ResearchGoddess

It’s down to the Final Four! Florida, UCLA, Ohio State, and Georgetown are playing for the biggest prize in NCAA men’s basketball, and 14 recruiters and researchers are gunning for a “sourcing goodie bag” chock full of prizes! I proudly present to you the list of contributors to my prize bag. For the winner of this prize, which will be announced Tuesday morning, this is a pretty freaking nice prize pack. Check it out:

• White Paper on Google Co-op Custom Search Engines – by Mike Notaro
  This is a pre-public release of Mike’s first white paper…not available to the general public yet!

  Since graduating from Rutgers University in 2004 Michael has been involved with sales and recruiting within the Information Technology arena. In a short time Michael has been recognized (by his peers) for his research and ability to construct esoteric strings and API’s that uncover the hidden world of passive candidates.

  Michael is currently the Associate Director of IT recruitment at The Horizon Group where his research and recruiting skills have made him a viable entity in the IT recruitment sector. He also authors the blog Feed the Beagle!

  He currently holds degrees in both Psychology and Sociology as well as his Series 7 and 63 Licenses.

  Mike can be reached at mnotaro@thg.com

• Howling Yahoo Commandos – by Jim Stroud
• The Art of Shakespeare Recruiting – by Jim Stroud
• The Recruiter’s Lounge – guest spot appearance with Jim Stroud!
  Jim Stroud is a “Searchologist” with an expertise in the full life-cycle placement of Executive and Technical personnel, Recruitment Research and Competitive Intelligence. He has consulted for such companies as Google, Siemens, MCI and a host of start-up companies. He presently serves Microsoft as a Technical Sourcing Consultant and is a regular contributor to Microsoft’s Technical Careers Blog.

  Some of Jim’s many accomplishments include:

· Author of the popular research blog Jim Stroud 2.0
· Nominated for multiple blog awards by Recruiting.com. Won “Best Job Seeker Blog” and “Best Group Blog” due to his contributions on Microsoft’s Technical Careers Blog
· Speaking engagements with AIRS, Microsoft (internationally),The Technology Association of Georgia, and others
· Trained recruiters all over the world on sourcing techniques and strategies
· News articles and press releases with several publications, including Interbiznet, ERE, CareerJournal, and more.

Jim can be reached at jimstroud@jimstroud.com

• One month’s access to the first Magic in the Method module – from Maureen Sharib
  Maureen Sharib is a telephone names sourcer, names sourcing since 1997. She and her husband Bob own the names-sourcing firm TechTrak and Maureen telephone-names sources daily as well as teaches telephone-names sourcing in her online telephone names sourcing course “The Magic In The Method.” Maureen is a regular contributor on ERE, http://www.recruitingbloggers.com/, and several Yahoo Groups including Sourcers Unleashed.

  Maureen can be reached at maureen (at) techtrak.com

• 30 minutes of telephone one-on-one time – from Rob McIntosh
  Rob currently manages and leads the national sourcing function for all of the Deloitte lines of business in the US. This comprises of both passive, active, offshore and candidate development/relationship sourcing teams focused on proactively discovering talent to meet current and future business demand.
  Previously, Rob worked for Microsoft for 7 years with his most recent role being responsible for designing, architecting, managing and leading of the Technical Central Sourcing organization (Hired/Led industry sourcing industry luminaries such as Shally Steckerl, Jim Stroud and Glenn Gutmacher to drive the web/research arm of the Technical Central Sourcing organization). Prior to Microsoft, numerous years working as a TRP in both leadership and production roles in 3 different countries. Previous life worked in enterprise software sales and COBOL/PRG Programming.

