You know a product is powerful when it’s hard to imagine performing without it.  How many recruiting “solutions” have you used that left you wondering what work life was like before using it?  For me, Jobs2Web is that product.

Just over a year ago, I attended my first Jobs2Web user conference in Minneapolis.  At that point, we had yet to implement the product.  My excitement was very much so based on the feedback of the many clients I encountered and the possibilities seemed endless.  If they could do it, surely we could.

In November of 2010, I went through the implementation process and with the help of their amazing team, brought the product online on December 2^nd.  Yes, I remember the date.

Over the course of the following six months, we’ve seen some outstanding performance.  Traffic has more than doubled and we can finally make decisions based on objective data – which sources actually perform.  What a breath of fresh air

Last month, I attended my second user conference and Jobs2Web continues to knock my socks off.

From great speakers like Michael Marlatt, Lou Adler and the Jobs2Web founders to a variety of informative break out sessions, the conference was packed with knowledge and collaboration.  If I can count on one thing from the Collaborate user conference, it’s to learn something new from companies that are pushing the envelope.

So, as you may have guessed, I’m a Jobs2Web fanboy.  But, I have good reason.

Pointless spend is down and effective spend is on the rise.  The product is pushing quality candidates from organic sources and our talent community is growing very quickly.  Recruiters have the ability to be nimble with the community and, as a new feature, they can even be notified when a targeted candidate comes through the process.

Since launching, I’ve been able to test theories with Facebook, LinkedIn, Google Adwords and other non-traditional advertising routes.  The best part… I know which ones work.  What a relief

So, how does a great product keep innovating?  They listen to their clients.

Jobs2Web continues to create new and innovative ways to leverage the Internet for recruiting.  With some of the largest corporations in the world now on board, the wealth of metrics and source effectiveness information is overwhelming.  In addition, they work with their clients to create custom solutions.  For me, that will come in the form of sharing dynamic content with job seekers.

Waiting for effectiveness metrics from sales people seems like a distant memory.  Jobs2Web has and seems equipped to continue impacting the standards that vendors are held to and it’s a really great shift for all of us.

Keep on truckin’ Jobs2Webbers!

My first visit to London in 2010 was a packed experience.  Great conversation, learning and networking all made for a memorable event.  The first TruLondon adventure came at a time when my life was changing at about the same pace as the perspectives on social recruiting.  Warp speed!

At that time, the topics/tracks were heavily focused on what I would consider to be theory.  The majority of us, all buzzing with the thrill of endless possibilities, felt compelled to share our grandiose ideas and explore the seemingly endless new theories on how all this “social media stuff” would impact our profession.

Observing track leaders squirm and get defensive when questions of proof or hard metrics arose became a bit uncomfortable.  From an enthusiast’s perspective, I felt bad when I witnessed these situations.  However, it was also apparent that we needed to do a better job of focusing on results instead of shiny objects.

Enthusiasm can serve as the spark that ignites the innovation fire – fueling conversation and creative exchanges.  However, as advocates, speakers and bloggers within the social recruiting arena, I feel that we owe our audiences a certain level of humility and candidness around how effective tools can be.  Just because it’s cool doesn’t mean it’s useful.

TruLondon helped define a trajectory for what I would pursue in the year that followed.  The conflict I observed led me to pursue clearer definition around the topics I was interested in.  In my mind, it was no longer acceptable to evangelize “social” approaches unless we intended to narrow in on business applicability, success factors and… wait for it… ROI.

Apparently, I wasn’t alone.

Over the next year, each new conference seemed to increasingly focus more and more on the hard data.

In June of 2010, I attended the Jobs2Web user conference in Minneapolis, MN.  I had the great honor of meeting Marvin Smith from Microsoft who truly inspired me through his approach, demeanor and candid take on practicality within our realm.  Doug Berg, Chief Recruiting Geek at Jobs2Web, opened a number of doors into how I could be pressing forward in order to further define progress.

Additional conversations with Ryan Estis, Brett Minchington and Heather Polivka outside the conference cemented my desire to dig deeper and gain clarity.  All in all, some pretty awesome contributors to learn from and I feel privileged to have met them when I did.

