Integrating Social Media and Recruitment Together

Facebook has over 750 million users; Twitter has about 200 million and 100 million on LinkedIn! What are we doing just making friends, following each other and people or institutions we admire or update our professional profile just to let people know? Here we are, at a point in time where these social networks are being exploited for recruitment purposes. And not just for doing background checks on applicants but companies are utilizing these virtual spaces to establish themselves, create positive brand image, post about job openings, and search for relevant candidates and of course, to finally take a look at their profiles before processing the applications.

When using social networks for recruiting, information asymmetry exists between employers and prospective employees. It is important for candidates to take a step forward and bridge this gap. Apart from following/becoming a fan of all the companies that are on the list and applying whenever a relevant job posting come your way, there are some more things that can be done.

The first and foremost important thing is that being a potential candidate, you need to know your future employer better and also give him a chance to understand you. Begin with getting as much information about the companies as you can. And not just about the role and the salary but also understand what the philosophy of the company is, what are the work ethics like, the hierarchical nature. While finding out what the employees think about their company and taking interview tips from them, try and also find out what the customers of the company think about their product/services. Are they satisfied? Do they have any trouble? If so, has the company taken due cognisance and improved their customer relations?

In the sector that you might be looking at entering, it will also be interesting to observe closely the social network presence of competitors. On the outset all of them might be big companies but understanding the intrinsic differences in functioning can help a candidate carve out his/her own preferences better and understand where he/she can fit the best.

All the three social networks function fundamentally differently. It can be helpful to understand that as well. Each of them has pros and cons. Facebook might not be the best place for indiscretion but it is the best for mass recruitment. LinkedIn might be the best network while searching for a person to work in one particular role but the power of community is non-existent on LinkedIn reducing its utility if next year some company wants to employ a handful of HR professionals. Twitter’s most constraining feature is the 140 characters limitation but on the brighter side, it allows connect on on-on-one basis.

The essence is that one must become knowledgeable. And only holistic information can lead to such knowledge. Gathering information from all possible sources about every little thing matters is a must! It is not enough to only have the details that immediately matter in the recruitment process. Clear understanding of what one is getting into will maximize the benefits of this process for both the parties.

This is only one side of the story! Alongside these efforts, it is obviously important to create a strong brand and make yourself sellable. Candidates should carefully put down their profile details. If you are looking at getting a job through a social network, it is essential to put in as much effort as it is required to prepare a good CV. Past experiences and learning need to be concise but put down in a way such that it would appeal to all the prospective employers; across industries and companies. No scope to customize it for every placement! It is also important that the profile comprise of the most important keywords that would be potentially ‘searched’ for. If you are linking this to your blogs, articles or any other mention of you on the worldwide web, make it a point not to let it put you in any dimmer light than it should! Also be careful as to where that particular link might lead them. Google works in amazing ways! So do not try to hide anything.

But do not show too much also. Yes there still a bit more to do! Don’t overdo it. Too much noise and not sufficient substance can kill it for sure. But even if you do have the substance, don’t make it obvious and overtly visible. On the technical end; just a tip! The Corporate Recruiter Tool of LinkedIn favours the passive jobseekers over the desperate ones. And otherwise, it creates a very strong impression. You do not want the recruiters making judgements such as you are a show-off, even before they interview you. Right?

Yes, it is more difficult to know how much to balance out, even more than actually balancing the information. You never know if the company will appreciate your openness and frankness or think of you as careless and show-off. And therefore another suggestion, if you are looking for a job real bad, you might have to take more efforts than just putting all your hopes into the social networks. As mentioned above, the LinkedIn tool while selling information to employers, actually puts you down in the list.

Too much pressure is being built. The social recruiting methods build some amount of pressure on the candidates. I might not be an alcoholic, but a few photos here and there of my socially taken drinks can potentially tick me off the list. Ideally, the companies must make a fair judgement by looking at the photos carefully and making fair decisions. But really, the world is not ideal and the HR people have enough work to do. So what? Social network is about being the way I would be with my friends; I am myself there to the degree of introversion/extroversion that I am in the real life. It is not easy to behave on social networks the manner in which I would present myself in the workplace (Except on LinkedIn may be!). Alas! Given that this process is meant to be beneficial to both parties, the best we can do is to hope that in the long-run it will be all well.

KPI Recruitment for Recruitment Agencies

KPI Recruitment - How to set?

Many new recruitment agencies that have started their own recruitment agencies are having the basic problem of setting a KPI for their recruitment consultants. There are concerns that whether the KPI set is either too high or set at a level that is too low.

