accounting/financial placements were again bottom at three per cent. .
•    The largest sector for permanent placements was secretarial/clerical which rose from 14 per cent last year to 22 per cent while bottom were other industrial/blue collar at two per cent.
•    The ratio of permanent to temporary staff has also shifted as a result of these latest figures. The temporary staffing sector has dropped back one per cent this year from 90.4 per cent last year to 89.52 per cent while the permanent sector now accounts for 10.48 per cent of the industry compared to 9.6 per cent in 2009/10.
•    Nearly one in ten agencies working in the permanent sector reported earnings at their lowest level – under nine per cent, twice as many as last year. The number of agencies reporting margins of 25 per cent and over has halved from 7.6 per cent last year to 3.7 per cent this year.
•    The REC’s Medium Term Forecast predicts the recruitment industry’s annual growth at 3.6 per cent next year (2011/12) followed by 4.7 per cent in 2012/13, rising to 7.1 per cent for 2013/14 and 7.3 per cent in 2014/15. This represents a return to single figure growth over the next four years to reach a new peak of £30.8 billion in 2014/15.

Growth predications aren't exactly going to knock anyone's socks off - but at least the surveys suggests movement in the right direction!

If you want a copy of the report it's available from the REC website

Salary Survey Apps

Fancy feeling a little bit crap about yourself as you watch TV, sit on the train, eat your lunch (or whatever you are doing whilst you mess about with your iphone)?  Well, now you can thanks to the Salary Survey App from Robert Walters....

Obviously only joking; although knowing you could earn another £40,000 if you'd actually spent any time studying at Uni and had moved to American when you had the chance might put you off your egg sarnie.

Taking data from their superb annual salary survey the app allows you to "determine your market worth".  It provides pay rate information for all professionals, including secretary, qualified accountant and marketing manager.  You can also compare your pay globally.

Also useful for recruiters preparing for a pitch for a new assignment.

PS, whilst I'm on the subject of salary surveys - check out the Salary Benchmarker from CareerStructure.com.  They've surveyed 5,723 industry professionals within the construction industry and created a funky little tool on their site.  You select the job title, region, sector and experience level and it churns out the average salary, benefits and "desired benefits". 

 

 

 

What should headhunters do when “caught”?

I have my own opinion this but thought I’d see what other people think.  This is the situation:

You are a headhunter (or recruitment resourcer/researcher).  You are name sourcing/contacting within a particular organisation.  The HRD of that organisation gets wind of your actions and and calls or emails you to ask you not to contact his staff again.

What do you think is correct protocol in this situation?

Phone Sourcing Basics

I have read a superb blog post from Lori Barry on Phone Sourcing Basics.

She suggests that with the advent of the internet phone sourcing has become a lost art form and I have to say I agree with her.  I remember about 18 years ago going on a Daphne Silvester training course where we had to “live phone” a reception and try and get names.  Who actually does that anymore?!

No matter how successful a researcher you are please take just 10 minutes to read her blog.

 

Jobseeker Attitudes Towards Employers - show me the loyalty

This blog post is based on content provided to me by TotalJobs.com.

Jobseekers are being encouraged not to get disheartened during their job search despite confidence taking a blow at the hands of the economic uncertainty.

While the economy grew by 0.8 per cent in the third quarter of this year, more than double the rate of some City estimates, large numbers of people are still searching for a job; a trend that was highlighted in the recent Totaljobs.com Jobseeker Confidence Survey Report.

In a poll that questioned 6,366 people, almost half (47.19 per cent) are not currently in employment. Of these, more than three quarters were previously in work but now find themselves unemployed for a variety of reasons.

While there's little doubt that jobs have been shed in both the public and private sectors, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The UK's economy has grown by 2.8 per cent over the past 12 months, which effectively ends the economy's chances of experiencing a double dip recession.

A growing economy means the creation of more jobs, something that those seeking employment are being encouraged to take on board. While competition for positions may have increased, the country's employment market is certainly looking a lot brighter.

In spite of the growing optimism, totaljobs' survey also revealed that almost 65 per cent of jobseekers do not believe that companies are loyal to their staff. Their opinions may have been influenced by redundancies, however, with many companies and organisations forced to shed staff in order to stay afloat.

This has been a bitter pill for many employees to swallow, with many remaining concerned about the threat of redundancy going into their next position. While this may be a genuine worry in the public sector, there's every indication that the private sector will be going from strength to strength; rendering the threat of redundancies very small indeed.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, a significant majority of respondents to the totaljobs poll (83.63 per cent) are of the opinion that employer loyalty to staff had decreased since 2008, the year the credit crunch and subsequent recession took their toll on the economy and the employment market.

