News »Browse Articles » How to use online communities to recruit more candidates faster

Online communities generally refer to internet watering holes where thousands, or in some cases millions, of people with like-minded interests meet to share discussions and commerce. Some well-known examples include eBay, Classmates.com, and Yahoo Groups. But just like undiscovered farm ponds, there are lots of lesser known, niche-based communities that are loaded with talented candidates! Many online communities have similar attributes, such as discussion forums and resource links of interest to community members. From a marketing and recruiting standpoint, this is a treasure trove opportunity to monitor discussions, pose (relevent) questions to groups, and create a data base of users as the basis for an e-newsletter (more on this topic in the next issue!). Yet, all too often recruiting efforts ignore online communities as a means to find candidates. For those who take action, you will find less competition than other mediums. And you won’t have to spend vast amounts of money and time, either. I usually set aside about 30 minutes or so on Monday mornings to review my settings, profiles, and cyber “open invitations” I’ve created for the communities I participate in. Now if adding yet another commitment to your schedule makes you groan inwardly, consider these numbers:Presently, only 29% of eligible job seekers visit the "Big Three" (Monster.com, Hotjobs.com, CareerBuilder.com)Less than 12% of all hires actually made are as a result of these Job Boards (Monster.com, Hotjobs.com, CareerBuilder.com).Despite these figures about internet job boards, we also know that 85% of people conducting research use the internet. So we know we should be sourcing candidates on the net...But where are these people? The answer is: Everywhere! Online communities exist within specific trades and professions, hobbies, sports and entertainment genres, health interests, political and religious beliefs, and ethnic and cultural commonalities. You can view professional profiles, find out about specific projects a manager worked on, and much more. But the best part is you can work anonymously. No worrying about posting an ad only to waste hours and days screening hordes of unqualified applicants out (unless you’re into that kind of thing). You can search using specific keywords, hunt within a given industry, or seek out names. Need some benchmarking data or other competitive intelligence? This is a great way to find those people quickly who might have the information you need. Okay. Let’s get into the nitty-gritty. Here are several internet communities, and tools you can use, to gain ideas from and find those elusive candidates! LinkedInLinkedIn is probably the largest network to date. Don’t be put off that many recruiters already use LinkedIn. The fact is that a great many more do not. There is ample opportunity to make contacts, meet candidates, or partner and network with others in your field. As of this writing, the beta version still allows you to have five outgoing “requests for introductions” to people you’d like to meet (at no cost). Once those introductions have been accepted or denied, you gain the slot back again. Recently, “LinkedIn Jobs” has been unveiled. During the preview period, employers can post jobs at no cost. They cite access to 1.8 Million candidates, so this is a networking tool everyone should check out. SpokeSpoke was founded in 2002. While a bit slower to run and slightly choppier to navigate, this tool really does have some fantastic features. Spoke is really designed for those of us in sales. You can set “multiple alerts” features for those companies and/or people you’d like to know more about. Every Monday, Spoke emails me new “Alert” information. I usually request information containing a candidate’s name and title only. Complete contact information (phone and email) can be a bit harder to come by. But armed with a name and title, I can usually call into a company and find the person I’d like to talk to quite easily. Spoke’s tech support is the tops! Twice I’ve needed help and gotten a call back the same day, with the problem solved. Not only that, but Spoke also follows up with a courtesy call a few days later to be sure you’re all set. Who does that? KonnectsLaunched in February of 2000, Konnects is a free tool you can use to expand your professional circle. Konnects also has a notification feature to alert you to new contacts. Very easy to use. OpenBCOpenBC is a European community and is available in 11 languages. Do you recruit internationally? Would you be open to considering international candidates for those hard-to-fill p

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http://www.recruitersnetwork.com/articles/article.cfm?ID=1515

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