The deadline is Saturday, June 2, 2012 so act quick!

Recruitment via LinkedIn

Like us and win a book ‘Recruitment via LinkedIn” is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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You probably asked these questions yourself at one point in time.  You can adopt the methods of your mentor or benchmark data as starting point but the best benchmark is your own data! Measuring is knowing.

A/B testing is a method of marketing testing by which a baseline control sample is compared to a variety of single-variable test samples in order to improve response or conversion rates [source: Wikipedia].

Here’s my advice to get started:

1. First step is to get a baseline. What has the response been until now? Note: If the response ratio is below 30% you are doing something wrong.
2. Next, use a tool to track the response. Excel works fine but perhaps your ATS has some functionality build-in to monitor this.**
3. Set a goal and try to achieve this. For example double the response ratio on Emails by varying the message.***
4. Start improving the results by making continuous amendments.

Create a talent pipeline report

Example of what kind of information to track when sourcing candidates:

Do’s and Don’ts

Even though A/B testing is super-simple in concept, keep some practical things in mind.

DON’TS

• Don’t conclude too fast. Only when you have a lot of data you can judge if source A or message B works better and it takes time to obtain enough statistical information.
• Don’t compare different messages with different sources as candidate behavior can be very different. A short message (A) may get good results via LinkedIn but may not be the best option to reach out to candidates from Monster. If you want to compare the most effective source than compare the total amount of effort you put in it.
• Don’t let your gut feeling overrule test results. The winners in A/B tests are often surprising or unintuitive. Your goal with the test is a better conversion rate, so don’t reject the results because of your arbitrary judgment.
• Don’t forget to include your contact information (phone AND email) and to ask for a response when sending out messages. These are real conversion killers if you. Give it a try in your test…

DO’S

*According to LinkedIn, the likelihood of a response increases by 50% if you mention people you know in common and limit your message to 100 words. Also make it direct and to the point.

** Don’t forget to use your own applicant database for a proactive search.

*** Some sourcers report an 80% response ratio when sending messages to qualified candidates. And when I say qualified I mean qualified i.e. not sending as many standard messages possible to people who mention a keyword on their online profile of CV!

Good luck. Let us know what your approach is and share your best practice!

A/B Testing in Sourcing to radical change results is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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It’s an updated version of their iPhone app so there’s no need to download a special app, just update (or download) the LinkedIn app and install it on your iPad. You’ll notice that you’ll get almost the same experience as the iPhone app. But they did add an extra feature; calendar. The LinkedIn iPad app can sync with your device calendar to incorporate Linkedin profile data about each attendee to help you understand “who” you are meeting with. In my opinion the best feature is the LinkedIn News section where you can read about relevant topics from your network and the most popular topics in your field (similar to the very popular Flipboard news app). A lot of people will like also that the list of people who’ve looked at your profile is the first thing you’ll see in the profile section.

In addition to the iPad app, they also launched a new mobile web experience for the Safari browser on iPad. It has exactly the same features and look as the iPad app. Try it here: tablet.linkedin.com.

LinkedIn launches web and iPad app for your tablet is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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1. Monster launches Recruitment iPad App in Europe
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3. Screening CVs with iPad becomes ‘social’ and enriches talent pools

Following the success of previous TRU Events in London, Amsterdam, Stockholm, Dublin, Manchester, Leeds, Bucharest, Boston, San Fransisco and Paris since the start of TRU in November 2009, TruEurope is the first truly European Recruiting Unconference to be organized in Brussels on Thursday April 19th and Friday, April 20th, 2012.

What is a Recruiting Unconference?

The Recruiting Unconferences or TRU Events are a series of pure unconferences organised worldwide, where the emphasis is on conversation, communication and the free exchange of ideas and experiences, (dis)organized by Bill Boorman.

TRU events where founded in November 2009 by Bill Boorman (UK) and Geoff Webb (Canada) and have since taken place more than 25 times on 4 continents.

Recruiting Unconferences are based on the unconference or BarCamp principle, this means that everybody can be an active participant instead of listening to speakers and watching presentations all day.

