“Leveraging Social Media Tools to Recruit Top Talent” enforces how valuable an asset social media truly is:

By following relevant people and igniting conversations, organizations can begin to create a healthy level of influence over their brand – a clear best practices in the social media sphere. Moreover, companies can determine what type of information fuels the jobseekers’ interest by listening to the candidates and then provide that content on their social media platforms.

Companies can search for talent all over the globe to find the right candidates. Job seekers can create their own platform where they can receive direct contact from employers. But most importantly, how can all of this translate into social media strategy that is important and relevant to startups?

Social networks have made it much easier to spread the news about innovative products that come from startups which previously got lost in the shuffle when overshadowed by larger, more established companies, even if the startups provided a far superior product. In the realm of social media, startups are on a more level playing field with any other given company. To successfully leverage these networks, startups simply need to place their innovations in the hands of the correct users. If you are able to find out who needs your product, and why, you can create the most gratifying experience for your users.

If you focus primarily on doing the right thing for your customers, you can effectively use social media to enhance these customer relationships.

Any social media strategies we haven’t touched on? We’d love to hear from you.

It’s a simple fact – the best candidates for job openings often come from people you or your coworkers already know. And while a job board (like StartUpHire) is a great place for those who are actively searching, no one really has cracked the inherent social aspect of finding the best candidates for job openings. Until now, that is.

Today, StartUpHire is launching a new social media tool that will allow companies, VCs, and others, to publicize jobs at a company through the social networks they already use, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. It’s like telling everyone in your address book that there are job openings at your company automatically—all it takes is a simple, 2-minute setup, and you’re done.

This is done in two different ways. First, employers can connect StartUpHire to their company’s official social networking accounts. Every time a job is posted on StartUpHire it will automatically be posted on the company’s social networks.

Second, and even more exciting, employers can send a link to their team, or anyone else for that matter, so they can become a “supporter” of that company. This extends the company’s reach further. Using this feature every time a job is posted on the StartUpHire website, the job gets broadcast to all of the friends of the company’s supporters. As an example, a hiring manager could enable StartUpHire to post openings on the manager’s social media accounts. That hiring manager could also pass the link along to their staff and friends, broadening the reach of the posting even further.

By not only leveraging your official business accounts, but also giving employees a simple, hassle-free way of supporting your company by publicizing your job posts, we think we can increase the quality (and quantity) of applicants—just using the social media you already use, all at no extra cost.

If you’re an employer or VC, use this innovative tool by logging into your account on StartUpHire. Simply click the “Employers” tab and head to the social media section, where you will find the links to various social media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn). By turning any of these networks on, you have instantly broadened the network of people who are exposed to the employment opportunities with your company.

Can you share the company’s elevator pitch with us?

Avvo’s mission is to help people navigate the complex and confusing legal industry by providing more information and better guidance than they’ve ever had access to before. Avvo helps people whether they are simply researching their legal issue, looking for personalized advice or actually need to choose the right lawyer. Featuring the world’s largest legal directory, Avvo rates and profiles nearly every lawyer in the United States, provides unbiased client reviews of attorneys, disciplinary records and offers a free Q&A platform where consumers can get answers to legal questions from attorneys for free.

For lawyers, Avvo is a great place for attorneys to set themselves apart from other lawyers and attract new clients.

How did the company get started? Who had the idea? Was there an “A Ha!” moment?

Avvo founder and CEO, Mark Britton, is a 17-year lawyer and the former top lawyer at Expedia. During his entire career he has helped family and friends make good choices regarding their legal issues. In 2004, Britton took time off from work to teach finance in Italy. Gone for a year with an Atlantic Ocean in between, people were still reaching out to him for help with their legal issues, particularly how to choose the right lawyer. At that time, Britton realized this must be a real problem for many people – not just those within his own network. After conducting preliminary research, Britton discovered the Yellow Pages was still one of the top resources for consumers. Anytime the Yellow Pages is a top information resource for consumers, you know there is a problem. Recognizing an opportunity to start something revolutionary, Britton returned to the states in 2005, assembled a team and began planning for the launch of Avvo in June of 2006.

