Savvier Job-seekers are Now Reverse Engineering Savvy Recruiters

Knowing what recruiters do to find people, allows the job-seeker to reverse engineer the process. This was the hot topic at LinkedIn's March 28th webcast I conducted for job-seekers. (We also offered those who attended the webcast a sample excerpt from my book. It should help.)

There are three big ways recruiters find candidates: posting jobs, searching through resume databases and networking for referrals. The effectiveness of each approach is shown in the graphic represented by the “X-factor.” In comparison to a job posting, networking is 20 times more likely to produce the best candidate, since it's more targeted and covers both active and passive candidates. Searching for resumes is five times more likely to result in a strong candidate by laser focusing on a broader pool of potential candidates, including those who have previously applied. For recruiters, finding a strong candidate through a job posting is the least effective technique, since too much time is spent weeding out the large group of “unqualified” people who apply.

To cover the complete talent market, I suggest that recruiters implement a 20/20/60 sourcing plan. This means they should spend no more than 20% of their effort posting jobs, but these jobs need to be easy for candidates to find and compelling to read. Another 20% should be using search tools to find top people in resume databases. The remaining 60% involves advanced networking and recruiting techniques to identify and recruit the best people in the field.

Since this is how recruiters spend their time finding candidates, job-seekers should implement their own 20/20/60 job-hunting program to make sure they’re more likely to be found and considered. Here’s the quick summary excerpted from one of my recent publications:

1. Responding to a job posting. Spend only 20% of your efforts responding to ads, but do it right. Recognize this is a high-tech, low touch process, with some clever macro extracting critical information (skills, companies, industry, titles and academics) about you and ranking you somewhere in the stack of the hundreds of others who have applied. This data extraction and analysis is becoming more sophisticated, however, it can't yet read between the lines. Having a list of keywords at the bottom of your resume and repeated multiple times for each job will have more value than if you’re any good at the skills listed. For example, indicating you were part of team that led the implementation of an SAP Xcelcius dashboard at a Fortune 500 company, will earn you big points even if you only had a small role.
2. Being found in a talent pool. Although responding to a job posting is a low probability effort, having your resume in multiple databases like CareerBuilder, Indeed, Dice and LinkedIn, is important, since recruiters are constantly looking for candidates this way. Getting the call about a job opening is a two-step process: first being found and then being favorably reviewed. Embedding important skills-based keywords multiple times throughout your resume or profile will help you be found. Make sure you include diversity terms, honors, special recognition, or any awards on your resume since recruiters are always searching on these terms. Once your resume is found, a recruiter will spend about 15-20 seconds to determine if it deserves a more detailed review. To standout from the crowd put your address and contact info at the bottom or in a sidebar, replaced with a personal branding statement right below your name. For example, “Just completed big data analytics dashboard with Accenture integrating Cognos/IBM BI with Salesforce.com.” Make your job titles short and descriptive with promotions, awards, and any recognition received, easy to spot.
3. Getting referred. The path of least resistance for a recruiter or hiring manager is to hire someone who is personally known and vouched for by a trusted source. People in this category tend to be hired based on their past performance and future potential, even if they lack the perfect skill set. For those without the full complement of skills, this is a golden opportunity to get hired into a great job. That’s why networking is so important, and why 60% of your job-seeking efforts should be focused on meeting people who can connect you to the people making hiring decisions. Consider external vendors like accountants, consultants, lawyers and service providers as possible connections. For internal connections, think beyond the function. For example, marketing people work with engineers, sales works with finance, quality works with operations, and IT works with everyone. While networking takes the most effort, it also has the most potential.

Finding another job, or a better job, starts by reverse engineering how recruiters find and hire people. If you’re tired of the high-tech, low touch approach of responding to job postings, you’ll need to implement your own 20/20/60 job-hunting program with a big emphasis on networking. That’s how most great people got their great jobs. While it’s far more labor intensive than the “apply and hope” approach, it's likely to be more productive, and it's a lot better than complaining.

Photo: Anne Rippy/The Image Bank/Getty Images

______________________________________________________

Lou Adler (@LouA) is the Amazon best-selling author of Hire With Your Head (Wiley, 2007) and the award-winning Nightingale-Conant audio program, Talent Rules! His latest book, The Essential Guide for Hiring & Getting Hired, is now available as an Amazon Kindle eBook. You might want to join Lou's new LinkedIn group to discuss hiring related issues.