Follow up to Building a Linkedin Network.

I was asked a few questions so here is the follow up.
1) When is it big enough? Dunno haven't found out yet, I certainly do not see any downside from have a huge network. We find tons of candidates off Linked in every day. As HTC is a research firm it has become extremely valuable to us. I can't/won't day exactly how many candidates per week we are getting from Linkedin but I can tell you it is significantly more than it was a year ago. We have completely revamped our search processes internally in the past 6 months. We have found it to be much more cost effective to first locate a canddiate or two (Manager let's say) on Linkedin and the pull the group via phone or check a candidates profile before phone screening for a specific client. I can't say it's replaced any of my other techniques but I can say it's augmented them and made them much more efficient. But Linkedin isn't perfect either. There is a lot of "bad" and "old" information on there. Linkedin may make a better financial model for a research firm as opposed to a recruiting firm or staffing department. Also ,we just don't sell the names we find off Linkedin, we actually use it as a starting point, an easier way to get additional names out of the target.

2) It take about 5 hours a week to manage. I don't actually search for candidates as I have a team of people doing that. I did not pay for Linkedin until I needed another way to add connections. In March I purchased the 1 year subscription so I can add people using inmail and referrals etc. up until then I did it all for free so the ROI was infinite. Even with the paid subscription at $400 a year it paid for itself in the first hour after I bought the subscription.

3) I joined Linkedin about 4-5 years ago and did nothing until Sept 2007. Up to that point I think I had about 100 first level contacts, so a majority of my network has been added since the beginning of the new year. At the end of Dec 2007 I had about 2000 first levels and today I have 4300. Everyone's network will be different but at 1000 I had 2.5 million total, at 2000 I had 6 million, at 3000 approx 8.5 million, and at 4300 as of this am I have about 10,390,000.

I think the rest of your post really revolves around whether you should spend the time to build it or not. Will Linkedin implode? Will you loose value in connecting your candidates to your clients to your vendors? I worried about the same thing at first and then realized it was a moot argument at this point. One can not predict what will happen in the future but I know my company has benefited tremendously from having access to the information on Linkedin and next we're going to conquer Facebook and Myspace and on and on. Should you build your network? Overwhelmingly my answer would be Yes. Why cause the risk of not building and being left behind is too great, because my network also grows and we're connected on our first levels:-) and because it's a great resource of previously unavailable information that grow exponentially every month. By not building your network do you think that will stop your clients and candidates from connecting to others the only thing you'll do is loose contact with them. I could go on and on with examples but suffice it to say in my opinion as far as social networking goes, if you're not riding the wave now you'll be sucking on foam later on down the road:-) And if you only add 25-50 new connections a week that's still a HUGE network after 1 year!

Jeff Weidner
HTC Research Corp

Client Backlash to Social Networking candidates (Linked In, Jigsaw, Doostang etc)

discussion started 4/24/2007, 10:00 a.m. by Jeff Weidner

With the growing popularity of these Social Networking sites, just as with the job boards 10 or so years ago we are beginning to see a backlash from clients rejecting candidates that we identify thru other means that also happen to be on the Social Networking flavor of the month. This month it happens to be Linked In.

Do you feel, as sourcers, that clients should be prepared to pay for candidates that are identified through other means but also happen to be in client's network on Linked In?

I'm hoping to open it up to discussion but HTC has taken the following stance on the issue:

At this time I have told my clients that because these sites are so prevalent and are becoming more and more ubiquitous there is no way for me to screen candidates for these sites for the following reasons;

A) We don’t use some of the sites and I don’t know what site everyone of my contractors use as they are not under my control

B) Just because a person is on the site doesn’t mean that is how we obtained their name

C) We can’t be expected to verify every candidate we source on a weekly basis against every social site on the internet, as is the case for job boards as well.

D) On some sites such as Linked in they may not have been in “our Network” so we may not have known about them (it is connection dependent)

E) My Name Generators are instructed to only use true phone recruiting and networking techniques to find candidates but there is bound to be duplication.

F) There are so many new members and connections being made on a daily, weekly, monthly basis that it is impossible for us to monitor every site and still be effective at what we do.

G) There are too many variables. As with most things in recruiting entering search criteria is highly human intensive. Only a person can type in specific combinations of skill sets and key words and apply a Sr Warp Core Engineer to a Sr DBA for Oracle position. It depends on the experience of the person doing the searching on their ability to find qualified candidates. Our clients pay for that experience.

Now, as with the backlash with the job boards 10+ years ago I fully expect this backlash to be a temporary inconvenience and that the issue will die down as they become more widespread but I thought it would make good fodder for discussion on the group.

