Recruit well by selling well (and have a long-term vision)

风随心动

It’s easy to think, because of the speed of information on The Interwebs, that searching, sourcing and recruiting can be a fast market. And, honestly, sometimes it can. However, in general, finding and placing candidates is a time-consuming process.To be any good at it, you’ve got to have a long-term plan for going forward, and given the opportunity you’ve got to sell your own talents as much as you sell those of your candidates.
( C. K) U6 Y1 m9 K+ x4 S1 }A long-term plan means that, even in this information age, you can’t have any real success with a get-noticed-quick attitude. Whether you’re growing organically and by spending money, it takes time to build your online network, create and grow your presence and get your SEO ducks in a row.
0 J8 t2 x* D/ b9 R- m9 p# ^# lFor instance, John Parker recommends on Search Engine Optimization Strategies that we should think of SEO like we think about weight loss. He points out that pre-packaged SEO deals (he calls them “Value meal SEO”), especially the kind that seem “filling” and quick, rarely have any real “nutritional” value. He also says that any changes you make have to be long term. Like a weight-loss pill or fad diet
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“Quick tricks and algorithm loopholes might get you results in the short term, but you’ll be right back where you started (or worse) as soon as the search engines discover them.”
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He also recommends against spam. Sorry, Hawaii.
In that long-term strategy, you’ve also got to be a heck of salesperson. You’ve got to let people know why your recruiting works (and it helps to be able to back up our claims), and you have to be able to sell your candidates. The organizations with whom you’re working have to be able to see why Candidate A is a better match for their needs than Candidate B, and they rely on you for that information.
4 z* H- O1 {4 ]$ n2 GJason Gorham tells this familiar story over on Recruiting Trends.
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“I can’t even begin to count the number of times I have found a good resume, called the candidate, and spent the next fifteen minutes explaining my company and what we do simply to get the candidate interested in listening to what I had to said.”

He says that the sales side of recruiting should leverage the technology at our disposal (but remember the above paragraphs about long-term SEO). Still, that technology definitely makes it easier to get your own message out there and keep it fresh. Then, when you have an opportunity to really pitch that message, try to target in on your audience’s hot-button topics. What are their needs as a candidate or organization? How can you meet those needs better than anyone else? Convince them, and you’re selling. Succeed, and you’re really recruiting.