Recruiter's Essential Tips

With skill shortage always on the higher side, the war for talent is much fiercer than ever. Typically, recruiters have a list of key recruiting tasks to do on a daily basis. Recruiters feel that the initial recruitment phase consumes most of their time and it hinders the other daily activities. Recruiters say that candidate sourcing, resume parsing , resume screening, and candidate background check consumes more than 50% of their time. In a typical scenario, recruiters spend about four to five hours a day on candidate sourcing. During times of talent crunch, they slog a couple of hours or more to source candidates. After sourcing candidates, recruiters again spend a great deal of time to import resumes to the database. Recruiters extract the resumes manually from various sources. They manually copy and paste the resume data from different resume sources to their database. This is a laborious task, which is also prone for typos. Screening resumes is an important recruiting task a

Source: eGrabber Newsletters In the last couple of weeks you might have noticed that a typical LinkedIn X-ray search on Google does not return the usual results. For example consider the search string example that we published in one of our newsletters earlier: site:linkedin.com java c++ (programmer OR developer) "greater atlanta" -inurl:directory When you click on the first search result for the above string, instead of taking you to the person's individual profile, it will take you to a LinkedIn page where results are organized by first or last name. You can overcome this by including a '- inurl:dir ' to the above search string. So the search syntax would now be site:linkedin.com keyword (title) "state" -inurl:directory -inurl:dir So if you are looking for java & C++ programmers in greater Atlanta, your search string will be site:linkedin.com java c++ (programmer OR developer) "greater atlanta" -inurl:directory -inurl:di

Source: eGrabber TweetMyJobs is a new service that brings recruiters, hiring managers and job seekers together on Twitter. Recruiters can post a job on any of the TweetMyJobs Channels with a link to the actual job and job seekers will get instant notification of any new jobs as a text message on their cell phone. You can get more information from the TweetMyJobs website.

Source: eGrabber The best recruiters build relationships from their very first presentation of the job opportunity. Here are a few quick tips, we had discussed in some of our earlier newsletters, that can help you succeed: 1. Paint a perfect picture: Use words to create a visual imagery of the benefits, new work environment, exciting challenges, etc. 2. Tell compelling stories: Tell the story behind a job opportunity. Use metaphors to make the story exciting. 3. Be contagious with your enthusiasm: Transfer your excitement and enthusiasm about the new job to your prospects and you are more likely to get the candidate or referrals. It takes considerable training, skill and insight to consistently transform your candidate leads into possibilities. But remember, you can realize the opportunities only if you don't fumble on your fist call.

Source: eGrabber Spoke is a popular business directory that recruiters use for professional networking and lead generation. The Google syntax to search for profiles on Spoke is Keyword site:spoke.com (inurl:info OR intitle:"professional profile") intext:"professional profile" For example, if you are looking for sales candidates at the managerial level and above, your search string can be Director of sales site:spoke.com (inurl:info OR intitle:"professional profile") intext:"professional profile" You can the use the above format to search GeoCities and Tripod too.

Source: eGrabber People buy not because they understand what you sell, but because you understand them. So before you pick up your phone to call any client, ensure that you have a thorough understanding of their business, their needs and problems. The next step is to let your clients know that you understand them.  Recruiters who understand their clients get more time to discuss real job needs, make more hires and overcome some of the natural resistance that clients have towards them. Your clients will view you as partners in their endeavors and this gives you a certain advantage over other recruiters who are perceived simply as vendors.

The Google search syntax to search Yahoo Profiles is Keyword site:profiles.yahoo.com For example, if you are looking for C++ programmers or software developers, your search string will be C++ site:profiles.yahoo.com Yahoo Profiles may not be the best source for candidates, but if you are looking for alternate sources to add to your sourcing kit, then definitely go for it.

Source: eGrabber Here are 2 questions that will help you gain more influence with your clients and candidates: After you tell them 'what they can expect from you' and 'what is expected from them' in specific terms, ask them: "Are you okay with that?" An affirmative response means that they have verbally agreed to comply with your procedures and protocols. A few days after you’ve talked, ask them: "Has anything changed since we talked last?" This helps you make sure that the candidate is still onboard or the client still has the opening. It can save you countless hours later. Remember, this works only if you have developed an open and honest relationship with your client or candidate from the beginning.

Source: eGrabber Not all companies list their staff on their website, but many do and the site search technique is a wonderful way to find them. The Google syntax for this search is as follows site:URL (Job Title) For example, if you are looking for profiles of people in the Executive Management at say Kforce Inc., the Google search script will be site:kforce.com (Executive Management) Clicking on the first result will take you to the company's webpage where their leadership is listed. This particular command works in all the 3 major search engines - Google, Yahoo and Bing.

Source: eGrabber Keywordese is the ability to use keywords in a search to find a desired result. Smart recruiters use not one but a 'bunch' of keywords for each job title/requirement. By using related and other relevant keywords in your search you not only get more candidate leads to work with but also, believe it or not, have better chance at improving candidate match quality. So, how do you create a keyword list? 1.  Use job portals 2.  Talk to people/ candidates you worked with before, who are employed in a similar position    and ask them for words they use to describe peers' job position.   Remember, whether you search your existing resume database or research profiles and resumes on social networks, search engines and job boards, keywords can be a differentiating factor.

Source: eGrabber Newsletters In a recent newsletter, we had mentioned how your success as a recruiter in future will be determined by how good you are in social media recruiting - building a community of potential candidates using LinkedIn, Twitter, etc. Here are things you should do to increase your followers on Twitter: Have a detailed bio and a picture Follow people you know and invite them to follow you Search for people in your target talent pool. (If you specialize in hiring CPAs, follow CPAs and get them to follow you) Use TweepSearch, PeopleBrowsr, Twellow, etc. to find people, categories and locations Tweet appropriate and useful content regularly By setting aside time and doing this regularly, you can grow your network quickly.

Source: eGrabber Newsletters One of the best ways to do a location specific search, for resumes of passive candidates, is to use the area code in your search string. The Google search syntax is as follows: Keyword (intitle:resume | inurl:resume) (State) (Area code) For example, if you are looking for resumes of web designers in St. Louis, Missouri, the search string to use will be Web Design (intitle:resume | inurl:resume) (Missouri) (314 | 636) -job -apply -submit Another advantage of using this search technique is that you get resumes with phone numbers.

How to Review a Resume | eHow.com