I originally posted ERE.net Electronic Recruiters Exchange
So go there for other members responses to my post.



Thanks,

Jeff Weidner
925 313 9005 X 200
HTC Research Corp

Top 10 Tools for developing target lists.

So you and your crack staff of recruiters have decided to penetrate the passive candidate market to see if there are any qualified candidates out there that would rather be working for your company. Now what? The first step is to identify the list of target companies that you could potentially pull candidates from. But where do you start? What resources are out there to help you build a qualified target company list?

Here is a list of Top 10 resources that HTC uses to identify potential targets.

Hoover’s Online - Hoover's, Inc., delivers comprehensive company, industry, and market intelligence that drives business growth. Our database of 12 million companies, with in-depth coverage of 40,000 of the world's top business enterprises, is at the core of our business tools and services that customers find vital to their business operations. Hoover's editorial staff of some 80 editors and researchers bring vital business information and knowledge to their coverage, updating the site daily to bring our visitors and subscribers the most up-to-date business information in the industry. (From their web site www.hoovers.com)

CorpTech - CorpTech researches and publishes both high-quality private company profiles and public company profiles. This unique source of business directory information on the hi tech business segment allows you to perform in depth company research to generate competitive intelligence, business leads, mailing lists, and unique company profile data points for use in all your company research activities. (From their web site www.corptech.com)

Candidate Resumes – Review the resumes of candidates that interviewed but were not hired. Their current or past employers may provide another target or two to add to the list.

Hiring Managers – Most Hiring Managers can name at least a few candidates that are from direct competitors. They’ve worked with them in the past, met them at industry functions, heard them speak at conferences and read their articles in magazines. Tap into this resource because referrals are an excellent way to network your way into a company. Just ask, “Who do you know?”

The Marketing Department – This is an often forgotten resource. Not only does the Marketing Dept. keep track of who the company is trying to market to, but they also track who else is marketing similar products or services to your customers. They should have a list of direct and indirect competitors readily available.

Search Engines – Use the advanced search area of just about any search engine and type in your company’s name and the word ”competition OR competitors”. Unless you work for an obscure company you should at least be able to get one or two companies from reading the various articles. Then perform the same search with one of those company’s names.

Industry Sources – Symposiums, Conferences, Consortiums, Magazines, Trade Shows, Standards Associations, Testing Laboratories etc. We once were performing a search for a client that was entering into the PDA market. They wanted to target other PDA manufacturers but only the obvious top 5 companies came to mind. We added another 20 companies by doing a search on Google for “PDA Manufacturers and Conference” a sight came up which was a web site for a PDA Manufacturers Conference that had taken place a few months prior and it listed every PDA Manufacturer in the world and even sorted them alphabetically, by location, by price etc.

Online Retailers – This works great for companies that are in the consumer goods arena. Do a search on Amazon for makers of your same product.

Job Boards – Look through the job postings to see who else has posted similar jobs.

User Groups/News Groups - There are tens of thousands of news and user groups to cover every possible interest and topic. They tend to be a little slow in developing a viable list of targets but as a last resort they can be a valuable resource.

When all else fails, look for “Like/Kind” companies or indirect competitors to pull candidates out of. These are companies that are making or selling like/kind products or services. If you can’t get that Wireless Engineer away from that hot cell phone manufacturer maybe you could find them at a PDA company that uses wireless technologies or a pager company. Or maybe you could look at a completely different industry that uses the same or similar technology.

There are at least another 1000 resources available to recruiters but these are the ones we have found to be the most useful. Not every resource is effective 100% of the time so hopefully you'll be able to add one or two to your bag of tricks and be able to impress that hiring manager the next time he asks "Where else can we find qualified candidates?".


Thanks,

Jeff Weidner
925 313 9005 X 200
HTC Research Corp
Top 10 resources to build target company lists
LinkedIn Jeff Weidner



Copyright © 2004, HTC Research Corp., Inc All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Top 10 Reasons to Use Passive Candidate Research

If you’re a recruiting firm

1. Need to spend more time doing sales and less time talking to the wrong candidates
2. Unfamiliar with specific geographic region, target company or industry
3. Need to reduce internal cost of finding qualified candidates
4. Need qualified candidates quickly. (24-48 hours)
5. Placing ads on job boards was unsuccessful.
6. Client has agreed to pay for research costs.
7. No time to do the sourcing internally.
8. No resources to do the sourcing internally.
9. Want to build a database of “hot” candidates for future needs.
10. You’re a little rusty on the phone skills needed to find candidates effectively.

