The HR Connexions Blog

Thank you for visiting HR Connexions Online Recruitment Blog. Designed to keep Employers & Recruiters up to date on all the developments in Online Recruitment. Please feel free to express your point of view and share your experiences with us. We look forward to communicating with you!

• 27Nov

  Linked In to Find a Job?

  Social Networking 2 Comments
  Although quite amusing and a bit of tongue in cheek humour never hurt anyone, this video does lend it self to an interesting debate.  According to Hitwise.com Linked In is the second most used website for recruitment (after jobcentre plus) and thousands of head hunters can’t all have it wrong!  It just goes to demonstrate that there is a sever lack of knowledge amongst job seekers and recruiters alike.  Let us know what you think and hopefully our Top 5 Tips below will help you too….

   

  Your Linked In profile is a virtual CV. Not only are thousands of recruiters using linked in to find talent, but increasing numbers of employers are also searching the site to find out more about the applicants before the interview stage.

  If you are not using it effectively, then how will you ever be the first choice for a recruiter or even alerted to potential vacancies?

  Top 5 Tips to Finding a Job on Linked In.

  1. Build your Profile
  If an employer or recruiter is searching Linked In for potential applicants, they will not waste their time (or money) sending inmails or referrals to people who have no contacts, a hidden private name and no information on their profile.  Aim to get your profile status to 100% by building a professional and informative profile and then demonstrate that you are using the site by joining discussions, updating your status, connecting with people. 

  2. Make your Profile Available
  There are an unbelievable amount of profiles on the site that have their interest set to “career opportunities” and then have their privacy settings on maximum.  How can anyone inform you of career opportunities if you do not allow them to connect with you?

  3. Build your Network & Personal Brand
  Promote your personal brand & build your connections by joining groups, answering questions & promoting what you know.  If a recruiter is looking at two similar profiles and one has shown indepth knowledge of the industry by answering questions, this candidate is going to stand head and shoulders above the other one.

  4.  Engage with Employers and Recruiters
  Find out who they are & where they are, become one of their contacts, join their company or industry groups.  You will usually find that most smart recruiters are Open Networkers and are willing to connect and with most people as it widens their network and helps them too

  5.  Don’t Give Up
  Linked In is another tool to help you find a job and help promote yourself to future employers. Keep active and keep up the momentum. The more you use the site and the more you engage with your connections the more you will get from it, hopefully the job of your dreams!

  Tags: linkedin, Social Networking, social recruiting

• 10Nov

  LinkedIn Tips for Recruiters

  Applicant Attraction, Social Networking 3 Comments
  As a recruiter, I can’t remember how I used to do my job without LinkedIn….quite simply - Linkedin is an invaluable tool for recruiters and hiring managers.

  1) Use advanced search to find and view the profiles of perfectly matched, passive candidates for your jobs
  Try it – you can search by keyword, job title, company, industry, geography and more….a whole free database of candidate info.

  2) Increase you network size
  LinkedIn has a global membership of 50 million – but it’s no good searching for all those great candidates if you have access to only a few. The more connections you have, the more access to candidates you will have. That’s why you will find many recruiters are ‘super connected’. I have over 2600 first line connections which gives me access to about 16 million candidates…consider becoming an ‘Open Networker’ for the benefits that will bring.

  3) Join relevant groups
  Groups are a great way of having access to candidates which aren’t necessarily in your 1st, 2nd or 3rd degree network. I join a new group for every new search I do…the group members then become available to you via the advanced search facility.

  4) Accept all invitations to connect
  There are arguments for and against having a large network, but for a recruiter, BIGGER is definitely better. The network will have more access to you, and vice versa.

  5) Use your network
  A network is like a muscle – use it to make it work for you. Be active, join discussions, give recommendations, answer questions, start your own group….the more visibility you have, the more business…

   

  Tags: linkedin, Online Recruitment, social recruiting

• 03Jul

  Weekly Online Recruitment Digest

  News Links, Online Recruitment No Comments
  Firstly, BIG congratulations to Jules Wyman for reaching the final for Britians Next Top Coach 2009  A true inspiration if you want a pick me up!

  CIPD Updates  their guidelines for the importance of Employer Branding in this recession.

  Watch the interview with Mark Williams by Mike Taylor, ahead of the Social Media Conference in a couple of weeks.   Mark gives some key tips on using Linked In as a recruitment tool and ways to build your profile.

  Enhance Media have noticed an increase in traffic to NORAS (UK’s largest online recruitment audience survey) as more companies use the internet rather than traditional recruitment methods to fill job roles

  Twitter and Cyber / Name Squatting it is still happening!  Post & comments on Social Workplace Blog

  Tags: employer branding, linkedin, social media, twitter

• 18Jun

  Using Social Media To Find A Job

  Social Networking 4 Comments
  Social Media is a growing tool for both job seekers and recruiters, but although over a third of employers are using the sites, a recent study of 18-24 year old found just 1 in 10 are using social media to find a job.

  The latest unemployment figures have just hit 2.26m and unfortunately, over a quarter of employers are less likely to hire someone if they have been out of work for 6 months or more (Institute of Leadership & Management)

  So, if you are looking for a job and want to stand out, start using your social media profiles to your advantage and if you are not on any sites at the moment, start building your network with some key sites.   But, please make sure your personal profile reflect you as an employee on ALL the sites. Over 40% of employers are now checking social media profiles within the recruitment process and if you are using social media sites to promote yourself, this is going to be your first impression.

  Linked In is a great place to start building your network (this site was also the second most visited UK Recruitment site last week).  Twitter is quickly developing as a viable recruitment tool and there are many employers, recruiters and job boards tweeting their vacancies and company news.  There is even list of all the recruiters at CareerRocketeer with some great tips to help you too.  Don’t forget Facebook, ning, ecademy, bookmarks, wikis, video communities or any other groups, networks or forums that may also be relevant to your industry or job.  Click here for a full list of social websites

  There are over 4 million results if you key “finding a job through social media” in to Google, but we will leave you with a recent video we found created in association with the DWP.  Don’t forget to engage with HR Connexions on Twitter, Linked In and Facebook too! 

  
  Starting A Job Search: How To Use Social Media To Get A Job

  More information on Using Social Media in Recruitment can be found here

  Tags: facebook, job seekers, linkedin, social media, Social Networking, twitter

• 05Jun

  Weekly Digest for Online Recruitment 5th June 2009

  News Links, Online Recruitment 2 Comments
  There is lots to write about this week!  There have been some great blog posts, really useful information and entertaining videos:

  Starting with Only Marketing Jobs.com who have written a great intro to using Linked In.  Easy to follow & understand with some great advise on how to develop your network and get the most out of it.  Download it here  As Linked In climbed to number 2 on the Hitwise Top 10 Recruitment Sites last week (overtaking jobs.nhs for the first time), if your involved in the recruitment process or looking for a job and not on Linked In - why not??!

  Have a spare hour or so? then Google Wave may interest you.  It’s a new project, coming later this year that has the potential to replace twitter and facebook in one tidalwave.  See the presentation at Digital Recruiting

  Jobsite (one of our favourite job boards) has announced that it is taking its TV adverts to the Take That UK tour this year.  Showing four times before the band come on stage at all 17 gigs, with an average of 50,000 fans at each gig.  If we have done the maths right, this has a potential audience of 850,000 in a highly targeted demographic… We look forward to the increase in quality candidates through Jobsite!

  Thanks again to Digital Recruiting for finding this one!

  Tags: google, job boards, linkedin, Social Networking

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