December 2009
3 LinkedIn Networking Strategies That Work
Over 150 million users can’t be wrong, but they can do things differently. Whether you are a veteran or a novice on LinkedIn, a networking strategy is very useful. This article looks at the 3 major types of networkers on LinkedIn and what your options are. In case you want more information about Linkedin, check out the posts on the basics and how to maximize your profile.
The 3 types of networkers on LinkedIn:
LION
Stands for Linked In Open Networkers, or just open networkers. These users are totally open and will accept any invitation. The idea here is to connect to as many people as possible in order to reach out to more people. A larger network is particularly useful when prospecting for leads and doing research on people and companies.
An open networker will publicize their LinkedIn URL at any chance to entice others to send invitations. As a LION, you will be expected to accept invitation from complete randoms and usually their friends as well. If you are not comfortable with this, you will probably want to pick another strategy.
Open networkers will have the largest networks, usually well over a thousand first connections. As you cannot see how many connections people have beyond the 500 mark, we can only guess how large some of the true LIONs networks are. Ron Bates claims to have over 44,000 connections and if you are a prolific member of LinkedIn I would venture to guess he has invited you as well (not sure how he does it!).
Professional networker
5 Tricks Recruiters Use to Find You
How many times have you been called up by headhunters in the last 12 months? Did you ever ask how the recruiter got hold of your details? This article lists some of the most common ways recruiters find you.
When called up by a recruiter, most people are baffled and have no idea how they were identified. The curious amongst us have to ask in order to avoid sleepless nights. When prompted, the headhunters are likely to say that you were recommended by somebody who “wants to remain anonymous but rest assured, they have only good things to say about you”. This is however rarely the case. Giving referrals of current colleagues without their permission is risky business and most people avoid doing this. Therefore the recruiter has most likely employed craftier techniques to find you.
The 5 main methods recruiters employ to find you:
1. Application
The obvious one, you send your resume out for a job you have seen posted on the recruiters website or a job board. The bad news is that in my 7 years experience of permanent recruitment, I rarely saw placements made from a direct application. Not sure whether this is because the wrong people apply or the recruiter not fully grasping what he or she is looking for.
2. Database
Recruiters will have your details on file if you have ever sprayed your CV out for whatever jobs (very easily done as most postings on job boards are from agencies). You will be on their database, thanks to their CRM software they should have a pretty good idea of what you do/did. But your contact details are likely to be out of date so it can take some time for a recruiter to track you down.
Want a Job in Recruitment? 6 Must Have Skills
Very few kids dream of one day being on the phone all day pitching jobs to strangers. Yet a great deal of people have tried their hand at recruitment at some stage in their career. Most people actually stumbled upon recruitment by accident and were tempted by the gold and glory.
The good news is that it’s relatively easy to be given a chance in recruitment, firms experience a big churn of recruitment hopefuls every year and most rookies do not make it beyond the first year. This is one of the reasons recruiters sometimes have a less than great reputation, a lot of juniors fighting for the same business will inevitably lead to dodgy tactics.
Don’t let this scare you off though, if you have decent sales skills and willing to put the hard work in you could be handsomely remunerated. As for salary, the rule is that working for a small company means a low basic, high commission and no benefits to write home about. The reverse ratios, high basic salary and low commission, apply for large companies and the benefits tend to be generous. The lower basic salary means the smaller firms tend to be more aggressive in taking gambles on juniors, the risk is only as high as the basic is low.
6 skills required to make it in recruitment:
1. Salesy nature
Can you sell ice to an eskimo? There are no fewer than three sales cycles in one recruitment process; getting the vacancy from the client, getting the interest from the candidate and finally bringing them together and making a placement. The ability to present opportunities and candidates in the best light is critical to success; placements do not happen by themselves and sales skills are the most important key to success.
2. Match maker
Job Interview Questions: Understanding the Interviewer's Hidden Agenda
There can be no mistaking that the reason employers are on the hunt for new members of staff is a need. This need is not about you, it’s all about them and their need. Therefore you have to sell yourself and tune in to their WIIFM. The reason a manager hires somebody is to make their life easier and to help reaching targets. You will have to think about how you could make their life easier and how you could contribute towards reaching targets. Take it one step further and even consider how the manager’s manager would regard you being hired and joining the business.
You will have to tailor your competence, experience, education relevant to them and their needs, targets and objectives. After anything you say to the interviewer, you should aim to add something like “…and this will help you because…” or “…and this will make everyone notice you because…” For every question the interviewer asks, you should mentally add “…and how will this benefit me and my needs?” By tailoring your replies and examples to their needs and, you will let them no know how bringing you onboard will be beneficial to them as well as their company.
Establishing the needs
If we assume that managers hire based on their own needs, you are going to have to uncover and reveal their needs in order to come up with answers that will get you hired. Bear in mind that every time a manager asks you are a question, you have now earned the right to ask a question yourself. Questions serve as a fantastic follow up to a winning answer.
Early on in the interview session you should make use of your questions to find out the agenda of the manager. This way you can then tweak your answers and attitude to demonstrate that you get what their needs are and that you are the perfect solution.
Different agendas for different roles
The 7 Hallmarks of Top Professional Recruiters
Guess what? The most professional recruiters are the most successful in terms of billing. Once you have decided what job you want, you should aim to take advice from and be represented by the best recruiter.
How do you know who the best ones are? Well, you can ask the people around you, find out who your HR department uses or do your own research. The Undercover Recruiter has compiled a list of qualities the top recruiters possess; your job is to find a recruiter that ticks these boxes.
The Top Professional Recrutiers:
1. Will work for the company with the best name
This company is most likely to work with the best clients (employers) in the market. They will have worked up tight relationships with hiring managers over the years. Employers are very conservative and prefer to only work with the recruiters they know well. Sometimes they will give their favorite recruiter heads up on brand new roles so they can start covering off the market before anybody else. This relationship will ensure you will not only have access to the best roles as well as full information about the roles and what your chances of success are.
2. Are very good listeners
Like in alls sales jobs, the ability to listen to the customer (in this case, you) is critical for success. Instead of going in all guns blazing with a spiel about their vacancy, the best recruiters will ask open and probing questions. These questions will nicely filter down provide an understanding of your preferences as a candidate. This way they will know whether the vacancy they had in mind will be of interest to you, even before they ask you.
3. Will find you
7 Reasons Employers Will Hire You
To secure that dream job, you have to think like the person making the final decision. What is going through the manager's head when they select candidates? This is a list containing the 7 most common reasons people get hired. Use it wisely now and do let me know if you have any questions on any of the reasons.
1. A great resume
Sometimes an average candidate can be hired thanks to a brilliant resume. Your resume is your first impression and you only get one shot at this. Pick a template relevant to your industry, look at other people’s resumes, have them look at yours, get help from experts etc before you send anything out. Remember that your resume has to be updated consistently and it is a living document.
2. Your online personal brand