My first large public speaking opportunity after this shift came at the ERE.net Social Recruiting Conference at the Microsoft Headquarters in Seattle.  After some long discussions with David Manaster on the topic, it seemed like the perfect venue for launching into this new line of thinking.  In September of 2010, I delivered a presentation entitled Authentic Employment Branding.  By that point, I finally had enough metrics and examples to show progress.  Favorable site visit patterns, involvement from employees, examples of tools we had used and a number of success stories.

No one had all the answers at Social Recruiting and it made for an excellent conference.  Speculation wasn’t the expectation and it seemed that a healthy level of accountability within our realm was being established.

My “conference life” slowed down quite a bit with the arrival of Sophie.  Kelly and I focused on being parents.  It’s been an amazing journey!

The time away was very positive for me personally and professionally.  It allowed me to focus and develop out ideas that I had wanted to dedicate time to.  Kelly and I both moved away from producing content and instead experienced the consumption angle.  You can learn a lot when you’re just listening and observing.  With the litmus test of proof and applicability in mind, it was quite interesting to see how everyone approaches thought leadership within the realm.  In some cases, I was pleasantly surprised.  In others, I clearly got the sense that snake charming is a new hobby within our space.

Fast-forward to TruLondon 3 this past week in London.

I arrived to London at 6:00 AM on Wednesday.  The hotel wouldn’t let me check in, so there was a bit of a coffee intervention.  At about 9:00 AM, the Master Sessions part of the conference started up in the basement of the City Hotel.

From the get-go, it just felt like this was going to be good.  The best way to describe what I sensed at that moment was candid accountability.  Matt Alder gave us an overview of the Employment Branding evolution through his personal experience.  It was funny and quite interesting.  My second confirmation that this was going to be good was when he invited a panel up to discuss the topic.  The debate was heated and questions weren’t candy coated.  There were disagreements, waving hands and all sorts of great questions.  Loved it!

As the day progressed, again and again I saw the same thing happening.  People were engaged on a different level – they wanted real answers and none of the previous year’s speculation.  In the off cases when unfounded assertions were made, the audience reacted with push back.  I presented on Culture Branding at about 3:00 PM.

The after hours socializing carried this same level of intense debate and discovery.  As I looked around our hotel bar, it was obvious that the conversations weren’t about to stop at the end of sessions. (In picture: Jacco Valkenburg and Arie Ball)

Day 2 of TruLondon (Day 1 of the Unconference) brought about even more debate and conversation.  Again, it carried all the way into the evening.  With a UK Recruiter sponsored social gathering and some social lubricant flowing, the networking was intense.

It’s been said plenty in the past, but one of the greatest benefits of attending these events is getting to know the fellow attendees.  The relationships inevitably turn into future opportunities for collaboration. (In image: Sarah White, Meghan Biro, Maren Hogan and Craig Fisher)

On Day 3, I spent time in tracks ranging from Cloud Computing to Facebook Ad Strategies… even one on Twitter Assassins by Bill Boorman.  All in all, another great day with some intriguing conversations.

It’s quite refreshing to see that TruLondon evolved so much in a year.  I’ll admit, I was a bit concerned that I would be walking into another speculation-fest and that possibility wasn’t very appealing.

Bill Boorman brought together an amazing group of contributors from across the globe.  With his endless energy, he managed to orchestrate an event that delivered on its promises and pulled in one of the most talented groups of people I’ve had the privilege of spending time with.  China Gorman even went so far as giving him a new title.

Excellent job Bill!

Also, special thanks to everyone who so freely engaged in conversation!

Now for my top 5 favorite memories from #TruLondon 3

1.     The moment Glen Cathey realized that there was actually a crack house in the neighborhood.  He suddenly became a member of the paparazzi and it was hilarious!  Here is a picture I titled “Stairway to Crack Heaven” – I shot it from my room.

2.     When Craig Fisher and I got in an all out debate about SEO in front of Arie Ball during a cab ride.  Apparently she thought we were seriously at ends over it until Craig informed her that we do that all the time.

