alstin communications

Chris Baggott and Jay Baer’s webinar “Should Blogging be the Hub of Your Social Media Strategy?” had so many great facts, tips, pointers and humorous analogies I ended up writing up 5 pages worth of notes! I’m now 100% convinced that blogging is THE best way to engage people for a variety of different business reasons or purposes (solve a problem, answer a question, provide service, convert to a subscriber, convert to a sale, etc.). I also wanted to send a special ‘shout out” to Debbie Weill who’s original blog post/e-book started the idea for this webinar and she has the timely upcoming launch of the Kindle edition of her book “The Corporate Blogging Book” which I’ll certainly be downloading. (This last sentence would have been complete gibberish four years ago—if anyone watches “Community” on NBC, you’ll know I grabbed that line from Chevy Chase’s character…but I digress).

I enjoyed Jay’s “Social Media Scattershot” term that helps define what many companies and organizations are doing right now…utilizing ALL of the social tools without real thought into strategy and goals, not to mention the ability of measuring results. I’d agree that social media can be a very inefficient use of time and if you’re not asking the integral and ‘up front’ questions about implementing social media (such as “Why are we doing this?” or “What is the business-level outcome?”) you’re doomed from the outset.

So, I’m asking myself, “Why do people want to engage with Alstin? Or, with any organization for that matter?” And, once you answer that question you’ll know how to build your strategy. (For Alstin it would be multi-pronged effort: engage current clients to participate in new services, engage prospective clients to become new clients, and help brand the “Alstin” name as the premier employer marketing communications agency—easy to do right?).

I believe that the notion of a blog as a central spot or “hub” is an excellent analogy with a variety of social media “spokes” driving visitors, traffic, etc. to the hub (ie. Facebook Fan Page, Twitter channel, YouTube, etc.). And, I really enjoyed the analysis of why a blog is superior in the social media space because it passes all of these four questions:

Four Characteristics of a Good Social Media Hub:

1. Is it Controllable?
2. Is it Measurable?
3. Is it Sociable?
4. Is it Searchable?

My other take aways from the webinar include:

• “Search and Sociability are tied together like peanut butter and jelly.” I love this analogy!!! So much of Alstin’s blog traffic comes from Google and a large percentage is 1^st time visitors and we’re constantly seeking new ways to make our blog more ‘search friendly.’  And, we’ve had a number of new prospects contact us as a direct result of a blog post.
• It’s not about volume (ie. Number of Facebook Fans, Twitter followers, etc.) engagement is about depth.
• Be sure to evaluate your business-level outcome…and be careful how deep you jump in the pool.
• Compendium offers some great tools (which I’ll be investigating more) that would assist in the ‘multi-author’ blog process with a ‘gentle’ approval process and ‘SEO keyword strength-meter.’ These type of tools are an absolute must if you’re overseeing a blog(s) that have multiple authors, etc. It’s the humanization of social media that makes or breaks its success. So, having ‘real people’ who are the experts in doing/solving/selling what your goals are makes a huge difference in the voice you’re sending out there.
• Companies that blog have 55% more traffic to their web site than those who don’t.
• Blog Measurability: pick the right metrics! If you are focusing on building a community with repeat visitors and comments, use those areas to analyze. If you’re blogging for business—to create an awareness of your company, look at total visits, % of new visits, visits from search. If you’re blogging for e-Commerce, look at average length of stay, pages per visit, referrals to other sites (like your corporate site).

“Blog Measurability” brings me to my final thought for today…Alstin (@AnnetteAtAlstin) recently published our first “contest” blog post to engage new and returning blog visitors. Some stats that we’re all proud of (big kudos goes to Annette!!):

• 28 comments to the ‘photo pix’
• Traffic doubled on March 4th and March 5th
• 76% of blog visitors entering the blog on our contest page
• 90% of the visitors to the contest page went on to view other pages of our blog

Cost: Zilch. (Well, ok a $50 Starbucks card)

But it goes to show you, engagement, interaction and the humanization business in today’s online world is only going to continue to increase—so thanks Jay, Chris and Debbie for all of your valuable insights!

After completing the metrics reports for two Social Media Recruitment Strategies that were launched in January and ‘completed’ just last week (well, actually ‘paused’ by the client), I started to think about how I wanted to present and promote my data and samples. These (very successful, might I add) two campaigns had lots of great metrics, graphs and creative that were developed. After compiling the PDF reports and laying out all the visual examples for each of these campaigns, I really wanted to display the information I was reporting within an interesting and visually stimulating format. The campaigns themselves were very fluid and utilized the ever-changing vehicle of social media and I felt my PDF format was falling flat. So, I thought of Prezi.

Techcrunch described Prezi as “just plain awesome. It’s entirely Flash-based app that lets you break away from the slide-by-slide approach of most presentations. Instead, it allows you to create non-linear presentations where you can zoom in and out of a visual map containing words, links, images, videos, etc.” (If you want to read the rest of the review, click here.)

So, I’ll be building my two Prezi’s today, you’ll see the results in my next week’s blog post – I’m using their canvas, zoom, zebra, frames, rotation and storyline tools. Prezi’s can be viewed in a web browser, freestanding or embedded within a blog for presentation/sharing purposes. Stay tuned for my next Tuesday blog with my two Prezi’s!! I can’t wait! I love learning new tools! Seriously. I do.

If you’ve had experience or have developed Prezi’s for your own needs, feel free to share them! Comment and post your links.

And, here’s a link to some cool Prezi’s that others have created. http://prezi.com/showcase/

Being a social media enthusiast, I’ve been curious about all of the ‘buzz’ surrounding Google’s Buzz launch on February 9th. I finally witnessed the ‘Buzz’ yesterday (it was rolled out in waves­­—pun intended) when logging in my iGoogle (here in Philly we’ve been battling ‘Snowmageddon 2010’ since last Wednesday so, I’ve been a little busy shoveling out). Apparently, I missed a lot over the weekend!

Turns out there was a lot of ‘buzz’ over the weekend with the ‘auto-follow’ feature which is now disabled (when originally launched, Buzz automatically would have ‘followed’ my most frequently emailed or chatted contacts in Gmail – something I definitely wouldn’t want made public!!)

As I was looking at it yesterday, I was thinking, “What’s the big deal?” Yeah, sure, I use Google Reader daily (hourly, more like it) to stay on top of all the news that interests me (or stuff I find funny – btw I’ve been following *%$# My Dad Says waaaaayyy before he got that sitcom deal – he’s still funny as *%$#). And, sure I’ve use Google Docs to share work projects, I literally can’t live without Google Maps and I’ve had my Gmail account for a while now…but, what’s all the Buzz?

The interface seems pretty basic and right now I have two followers (one I don’t even know??) and I searched and am following four people (a.ka. random friends). Buzz didn’t recommend anyone to follow like Google stated it would, but I don’t really keep my Gmail contacts up-to-date. So far…little activity…little “buzz” on my end, but it’s only been about twelve hours since I started poking around, so I’m not bashing the Buzz. Just trying to figure out (like many of you) another tool in my social media arsenal. What I’ve researched and learned is boiled down to:

• Buzz links all the people who use Gmail (which is at 176 millions users according to comScore‑so there’s a built-in audience already)
• Google stated there has been over 9 million posts and comments in its first 56 hours of launching
• There have been over 200 mobile check-ins per minute (that’s nearly 300,000 mobile check-ins per day).

Speaking of mobile…so Buzz is available on the iPhone and Droid 2.0 (rolling out to other Mdevices shortly) – and what can you do with that?

• You can look up who is buzzing ‘nearby’ and share info about where you are/what you’re doing (ie. “I’m at Philly Cupcake!!!” My friend’s ‘buzz’ to me: “Oh grab me a strawberry shortcake one!!” (Ed Note: If you’re in Philly and haven’t had the deliciousness of Philly Cupcake, you’re seriously missing out on one of life’s great pleasures…but, I digress.)
• You can post Buzz tagged items with your location so that people know where you frequent and why.
• Keep up with who you’re following (and who is following you) through the mobile Buzz interface.
• Comment or ‘like’ other people’s Buzz.
• There’s a Buzz layer on Google Maps so you can view what’s going on in a glance.
• Read Buzz about places you’re interested in.
• Click the Buzz icon on the top of the Google navigation bar to open up the posting box.
• Say ‘post buzz’ to your iPhone (still not sure what this accomplishes).