The emphasis is on communication and the free exchange of ideas and experiences where the participants fuel the conversations, all spiced up and (dis)organized by Bill Boorman.

TRU events have proven to be a great way to learn a lot in a very short time, but also to meet new people and network.

Who should attend?

Participants come from the people space globally, usually in the field of Recruiting (both corporate and third-party recruiters), Human Resources, Talent Acquisition, Branding, Social Media, Technology Developers and Vendors.

How does it work?

The format of a TRU Event is to run a minimum of 3 tracks each hour. The tracks are started by a track leader who has some experience of the discussion topic. The role of the track leader is to start the conversation and let the conversation evolve wherever it goes. Participants are actively encouraged to move between tracks according to what they need individually.

The Rules

No presentations because the best knowledge is in the room by bringing together participants from all kinds of backgrounds with a shared interest.
No PowerPoint because we want the eyes to meet in the middle and everyone to have the floor.
No pitching because people will buy from you if they respect what you say, not what you pitch.
No name badges because we believe that if you don’t know who someone is you should simply introduce yourself.
No dress code because we want you to feel comfortable and focus on the conversations.

What can you expect?

This video from #TruLondon in February 2012 should give you a good idea.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who leads the Tracks?

Anyone attending can lead a track. There is no need for speaker applications or preparation.

What will be discussed?

Tracks that have been held so far include: Twitter Success Stories, Campus To Career, Social Footprints, Fighting The Dragon of Social Recruiting ROI, Technology Futures , Going Mobile – Successful Apps, The Social Recruiter, Case Studies (The Hard Rock Firenze Story – Hiring 120 Staff in 4 weeks, #TruOracle), Branding Inside Out, Community or J.I.T., The Real Cost Of Engagement, Moving To The Clouds, Spectacular SEO, Managing Talent, Recruiting Technology, Candidate Experiences (from Job Seekers), Boolean Strings And Facebook, Referral Recruiting, Expose Yourself, Future Job Board, LinkingIn, The Rejection Business, Compelling Content, Every Picture Tells A Story, Graduate Employer Brand, Kool New Tools, Secret Sourcing, Games And The Dutch Army, Video Story, Recruiting 3.0 and TruGrads.

Venue

NH Brussels Airport Hotel
De Kleetlaan,14
B-1831 Diegem, Brussels (Belgium)

What’s next?

Get your ticket and join us for #TruEurope on 19/20th April!

#TruEurope on 19-20 April 2012 in Brussels is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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1. Unconference #truAmsterdam3 on 28-29 April 2011
2. The recruitment unconference #truAmsterdam is back on 25 November 2010

Over the past 100 years, there has been a fundamental shift in the way companies compete. Historically, the market winners were those who had access to capital and financing. With capital, you could build the biggest plant, make the largest IT investments, or run the most impactful marketing campaign. Capital was important because size, not speed, was how companies won. Today the basis of competition has switched, as technology and the global economy both continue to accelerate the rate of change for businesses worldwide. While in the 1920s and 30s companies could expect to stay in the S&P 500 for 65 years, by the end of the 1990s this tenure dropped to 10 years.

In a world where speed wins, talent is the critical asset. A high performing workforce can see what is on the horizon, reacting and adapting to the environment before the competition. Even in a world of high unemployment, high quality talent has never been in such fierce demand.

At the same time, the tools and services available to professionals to help them take charge of their own careers have never been so prevalent, or so powerful. Professionals have flocked to online networks like LinkedIn, built their professional brands, connected to their peers and, critically, are updating their profiles even when not looking for a job. For the first time, recruiters have access to quality information on passive talent at scale. This has vastly increased the potential candidates available to recruiters beyond the minority who are active job seekers and, according to a recent LinkedIn study with Lou Adler, make up a mere 17 percent of all professionals.

These two trends have come together to change the face of recruitment, and are shifting the recruitment function within the organization. With talent as the critical factor, the best recruiters are becoming strategic assets to the business, and the leaders of talent acquisition close advisors to their executive team.

