The Engaging Brand

10 Social Media Tactics for Finding Talent

We all know how hard it is to attract talent, actually I should say the right talent! This is another area that if I was still a Group HR Director I would be looking at closely. Here are 10 social media recruiting tactics I would be thinking of employing

1. Use Twitter to advertise talent gaps - it is the ultimate friend recommendation.
2. Use Facebook to create a company page, showing why talent should entrust their career with you. Create a story around their career with your brand.
3. Use Google Reader to cover your industry area...be searching for talent through RSS feeds. Blogs/Podcasts are a shop window for personal brands.
4. Use social media on your site - For example, an interview from a board member to say why talent is at the core of strategy, a video of the environment.
5. Use a wiki for FAQ on recruitment
6. A bar camp for people wanting to know more about your industry (not your company)
7. A podcast helping recruits to understand how to build a career from leaving college/university.
8. As with Microsoft, encourage blogging from within to show the talent, to show the openness, to engage with future consumers of your employer brand.
9. Use networking sites such as Linked In, Facebook to find talent.
10. Sponsor a podcast which attracts the talent you are looking for...if you want designers choose a creative podcast...

You don't need a large budget for recruitment, you need a passion for reaching the right people...

How to Retain Employees - Carnival

Here is this months carnival of articles on how to retain employees. Retaining talent is such an important part of being a leader, so I hope these help!

MabelandHarry presents If It Ain't Broke.....Fix It! posted at MabelandHarry

Meredith Mathews presents Top 10 Ways to Turn Around a Bad Day at Work. posted at Lemonade Stand.

Phil B. presents The Right and Wrong Ways to Boost Morale « Phil for Humanity posted at Phil for Humanity, saying, "I think morale has reached an all time low where I currently work, and I would guess that the same is true where you work too."

Health Chaos presents Admitting Mistakes posted at Health Chaos.

Warren Wong presents Be A Good Manager By Letting People Learn And Grow posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, "Information on the common mistakes an new manager makes and tips on how to be a good manager."

Tupelo Kenyon presents Integrity Through Self-Reliance posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "When you live your life as if the whisperings from your soul really matter, you are living life in your own way, on your own terms, based on your own realizations on what is right . . . what is good . . . and what is true for you. You are tuned into your own station. The signal you are receiving and the message you are broadcasting with the story of your life are both on the same frequency."

Ant presents 5 Ways To Not Get Your Point Across posted at The Beef Jerky Blog.

Alvaro Fernandez presents Brain Fitness Program 2.0, MindFit, and much more on Brain Training posted at SharpBrains, saying, "Review and commentary on several New York Times articles related to "brain training"...when will companies start adding these tools to their training initiatives?"

Cade Krueger presents Don’t Get Frustrated About Employees or Customers posted at Write To Right.

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of how to keep employees using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Atraction and Retention of Employees - Blog Carnival

Welcome to the August 10, 2007 edition of how to keep employees.

Jay Gordon Cone presents Managing top performers posted at Interaction Associates - Thought leadership and practical tools for collaboration., saying, "Here's a practical framework for keeping your top performers productive and engaged."

MabelandHarry presents Inner Values posted at MabelandHarry

Louise Manning presents How often do you retreat? posted at The Human Imprint.

Warren Wong presents My Partner?s Not Doing Enough Work! posted at Personal Development for INTJs, saying, "Do you find that your partner's not doing enough work and are angry for having to pick up the slack? Here's how to handle it."

Charles H. Green presents Negotiation and the Short Term Performance Trap posted at Trust Matters, saying, "An employment relationship is generally long term, and can be thought of as a series of negotiations.  Smart managers understand this."

Tupelo Kenyon presents Don't Take it Personally posted at Tupelo Kenyon, saying, "Why do people criticize? It's not about you – it's about them.  When you get criticized, here's what to do with it – don't take it personally. Praise can be just as harmful (but sneakier) – don't take it personally. If you're a habitual critic, here's how to stop . . . but don't take it personally. (Enjoy soothing instrumental music as you read plus songs with lyrics related to each article – all free.)"

