Skype is per their site a “little piece of software that makes communicating with people around the world fun and easy.” I think of Skype as a great tool that downloads directly onto your computer and allows you instant access to a large database of over 12 million people. Skype essentially lets you make phone calls as well as video calls from one Skype user to another Skype user for free. If you want to make calls to someone outside of Skype, the rates are very low (but I’m not trying to pitch a phone service here). I just joined in on the whole “Skype Revolution” where alot of people are actually ditching their land lines, and have found that it is a great place for recruiters and sourcers to find passive candidates.

I remember last year Amybeth Hale put together a great post on “Skype Searching” and how to run searches out on Skype. Please check out her blog post for more. I think her article hits all the key points and shows step-by-step how recruiting can be done with Skype, and all for free.

RecruitingBlogs is a large networking site from Ning for recruiters and sourcers that just pushed past 6,000 members. I recently joined RecruitingBlogs and have found a number of ways to take advantage of it. Let me show you.

To start, you can create a profile to tell the community about yourself and what you do:

Next, you can connect with other recruiters and sourcers on the site and swap info, tips and positions you have with them:

You can post open recruiting related positions you have for the community and visitors of the site to see:

Also, resumes of recruiters and sourcers can be found laying around out here if you look under the “replies” to posted positions:

Other ways to use the site include blogging directly on the site, uploading videos, contributing to and reading the “forum”, and advertising or staying up to date on recruiting industry events. The one thing that really makes this site stand apart though is the participation of it’s members. An example of this is “Tutorial Tuesday” which is one of the weekly features out on RecruitingBlogs that it’s members can be apart of. It represents a nice way to share expertise, learn new techniques‚ and find new people in the field. Below is an example (you have to go to the site to watch the video). Check it out!

Jim Stroud posted recently on his blog, The Recruiters Lounge, about a new book he completed called “Resume Forensics” that is packed to the gills with tips, techniques and more for recruiters and sourcers. Jim is giving this new book away for FREE! The one catch is, you have to be subscribed to his blog by way of email.

If you are already subscribed to his blog by email, Jim is looking to reach a goal of 5,000 total subscribers before giving away the book for free.‚ Once he reaches this goal he will email the book to you directly. If you aren’t already subscribed, trust me, do it right away. It’s simple and not only do you get a great book (which you will no doubt learn from) but you will discover a true expert in the recruiting field, and gain solid insight into recruiting and sourcing in general. Honestly, you could read his blog for days and continue to pick new things up. The guy simply gets it!

Here’s an example of what you will find on his site:

VideoJug is per their site “the world’s most comprehensive library of free factual video content online”. The site is basically a competitor to YouTube, but is geared specifically toward‚ ”How To” and “Ask The Expert” videos and content. After visiting the site, I discovered that there are several ways to uncover and source potential candidates and job seekers. Let me show you what I mean:

First I click “Technology” in the top toolbar.

Next, I click on “Computers” half way down the page on the left hand side.

I then click the first video titled “Computer Basics” under Hardware SOS.

Once the video starts, I note two things. First, I see the name, title and company are listed for the “expert” who has developed the video. Second, there is a “Meet the Expert” link at the top.

When clicking on “Meet the Expert”, I discover more information about this potential passive candidate, including details about his job duties, technical skills and work location. His current company is listed as well. All of this information gives me plenty of leads to go on to determine if he may be a fit for one of my open positions, and how to track him down if needed.

Another avenue to pursue on VideoJug‚ is to utilize the search feature at the top of the site. This‚ will allow you to locate videos based on key words and important skills sets.‚ 

One final way to take advantage of VideoJug is to ask a question in the Discussion Forum‚ and open dialog with experts and potential job seekers.

Were you aware that social and business networking sites are being used by Recruiters and Sourcers to find active as well as passive candidates? By asking that question, I’m really just joking, but if you honestly answered “NO”, then please check out the Networking Sites section of StaffBytes. You need to get caught up to speed fast.

With all the attention on networking sites, Ning is one site that stands apart, in that it not only let’s you join various networks but also let’s users build their own social network as well.

