A Recruiters 5 Top Tips for LinkedIn's Mobile App.

Every recruiter knows that LinkedIn is a phenomenal place to source amazing talent, whether the candidate is actively looking for a new position or not.  So not surprisingly, most people in the recruitment industry are pretty good at LinkedIn.  Very few share their secrets with clients, and seeing as how we do everything the exact opposite to the rest of the industry, I thought I would break from the pack (as usual) and share some top tips to get the most from LinkedIn on the move. 

These tips apply to those people who have already downloaded the LinkedIn Mobile App onto a Smartphone.  If you have yet to do so, you are missing a trick!  Download it now... 

Ready?  So once you have LinkedIn in the palm of your hand, how can you use it to grow your business, increase your online reputation and/or find the best talent?

Tip 1 - LinkedIn Today - "News" button in the LinkedIn App

This is truly amazing! LinkedIn is now the gateway to incredible content, relevant to your industry.  This helps you to provide interesting articles to your target market.  You can choose to follow any industry, then read and share the hottest topics with your network on LinkedIn.  Click on "News", then follow topics ranging from Staffing & Recruiting, to Management Consulting, to Internet, to Social Media to Financial Services.  That will then feed relevant and great content which you can share with others, before anyone else. 

You can become the "go-to", in the know person in your network, your profile is seen more often and you look fantastic! Simply find an article you like and click to read more, then Share.  The even better feature with this is that you don't need to do anything other than make a remark about it before posting, a synopsis and image are automatically there for you.  You can read and post articles anytime and anywhere, I often do this when I am waiting to meet someone, or if I arrive early to a meeting. It takes less than 30 seconds to post an article but it looks like you spent ages finding it.  It makes you both visible and credible.  If you don't want to post them all at once you can choose to save for later.

Tip 2 - Reconnect - How to add 20+ people to your network per day

The reconnect button on the LinkedIn Mobile App is a goldmine of contacts.  LinkedIn places all of the connections who you have a strong mutual connection with into this list.  The even better aspect of the "Reconnect" button is that you don't have to spend ages identifying to LinkedIn how you know this person.  LinkedIn already knows that you might have a connection with them, so simply go to the "Reconnect" button on your mobile and start inviting people in the list.  You will not have to supply an email address for them, or say how you know them.  That means connecting with 20 people takes literally 20 seconds.  You will already know a lot of people in this list, as your network grows this list will become more extensive and give you a much wider network.

Tip 3 - Connect with every new person you meet - "Search" and Connect

When you are at a networking event or out meeting candidates, clients, referral partners and business contacts, you always have LinkedIn with you in your pocket, on your phone.  Follow up is critical when building relationships, so why not save time and invite your new connection to connect with you on LinkedIn there and then before you even finish the meeting or event!  You can simply go into your LinkedIn App, click "Search" at the top of the screen and find that person.  I usually ask their permission to connect and guage their level of knowledge and use of LinkedIn.  Where possible I share my knowledge and give something back by showing my new contact how to do this too.  If the person has a common name then search with their first name, last name and company to find them.  Again, inviting is easy with no complicated and time consuming "How do you know this person?".   

Tip 4 - Stay in touch with what's happening in your network

The "Updates" section in your LinkedIn App, allows you to see in one place the full feed of messages and status updates within your network.  You can comment, like or share any status update that resonates with you.  If a connection of yours on LinkedIn has placed a blog or article to their status update you will get to see it within the "Updates" section on the App, also known as your "Home Feed" on the main LinkedIn site.  Everytime you connect with someone or change your status you are appearing in this feed, so your visibility instantly increases.

Tip 5 - Inbox & Invitation Management on the move

You can easily see your new inbox messages and new invitations to connect from the Mobile Phone App.  Make life easy for yourself and use these features to save time and effort later.  If you see 3 new connection requests on your Smartphone then you can simply click and add them in seconds.  Same with inbox messaages, why wait until you get back to the office to respond through the emails. Impress people by keeping an eye on these two sections and reply through the Mobile App.

Imagine the increase in your profile and online reputation if suddenly you are connecting with 20+ people per day, plus you start providing your network with the information they need and use in their business or role by posting 3 relevant articles per day.  Always remember the Linkedn Golden rule, never sell, build your reputation first and gain credibility first so that people know, like and trust you.  Everytime I show someone the power of all of the features in the LinkedIn App they really start to get involved and become more visibile and credible to their audience and most importantly their target market.  Are you really maximising the power you hold in the palm of your hand? 

CV Tips - What Did You Actually Do?

Here at the Expect Talent HQ, we receive hundreds of CV’s every month. Most of the time we are left asking ourselves this question: 

WHAT DID YOU ACTUALLY DO?

Most CV’s are a list of dates along with a job description, or list of responsibilities. That tells us nothing about what you actually did!  This is a common mistake by candidates, and one which, if you can get right, you stand a good chance of securing an interview.  You have less than 10 seconds to impress with your CV as many hiring managers and HR departments will receive hundreds of applications for just one role. 

We are currently working for a large Cork based multinational client in Cork, and we hired over 300 people for them in just 12 weeks, however we received in excess of 4500 CV's for these positions. 

So what can you do to increase your chances of success?

Rather than list your responsibilities, start by listing your key achievements. Think about what you personally achieved that delivered a great result for the business or for one of your customers? Thinking about your CV this way turns a boring responsibility into something that a client or potential employer might actually want in their business!

Example 1:

TURN THIS... "Responsible for Collections on outstanding accounts"

INTO THIS... "Significantly improved bottom line by securing an additional €200,000 in outstanding monies through effective cash collection."