If you’re a Staffing Dept in a Corporation

1. Budget does not allow for use of contingency or retained search firm.
2. Receiving too many resumes from job boards and newspaper ads that aren’t qualified.
3. Need to target specific geographic region, target company or industry for candidates.
4. The position has been open for 30 days or more.
5. The quality of candidates from other sources are not meeting your needs.
6. Need to reduce your overall cost per hire (CPH) to less than $5000 per hire
7. Want to reduce your overall time to fill (TTF) to less than 45 days.
8. Want to build a database of “hot” candidates for future needs.
9. Hiring Manager has a vague idea of what they want.
10. Need to hire more than one candidate with similar skill sets.

Thanks,

Jeff Weidner
925 313 9005 X 200
HTC Research Corp
LinkedIn Jeff Weidner



Copyright © 2002-2007, HTC Research Corp., Inc All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written authorization.

The Value of the Passive Candidate

by Jack Young
You’ve set up your website, posted job openings on expensive subscription Internet job boards, and then you wait for the right candidate to respond. Meanwhile, you are being inundated with, and let’s not forget paying for, resumes of candidates whose work histories don’t resemble the ideal person you had in mind. The trouble is, the most persistent responders to job ads and Internet postings are “active candidates” – often these candidates are either unemployed or disgruntled job seekers who are desperate for ANY job with ANY company.
Most recruiters are not even aware that there is another pool of candidates to pull from. They are so intent on pushing paper that they never even realize there might be better way to consistently find and place highly qualified candidates. The fact is that the largest talent pool available is a group commonly known as “passive candidates”. Passive candidates are defined as candidates that are currently employed and not actively seeking new job opportunities. These are the “hidden” gems whose names will not be found on online databases or resume banks at Internet job sites. They are the qualified candidates that you want to speak with. Why? Because passive candidates, are often, the most successful in their chosen fields. Just because these talented people may not be ACTIVELY looking for a job does not mean they are not PASSIVELY interested in hearing about your opportunity. The truly exceptional employee is most often too busy performing an outstanding job for his/her employer, not actively looking for another job.
Unfortunately, the best candidates are called passive for a reason. They are content in their jobs and not looking, otherwise they’d be knocking at your door. The problem is that most staffing professionals lack the time and knowledge necessary to mine the gems found in the passive candidate market. However, once found the passive candidate can be motivated by a larger goal, whether that goal be an increased professional challenge, a higher compensation package, a shorter commute or a more conducive lifestyle. This is the hook that will land them at your client.
When effectively approached, the passive candidate will admit that while he is not “actively looking”, he is keeping his ears open to enticing opportunities. Many passive candidates understand that they have nothing to lose by investing a few minutes to listen. The most savvy of these passive job seekers know that, at the very least, they may have the opportunity to make a solid contact for future professional networking purposes. These savvy ones know the value of always listening, even if they don’t act on all opportunities presented to them. Because the passive candidate is under no pressure to find a new job, he is frequently more candid and forthright and less inclined to waste his time or yours. In addition, a subtle benefit from speaking with a passive candidate is that they can be an excellent source of referrals, especially if a good rapport is built. Obviously, an active job seeker would be less inclined to offer a referral of someone who might then become a competitor for the same job.
The simple fact that a candidate is labeled a passive candidate does not automatically make them a better candidate than the average active candidate. That’s where true headhunting and candidate research methods need to be effectively employed to make sure that the correct candidates are identified at the onset of the search. A good passive candidate research associate or firm should be able to identify 20 potentially qualified candidates within a few days, depending on the complexity of the search criteria and the availability of target companies within the given geographic region. All that remains to do after these candidates are identified is to make sure that they meet the minimum skill set requirements of the client.
The benefit of using passive candidate research is that it can yield very specific candidates with specific skill sets from very specific target companies. Doing a little research up front affords you the opportunity to talk to candidates that are better qualified for the position you are recruiting for, not to mention their referrals. No form of advertising, whether it is done on job boards, the Internet, or in the newspaper classifieds can produced these candidates. Common sense dictates that if a recruiter spends more time talking to qualified candidates and less time searching through resumes of candidates that may or may not qualified, odds are they’d make more hires every month. Recruiting is a numbers game; why not stack the odds in your favor?
Now that you have been introduced to the passive candidate, stop plowing through countless resumes from active candidates that hopefully meet your search criteria and start calling on the passive candidate market. Through out your career as a top recruiter, placing the best candidates in the market will always pay the best dividends.
Copyright HTC Research Corp 1995 thru 2008


Jeff Weidner
925 313 9005 X 200
HTC Research Corp