Per Ning, “the site offers a wide range‚ and diversity of social networks being used by everyone from students to artists to bloggers to alumni and more.” A quick search on the key word “software” pulled up dozens of networks. Here is a snapshot:

I clicked through to the Software Testing Club to show an example of a social network inside of Ning. Each network has different abilities, but most allow it’s members to create a profile and interact with that particular network whether it be by contributing to the forum, adding resources to share with others, or adding a blog post to the network. Other features include uploading videos, posting photos and conducting events. This is the general layout of most of the networks:

As a Recruiter or Sourcer, you can imagine the possibilities Ning presents. The first is to search Ning and join networks that seem to be inline with areas you are currently recruiting for and begin to network with others and post open opportunities in your company. The second would be to develop a social network that your company would approve (using their name, logo and brand) or start a hot topic of interest and welcome each job seeker and candidate you come in contact with to join it. As time goes by, you will be developing a warehouse of both active and passive job seekers who you can market job openings to. Best yet…it’s free. As far as getting the network set-up, it can be easy and hard depending on what you want on your network and what capabilities you want there. Visit the site and determine for yourself.

A new trend in recruiting that is becoming very popular is Podcasting, or as some‚ call it “Jobcasting”. Jobcasting is a way to advertise your jobs through a fast growing medium and also a way to build up your employment or company brand. Recruiters and Sourcers are always looking for new avenues to promote their job openings, and with‚ ITG Group‚ predicting that almost 60 million people will listen to podcasts by 2010, this should be grabbing the attention of all in the recruiting field.

Jobs in Pods is a great site that is geared toward this fast emerging‚ trend of using podcasts in recruiting.

Jobs in Pods‚ allows employers to record audio descriptions of their current job openings,‚ interviews with managers or employees, and provide overviews of their companys.‚ In addition, employers get to display a blog post out on the site with relevant links to the job and their company. The site offers ways for employers to categorize their jobs and provides RSS feeds for job seekers and interested parties. Podcasts are distributed to Podcast sites, RSS feeds, the Blogosphere and the website of your company.

A few directories to check out on Podcasting include‚ Podcast.com, Podcastalley, Podcast.net, Podseek and Podcastdirectory. Microsoft is a great example of a Fortune 100 company implementing podcasting into their recruiting efforts. Check out their‚ JobsBlog for more details.

Emurse is a site I discovered‚ after receiving a resume from a candidate this year. This candidate had used Emurse to develop and market their resume, so I checked into it a bit further. After a good walk through of the site and signing up for an account, I see Emurse‚ offering benefits‚ for both recruiters‚ and job seekers. Let me show you:

Recruiters have the ability to search for active and passive candidates in Emurse. Candidates create profiles‚ that are either free for recruiters to‚ view or require a fee. Fees are based on popularity and‚ availability for each candidate. Recruiters log into an “Employers” section where they are brought to a basic search screen.‚ The database seems to be fairly diverse, offering candidates from a wide range of areas from Information Technology, Sales, Finance and Government.‚ To show an example, I did a search on‚ profiles in Emurse with the key words “oracle” and “sql” from any location. The search pulled back 493 results.

Recruiters are‚ only‚ given the first name‚ and first initial of the last name for each candidate. Small details are provided for each profile. Recruiters will be able to see past positions, top keywords and job preferences for each candidate. Some are free but most require setting‚ up a pay account and purchasing‚ the contact. This is the screen shot of what appears when you want to move forward with a candidate and how it works:

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For Job Seekers, Emurse offers a “resume builder” where candidates‚ are walked through a step-by-step approach to developing a professional resume, along with expert tips and advice,‚ several design layouts, and options for marketing and distributing their resume outside of Emurse.‚ Here is an example resume (screen shot below):

Emurse also offers the ability for Job Seekers to organize detailed profiles and search for jobs,‚ as‚ the site‚ ties into Indeed, which is a search engine specifically for jobs. Click on the link for further information on Indeed.

My overall take is that it adds another good option for recruiters to use when sourcing for candidates, and a solid option for job seekers, especially with the guidance in forming a high quality resume.

