You don't have to be a whiz to hire great people or find a great job. This site is about recruiting made simple. Find who you are looking for with tips from a whiz!
People tell me that they have a LinkedIn profile, but it doesn’t really do anything for them, or they don’t really “get it,” or it’s just too overwhelming to complete and they’re not really sure where to start. Other people say that they don’t have a LinkedIn profile because they’re not looking for a job.
I can tell you LinkedIn is for much more than jobseekers! Salespeople actively review their contacts and extended connections via LinkedIn for potential sales leads. It’s much easier to make a warm sales call based on a mutual connection! LinkedIn is also a fantastic resource for connecting and conversing with people in your industry. For many recruiters, LinkedIn is one of their top resources for learning about hiring trends, connecting with new client companies AND identifying new talent. Tech-savvy hiring managers often use their profiles to advertise the open positions and/or network with potential future employees.
In order to maximize the benefit you get from LinkedIn, you need to have a complete and informative LinkedIn profile. It explains who you are, what you know, what you have to offer and why you’d be interested in connecting. After your profile is complete, you need to CONNECT. Connect to friends, family, co-workers (both current and former), people you meet at tradeshows – almost anyone! More connections means more conversations. The next step is to look at LinkedIn Groups. There are groups for almost everything on LinkedIn; professional associations, alumni chapters, personal interests, sports fans, news channels, etc. Find a few that work for you and join the conversation or simply read about what’s happening in your areas of interest. If you don’t have a lot of connections, groups are a great way to build your network.
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I’m eager to help you start maximizing your results from a great resource. Sign up and let’s get started!
Comic by Cyanide and Happiness
Job postings should not be the same as job descriptions.
Job postings should prompt a call to action in a jobseeker. They should inspire someone to pack up a tent and set up camp outside your office building like a Black Friday Target sale. Okay, maybe that’s a little over-eager. But they should make someone excited about working for your company and interested in quickly taking the steps necessary to land a job with you.
Use job postings to convey your culture, highlight specific needs for the job, and explain what kind of person is likely to be successful doing it! This will be far more interesting to applicants than “other duties as assigned.” Job descriptions are better suited as documentation used within the company to describe the intricate details of a job someone already holds.
As a recruiter, I don’t rely heavily on applicants, but I do use job postings to convey necessary details about a job to a candidate in a written format. In that usage, I want to inspire my candidates to be excited about the next step in the interview process, develop some strong follow-up questions, and prepare for likely upcoming questions as we proceed. For more technical positions, it is handy if a client company can provide a job description later in the interview process to give additional detail.
If you’re looking for employees who are active and energized, start with making sure your job postings encourage that attitude!
This blog has undergone a full-day makeover. A new look and lots of new features!
- Now you can search my blog posts depending on your situation – Hiring Manager, HR Team, Jobseeker, Recruiter.
- Curious about what jobs I am actively networking and/or recruiting for on behalf of our clients? Check out the Jobs page!
- I also added pages about my employment background and my current employer. I think it’s important that you know my previous experience and what I can do for you now.
I am really looking forward to adding new content and being a resource for you as a recruiter. Please let me know if there’s anything additional you would like to see!
I recently had a rather unpleasant conversation with a bank’s call center representative. About three weeks ago, they called me to alert me that I had made an error. I asked the rep how I could remedy the problem so that it wouldn’t happen again, she gave me several tips, and I applied them immediately to my standard practice. Today, I received another call from the bank, saying that I had not fixed the problem. I explained that after speaking to the last rep I was assured that my actions would correct the error. The new rep responded that I must not “get it” because there was still an error.
Telling your customer they don’t “get it” isn’t going to promote friendly dialogue. In reality, I did understand the issue, the problem was that the first representative had simply given me incorrect information. I simply wanted the second rep to acknowledge the misinformation by another representative of his company and apologize for the mistake. After several instances of him saying that I didn’t “get it” and re-explaining what I needed to do, I simply hung up. (I know, real mature, right?)
At the company where I work, we would apologize immediately for incorrect information given to clients or candidates by ourselves OR any other individual in our company. We consider it accountability, ownership and service. First, we would apologize, then we would offer assistance in fixing the problem. In the case of my phone call (if I were the rep), I would’ve delivered an apology, issued a credit for the fee and then confirmed that we both understood each other and were happy with the resolution.
After my call, I took the necessary steps to resolve the issue immediately on my side, but the company’s representative had already missed their opportunity. I am already reviewing options for transferring and/or closing my accounts. This is unfortunate.
How do you and your company manage miscommunication or errors? Are you listening for ways you may have contributed to missteps along the way? Perhaps this is an opportunity for process improvement! Do you look for ways to be proactive in turning unhappy customers into happy customers? Some companies are using social media sites like Twitter to look for and respond quickly to customer complaints! I think most people would consider this above-and-beyond their typical expectations, but it does show their commitment to service and on-going, proactive dialogue with their customers.
Hi! I'm Jessica. I believe that recruiting (when done correctly) is about creativity, minimizing limitations and applying new methods to make the whole hiring & job search process a little more efficient for everyone. In this blog, I will focus on recruiting and how HR, jobseekers and recruiters can make the hiring process a little smoother – and maybe a little more fun!
