Find Networking Leads Right Under Your Nose!

Browse any human resources oriented Internet chat forum or discussion group and you will certainly find people asking questions and giving advice on the best practices and tools for finding resumes and locating passive job seekers. Similarly, most e-cruiting training programs are geared towards developing resume search tactics and learning to use tools that can make resume searching more effective. Naturally the goal of e-cruiting is to help recruiters make more placements through electronic means. The real advantage electronic search adds to the business of recruitment is the ability to sort through more information more quickly. Practically speaking, electronic searches still return a lot more unsuitable resumes than they do placements. The e-cruiter generally considers possessing more options and the ability to sift through these with relative ease as an extremely efficient utilization of time and resources. The traditional recruiter, on the other hand, views this process a poor use of resources. How is this possible?

E-cruiters target candidates by selecting search keywords that specifically relate to a person's job function or by visiting an online community associated with that individual's profession. The traditional recruiter, utilizing the telephone to source candidates, will target people by creating a list of companies that would likely employ his target talent and begin cold calling. Traditionally every cold call that doesn't produce a potential candidate results in the recruiter asking for a referral. Referrals are the most qualified lead a recruiter has because they tend to produce contacts that may not be in the job market, are not limited to people who make themselves available online and are backed with personal endorsements. Even if a referral comes from a person that the recruiter has never met he can make a judgement call based on how sharp or reliable the referrer sounded. In a typical electronic search process the e-cruiter will either archive or discard resumes generated from searches and move swiftly on the next result or search until they find the right match. The equivalent of a referral to the e-cruiter is locating a potential candidate as a result of a targeted keyword search. Since information is readily accessible online the emphasis is placed on finding "The Match" and much of the information that generates referrals for traditional recruiters is overlooked.

Generally speaking, if an e-cruiter doesn't find his match he will either stop his search and resume it when there is new information available, or turn to more traditional recruitment methods. Taking the advantages of each recruiting approach and pairing them to create a system that is more effective than either method taken separately is the key to maximizing resources. Consider sharp resumes regardless of fit as referral points. Contact these people and let them know that you found their resume online but that you don't have an opening for them currently. Ask if they would like you to keep them in mind for any future opportunities and close the conversation with referrals on your current needs. Learn to maximize your time and resources by merging your networking skills with your e-cruiting efforts and capitalize on the leads you may pass up on every search. Nelson Abreu