• Blogging Search Cheat Sheet – by Shally Steckerl
  This is not available to the general public yet!
• LinkedIn Cheat Sheet – by Shally Steckerl c="http://www.linkedin4recruiting.com/lfr/pictures/Shally_Streckerl.jpg" border="0" />
  Shally Steckerl has experience consulting with and building sourcing organizations at many Fortune 500 companies such as Microsoft, Google, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Cisco Systems and Motorola. From early in his career he has developed techniques that dramatically increase recruitment productivity and allow companies to exploit the Internet. He has been teaching those techniques to staffing leaders since 1998. Shally is a proven leader in the development and implementation of Best Practices in Centralized Sourcing and research organizations.
  Shally is also the Founder and Chief CyberSleuth of JobMachine, Inc., the premier provider of sourcing consulting services and research training. The advanced methods he practices and teaches have been replicated throughout many large corporate organizations worldwide. Because of his passion for the Internet as a recruitment tool and his continually innovative methods, he has developed a reputation as an authority in Internet search, and a pioneer in recruitment research. An accomplished author, consultant and trainer, Shally is an award winning blogger (http://www.ere.net/blogs/CyberSleuthing), frequent contributor to many industry forums and speaker at leading conferences. Shally is available for customized onsite or web-based recruiter training, and for consulting engagements with companies seeking to build centralized global souring and recruitment functions. For a complete bio and list of speaking engagements, and to learn more about what Shally has to offer recruiters please visit: http://www.jobmachine.net/shally.

  Shally can be reached at shally@jobmachine.net

• Copy of Never Eat Alone – by Keith Ferrazzi
  Keith Ferrazzi is the Founder & CEO of Ferrazzi Greenlight. He provides market leaders with advanced strategic consulting and training services to increase company sales, and enhance personal careers. Ferrazzi Greenlight applies experiences gleaned from the careers of its executives spent in the highest echelons of corporate America.

  Ferrazzi has been widely recognized by his peers, is a frequent contributor to CNN and CNBC, and has authored numerous articles for leading business publications, including Forbes, Inc, the Wall Street Journal and the Harvard Business Review. He has been named a “Global Leader of Tomorrow” by the World Economic Forum, one of the top “40 Under 40″ business leaders by Crain’s Business, one of the most distinguished young Californians by the Jaycees, and one of the most creative Americans in Richard Wurman’s “Who’s Really Who”. Ferrazzi’s extraordinary rise to prominence, which includes a stint as the youngest Chief Marketing Officer for a Fortune 500 company while at Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, has even inspired a Stanford Business School case study.

  Most recently, Ferrazzi served as Chief Executive Officer for YaYa Media, a leading interactive entertainment consultancy. Prior to that, while at Starwood Hotels, he oversaw all marketing activities for global brands such as Sheraton, Westin, The Luxury Collection, St. Regis, and W Hotels. Previously, Ferrazzi was Chief Marketing Officer of Deloitte Consulting, a leading global management consulting firm, where he developed and managed the industry’s first globally integrated marketing organization. His creative marketing strategy drove the ascent of Deloitte’s “Consulting” brand recognition from the lowest in the industry to a primary position, and spurred the highest featured growth rate in the industry.

  Ferrazzi earned a BA degree from Yale University and an MBA from Harvard Business School .

• Copy of How To Become a Rainmaker – by Jeffrey J. Fox
  Jeffrey Fox is the founder and president of Fox & Company, Inc., a marketing consulting firm that specializes in marketing strategy development, innovation enhancement, selling skills training, branding, and various applications of a proprietary value-selling methodology called dollarization. Jeffrey is the winner of Sales & Marketing Management magazine‘s Outstanding Marketer Award; winner of the American Marketing Association‘s Outstanding Marketer in Connecticut; and the National Industrial Distributors award as the Nation’s Best Industrial Marketer. Jeffrey Fox is an accomplished consultant, popular speaker, and the acclaimed author of a series of hard-hitting international business best-sellers.

  Jeffrey graduated from Trinity College in Hartford, Connecticut, and earned his MBA from Harvard Business School. He served as Trustee of Trinity College and has won several alumni awards, including Person of the Year.

• A guest interview spot on the Research Goddess radio show – from yours truly!

• A $40 gift card from Circuit City

….and a special prize – a kiss from the Research Goddess herself!

Total value on all of these items is over $400!

Check back Tuesday morning for the announcement of the winner!

…is because of things like this I opened my email this morning to find a wonderful note from one of my franchise owners. This kind of stuff just warms my heart – thanks Cutter!

Over the past few years there has been a great deal of interest and development in social and professional networking. With the popularity of social and professional networking technology tools, there is an increasing need to be on top of your networked contacts. This is to the point that some companies have started to see the need to add a new job function: social and professional network management. While there doesn’t seem to be a big movement yet to embrace this job function, there are lots out there who are talking about the “CNO” – Chief Networking Officer.