Areas I see that are of concern to me (and lots of others):

• Privacy (big concept within all the social media sharing technology) – of course Google is already responding to many concerns and is making ‘private’ and ‘public’ features already. Time will tell (and I’m talking social media time = minutes vs. days) with this area. See BusinessWeek article.
• Getting people to use another social media tool. (Although I tend to agree that since it’s interwoven with Gmail, people are going to test it out, especially us technerds…early adopters.)

Areas I see as huge potential for advertising initiatives:

• Gmail advertising is already so prevalent it only makes sense that “buzz” advertising would take off.
• Since it’s an open platform, I’m expecting a tidal wave of new apps being developed.
• I really like Ben Parr’s idea of an ad revenue share for Buzz apps and its own app store to monetize this platform would be a win-win.

Only two things I’m wondering right now…is it “buzz” or “Buzz?” And is Todd Jackson getting any sleep? Poor guy. I don’t think this past weekends’ buzz was what he’d anticipated. Stay positive, Todd! Everything new always needs tweaking!

I’m always on the quest for discovering (and downloading) new and useful apps for my iPhone. News apps, career apps, social media apps, cooking tips apps, music apps, stopwatch apps for timing my mile pace, etc. I swear I even downloaded that level app and actually used it—seriously! I don’t think my weekends would be complete without checking Yelp or letting Google Maps navigate me through road trips.

And, as Alstin is developing an app of our own (coming soon to the App Store!), I started to wonder—there must be a huge demand for developers to create customized apps? I’ve talked with vendors and web sites about rolling out apps of their own in addition to providing customized app creation services for clients. And I was curious about the market, statistics and the potential revenue stream I could create for this type of product.

And, I discovered, I’m not alone. App stores have had more than $4.2 billion in revenue last year, according to Gartner Inc., which tracks information technology worldwide. Analysts expect that to increase to $29.5 billion by 2013. (And, no there aren’t any typos in that sentence—$29.5 billion!).

As mobile technology continues to advance (and become more accessible and less expensive) and innovations like the Apple iPad (a 10-in touch screen computer sized somewhere between a laptop and an iPhone) are created, you can be sure that this will help generate the demand and interest for more apps. From a Feb 1^st, 2010 Philadelphia Inquirer article, “A bonanza for app developers.” (written by Carolyn Davis) she quotes Lisa Allen, a board director for Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic,  the local chapter of a global group that aims to foster education and networking among the mobile-development crowd. “Today’s mobile phones are as powerful as many desktop PCs—more so, if you consider that they’re also location-aware and have a built-in billing and payment system…We’re seeing people run their entire lives, even their entire businesses, from their mobile phone.”

Apple announced in January that billion apps had been downloaded from its App Store from among more than 100,000 titles in categories such as games, business, new, sports and health. Blackberry App World has 4,000 titles and Google’s Android Market has 20,000.

From a recruiting, hiring, retention and online application perspective apps really have unlimited potential for opening up the communication process. Making it more direct, more efficient, more targeted, more everything. (Can you tell I’m really liking mobile technology??) Create an app so potential applicants can download employment-focused videos or podcasts interviewing a Hiring Manager. Or, create your app with the functionality to enable job seekers viewing your jobs (through your own app or through a job board/job aggregator site app) to easily download their resume and apply right from their mobile device. Or, develop an app function to stay in touch with prior applicants, send out newsfeeds about your company, update them on the hiring process—the ideas really are limitless. Does your company have multiple retail locations? Imagine being able to identify a smart phone user with your app and send them targeted career opportunities based upon where they are standing! Develop app for internal purposes and marketing…perhaps an “HR Welcome App” to stay in touch with recently on-boarded candidates (remind them to fill out specific forms, reiterate the rewards for your existing employee referral program) or create a retention-focused app to update employees of awards earned, milestone achievements or other positive news. And, one thing I love about apps is the metrics and measurability they provide—love my numbers!

So, when someone asks you, “Do you have an app for that?” You can say, “Yes! There’s an app for that!”

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of hearing, “Things will get better in 2010!” Really? Why? Because 2009 was so absolutely dismal that it couldn’t possibly get any worse?

According to the Mayo Clinic’s web site, “Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) starts in the fall and may continue into the winter months, sapping your energy and making you feel moody.” That sure sounds like the 2009 economy (“jobless recovery”) to me. (Sounds like some people I know as well…but that’s a different blog post all together.) The Mayo Clinic also goes on to recommend that SAD isn’t just the case of the “winter blues” and that treatment (in various forms) can help you keep your mood and motivation steady throughout the year. Well, I’m all for that—right 2010 economy?

I’m seeing blips on my radar of recovery. My colleagues are seeing blips as well. But, I’m not detecting the colossal tidal changes I’d like to be seeing. I know, I know it’s only three weeks into January but, come on! I was chuckling back in early December at posts and articles like GL Hoffman’s Jobs Summit comments.

But now, I’m wanting some of these recommendations to come to life.

Our 2010 economy needs some serious therapy. I work for a small business, heck I even had my own little web design business for a few years, and as I’m sure all of you know—it’s tough out there. Even if the calendar is saying 2010, I’m still feeling 2009. Except for executives at large banking institutions (don’t get me started on that one), margins are still thin, profits and losses are still being monitored daily down to dollars and cents and the budget restrictions aren’t loosening up quickly enough.

I think the 2010 economy needs a serious ‘therapy plan’ to get out of this SAD funk. Just off the top of my head, I’m envisioning the following:

• Create a “Re-investment Plan” of every single bonus dollar a banking executive would receive in 2010 directly lent to small businesses across the US at zero percent interest for the first three years. I think that would help loosen up some budgets and increase spending and ultimately hiring.
• Create tax incentives for companies that create new jobs. If we can push through and market the “Cash for Clunkers” program—why can’t we launch and market a “Job Recovery Tax Break” to promote job growth? We’re all doing way more with WAY less—if an employer could see the value of rehiring talent because the advantages out weigh the risks, don’t you think they’d take that chance?
• Create tax incentives for entrepreneurs to start their own business (and hire people to work). Have we lost sight of our roots and forgotten that the entrepreneurial spirit is what has made the United States so successful?
• Provide funds for state and local governments to assist unemployed workers to find employment. I’ve never seen my local library so busy and so overwhelmed!
• Remember the New Deal government public works program in the 30s? Maybe we should take a closer look and morph its basic concepts into solutions that makes sense for the 2010 economy? Perhaps, invigorating and investing in green technology?

Are you seeing any signs of the elusive ‘2010 recovery?’ Supposedly it’s going to surface in the spring/summer…

For now, I’m thinking of spring—warm, sunny days with lots of green. It’s already staying lighter later…a daily sign I see for good things to come—one extra minute or two at a time.

I recently received my AT&T cell phone bill and was shocked to learn I sent over 240 text messages last month. I wouldn’t consider myself a ‘heavy texter’ like my younger sister (who is 23 and constantly ‘thumbing’ communications & laughing at her iPhone). My phone plan cap was at 200 so I had to buck up for my extra key punching. So, after calling AT&T and upping my 200 limit to 1500 texts for an additional $4.00 (I think), I started to wonder (after declining the unlimited plan at $15/month.) just how many texts does the average user send?

I found the article written by Hope Yen on December 16^th in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

• Americans sent more than 110 billion text messages last December, double the number in the last month of 2007, as the short hand communication becomes a popular alternative to cell-phone calls.
• The nation’s 270 million cell-phone subscribers each sent an average of 407 text messages in December 2008, according to government statistics released yesterday by the Census Bureau. That’s more than double the 188 messages sent by the average cell subcriber in Deceber 2007.

