ResearchGoddess

I was pointed to this post on The Customer Collective blog on Monday about how HR is the New Marketing – hooray!! I’m so glad to see that others are recognizing the importance of marketing in HR – and I would say, equally as important, in Recruiting. I think recruiting and HR work hand in hand in marketing employment with a company because in recruiting, we attract talent, and HR is responsible for retaining that talent.

I wrote a post last year discussing the different hats that we recruiting professionals wear in our daily duties, not the least of which is Marketing. We are front-line representatives of our respective companies. Don’t you feel it’s important to know a thing or two about generating interest in a product (employment with our company)?

In the article, author Augie Ray outlines some things that can help with this new “marriage” of HR and marketing. The ideas he throws out will help not only with HR professionals embracing their inner marketer, but also with internal education and preparation of employees who are also becoming new channels for marketing (not to mention recruiting!):

• Personality testing for all new employees
• Selection criteria for all social communication roles
• Brand training (this one is so important and so often is either just assumed, or simply overlooked)
• Setting expectations internally
• Monitoring & feedback

The sooner that we as recruiting professionals can accept the fact that we play a marketing role within our organizations, the sooner we can recognize our need for training in this area to do it properly. Let’s make sure we are being good stewards of our brands and embrace our inner marketer.

Read Augie Ray’s whole article here: HR is the New Marketing and Employees are the New Media

This article was originally written for and posted on CruiterTalk.com for the Blog Carnival.

This post is dedicated to all the nay-sayers and people who keep belly-aching “Show me the ROI of Twitter”…. it’s time you stopped asking for proof that recruiting using Twitter works, and actually listen when people share proof with you. I recently used a fantastic resource called HARO (Help A Reporter Out) started by Peter Shankman, @skydiver on Twitter. I wanted to find individuals who have found their current full-time position through communication on Twitter. Take note: this could be via a job posting that was tweeted, an @ message from a company representative, or a DM from a colleague passing along some information about a position. Here are just a few of the responses I received. The results, quite frankly, I think are going to surprise you…

1.      Chris Kieff – Director of Marketing at Ripple6, Inc.: Chris lost his job in January of 2008. He did the usual things such as going to job boards and  applying for jobs, but he also started increasing his presence on LinkedIn and Facebook, and decided to start his own blog about internet marketing,www.1goodreason.com. He began writing about search engine marketing and internet marketing, and he started connecting with other bloggers through several social media resources and having offline meetings with people to solidify connections (hint). Chris had begun interviewing for various opportunities but as many companies ended up in hiring freezes, he simply wasn’t finding anything. After one such opportunity was lost, he went out to Twitter and tweeted ‘I just lost a job opportunity but I think they want me to be a consultant now…’ An observant employee at Ripple6 who was following him saw his message, said they were looking for a social media person, and he started going through the hiring process. He was eventually hired on full-time as Director of Marketing, based on a Twitter follower directly from Ripple6 who was keeping an eye open.

2.      Megan Soto – Account Associate at LaunchSquad: Megan was recruited and eventually hired by her PR firm through Twitter. She was a senior at the University of Oregon and had a couple of internships in the queue for the summer. Megan was active on Twitter and had a class-assigned blog about PR, which was her focus in the Journalism school. She tweeted about one of LaunchSquad’s clients in reaction to a cool New York Times article they’d just secured. While scanning for Twitter activity on the article, Brett Weiner, a partner at LaunchSquad, found her tweet, which led them to her blog and they eventually contacted, interviewed and hired her as a salaried Account Associate.

3.      John Robinson, Jr. – Interactive Developer at Balcom Agency: John started at Balcom in April of 2009. He is responsible for coding and helping design numerous websites for businesses and nonprofits using PHP, HTML, CSS and JavaScript. John actually wasn’t looking for a new job when he noticed Balcom Agency’s tweet about a job opening for a developer for its fast-expanding interactive division. Still, he shot a quick direct message back to @Balcomagency to ask about the job, and by the time Balcom’s social media specialist, Kayla Bond, responded he’d already gotten a tweet from Balcom’s interactive account director, Chip Hanna. As webmaster for the Amon Carter Museum for five and a half years, John handled its Twitter account and the Balcom Agency was on the “friend” list.