Despite this apparent negativity, more than 40 per cent of those questioned had worked for their current or previous employer for three years or more; a figure that suggests a strong loyalty between employers and their employees.

The findings may suggest a degree of cynicism among those who have lost their positions, which is understandable given the challenges that many have faced when trying to secure a new job. However, the facts indicate that this cynicism may be unfounded and that loyalty is alive and well in the British jobs market; which bodes well for jobseekers up and down the country.

Recruiters need to be aware of these feelings and encourage their client’s to talk about the ways in they demonstrate loyalty to their staff.  As the market improves and jobseekers can start to be more choosy about where they interview they will select those companies about whom they feel the best. 

This of course relates to actual recruitment firms too.  I know of one company who took on staff just as the recession was hitting only to have to make redundancies week’s later.  Being seeing to make bad hiring and firing decisions may have a negative effect as the industry recovers!

 

LinkedIn at the Social Media in Recruitment Conference

Whilst I was at the Social Media in Recruitment Conference last month I made some notes from the speaker presentations.  Here are the main points I pulled out from the presentation from Ariel Eckstein who is Managing Director, European Hiring Solutions, LinkedIn.

There are:

• 625 million active internet users worldwide
• 71% have visited a social network
• 65 million LinkedIn users
• 3 million join each

month
 
His thoughts on using social media in a broad sense:

• Build and nurture a talent pool
• Invest in employee brand
• Improve recruiting referral programme
• ID/source passive candidates
• Reduce staffing firm spend
• Research client/contact prior to sales meetings

He told us how SAB Miller have reduced the percentage of recruitment they do via an agency from 80% to 20% by using social media and how Logitec have reduced hiring time from 70 to 40 days.
 
He then talked about the LinkedIn products.  Now, obviously this was a bit of a sales pitch as none of these are free to use.  However, I did find it useful to get a quick snapshot overview.  I won't repeat it all here (unless LinkedIn want to pay me for advertising!) but basically I came away feeling that LinkedIn are like a very sophisticated job board - with a massive candidate database!
 
One final point from LinkedIn - their view on who "owns" the connections; recruiter or agency ... the recruiter.  

DVDs for Recruitment Sourcing Techniques

I have a couple of really great DVDs for sourcers (more commonly called researchers in the UK).  They are Social Media Sourcing 101 and Boolean Strings for the Web.  I've had them for about two months and have meant to blog about them for ages.  However, two things have stopped me a) my DVD drive doesn't seem to work on my PC and b) I'm not a sourcer. 

However, I've finally got around to watching them on the laptop in the office and even without being a sourcer I can tell you they are really good training materials.

They have been put together by Irina Shamaeva of Brain Gain Recruiting.  Irina is based in the US (and yes, they are a bit Americanised but don't let that worry you) and has been a recruiter herself for a very long time.

The Boolean DVDs (which is available via her website)  includes a couple of webinars and some articles on the subject.  Basically the idea is that once you've viewed the DVD you'll be able to construct superb search strings to help find those difficult to source candidates.

The Social Media Sourcing DVD is again a webinar with "bonus" material.  The webinars covers how to search for candidates on all the social media sites (LinkedIN, facebook, etc plus how to make contact with them and/or "advertise" jobs to them.

Irinia has also done a Twitter sourcing DVD - but I've not seen this one. The two DVDs I've seen are just over $100 each.  They are probably as valuable as spending a day on a training course, as the material is very focussed, with the added benefit of being able to revisit the material as and when you need to.

What I'd also say is that I met Irina at the recruitment unconference she was speaking at.  If you do get the chance to see her in action (she may come over for a future unconference event) it's worth making the effort to do so.

Tru London – Sourcing Day

At the end of February I went along to one day of the TRULondon unconference.  However, I couldn't make it to the sourcing event organised for the day before.  Luckily I was able to ask Heather Travis (who runs her own business and is involved with the Executive Research Association) if she'd attend and share some of the content.

This is what she said:

Anyone who is involved in executive research, whether it be a researcher or a consultant, should attend the Tru London Sourcing Day next year. 

The event was a fascinating insight into extensive searching via the web, it was hosted by Bill Boorman and presented by 4 extremely experience sourcing experts;

Jim Stroud – www.JimStroud.com– twitter.com/jimstroud– he produces a magazine and website called The Searchologist. 