Wikipedia defines this new position: “The Chief Networking Officer (CNO) is a new corporate executive office in the business world; it refers to a person who manages the social capital of a company. The CNO connects people and businesses within the company, with other companies, as well as with consumers, hence facilitating know-how transfer and information flow, and allowing for profits to grow.”

The company CNO Parters has been on the cutting edge of this emerging need. Check out their website and the tools they have available for developing a professional networking interest within your company. They base much of their networking recommendations on the Meta Relationship Networking Project (MRN), which will “integrate everything a networker needs into a single platform” using cell phones and other internet-based devices.

I presented this question to my LinkedIn network: “In the next 2-5 years, do you think there will be a growing need for companies to have someone in house to grow, manage, and leverage social and professional networks for the executives?”

I received responses all across the board on this inquiry. Below are some of the responses given.

Bill Champitto, Principal and Executive Producer with Leader Networks responds:
“They already are in a couple of forms, although unless the company’s primary business is publishing or events I’m not sure we’ll see a CNO role. As earlier posts suggest, the community/network is a multifaceted role spanning many roles. As a consulting organization focusing on online business communities, we’ve seen a lot of models including the development of specific business units or P&L’s, which are obviously run at an executive level. And more frequently we are seeing companies hire community roles such as executive producers and moderators, as well as deploying specific support functions for the underlying eMedia, technology, sales and customer support needs. …but again have yet to see a CNO.”

Paul Moriarty, IT Executive with Trend Micro writes:
“I’d have to say no. The important thing about a network is that it’s personal. How many personal relationships do you have with a company? People in a company, yes, but the company itself?”

Jessica Margolin, a self employed consultant and analyst (Margolin Consulting) says:
“I believe there will be a need for an effort to manage the COMPANY’S networks. In particular, the ability to quantify and manage the social / relationship / brand assets of a company is an emerging field, and one that’s related to corporate social responsibility, or CRO (the corporate responsibility officer), which is an emerging title. What you’re describing is an elite executive assistant (which may not be a bad role, either). Traditionally C-levels do manage their own network, and LinkedIn is just a tool to make that easier. Otoh [on the other hand], it makes it “outsourceable” too.”

So you can see that there are some who think this is coming and others who think it is a function that will remain in the hands of the individual. Some people also believe that this should be the responsibility of existing Human Resources and/or Marketing departments within a company.

Regardless, one cannot ignore the fact that it is vitally important to forge and cultivate relationships within your industry and related industries. The concept of the CNO I believe is still in its infancy, but I think in the next 2-5 years you will start seeing more and more companies hiring individuals who specialize in this sort of professional interconnectivity.

I welcome your comments and thoughts on this matter as well!

Related resources:
SocialTwister article: Chief Networking Officer – Isn’t That What I Do?
Vowe.net article: What is a “Chief Networking Officer?”
Some Assembly Required blog
The National Networker article: Big Business Networking, Part III: Rise of the CNO?

Find the latest Internet recruiting news at Cheezhead.

After reading Shally’s post, NY Post @ Work Article on “Using the Web to your Advantage”, that came through my reader this morning, I was intrigued by Emurse. I’m sure lots of you have already checked this out but this was my first time. It’s an online resume hosting site and I thought it looked pretty cool. I created a profile for myself just to see what can be done:

http://researchgoddess.emurse.com/profile/

This is certainly a cool tool for job seekers, but I wanted to see if I could use it for sourcing. So, I used a real simple Boolean search string to see what I could come up with:

site:emurse.com software engineer -inurl:jobs

Not too shabby! Notice also at the top of the page in the blue bar, it lets you know when the resume was last updated. On the right side of the blue bar, you also have the option to download the resume as a .doc, .pdf, .rtf, .odt, .html. or .txt file. You can also print it off. Last thing, which I thought was VERY cool, is that you can subscribe to an RSS feed on the resume. What this means is that you would receive an update in your RSS reader any time this person updated their resume.
Also, if the information on the resume is blinded, you can simply use one of your search engines to look up the name and contact information for that individual. There are tons out there so pick your poison!

