Fresh out of college – plunged into the fast-paced world of third-party staffing, I learned a number of good lessons about recruiting.

You see, the pressure was on.  Having paid for college myself, I was under water with student loans and additional debts that had accumulated over the course of my college career.  Even though I had been working about 60 hours a week, the cost of living in Washington, D.C. was very high! 

Once the staffing industry found me, there was no turning back.  It had to work!

I must have driven my various mentors crazy.  The questions just kept pouring out… “How do I…” – “What’s the best way to…” – “Is it legal to…” – Needless to say, they were very patient!

Beyond the processes and best practices, there comes a point when a recruiter develops their own style.  A moment when you realize… “Hey!  I’m a recruiter and I finally know what I’m doing!”

My “moment” came during a recruiting call.  It was the moment I realized how impactful clear expectations can be for a candidate.  While chatting with a potential applicant, I started getting very keyed in on explaining the expectations of the role – how they would be judged, what would make them successful, the good and bad parts about the position.  I’m not sure why I became so blunt… it just happened.

To my surprise, the candidate not only grew more interested, they openly appreciated the candor.

Long story short, the candidate accepted the position and started up in a contract-to-hire role with my client.  Later, she went on to get hired by the company.  I never told her that she solidified the way I recruit… perhaps I will someday.  Until then, I will take the lesson and use it in my future work.

Honesty and openness with candidates will lead to better hires and a higher level of retention.  If you want to keep them, make sure they know what they are getting in to.  You would want the same.

Do you sugarcoat your recruiting or do you put it all out there?  Do you have a non-negotiable part of your recruiting process?

Photo Credit, tiffa130

Michael Long (The Red Recruiter) is a small business owner that wears red shoes every single day. Based out of San Antonio, TX, Michael’s firm specializes in identifying the very best Human Resources and Social Media talent across the country. In addition to scouting out the best and the brightest, Michael is continuously engaged in speaking, training and consulting on the topic of social media as it applies to recruiting, job search, human resources and overall corporate strategy. @theredrecruiter

Like many other HR professionals I found myself unemployed during one of the worst economic crises this country has ever seen.  It has been a rough eight months of uncertainty – leads that didn’t pan out and hopes crushed – but I kept my head up and moved forward.  Luckily I recently landed myself a new job!

A lot of people have asked me what I have done to keep myself busy over these past eight months.  I worked a few jobs to make sure I could pay my bills, but  I didn’t stop there.  I knew that I had to do something to make me stand out from a crowd of thousands of other highly qualified HR professionals who are in a similar position.

With that said I decided to capitalize on social media to develop my personal brand.  (You hear a lot of great information on this topic by Dan Schawbel on his “Personal Branding Blog” so check him out if you can.)  What could be more perfect than an avenue to market yourself to a multitude of people across the globe?  Best of all…it’s FREE!    I started with Facebook.  Policing your profile for inappropriate comments, pictures and information from friends is essential!  Also, consider taking precautions by making your profile private or limiting what the public can see.  These are easy options available to you under the “settings” tab.  You never know when a potential employer could be viewing your profile.  After tackling a cleanup of my Facebook profile I began to share it with professional colleagues.

LinkedIn was a bit easier to set up as it is a professional networking site, whereas Facebook is considered more personal with professional networking becoming more frequent.  Your LinkedIn profile is essentially an online resume that you can continually tweak.  Know that there are limits to the amount of information you can include in sections of your profile, meaning characters.  You don’t need to put everything on your profile, just enough to make you look enticing to a potential employer.  If you have positive relationships with past managers and colleagues see if they will leave you a recommendation of your work.  Include a picture but make it professional and make sure you can actually see your face – crop it if necessary so it is a head shot.  Join common interest groups and contribute to conversations.  Lastly, solicit feedback from other HR professionals but be able to take constructive criticism!

Out of all the social media applications out there I must say that Twitter is my favorite.  It takes a while for most people to get the hang of Twitter but when they do it’s a breeze.  You need to ask yourself some questions before you take on this application.  Why do you want to use Twitter?  What kind of persona do you want to maintain?  For me, I decided I would use it mostly for professional purposes.  I believe the most important portion of your Twitter profile is your “one-line bio.”  This is what defines you and what most people will look at to determine whether or not they want to follow you.  Include things that are important to you.  For example, my one-line bio currently reads “Creator/Editor of HRGumbo.com, blogger, HR pro, social media nerd, Prez Big Bend SHRM, Tech. Dir. HR Florida.”  You need to be selective as you have only 160 characters to get your persona across.  Tweet – a post on Twitter is commonly referred to as a tweet.  You’ve got 140 characters to say something – pose a question, make a statement, recommend someone, link to your profile on LinkedIn, etc.  Develop your own rules for who you follow – you don’t need to follow everyone!  I follow people who are in the HR field, others who have common interests like philanthropy or people from where I have traveled/lived.  Just because someone follows you doesn’t mean you need to return the favor.  I currently follow 323 individuals and no I do not know most of them.  However, at one point or another we connected or I found something they said to be interesting, making them worth following.  If you are not sure who you should follow, feel free to follow me or look for recommendations via #followfriday. 

