Leveraging Your International Networks in Recruitment

I have just returned from an international BNI conference, where 300 business owners from around the globe came together over 3 days to share ideas, be motivated by great speakers connecting with colleagues across the world, which inspired todays topic.  

In the recruitment industry, our networks are becoming more and more important, both online and offline.  Over 60% of my time as Managing Director is now spent on networking, client meetings and building relationships with referral partners who recommend us to companies and candidates.  The great part about the international aspect of my role is that now, many of these conversations are happening on an international level, as we explore new markets, new opportunities and international relationships.  Global webinars, Skype, International Power Teams and regular Speaking and Training opportunities outside of Ireland is opening up a whole new world of connections and networks for our own recruitment business. It is easier than ever to do business on a global scale.  

Clients often wonder how we can source candidates from across Europe when they have been trying to do it themselves for weeks and yet we still manage to tap into untapped talent pools, reaching further into European candidates markets due to the way in which we leverage our international networks. For example, this morning we cemented a relationship with a French recruitment company with the same ethics and approach to the recruitment industry as ourselves.  This relationship was established at the BNI Directors conference and will be an ongoing and long term arrangement which will help us to tap into new French speaking talent across all industries.  We have this type of partnership in place across many European countries and can delight our clients by filling roles that no-one else can.  That is really leveraging international networks.

This week I will be delivering an in-house training to our team of recruiters here in Expect Talent on how to leverage our online international networks, focused on LinkedIn and Facebook as well as Twitter and Ecademy.  As I am sure those of you reading will agree are all great resources for sourcing candidates.  If you combine the networks of all of your colleagues and employees as well as friends and family, how many thousands of people do you know as a company?  I am a huge fan of LinkedIn as many of you reading this will know, and right now I have access to over 10 million people through my connections, just by building up my international networks.  Add to that the connections of my staff and referral partners and the opportunities are endless.

The top tips below will help you to leverage your international networks in recruitment,or any other industry for that matter! This week my tips are solely focused on Linked In (more to come on all other social media in future blogs).

TOP TIPS FOR LINKED IN 

• Join your max. allocation of 50 Groups in LinkedIn, for your industry
• Connect with people through Groups, no email address needed 
• Use advanced search features: Search for your target market/candidates
• Learn about "Boolean Strings" for keyword searching (ask me!)
• Become active in discussions - carve a niche as an expert in your field
• Sign up to free webinars to educate yourself about LinkedIn
• Go to as many international conferences as you can and connect
• Update your status daily - become visible to your connections
• Credibility and Reputation online are critical 
• Make sure your profile is 100% complete including photo
• Ask for recommendations and try to have at least 10 on your profile 
• Ensure that you are not selling but providing compelling content

For ideas: You can view my LinkedIn profile here  

How to spend less time and achieve more on Social Media?

I highly recommend that you use the LinkedIn App which is available on all smartphones.  You can connect, invite, read news, post updates and see what is happening in your network whilst on the move.  I check in when I have a spare few minutes on the move. All of the other social media tools have Apps too.  Much quicker to use and free to download.

I also recommend tools such as Hootsuite to bring all social media updates into one place, this can include Facebook Personal, Facebook Fan Page, RSS Feeds, LinkedIn, Blogs, Twitter and you only have to post one update and you can send it out to all or some of your social networks without having to constantly log in and out of all the different websites.  

Leveraging your international networks in recruitment is absolutely paramount, online and social media is the future of recruitment and regardless of whether you are an in-house recruiter, hiring manager, CEO, HR manager or Recruitment Consultant in an agency, now is the time to invest in your future success and learn how to make your international networks work for you.