3.     Taking the Tube for the first time and visiting Texas Embassy Cantina with Maren Hogan.  Thanks for making sure I didn’t stay in the hotel all day Maren!

4.     Having breakfast with Bill Boorman the morning after the conference ended.  I think I fell in love with English Breakfasts and it was great to reflect on the conference experience with Bill.

And, last but certainly not least…

5.     When Kelly called in on Facetime with Sophie.  I got to introduce Sophie to most everyone and, of course, see my beautiful wife   Thank you Kelly!

So, that’s the story.  Great year for TruLondon and rumor has it there is another one coming in September.  Perhaps it’s time to check on flights to London…

Any great memories from the trip?  Any key takeaways worth sharing?

Here are some additional pictures from the trip!

London Eye

London Eye and Carousel

Craig Fisher and Maren Hogan

It’s easy to fall in love with social media – recruiting – (insert word of choice).  Let’s face it; you’re able to connect with a bunch of like-minded individuals, the tools are ever evolving, and, if that weren’t enough, it’s a great conversation topic.

I remember the day it clicked for me.  At that moment, it wasn’t about LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, blogging or any other popular social tool.  It had much more to do with the Internet as a whole – the ability to connect across multiple channels, share content/ideas and collaborate with others.  That’s what made me sit back and say “Wow!”

In the beginning, I had very few people to discuss it with who shared in my enthusiasm.  Alicia Arenas (@aliciasanera) received the lion’s share of my “Wow!” outbursts – she still does.

One thing to know about me is that I get pretty excited when I’m passionate about something – it’s a blessing and curse.  On one side, I don’t usually waste much time contemplating an idea (analysis paralysis).  On the other, being this way requires a certain level of comfort with accountability – things don’t always go as planned.

The first few weeks after my “Wow!” moment were pretty intense.  Late nights, research galore, lots of experimenting – loads of coffee!  Looking back, some of the experiments and questions seem trivial…

“I wonder what would happen if I started a hashtag?”

“I wonder what the best way is to edit photos for Twitter?”

“What the hell is CSS?”

“What is WordPress?”

“Why does Facebook keep changing their system?”

**Bang head up against the table**

“This blog post is dumb… I should start over.”

“I’m really nervous about pressing the Publish button.”

“I should blog more often.”

“How can I measure results?”

“Am I just wasting my time?”

Anyone who has launched a blog knows that it can be a bit of a nerve-racking experience.  I mean… you kind of have to put yourself out there.  Whether you go full life story or limit your blogging to a professional focus – you’re still delivering it openly for the world to judge.

People may say they don’t care, but I don’t buy it… they care.  I haven’t seen any eager volunteers for the crappy blogger award – although, I’m sure most of us “bloggers” have deserved it from time to time.

When I accepted the position with Rackspace® to head up our employment branding initiatives, I was presented with a whole new set of concerns.  It was no longer about me and how I wanted to build and convey my message – there were co-workers (Rackers), customers and shareholders to keep in mind.  Pressing the “Publish” button took on a whole new meaning.

Over the past year, my work has been heavily focused on figuring out how to build and guide a social strategy based on a foundation of authenticity.  It occurred to me early on that sharing anything less than a true picture of reality would be more harmful than helpful in this new and extremely connected world.

The process of fully grasping this approach and making it useful have been extremely interesting, sometimes challenging and, overall, very rewarding.

As I prepare for TalentNet Live this weekend and Social Recruiting Summit next month, I’m reminded of all the many journeys that have led up to now.  I’m excited to share the many lessons I’ve learned and collaborate with all of the other practitioners and eager minds in attendance!

Let us not forget how fun and interesting this can be.  Remember your “Wow!” moment and go share it with someone else who can join in the excitement.

When did it click for you?

Photo Credit, deanmeyersnet

I had the distinct pleasure of attending a user conference last week in beautiful Minneapolis, MN.  Jobs2Web, a rapidly expanding recruitment technology firm out of Minneapolis, hosted a user conference for their various clients to exchange ideas, attend thought-provoking sessions and, of course, experience networking at it’s best over great food and drinks.

If you have yet to hear about Jobs2Web, I would recommend you check out their website and/or watch the promotional video.  It’s direct, to the point and will surely leave you thinking, “That makes sense!”