The idea is to create a buzz around who you are and what you do.  Take the initiative to explore these social media applications.  Don’t just sit back and watch, get involved.  Share your opinion to a discussion in a LinkedIn group.  Become a fan of a organization on Facebook.  Follow an HR blogger on Twitter and retweet (repost) something they said you find interesting.   

With a strong reputation in the business community as my foundation I have been able to develop a personal brand in the world of social media.  Although I may not be some big named business guru I am learning and helping to educate others while working my way up the ladder.  My last piece of advice is to connect with successful HR colleagues that have gone above and beyond like Kris Dunn of The HR Capitalist or Mike VanDervort of The Human Race Horses.  Use resources like Fistful of Talent to read about hot HR topics, learn other viewpoints, share, comment and discuss.  Reach out and ask for advice, it can’t hurt.  I reached out to HR pros like Michael Long of The Red Recruiter and Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR to ask for advice and to share ideas.  It has paid off and these friendships that I have developed may come in handy along my career path.  There are so many resources out there available at your fingertips.  Find some way to make you stand out above all other candidates and make the most of your unemployment!

What would you do to make the best of unemployment?  How would you or do you make yourself stand out from the crowd?  Please share your suggestions!

What a whirlwind of a week it has been here in Orlando, FL.  I’m beginning to get used to a 5:00 am wake-up call, although this one seemed like it came in even earlier after the Vegas Night festivities!  Up and out the door by 6:00 am to meet up with my buddy Michael Long of Red Recruiting to set up for his “rise and shine” session “Twitter for HR and Recruiting.”  It was awesome to see such a large group of attendees for such an early session.  Michael touched on the basics of Twitter like retweets and direct messages and then went on to discuss search capabilities perfect for recruiting.  The audience was fully engaged and asked lots of excellent questions.  A big shout out to Michael for giving us some face time as he was pulling double duty – attending the HR Florida State Conference as well as the Disney Institute.  Check his blog out for full coverage. 

The last general session began with the announcement of the 2009 HR Florida Volunteer of the Year, Lori Goldsmith, SPHR.  Lori has tirelessly been the voice of certification since her early days in HR Tampa, and has continued to be the face of certification for HR Florida. Along with volunteering her time serving the HR Florida State Council in that role, she volunteered to step in as the program chair for the 2009 Conference when the previous program chair stepped down.  Lori is a professional. She embraces the HR Florida State Council mission and values while continuing to improve on her skills and assisting others in improving theirs.  Congratulations Lori!

Following the award we welcomed Battlestar Galactica’s Admiral William Adama (aka Edward James Olmos) to the stage for a keynote address on diversity/race relations.    After joking with the audience he launced into one of the most intense presentations I have ever witnessed.  Everyone watched intently as Olmos described “race” throughout history.  “There is only ONE race – the human race.”  He also referenced his lively presentation at the United Nations on the same subject.

As this was the last day of the conference, it was the shortest with sessions ending at noon.  While attendees were checking out of the hotel and traveling back to their homes across the state our conference team was debriefing and beginning plans for the 2010 conference.  In a year that has been so troublesome for so many we did not know what to expect when it came to meeting our goals as an organization.  Countless organizations across the country have had to cancel their conferences due to projected poor attendance and financial difficulties.  With this in mind the council made an effort to be optimistic – and I am sure glad we did.  As one person put it, “We are in spitting distance of reaching our goal!”  Not only did our team sell out the expo hall, we also secured sponsors who went above and beyond to make this event such a success.  On top of that our attendees were amazing.  I had multiple conversations with exhibitors and sponsors who echoed the same sentiment – the attendees this year were the best they have ever seen.  Engaged and invested, not here just for the swag.

2009 HR Florida Conference Team

What began as distant goal last year ended today with one of the best conferences the HR Florida State Council has ever put on.  From a behind the scenes perspective this has been one of the largest and most demanding events that I have ever been a part of.   So much goes on that the average attendee is unaware of.  I have to give kudos to an amazing conference team led by an incredible leader.  Without them we may have faced similar hardships as many other organizations.  We stepped up to the plate and hit a home run!  It has been an honor to work with each and every one of them.  Until next time…