Take off your cape.
Put away your super-hero mask.
Turn off your x-ray machine.
Move your keyboard to one side.
Get comfortable and grab your…mouse! Here are some tips to source with only one hand (on LinkedIn!).
Content is king…
community is queen and so on. Sourcing is crucial to your role as a recruiter/resource. Keeping up with the latest x-ray commands and cool tools as well as changes to social tools is just a damn pain! Also, I feel that we spend so much time hunting that we ignore people who may be stood right in front of us.
Easy sourcing:
Here are some ideas to help you do a bit of easy sourcing – it won’t hurt your brain, you don’t need a degree in Google and you only need one hand (and a mouse!).
Go to your LinkedIn home page and:
- Go to All Updates and choose Connections – look at who you know and who they’re connecting with – people tend to travel in tribes, so it’s likely you’ll be able to connect with your connections’ connections.
- Go to All Updates and choose Jobs – look at the jobs that LinkedIn wants you to see, navigate into them and if you’re lucky the poster will be there (top right) and hey presto you’ll have contacts, and even candidates if you’re looking to source talent in HR / hiring / recruiting / decision making roles. Also check out the Jobs you May be Interested in (Home Page widget AND the Jobs page)
- Obviously People You May Know in the top right – and don’t forget to press the cross on “randoms” to get rid of them. Also to navigate to See More…
- People You Recently Visited – note the Similar button – why wouldn’t you want to look at people who LinkedIn considers to be similar to your clients and candidates?
Other one-handed sourcing on LinkedIn:
- Obviously People Who Viewed Your Profile (doh!)
- Obviously People Also Viewed (double doh!)
- This is a really nifty tip! Check out the followers of your clients’ (and competitors’) company pages. Apparently 71% of company followers are job seekers (nice!). Check out the followers of your own company page to do a bit of one-handed internal sourcing!
Actions speak louder than words:
…the absolute key to sourcing is this:
- Proactively source – don’t reserve community building for when you have a vacancy or want to canvass a candidate. Do it every day, like clockwork. Be strategic AND tactical.
- Be relevant – try and “stick to your knitting” – connect with contacts that will make the LinkedIn algorithm work for you. If you’re a Finance recruiter, connect with Finance people (from gatekeeper to COO), connect with Finance suppliers (they are usually super-networked, connect with Finance LIONs (they’re a “sure thing”), connect with trade bodies in the finance sector, etc…
- Don’t reserve your theoretical sector-specialisms for face to face meetings – demonstrate your specialism with your connection activity. Great contacts beget great connections.
And once you’ve done that, grab your cape, sonic screw driver and get back to the dark art that is sourcing with two hands!
