strategies for finding the scarcest candidates

BUILDING SEARCHES TO

IDENTIFY THE SCARCEST

CANDIDATES

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OBJECTIVES

• Create a strategy

• Know your audience

• Find them online

• Streamline your process

• Automate common searches

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HAVE A STRATEGY

• A guide for your search• Action plan• Avoid information overload• Prioritise channels• Build over time

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STRATEGY PLAN

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PROFILE YOUR IDEAL CANDIDATE

• “If I were an accountant… lawyer… engineer”–Where would you “hang out” online?

(would you?)–What groups or associations would you

be part of?–Where did you study?–What professional development courses

do you take?

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PROFILING:INITIAL RESEARCH

• Take a thorough brief– The hiring manager is often an expert in

the area, get as much information as possible

• Analyse the brief (and any other documents) for key words and themes

• Check for CVs and profiles

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PROFILING:DEMOGRAPHIC TOOLS

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PROFILING:DEMOGRAPHIC TOOLS

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PROFILE TEMPLATE

a/s/l Check KeywordsSkillsTitles

Descriptors GroupsAssociationsAlumni

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COMMUNITY

• On the internet people can be part of many communities

• Using our candidate profile and some basic search terms we can identify many of them

• These in turn feed back in to our strategy and generate more leads

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GETTING INVOLVED

• Communities can be good for more than names generation

• Build relationships• People want to help• Remember, respect group rules• Listen first, then get involved

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INTERNET SEARCH BASICS

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KEYWORDSSkill Keywords Titles & Similar Titles

Location Keywords Exclusions

ResearchChemical EngineeringPython programming

DeveloperEngineerProgrammer

SydneyNSW“New South Wales”61-2

-jobs-careers-apply

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SEARCH OPERATORS

• Speech marks– “senior associate”

• Minus– Java OR j2ee -jboss

• site:– site:au.linkedin.com

• inurl: & intitle:– Inurl:profile OR intitle:profile

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SEARCH CONCEPTS

• Xray search– site:linkedin.com

• Synonyms

• NEAR

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SEARCH BEST PRACTICE

• Look for keywords that you can use to fine tune your search

• Think about synonyms and similar words– Sydney, NSW, “New South Wales”

– Engineer, developer, programmer

• Don’t forget to use the – (minus) operator

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SEARCHESTwitter Google

CVsFlickr Forums Google

PlusLinkedin Bing

CVs

Designer Search Search

Java Developer Search Search

Lawyer Search Search Search

BusinessDev Search Search

Sourcing Specialist

Search

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH

Create your own search

engine

Great for extending your search

Recycle

common

searches

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH

www.google.com/cse/

Note: You will need a Google account to create and save a custom search engine

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH

Results are a little imprecise so we need to tweek the settings and refine

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH

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GOOGLE CUSTOM SEARCH

DEMO

www.google.com/cse/

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SEARCH AUTOMATION

• RSS = Real Simple Syndication

• Email Alerts

• Google Alerts – backed by the power of Google search

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THINGS TO IMPLEMENT

• Create a candidate profile and search strategy

• Brainstorm sites and groups

• Use this information to create searches

• Create custom search engines to store and reuse searches

• Set up email alerts or RSS to get automatic updates

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THANKS!

Andrea Mitchellwww.linkedin.com/in/andreamitchellwww.twitter.com/andreamitchell

www.thearn.netandrea@thearn.net