“We are seeing a clear trend of huge increases in text messaging, “ said Amanda Lenhart, senior research specialist at the Pew Internet and American Life Project. “If teens are a leader for America, then we are moving to a text-based communication system. For them, there is less interest in talking.”

Her research found that the average teen now sends more than 2,000 text messages per month. About two-thirds of all teens use text messaging, mostly because of its simplicity as well as the privacy of being able to communicate without being overheard.

Lenhart predicted that texting would keep growing as parents begin using it as an easy way to reach their children.

At the same time, the average length of a cell-phone call declined last year to 2.3 minutes. That’s the shortest chat time since the 1990s, before mobile devices and cheap calling plans became widely available to everyday consumers.  The peak talk time came in 2004, when a a caller on average chatted for 3.05 minutes.

All of these stats remind me of a skit that Robin Williams does in his latest (HBO) comedy special “Weapons of Self Destruction” where he talks about Twitter ‘going down’ and everyone was freaking out about what to do with their thumbs!??! And he spoofs on a Dad re-introducing himself to his child, “Hi! I’m Dad!” LOL!

So, the bottom line: we’re evolving into a society where texting someone is more ‘efficient’ than calling them—leaving a voice mail or actually ‘connecting’ is becoming pointless.

Since when has communication been all about efficiency? Is it really that hard to push a few buttons on your phone to retrieve a voice mail? Is it really that hard to make a connection via cell towers and wireless technology? What’s wrong with talking ‘face to face?’ and rambling on about a story and reminiscing about the past and laughing out loud – for REAL. Well…a lot I guess. I’ve been there. Done that. Case in point: my mom calls, I ‘ignore it’ (this capability is another blog post all together that relates specifically to dating and the calamities of being single in today’s world, but I digress…). My mom leaves a voicemail. Instead of listening to it, I just text her…’what’s up? Just chking in…” and so the text ‘dialogue’ begins and the voice mail gets deleted.

So, what’s my point? Texting is the new communication vehicle. How does this affect how I work and how I interact with my clients and projects? So far, not too much. However, it will (eventually) change how employers engage and connect with potential applicants. And, I’m sure I’ll be exchanging text messages vs. emails with clients very soon…2010?

So, for now…ttyl cu n 2010

It’s December 22nd and Philly is recovering from the 28 inches of snowfall from Saturday. Most of the city is now a sloshy puddle with large grey snow drifts at curbsides and secondary roads. We weathered the snow storm (some counties had better plow coverage than others…) and shoveled out. I personally shoveled my driveway 5 times and thankfully had a wonderful neighbor with a snow blower swing by on Sunday morning—wonderful invention.

The Holiday season is overwhelming upon us. And, with the holidays, I’ve been seeing a lot of familiar holiday cartoon classics and specials on TV which makes me nostalgic for the ‘old days.’ Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Frosty the Snowman and the The Year Without a Santa Claus always make me smile!

So I felt for my blog post today, it would be appropriate for a “rerun” of my own…so here’s a link to Alstin’s December iOnline publication which features my original blog post on the Social Recruiting Summit in NYC – my take aways and social recruiting dashboard ideas (still working on this project).

December iOnline 2009

Enjoy your time off and the holidays! Next week, I’ll be taking on “Texting & recruiting = gr8!”

Many organizations have joined the social recruitment movement by developing communication channels on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. And now these same employers are saying, “Now what?”

As a firm believer in social media recruiting, I feel the Phase Two answer should be Pay-Per-Click (PPC) targeted advertising campaigns. The ability to target a specific skill set through their online behaviors within a finite geographic radius offers the perfect next step solution.

You’ve built your Fan Page, Twitter Job Channel or talent-centric micro-site. You’re updating the content on a regular basis, communicating with your existing fans/followers/visitors. Now, you need to increase your reach and build a larger audience.

PPC campaigns are available on all the major social media outlets. And, one solution I thought I’d focus on today—Facebook PPC campaigns.

Facebook PPC campaigns:

Structured in a similar set up as a Search Engine Markeing (SEM) campaign on Google, Yahoo! or Bing, Facebook allows advertisers multiple ways to target your advertisements to a very select audience based upon information gleaned from a person’s Facebook profile:

• Geography (US, State, City, Zip Code with a targeted mile radius.)
• Gender (Not that I’d recommend implementing this option.)
• Target people on their birthday (“Happy Birthday – try out a new career!” Maybe not. But, you get the picture.)
• Education (Up to 20 schools and/or 20 majors and graduation year)
• Workplaces (This option is HUGE – imagine creating a targeted campaign to Facebook profiles who currently work for a competitor – create your ads to talk specifically to them and encourage them to visit your Fan page, Talenthub or Career Microsite. Or, feature a specific job you have that’s in demand.)
• Languages (Great for targeting bi-lingual skill sets!)
• Keywords (The sky is the limit with these options – target profiles based upon interests, activities, favorite books, TV Shows, Movies, or job titles that users list in their Facebook profiles. Keywords can also come from groups or Pages users belong to or are fans of…a quick focus group within a department that has multiple openings or hard-to-fill opportunity can provide ‘extra-curricular’ activities that are common interests from which to target.)
• Connections (Target users who are connected to your Fan Page, an Event, Group or Application – by doing a little research this option can provide excellent targeting results!)

My point? It’s scary how detailed our digital footprints have become and how efficiently employers can target their recruitment advertising. Don’t wait – start Phase Two today! Feel free to comment or contact me with questions and/or results you’ve had (or not had) with targeted PPC campaigns.

While I didn’t join the Black Friday shopping madness, I did go out on Saturday to my favorite ‘one stop shop’ retailer—Target (who’s bullseye logo my soon-to-be 5-year-old son easily recognizes as “Mommy’s favorite store”). The bustling parking lot and limited selection of new plastic Target carts were the first indications that maybe I should have stayed home. However, I forged ahead and managed to purchase some toys and other gifts that I knew were special discounts. On the way home, I vowed to only do the rest of my holiday shopping online.

The term CyberMonday term was born by the NRF as a day for bargain-hunters to take advantage of faster Internet connections at work but the most recent NRF survey found that most shoppers — 91.5 percent — now do so from home. (Obviously with the increased usage of cable/FIOS Internet access).

And now, CyberMonday and now has taken on greater momentum thanks to social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

As reported today from Mashable’s Adam Ostrow, “According to numbers provided by Coremetrics, sales for this year’s Cyber Monday beat last year by 13.7 percent.

Some other numbers directly from the report [PDF link]:

• The average dollar amount consumers spent per online order rose 38.2 percent from Cyber Monday 2008 ($180.03 versus $130.24), led by apparel retailers.
• Consumers bought nearly 10 percent more items per order on Cyber Monday 2009 compared to Black Friday 2009 and nearly 30 percent more compared to Cyber Monday 2008.
• Consumer shopping hit its peak from 9-10 a.m. PST, but maintained stronger momentum throughout the day than on Cyber Monday 2008.

“Americans appreciate the convenience of shopping online, which doesn’t require standing in line, circling for a parking spot, or even changing out of your pajamas,” said Scott Silverman, executive director of Shop.org. (Author’s note: Amen!)

So, while I’m nowhere near finished holiday shopping, I’m glad to report that the hashtag #ShopCyberMonday was used on Twitter by over 650 retailers on CyberMonday for special discounted items, coupon links, and much more. Facebook users could log on to retailer’s Fan Pages and get access to great coupon codes to use online and sign up for alerts for specials and discounts. What better way for retailers (and employers – hint, hint) to communicate with their customers than directly through social media? It’s a win-win situation where everyone saves, and I’m all about savings this holiday season. (And, all the free shipping offers are a huge time saver!!)

So from now on, I consider myself a confirmed “Cyber-holiday shopper” and you won’t see me trolling the mall parking lots anymore! I’ll be enjoying my coffee in my PJs clicking away and searching for Facebook Fan Page coupon codes and cost-saving #hash tags! Serenity now!