Jason Rakowski presents How To Deliver Technical Support That Delights The End User, Part Two posted at Learn Good Customer Service, saying, "For computer companies technical support can make or break you.  If you are in high-tech this is a must read."

Christopher J. Brunner presents The Balance of a Leader posted at GreatFX Business Cards, saying, "Being a good, strong, dependable leader is all about balance. Being a leader is not a one-sided position. You cannot be rough on your employees and never show them any tenderness. And you can’t be easy on everyone and never show them any discipline. You have to have a balance of both."

Alvaro Fernandez presents Top Ten Tips for Women Who Lead Men posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution, saying, "Some of these tips may help both men and women..."

rck@TheRoadtoCEO.com presents A Motivation Secret of Top Performing Managers posted at Get More Done with Activity Logs"

Pete Johnson presents Running Diary: Preparing for my performance evaluation, Part 1 posted at Nerd Guru

John Hill presents How to Attract Good Staff posted at Attracting People.com.

Health Chaos presents Health Care Managers: Tips posted at Health Chaos.

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of how to keep employees using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Talent is Like Chocolate

Let me explain my train of thought

1. A box of chocolates has an array of flavours...all with the same values but add a different experience to the consumer.
2. Talent is addictive....when you surround yourself with talent, you understand that taste of success and want more..and more
3. Talent fattens your wallet by adding pounds to the bottom line.
4. Talent is made up of quality ingredients....ranging from values to ability to share knowledge, from decision making to inspiring creativity in others. When looking for potential talent look to see if the ingredients are there, not whether it is fully formed yet.
5. Great talent costs a premium...but then again you would expect to pay more for pure chocolate.
6. Talent can be found everywhere...it can catch your eye and draw it to you...one moment you didn't think you were hungry for talent and then there it is...you have to have it.
7. Overheat it and it melts away in front of your eyes

A post dedicated to all talented chocolate fiends!

You think your induction was bad!

This week in the UK we have had a near escape in London with a car bomb and an explosion at Glasgow airport - minor I suppose to the launch of the iPhone!

It made me think how a relatively unknown MP - Jacqui Smith copes with her first day as Home Secretary. I often talk about ensuring that people are eased into a new role, that it is imperative to give employees the best chance of succeeding in their role.
There she is sleeping soundly after achieving a promotion that she had dreamed of, then her sleep gets broken by a telephone to say sorry you need to come into work - we have a national security alert.....

Now I have witnessed bad first weeks but I cannot imagine how you cope with (1) trying to get to grips with your new role at the same time as (2) having a national  security threat.

Who would be a politician?? Maybe a future guest on The Engaging Brand podcast to explain how on earth you cope....!!

Was Machiavelli speaking about employees?

Machiavelli said

"....and partly from the incredulity of mankind, who do not truly believe in anything new until they have had actual experience of it"

I think this is so true when you are recruiting. The first 3 months are critical to ensuring that an employee is engaged with the company for the long term. At the interview, you have raised expectations, raised hope that this company really understands how to motivate people.....the first 3 months help the employee decide whether this is spin or reality.

People don't judge you as an employer by the glossy brochure, they judge you by the experiences, the emotions they feel in dealing with you. Do you deliver your promises? Do you treat them with respect? Do you value them as people- as part creators of the company success - no matter the role?

...Talent is hard to find, when you find it don't think the process is over...far from it, it has just begun! Now it is about letting them experience the personality of the company, it is about how they feel about what was said to them at the interview compared to the reality.

Talent Spotting the New Hobby of Leaders

As a leader you need to find talent, attract talent, passionately love talent ( with HR guidelines of course!) and bring out the best of that talent. I am a great believer that the search for talent is not something that you do when you have a gap, it is a continuous process. If you find someone with the talent and passion then grab them, challenge them to come into the company and pay for themselves. So where can you talent spot...