Marie Journey – http://mariejourney.com/– email marie@mariejourney.com

Katharine Robinson – who has just won The SourceCon Grandmaster Sourcing Challenge which was held in the US – twitter.com/TheSourceress– she also runs a UK Sourcers Network http://uksourcers.ning.com  

Irina Shamaeva – who was a challenge winner and entered the final of The SourceCon Grandmaster Sourcing Challenge.  Her blog is http://booleanstrings.wordpress.com/

The presentations were sharing exclusive cv sourcing and lead generation strategies for recruiters.

Some useful facts that I learnt on the day:

Google Wonder Wheel – put in a search on google and then when the results come up go into show options and drop to Wonder Wheel – this builds up search around your core search results and is brilliant.

On Google use the search term Site:linkedin.com and then add key words to search the Linkedin in site.

On Google “email ** company name.com” – will bring up any email address for this business – you can put in .co.uk or .org

Kngine– a search engine which answer questions delivering definitions and documentation.

Recruitment Research Technology

 A couple of week's ago I had a long chat with Mike Carow at Broadlook.  He spent some time showing me their suite of products.
 
If you've not come across Broadlook I wouldn't be too surprised as they aren't actively promoting themselves in the UK at the moment.  They have a range of products which are basically Internet research tools.  The information you source can be used for business development, individual company research and/or candidate research.  I can't possibly do it justice trying to explain it here - but don't worry they have a four minute demo on their website.

 
What I would say is that the products are amazing tools for finding "passive" candidates and new clients.  However, they are "high end" cost (but no doubt give a quick return on investment for passive candidate seeking!) so may be out of research to some recruiters. 

The good news is that they do a free product called Contact Capture which makes pulling contact information from lists (eg, a PDF conference attendee list), documents, and emails into a database (or excel) as easy as copy & paste. It's a pretty cool product and of course even better for being free!
 
I really think the products are superb and if you are serious about business development and locating candidates via the internet these are fabulous tools for you to consider.

REC launches Jobs Outlook

The REC has just announced the launch of Jobs Outlook which is a monthly survey showing trends in the jobs market.

Jobs Outlook is based on a monthly sample survey of 200 employers undertaken by an independent market research company on behalf of the REC. The survey has been devised to reflect representation from employers who use agencies for their permanent, temporary and contract staff.

Key findings from the first Jobs Outlook include:
• Though job market optimism is lagging, long term employment planning suggests hiring may receive a boost in early 2010
• A total of 84 per cent said they were satisfied with the delivery of service they were receiving from their recruitment agencies
• The proportion of employers making staff redundant is running at 28 per cent
• Swine flu has affected one in five of the employers
• Only 62 per cent of employers surveyed had heard of the Agency Workers Directive
• A total of 58 per cent said their use of agency workers will remain static over the next three months with this figure rising to 62 per cent for next year

The report is a juicy six pages long and contains lots of information which should help recruiters understand the current market and plan for the coming months.

It's available to download from the REC's website (as I write this blog post the REC's techies are changing the link from "Jobs Tracker" to "Jobs Outlook" - so click on whichever link you see on the page!)

 

How to Bypass Gatekeepers

  This was posted on our discussion forum a while back and I suspect it's worth sharing to the wider world....

It's basically about using "voicemail surfing" to find the direct dial number, name and job title of contacts within a specific organisation.

The PDF you can download is Americanized and also a rather daunting 7 pages long.  However, it's a technique worth knowing about and one I've personally used with success in my dark recruitment researcher past.

 

Social Networking and Candidate Screening

I've seen figures saying that nearly three-quarters of recruiting managers Google and search social networking sites for candidates in progress on a recruitment campaign. 

The article I was sent a couple of weeks ago suggests its' around 30%.

However, the actual figure isn't what interests me.  The things I do find interesting are:

a) Googling a candidate is only really viable if they have an unusual name or can be also found by other "unique" criteria.  Searching for Peter Evans a Marketing Executive in Solihull isn't likely to find your candidate
b) Trying to find ANY candidate on facebook isn't likely to bring up useful results unless again they are easily identifiable and then allow you into their network. 
c) Suggesting the recruiters differentiate between a candidate's work and personal life is mostly unrealistic.  You can't "forget" stuff you find out about a candidate (well, obviously you can; but you know what I mean!).  A recruiter can choose to find something insignificant but seeing photos of their first choice candidate vomiting into someone's pint is likely to have some impact!
d) You can't call a recruiter checking you out on the internet "sneaky".  Them following you home and rifling through your bin is sneaky but taking the opportunity to find as much out about you - in the public domain - is fair game.

In my opinion!

LinkedIn Tip - Saving Searches

I've previously mentioned one of Shally's sourcing tips here. 

Last week I got another one that I wanted to share.  This one is how you can save a search you regularly run on LinkedIn and have the results emailed to you.