We recently announced that there are now more than 9,000 companies worldwide using LinkedIn Hiring Solutions: companies like Wal-Mart, which was able to source and on-board an entire senior team in Asia in two months, and companies like the communications provider Polycom, which saved $3.1 million in one year by recruiting through LinkedIn. These companies all offer some vital lessons on how to embrace these trends.

Passive candidates require an active recruitment approach

Recruitment has always been part sales and marketing, but the use of these techniques is becoming more pronounced. Marketers don’t wait for customers to come to them; they establish their brand and their proposition and court customers, establishing long term relationships. The most successful recruiters are now taking a proactive approach when it comes to using professional networks. It’s now possible to identify the best potential candidates, even if they’re not actively looking for a job, and to establish a pipeline of talent ready for when it’s needed, enabling a company to react faster to market forces.

Build the brand

Passive candidates don’t need a ‘job’, they already have one. Passive candidates need to be offered opportunities which will allow them to change the trajectory of their career. This raises the bar and makes employer branding more important than ever before. Companies are addressing this challenge in two main ways. Firstly, active targeting of messaging to specific member groups enables companies to take their employer brand to the sort of top talent that should be working at their company. Secondly, passive employer branding means creating places where candidates can discover your values, culture and learn more about what it’s like to work at your company from people in their network. Just take a look at some of the two million Company Pages on LinkedIn where companies are doing this today.

Every employee is a recruiter

For many companies, referrals have always been the best source of high quality candidates; smart people usually know smart people. But today, social media offers an entirely new way to tap into that hard-to-reach source of candidates. In February, the top 10 companies in the FTSE 100 shared just under one million LinkedIn profile views. That’s potential candidates visiting the LinkedIn profiles of their employees. Smart companies are beginning to realize that the people looking at their employees’ profiles often fit the same demographic as those they want to hire: they work in the right industry; they studied alongside their existing employees; and they work at with competitors or suppliers. Since they already know someone at your firm, there is a human connection that makes them more open to a career discussion. Recruiters are putting in place recommendation and referral programs to make use of this huge increase in referral efficiency that online professional networks create.

These insights point to an opportunity for recruiting to elevate itself to a more strategic part of every company. When recruitment teams hire great talent, they can fundamentally impact the DNA of the organization on a level that no other function can. 

By some measures, there are up to 640 million professionals worldwide and 3.3 billion people in the global workforce. Imagine if each professional were connected online via their own network of contacts, able to tap into connections of connections, uncover insights and opportunities which otherwise would never have revealed themselves. Increasing efficiency in the job market on this scale could positively impact economies, not just the companies operating within them. There would be no reason for a job to go unfilled, and there would be no reason for a professional to be unfulfilled in their career.

Already 150 million professionals have chosen to join LinkedIn, but we’re only getting started. Together we can transform the way people pilot their careers, the effectiveness with which companies acquire talent, and the competitiveness of industries. Welcome to the talent economy.

By Dan Shapero, Vice President, LinkedIn Hiring Solutions

Welcome to the talent economy is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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Asking hypothetical questions… is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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3. Do you wanna follow me?

Does this figures surprise you? It didn’t suprise me because I speak to Recruiters every day and this is typical about our profession. Almost nobody plans to do this job. They start, like it, and keep doing it for years. Also people who choose to study Human Resource Management don’t want to end up in Recruitment. But that may also be the fault of our education system. In The Netherlands these students spend, if they are lucky, one recruitment course during their 4 years HRM study. Moreover the main topic during this class is interviewing, not Employer Branding or (Strategic) Recruiting. I was schocked the first time I heard this. I always thought that Recruitment is one of the three pillars of HRM, the other two being training/assessment and rewarding of employees…

I didn’t plan a career in Recruitment, I studied Electrical Engineering, until I was approached to talk about a career as Recruitment Consultant when I was still studying. The following saying applies to me; “the first job you take, the second job/career you choose”. And I never regretted this decision ever since! How about you?

