Employers look for passive and quality candidates. These candidates are usually not active on job boards or don’t respond to the any emails or calls by recruiters. Recruiters try to target them by posting ads in various media and also sending bulk mails. But these candidates don’t get attracted to any of these methods. Job postings most of the times are usually unsuccessful in targeting quality talent. Recruiters fail to understand why this happens.

These candidates don’t look out for change if its not interesting to them. They only respond if the position and the profile is beneficial for them in different ways. These performers look for

1. Challenge which is better than the current
2. Recognition
3. More responsibilities
4. Career growth
5. Team Work
6. Better organization and the environment

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Recruiters, while posting any job need to remember how to ensure the above mentioned are marketed well. Mostly they fail because :

Posting Wrong Content

People often make a mistake by posting job description than job ad. Job description is used for the recruiter to understand the position better and for internal use. Job ad is to market the company and the position to the candidate.

Targeting the wrong Audience

Always approach the relevant candidates who fit for the position. Understand the requirement and the kind of people who match these requirement. Try to sell the position to the candidate than demanding from them. Remember that you the seller and need to market the position in such a way the it should be beneficial to the candidate. Target the right people who fit for this position

Bland Format

The job description does not give much information on what candidate gets out of this position. How its more challenging than his existing job. It’s just for the internal reference and to understand the skill set. Once you know what you need to search then you have to attract them. Just sharing the job description will never attract the quality candidate. You need to provide enough information about the company, business, how he can upgrade his career etc.

Attracting quality candidate itself is a talent.

Web 2.0 technology has been phenomenal so far and has given rise to interesting trends such as Social networking sites, Collaborative Knowledgebase like Wikipedia and much much more. We are yet to see the next Web 3.0 growth and no one really knows its impact on the internet. Current Web 2.0 has done a huge impact on Recruitment. We covered it in our earlier post. One aspect of Job Hunting is reverse headhunting. Headhunting is usually done by recruiting firms and Reverse headhunting is usually by Job Seekers. Recruiting firms usually scan through the profiles on LinkedIn. Similarly, Job Seekers as well do the same thing, it is Reverse Headhunting.

What Steps Need To Be Done On LinkedIn?

1. Profile Creation – Create a detailed profile giving information about employment, education, domain or industry on LinkedIn. Include a photo in the profile.

2. Identify Your Key Skills – Highlight your key skills so that your profile is easily found.

3. Identify Your Potential Employers – You should have clear idea on what kind of companies to target first. Select the companies that you think can offer your dream jobs.

4. Find Out Who Works There and Socialize – Be an Open networker. Open your network list. Try to build relationships and understand the job vacancies if possible or get constant updates on what is happening in those companies. E.g. Most people have Twitter, Facebook or Personal/Professional Blogs. Follow them, be part of their interactions and smartly get the required information

5. Update Frequently - Keep updating your status on current involvements

6. Build Connection - Connect with other professionals, your colleagues and similar people in the industry. Increase your network.

7. Promote Yourself With Recommendations - Get Recommendations from your peers, subordinates and supervisors whenever you can.

8. Join Groups and Participate In Group Forums - Join as many groups as possible. LinkedIn allows you to join 50 groups. Join relevant groups based on your industry, skills and job opportunities. You can send messages for free to anyone in the same group. Also you will get frequent updates on current market.

9. Link You Social Networking Presence -  Link your twitter profile with LinkedIn. Promote your LinkedIn profile on your other social networking sites

10. Give It a Try – There is nothing to lose!

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