Secondbrain is a community online with a mission to “help people manage their content online and create the biggest library of user generated content in the world”.
Secondbrain opens up all sorts of avenues for recruiting, human resources and sourcing professionals. For starters, the site let’s users import content they find online from a wide variety of popular services such as Google, YouTube, Digg and Delicious to name a few. Users of Secondbrain can then search upon all of this content, share sites, pictures, videos and more with other users, in addition to finding users on Secondbrain and connecting with them. In a nutshell, recruiters and sourcers will discover new sites and new leads to pursue for finding available talent online, as well as connecting with new resources and people right in the Secondbrain community.
Here is an example of a user’s page on Secondbrain. Take notice of the red arrows. One arrow shows that each user gets to set-up his or her own profile, and another arrow shows that Secondbrain has search capabilities to search content (articles, sites, videos, pictures) as well as user profiles.
A nice site I recently discovered is called Grouply. Grouply is an online tool and networking community I noticed recruiters and sales professionals were starting to use. Grouply lets users manage all of their Yahoo Groups in one place, in addition to finding another place to do some solid networking.
Grouply currently only supports Yahoo Groups, but states they are moving to support Google Groups and other groups shortly. After signing up, I found that the site is a real time saver in that you can manage all of your groups from one site and see an overview of the activity of all your groups on one page, much like a dashboard. When you subscribe to hundreds of different Yahoo Groups this can really be a huge time saver, not to mention a very efficient way to recruit.
As for networking, Grouply has thousands of users who manage their groups from the site, so naturally, Grouply let’s you connect and network with all the users in the community. Add Grouply to your list of social and business networking sites you use for recruiting and sourcing. It is worth a look when you are trying to reach out to new people for positions or simply to market your job openings.
I wrote about Twitter in StaffBytes back in October of last year that I was “still trying to ‘get’ it”. I was a new user to Twitter at the time and was trying to get my arms around how Twitter could benefit recruiters and sourcers, not to mention what to do with it. After a few months of being on Twitter, I have turned into a Twitterholic. I love it!
I put together a short video recently on using Twitter and posted out on RecruitingBlogs. I wanted to extend this video to StaffBytes as well after receiving very positive feedback. Take time to check it out. There is lots of good Twitter coverage here. I think you will also “get” it after watching. In addition, check out Koka Sexton’s blog. I found a fantastic article there which runs through the in’s and out’s of Twitter and shows some very advanced techniques not covered in my video.
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!
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.
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.
As a follow-up to my video‚ tutorial on using LinkedIn to find passive candidates, I wanted to create a second LinkedIn tutorial specifically covering how to build your network. In this very detailed video lasting 30 minutes, I cover ways to tweak your profile, give insight into networks where you can increase your‚ LinkedIn “visibility”‚ and‚ demonstrate several solid tips to use moving forward. One specific tip will increase your network by‚ the thousands‚ guaranteed! Enjoy and let me know if you have any questions, need help or want links to mentioned sources in the video.
*If you would like full screen, hit the square box in the bottom right hand corner of the video player.
Digg is, per their website, a place to discover and share content from anywhere on the web. Digg allows users of the site to submit stories (links/articles, videos), customize their‚ site experience, join in on conversations around stories, and communicate with other Digg users by sharing favorite links. The site is broken up into News, Videos, Images and Podcasts divided into categories such as Technology, World & Business, Science and more.
Digg opens the door for recruiters and internet sourcers in many ways. Let me show you:
Let’s say you want to search for stories that were put on Digg about “ASP.NET”. You can see that several stories and links appear below. What is most valuable to recruiters and sourcers is the fact that each article gives the link source and the user that submitted the article. This creates two leads per story - one being the link source provided is a new avenue for recruiters and sourcers to pursue for approaching and discovering ASP.NET talent, and the second being the user listed with the story, in that this person may be a great potential candidate in the making! If not, he/she may be a great resource to reach out to for knowledge on the .NET community. In the example below you have the sources gutfire.com, ajaxprojects.com, ajaxlines.com and aspnetcafe.com along with users tak111 and a few others:
Another feature of Digg is that you can search for, track and stay in touch with other Digg users. In this example, I did a search for other users in Pittsburgh, PA. Think of Digg also in terms of “social networking” but with much less details and information on users of the site. Relationship building should be thought of in a long-term approach. Getting help and asking others for expertise based upon the stories they submit, i.e. if someone keeps submitting programming, development and technology specific articles, this may be someone to keep tabs on (if you are a Technical Recruiter for instance).
Finally, Digg gives users the options for RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication) which streams certain content to a Google Reader for instance. If you understand RSS feeds, this opens the possibilities for recruiters and sourcers to only get stories delivered to them from Digg that they are looking for, and nothing else. Let’s say you want only “programming” stories to be sent to you. This will help you to build up a stable of great sources around the web for finding technical talent.
Sponsored by SmashFly Technologies, Provider of WildFire, The First Job Marketing Platform
There is another website joining the ranks of LinkedIn and Plaxo and it is called Naymz.‚ Naymz is very similar to the other business networking websites but has some other special features.‚ ‚
Here is how it works: After you sign up for free, you can start to build your Naymz profile.‚ Basic membership for the site is free, but there are two upgrade packages that you can purchase.‚ The idea behind Naymz is that you can use this site to build up your professional reputation.‚ You invite others to connect to you on the site as references to vouch for your professional experience.‚ You get points for sending out invitations, adding information to your profile, and the points are also relative to the points of the other users on the site.‚ These points count toward your “RepScore”, and the higher your RepScore is, the more “reputable” you are considered.
You can easily add connections on the site by importing your connections from LinkedIn and various email sites such as Yahoo!, Gmail, Hotmail, AOL, and Mac.‚ You are also able to search jobs that are posted on the web (the search is run by Indeed).‚ In addition to being as a site to connect to your business contacts, Naymz also serves as a way to get your profile near the top of Google searches on your name.‚ The website discusses their Search Engine Optimization techniques and how they want to help their members get the most positive information about themselves out on the web.
Naymz also gives you access to several different types of reports:‚ you can view detailed activity of any visitors that view your profile under the Network Activity section; you can track your reputation on the Reputation Monitor, which shows you a list of all of the web results on your name; and you can monitor any updates of profiles of others in your network and web activity of your contacts in the Network Profile Activity section and the Network Web Activity section.
Adding your profile to Naymz can only help you increase your exposure to your network of contacts and potentially help you get your name out there with positive feedback from others.‚
Sponsored by SmashFly Technologies, Provider of WildFire, The First Job Marketing Platform
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