How did you end up in recruitment? is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

A lot of people will tell you that Recruitment is Marketing. But you can as well throw away your Employer Branding budget if recruiters are not willing to provide service to people making contact with your company. Also, the type of HR Professional / Recruiter who’s using mostly recruitment agencies is not an ideal situation too. The process that often is followed is that of an administrative function, where work is performed in the easiest and at lowest cost possible, even if that approach is not the most effective.

How to improve recruitment effectiveness?

In many organisations recruiters spend little time on (proactive) recruitment and / or selection of candidates. They are forced to spend time on various activities that add little value to the recruitment process. This is often not the fault of an individual recruiter but due to poor recruitment processes. Too much time is spent on administrative matters, meetings and troubleshooting. In the meantime, there are a growing number of candidates and interviews needed to achieve results.

So what if the underlying processes malfunction? What if applicants wait too long for a response from a hiring manager? Or what if the costs rise because there is a high dependency on external agencies? It is not only the businesses that get affected but also their quality.

The good news is that there are sufficient opportunities to increase effectiveness of the recruitment process. Faster, better and cheaper with the same number of Recruiters and HR staff. How? Use a professional sales strategy in the recruitment process as described in the following steps:

- Information gathering (in the job branding stage)

Internally focused:

Learn the business inside and out, from the company’s culture to its products, by talking to colleagues and studying the website and brochures. Next, have an extensive discussion with the hiring manager about the details of the vacancy including the team’s background (vision, strategy, composition), typical projects, challenges, top performers, career paths, potential candidates or competitors.

Externally focused:

Analyse your target audience(s) on demographics, search behaviour, motivation, competition, perception of your brand in the market, etcetera. You can never know too much about why ‘customers’ want or do not want to buy your product. Bytheway, Social platforms can be a great tool for that competitive intelligence gathering.

Next step is to make a thorough plan and real authentic proposition. Use all information to create a compelling message about both the position and the company. And no worries, there can be many important distinctions even in boring positions. Think of good salary / fees, employee benefits, job location, education and training, easy to reach by public transport or access by car, career growth opportunities, flexible / part time / work from home possibilities, good work / life balance, and many more.

1. Identify

Let’s identify potential candidates with two (or three) scenarios.

Strategy 1: Finding or identifying potential talent.
This strategy is becoming increasingly important due to increased competition among top-talent. Internet is an ideal tool to quickly identify potential candidates and with all the current resources available it is easier than you think. But relatively few competitors (corporate organisations) actively utilise them, so here is a lot to gain. First get experienced in your Internet search methods to find talents and specialists. The more your method is precise and specific, the easier it will be to select the right persons that’ll make a difference in your organisation.

This does require different skills of the recruiter. Many organisations outsource this task and may provide major benefits due to the considerable time that must be invested into it. But in the long term this strategy will save costs and provide greater benefits due to better quality hires and lower retention rates. This strategy is especially effective because you’re proactively building relationships with potential strong candidates.

Do not forget to involve everyone in your organisation, including employees and hiring managers, because people are still the best search engine! An Employee Referral Program can and must play an important source of high quality candidates. It is a reliable, cheap, fast source that arguably distinguishes the best candidates.

Strategy 2: Be found (job marketing).
Advertising is the most common strategy and still effective for bulk recruitment, graduates, interim professionals, or less qualified personnel. In order to get the best results, you must invest in a strong employer brand and in your marketing campaigns aimed at specific target groups, preferably with cross-media campaigns.

Note: both strategies can be used perfectly together. Make this a conscious choice. Not advertising is sometimes more powerful!

2. Qualify

Many professional information of candidates is up for grabs through social networking sites and search engines like Google and 123people. Naturally, resume databases from job boards are also an excellent source of information because they include information about what kind of job someone is looking for. Headhunters collect this information through their relationships and learn about candidates’ motivations, strengths or weaknesses. Learn from these experts and use their approach!

Whatever you do, it is important to learn and identify the candidates’ motivations at an early stage. Using this information, you can filter out unsuitable candidates or plan a constructive conversation that goes beyond the question “are you interested in this job?”.