Do you keep searching LinkedIn for the same kinds of candidates?  Take advantage of a new feature that emails you only when new people enter your 3-degree LinkedIn network who meet your search criteria (or after they edit their profiles and match).  Just run your www.linkedin.com/search as normal, then click the  link atop the results page.  You can save up to 3 free searches (more with paid LinkedIn accounts) to alert you weekly or monthly. Edit or cancel them anytime at www.linkedin.com/search?savedSearchListing

For more details, visit the LinkedIn Learning Centre.

If you want more tips like this you ought to sign up to Shallys newsletter.

10 ways to find someone's email address

Useful tips for recruitment researchers.  Even if you are a pro there may be one or two you've not thought of...

10 ways to find someone's email address

Shally Sourcing Tip

I wanted to share this tip that Shally Steckerl (Chief Cybersleuth) of JobMachine recently sent out to me (and his nework!).

You may have heard about the free hack I debuted long ago that lets you find many unblinded LinkedIn profiles outside your 3-degree network. Whether or not you have a large network or paid account, this enhanced version eliminates all noise results and gets you just who you need (type in www.google.com search box):

site:www.linkedin.com intitle:linkedin YOUR KEYWORDS HERE -intitle:answers -intitle:updated -intitle:blog -intitle:directory -inurl:jobs -inurl:megite.com

I typically recommend a mix of related job titles or companies, and even geographic locations, to target results.  Example:
site:www.linkedin.com intitle:linkedin (microsoft OR amazon) evangelist "greater seattle area" -intitle:answers -intitle:updated -intitle:blog -intitle:directory -inurl:jobs -inurl:megite.com

For other similar tips, see my LinkedIn recruiting cheatsheet at http://jobmachine.net/products

Shally is a great guy.  He produces so much valuable material that you should really spend some time checking out this website. 

When I asked him if it was OK to reproduce this tip on my blog he asked if I'd mention a couple of other things he's working on.... as I say he's a great guy so how could I say no!

If you’re thinking of attending HR Tech on October 15th, you should know we’ll be there, too. We're really looking forward to the show this year - it will be the first public event featuring JobMachine and Arbita together! (You've probably heard by now that JobMachine and Arbita merged in May - details at http://www.arbita.net/news/articles/05222008.html)   

If you absolutely can’t make HR Tech, I hope you can virtually attend at least one of this month’s JobMachine-hosted webinars taught by sourcing guru Mark E. Berger.  Each class is limited to 200 seats.

Tuesday, Oct. 28: "LinkedIn – Beginner/intermediate Techniques To Get More Out Of The Network”  Register at http://jobmachine.net/Linkedin10-28-08

Get great tips and techniques to locate those hard-to-find candidates for your next recruiting assignment. Explanation of advanced searches, network searches, keyword and title searches, location searches, industry searches, company searches, group searches, and how to leverage recommendations, groups, and interests. Tips on how to best contact your search results, how to maximize your own profile and grow your network.

Thursday, Oct. 30: "SITE Searching For Recruiters - A Close Look At This Increasingly Popular Search Technique" Register at http://jobmachine.net/SiteSearch10-30-08

Used by successful recruiters to source candidates online, the site: search engine command can be used in a variety of ways to get the kind of great leads you need to fill your next position. The class will show attendees how to use this technique to find candidate leads on: Internet communities, Social and business networks, Blogs, Free resume sites,  Associations, company and educational websites.

How Many Names Do I Need For One Immediate Hire?

We published a blog article from Maureen Sharib (a renowned American telephone names sourcer) recently on "What and Who Makes A Good Name Sourcer?". 

This article looks at how many names sourced names you will need to produce one immediate hire in:
Outside Sales Reps  30 - 50
Inside Sales Reps   20 – 30
SAP anything   100
Sales Managers      30 - 50
Construction Supervisors  50
Marketing Managers  30
Group Marketing Manager  50
Sales Engineers    30 - 50
Engineering (Software)  30 - 40
Engineering (Hardware)  40 -100
Note: really depends on skillsets/level of technology you’re seeking
Research & Development (Pharma) 100 - 200
High Yield Research Analysts    50
Disability Examiner  30
C Levels      50 – 100 Note:  depends on the C (CEO, COO, CIO, CSO, CFO, etc.)
Call Center workers   20
Financial Analysts  30 – 50  Note: really depends on market vertical
Commercial Underwriters  25
Consultants Big 4  30 - 50  Note:  really depends on market vertical
Business Development Managers 50
HVAC Technicians  30
Patent Attorney    50 - 100
Commercial Loan Officers  30 - 40
Defence     seems like 1000 Note: one of the toughest sectors because of the current political climate

These numbers come from what my customers report back to me, my own experience in the sourcing process, the size of my average jobs and my intuition. Nothing scientific, mind you.  The industry is also very important; in general, the hotter the industry, the more people you’re going to need.  Location is important.  You’re going to need less people upfront if you’re not going to have to move them.  If you do have to move them be prepared to see your names need estimate numbers double, maybe even triple depending on the desirability of the location. Warm climates attract more people than cold, so if your job location is cold, you’ll probably need more  if you have to move them in.  It’s a common sense thing.