Example 2:

TURN THIS: "Responsible for Customer Service"

INTO THIS: "Increased customer satisfaction levels by 30%, by regularly going above and beyond, which helped the company to retain its biggest client and win new business."

Example 3:

TURN THIS: "Responsible for Admin Procedures.

INTO THIS: "Significantly enhanced internal reporting and admin procedures which saved the team 26 days per annum in un-necessary workload. My ideas for improvements are regularly implemented by senior management."

Every element of your CV should be aimed at securing you an interview.  Your CV is a sales document designed to show off your talents!  It should not just be a chronological history of all the places where you have worked.

If you want a CV professionally written, or you feel you would benefit from careers advice you can now contact our careers team for a free consultation with Patrick Mercie and Expect Careers.  Email sam@expect.ie for more details.

Networking, Social Media & Recruitment

This morning I was interviewed for a national newspaper in Ireland, in relation to Expect Talent and our incredible 2010, a very positive piece of PR thanks to Anne Kiely & Associates.  One of the questions I have been asked to comment on is "How important has networking and relationship building been in your business, and do you think it is important for a recruitment company?".

Whether you are a jobseeker, business owner or hiring manager reading this, my answer has to be that it is CRITICAL.  Your network of contacts should be one of the best sources of help, support and referrals and is absolutely key to your success.  My own business has grown through effective networking, relationship building and word of mouth, through involvement in organisations like BNI.  I learnt how build relationships and grow my network by educating and upskilling myself on referral marketing.  I have always applied "Givers Gain" to all apsects of life and work, which is the key philosophy of BNI.  By helping others to grow their business and giving something back to other people whether it be a referral, testimonial, advice or support is one of the best ways to grow your business and increase your visibility and credibility which leads to more business.

The depth and breadth of your connections in your personal and business life will always play a major role in the development of your career and your business.  Any recruitment business owner who is not upskilling themselves and their recruitment team on networking both face to face and online will find it increasingly difficult to grow their client and candidate base.  Why cold-call when you can learn how to effectively grow a business through relationships and word of mouth?  It still amazes me how many companies are cold-calling rather than really getting to know the people around them who can help.  If you want to learn how to leverage your contacts then I recommend reading "Life, Business and Speedboats" written by my good friend Iain Whyte.

I was also asked the question in my interview - "How has the recruitment sector evolved in the last 18 months?".  The importance of social media and online networking has meant a huge shift in the way that companies now hire and source great talent for their business.  For example, over 95% of companies now use LinkedIn for recruitment.  If you want to learn more amazing stats on social media  and its impact on the recruitment sector,  just take a look at this video from Socionomics. 

Most internal recruiters for large organisations are now trained on how to find great talent through online networking, recruiters in agencies are using these social media tools for recruitment all the time.  If you are looking for a new job then make sure your profile can be found on LinkedIn, and make sure that your Facebook page is professional and represents you well, you never know who might be looking at it.  In 2010 over 60% of our permanent placements were candidates who we found through LinkedIn.   

More than ever, networking and social media play a massive part in the world of recruitment and job-seeking.   I would love to hear how networking and social media has helped you as a job-seeker, hiring manager or business owner.  So why not take action today, and make social media or networking part of your 2011 recruitment or job-seeking strategy. 

New Year... Expect Careers...

Happy New Year to everyone. I can just tell that 2011 is going to absolutely rock! 

Here at Expect Talent we are focusing more and more on our customers, and in the recruitment world that is both Candidates and Clients.  In this competitive jobs market, having an outstanding CV and the confidence to nail an interview is absolutely critical to your success. So as part of the 2011 offering may I introduce to you...

Expect Careers will focus entirely on Candidates, covering services such as professional CV writing, interview techniques and career coaching.  This new arm of the business will help any candidate to stand out from the crowd with a brilliant CV, and will help them to secure that dream job with the best advice on how to shine at interview. 

Think about this... When you need to get your boiler fixed, you call a professional.  When your car breaks down, you call a professional.  When you want a new haircut, you don't leave it to chance, you call a professional!  Your CV and career is no different - why try and do it yourself when the professional touch will always deliver a better result.  Professional CV's that stand out can make all the difference between securing that interview or not.  Whether you are job-seeking for the first time in years, or fresh out of college Expect Careers can help you or someone you know.

Patrick Mercie, will be a kay part of the Expect Careers team, and he brings wealth of knowledge and experience in helping job-seekers to achieve success.  His coaching style is interactive, motivational, energetic and non-judgemental. 

Patrick has an infectious personality and is completely focused on positivity and getting results for every person he works with.  Patrick will be contributing to the blog to help all candidates with hints and tips that will brighten any jobsearch so watch out for his words of wisdom in the months to come.

There is still more to come for this year, but for now may I take this opportunity to wish you and your family a prosperous, happy and healthy 2011!  It's going to be a great year... 

Welcome!

Welcome to the official Expect Talent Blog, the place to gain insights and bright ideas on recruitment, job-seeking, and hiring staff of the highest quality.  Whether you are looking to hire the best talent into your company, change careers, or find that dream job having been made redundant, we are here to help.  In this blog we aim to give you that small nugget of advice that might just help you along the way.

If you are frustrated by the recruitment industry then you can join the club!  This was the reason why Expect Talent was started, so forget everything you already know about recruitment, here is where we challenge the typical way of doing things, and flip the recruitment industry on its head.  We are changing the way the world does Recruitment and in our blog you can find out how...

So welcome to first time readers and I hope you enjoy what we have to say.  We welcome your feedback, views, comments on this blog and of course look forward to helping you in some way whether you are a candidate or responsible for hiring in your organisation. 

Thanks for joining us on our blogging journey, and please get in touch, we would love to hear from you.

Samantha Rathling
Managing Director
sam@expect.ie