In fact, after having spent the past two years travelling, brainstorming and looking far and wide for the most progressive recruitment technologies, I can say for sure that Jobs2Web has made a fan out of me.  They are the real deal and, simply put, THEY GET IT!

How Jobs2Web Will Change Recruiting

To everyone I’ve spoken with about the product and the many more I will speak with in the future; it’s my firm belief that Jobs2Web will change the way we recruit.  With a very simple shift in the way we have always gathered candidate information, they are enabling their clients to build talent communities and engage through the use of social recruiting tools – something we have all been starving for!

In the past, the approach was as follows:

1. Establish job openings
2. Promote jobs through various channels
3. Have candidates go through the ATS application process
4. Pre-screen and interview candidates
5. Hire the best suitable candidate for the role

What Jobs2Web has done is, in essence, add a valuable step to the process and enable recruitment groups to capture data for both active and non-active members of the overall talent population.

The basic Jobs2Web process looks as follows:

1. Establish job openings
2. Promote jobs through various channels
3. Greet candidates with a short business card that they fill out
4. Have candidates go through the ATS application process
5. Pre-screen and interview candidates
6. Hire the best suitable candidate for the role

I know, I know… it doesn’t seem all that different.  But, it’s what they’ve done with the business card that makes all the difference in the world.

You see, Jobs2Web has created more than a business card that candidates fill out before proceeding with the recruitment process.  They have created an entire system around that information that allows recruiters to interact and measure results of the web traffic that visits their site.

Instead of simply hoping for candidates to make it through the process, the business card allows for recruitment organizations to capture the very basic data necessary to continue dialogue with talent of interest… and, used correctly, develop of a community.

Why Does This Matter?

Well, if you have spent much time reviewing your career site metrics, I’m sure you have already found out that many candidates apply for jobs during peak normal business hours.  In the metrics I review on a normal basis, I can clearly see that the majority of candidates visit the career site between 10:00 AM to 2:00 PM from Monday through Wednesday.

While there is traffic on the other days of the week, it’s pretty obvious that parties of interest are out cruising for jobs during the workday.

So, what happens when they get interrupted?  Do you still have a chance to capture their information and follow up with them?  Probably not.

Jobs2Web, through the very simply insertion of a business card early on, captures the data necessary to continue the dialogue.

From the point of information collection forward, the candidate enters the normal process.

Building a Talent Community

What happens with this valuable information next is what makes Jobs2Web powerful!

While the business card is one way for candidates to enter the talent community, Jobs2Web has made it easy, with a variety of widgets for your career site and social media outlets, to allow talent to join your community and to be kept abreast of opportunities of interest.

Instead of spending money on job postings again and again to attract similar groups of people to your career site, the Jobs2Web technology enables recruiters to interact directly with the people who have been previously interested in opportunities.

The power of this method was affirmed by a number of clients during the conference – clients including Microsoft, Lifetime Fitness and HCR ManorCare, among others.  One client reported that their talent community had grown to 350,000 people over the course of two years.  Their recruitment advertising spend dropped by 50% and their number of applicants had increased by tens of thousands… per month!  Pretty powerful testimonial!

Analytics That Transform

Beyond being a smart way of going to market with your recruitment spend, Jobs2Web offers insight into how your advertising dollars are being spent.  Imagine being able to put a dollar figure behind every candidate recruited.  Do you know how much you spend on recruiting candidates?  Do you know what your exact ROI is from every source?  Wouldn’t you like to?

A number of clients reported a change in their abilities to negotiate rates with job boards, job fairs and other recruitment sourcing avenues.  Yes, you may be receiving clicks from job boards, but do you know how many of those candidates are converting to hires?  Shouldn’t you?

The analytics dashboard that Jobs2Web offers is pretty amazing.  From how many of your job related pages are ranking on Google to exactly where ALL of your traffic is coming from.  A Recruiting Manager, armed with a tool like this, will be able to measure, respond and spend with powerful data to back them up.  Gone are the days of “Post and Pray.”  Welcome the era of intelligent social recruiting!

