Yesterday, we talked about how you can use LinkedIn for recruitment purposes, today we look at some of the other tools available to support your recruiting needs.

Plaxo – another prominent professional networking tool with over 20 million users, Plaxo is similar to LinkedIn in that it allows you to search job listings and to connect with people who are hiring but unlike LinkedIn, it does not have tools aimed solely at recruiters yet.

Xing – Another professional network which is becoming more popular with over 8m users.  It is very similar in its functionality to LinkedIn but posting jobs is much cheaper.  The downside is that lots of users are in Europe so its not the best tool for North American recruitment purposes.

Other professional social networks that facilitate recruitment:

Viadeo

Biznik

Social Networks – Facebook

Facebook Groups:  there are groups on Facebook dedicated to getting the word out about jobs.  To do so you can join and post or participate.  Examples include:

http://www.facebook.com/search/?q=jobs&init=quick#/group.php?gid=29593013279&ref=search&sid=745281396.2828234181..1

Facebook Pages – some companies have Facebook pages dedicated solely to helping them find staff.  The best known example is the Ernst and Young Facebook Page.

Facebook Events – having a hiring fare?  You can use Facebook events like this one to promote it.

Facebook Ads: allow you to post ads aimed at people you want to employ: location, education level etc.

Twitter

Twitter is proving a great tool to promote job openings.  You can use corporate or staff Twitter pages to Twitter to your community about job postings or you can even have your own dedicated Twitter feed that serves this purpose alone like KPMG http://twitter.com/kpmg

As with any Twitter effort, your follow strategy will be important.

Twitter Ad-ons

You can also use third party tools like Twitter Job Search to search listings and post your own.

Here at Out-Smarts, we are looking to hire an intern right now.  So far we have had 3 suitable and interested candidates contact us and all we had to do was post the fact to Facebook and Twitter.    If you are interested please contact us, otherwise good luck in your recruiting or job search efforts.

Social media isn’t only a great tool for networking and marketing online, companies are using these tools more and more to connect with potential employees, to attract new hires, to build brand awareness (as a great company to work for) and to research prospective employees.  This is the first of 2 blogs looking at social media for recruitment.

There are a number of social media tools you can use to enhance your recruitment function – here are a few:

• Professional Networks,
• Social Networks like Facebook,
• MicroBlog platforms like Twitter,
• Blogs,
• Video
• Podcasts.

Perhaps the main social networks that support recruiting are the professional networks.  To use these effectively, your company should have a presence in these forums whether it be through a company presence or through staff profiles.

Professional Networks:

LinkedIn

LinkedIn has over 47 million users in 200 countries.  As a “professional social network” it is ideal as a tool to use to assist recruitment.  There are a number of ways you can use LinkedIn for this:

Searching Jobs on LinkedIn – this is useful from a recruiting perspective as it allows you to search other positions in your industry that have been posted in this forum.

Find People

You can use your LinkedIn Profile to find people – LinkedIn is a free professional network but if you upgrade your LinkedIn membership you can communicate more effectively with possible candidates.  Paid LinkedIn accounts start at $24.95 and run to $400.95 depending on volume (of emails, interactions etc).  By using this paid LinkedIn functionality you can contact, communicate and interact more than with the vanilla version but more importantly for recruiting, you can check references.

Post a Job

Posting a job on LinkedIn costs $195 for a 30 day listing.  The benefit of posting on LinkedIn is that it facilitates candidate research and allows you to identify and connect with people who can recommend and refer them.

In addition, LinkedIn also provides a service aimed solely at recruiters called LinkedIn Talent Advantage which aids in the sourcing, getting the word out about jobs.

More on social media for recruitment tomorrow.

Rob Cottingham’s Noice to Signal doodles never fail to raise a smile. This one is not only apt but also very appropriate in a tongue in cheek kind of way.

I missed last month’s reasons to be cheerful, not because there was nothing fun or innovative to share but simply because I forgot (woops).  So to make it up, this months reasons to be cheerful includes more links to valuable websites, tools and social media innovations for you to enjoy.

Wowzio – is a tool that allows you to customise and create your own widgets online.  They are also developing an interesting tool called Pulse which will “bubble up topics and posts that users are engaging with across the blogosphere”.

ClipCanvas provides professional stock footage and video clips.

Yelp – found a great restaurant or love your dentist?  Then share your recommendations with your community or use your network to find reliable services.

New Twitter tools are proliferating, there seems to be a new one every day.  Favs include: Twibes – lets you follow Twitter groups and create your own, and TweetTree - lets you view your Twitter posts and replies in context (thanks to Chakravibe for that one). I’ve also been using Power Twitter to amp up my Twitter experience with Firefox.

Need 4 Design – if you need a log or website design why not crowdsource this and run a design competition with Need 4 Design.  You submit your requirement and designers compete for your business.

Add your company to LinkedIn.

Eventbrite – online event registration tools.

Backtype – find, follow and share comments on the web.

Its been a year since our last podcast with Todd Sieling of Corvus Consulting. Back then I was new to this podcasting lark and collected almost 2 hours of material complete with lots of groovy background noise thanks to a certain coffee shop ( it took me almost a week to edit down!).

This time our podcast is much more easy on your ears and it even has some humor (its geeky but its humor nonetheless). Todd talks about what he’s been up to since last spring, the demise of Magnolia, SXSW and why he hates the term “social media”. Enjoy.

Podcast: Download

Out-Smarts is on LinkedIn thanks to this very valuable blog post by Jose Uzcategui:

If you joined LinkedIn back in 2004 but haven’t been active it in the last couple of years, you might not know of some of the features added to this powerful social network.

Some of the people I’ve talked to lately were very surprised to hear you could search company profiles on LinkedIn, even though these people have been a part of the social network for a few years.

Yes, with LinkedIn you have the ability to browse and post company profiles. For a couple of good examples, check out the BC Cancer Agency or Microsoft:

What are these company profiles good for?

Target your networking.

If anyone within your immediate or extended network works in a company you’re interested in, let them know you’re interested and if they can give you a heads up with any job posting being circulated internally. Basically, work your magic.

Show your organization’s talent.*

Company profiles show “New Hires”, “Promotions”, “Most Popular Profiles” and other information that automatically builds your organization’s credibility and exposure.

*Remember, your online marketing efforts should have a clear strategy. Before creating a profile for your company, browse and find out about your competitors. See how your company’s profile would fit in the established market. Do your employees have LinkedIn profiles? Is your company about to have major restructuring?

*Also, make sure you have time to update the profile if you decide to go for it. An outdated profile is more damaging than no profile at all.

…and more exposure.

If you participate, ask interesting questions, answer others concerns, participate in groups, etc, your company will be the first thing people see when they check your profile. Go out there, start answering questions and become an authority. You will look good – and so will your company.