Tell us about your funding history.

May 24, 2006: Round 1 (Series A) financing of $3M from Benchmark Capital

April 19, 2007: Round 2 (Series B) financing of $10M from Ignition Partners and Benchmark Capital

March 17, 2010: Round 3 (Series C) financing of $10M from DAG Ventures, Benchmark Capital and Ignition Partners

How many employees do you have? Where are they based?

Avvo has 40 employees all based out of the company’s headquarters in Seattle, Washington

How would you describe work life at the company?

The team at Avvo is a tight-knit group that has grown up under the work hard/play hard mindset. We have an unusually high concentration of young families – currently with 4 babies on the way – so lifestyle and company policy centers around flexibility to manage everything.

What do you look for in potential employees?

In general we’re looking for smarts and “startup DNA” which includes being a self-starter, risk taker, flexible, innovative and creative with the ability to thrive in a fast-paced, less structured environment. Other important characteristics include integrity and honesty, passion, willingness to work with a team, open and respectful through actions and words and accountable for commitments, quality of work and results.

For what positions are you currently hiring?

Software Developer

Vice President of Marketing

Data Entry Specialist

Do you have any advice for folks new to startup employment?

Working at a startup is exciting, rewarding and sometimes even unpredictable. Be prepared to wear many hats, be challenged to do your best every day and catch the entrepreneurial spirit that drives the team’s success. Important decisions made by committee that keep everyone happy through compromise are impotent. When debating strategies or tactics disagree openly, honestly and bluntly but get on the damn bus once a decision is made.

What’s the one thing you would like readers to remember about the company?

Avvo grew from concept to market leader in a period of 3 years.  We did this by simply building a great product that people really needed (in our case, the information to make their legal decisions with confidence).  That’s not a particularly sophisticated or complex strategy, but one that always works.

Here’s how author John Warrilow weighs in:

It was fun to watch South Africa play soccer in the opening round of the World Cup. The South Africans have never been a particularly strong soccer nation, but their team was determined and unified. The stadium was packed to the gills, with tens of thousands of people all desperate to see their team win. And as the cameras panned around the countryside and in the bars and on the streets, it seemed to me that all of South Africa shared a common goal.

It reminded me of the feeling you get when you’re in a company and everybody knows what the target is and everyone is motivated to achieve it. It also reminded me of the time I was misaligned with my general manager and how disruptive that was.

Warrilow recounts an experience he faced in which he encountered differences and eventual problems with a general manager, Chris, with whom he had worked flawlessly with in the past. As a result of some decisions made, the two ended up on entirely different pages, with a handful of employees on each of their sides. The whole conflict resulted in a loss of client relationships and what the author describes as a “fractured company.”

Goal alignment is something to strive for in any work environment, because  it’s breeding grounds for healthy and productive employee relationships. Managers who establish open communication with each other and a sense of alliance with their employees will help to inspire these employee’s performance. This subject is very pertinent to startups, because bad communication can kill you as quickly as a poor product.

As demonstrated in “When Goals are Misaligned,” different objectives can easily lead to a sticky situation within any company, particularly those of startup nature.

Chris was a superb performer when our goals were aligned, but as my goals changed and we became misaligned, the same things that had made Chris an outstanding performer—tenacity, drive and passion—made him a formidable thorn in my side.

Let the World Cup be a lesson to us all: There’s no “I” in team.

Elevator pitch: Balihoo enables national brands to effectively drive local demand generation through their distributed marketing partners (franchisees or resellers) by empowering local marketers.

Start of company: Balihoo was founded in 2005 to address issues around media fragmentation and local media buying/planning. At the time, we sold our technology into large media and advertising agencies.

