TWITTER STRATEGY FOR REAL RECRUITERS
ONREC Sourcing Summit Sept 14, 2010
What are you trying to do?
Your strategy depends on your situation.
Finding talent is hard (scarcity)
Job
is c
riti
cal
Don’t work too hard on this
Automate the process
Outsource or form a swat team
You’d better be good at
this – spend time & $$
Why Twitter?
• ‘cuz everyone else is doing it• there might be untapped talent• looks like it might be fun• relationships r us• Twitter users match our
demographics
Some things to keep in mind before you dive in
• Twitter might not be for you*• You might need to experiment, reset • You should probably work with legal,
marketing, communications and other sordid characters
*or, expect a few false starts
You might not be an overnight sensation
What can Twitter do for you?
What can Twitter do for you?
• Branding, awareness and reputation management
• Build a talent community• Improve customer candidate
experience• Research and competitive
intelligence• Direct sales recruiting opportunities
Brand, awareness & reputation management
Finding talent is hard (scarcity)
Don’t work too hard on this
Automate the process
Outsource or form a swat team
You’d better be good at
this – spend time & $$
Job
is c
riti
cal
Build a talent community
Finding talent is hard (scarcity)
Don’t work too hard on this
Automate the process
Outsource or form a swat team
You’d better be good at
this – spend time & $$
Job
is c
riti
cal
Talent Community?
• Communication outside your ATS or formal process
• Proprietary• Fluid (members opt-in, opt-out at
will)• Contained (replenishing)• Three-way conversation possible
Improve candidate experience
Finding talent is hard (scarcity)
Don’t work too hard on this
Automate the process
Outsource or form a swat team
You’d better be good at
this – spend time & $$
Job
is c
riti
cal
Research and CI
Finding talent is hard (scarcity)
Don’t work too hard on this
Automate the process
Outsource or form a swat team
You’d better be good at
this – spend time & $$
Job
is c
riti
cal
Direct recruiting
Finding talent is hard (scarcity)
Don’t work too hard on this
Automate the process
Outsource or form a swat team
You’d better be good at
this – spend time & $$
Job
is c
riti
cal
How????
Five Pillars of Twitter Recruiting Strategy
• Build and promote your brand• Tweet your jobs• Proactively source talent• Develop long term relationships• Measure and communicate success
1. Build and promote your brand
• Twitter background and avatar• Bio and URL• Content–Who will tweet?–What will you share–What won’t you share?
• Consider PR and branding training
GE “gets” it. Somewhat.
2. Tweet your jobs
• Targeted– Job skill– Location
• Timely• Format– length
• Searchable– Hashtag
• Mobile
Advanced Approach
3. Proactively source talent
• Advanced search• Twitter lists• Events/hashtags• Get creative!
X-Ray Search: site:twitter.com "software developer" (php or lamp) -job -jobs
Real-Time Search Engines
Use lists to curate groups of people
• List your employees on Twitter• List your recruiters on Twitter• Create lists of experts in your
industry/function• Keep up with the conversation• You don’t have to follow someone to
include them on a list
Use lists to stay organized
Hashtags – easy way to find relevant people/content
• Looks like this: #onrec• Use a Twitter client or dashboard• Search for hashtag content• Save searches• Create your own hashtag
Discovering hashtags
Viewing hashtags
4. Build relationships
• Your success depends on it. • If you don’t want to do this, get out
of recruiting• Content, content, content• Editorial calendar• From online to offline and back
Engage! Get people excited.
Share awesome, original content
• Include personal experiences• “Inside” your company, industry or function• Feature employees as much as possible• Share awesome photos and videos• Whitepapers, blog posts, articles• Promotions and awards• “How to”• News, providing it’s news• Integrate FB, careersite, youtube, etc.
The almighty retweet
• Increase exposure and attract new followers• Two-way:
– Retweet great content– Make sure your content gets retweeted
• Make sure you’re retweetable– Include links (bit.ly works best)– Tweet on Friday– Leave room for editorial– Shorten your tweet to 120 characters– Tweet it first! – Add “color commentary”
Turn followers into candidates
• Curate and tend to your lists• Research followers– Further refine list– Find other talent communities
• Cross reference/leg work– LinkedIn– Blog– Google or Yahoo Profiles
Developing deeper relationships
• Proceed with caution– Direct sourcing
• Respond with an @reply to get attention• Send specific DMs with call to action– Check out (or comment) on this blog post– Event invitation
• Get offline!• No spam!
5. Measure & communicate success over time
• Facebook fans, likes and shares• Twitter followers and retweets• Youtube views• Newsletter subscribers• Link popularity• RSS subscribers• Website traffic (plot campaigns)• Comments (and insights)• Traditional sourcing data
Use a Twitter client to track metrics
Get at me! Hire me!
email me: [email protected] me: 206.465.3205tweet me: @peopleshark or @tweetajobFB me: www.facebook.com/Tweetajoblink: www.linkedin.com/in/carmenhudsonvisit me: www.tweetajob.comdownload preso: www.slideshare.net/Tweetajob
get our newsletter: http://eepurl.com/gsxT