The Social Recruiting Summit in New York City on Monday was a great event—from the networking TweetUp event at Bar 657 sponsored by Monster to the final conference session given by Jessica Lee (who slung some mud at Monster ironically – but Eric took it like a champ with his flair for sarcastic wit) I learned a lot and confirmed a lot about what I’m currently doing within the social media space.

It was also great to be able to meet some of the people I’m following on Twitter and meet the authors of articles & blog posts I read all the time (John Sumser, Dr. John Sullivan, Gerry Crispin, Laurie Reuttimann, etc.) as well as meet some recruiters who echo many of my client’s concerns, frustrations, and questions.

As I reviewed all of my notes, I noticed a lot of the questions for the speakers focused around the “How-To’s.” My colleague, Annette DeHaven did a great job of summarizing the “take away’s” from the conference (if you haven’t read it – you shouldn’t miss it!)

The Q&A theme, especially for Social Recruiting Panel with Sodexo’s Kerry Noone, Microsoft’s Heather Tinguely and RSM McGladrey’s Ben Gotkin focused on the details. Most common questions that were asked:

• How much time do you spend on social recruiting in your daily routine?
• How do you engage your executives/CFOs for budget buy in?
• How do you engage your own employees to support your social media messages?
• What are you doing about compliance?
• Did you outline a strategic approach before getting into social media? If so, what was it?
• How do you measure results?

Fred Wilson in his Keynote session really hit the nail on the head when he mentioned that there was a “big area for growth in the industry for creating recruitment strategies and providing a single dashboard/platform” that can manage all social recruiting from one centralized resource.

So…since there is a technology gap within this area, I thought I’d list my vision for “How-To Build a Social Recruiting Strategy / Dashboard” the bricks and mortar way (until someone can create a dashboard that can sync all of the items below):

My New Social Media Mantra/Dashboard Theme: “Complete Transparency. Transparency Breeds Authenticity. Let It Be. Don’t Limit the Dialogue.”

Blogging:

• Create a program & schedule to engage current employees (each department/business unit will write one blog post/week.
• Feed/link this blog from the home page of my Career Site home page. (Add video (upload on YouTube) and podcasts as well if not available on Career Site).
• Sync blog with photos on Flickr.

Twitter:

• Set up automatic Jobs Feed under corporate careers channel.
• Highlight 3 jobs/day or other job-related news with manual tweets.
• RT valuable; tweet original/researched content.

Facebook Fan Page:

• Set up schedule for daily status updates & link promotion to blog.
• Create Jobs RSS Feed for up-to-minute content from our Career Site/ATS/TAS.
• Set a goal to publish link to one newsletter, article in the news, press release etc.
• Set a goal to upload one new video/podcast/photo per week.

LinkedIn:

• Use LinkedIn for reference/resume checking.
• Update my status to promote blog posts and featured job openings (sync with Twitter account).
• Create LinkedIn Groups for each business unit/department—encourage employee bloggers and current employees to join and promote the groups to colleagues, friends, etc.
• Send out discussion items and Q&A to members of the group on a weekly basis.

Job Search Engine Promotion/SEO

• Create a job search engine sponsored job pay-per-click campaign (either on Indeed.com, SimplyHired.com or LinkUp.com). Budget doesn’t have to be huge, monitor results and reinvest accordingly.
• Sign up with Jobs2Web.

Internal Promotional Campaign

• Establish an incentive campaign to recruit employees to engage in Social Media outlets (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Koda.us). (ie. iTunes gift cards to person who has most Twitter followers, etc.). Promote campaign through Intranet.

External Promotion Campaign

• Request each employee blogger to find 20 people in their industry/line of business via Twello (or other Twitter directory) and invite them to follow our Twitter jobs channel/join LinkedIn Group.

My Daily Social Media Recruiting Itinerary

• One blog post/week; Tweet 3x/day; Check Facebook Fan Page for posts/comments and submit new status update daily.
• Use bit.ly to find people who are RT our tweets and RT information about our competitors. Follow these people.
• Engage these people to follow our Twitter Jobs Channel, read our Blog and join our LinkedIn Group(s).

Google Reader

• Set up Google Reader for key word Twitter searches/news trends/industry trends.
• Competitor blogs/news.
• Industry News.
• If it’s a search or something of interest, get the RSS feed.

That’s a lot to fit on one dashboard, but that’s what I envision being a great resource for efficiently managing a fluid social recruiting campaign. Measuring results and monitoring budgets would be a nice module, too—but I don’t want to get too greedy.

Please feel free to add your notes/thoughts/feedback to the areas I found to be major assets to a social media recruiting campaign – I’d love to hear from you! – Jen Hitchens-Greenfield

In recruitment advertising, a lot of money is spent on things like search engine optimization and marketing, job boards, banner advertising on industry sites, email – etc. Online advertising is key to your ability to drive qualified candidates to your site. Investing in these programs is an important part of your success as it casts a wide net to attract qualified prospects.

Yet too often, the people who come to your site leave without delivering a resume or an application – Statistics tell us that most resume and application activity happens during work hours. So what happens when a boss or coworker walks in, the applicant drops what they are doing and may close the browser.

And what about those who did leave a resume or application? How valuable would it be to have continued dialogue with them after they leave your career site?

Retargeting allows you to recapture their attention, those who applied and those who didn’t, and re-message them by sending them either back to:

• Your Career Website

Or redirecting them to:

• Your Landing Page, where they could be surveyed
• Employee Testimonials, where they could hear from people they would work with if they worked for you
• Videos that could talk about the company and tell a story
• Industry News – maybe something innovative your company was involved with or an award you won

The point is, retargeting allows you to communicate with your candidates the way you would like to – if you had the time.

It gives you the opportunity to make your advertising investment pay off by building a relationship with the skill sets you hire, now and in the future.

There are 3 different types of retargeting. Site, Email and Creative. All of them involve placing a cookie on the computer of the visitor and delivering an ad to them on other websites. Retargeting is critical to your marketing efforts for one primary reason – a candidate who has expressed their interest in you by visiting your web site is more qualified than one who did not visit your web site. Retargeting allow you to focus your ad dollars on these “pre-qualified”, or “filtered” candidates which will improve your ability to attract the talent you want.    Keeping your communication highly relevant by serving ads based on the specific jobs the candidate has reviewed keeps the candidate interested well into the process of sorting resumes and setting up next steps. Your acquisition cost is lowered by targeting only people who have visited your site – 100% target reach.

When your message is served to visitors on lifestyle and information sites chosen by them, your employment brand is associated with their interests and develops a lifestyle affiliation.

Once they leave your site, they are no longer thinking of you – but retargeting allows you to remain top of mind as they move around the net through out the day.

Read more about the details of retargeting at my iOnline Newsletter article. If you have any questions about retargeting, or have experience with it—I’d enjoy hearing your thoughts!

Road to Recovery

I don’t know about you, but I need a dose of good news today. I’m tired of hearing all the negative news stories and terrible stats…so I’ve compiled a list of top 10 articles I’ve read recently that highlight some good economic/recovery/job growth news and make me feel optimistic. While not every article is 100% positive, at least there are some signs of life after this recession. I hope they brighten your day a little bit too…

Top 10 Reasons to be Optimistic about Recruiting in 2010

10) Monthly Job Losses Coming to an End, Says Conference Board

9) LinkUp’s October Job Report Shows Slight Signs of An Improving Job Market In U.S.

8 ) Temp-Worker Increase May Foreshadow Return to U.S. Job Growth

7) Job Openings in U.S. Increased for Second Month

6) World Stocks in Pause After Dow Hits 2009 High

5) Through the Glass Less Darkly – it’s a good time to remember that when an economy is just coming out of recession, its weaknesses are always more obvious than its potential strengths.

4) Monster Employment Index Showing Slight Improvement

3) Job openings rise, but hiring still weak

2) More Companies Plan to Hire Than Cut Workers

1) US Employers are Hiring with Retail in the Lead

So my friends, look at the glass as half full today…I know I’m looking forward to attending the Social Recruiting Summit next Monday to discuss recruiting strategies and results within social media and I hope to see you there too!

