Happy New Year and welcome back to the Jobs.co.nz blog! Every new year brings with it new year’s resolutions, so to help you start the year right, we’ve compiled the top three resolutions for both those of you recruiting and also those looking for jobs. They’re heavily social media focused, and they’re all simple ways to get the most out of your search for candidates or jobs this year.
To kick it off, here are three easy resolutions if you’re recruiting:
Recruitment Resolution One: Make Social Media part of your process.
Forgive us if you’re already all over Social Media for Recruitment. You can skip this point! For those of you not there, or needing help…here’s the thing: despite the protestations of a lot of companies, the social media recruitment revolution is happening. In 2012, job sites like ours are only one part of the formula you should be using find new employees, contractors or collaborators. There are other businesses finding candidates through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and and other social mediums. Better candidates suited for your jobs. Candidates waiting to be found by you.
It doesn’t have to be an Odessey-esque undertaking though. Work out what social media to target and just give it a go. At a minimum we recommend a LinkedIn account and a Twitter or Facebook profile – or both – for your business. (If you need help setting them up, let us know, we’d love to help!) If you don’t have a website, you can make your Facebook page your business’ homepage too. All of these platforms allow you to interact with people who could work for you (or become your customers). It’s the best way to target people who work in your area and aren’t actively looking for new jobs, but are open to new opportunities. Check out this great post by Greg Savage – ‘Recruiters – everyone is a candidate, all the time’
Recruitment Resolution Two: Get involved online in your business space.
Great candidates are attracted to companies that are experts in their industry. It’s simple to show people you have the expertise by commenting on industry-relevant websites and blogs or offering to guest post on those sites. You can also give advice in 140 characters on Twitter, or through Facebook status updates. If you generate conversation on topics related to your company (ie for recruiters, you would discuss recruitment trends – check out Jonathan Rice’s Recruitment Blog), you never know who will follow you to ask advice…or tell you they’re interested in becoming part of what you do.
Recruitment Resolution Three: Get innovative with how you’re finding candidates
Instead of only using online jobs boards to publish your jobs, why not increase your exposure to a wider audience? A great way to capture candidates’ attention is via the sites they spend the majority of their time – for example, social media sites or lifestyle sites. One idea is to utilise the paid for Ads section on Facebook and LinkedIn. Using Ads on these sites allows you to target specific audiences and cuts through to the applicants you’re after. For example, Facebook Ads can target age, sex, what pages a person likes, people who like your page and friends of people who like your page. On LinkedIn you can take it a step further and target users with specific job titles. So if you only wanted to advertise to Senior Project Managers? No problem – LinkedIn will suggest relevant titles that can help you find someone with the right experience. And voilà – you know who is looking at your ad’s and are cutting down a lot of the time it takes to read unwanted CV’s.
Resolutions are just as important for those who are looking for jobs. Whether you’re actively seeking a new position or just interested in what’s out there, here are three easy things you can do to stay on top of the job-search game:
Job-seeker Resolution One: Update your social networks.
Having active, up-to-date social media profiles work for job-seekers in a couple of ways. First, they’ll be very high up in search engine results for your name, which is always good when a prospective employer searches you online – provided they’re current and you keep them work-appropriate, which, in the age of google, they really should be anyway.
Second, they’re a great way to network with people you already know, and people you want to know – whether they’re recruiters, the CEO of your dream company or peers in your industry. It’s estimated more than 70% of jobs aren’t advertised, so it’s all about who you know…so get to know the right people!
Job-seeker Resolution Two: Update your CV, too.
We know, we know, redoing your C.V. can be a bit painful. But if you’re looking for a new job this year, or even just want to be ready for new opportunities that come your way, then you’ll need a C.V. that’s always up to date, that you can send out at a moment’s notice.
Start now by dedicating time over the next week to getting it up to date. Next, to make keeping it up to date far less painful, keep a record of all the awesome things you achieve at work and any new skills you learn (an email in draft form works well for this), and add them to your CV on a regular basis, like the first day of each month. That way it doesn’t feel like it needs a complete overhaul every time you need to use it.
And since you’re updating your C.V. anyway, make sure you explore some different formats, like an infographic version. Sounds hard? It’s not – sites like visualize.me do all the hard work for you by pulling information from your LinkedIn profile. You can even operate with both a traditional and infographic version if you want, like this US reporter: http://cjspurlock.squarespace.com/resume-cv/
Job-seeker Resolution Three: Make some dates.
Once your profiles and CV are updated and you’re following those people you want to get to know…get in touch with them. Resolve to make contact with at least one person a week, minimum, in a company or industry you’re interested in. If this makes you go cold with fear, start small: start with people you already know – friends, old colleagues etc. – and ask them for contacts. It’s much less scary to approach people if you’ve been given an introduction through someone you already know. This way of introduction automatically recommends you to a new contact, too.
Let us know if you’ve already started on any of these, or if you have other resolutions up your sleeve! And if you have topics you’d like us to cover on the blog this year, let us know in the comments.
