Hire Strategies Blog

I am man - I am Google. I am woman - I am Social.

Search hasn't changed but social has changed the game as far as advertising is concerned. But what do we men know anyway?

Pages, pages everywhere so where does my career site fit?

(Photo courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/patrick-smith-photography)

As a recruiter you have your coveted career site but you also have Pages; Facebook, Linkedin, Google+ and no doubt there will be more incarnations to follow. But as more "brands" push people to their Pages rather than their website (X-Factor is a typical example) where does that leave your own site? Redundant or different? The road ahead is daunting.

Would you refuse applicants without a social profile?

What no LinkedIn? What no Twitter? What no Xing? What no Facebook? Well you won't be able to register with us then until you get one. I mean, we need your Klout score.

Of course you would never, ever, ever do such a thing. It is absolutely proposterous and open for so much trouble from the PC police. But, already in certain cases to apply for a job online a CV is mandatory. As is a telephone number. And an e-mail address.

The urban myth of careersite and job search engine optimisation (SEO)

Optimise your jobs and all will be well. Yet another fields of dreams but this time, it is a lot less likely they will come. There are simple facts that debunk the job SEO sales pitch and plenty of evidence to back this one up!

First off, it IS important to get your jobs indexed by search engines as they will in certain scenarios get found on page one of Google et al. 

• Jobs - job boards and aggregators will win.
• Sector jobs e.g. engineering jobs - same again, you won't win.
• Something more specific otherwise known as long tail e.g. Graduate Trainee Merchandising Programme (a Bing search for a change).

So as you can see from the above, it is worth making sure your jobs are optimised but please don't be fooled into thinking that you will be on page one for every search.

You also need to think about your longer term strategy and build landing pages that are optimised for the long term as a job is here today gone tomorrow whereas your hiring needs in certain areas are ongoing. Two examples.

• Group food sourcing is an industry specific term so easier to win on this one. Not the prettiest page in the world but it works!
• Accuracy checking technicians do who knows what but if you are one, Boots make it really easy to find a job at Boots.

The approach to landing pages is to make then quite niche so you get quality rather than quantity which means that even smaller organisations have a chance of doing well.

Take a look at your career site stats and see the exact keyword phrases being used although in most cases it will not reveal too much as you won't get that much generic traffic. So the back-up option is to spend a little bit of money on Google Adwords. Not just to drive clicks (although they will be good quality) but to get an idea of the kind of search queries that get used in your niche and then think about building landing pages with those keyword phrases in mind. This is why a well optimised site, with optimised jobs start to really work in your favour but you have to work at it as it takes a bit of time. Alternatively, just carry on using job boards and getting the same results that you get today. If that works and it is proving to be cost effective then why change? If of course it is not working.....

I hope that all makes sense but if not let me know.

Facebook, Twitter, Google and even Talent Communities; it's all about the data!

Thing is, we probably all know this yet, when we talk talent communities of any kind we get all hot under the collar about the conversations, engagement, employer brand blah blah blah. But, we do actually need all these conversations to take place, photos to be uploaded, friends to be found because every action, every conversation, every like - counts. It counts for advertisers which is where Facebook make (some of) their money. But there will be a bigger picture as to how Facebook monetise all of this information; but that's nothing new. For talent communities we need to be thinking much further ahead about the real goal.

Talent community or field of dreams?

Build it and they'll come. Will they? Will it work? Will anyone really care?

Don't dress like a married man if you want to get noticed by top totty

You see them everywhere; even in the mirror dude. At the bar after their run or gym session or whatever it is they do to relax. But always in the bar. Unshaven. Favourite over worn t-shirt. Scruffy trainers. Baggy jeans. But they’re married so it doesn’t matter.

The candidate experience

Probably one of the most heard phrases but what do people really mean by this? I have two recent experiences that highlight this to me.

Taleo acquire Jobpartners

It really was only a matter of time before Jobpartners were acquired but is this such a sweet deal for Taleo or will they find out the hard way why Jobpartners stayed single for so long? They acquired Vurv what feels like eons ago and that was a difficult integration but Jobpartners is a very different beast to tame.

Linkedin apply button; much ado about nothing.....

Interesting that Linkedin announce this yet to be confirmed game changing apply button so soon after their IPO. But is it a great idea, set to change the world of recuitment or is it just a bit of hype with little or no substance? Is it yet more of the post-IPO love affair where both parties make little sense because they can see no wrong in their perfect little world?