So you’ve got your basics in place, you know their credentials, checked out their employment history and have some inclination of the grades they got a few years back. Granted, a great start, but enough to convince both you and the client they’re the right person for the job? Probably not.
So where do you turn next?
Even the savviest database will only hold a candidate profile which is reasonably dull and provides little insight into true candidate behaviour. But with an abundance of ‘big data’readily available online, recruiters need to harness it and turn it into something workable.
Social media is a great starting point. For one, it highlights the active and not so active job seekers. Who are they engaging with on Twitter? Have they asked for a recent recommendation on LinkedIn? Have they been looking at Monster? All of these signs segregate those who are actively looking as opposed to those who are perusing and often time wasters.
So you may have established how best to contact them or the kind of opportunities they are looking for but what else can social media provide you with? Businesses want to know the sort of person they’re recruiting, do they like to travel or blog in their own time for example – all of which is freely available to find online.
This information, paired with the internal database, provides recruiters and head hunters with the necessary information of when to engage. An interface between the two sets of information completes the circle between internal and external and often opens up new channels of communication – active Tweeter? Tweet them. Always on LinkedIn?Then send them a message.
There is a huge amount of data out there, half of which is redundant but half of which is awaiting interrogation.In a competitive market where having the business edge is key, recruiters need to do all they can to obtain a true candidate profile.