4.      Andrea Slesinski – Media Relations Specialist at MediaSource: Andrea was working at a full-service communications/branding agency and had been hunting for a new job for several months when she saw the post by the media relations director at MediaSource, whom she knew in “real life.” She sent her some correspondence and arranged for interviews via Twitter the entire way through. The only time they communicated outside of Twitter was when Andrea sent her resume and cover letter for the position, which she did via e-mail.

5.      Rob Totaro – Account Representative at POTRATZ: Rob just started a job at the end of June 2009 that he found through an update on Twitter. He didn’t know Christy Potratz, one of the owners at Potratz Partners Advertising, but through other people she had begun following me. He followed her back and after a few weeks saw their posting for an Account Rep. He responded and interviewed, and eventually was hired.

6.      Lance Hunt – Software Architect/Consultant at Cogent Company: Lance had been on Twitter for a good while before getting laid-off and had around 100 followers at the time. Before the RIF, he already had accumulated a few recruiters as followers as well as many key players/influencers in the .NET Development arena due to a variety of past discussions on technical, social networking, and philosophical topics. The initial announcement about and from Lance and others being caught in the Telligent layoff was a big surprise to many who had been following Telligent over the years, so the overall response from the community was great. It seemed like everyone he had chatted with in the past offered to leverage their contacts and tried to help. At least 75% of Lance’s twitter job prospects were identified indirectly through colleagues in the industry who saw the tweets and gave him a referral or sent his information to someone they knew. The remaining contacts were directly from employers or recruiters who were already active on Twitter and were either interested in topics that he had been discussing and found him through that, or were actively searching on terms around layoffs and job search and found him that way. Lance’s current employer, Cogent Company, was one of those who found him through the former method of searching on topics and following other peoples’ discussions. Marc Hoppers, the owner, had seen Lance’s tweets while researching discussions on social networking topics and contacted him via a DM to see if he would come in for an interview. The rest is history.

7.      Tac Anderson – Social Media Director at Waggener Edstrom: Tac’s story is a personal one for me, because it was my direct message to him that alerted him to the position he now has. I had been following Tac’s blog, New Comm Biz, for a little over a year, and we had connected through Twitter and shared a few links and other niceties over time. When the position at Waggener became available, Tac was one of the first folks I reached out to for it. I sent him a direct message and asked if he might be interested. Tac was at a point where he was ready for a new opportunity, so he began the interview process at Waggener and eventually was hired.

8.      ME!  Amybeth Hale – Talent Attraction Manager at AT&T: I was laid off from my job at the end of February. Immediately, I started quietly reaching out to some of my network connections through Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter. One of the individuals I reached out to was Chris Hoyt, Associate Director, Talent Attraction with AT&T. Chris and I had been introduced by Jennifer McClure over the fall of 2008, and as we were both bloggers in the recruiting community, we developed a good friendship and respect for each other. When I told Chris what was going on, he set up a time for us to discuss an opening he had on his team, and it was a great fit for both of us. I was hired and started with AT&T at the beginning of April 2009.

I don’t know what additional proof anyone needs that Twitter is a helpful tool for connecting companies who are hiring to candidates who are looking. And for those who say this only works with certain job functions or in certain select industries – take a look at the variety in the stories presented here: we have marketing, PR, advertising, web development, software architecture, and recruiting professionals from companies operating in telecommunications, technology consultancy, interactive design, advertising, multimedia, and public relations. In addition, this worked for people ranging from fresh out of college to senior / director level professionals. So this isn’t limited to just the “social media” people or the “creative” companies.

Another interesting observation I had from reading through these stories is that the majority of the folks mentioned who were monitoring, seeking, and reaching out to these qualified candidates via Twitter were in fact NOT RECRUITERS, but observant employees and either partners or owners in their companies. So… perhaps this is a rude wake-up call to recruiters: the more you resist and poo-poo using tools like Twitter to find, connect with, and develop relationships with people, the more beneficial it will be for the direct hiring authorities, since they’ve already seemed to embrace this method of search.