In 2008, we transformed significantly, bringing our technology in-house. We added functionality around creative customization and co-operative advertising management and started selling our SaaS and services directly to national brands and their affiliates. We’ve grown 30% every quarter since Q3 2009.

Funding History: VC funded by Lacuna Gap Capital, Highway 12 and OpenView Venture Partners.

Employees: About 50 full-time-employees, all based in Boise, ID

Work/life description: We operate under the work hard/play hard mentality. Since we’re based in Boise, ID, it critical that our employees have the freedom and flexibility to enjoy all of the outdoor pursuits the geography offers them. At the same time, we’re competing with Silicon Valley and NYC start-ups and entrenched competitors, so we have to have the discipline to out-work and (more importantly) out-smart them. More info on Balihoo’s culture.

Currently hiring:

Marketing Manager

Sales Operations Coordinator

Program Manager

Senior Account Executive

What to remember?: Local marketing and advertising is a $130B/year business in the US which is dramatically underserved from a technology perspective. Balihoo brings scale to this market while delivering enterprise-class marketing and advertising tools to the local marketer.

Want to learn more about them? Here’s a cool video tour of their offices:

An excellent “company pitch” leaves your audience inspired. However, this is often easier said than done. In this recent article, CEO of SlideRocket, Chuck Dietrich, recommends things you can do to perfect this invaluable skill.

The audience should walk away with the ability to restate your company’s vision, a clear picture of how you will achieve that vision, and the economic ramifications of attaining it. If the audience is inspired and can accurately re-tell your story, then your presentation was effective.

The tips that Chuck Dietrich presents can work for almost any presentation, which of course adds to the versatility of this skill, but are more specifically for the  pitchmen at startup companies, who often need to make concise yet elegant points very quickly.

1. Know thyself. Before you create your presentation, take stock of the company vision, goals and roadmap. If you are still working on the exact vision and goals, then choose a story and stick to it. Be honest with yourself. Is your company unique? Does it have big barriers to entry, a unique technology, or patentable intellectual property? You can make a great and compelling presentation to influencers and VCs even if your company isn’t a “one and only.”

It is important to convey to your audience how your company will handle the roadblocks that will inevitably come up in its future. By recognizing the fact that your company will have its flaws, as opposed to glazing over these concerns as if they won’t exist, you will gain credibility and build an honest relationship with your audience.

2. Present the facts. The following facts are crucial to include in your presentation: The overall market size for your product today; a list of competitors and differentiators; your basic business model (licensing fee, subscription, one-time fees, revenue share etc.); how much funding you’ve raised (if any); names of key team members and their micro-bios.

3. Be passionate. The most important thing you can convey to your audience is passion. Don’t lecture to them or read off of slides –- tell your story with emotion and energy. Passion is palpable and will engage a room from the start.

The most memorable of the five-minute pitches are those delivered with passion. Take advantage of the short opportunity given to you and be not only a compelling salesman, but a great storyteller.

You’ve come this far. What should you do if the pitch fails? Try to harvest as much value from the pitch as possible, and leave with an understanding of what went wrong. Ask for feedback from those in the room, and redeem the investment you made in the pitch by learning as many lessons as possible from this failed attempt.

Why should we believe in you? If you are able to succinctly and efficiently present the right information to your investors, you’ll be one step closer to that second meeting.

No employer will hire you without experience, but you can’t get experience without getting hired.

This poses quite the problem for those who have worked part-time jobs during college but have yet to gain experience in the field relevant to their recent degree. Entry level jobs no longer have the same meaning that they used to.

Entry level really means at least 1 to 2 years prior relevant work experience when you read the whole description. How many college graduates really have at least 1 year relevant work experience to the jobs they seek out?

Before the onset of the economic downturn, entry-level workers fresh out of college were in much higher demand. Once the financial markets began to fall, employers added new requirements–primarily additional experience, to their definitions of “entry-level” jobs, therefore creating one of the causes of the immense difficulties recent graduates have faced as they entered the job market in the past two years.