Here’s some info about the company:

Emurse, an anagram for Resume, is a powerful online tool designed to help take control of your job hunt. We accomplish this through four key features:

Resume Builder
Emurse allows job seekers to easily create and maintain a professional resume that is hosted online, available for download in any needed format. Making additions and keeping resumes up-to-date and ready to go has never been easier.

Job Hunt Organizer
Job hunters can quickly send their resume from within Emurse allowing them to keep track of all the many interactions that occur over the course of a job hunt. Emurse also helps catalog the many interactions that happen offline as well. Stay “on the ball” with automated reminders, status updates and return receipts.

Web Resumes
Emurse allows job seekers to host their resumes online at their own customized web address. Instant notifications allow the candidate to know exactly when and from where potential employers viewed their resume. Password protection and other privacy controls can be used to control access. Detailed statistics and graphs aid in effective resume distribution and harness the power of all the major search engines at once.

Job Postings
Emurse analyzes your resumes and displays relevant job postings in your local area, bringing the job hunt directly to the job seeker.

Alternative recruitment advertising methods include podcasting jobs.

For anyone who hasn’t read some of my prior postings, this is a topic that I have and will continue to pick apart, beat to death, and feel very strongly about. There are clear function differences between research and recruiting, and my intent is to bring to light these differences. If you have not seen Rob McIntosh’s latest project, please check it out. I’m thrilled because he has taken this subject to a whole new level and certainly given me some food for thought!

After a recent conversation with an IT recruiter and personal friend, I discovered that even people who know me and (I thought) understand what I do as a researcher don’t completely get what differentiates research and recruiting. So in this post, I am going to break these two functions down even further in the hopes that some additional clarification can be made.

In my conversation with my friend, I was reminded that in the world of recruiting, there are two vitally important activities that must be performed: marketing your recruiting services (sales) and candidate discovery. Most recruiters will tend to gravitate toward one or the other. My friend alluded that he prefers the sales aspect of recruiting more than the actual candidate contact. There are other recruiters who prefer the contact with the candidates as opposed to marketing their services to potential clients. What this boils down to is comfort and personal preference.

With this said, in the function of research, there are those who conduct research primarily by the phone and those who do research primarily on the internet. Then there are hybrids who can/enjoy doing both. What it boils down to, like the recruiting activities, are comfort and personal preference.

Here’s where a lot of people tend to get confused about what a researcher truly is. For example’s sake, let’s call the person who enjoys the client side of recruiting ‘Sales’, the person who enjoys the candidate interaction ‘Recruiter’, and the person responsible for generating contact leads ‘Researcher’. The Recruiter will often spend some time conducting his or her own research, though probably not as in depth as the dedicated Researcher would. Most good Recruiters that I have known are subscribers to their industry’s publications and stay up to date on what’s going on with the people within their space. This will assist them in their candidate interaction.

Where people get confused between the division of Recruiter and Researcher is where to draw the line on job function. I have said in the past that Researcher generates leads only and Recruiter qualifies them. In my conversation with my friend, his belief was that as a Researcher, part of my responsibility was a certain amount of pre-qualification of leads, which in his mind boiled down to initial contact and an “are you interested in this opportunity” conversation. This falls in line with some of the things that Rob wrote about in his wikipedia entry, but I think a little further clarification should be made on his analysis. Some other factors need to be taken into consideration, the most important of which would be:

• How many Recruiters is the Researcher supporting?
• How is the Researcher being compensated?

I think these two questions make a HUGE difference in how one should view the function of Researcher.

FACTOR 1: Number of Recruiters your Researcher is supporting makes a difference in their job function.
Example: if you have a Researcher who is supporting more than 5, maybe 6 Recruiters OR Sales, I don’t think it’s fair to expect them to be pre-screening leads in addition to uncovering them in the first place. In my case, I currently support all of our franchise offices (we currently have about 40 active franchise offices with an additional 25+ folks who are recruiting and in process of becoming franchisees, not to mention all the employees of these offices) with research and database support. Granted, the 80/20 rule applies here – approximately 80% of my work comes from 20% of my offices. But even at that, that is 13 offices and in-process franchisees that are using me on a regular basis for research and database assistance. How could one person possibly be conducting pre-screening for all of that activity? Even the best Researchers can usually only completely support between 3-6 Recruiters on their own.

