Recruitalicious

Sometimes I feel like I am in a movie looking at a speeding clock.  Where minutes feel like seconds, and the day rolls by like a lunch break.  I grab a piece of paper and quickly jot down my “to do” list.  Yes, I am a list maker, but we’ll get to that later.  Have you ever lain in bed at night, trying to relax, only to find that Father Time has gotten the best of you again?

In this day and age, everything happens in sound bites or megabytes.  The phone is ringing. Which one? Cell phone, landline, or did my Blackberry just go off? Meetings, conference calls, webinars, interviews, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn – it can certainly be overwhelming and figuring out the technology and navigating through these resources as a recruiter can be time-consuming. Speaking of which, should I Tweet the world to let them know I’m blogging right now………..nah that will take too much time.    It’s so busy that my New Year’s resolution was to make sure I put breathing on my daily calendar.  Where is that fresh young kid who once looked forward to the sweet sanctuary of Friday Happy Hour?    Nowadays, I look at that same calendar and think to myself, Friday is coming too soon – I still have so much to get done.  Many people reading this will think, there is no way she believes that Friday arrives too soon, but when you enjoy your career as much as I do, being busy is a good thing.

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It took me awhile to find something to write about for this week. I wanted an idea that was a little more specific than social networking sites in general. So, I decided to focus on Twitter, and Twitter alone. Twitter serves as a virtual conversation, a way to pass along ideas, see what everyone’s talking about, and learn some new information along the way. But, like physical conversations, Twitter can be overcrowded and noisy. And when you’re a recruiter, you’re on a social networking site for a specific purpose, and you want to be noticed among all the other talk happening at the same time. A CruiterTalk.com article discussed four ways for recruiters to creatively use Twitter. I found the article to be very interesting, and wanted to share some of the insight it contained:

1. Creating a Twitter account for one specific purpose helps to keep the conversation noise to a minimum, and therefore be able to hear what you want. For example, recruiters can refer to a database of people they’ve found elsewhere, either from résumés sent to you or e-mail addresses. Then, you can find these people on Twitter and follow them. That way, your account follows only those you want to see for a particular job. Read the rest of this entry »

I’d like to think I’m a realist, but perhaps after reading this, some may call me an idealist. It’s simple: My job as a recruiter is to find the best candidate among all the other choices, to optimize. However, according to Don Moyer’s article, “Satisficing,” companies settle for the first adequate choice they can find. In other words, instead of optimizing, we’re satisficing: we know what we want, but we usually settle on the first alternative that meets the minimum requirements. This doesn’t just apply to job candidates. Moyer thinks we satisfice about simple choices like where to eat lunch.

I never thought about decision-making like Moyer describes. Moyer explains that in situations where many choices exist or are presented one by one, optimizing is hopeless. I screen candidates over the phone, one by one. After reading this article, I began thinking–actually, panicking–”What if I recruited someone who wasn’t exactly right for the job? What if I chose a candidate over another because I felt pressured to make a decision?”  Read the rest of this entry »

Peter Bregman recently blogged about managing the time in your day.

My coworkers frequently say to me, “ I don’t know how you get everything done”.  The truth is, I follow something  similar to what Peter Bregman suggests in his article.

You may remember my previous post about working from home and juggling the kids. I’m still doing that.  And my day starts with a list, as Peter suggests.  It’s either on the top of my desk, so I see it first thing in the morning, or directly on my calendar blocking time so that I won’t schedule something else that’s less important.  Oh, and I add deadlines on my calendar before they’re actually due.  Then if I put it off, it pops up as a reminder and it’s never late.

Take a peek at Peter’s article.  You might find an opportunity to accomplish more in your day with a little less stress.

As summer has finally arrived in Wisconsin, I thought this would be quite fitting. Summer is a time to relax and remember the simpler days. Who doesn’t fondly remember those endless days of summer break? School was out and all you had to worry about was making sure your bike was ready for you to ride. In this day and age, we are all so busy it actually takes effort to relax!

I recently stumbled upon a short video that might help bring you back to those days of sun, sprinklers and adventures. Not only is this video applicable to our personal lives, but to the recruiting profession overall!
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It’s Monday morning and I go to answer the phone, but wait, hold on, I cannot remember which client I am working on today.  So I answer the phone and fumble for the right words to say trying to recall what area code the person is calling from so I can guess which client I should be representing.  Is it the one on the East coast or the West coast?  I hold my breath hoping that I don’t make a fool out of myself by confusing the candidate.  The candidate starts talking and slowly it comes back to me.  I begin to realize which position and client the candidate is referencing so I can be “on my game” by providing the type of details and service I am accustomed to when I am solely focused on one client. Read the rest of this entry »

My key to successful recruiting: Relationship Building                          

The last ten years I have been recruiting mainly in the healthcare field with a strict emphasis on Registered Nurses, (RN).  My belief is that there is no text book definition on what makes a great recruiter. Every recruiter has their own keys for success and it is how we use them that make us successful. I learned early on that mine was building a relationship first and then doing my recruitment process second.

There are two sides to the recruitment process the client side and the candidate side. Let’s first look at the client side. This is where it all starts. Read the rest of this entry »

You may have heard the term Recruitalicious, but what does it really mean?

In taking a quick poll with my coworkers, I received answers such as “The savory balance of excellent customer service and creation of candidate intrigue.  It’s a little sweet, a little spicy, and leaves everyone wanting another taste.” I also heard “a new generation of recruiters speaking out”, “talented recruiters constantly seeking new and innovative ways of generating great candidates” and “the most delicious recruiting information blog on the internet – with the savviest recruiters blogging on current hot topics”.

This poses a new question… Are you Recruitalicious?

In turn you ask “How do I know if I am?”  Read the rest of this entry »