Follow my #socialrecruiting updates on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/jengreenfield Or, feel free to post your comments or links to other articles below!

I don’t usually write two blog posts in one day, but given the unusual circumstances of how my day started…I feel the need. I woke to the euphoria that the Phillies won last night against the Yankees (yeah!!!) – I fell asleep before the game ended (the score at that time was 8-2 so I hoped for the best and turned off the TV) . Morning alarm from KYW: final score: 8-6 (not too bad!).

Then I listened on KYW that Septa decided to strike at 3AM. I knew what that meant. Ug. Nooooooo! Long lines, standing-room-only regional trains, people stranded, frustrated, irate, etc. (in a city that’s already known for our lack of patience). My commute wasn’t too bad all things considered – others not that lucky. Annette (our General Manager) had a 3 hour commute, I heard people had to beg, borrow and steal to coordinate rides, companies pieced together “emergency” transportation solutions at parking garages and I saw a lot of bikes on my train this morning. My evening commute is fast approaching and from what I saw this AM in Suburban Station (cones, gates and those crazy poles that make mazes for forming lines) I have a feeling I’m in for a long commute home.

So…while I was working today and in between meetings and emails I read online a few articles about what the whole problem is with Septa and its transit workers. And, I’m getting more upset with each piece of information I’m reading. Average salary of a transit worker? $52,000 NOT including their benefits. Workers want at 4% increase in pay (or raises totaling 11.5% over five years depending upon the article you read) AND they want to keep paying only 1% of their healthcare costs. Uh, hello? We’re in a recession! “Salary increase” is a four-letter word to most of the people I know who are employed—they’re just happy to be employed!

And, on top of it all Septa decides to strike on ELECTION DAY! Brilliant! Whoever gave the “ok” at Transport Workers Union Local 234 for that idea should seriously evaluate their priorities. I mean you’ll “hold off” for the Game 5 of the World Series but not Election Day? Where is the logic in that? And, what kind of message does that send the thousands of transit takers to strike at 3AM and leave everyone scrambling for their morning commute?

So…as you can see my feelings on this issue are pretty strong and I happened to tweet to GL Hoffman (of JobDig and “What Dad Would Say Blog” and founder of a great job search engine aggregator LinkUp.com – full disclosure, I’ve written on their site before) that I felt this odd-ball combination of happy events and crazy facts would make a perfect “Gruzzle.” If you don’t know about Gruzzles, get on board. GL Hoffman creates them and FastCompany has featured Gruzzles and they can be downright LOL funny. So I proposed the idea, he liked it and drew up this formula that I think captures the essence of this debacle quite well:

Septa Transit Workers Strike

So…thanks GL for finding the Gruzzle visual for my rant, let’s hope the Phillies have a repeat, and Septa smartens up to reality!

Dr. John Sullivan’s article in yesterday’s ere.net really struck a chord with me. “The Many Benefits of Social Network Recruiting: Making a Compelling Business Case”

Too often when discussing social media (Twitter, facebook, blogging) with clients and friends I hear the standard “obstacles” about how/why these type of “social” media outlets are just “time wasters” or “unproductive.” (Or, the real straight-shooters just say, “I don’t get it and I don’t want to get it.”). OK…sure, bury your head in the sand – I’ve always found a lot of success doing that—duh.

I think Dr. John Sullivan’s article provides a wonderful analysis of the ‘nay sayer’  attitude and how we, as recruiting professionals, can combat the negativity and overcome the obstacles put in front of us regarding social network recruiting. And, his recommendations fall under a topic that is always near and dear to my heart – metrics, data, numbers, the ‘proof is in the pudding’ type of information. You can’t argue the facts and that’s what I like the most about his four recommendations.

Locating hidden talent, reducing vacancy rates, college impact, increased communications response, employer branding, and on and on. It makes sense right? And his outline really is a “how to do it” guide for recruiters. The problem for me? I’m not a recruiter. I help recruiters. I work with tons of Human Resource professionals and teams and departments. And, I’m so curious to see if some of Dr. Sullivan’s ideas work (ie. Using your own employees as a baseline for the ability to find top talent or creating a small pilot program or a split sample to gauge results from different recruiting tools). I’d jump at the opportunity to ‘partner’ up with a recruiter to create some test scenarios for using social media to fill specific position(s). I’m envisioning: outlining a goal, giving it a timeline and a small budget and measuring as much data as possible, and of course sharing results. Any takers? (Email me at blog@alstin.com)

Another, relevant article (published in AdAge, so yes, I realize the source is going to report on the topic in a different light)  about  “Ten Things Social Media Can’t Do – A Healthy Reminder for Setting Expectations” by B.L. Ochman.  In this article, it supports my constant mantra that social networking takes TIME and EFFORT (and some blood, sweat and tears). I particularly like #5 “Can’t…be done in-house by the vast majority of companies” because it keeps me working! And, I like working!

Recruiting in the digital age is constantly evolving and it’s important to keep pace, stay focused and organized. Building relationships is all about communication. If you create a centralized area where your company, your employees and prospective employees can interact and keep in touch, you’ll remain ahead of the game. Alstin Communications develops Career Network Landing Pages – a destination on the web that engages ‘job browsers’ while centralizing your digital recruiting footprint. Read all about it in this month’s iOnline.

Having moved offices with Alstin twice in the past and having just moved myself twice in a six-month period, our relocation to 121 South Broad Street went pretty well!

I’m a big fan of purging stuff every once in a while—and moving is an excellent catalyst for streamlining your life. I think I get the cleaning bug from my mom, (whose nickname—given by me, my brothers and sister—is the “White Tornado” due to her cleaning fury episodes). Going through ten years of accumulated presentations, hand outs, project sheets, internal marketing materials and the tschokes from various vendors, I was astonished at how much I was holding onto in one small office. A few of the items that I came across made me laugh out loud.

· Careerbuilder candy jar – (What happened to our monthly delivery of Twizzlers and bubble gum?)

· HotJobs travel coffee mug with a square bottom that doesn’t fit in any cup holder I’ve come across.

· CD of “lounge music” from eVite.com that I acquired at a SHRM event when the site was first launching (yes, now I really feel old).

· Yahoo! HotJobs Super Recruiter Action Doll complete with brief case, cell phone, glasses and cape!

· Careerbuilder Monkey Ad promo pieces

· Various Trump Monster stuffed animals, coffee mugs, note pads, calendars, stress balls, eye balls, you name it.

After successfully filling many large trash bags with files dating from 2001, I organized six moving boxes, labeled all my items with stickers and hoped for the best.

Now, it’s Day Five and I’m looking back on the progress we’ve all made:

With the help of two co-workers (thanks Steve & Joe!), I successfully put back together my desk on Day Two (the mover’s weren’t able to figure it out). The bruise on my knee (which I got after the desk fell apart on me) is now a faded memory. My Mac was up and running (of course!) and Internet and email access weren’t far behind which was a miracle in itself (thanks Tony R!!!). All of our stuff is finally moved over – no thanks to the rain delay from Tues night…can’t move in the rain! And, when the rain stopped, building rules said, “Can’t move after 11pm.” Go figure.

Things I really love about our new space:

· I can open the window in my office AND I have complete control of my thermostat.

· It’s on Broad Street (so now I can say I work on the Avenue of the Arts!)

· I can still hear the police and fire sirens very clearly.

· The bell at City Hall is much louder (it’s a nice way to ring in each new hour)

· I get better radio station access from our new location (you don’t know how sick I was of listening to 106.1 – not that it’s a bad station or anything…)

· The sun comes into my office window around 3:30 and gives a nice sunny lift to my day.

· When I shout—looking for people—they can hear me!

· The ladies room has three stalls (we have a lot of women in our office) and hot water (if this doesn’t seem like a luxury item to you, consider yourself lucky).