If you recruit or source, chances are you work with an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that is filled with candidates and potential gold for your open positions. Whether you use Taleo, Peopleclick, Sendouts or the like, they offer search capabilities to delve way back to candidates who applied years ago when they were active candidates. The nice part about having their resume currently, is that they are now a potential active or passive job seeker. Today it seems to be a revolving door world for employees,‚ who look for new job opportunities every few years, if not sooner. Next time you run searches in your ATS for candidates and go back several years, try using some of the following tools to run campaigns to them…and see the many ways you can get their attention:

Mobile Storm is a digital marketing company that provides services to both small and medium businesses as well as offering enterprise solutions. Specifically they provide robust options for companies including email, sms/texting, voice and fax campaigns for your company.‚ These‚ offerings‚ allow you to do large campaigns to targeted audiences (i.e. candidates in‚ your database regarding open positions in your company),‚ free up your time‚ from pointing, clicking and choosing among each individual resume in your database (not to mention the time to reach out to‚ each one‚ individually),‚ help spread the word about your openings and your company (creating a viral marketing effect), and turn-up‚ active and passive job seekers from your ATS.‚ Fairly cost-effective too.

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Emma is an “email marketing and communications service” that essentially let’s users create custom email newsletters and campaigns. Emma offers self-service options for companies of all sizes. Essentially you can create templates or get help in creating custom email templates to run very polished and unique looking emails. Emma is set-up for companies to run large campaigns to specific audiences - and gives recruiters and sourcers a way to reach out to candidates with more of a personal touch not found in standard text emails. This service has full campaign management, tracking every email out the door with response rates. The pricing seems affordable as well.

Here is an example template of how United Way is promoting their message through Emma…

Other options in the “campaign” marketplace include: Constant Contact,‚ Campaign Monitor, PopularMedia, StrongMail, EmailLabs, iContact, eCampaign and a slew of many more.‚ If you run a search online, you will honestly get‚ a headache with all the options. I think that the above selections have the right options and price points for most size organizations. Let me know your thoughts…

I have become a big fan recently of Plaxo and wanted to share‚ ideas on how recruiters and sourcers can get‚ the most‚ out of using it. I wrote about Plaxo back in December, and likened it to a “new LinkedIn“. I really believe it to be true.‚ My network is increasing by the dozens daily. Much like LinkedIn, the larger your network the more you can gain. Only, with Plaxo, you get more contact information and options for reaching out to your connections. This can include mobile, business and home numbers, email addresses, home and business addresses, blog and personal website links and more.

An especially valuable aspect to Plaxo is that each‚ member has a “Pulse Stream” on their home page. It‚ basically lets you know what your Plaxo network is up to.‚ The Plaxo Pulse Stream represents a great way for recruiters and sourcers to‚ spread the word about job openings and a unique way to attract top talent, find job seekers and to network with others. For example,‚ Plaxo “hooks up‚ feeds” to sites that you use, such as Blogs (WordPress/Twitter), Social Networks (Facebook/LinkedIn) and a lot more. When you post or use these sites, your activity is displayed out on the Plaxo Pulse Stream. So, if you wanted to get the word out about job openings in your company, this represents a nice option for you.

If you join specific groups within Plaxo, each group has it’s own “Pulse Stream” which helps recruiters and sourcers to target a specific audience and‚ also allows for another outlet‚ to gain potential job‚ seekers for your open‚ positions. Here are a few examples:

Here, you can see a job seeker reaching out to the group I joined called “Networking for Global Entrepreneurs”:

Here, you can see a manager or recruiter displaying a message about a job opportunity in the same group:

If‚ you currently use‚ Plaxo,‚ you may already‚ be seeing the benefits. For those who‚ have not joined yet, I‚ recommend it, and believe it to be‚ a nice compliment to your LinkedIn networks and a solid‚ place to gain some‚ extra traction for your recruiting and sourcing efforts.

As a follow up to a post on Facebook from late last year, I discovered that joining groups within Facebook is another great avenue for recruiters and sourcers to use daily. What I found‚ was that by joining groups in Facebook, you could network with other members, join in on discussions and promote yourself in the community. What I didn’t realize was‚ that many‚ recruiters and sourcers‚ were starting to utilize these groups in much the same way‚ they use Yahoo Groups, Google Groups and MSN Groups to advertise their current job openings and find‚ job seekers. Check out what I mean:

I joined a group called Web 2.0 (Entrepreneurs) inside of Facebook which currently‚ has 34K members.‚ I see two places‚ in the “Discussion Board” and “The Wall” where those members are posting up messages with full‚ details and links to job openings.‚ 

Here are a few examples of job postings that I found:

and…

Facebook has‚ numerous‚ groups to join, and lots that are very niche and specific to a certain subject, topic or theme. Take a look for yourself if you are a member of Facebook.‚ I suggest joining groups where you think that you may be able to attract talent that best fits your job requirements, and also groups that welcome and allow posts for job openings.