Job boards? Social networks? Search engines? Wikis? Blogs? Microblogs? The list could go on and on. What are you using? Some of the above? All of the above?
Recruiters and sourcers have a wealth of options at their fingertips to find, reach out, and connect with active and passive talent. Every recruiter and sourcer has a different set of sites, tools, and communities that they use to find their talent. This is what I like to refer to as the “recruiting portfolio.”
A recruiting portfolio can be comprised of countless sites and tools.
Job boards include Monster, Careerbuilder, and Dice. Classifieds include Craigslist and Kijiji. Social networks include Facebook and MySpace. Business networks include LinkedIn, Doostang, and XING. Major search engines include Google, Yahoo!, and MSN, while niche search engines include exaLead, Clusty, and Technorati. Microblogs include Twitter and FriendFeed. Niche career sites include DiversityJobs and TheLadders. Free job boards include Google AdBase and Lee Hecht Harrison. Listservs include TheRuthieList. Online groups include Yahoo Groups, CollectiveX, and Ning. Video sites include YouTube and 5min. Name search sites such as Jigsaw, Hoovers, Pipl, and even Spoke. Tools to use including Talenthook, Infogist, and Broadlook. Podcast sites such as Talkshoe and Podcast.com.
The list of options goes further into Digg, StumbleUpon, Wikipedia, LiveJournal, Scribd, universities, news sites, state employment sites, virtual reality sites, associations, technology councils, training sites, blogs, and countless more.
How can a recruiter or sourcer manage their recruiting portfolio? Here are some helpful suggestions:
- Stay organized. Make sure you are up to date on the talent you currently have access to in an internal company database, or in electronic folders and emails on your desktop.
- Get internal referrals. If your current company has a referral program in place, great. If not, pull out the phone directory and start introducing yourself.
- Get to know the ins and outs of each site or tool you currently have access to. Build up a solid understanding of each one so you know what you already have available at your fingertips.
- Build a presence in social and business networks. Set up profiles on dozens of these sites and invest an adequate amount of time on each. The more time put in will help to develop a solid network and get well-connected on each one.
- Diversify. Each site or community has its own unique audience. Discover what works for your needs and what doesn’t. The best way to do this is by trial and error.
- Join groups. Engage people in discussions on Yahoo and Google Groups. Check out Ning, and RecruitingBlogs. Follow people out on Twitter.
- Stay ahead of new sites and tools. Do this by paying close attention to blogs such as TechCrunch, and one of its sites, Crunchbase. TechCrunch is a blog dedicated to reporting about new technologies and new companies in the technology space. The site brings a ton of information on new products, services, and tools that anyone in recruiting can use. It’s almost as if the site was designed for the recruiting and human resources communities.