Things I will be getting used to:

· Dialing “9,9” before every call

· Smaller, but greater quantity, of elevators

· Very cold air conditioning

· Everyone’s new location and “phone buzz”

· Walking up Sansom Street instead of Walnut (I’ve headed for our old space three times so far before I realized where I was/wasn’t.)

So even though my office is chaos and filled with boxes and files, I’m looking forward to the future and all that it holds. (This time I won’t accumulate so much stuff!)

Creating ‘real value’ in today’s tough economic times is a challenge. Creating value within the recruiting environment is even tougher. One service that offers employers valuable, useful and cost effective solutions is LinkUp.com. As one of the fastest growing job search engines on the web, LinkUp.com offers job seekers a difference that is easily recognizable—job postings listed ONLY on company career sites. Not job boards or regurgitated jobs mapped from another source 3 months ago, real jobs that are posted and available at real companies. And, since up to 70% of available jobs are NOT posted to the big job boards, job seekers are tapping into job information that is complete and up-to-date.

From the employers’ perspective, with a monthly subscription to LinkUp.com, your company’s job opportunities can gain exposure to LinkUp.com’s audience. In June 2009, they received over 3.4M job views and unique visitor growth was up 391% from June 2008 to June 2009. And, as part of the monthly employer subscription, LinkUp will also enhance your search results position by rotating your jobs into the top two positions of the Sponsored Job position based on general keywords (selected by LinkUp.com). LinkUp.com also has a ‘Sponsored Job’ keyword advertising package that allows for a more “hands on” customized pay-per-click advertising solution where you select a comprehensive list of keywords built specifically for jobs you identify.

Not only does LinkUp.com offer PPC ‘Sponsored Job’ solutions, they also offer subscribers social media services as well. I wrote previously about their stellar Facebook Jobs app that also enables your employees to add a “Job Box” on their Facebook profiles to expand your reach within Facebook. LinkUp.com also feeds jobs into their new Twitter channel www.Twitter.com/JobsonLinkUp.

Don’t have a Career site that enables you to easily update, post and track your company career opportunities? (Or, maybe you don’t like your ‘home grown’ or current solution?) LinkUp.com offers that, too. Their Career Portal service is fully customizable and enables you to manage all applicants for each job posted and includes an array of sorting, keyword searching, and ranking capabilities as well. The Career Portal can also track sources and provide reports (although I didn’t delve too deep into these two areas). If you want to see a Career Portal in action, visit http://lsiowa.jobdigtracker.com/careers/ or http://lloydcompanies.jobdigtracker.com/careers/ (Note: the Jobs RSS feed capability for job seekers.)

So, my monthly ‘Vendor Review’ of LinkUp.com gets two thumbs up for providing a unique value to both job seeker and employer alike. If you’re interested in a demo or finding out pricing, call or email me—I’d be glad to help.

My next blog post….”The Move – the day after.”

If you haven’t already heard, Alstin Communications is moving up the Avenue of the Arts to 121 South Broad Street…stay tuned.

With over 10 million college students, recent grads and alumni using their site, CollegeRecruiter.com realizes the importance of communicating to this “text-savvy” audience by creating marketing channels for employers that the students and recent grads use every day (often 24/7): text messaging (aka SMS).

Take your employment message mobile! CollegeRecruiter.com can deliver a 145 character text message to the cell phones of more than 3.4 million text and 200,000 mobile streaming video enabled cell phones used by college students and recent grads who have all opted in to receive text messages from CollegeRecruiter.com You can scrub the cell phone users by 700 different fields of data. Each cell phone text message campaign also includes a free follow up plain text or HTML email campaign to reinforce your message to all recipients.

CollegeRecruiter.com states:

- 80% read your message within 20 minutes of receiving it.

- Response rate is 20 times greater than banner ads

- Response rate is 10 times greater than direct mail.

- Over 90% of text messages are read by the recipient. It is a direct link between you and the target candidate.

- On average 15% of the respondents will forward the message to a friend.

So, if you were interested in mobile marketing for your recruitment messages, text campaigns can be very targeted and yield terrific results.

Do you have a Facebook Fan Page promoting your recruiting message/employer brand/job opportunities? If you haven’t heard already, a Facebook “Careers” Fan Page is a great way to promote your recruiting message and interact directly to your “fans.” However, when developing Fan Pages, I personally found job-related Apps lacking. There were Apps for “What is your spiritual animal guide?” Horoscope, Pieces of Flair and “What 80s Movie Are You?” but there wasn’t a decent, glitch-proof FREE App developed to feed Jobs content from an organization’s career site/ATS into their Facebook Fan Page…until now. Oh, did I mention it’s FREE?

Sure there are plenty of options in the marketplace for employers to pay thousands of dollars for this data feed through an external vendor. Or, tens of thousands of dollars (in the case of CareerBuilder) to develop a Fan Page and feed jobs (only posted to CareerBuilder) to the Fan Page (isn’t that double dipping?) but those pricey options aren’t in our clients’ budgets and probably not in yours.

Why do I find the new “Current Jobs at Our Company” App so refreshing? We’ll let’s see…did I mention there’s a FREE option? The free option will wrap/feed your five most recent job postings on your career site and publish them to your Fan Page. And, a very cost conscious $39/month Premium option is also available that wraps/feeds ALL of your jobs to your Fan Page.

What else did I find so refreshing? It’s easy! Within a few clicks following the tutorial (nicely designed—by the way—complete with screen shots for those of us speed readers) I had been notified that “Within 48 hours the LinkUp Web Development Team would contact me to finish the process.” Basically QC to ensure that I am who I say I am. Within one hour I was contacted by Eric (who was very nice and well informed about the application/product) to finish out the process and I was able to activate the Jobs app on my client’s Fan Page, create the tab and the feed was instantaneous! Viola!

(Actually, I think said “WOW!” – out loud.)

So…more about LinkUp.com…the mastermind behind this job search engine is none other than GL Hoffman. If you don’t already subscribe to his “What Dad Would Say” blog you’re really missing out on some seriously funny posts (and diagrams).

I hear ya saying, “Yeah, yeah another job search engine like Indeed or SimplyHired.” Not really. LinkUp.com ONLY aggregates jobs from company web sites (Translation: no job boards are allowed to spend big $s in paid search advertising to drive traffic to their sites and you won’t find crazy jobs like “Work at home and make $20,000/day!” Does anyone really believe those jobs are real??? But, I digress…that’s another topic all together…)

So, because there are ONLY active company career site jobs on LinkUp.com, it gives the job seeker a true picture of the recruiting landscape and ALL the jobs that are available.

Sure, LinkUp sells PPC advertising but these ‘sponsored jobs’ are easily recognizable and still very relevant to search parameters (much like Google Ad Words’ Sponsored Links). Full transparency AND the bonus that employers don’t have to bid against the ‘big boards’ for advertising/promoting their jobs.

Right now there are about 20,000 companies and 400,000 jobs on LinkUp.com. And, if you’re a smaller company without an ATS or Career Site,…LinkUp is affiliated with GL Hoffman’s JobDig and “JobDig Tracker” which offer cost effective web-based TAS and Applicant Portal solutions. Smart huh?

So…two thumbs up for LinkUp’s FB Jobs App. And, if you’re in the market for a cost-effective Facebook “Careers” Fan Page but don’t really know where to start, email me (blog@alstin.com) or post a comment – Alstin can get that done for you, and I’d be glad help.

Social media…social recruiting…social networking…call it what you want but don’t call it ‘useless’ for lack of tools/solutions to make life in this Web 2.0 world easier. I just participatedin a great demo with Jobvite (I think Matt talks faster than I do!) and was truly impressed with all the features and functionality of this product/software/interface/ATS/SaaS. Built on Web 2.0 technologies (has a nice ring to it), Jobvite would be one of the tools in my arsenal if I were a human resources professional or recruiter or employer for that matter.