Here are the hard-to-swallow reasons for the New-Graduate Paradox:

• High Unemployment. The combination of layoffs, financial market crashes and foreclosures flood the job market with experienced workers that are unemployed or looking for a higher paying job. Recent graduates have little chance of getting hired when the market is full with workers who have racked up many years of experience. Basically there is less demand for young inexperienced workers in today’s job market.
• Employers think experts get the job done. Employers don’t want to “take a chance” on new and creative minds.

Don’t let unfortunate circumstances get you down. Here are a few potential solutions if you find yourself in a similar predicament:

1. Be enthusiastic. The majority of new graduates are willing to work longer hours for less pay than more experienced workers. Employers who hire new graduates have a leg up because, although possibly less experienced, new workers are often more enthusiastic about starting their career and can bring new insights to the job, all while accepting a lower compensation.
2. Get an internship. Although the term “internship” often connotes a temporary position, use your ambition and dedicated work ethic to turn your internship into a full-time paid position.
3. Start writing. Starting a blog or website is a great way to share your ideas with the world. It also keeps your professional writing skills up to par while still allowing you to show off your creative side.

If you are on the job search, taking these ideas into account may lessen the stress of the situation, and help you to land that dream job a little quicker.

What’s your story? Do you have any other advice for recent graduates to help them gain experience?

Can you share the company’s elevator pitch with us?

Conductor empowers marketers to take control of their natural search strategies.

How did the company get started?  Who had the idea? Was there an “A Ha!” moment?

The “A ha!” moment came when our co-founders, Seth Besmertnik and Jeremy Duboys, realized the vastly unutilized opportunity in natural search. 90% of total search clicks occur in the natural search space, yet marketers are primarily investing their resources and budgets in paid search

Tell us about your funding history.

Our funding story begins with 2 founders with a bank loan and ends with a company of 60 receiving $10M in venture backed Series B funding during one of the most turbulent economic times in U.S. history in over 30 years.

How many employees do you have?

75

Where are they based?

The Gramercy District in NYC

How would you describe work life at the company?

At Conductor, we’re passionate about providing the best solutions for our customers. This responsibility sits on the shoulder of each member on our team – and we value each Conductor greatly. We are focused on the results – not the path. We are transparent and willing to take chances. We keep our performance streaming on the walls, there are no executive offices or walled cubes, we learn from our mistakes and celebrate our wins – and most importantly, we are committed to constantly learning, improving and getting better every day. We thrive off feedback and take pride in speaking our minds. We are focused on success and building a legacy technology company in New York City that makes a difference in the world.

For which roles or functions are you hiring?

Technology, Customer Success and Sales and Marketing

What do you look for in potential employees?

Intelligent, altruistic collaborative personalities who face their challenges with innovative solutions

What’s the one thing you would like readers to remember about the company?

Conductor is an award winning, technology company committed to provide an innovative environment by fostering employee collaboration, development and wellness. If you are interested working with a group of highly motivated people dedicated to evolve search marketing technology – we would like to speak with you.

Does your company participate in any community service initiatives through financial means or volunteer time?

As a company, Conductor is proud to lend financial support to a number of community services and organizations, but when it comes to community involvement; our people truly make the difference. Through the relationships that bloom between our employees and community organizations, we can really see the impact of our commitment. By encouraging a positive, passionate spirit of involvement and working together as a team, we at Conductor strive to make a real difference in the world in which we live and work.

Please briefly describe any programs or practices in your organization that promote a healthy work/life balance:

Conductor employees like to work hard and play hard. To foster team work in the office and well as outside of the office we sponsor a sports team each season,  Winter, indoor soccer, Softball for spring/summer and kickball for the fall.   For those who like to play without getting dirty we have a Wii in the office where you can test your gaming skills and let your inner rock star shine.