When the KPI recruitment is set too high, the problem is that the recruitment consultants will feel very pressured and not able to hit the KPI, if they are not able to hit the KPI, then there will be possible that they are not able to receive any commissions and of course when money is on the line, it will affect their own performance and morale too.

When KPI recruitment is set too low, it will not be able to bring in good profit margins for the company and eventually the company overheads will be higher than the sales in total and that will be a possibility that company will face a financial crisis.

Let’s look at what is KPI recruitment– Key Performance Indicator

Key Performance Indicator is a set of numbers or target set for the salesperson, in this case, is the recruitment consultant where they will need to achieve in a specific period, usually within the calendar month itself.

KPI can be measured in the total sales generated, total resume send to clients, total interviews arranged with the clients or even the total number of new clients secured. The type of KPI will be fixed by the boss of the company or the General Manager of the company where it will be set and to be followed by the consulting team.

Most of the time, many companies will use the total sales of the recruitment consultant as their KPI, which is to say that in this case, they will set a multiplier to their salary earned per month and that will be their sales target or we called it the KPI.

For example, if the salary of the recruitment consultant is $3,000 gross monthly and if the company set the KPI as 4 times the salary, then the KPI will be $3,000 x 4 = $12,000. That will be the KPI every month.

Some recruitment companies will use a lower multiplier such as 3 times, 2.5 times or even 2 times the salary and if the recruitment consultants reached their KPI, then they will be entitled to additional allowances or commissions. Other companies will set the KPI based on a fixed figure such as $6,000 or $10,000 to make calculation easier.

There are no hard and fast rule to set what will be the KPI for the recruitment consultants, it will very much depend on the direction of the company, whether to squeeze the most dollar from the recruitment consultants or create a non-KPI environment where people will be free and easy to bring out more from the consultants.

Regardless of whether it is based on sales figures or other indicators as a KPI, what most important is that KPI is a basic benchmark for a company and the consultants. As such the level of KPI will need to be managed properly so that the company survival and consultant morale will be balanced.

What Questions to Ask Clients When You Meet Them? For Recruitment Consultant.

For many new recruitment consultant that have chosen this very interesting career in the recruitment industry, one of the most important and frightening event is to meet up with potential clients and to convince the clients to give them the business so that they can work on the deals.

So when you meet up with the clients, done the presentation, what happen after that? You will need to ask further questions with the potential clients on the jobs and requirements.

Well, let me tell you a secret before you actually go and see your client – this is very important, not many people in the recruitment industry will tell you the secret, many instance, not many people actually does not knows it exist. The formula below only comes from people who have many years of experience in seeing and talking to people.

The Secret is : The QUALITY of your question is = How the clients PERCEIVED you = Whether they will GIVE you the business.

Many recruitment consultants will ask the basic questions such as:

-          What will be the salary range of the position?

-          Does your company works on weekends?

-          How are the working hours?

-          What are the job duties of this position?

-          What are the minimum qualifications needed for this position?

Well, I would say that whoever had asked these questions, the possibilities of the recruitment consultants not able to get the business had shot up to 70-80%, that means the recruitment consultant is losing the business!

Why am I saying this? The reason is very simple, let me ask you a vey straight forward question, the very client that you are meeting, are they meeting with you only? Will they be meeting with some other agencies that are your competitors? Have they meet someone before meeting you? The answer is YES, under normal situation, they would have met someone of the same industry and they are your competitors. Will your competitors ask the same questions as above? Very likely they have! So if you are queue number #5 meeting the client and you are asking the same questions the first 4 recruitment consultant had asked, what would that make you to become?????

I am sure you get my point, you are just the SAME, no difference, no spice and blend….sorry to say but this is what the other party will feel and they DO NOT like to see something that is the SAME, BLEND and TASTELESS….

YOU NEED TO BE DIFFERENT!!!!!

You need to impress them with something different, let me ask you another question what is the purpose of meeting with your client? To discuss about the job requirement or something else? If you are meeting with the client, your job is to IMPRESS the client, not to talk about the job description and requirement. Period! Get the fact right, you need to make them feel good, make them think that you can do the job, let them have higher confidence on you and your company….the point is, YOU ARE THE FOCUS, not the job order!

In the event that the company is confident on you, trust that you will be able to get the job done, will that make them give you the job order, requirements and also anything and everything you need to know without you asking? YES they will! They will be so anxious why you never ask those “Golden” questions!

My friend, you need to be different, unique so that it can impress the clients….

A recruitment Agency article by Dougles Chan