Flippin'
Out
We
have been writing a lot of less technical articles in recent months, so I
decided to take you on a search technique journey this month regarding flipping.
I recently wrote about the importance of doing good industry research and the
valuable tools aggregated at http://www.swatrecruiting.com to make this work
easier. Having done our Industry Research (See module 6), we are ready to source
targeted companies for useful information using the familiar Flip, X-ray, and
Peel-Back techniques, as well as some inferential logic...
When
we "flip" a target company for resumes/CVs, there are 3 things we can
expect to find:
1.
Resumes of employees of the target company
2.
Resumes of individuals who use the technology sold by the target company
3.
Links to associations and industry hubs that involve the target company's
product
In
most cases, the odds are not in your favor to find the right candidate by
"flipping" the target company…the value of the effort lies in
discovering the industry hubs, mailing lists, discussion groups, conferences,
and associations where you will discover your candidate. This information is
hidden in the resumes/CVs the initial "flip" reveals.
Inexperienced
Internet recruiters are so resume focused that they fail to search for the clues
that lead to gathering points on the web for people with specialized interests.
Bill Craib, creator of the AIRS Internet recruiting training curriculum,
has greatly influenced the thinking of senior Internet recruiters by combining
the flip, x-ray, peel-back, and peer search techniques into a sourcing tool kit;
but perhaps his most important contribution has been the "find one, find
them all" (Craibian philosophy) of searching for targeted hubs of people
having a common interest as the starting point for a search.
Our
space in this article is limited, but I'd like to demonstrate the concept to the
Fordyce readers, so I've placed a link to download a free PowerPoint
presentation on the main page of our web site:
http://www.swatrecruiting.com, called "Flippin' Out".
The presentation will take you through actual screen shots to apply the
techniques of linking industry research to finding hubs of people.
The presentation is free and intended to help you do better in your
searching efforts in the Internet.
I hope you enjoy it.
As
more clients become increasingly sophisticated about Web site and Internet
recruiting and continue to patronize the large, well-known career hubs, we would
all do well to become more familiar with the other side of active candidate
recruiting, the niche boards. These are specialized career hubs typically
catering to a specific vocation, group or association, college, user group,
locale and many others.
Both
third-party and corporate recruiters overlook niche job boards. There are also
more and more specialized services appearing all the time. Say you are
recruiting a chemist. You run an ad on Monster, CareerBuilder and / or HotJobs
– then brace yourself to sift through a lot of resumes to obtain one or two
good prospects.
Or
you run an ad on ChemistryJobs.com (if there is such a place) and get fewer
resumes. But this time quantity doesn’t matter, quality does: they are all
chemists. Not a bunch of entry-level, overqualified, unemployed, overseas,
subcontractor, dead-ended time wasters.
We
have written reviews on two books on niche boards this year, CareerXroads
2002 by Mark Mehler and Gerry Crispin and the Recruiter’s Guide to
Employment Websites 2002 by Peter Weddle. I recently received an unsolicited
email from what appears to be a quality niche board Web site, http://www.nicheboards.com.
Although I have not used the site personally, I did want to mention it so if any
subscribers are interested in more information they can check out the Web site.
At first glance they cater to a number of recruiting specialties including Call
Center personnel (CallCenterJobs.com)
College Students / Graduates (CampusCareerCenter.com),
Finance / Accounting specialists (JobsintheMoney.com), Health / Science
professionals (Jobscience.com),
Hispanic / Bilingual (LatPro.com),
Human Resources (Jobs4HR.com),
IT professionals (Computerwork.com),
Logistics / Manufacturing personnel (JobsInLogistics.com),
Marketing / Sales professionals (MarketingJobs.com),
Military Transitioners (DestinyGroup.com),
Retail Management / Hourly (AllRetailJobs.com).You
can also reach them by email at marketing@nicheboards.com.
Talenthook,
an excellent product for seeking resumes of passive candidates on the Internet
that we have reviewed in this column before has announced a new release to their
software. I have not reviewed this release but since this was such an
exceptional product I wanted to at least mention it.
One
of the key new features is the "Export to ATS" functionality. It
enables you to easily export candidates directly into your Applicant Tracking
System of choice. We are partnering with ATS providers including Icarian,
MaxHire, PCRecruiter and SmartSearch to make export to their systems seamless to
you. They are also willing to pursue relationships with other ATS software
developers as the need arises. For more information visit http://www.talenthook.com.
It
used to be that most of the calls and email Wade and I received would be about
specialized Internet recruiting techniques. These days those take a back seat to
questions about ATS systems and software. There is such a confusing array of
options available these days it is hard to feel comfortable you are making the
right decision. NewsForRecruiters (http://newsforrecruiters.com)
is a free Web based magazine for recruiters that is now offering a free Buyers
Guide available for download.
Go
to the following site: http://nfrrd.com/rd.cfm/14/208774
and you are taken to a simple form you need to fill out before downloading the
Buyers Guide. I have seen similar products sell for hundreds of dollars
elsewhere on the Internet. They claim award-winning authors featuring vendors
including Deploy Solution, Peopleclick, Webhire, Alexus, Recruitmax, Kenexa,
Recruitsoft, Safari Software, PC Recruiter, Wetfeet, and Icarian.
Included
with the product description of each vendor is information about the financial
strength of the company, its technological highlights and benefits, and contact
information to receive additional product information.
In
addition to the featured articles, and the featured suppliers, there are also,
11 Key Evaluation Tips that will steer you and your organization in the right
direction.
This
information could be of great help to anyone involved in the decision to employ
an ATS system at their place of business. You can also subscribe to the magazine
while you are on the site – for free.
Tip
– Meta Search Engines
We
have written about these before and I am sure will again. Meta searches should
always be included in your routine. Remember that no search engine indexes the
entire Internet. Your
search results will vary, requiring the use of several search engines. Next time
you are out searching for resumes try one of these as one search command is run
on many search engines at the same time for increased coverage. Here are two
good ones to try:
Dogpile
http://www.dogpile.com
ProFusion
http://www.profusion.com
The
interface for a meta search engine is normally very simple. Try this:
resumes AND missouri AND COBOL
For
resumes of COBOL programmers in Missouri. Substitute the keywords of your choice
and see what you get.
Good
Luck!!