• On the web - look at blogs, podcasts etc, look for people with similar values and ones that are putting ideas out there, ones that are pushing the boundaries, trying to define the future.
• Link with colleges and schools - find ways that you can add value to the studies but use it as a chance to look for those bright - untainted by business - brains. Offer work experience opportunites, offer projects, run competitions.....search out that future talent.
• Use online networking - see who people are talking about, look for ways to reach and connect to the talent.
• Everywhere you go! I found a superb credit controller whilst I was shopping in a market!! She had brilliant negotiation skills - I offered her a job there and then. I found a team leader through playing sport - he was a superb captain, one who could motivate people, one who could sense how the game was going, one who could set tactics and strategy....he knew nothing about our industry but he came in, turned round a team that was disillusioned and improved performance by 37%.

I don't believe there really is a talent shortage - I think the talent is there, all around us. I think we just need to open our eyes and seek it out. I think we need to be more adaptive in our style of finding talent in the strangest places! Talent does exist, remember every day you are the leader of the Treasure Hunt for Talent and just see how much you spot.....you will be surprised.

Inviting Prospective Talent

It always amazes me how boring the recruitment process can be! For instance, why do companies send plain, standard letters out to confirm the venue and time? Why not send out an invitation, invite people to hear what the company can offer you as an individual, invite them to share their potential with you?

   

How to Surprise Talent

Over at Epic Living there is a link over to a story that Seth Godin found about how Red 5 went about attracting the top talent I love this idea for the following reasons

• They are recognising and attracting talent is key to success. They want to stand out, they want to surprise talent  - they want to create a "Wow" moment that blows the talent off their feet.
• They are in essence just asking for talent to speak to them - but they took the time to think, collaborate, to create a way of standing out from the crowd.
• It was not done by a single person - it was done by a cross functional team. It was the company reaching out....TOGETHER.
• Talent creates the brand experience both internally and externally.

Blog Carnival - How to Keep Employees

Welcome to the March 16, 2007 edition of how to keep employees. I

Nick Roy presents New Recruitment Trends posted at Workplace Visions.

MabelandHarry presents Coaching Talent posted at MabelandHarry.

Freq presents 6 Podcasting Ideas for Business posted at PodcastFreq

Nick Roy presents What Is a True Team? posted at Workplace Visions.

John1212 presents Why the Non-Resume Strategy Beats Out a Traditional Resume Every Time! posted at OhCash.com.

Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Effective Meetings posted at Business Advice Daily, saying, "Meetings can get off track - if you take control of them you get results - NOT a Dilbert cartoon.  This article is a gentle reminder of some things we may have forgotten."

Wilson Ng presents The Merely Good and the Really Great posted at Reflections of a BizDrivenLife, saying, "The Pursuit of Excellence starts by a person understanding the difference between being merely good and being really great."

Editor - Dave Prouhet presents Poor Employee Performance posted at Business Advice Daily, saying, "In this article we discuss 7 timeless principles for managing employee performance.  And guess what they all deal with communication!  You follow these and I assure you it will take you a good way toward keeping employees (at least the ones you want to keep). "

Alvaro Fernandez presents Stress Management Workshop for International Women's Day posted at SharpBrains: Your Window into the Brain Fitness Revolution, saying, "Too much stress is usually a key obstacle for employee satisfaction and retention. Here we share exercises and tips based on a recent leadership training workshop we gave."

Charles H. Green presents You Empower What You Fear posted at Trust Matters, saying, "Making your new hires sign a noncompete may seem like a good idea, but odds are all it's going to do is cost you the trust required to keep them, and keep them happy."

Pawel Brodzinski presents Show That You Care posted at Software Project Management, saying, "It's very important for a manager to show he cares about his team and the work they do. And it is so easy. Why it's so rare then?"

Will Chen presents How to survive (and thrive!) in a job you hate posted at Wisebread.

Christopher J. Brunner presents The Adverse Effects of Poor Communication posted at GreatFX Business Cards, saying, "How common communication errors can turn people away."

That concludes this edition.  Submit your blog article to the next edition of how to keep employees using our carnival submission form. Past posts and future hosts can be found on our blog carnival index page.