jobhop's Blog

We talk about employers building talent communities but what if you’re a job seeker, what does it mean for you?      

A talent community is literally a community of talent that are communicating with each other, swapping information and engaging in conversation with an organisation. Wikipedia describes it as a “network of candidates, contacts, alumni, employees and job seekers allowing a productive two way communication between contacts”  This organisation maybe somewhere you would like to work and the more you chat with them the more you may want to work there. That is the plan, you get to chat to their employees in this community, even their suppliers are here chatting openly. Being part of the conversation should make you more aware of what type of employee they look for, what roles are available throughout the organisation, their culture, do they all go bowling together at the week end?, does the company offer flexitime?, what type of training do they offer?

Talent communities are a great way for employers to keep recruitment costs down as they don’t have to start advertising job roles, hiring recruiters or head hunters, they can go straight to their community and invite the people they’ve been sharing information with and participating in conversations with.

Employers benefit big time from talent communities, not purely on the cost effectiveness of    having one but it builds brand loyalty and it helps the employer in the retainment of staff.

So what do you do to get into a talent community? The first thing is to know what it is you want to do and the younger you can start the better. My 13yr old son has made himself known within the talent community of Microsoft. He has made up his mind that he’d like to work for them and is now chatting regularly with them and absorbing as much information as possible. Who do you think will get an interview at Microsoft in a few years? The younger you can join these communities the better.

You’ve decided what you’d like to do and what company you’d like to work for, or perhaps theres a few companies you’d like to work for so start tapping their names into google and see where they are and what they’re doing.

The trick is to find something you love and you know you can do it well. Next find the companies that do what you love to do,learn about the company, set google alerts so you receive all the updated news about them. 

Once you’ve built relations with key people within the organisation online a good tip is to turn up at their industry events and cement that relationship by meeting them face to face.

By this time it will feel like you’ve known them for forever, who do you think they’re going to think of when a job becomes available?

Still wondering why you should join a community?

• Exposure  By participating regularly in the communities you increase your exposure
• Advice   Theres so much advice going back and forth within communities
• Meeting your potential work team ... Chatting with employees from the organisation will build relationships prior to you getting a job there. They  may even help you to get your foot in the door.
• 65% of job placements are made based on recommendations ...it pays to get connected 
• Saves you hours of looking at job boards and adverts ..you have immediate access to jobs through your community, spend time on building relationships.
• Learn and keep up with the trends in your chosen profession. Being in a community will have you constantly learning about trends and industry related news
• No more CVs just falling into a black hole 
• No more wondering if you’ll get feedback from the company 

How do you find out about Talent communities?

• Search companies web sites and see if they have follow us on Fb twitter linkedin. Switched on organisations will have the follow buttons, click through and start joining in the discussions and in the groups.
• Go straight onto the social networking sites and search for the companies you’re interested in and see where the action is.
•  Does the company have a blog? Read it and add valuable comments regularly to it. 
• Can you subsribe to them on Youtube? 
• Does the company hold industry related webinars that you can attend? This is a great one for getting known, attend regularly and always make sure that you give some valuable input to the discussion.

Follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie

Using QR codes to recruit                                                          

QR codes are now becoming very popular but just in case some of you haven’t come across them yet QR stands for quick response & it’s a code, like a barcode but funkier, that can be read using a smart phone.

Once the QR code is scanned it can link back to a website, a video,a profile, text, tel number etc..

The scope for QR codes is huge so how can they be used to recruit candidates? 

Addidas have used QR codes to reach candidates successfully at tradeshows. They realised that whilst they were at these events promoting their products they could also attract potential employees. 

Many passive candidates are at trade shows working for competitors, on other stands, which makes it difficult to actively recruit but a QR code takes a second to scan so you can   capture talent whilst they walk past with their mobile in their hand. 

Addidas found that by using the QR technology it reduced costs, they held less recruiting events, they built a talent community and they saved time.

If you still want to do job fairs then put your QR code onto stickers & give them out to candidates as they walk past.

The point of QR codes in recruiting is to be able to reach the mobile candidate so you have to think where will your ideal candidate be? When will your candidate be mobile with their smart phone at hand? 

Would your ideal candidate be on the tube/ train? at an airport? 

Perhaps you’re looking for a technical minded person, what about at an internet cafe? Perhaps you could get your QR code onto the coffee cups at the cafe, or onto the window.

What if you need young recruits straight from college, perhaps getting the college to use your mouse mats with your QR code on them.

Billboards are a popular place for QR codes and upon some of these you’ll find MI5 recruiting candidates this way.

So think mobile candidates and think how can you reach them using a QR code whilst they’re on the move.

For more tips on reaching candidates, employment branding & building talent communities get in touch or follow me on Twitter  @jobhopjulie