I remind you, these estimates are entirely predicated on what industry you’re working in.  The more highly paid the individual, the more implanted/invested (stock-optioned) s/he is in the company, the brainier the candidate needs to be…all these things impact your Sourcing Needs.  If I had to pick a number, I tell people 50 names, nine times out of ten, if worked and pipelined correctly, should produce a hire.  The “if worked” caveat is important – make sure the names you source get called!  It’s amazing to me that some names just seem to fade away – the recruiter never gets around to calling them.  I can’t understand this thinking, so I’m at a loss to explain it.

Maureen is co-owner of TechTrak, a telephone names sourcing firm based in the US Maureen has been telephone names sourcing since 1996, having stumbled into this arcane business after twenty plus years of selling small businesses. You can read her articles around the nitty-gritty tips and techniques of name sourcing (how to get names from a telephone directory, how to title-identify those name, how to deal with scary gatekeepers, how to fill your internal pipelines with skilled, valuable candidates, how to read “between the lines” and hear clues in the silences) on her website at www.techtrak.com.

What and Who Makes A Good Name Sourcer?

Maureen Sharib is a renowned American telephone names sourcer who recently wrote an article for the newsletter on "The What, How, Who and Why of Name Sourcing".

She has written a follow up article for the blog.

Sourcing is primarily an art form, with a sizable amount of understanding of human nature mixed in.  A good name sourcer can come from any background.  Many HR departments believe they must have their sourcers “captive” in their organizations – I don’t believe this to be true.  Quite the opposite, a good name sourcer is often one who enjoys working alone, who’s self-disciplined almost to the point of obsession, who doesn’t relish the thought of work-place companionship or others listening to them on the phone "doing their thing".  They are usually like bull-dogs who latch onto something and won't let go of it until it's completed so the "need" to monitor their work habits is a moot point. What you need to worry about is on your end. Can you handle the pipelines they have a tendency to fill to over-flowing?

Good sourcers are focused, self-motivated and extremely productive. They could be right under your nose in your organization – you may even be one!  If you don’t have one, and I believe they’re few and far-between, find one!  They’re imperative to the success of your mission.   Sourcing doesn't have to be a local thing. Very little of my work is even in my state, the vast majority of it is done all around the US, a smaller part is done around the world.  The fact is that much of the work is concentrated in specific talent pools.  Your sourcer will go where you direct him/her, he/she will follow your instructions, and will deliver to you what you ask for.  He/she’s that little eager puppy-dog that fetches.  Who could ask for more?

I’ve noticed lately more than a few companies have indicated they’re “building a research team” within their corporate domains. I’ve also noted that these companies are finding that past “job stability” is difficult to come by in researchers.   I believe this is because what they’re really looking for are people that haven’t been active “employees” (doing sourcing) of any one company in the past - and if they have, they more than likely have not been engaged in true “sourcing” - the non-reliance in their processes on job boards and the internet in general and possessing the almost maniacal preference towards the telephone for their sourcing results.

More than likely, what they’re looking for are lone wolves – people out there in the world, working alone, doing 20, 50, 100, 1000 name-generation jobs (on a per name rate basis or by the hour) in the privacy of their own home offices. They are quite probably in their pyjamas (it’s not pretty) with the door closed (knock only if it’s a life-or-death emergency) and with a headset on (they can’t hear you even when you do knock, so don’t!).  With their word document in front of them on their flat screen and the internet running in the background.  With their fingers moving between their keyboards and the telephone dial-set (don’t get in the path of progress you might lose a digit or two).  With all their attention focused on the job at hand (nothing else exists for them when they’re “on”).  They are too busy to look for new or additional work cause they’re so slammed with what they have. 
Indications You Could Have a Good Name Sourcer On Your Hands
*When she says things like, “I dream of ways to get into companies.”  (Meaning she actually dreams of them!)
*She’s the type of person who knows everything about you, including your net worth, within 15 minutes of meeting you, and afterwards you wondered why you shared so much information with her!
*You immediately liked her, felt like you knew him a long time after only a few short minutes.
*She remarks, “It’s like a puzzle (or a baseball game, or a treasure hunt…).”
*She IS a treasure hunter.
*She’s self knowledgeable.  This is very different from self-assured.
*She always seems to be available for you.

