Articles - Career / Personal Development

Conduct people searches instead of a job searches. The majority of jobs aren’t posted online. Most hiring managers get a list of employee referrals before they even bother to view resumes from recruiters who submit them. Many studies have noted that 80% of jobs are taken through networking, but few have used the web to search and locate people they would actually enjoy working with and for companies that would give them solid career path.

3-steps to People Search

1. Pick the top five companies that you would like to work for, then focus on those to connect with; stand out, not just as “the” person for the best fit for the role, but as someone who is an “out of the box thinker” and excited to work for the company.
2. Use all search engines to find employee’s blogs that currently work there.
There are millions blogs and you can search through them to possibly find someone who works at one of your top five companies. You can search through corporate groups, pages and people on LinkedIN. You can even do the same on Twitter.  Once you find a name, try BING them to see if there is any additional information about that person.
3. Connect with the person directly.
Social Networking has broken down barriers, to a point where you can message someone you aren’t friends with and don’t have contact information for, without “cold calling them”. Before you message a target employee, realize that they receive messages from people asking for jobs all the time and that they might not want to be bothered on Facebook, where their true friends are. As long as you’ve done your homework on the company and them, tailor a message that states who you are and your interest, without asking for a job at first. Get to know them and then by the 3rd or 4th messages, ask if there is an available opportunity

Be Proactive on Twitter

Twitter has become the ultimate utility to connect directly with recruiters and employees at companies you want to work for. By conducting Twitter Searches, following recruiters on your account and using the “@” sign to communicate with them on occasion, you will start to learn a lot about them and their companies. Before you follow anyone on Twitter, you NEED a completed profile. This means, you should have a short bio (160 characters), the location where you’re from, a link to a site that recruiters can go to for more information (I recommend your blog or your LinkedIn profile) and a photo of yourself (not a flower or an alien please). This way, you have a better chance of landing a relationship with people who care enough to read your profile. Most people get jobs on Twitter by already having active followers. For example, I’ve heard of at least ten people getting a job by tweeting “just got laid off, looking for a job in advertising” and then receiving a few direct messages with people who want to help them. Of course, these individuals had built trust, credibility and relationships with their followers over time, so tweeters were more inclined to come to the rescue. You can do the same, just start tweeting and building the relationships\

Be Robust on LinkedIn

It’s no surprise that LinkedIn has been extremely successful. Recruiters are starting to use LinkedIn as the main place for sourcing professional candidates because it’s free and quality professionals are on there. Many people don’t use LinkedIn to the best of their ability and fail to complete their entire profile, such that it says “100% complete.”

Just like search engines recruiters use, keywords to search your profile, so it’s extremely important to implement the keywords within your profile. You want to fill out your entire profile, just like you would a resume, but include the same photo you are using on Twitter and ensure that the summary section is complete. You’ll also want to get as many recommendations from those who have worked with you. Most recruiters who are posting jobs on LinkedIn want to see candidate who have over 15 recommendations, which will give you a “1″ next to a “thumbs up” graphic when people search for you.

Then, you could import all your contacts from Outlook, Gmail, etc, so that you can start to build your network or grow your existing network. The more people you’re connected to the better chance you’re able to reach other people in your network (1st, 2nd & 3rd degrees). It’s your choice if you want to pay for a premium account. This will allow you to contact other recruiters that may help you. You should also conduct searches yourself for jobs that you may be interested in and reach out to those individuals. More and more, recruiters are posting jobs within LinkedIn Groups, so be sure to join groups as well.

Subscribe to Blogs

Most people subscribe to blogs to receive information based on their interests; at least I hope they do. Over time people rely on these sources for information to keep them updated on what is happening in certain industries or different trends that are developing. In the past few years, the larger blogs have started to integrate job banks into their own websites Most company’s host their own blogs and the contributors are those who work for the company. Making comments allows you to promote your own blog, profile and it will get you noticed.

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About the Author

Kay Kelison is a seasoned researcher and social media strategist; creative, strategic and passionate with 12+ years of exceptional experience with such companies as T-Mobile, Amazon, Wachovia, Saltmine, Start-Ups, and is a Principal Sourcer/Research for Bing/Online Division Services for Microsoft. Knowledge of web 2.0 technologies and social media platforms. Proven aptitude identifying opportunities, implementing solutions, and increasing visibility through video, blogs and social networks. Experience with international teams and diversity initiatives.

Responsible for strategy and development of marketing Internet-based social media / social networks communities, including the development of Mobile Recruiting, Blogs, MySpace, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter and online video spaces such as Vimeo, YouTube. Accomplished Published/Speaker engagements which include executive round tables, business marketing and leadership teams, MBA, and SourcCon, etc She is a part of the Pacific Northwest Sourcing 7 SIG which is a sub-group of Pacific Northwest Recruiter Association, this group is to enhance our local strategic Talent Engagement community by leveraging expertise in the areas of Sourcing, Research and Social Media to attract the right talent to our organizations.

Kay Kelison CIR, ACIR, CDR | Talent Sourcer

Advertiser and Publisher Solutions Group (APS)
Office 425-707-2702/  kaykel@microsoft.com / advertising.microsoft.com

and her blog http://kaykel.posterous.com//