It’s so robust, it’s almost scary! Imagine being able to provide all of your employees the ability to tap into all of their social networks (think Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) and promote your company career opportunities. And, be able to track every point of contact through the entire dialogue. Jobvite has an amazing matching technology that enables recruiters (and employees) to promote specific career opportunities only to the people in their networks that would qualify or be interested in that specific opportunity. Talk about finding a needle in a haystack!

Recruiters can open the lines of communication about specific career opportunities through the synchronization of Jobvite with their Outlook contacts, email a specific opportunity to all employees (or specific groups of employees) and announce a specific position to select LinkedIn or Facebook contacts (based upon available profile information). Jobvite immediately scans a person’s profile on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter for job relevancy, location, job title or industry and lets the recruiter select which individuals (in their network) they’d like to “Jobvite.” In a few clicks, your opportunities could be sent around the world! Makes my head spin

I could go on and on about the other functions (“Work with Us” Facebook app, scan a potential candidates social imprint, create custom trackable URLs for external site promotions, etc.) but time is flying by and my emails are piling up and I haven’t even read half of my Google Reader articles…stay tuned…

Driving along Kelly Drive into Center City Philly is an experience in itself. Now, every time (like this morning) I drive along that route, I look for the bridge that I swam around and the sandy embankments on the West River Drive that I walked down and climbed back out during the Philly Sprint Triathlon at the end of June. It fills me with a sense of pride that I can say, “I swam in the Schuylkill River and lived to tell about it!”

All kidding aside, training for the Sprint Triathlon was intense. Now I know why they call them “brick” workouts…because it feels like you hit a brick wall head first going from bike to run or swim to bike. But I stuck with it and things got easier. Swimming is definitely not my best skill. The anxiety I feel doing a lap of freestyle is overwhelming. So, I switched to breaststroke. Harder? Perhaps. But at least I could get my breathing under control and do six laps in a pool without stopping. In my mind I kept thinking the .9K swim of the Philly Sprint Tri was 38 laps – and there’s no stopping in the Schuylkill River!

Race Day came quickly and I hardly slept the night before. I triple checked my bags and my gear about ten times. Up and out by 6:30 AM, no traffic on 76 at that time! Finally reached the transition tent and set up my bike and running gear and befriended three other women in my swim heat (there was no hiding my age with my bright orange race cap and the number ‘36’ firmly written in permanent marker on my calf!). One of the women had done the race before and gave us all some great pointers and tips for making the transitions smoother. Talking with them and the camaraderie I felt really helped reduce the anxiety that was creeping up as each wave of swimmers went into the water.

I’m not going to lie—I honestly thought, while swimming against the current during the first leg of the swim, that drowning was a distinct possibility. (Or, at a bare minimum—the humiliation of being hauled into one of the rescue boats, and therefore disqualified from the race, scared me as well.) Hyperventilating and unable to catch my breath, I looked around and saw that I wasn’t the only one struggling and that I wasn’t the last one in our heat. There were many other swimmers in the water who weren’t doing freestyle and who were bumping into one another and doing backstroke just to catch their breath. As I realized this, I said to myself, “You’ve worked too hard and for too long to be carried away in a rescue boat. Get it together. You can do this….you can do this.” So, I switched gears, kept repeating, “I can do this…I can do this.” And just told myself to get to the first buoy and if I could do that, I’d attempt to get to the second buoy. Sure enough, I rounded the first buoy and starting across current, then down current and next thing I knew I could see the rainbow arch that was the finish line to the swim. I guarantee you’ve never seen a swimmer in the Schuylkill River smiling while doing the breaststroke.

After I exited the water and could hear the crowd hooting and hollering support I was literally smiling ear to ear—I had done it! Transitioning into the bike portion was simple and as I snapped on my helmet and hopped on my bike I was literally on cloud nine. The bike portion was even enjoyable as I got a chance to look around Fairmount Park and see the city skyline in the distance that I’ve always loved. Running has always been something I loved, so once off the bike, I knew I was in the home stretch! Seeing my family and friends cheering me on also pushed me to try harder. Crossing that finish line knowing I just ran a 8:36 mile for the 5K run part was exhilarating! The first thought as I crossed the finish line? “I can’t wait to do this again next year!”

So, why am I writing about my Sprint Triathlon experience? To remind myself that during the toughest times and the hardest challenges in life, we’re not alone. Through the love and support of family, friends and co-workers we can get through anything. Stay positive my friends. Live strong.

Always on the look out for better ways of doing things (a.k.a “creating efficiencies”) I hear a lot of feedback from recruiters about how tedious resume sourcing can be – whether they are searching their own ATS profiles/resumes or going on the major job board RDBs or performing Boolean string searches on Google. Many times it can become a “black hole” of wasted time.

One product I’m very impressed with that focuses on this problem, is TalentFilter. Their search technology offers a truly automated solution that “sweeps and filters” all resumes from one search. Translation: you don’t need to search your ATS, your subscription RDBs, and the Web in three (or more) steps. TalentFilter does it all at once.

TalentFilter also ranks the resumes matched, enables you to forward to Hiring Managers for feedback/interest and market back out (in bulk emails) to the top tier resume results. If the sourced resume is interested in your open position, an interview can be scheduled within their system as well.

Let Alstin further help streamline the process. When time – your time – is of the essence (and isn’t it always?!) , my team can perform the actual sourcing (we’ll outline the core competencies from your job description for you) and based upon your skill set criteria run/monitor the search and deliver the results.

I do recommend going one step further. Have Alstin design a static or animated eCard, landing page or microsite  that touts your organization, location and assets of the available opportunity and market a branded message directly to the top ranking sourced resumes. We’ll track all the results – you will have solid stats backing up these efforts – and by opening the door to communication through these additional (and I might add cost-effective) interactive tools, you will be able to easily and effectively communicate with these candidates on an ongoing basis.

Want to set up a trial, talk about options that may be right for you or discuss questions you may have? Email me at blog@alstin.com

Every Monday morning I go in the 7-11, grab my coffee (heavy on the French Vanilla creamer) and get a quart of milk for my weekly cereal breakfasts. Whenever I pick up the milk, I notice the expiration date (one week I got a bad carton and it scarred me for life) and was shocked to see that it had 7/2/09 as the expiration date. July??? Where did June go? Here in Philly, I think we’ve had rain everyday for the entire month of June so it hasn’t really felt like the beginning of summer at all. And, now July is just around the corner?? Argh!!

Why does it seem like time goes by too fast? Are we trying to cram too much into too little time?

Even with time flying by every day, I was determined to watch the live stream of the Social Media Recruiting Summit on Monday June 15th and was really pleased to see over 500 other “stream viewers” not to mention all the attendees at the sold out event. That’s a lot of people taking time out of their insanely busy schedules to watch, learn, and interact about a single topic. The mobile-to-mobile marketing presentation by Chris Hoyt and Michael Marlatt was quite informative and interesting. And, I now have a new word for my techno vocabulary: “backchannels” – kind of like the old school days of passing notes to classmates but on a business-scale that you can utilize for good (vs. the evil, which those passed notes always seemed to create in grade school).

I wished I could have attended all of the sessions at the Social Recruiting Summit, but afternoon meetings popped up on my calendar (not to mention the 100+ emails piling up in my inbox). Ah well – maybe more time will be available next year – although I’m sure the topics and trends will have changed. (And, I’ll be sure to RSVP early for a chance to visit Google’s headquarters!!)

For now, my goal is to take a deep breath at least once a day at work and unplug/disconnect/pause/logoff/shut-down/tune-out/turn off for at least an hour a day at home…which will probably occur right before I pass out at bedtime.

I was listening to the radio today on my way into work, not HD, not satellite – just regular old radio. The topic of conversation was focused on today’s generation and all the “old school technologies” that younger populations will never experience or even recognize. As the radio personalities discussed a variety of things like typewriters, fax machines that only processed one page at a time and used “roll” paper to print, “car phones” which had to be mounted into the car with an antenna (or worse the “mobile” phone that resembled a brick and had it’s own briefcase and shoulder strap), the first VCRs (and BETA!), “party” telephone lines that were shared, dot matrix printers, floppy disks, phones with cords and rotary dials and so many more I can’t even remember I was laughing so loud.