There are many indicators that a person may be good at name sourcing but if I had to name a few characteristics that I think most carry, they are: curious, trusting, friendly, adventurous, resourceful, honest, patient, diligent, driven, neurotic/obsessive/compulsive and introverted but usually socially skilled (meaning they can talk to people if they have to).

Maureen is co-owner of TechTrak, a telephone names sourcing firm based in the US.  Maureen has been telephone names sourcing since 1996, having stumbled into this arcane business after twenty plus years of selling small businesses. You can read her articles around the nitty-gritty tips and techniques of name sourcing (how to get names from a telephone directory, how to title-identify those name, how to deal with scary gatekeepers, how to fill your internal pipelines with skilled, valuable candidates, how to read “between the lines” and hear clues in the silences) on her website at www.techtrak.com.

Free Candidate Generation Strategies Webinar

Mark Whitby is running a free webinar on the subject of Candidate Generation on Wednesday 7th May at 10.00am BST.  The cost of his webinars is normally £47 per person.  We reviewed one of Mark's old style telephone training sessions a while back in the newsletter and got very good feedback.  So, if yours is a candidate driven market it's worth finding time for this 45 minute session.

You will learn:
* Free and low-cost sources of high calibre candidates
* A formula for generating at least 2 referrals from every candidate who registers
* Unorthodox but highly effective tactics for finding "immediately placeable" candidates
* Great alternatives to traditional advertising

You can sign up here

Namyz - can it help find quality candidates?

Namyz is another fairly new social networking type-site.  It’s basically the recommendations bit from LinkedIn (although no doubt that’s a gross simplification).

To use the site you register and add some information about yourself and your business (my profile is here). Then you send emails to contacts you know (ideally, I guess, people who think you are great) asking them to write a testimonial about you.  There is also a scoring system a bit like ebay.  Interestingly, when I signed up I had 10 invitations waiting from people who wanted me to join their "reputation network" (ie, write something nice about them).  It turned out I only actually knew two of them. 

The idea is that you can also add links to your website and blog as well as posting links to other sites you want to share.  Then if someone finds you (more on how in a minute) they can read all about you, see the resources you are associated with and check out your rating.

It appears that if you sign up for a paid for account (which is quite cheap at $4.95 a month) they guarantee you will be found on Google – your link will actually appear in the sponsored listings.  If you stick with the basic (free) subscription you can be shown in the Google “natural” listings.  However, with a fairly common name you may not be very highly placed. 

It’s a service for people who want to ensure they have a positive “net rep”.  I personally rarely click on the sponsored links and I don’t like the idea of asking people to write a recommendation about you.  So, for me, my Namyz profile isn’t something I plan on spending any time on.

However, if you are often confused with someone else, or have bad “net rep” that you want to deflect attention from give it a go (however, can I ask that you actually ensure I know who you are before asking me to endorse you!).

Oh yes, bringing this back to recruitment.  To answer the question in my title (can it help find quality candidates) - maybe.  Obviously you won't get a full picture of a candidate as they will only have testimonials from people who rate them highly.  Unless your entire shortlist happen to be on Namyz you can't really "compare" candidates either. From a candidate perspective I can see why someone might invest time in this.  From a recruiter perspective I think it's too early days to find many candidates on there.

Free Internet Sourcing Newsletter

If you do any internet "sourcing" at all you should check out the new "AIRS Sourcing Report".  It's a free short report (only a five minute read) written by their Internet researchers on new tips, techniques and technologies for sourcing the best talent online.  Last month's covered a Yahoo tip, the Google toolbar, pitching a job via ipod, finding spreadsheets online and www.searchboth.co.uk (fab site to search the UK versions of Google and Yahoo at the same time).  The factsheet comes out on the second Thursday of each month - so sign up soon and you won't miss out. 

As we are talking about recruitment newsletters I ought to remind you to sign up to ours - if you don't already get it!

ZoomInfo - Instant Free Trial for UK Recruiters

Last week I wrote about how recruiters can use the free service from ZoomInfo.  Camille Roberts, who handles marketing for their recruitment clients, has given me a link to pass on to anyone wanting to try out the full service.   Complete the form at http://www.zoominfo.com/ctr.asp?c=1278 and you'll be sent a one day access password.  This is limited to one one-day password per person but you are welcome to send the offer to as many colleagues as you like.  This free trial offer will be available until end of March 2008.

This will give you access to the powersearch feature where you can search for people by sector, job title and specific company.  You can create lists of companies by name, industry, geographical area and/or size.  You can also create "talent maps" of individuals within companies.