FACTOR 2: How your Researcher is compensated makes a difference in the part they play in the recruiting process.
Many Researchers make a base salary and then are awarded commissions based on placement of leads that originated from their research. This percentage can range from fractions of a percent to a 50/50 split. I think that how your Researcher is compensated should play a part in how much of the placement process they are involved in. If you are rewarding your Researcher with a smaller percentage of the placement fee (in my opinion this is 10% or less of the fee), then they should not be expected to pre-screen, pre-qualify, or really have too much interaction with the contacts they generate. If your Researcher is not making a base salary or is given a larger percentage of the placement fee, then I think you can expect them to participate in more of the process. Heavy commission compensation would encourage anyone to help expedite the placement process, thus making it more realistic in this case for the Researcher to be involved further into the process.
In the conversation I had last week, my friend was under the impression that I was not making a base salary and that I split any placements with Recruiter or Sales right down the middle. That, I think, is what a lot of Sales and Recruiters believe happens with Researchers. And to be honest, I always believed that all Researchers were compensated similarly to the way that I am. So we were both thinking incorrectly.

I believe this is where the true disconnect is. My friend admitted that he wished he did not have to conduct research. I asked him if he were to hire someone he would label as a Researcher to work for him what duties he would have that person do, and what he would then be responsible for. Here’s how he broke it down:

How he described his desired ideal duties: negotiate and talk to clients, get job orders, set up interviews
How he described the duties of someone he would hire as a Researcher: find leads, qualify them, and be the intermediary between him and the candidate, for which they would be paid a 50/50 split of the placement fee

When he said this, I had a light bulb moment! What he had just described as his ideal duties fell into Sale
s, and what he had described as Researcher duties fell under Recruiting (I mentioned the term Project Coordinator, going back to my old MRI days)! I finally understood why some people think that’s what research is all about. They perceive the complete job function of a Researcher to be more of a hybrid of a Recruiter and a Researcher rather than the two being completely separated functions. Couple this with the idea that he thought I was ONLY making compensation through commission, and I had an epiphany. Finally, a breakthrough to this misconception that has driven me mad! I felt so relieved and was very excited to be able to write this further clarification.

**BONUS FACTOR: After speaking with Rob about these ideas, he brought one more factor to my attention – the “Fear Factor”. What this is, is the idea that some Recruiters/Sales fear what Researchers can do, and the idea that they may lose some job satisfaction or have to pass along some of the credit if a Researcher did their initial footwork for them and eliminated the “hunt” from their job function freaks them out. Sound silly? Answer me this question then: How many of you out there who are Sales or Recruiters responded to my LinkedIn question stating that you do your own research and would not consider using a Researcher? Or if you are not part of my LinkedIn network (please join it if you’re not!) and did not get the question I presented, how many of you Sales or Recruiters out there insist on doing all or most of your own research? Rob said to me, “We all know (even these Recruiters) that the true, real, and definite value in recruiting is the ‘finding of talent’, not the processing of talent…I am not saying there is no value in holding the hand of the candidate through the interview process, ‘selling’ them or crafting a great offer….but, rather if you asked a business leader what would they like their recruiter to focus on and inevitability the response we all know will come back is ‘Find me more people’”.

In conclusion, I believe that Rob’s analysis of the job function of a Researcher is a great piece of work and helped clarify things for me; I definitely agree with the Proactive vs. the Reactive techniques he describes (reactive not being things for which a Researcher should be responsible). His description of primary and secondary sourcing hits the nail right on the head. There must be a clear line where your duties as a Researcher stop and the duties of a Recruiter start. However, I would simply add to this definition the factors of compensation method as well as number of Recruiters/Sales to be supported by the Researcher in determining the duties for your Researcher. Give them too many people to support beyond lead generation and they will become a jack of all trades and a master of none.

Some additional interesting resources regarding this topic:
Sourcing (wikipedia entry) – Rob McIntosh
Researchers (AKA Sourcers?) – Rob Merrill
Obtaining Upper Management Buy-In For Sourcing – Shally Steckerl
Jim Stroud’s Podcast with Doug Beabout – Jim Stroud
Emerging Roles In Recruiting – Dave Lefkow

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