So my recommendation to you is this: do what you want, and what you think is right for you. But stop asking for proof that it works, because it’s out there and you’re just not listening. And all those candidates are being grabbed up left and right by others who have chosen to embrace the tools, whether or not you do.

I learned most of the basics of internet research and recruiting from my first job in Cincinnati. The office I worked in focused on AIDC (automatic identification and data collection) and RFID technology sales placements, so most of the jobs I was assigned involved high technology searches for these types of people.

Back around 2004, my boss bought into a local arena-league football team. Since this was a brand new team, they needed to find players for it. My boss decided to task me with finding a quarterback for the team, someone perhaps who’d gone to a DII NCAA or NAIA school and had graduated fairly recently. This was an exciting search for me, while at the same time being a bit difficult because  of the somewhat high profile status of some of the individuals I was trying to track down. Sometimes it’s hard to find actual contact information for people like this…

My boss gave me a list of schools to start searching for quarterbacks from, and I discovered that my favorite search tool for finding these men was BRB Publications, Inc. – online public records. Using public records searches, I was able to piece together the trail that the men left once they graduated from college and began their lives. One person I was looking for I discovered had started a fine jewelry store in North Carolina, and yet another had started a children’s playground equipment business in the Nebraska area.

Keep in mind that public records are just that – public records. I looked at tax and residency/mortgage records, records of marriage/divorce, court records and so forth. The information I found on these individuals was used only to reach out to them and inquire about job opportunities, and I always passed contact information along to my boss instead of placing those calls myself.

This was probably one of the most unusual searches I’ve ever been asked to do. In the comments below, share what your most unusual search has been- I’d expect there have been some pretty weird and/or elusive ones!

I realize that I’m a bit late in posting this, as I visited Nicaragua nearly a month ago. But with the launch of AT&T’s college recruiting Facebook Fan Page and my 2,600 mile trek across the country to move to Bellingham WA, I’ve been a little busy over the past several weeks

The experience with Amigos for Christ in Nicaragua was, in a word, incredible. This trip was different from the one I took last year to South Africa in a few ways – it was a smaller group (only about 50 of us were there this week), and we were a little more casual about time. This came to be known as “Nica Time” – when we would aim to do something at say 9am, and would actually get started around 10:30am.

We worked – HARD. Between shoveling stuff called ‘material selecto’ (basically a mixture of sand and small and large rocks), mixing/pouring concrete, and hand-digging 10′ x 3′ x 3′ ditches for a warehouse foundation, we were all exhausted by the end of our workdays. Combine this back-breaking work with the 90+ degree & seemingly 100% humidity days (every day!) and that’s basically what the week consisted of.

Our Nicaraguan colleagues worked hard right alongside us. Each day, people from the communities we worked in came out and shoveled, dug, hauled, lifted, and sweated with us. The Nicaraguans work hard for what they have, even though to us it may not seem to be much. They take pride in this because of the fact that they have worked so hard for it. This inspired me to work even harder, knowing that the people we were doing these projects for were so willing to put their own sweat equity into the work that was being done to assist their communities. All too often, I feel jaded because of the lack of willingness to work I see here a lot in the US. My faith in hard work was renewed after this experience.

During the week, we took a trip to the Chinandega garbage dump. There are people who actually live there; daily life for them consists of picking through mounds of trash looking for recyclable material to trade for Cordobas. On any given day, most of them can find enough trash to earn about 6 cordobas (about $0.25 US) which might be enough to get them rice and beans for one day. Amigos For Christ is working with these people to help them get out of the garbage dump and to a community called Villa Catalina – a community built with love by efforts from Amigos and the people who used to live in the dump. We visited the Villa later in the afternoon and it was inspiring to see what the people there have done to turn their lives around from where they came from.

We also visited a special needs orphanage in town. The children at this orphanage have physical and mental challenges and need round-the-clock care. The women who work here have essentially given their lives to take care of these children. I ended up sitting with a 12 year old girl named Yaosca who could neither walk nor speak. It was an emotional morning for most of us, and the children were so pleased to have people sit with them, play with them, and basically just be there with them.