If you need help working out how to get the most from your free trial you might like to try their resource centre.

By the way - have you seen our un-official Recruitment Personality of the Year Awards?  You can vote here   

ZoomInfo for Recruiters in the UK

Last week I posted something about using the web for name id.  A couple of people have subsequently asked me for a bit more information on ZoomInfo.  I wrote about ZoomInfo back in October 2006 - so if you want the background on the company and site you could read that blog post.  Since then I covered it in an article called My Findings for Recruiters using People Search Engines (snappy title huh!).  Here's a quick overview for those of unfamiliar with how you can use ZoomInfo as a recruiter.

They have a free service offering and a paid for full service.  With the free service you can do a search on a potential candidate or client by their name and a profile on that individual is returned.   Depending on what information is available on the internet it can include details on history, contact details and web references (to see a good example search for "Tim Elkington" and click on the first result returned).

You can also search for information on companies.  Again the detail varies but search for "Uniq" for an example of a fair bit of detail on a less well known organisation.

All of this is free.  However, with the paid for service you can do so much more.  Y ou can identify people by sector, job title and specific company.  You can create lists of companies by quite detailed criteria and you can create "talent maps" of individuals within companies.

They have about 40 million profiles on the site. Sadly only about 1 million of them are for UK individuals.  However, it's still a very worthwhile resource to have in your toolbox.  I always run "candidates" through Google, LinkedIn and ZoomInfo.

Tips for name identification on the web

A little while ago I was asked by a recruitment colleague for a quick overview on "which are the best websites to find target candidate names."  She was after beginner level suggestions and having done the legwork in producing some tips I thought I'd share them here. 

1. If you don't have a target company list you should build one.  Put the client's name in hoovers.co.uk and look at "competition" (which is a section on there).  Try Applegate for similar results.
2. Search LinkedIn by target company (tick "current company" box).  In order to see as many people as possible in the results you should work on building up your linkedin contacts.
3. Do the same search but untick "current company" to get possible sources who can refer you to ex-colleagues.
4. Try similar searches on Zoominfo (for best results you will need a "premium account) results for UK are not as good as for US.
5. Facebook is a possibility if you can join a group relevant to your search (eg, "I'm a recruitment consultant and proud of it" or "I work in financial services" groups).   You can then contact other members and/or post a message on their "wall".  However, this could be time-consuming and seems very hit and miss
6. Do a google search for job title (ie, "Flavourist") and target company name.  You may find company telephone lists, attendee lists of conferences, biog's in articles, press releases, etc.
7. Try other social network sites like Ecademy, Xing, Viadeo.  All will work better if you put the leg work in on creating decent networks
8. Search for associations relevant to your assignment and see if you can get membership lists (ie, for a Packaging Innovation Manager look at Inst of Packaging website). See if you can get access to their discussion forums.  Join and lurk (ie, read posts) in relevant discussion groups to see who knows what they are talking about.  Many people will have their contact details in their sig files on these boards.
   

StaffBytes - New Site for Recruiters, Sourcers & Researchers

Geoff Peterson has recently developed a site called StaffBytes. Geoff is US based recruiter who is using StaffBytes to share his knowledge of the ways to search, network with and hire top talent around the world.

"This news site will provide high-quality recruiting information in the form of step-by-step techniques, instructional videos, website reviews, expert tips, demonstrations and more."

Whilst Geoff is a US recruiter he tells me that he doesn't plan to just focus on the US - he is trying to identify ALL means and methods for recruiting worldwide.

It's still early days for the site, so at present there are only a couple of dozen tutorials on there.  However, a good one to start with is the introduction to LinkedIn for recruiters; it's a video tutorial that shows recruiters how to find passive candidates.

I'd say that StaffBytes is definitely one to watch and I'm sure I'll be linking to content on there on a fairly regular basis.

My Findings for Recruiters using People Search Engines

I mentioned last week that I was going to have a quick look at some people search engines.  What I'm talking about here are sites where you enter the name of a person and hopefully find everything there is about them which is listed on the internet.  I'm not looking at sites where you can do name identification (business directories, social networking sites, etc).

In my very unscientific, and quite brief, study I've searched for three specific people on each people search site.  I've used my own name as I'm the only Louise Triance (LT) I've ever come across on the web or in real life (I'm sure someone will now correct me!).  I've also searched for a researcher I know called Catherine Wade-Thomas (CWT).  Catherine has a "behind the scenes" role and has a limited presence on the web.  Finally I've searched for Tim Elkington (TE).  As MD of an internet business and with a unusual but not unique name I was hoping to get quite a few results from searching for him.