In Conclusion

While this may have seemed like a long affiliate post for Jobs2Web, I assure you, it’s not.  I’m simply impressed.  For the first time in a while, I find myself sitting back saying “Wow! – This makes total sense!”  “Why didn’t something like this come out years ago?!?”

There are some great technologies out there for recruiting.  I’m sure many of them provide value to the recruiting process in some way.  However, Jobs2Web is, by far, the most progressive, intelligent and exciting technology I have seen for recruiting in a long time!  It very well could change the way we approach social recruiting, community building and recruitment advertising spend – that’s a lot of impact.

I’ve just barely scraped the surface of what Jobs2Web is capable of.  Seriously, check out their website and see what they have to offer.  Or don’t… this would be a great secret to keep!

Special thanks to Jobs2Web for the invitation to their conference!  You guys and gals are doing amazing work!  Keep it up!

In the coming weeks, I will cover some of the interesting presentations and topics that were covered at the conference.  Beyond the innovation that Jobs2Web has to offer, there was an amazing amount of brainstorming going on – all good stuff!

A while back, I had the opportunity to hand feed Ostriches.  It’s quite an experience and I’d recommend you try it… as least once.

One thing I learned about feeding them was that an Ostrich knows what it wants and it’ll go for it – sometimes nipping at your fingers in the process.  Naturally, if one took too strong of an approach, I would move on to the next.  Little did the Ostrich know, I had a whole bucket full of food hidden away.  With a gentler approach, they would have received my whole stash.

Fast forward to tonight as I scrolled aimlessly through Facebook, I noticed the following from Boolean Black Belt (Glen Cathey):

“#LinkedIn – active vs. passive candidates? I’m telling you, based on laws of statistics alone, % passive is same as any other source.”

At first, it kind of bothered me.  I mean, “passive” is where it’s at, right?  Isn’t that what all of the top search firms get paid the big bucks to do?  Further, isn’t this the pool of hidden talent that every company is after?  How could it be the same size?

Then I stopped and pondered his quote for a moment.  Could there really be as many active as passive candidates in the market?

Wasn’t this whole social media recruiting thing giving us an edge in connecting with audiences (namely the elusive “passive” grouping) that weren’t easily accessible in the past?

Then something occurred to me.  Perhaps, as recruiters, we have been ignoring the majority.

Candidate Groups

There are three groups of candidates in my mind… active, passive and non-active.

The “Active” group is pretty easy to define.  This is the group of candidates who remain active in the pursuit of career opportunities.  They apply for job openings, they are networking for a new position, and/or they stay in constant contact with their recruiter of choice.  In a nutshell, they’re ready to make a move and they actively participate in that process.

The “Passive” group is a bit trickier.  To me, this group consists of the people who are open to opportunities, but aren’t investing time and energy into the pursuit of a new role.  Should the right position come along, or the right convincing recruiter, they may consider a move.  However, for the most part, this group is happy at work, performing well and not out trolling the job boards for a new place to call Office.

Finally, we have the “Non-Active” group.  These are the individuals who think they are performing well, are living a good enough life that they don’t even want to consider transition AND they don’t have time to deal with recruiters.  They are content in their routines and/or happy with their current status.  These are the people who will come to us when they are good and ready and no sooner than that.

To expand on the “Non-Active” definition a bit more, this would represent the largest grouping of talent.  Following along with Boolean Black Belt’s logic;  if as of May of 2010 we have over a  9% unemployment rate in the U.S. (Active job seekers… at least, I hope so) and the Passive pool is the same size (9%), then the Non-Active group would represent over 80% of the talent pool.

Before you challenge me to a duel on the statistics, let’s say that the “Passive” group is much larger… how about 30%?

Even then, we are left with a Non-Active grouping of over 60% of the working population.

Branding Picks Up Where Recruiting Ends

As my career has shifted more towards the direction of employment branding, something has become very apparent to me.  For all of the efforts that the recruiting profession pours into hiring the Active and Passive pools of talent, we don’t often consider our largest potential group of candidates.