It’s amazing to me how far technology has changed all of our lives in recent years. It’s even more amazing to me how much technology has changed how organizations recruit. 10-15 years ago print was still king and “outside the box” ideas included radio and billboard promotion and direct mail campaigns. Today there’s text messaging, RSS feeds, Twitter channels, behavioral targeting, viral marketing, wireless networks, laptops with more GB, RAM & video capabilities than ever before, On Demand, “nudges,” virtual career fairs, status updates, advatars, gravatars, blogs and on and on. If you blink, it sometimes feels like you missed something.

I’ve led presentations on many of these “technology channels” and highlighted the strengths (and sometimes weaknesses) they represent for an organization and their recruitment strategies. Often what I’m asked is “What are the latest trends that are working?” Sometimes these tools are so new it’s often the early adopters who take the risk and reap the rewards. Risk isn’t a popular word right now in the recruiting industry, or any industry for that matter. But, sometimes those who are willing to take a different direction than the road most traveled become the innovators-the one’s leading the pack and getting the results.

I’m optimistic about the future and the economy and I honestly think that those organizations who take the time now to analyze their “old” processes and implement new technologies and methods in their recruitment tools will really come out ahead when things start picking up. And, as history has shown, they will eventually pick up. So Carpe Diem my friends! Out with the old, in with the new. Not sure what to do or where to start? Feel free to leave some comments or questions, the more the merrier…if we forge through this together we’ll all come out ahead.

Twitter. Sure, I was a bit skeptical the first time I dipped my toes in the Twittersphere. I understood the basic premise-in 140 characters or less announce to the world (or at least your followers) what you’re doing/viewing/contemplating/reading/whatever. Search around for like-minded people, your friends, family, colleagues, clients, etc. and start “tweeting.” I tweeted as more of an experiment. About my blog, my current projects, a question about a work-related puzzle, etc. To my surprise, a bunch of followers came out of the woodwork. Interesting. Some were a bit odd (like the pro-Christian fellow who was tweeting about Pamela Anderson – blocked, no thank you) but others were industry-related (web site designers, fellow ATS gurus, etc.).

More recently, I started to dive right into the Twitterpool, and then I really started to be amazed. For me, the greatest thing about Twitter is it’s applications (or Apps) that have been developed. TweetMyJOBS, TweetDeck, TweetBeep, Twello…it’s the Apps that make Twitter so amazing from a recruiting standpoint.

Any recruiter can start tweeting out his/her jobs on the appropriate channels of TweetMyJOBS (like eQuest just started doing for its customers) and reach Twitterers who have the exact skillset/interest/geolocation that you’re seeking. (Cuts out the job board, I mean middleman, huh?). Jobcircle.com recently announced a Twitter-based recruiting tool for employers. Their “Social Media Recruitment Pack,” provides companies the ability to create a privately branded Twitter job channel, which is an account on Twitter that allows them to tweet open positions to the Twittershpere in real time. Your jobs are wrapped and automatically “tweeted” to the company channel and distributed to over 160 vertical and industry niche job channels (established by JobCircle.com on Twitter as well). One of Jobcircle’s first clients on board with their new product was QVC. QVC was in the discussion stages internally and considered building this Twitter job channel themselves. Once they heard that Jobcircle would have their channel built and functioning in 48 hours, their decision to outsource this task was made. With over 120 followers already retweeting their open positions out into the market, QVC has seen 20-90 more views per job posting. Soon they will have updated SEO data to report and they expect a significant uptick in organic traffic. Pretty amazing.

I signed up (all in the interest of research of course) for a few Twitter job channels related to my skill set/industry. I was amazed that within 3 minutes I reviewed an “On Call Copywriting” job in West Chester, PA and emailed my friend on Facebook about it (a copywriter living in West Chester, PA) and she started chatting with me on FB (she’s a FB-addict like myself). After this all happened within 10 minutes of me viewing the job-tweet, I really started understanding the sheer power Twitter, and social media recruiting, possesses.

I’ve read all the blogs, posts and articles on NYTimes, CNN, etc. about Twitter and the “fad” of tweeting, but until you witness it first hand (or know someone who got a writing gig or publishing deal from their “novella” tweets or a friend who landed a new job from a Tweet) you don’t really grasp the power and (in my opinion) longevity, this type of communicating possesses within the business and recruiting world. Tweeting isn’t a fad, it’s a form of communication, and I’m thinking this could get seriously addictive! Well,…gotta get back to my TweetDeck notifications, it’s been chirping non-stop. 

Ready to learn more about the impact social networking has on recruiting? Alstin offers on-site workshops, consultation and customized strategies for implementation with sociability – a full suite of service offerings for when employer marketing meets social networking. Contact us today at blog@alstin.com.

A good part of my daily activities focuses on analyzing data – the ROI from an SEM campaign, career site traffic patterns, landing page metrics, ratio of views/clicks/applies to determine job posting performance, etc. Don’t get me wrong, I love crunching numbers and seeing what comes out.

The only area where it’s often very difficult to get good data – data you can use to make tough decisions, I’ve found is “Source of Hire data.” In my experience, very few companies (no matter how big or small) truly know where their hires come from. Frequently, I’ve seen clients rely on Source of Hire data reports from their ATS to make decisions about how to spend their recruitment budget.

Makes sense right? But how do you ensure the data is accurate? And what happens when the data is at best confusing or at worst – completely inaccurate. Recently, I assisted a client with delving deeper into their application process and how their ATS was set up to track sources of hire. After meeting with their ATS Account Manager, we discovered a slew of things that were creating inaccuracies. So, what areas would I recommend any HR/recruiting staff to look at “under the hood?”

1.) Automate your Source of Hire identification. Point A: You might as well label the “self select” option as “useless” because job seekers are notorious for selecting inaccurately (clicking on the first source on the list or what they “think” you want them to select). Point B: In this Web 2.0 world, job seekers are probably touching various points on the Internet (LinkedIn, a big job board, Google, Indeed.com, blogs, tweets, etc.) to find out more about your organization – asking them to choose “one” source is bound to be inaccurate.

2.) Analyze your Source of Hire definitions (aka Source List options) and be sure they are updated to ALL the sources you are using (ie. LinkedIn post; a Facebook fan page, etc.)

3.) Use unique URLs in all media placements that include your now squeaky clean Source of Hire definitions (ie. A very basic example: http://ATS.company.aspreq#&source=SOURCECODEHERE! (yes, I’m shouting this out – it’s that important!)

4) Verify, test, verify, test – make sure your unique URLs are working & train your team to use tinyurls to shorten for other placements offline. We all know GI = GO, so don’t put garbage in your ATS anymore. Verify the data coming through on the back end, run reports frequently and troubleshoot areas/questions.

5) If your ATS has a tracking capability to follow “applicants” as they navigate through your application process, analyze this data. What is your drop off rate from the ”click to apply button” to “completes application process?” If it seems high (and it most likely will be) you really need to review your application process and streamline it to its shortest possible length.

6) Update all links on your corporate site that direct traffic to your career site as a defined “source ID.” These links will help you identify who came through directly from your corporate site vs. going to another site(s) first. (#6 isn’t fool proof at determining which hires originated from the corporate/careers site, but identifying this traffic as a “source” is better than not identifying it at all.)

7) Establish an Onboarding Questionnaire that asks the newly hired employee where they heard about this opportunity. Enable a new hire to insert info/data in the “Other:” field. Heck, allow them to tell multiple sources or their story of “how I got hired.”

8.) Use your ATS’ email templates!! This could be another post/discussion all together. ATS email templates are your friends! Design them, use the personalization capabilities, send graphics, links, promote your employee blog, email a monthly newsletter, etc.

With your sparkling clean Source Data, your reports will certainly be able to tell you where your recruiting budget should be allocated. Next step: a Media Plan/Recruiting Goals based on facts not anecdotes.