Spock
"a people search application that relies on the contributions of its members to create relevant results. Spock aims to provide a search result for every person in the world so users can discover information about people in their life."

LT - Provided a text description from my LinkedIn profile.  Gave reference to my website and blog.  Results were Very limited.
CWT - Hardly any information.  Just that she's based in the UK and a link to her LinkedIn profile.
TE - Gave a choice of three Tim Elkington's although it was easy to identify the correct one.  However, again, just a link to his LinkedIn profile.

I thought the results from using Spock were very weak.

Wink
"Where people find people."

LT - Listed my blog, website, linkedin, zoominfo and fast pitch profiles.  No links to articles or other blogs mentioning my name.
CWT - Listed her LinkedIn and Ecademy profiles.  Also gave a link to a PR about her joining her current search firm.
TE - Gave a choice of two Tim Elkingtons - but there was only his LinkedIn profile for the correct Tim.

The results for Catherine and me were OK. 

Pipl
"The most comprehensive people search on the web"

LT - Good results for me.  Gave four "Quick Facts" which were all accurate ("..is Editor of the ukrecruiter newsletter - a weekly email publication targeted at the UK recruitment industry, etc").  There were six references (including jigsaw, facebook, zoominfo, one erroneous one for jaiku) and 628 web results.  This bit was powered by google and included posts on blogs, discussion forums, etc. 
CWT - Only found one reference for her which was to her Facebook page.  There were five results from the web search.
TE - Gave three "quick facts".  However, one of them wasn't about him (but it was easy to identify as such).  None of the references (photo library and myspace account) where him. 

I like the "quick facts" and references. However, Pipl doesn't attempt to separate out different people with the same name.  You would need to be very careful to check that the person was the right one.  The web results are from the Google search engine - more on that later.

Ziki
"a people search engine that helps you find everyone online and connect with them for free."

LT - 65 results including all my listings on social networking sites, lots of references on other peoples blogs and a couple of out of date listings on directories (which I've now updated). 
CWT - 4 results; two of the same press release, one her LinkedIn profile and one of her Friendsreunited profile (which I didn't find reference to elsewhere).
TE - 68 results.  However, it was all returned in a jumble; some referenced the "real Tim Elkington" and some were other Tims.  Knowing Tim's background meant I could ascertain from the title and overview of each link which was likely to be him.

Ziki was very good for "unique names". However, they make no attempt to split people with the same name into different individuals.

ZoomInfo
"the premier business information search engine, with profiles on more than 37 million people and 3.5 million companies. ZoomInfo delivers a single site for quick and easy access to in-depth information on industries, companies, people, products, services and jobs."

LT - There were four Louise Triance's on Zoominfo.  However all were me.  On the main record there were to about 50 mentions on the web and a (dodgy) photo of me.  You have to register (which is free) to see all the references.  However, about 30 were dead links to recruiting-usa.  There were a couple of websites I was on that I didn't know about.
CWT - very limited, just one 1 press release.
TE - There were four people called Tim Elkington.  For his profile they listed his employment history (which was probably taken off his LinkedIn profile) and 80 web references.   

This was very weak for Catherine, OK for me and great for finding out about Tim.

Google

LT - 929 results (all referencing me!)
CWT - 5 results (all her)
TE - 9,810 results (well, I'm guessing these aren't all about "our" Tim.)

Google is great for "unique" names.

When I mentioned that I was planning a review of People Search Engines I got a couple of emails saying that in the US Whitepages.com is a great resource.  However, they aren't covering the UK at present.  I'm sure there may be other sites that recruiters use for people search.  If you leave a comment I can add them to the review.

So, my advice when it comes to "people search engines" would be to Google (using other keywords where necessary to ensure you have the correct person) and Zoominfo everyone.  Then look at Pipl and Ziki for "unique names".   Of course, and this is where it starts to take time, you should also search for each person on LinkedIn, Ecademy, Xing, Friendsreunited, Facebook, Myspace, Viadeo, and the list goes on!

Reviewing People Search Engines

I've previously talked about the people search engine Spock and have been planning a post about Wink and Pipl.  Then I was referred to this article by a friend who attended the recent AESC conference.  I understand it was referenced in a presentation by the well respected information professional Karen Blakeman.

The article looks at Spock, Wink and ZoomInfo and tries to determine which is best.  As is often the case with blog posts you get as much value from the comments (42 so far in this case) as you do from the actual post. 

It's re-ignited my interest in investigating this area. Early next week I'll be spending time on these (and more) people search engines and sharing my findings.  If you want to give me your feedback just leave a comment or drop me a note.