Some may say that Social Recruiting (aka Social Media, Social Networking, Social Rambling… etc…) has been the tool used for this type of engagement with the general population of Non-Actives.  While I agree to a certain extent, I would also argue that we’ve been actively utilizing the tools to connect with people who are open to opportunities (i.e. Passives).

I don’t blame us – in fact, I totally get it.  It’s easier to quantify the results when we consider currently attainable objectives.  If I put in X amount of hours into Y activities, I can quantify the results with Z figure.

I’ve done these kinds of calculations myself… in fact, I’ve written about ROI in Social Recruiting before.

Social Recruiting Balance

How can we utilize Social Recruiting effectively in balancing our active recruiting efforts (better defined by BBB as active and passive sourcing efforts) with our long-term Non-Active recruiting efforts?  After all, likelihood says that the Non-Actives will eventually look for a new position… it’s our job to be there first, right?

Is it simply a matter of framing the target and setting the long-term goals?

With our current technology, connecting with this audience is very attainable – we meet them where they live and play (online).  So, how do we speculate and measure the effectiveness of the energy and dollars we invest today in results that we are not likely to see for years?

I could contemplate this all night long, but I’d love to see what you think.  The pool exists, the tools exists, the long-term value exists…

Why The Ostrich?

That finger nipping, overly eager and somewhat scary looking Ostrich, had no idea of the food supply he gave up because of his aggression.  All of his focus was on the here and the now… and, as a result, it cost him something much greater.

Are we giving up our treasure chest of a talent pool by remaining so tactical?  How can we find balance and brand for the future?

P.S.  Glen Cathey (Boolean Black Belt) is a fantastic contributor in the online recruiting space.  This post was not intended to counter his comment or thoughts on the topic… he just caused some ideas to bounce around in my head.  Thanks Glen!

* Thanks to Vincent Kan for catching my late night spelling errors!

I recently received an email from a recruiter who is just getting started out with the joys of social media.

One piece of the email went like this:

“… I feel and know I am lacking in the knowledge of social network recruiting.  I have been getting up to speed with a number of blogs, but am intrigued about what some people are writing about Twitter.  I have not explored this option yet.”

Further:

“Honestly, I would love to get some training, but I am just starting back into this and am concerned about start up costs, which is why I have been scouring the internet looking for information.”

Jumping Into Social Media As A Recruiter

There is no way, shape or form that I could provide a comprehensive list of what to study/research if you are just getting started in this realm.  But, I think that there are a few good things to review if you are considering this route.

Here is my response to the recruiter:

“Sounds like you have a vision for what you’d like to do next!  That’s great!

Over the past year, I’ve been engaged in speaking and training around the topic of social media in recruiting, HR and employment branding.  My sources for learning have ranged from studying like a mad-man to making mistakes along the way.

One source you may find useful is Mashable.  Check out this resource section on Twitter specifically:

http://mashable.com/guidebook/twitter/

As social media applies to our specific business, it’s still a work in progress.  In fact, ROI conversations are now becoming central to the topic.

The other activity I would recommend for your learning process is to attend a conference by Chris Brogan – he knows his stuff!  Here is a link to the conferences that he puts on… It will be a ton of information, but well worth it!

http://inboundmarketingsummit.com/

You may want to consider following his blog too!

http://chrisbrogan.com

In terms of an approach, I would start by creating a blog where you want to share information about your skill set focus – become a thought leader on the topic and produce helpful posts for your potential candidates.  To experiment with blogging, you can always get a free site at http://wordpress.com – just to get familiar with how things work.  Eventually, and especially for your business, you will want to develop a self-hosted site.

From there, you build a presence online (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube) that compliments your material… All the while making sure that you maintain your authentic voice.  Be yourself and have fun!

Feel free to let me know if you have any questions!

Looking forward,
Michael Long
The Red Recruiter”

We Should Make A List!

This question and the answer I provided makes me feel like we should create a list for recruiters who are just getting started.  And NOT a paid list… just a general reference section designed for recruiters who need a hand.

With the thousands of resources available, it must be incredibly confusing for someone just getting started.

Sounds like a project to add to the list!

What other sources would you recommend for recruiters who are just getting started?

What’s your favorite tool thus far?

Photo Credit, Erik Charlton