3. Proposal

The goal of an effective job description is to attract the interested and the best possible candidates. Do not use a boring job description, pay attention to a promotional text, make it visually appealing with a good layout and put the information in context. Focus on opportunities and challenges and less on the demands of the job.

To avoid loosing candidates this is supported by a compelling and user-friendly recruitment site that includes testimonials, videos, employee benefits, information about selection procedure, directions, contact information, etc. Please note that 98% of the applicants the recruitment site will visit to find further information in order to make decision.

4. Contact

Active job seekers, passive candidates, and all variations thereof each have a different approach. The hard-to-find professional who started an active search, will soon receive an offer from your competition so speed is critical.

Consider involving the hiring manager, a director or subject matter expert when it comes to cold contacts or selected candidates. A top candidate would rather exchange professional information or negotiate with someone of their own or higher level.

5. Dealing with objections

Ask which criteria someone uses for accepting an offer. With this information you can filter out candidates, close the deal or even the change the job requirements. The sooner you ask this question in the process the better. If the distinction is clear to competing employers, the criteria that are important for the candidate and the contact has been made, it comes to convincing that this is the best moment to respond. Your attention to detail will make a difference here.

Generation Y asks, “why should I work for you?” so you must be prepared to answer that question. Ask yourself, why do I work for this organisation?

It is important to build a long-term relationship with the candidate, who, for the time being, is satisfied with his current employer, but who may possibly consider moving to a new position in the future. Plan how you will maintain contact with this person and give the feeling that this is important. So you reinforce the image and hold your door open for future opportunities. Do not overdo it; too much attention is seldom appreciated.

More sales tips: Be more honest and sincere. Ask the right questions, listen carefully and do not talk too much.

6. Negotation / Closing the deal

Do not try to sell ice to the Eskimos. In that case, you sell just to sell, and not in order to provide a permanent solution. You achieve absolutely nothing because the real purpose is lacking.

Focus on the benefit of the candidate and make each negotiation a win-win situation. The goal is to help them to move forward. A good understanding of the interests and the needs of the candidate in this phase are crucial, as is quickly offering the position.
And if you in the job-marketing stage positioned your employer as an organisation that provides an “extremely competitive salary” and “a lot of training” then this is the moment to prove it!

7. Aftercare

A good accompaniment to the first working days is a joint responsibility of HR / Recruitment and leadership. This will ensure not faster and more productive employees that will stay longer with your organisation. Give the new employee, in a timely matter, more information before and after the first working days. Let the manager congratulate him/her with the new job after acceptance, give some more information about your company before the start and plan a lunch meeting with the team. In short, make the candidate feel unique and reaffirm what you had promised.

With this professional sales approach you’ll be able to get and retain the best talent. Faster, cheaper and better! Moreover this sales approach not only weakens the competition but it also makes your organization stronger. And this works like a magnet for other talent! In my opinion, Recruiters should be obliged to follow a sales training before they spend a dollar on advertising.

©2012 Jacco Valkenburg

Recruitment is Sales (not Marketing) is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

The results? The collective answers provided a fuller picture of the candidate, and a unique portrait of them for both R/GA and their own social network. It also stimulated media discussion outside of Facebook. With thousands of answers posted, they discovered some of the most young, social media savvy minds around.

What do you think? Is this selection-method just a popularity contest? Or does it really help in identifying the best or most creative students? Would you use this approach?

Selection 2.0: The Social Interview Case Study is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

Not only did it talk directly to those who love the brand, it created a whole new media channel – the flat packs themselves. Bytheway, it resulted in 4285 applications and 280 hires with $0 media spend!

Source: Ads Of The World

IKEA: Career Instructions [VIDEO] is a post from: Global Recruiting Roundtable. Follow us via Twitter @recruitmentjob or Facebook. Download our free iPhone or Android Apps and read these articles on your mobile phone. Dutch readers have a look at Recruiting Roundtable Nederland for more local news and tips.

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