At the end of the week after all our work was complete, we took a day trip to La Playa Roca on the Pacific coast. As a girl who grew up 15 minutes from the Gulf Coast, this was a special treat to me. The beach is volcanic ash and rock so it’s black sand, and the surf was high that day. There was a lagoon down the beach which was safe, so we went swimming there and hung around for the sunset – absolutely gorgeous! A perfect end to an inspiring week.

Some of my observations from the week:

• John Bland, the man who started Amigos For Christ, had gotten in touch with some high school buddies. They passed the word around and there were about 12 guys who’d gone to high school together about 30 years ago who came down to work. A couple of them brought children and grandchildren. It was really neat to know that they had arranged a little ‘reunion’ to do service work.
• The Nicaraguans were eager to help us understand their language. I took Spanish all through high school but never used it so it was a bit rusty, but over the week it started coming back to me. The next time I visit a Spanish speaking country, I will do a little more prep work with the language. I think I missed out on some interaction because I couldn’t communicate as well as I wanted.
• Spending time with the children was priceless. On our last day, I brought a tub of fingernail polish and painted the little girls’ nails. I must have spent about 2 hours doing this, and it was such a treat for the little girls. The children help their families make money, so there isn’t much time for play. They know when we’re there, they’re going to get some playtime. Loving on the kids is one of my favorite things to do on trips like this!
• The work ethic there is outstanding. People typically only have hand tools to do manual labor, so it’s intense and they work REALLY hard.
• Our Amigos hosts were wonderful, we were well-fed all week and they were very kind to us. They see a lot of groups come and go through their home; they were very hospitable to us.

I’m getting addicted to doing things like this. The feelings of fulfillment and renewal of faith I come back with are priceless. Experiences like the one in Nicaragua help me to put my own daily issues into perspective in the grand scheme of things. When we take our eyes off of ourselves and do stuff for someone else, things always seem to get better. There is something special about serving those who need it, and the gratitude you receive in return just warms your heart. There is another trip to South Africa being planned for April 2010; I am giving serious consideration to returning. Would you like to come too? Let me know!

If you’d like to see pictures from my mission trip to Nicaragua, you can check them out here on Facebook!

Well, today is my LAST DAY in Cincinnati! I am taking a big leap of faith and moving West, to Bellingham Washington. Earlier this week, I was able to twist the rubber arm of Jennifer McClure, AKA CincyRecruiter, to keep me company for the first 3/4 of my trip. She’s joining me from Cincinnati to Spokane, then I’m putting her on a plane back home Many gracious thank-you’s to her for doing this with me – I was prepared for a 2,600 mile journey with just me and the cats, but having another person along with me will make it even more fun.

So, below is our anticipated travel route. We’re going from Cincinnati to Minneapolis on Day 1 (Friday). There, we will be greeted by some of the Twitterati of Minneapolis, including @MNHeadhunter, @ArikHanson, @KMSkala, @steffenson, @joshuakahn, and others. Day 2 is Minneapolis to Sheridan, WY with some fun touristy stops along the way, including the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD (recommended by my friend Christi) and some photo ops at Mount Rushmore. Day 3 we’ll head up to Spokane where we will rendezvous with my significant other, Michael. Then, I will complete the journey myself on Day 4, Labor Day, and should be arriving in Bellingham around 3pm Pacific time.

Of course, what kind of a trip would this be without Twitter! I mean, come on – two social media nerds like myself and Jennifer could not POSSIBLY do something this monumental and not share it with the world So – if you’re interested in following our (mis)adventures, please follow the hashtag #rg2WA (get it, rg = Research Goddess… ha ha ha) and you’ll get all of our updates from the road. And if you want to interact with us while we’re traveling, use the hashtag as well so we can follow you easily. We’ll be taking suggestions for music to listen to, weird stuff to take pictures of along the way, great places to stop and eat at, or anything else you want to hit us with to keep us entertained on the road. We’ll be sure to take some fun pictures and videos and share them.

To all you folks in Cincinnati – it’s been real! Thanks for a great 7 years of building friendships and learning experiences. I will miss you. To all you people in Washington, batten down the hatches! LOL. Just kidding (sort of)… I look forward to stepping into a great community and learning and growing right along with you. See you next Monday!