Are we treading on dangerous grounds when using Social Media to recruit? Do we know what the limits are? What the rules are? For a Third Party Recruiter maybe it is not that big of a deal and we may have free reign but for the ultimate hiring company, there is much gray to be deciphered.  Social Networks and Employment Law is a very thorough white paper on this timely topic.

How can you stop sourcing in the HR world? Or researching? Or name generating? Or pipeline building? How can you say you never need to look for people or that you have enough? OK, I’m done let’s close shop? Not happening in my world!  

I love the JIT Sourcing concept from Glen Cathey (you’re my latest hot thing BTW Glen <smiles> ) and am all over the lean concepts which help you maintain that fine balance between efficiency and effectiveness (two different things in case you don’t get it) but in my holistic approach to HR, whether it is for a new company preparing to explode with good talent, a third party recruiter working a search assignment for an external client or just a really well established, been-around-for-ages firm, doing what they do best everyday; the “quest” for finding talent never really ends. Unless of course you get hit with a Recession BAM! like we did last year (the economy is still climbing out of the ditch mind you). But even in the deepest depths of a horrible last year, smart recruiters and sourcers kept going.  Even when working a search, the best recruiters know the search is not done till it is done and so the sourcing for fresh meat continues (my apologies Vegans – you can read that as fodder or grass).

Knowing where to go to get good talent is like having that quintessential little black dress in your closet. OK dudes, a suit and god forbid I ever get into a little black dress! The knowledge that it’s always there no matter what and that you can use it in any kind of emergency, formal or informal, is priceless! Keep looking, happy sourcing.

A word of warning to all of you FaceBookers out there that may soon be looking for a new job. Knock knock…”We can see you!”. Example, you just graduated from college and you want to get that dream job. You apply for positions at a few companies and you do not get the job though you seem really qualified for. Why you ask?!? Because perspective employers are using the likes of FaceBook, MySpace and other “personal” sites to get a little better look at who they are about to hire. Do you really want a soon to be manager looking at pictures of you getting wasted at a fraternity party? See you later job offer! BYE BYE! To avoid this, #1 Keep it clean or #2, Keep your profile “exclusive” and/or private to select friends. Good luck and happy FaceBooking!

I have a confession to make – I never dreamed of being a recruiter one day. For as long as I can remember, I’ve always wanted to be an archeologist, and yes, just like Indiana Jones.

I used to imagine myself digging up some incredible find and turning history as we understand it on its head. Instead, the closest I get to archeology now-a-days is watching Time Team America and Bone Detectives on television.

That doesn’t mean I don’t do some amateur-style archeology in my spare time though. My wife thinks I’m pathetic, plodding around our backyard with metal detector and trowel in hand, meticulously unearthing some of the rarest artifacts ever discovered in rural Virginia. Ok, I’m stretching the truth a bit, but those old nails and ancient car parts are really cool, at least to me. I have boxes full of the stuff in my garage. I have found some neat old bottles and other, well, trash, but my wife certainly doesn’t appreciate my finds as much as I do.

Imagine my glee when one day I found something truly remarkable. While I was trimming the grass around our house one fine summer day I saw a perfectly round stone about the size of a small potato partially buried near the foundation of the house right outside our back door. Its near perfect roundness caught my attention as it just didn’t look like any of the “normal” rocks lying around our place.

Intrigued, I grabbed my trowel and started digging, and to my utter astonishment I found another, and then another. All different sizes, but all nearly perfectly round stones in this one spot. I think I found about a half dozen of them altogether. I secretly brought them in the house and cleaned them in the sink, trying desperately to keep my new find from my wife who just wouldn’t understand or appreciate the significance of what I had found.

I quietly retreated to my office with the round rocks where I could take a closer look and see if I could figure out just what I had discovered. My mind raced – Native American maybe? They weren’t buried too deeply, though. Some left over stones from a former occupant? Colonial American maybe? But I couldn’t imagine what they would have been used for. I started Googling. I read books on American Indians in Virginia. I secretly showed my new treasures to visitors and we debated about what they could be. I would need some answers before the Smithsonian accepted them into their collection.

Months later, after the rocks had been stuffed in a drawer and nearly forgotten, my wife started in on me about all this junk I kept dragging into the house. “Junk?” I said in disgust. “I’ll have you know that I’ve found some pretty cool stuff out there. In fact, I’ll bet you can’t tell me what these little gems are.” I ran to my office and brought out my secret stash of round stones.

“Ok, so what do you think about these?” I demanded. I had her on this. She would have to admit once and for all that I had totally missed my calling and should promptly get back to school and start working on my new career in archeology.

“Where did you find these?” she asked with a slightly raised eyebrow.

“Right in the corner by the back door steps,” I huffed.

She just looked at me with a curious look, as though I were four years old and had just pulled a frog out of my pocket.

“Glen,” she said quietly, yet sternly. “Those are river rocks I picked up one day when we were hiking about seven years ago. I never found a use for them so I threw them outside the backdoor. You are an idiot.”

So for now I’m holding off on buying that Fedora and bull whip.

It’s ALL in the Details – From a Recruiter’s perspective

What do we recruiters need to know to help find that perfect candidate for our clients?  Is more information or less information better? Is just a job description enough?  Well for me, a recruiter at a contract research recruiting firm, partnering with our clients is almost as if we work at their site.  We are actually an extension of their recruitment team and sharing the right information is key to our success. 

Sure, job descriptions are important and yes, all the technical requirements are a must have to find the right candidates, but honestly it’s not enough. Clients need to provide details such as:

-why the positions are open
-team or department structure
-details on hiring manager (his/her management style)
-expectations
-what the team lacks
-how long positions are open
- challenges as to why they have not been able to fill the position on their own to date

I can go on and on; you get my drift, right?  Details!!!  Speaking to a hiring manager is also a bonus; his/her version of the position and ideal candidate provides incredible insight.  Sharing their knowledge, what he/she really is looking for, what the must haves are for this candidate, what he/she is willing to bend on or be flexible on is very valuable.  This type of information can’t be picked up from a job description alone. So yes, hiring managers on intake calls should be a RULE.

(more…)