Training Purpose To define changes the internet has made to the staffing industry, teach Staffing Professionals how to use LinkedIn to identify client leads and candidate recruits, and address best practices when networking online. Duration 90 minutes Facilitator Preparation Read the updated Online Networking Best Practices document Establish a personal profile on LinkedIn & understand the recruiting and lead generation techniques outlined in this training Facilitator Overview In this session, you will: Define the web 2.0 environment Discuss impact to personal brand and company reputation Educate participants on how use LinkedIn to grow business Role play discussions with candidates Discuss appropriate online and LinkedIn behavior Participants will sit at their desk and click through PowerPoint slides as you present. During the session, they will toggle between the PowerPoint slides, LinkedIn, and MicroJ/MicroJ Plus. Participant Preparation Establish a LinkedIn profile Bring three names to add to your LinkedIn network Bring three company names to research on LinkedIn Session Handouts
Present: During today’s training, we will define the changing landscape of the staffing industry thanks to a new generation of web tools, discuss how these changes impact the way you represent yourself to clients and candidates and how to use online networking to enhance your success as a Staffing Professional. Ask: What does online social networking mean to you? Or how would you define it? According to Wikipedia, A social network service focuses on building online communities of people who share interests and/or activities, or who are interested in exploring the interests and activities of others. Most social network services are web based and provide a variety of ways for users to interact, such as e-mail and instant messaging services. What online networking tools do you currently use? Look for: LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Plaxo, MySpace, Nexopia (Canada) Who has made a placement or developed new business from their online networks? (Have a few participants share their success stories) What are the advantages/benefits to online networking? Identifying client leads (hiring managers) Developing a broader pool of business contacts Finding passive candidates Sourcing candidate and client referrals Establishing an individual recruiter’s credibility and enhancing his/her reputation as a staffing subject-matter expert Maximizing your connections to facilitate easier conversations & enhancing relationships
Present: Online social networks are part of what is referred to as Web 2.0, a second generation of the world wide web, representing a shift from static web pages to dynamic content. More significantly, Web 2.0 represents a change in behavior in how we interact with the internet. Social networking, information sharing and collaboration tools define the current web experience; wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, widgets, and social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn are such examples. Ask: How has Web 2.0 changed the landscape of our industry? Access to candidates is easier – resumes are available to anyone Many websites compete for our business (it’s not just traditional recruiters anymore) Differentiation is more difficult – more players in the recruiting space Pressure on fees/rates Speed to market expectations faster Customer service expectations raised Broadcasting experience with you as recruiter or business partner is instantaneous and global
Present: Your personal reputation, your professional brand is of key importance. The experience our clients and candidates have with RHI starts with you . Ask: How would you define your personal brand? Personal reputation Why people want to work with you What does Web 2.0 have to do with your personal brand? Accept answers Present: As a business professional, how you represent yourself on any social networking website has implications on your personal reputation. Let’s discuss the best way to represent yourself and RHI online: Establish yourself as an experienced staffing industry professional . Optimize your profile to showcase your experience and services to potential candidates and clients. Build a quality network to find quality leads. The success of your networking efforts is based on the quality of the people you meet, not the quantity. Ask: Why is quality more important than quantity? You can damage your reputation if you appear to be a “name collector.” You can lose the advantage of having a manageable, real-time, up to date list of contacts by adding people for the sake of high numbers.
Present: Clients, prospects, candidates and RHI colleagues can all be a valuable addition to your network. Leverage previously placed candidates on the LinkedIn network as a source of future client leads. Candidates who have been placed either on a permanent basis or temporary/consulting engagement will often have an online profile on LinkedIn. By re-establishing contact with people you have placed, you can add another person to your network who could potentially become a client. Connecting with RHI colleagues can open additional doors for you. Perhaps a Staffing Professional in a sister LOB is networked with a line manager you’d like to contact. By partnering together, you demonstrate the connectivity and collaboration of our divisions. Treat established networks and individual connections with personal care and professional respect to gain acceptance. Connect only to people you know. Establish trust and rapport with your contacts before requesting that they introduce you to others. Remember, you are your own brand and you are representing RHI’s brand online. What you say and do online affects your reputation and that of the company. Position yourself as a resource and follow established protocols to make the best impression. Do not say anything online that you wouldn’t want to see on the front page of a newspaper.
Present: Always invite clients, candidates, and prospects to join your networks as an integrated part of your follow-up activities, using the following rules: Temp/Consulting Staffing Professionals: Only invite Clients and Prospects where you are the designated POC and Candidates that you have actually placed or actively interviewed . Perm Recruiting Managers: Only invite Prospects that you have met personally on a CV and Client contacts from companies that have given you JOs. In addition, only invite Candidates that you have actually placed or actively interviewed. Be proactive, not reactive. Start now. After client visits or interviews, invite someone to join your network . IMPORTANT: DO NOT INVITE ANY CANDIDATES OR CLIENTS WITHIN MJ TO JOIN YOUR NETWORK UNLESS THEY COMPLY WITH THE RULES ABOVE. RHI’s expectation is that you will use LinkedIn and any other business-oriented social networking site to enhance your current business development activities. To that end, we support you building a quality network with the contacts you have made recently, per the guidelines on the slide, and moving forward. However, It is against RHI policy to extract information from MJ for the purpose of exporting email addresses into LinkedIn. This rule exists, not only to protect the data in MJ, but also to respect your colleagues’ relationships. Connecting to clients who have stronger relationships with your divisional peers is the equivalent of taking someone’s rolodex off their desk and claiming it as yours.
Present: Manage all contacts established through LinkedIn or other professional site through MJ. Exporting into MJ all contacts and leads established daily on LinkedIn or other sites allows you to you to perform matches and track ongoing contact. Hide your connections list from public view to avoid your contacts from being acquired by competitors (we will demonstrate how to do this in LinkedIn during this session). Don’t disclose any third party’s confidential and proprietary information. Even mentioning the name of a client or candidate with whom you are working can be a violation of our confidentiality agreements with them. Online networking is no different than traditional networking in terms of acceptable behavior. The same level of professionalism, courtesy and ethics apply. Remember that all posts to blogs, micro blogs like Twitter, message boards, and social networking sites are public, visible, searchable and permanent. Your reputation and that of the company is impacted by what you post. Use your voice wisely. Be smart, use your common sense and without exception, adhere to RHI’s anti-discrimination and harassment policies.
Present: Here are a few additional do’s and don’ts: DO show your expertise and provide timely, relevant advice and information on hiring, management and job hunting. DON’T disclose RHI’s confidential and proprietary information such as internal business processes or nonpublic financial information, and avoid commenting on our stock price or performance. DO promote RHI events, guide booklets, research, resources, and white papers to those in your network who might be interested in them. DON’T discuss competitors or give any information that would be of interest to competitors, such as pay/bill rates, number of employees in a branch or local revenues. DO contact your District Public Relations Manager (DPRM) for further guidance on what you should – and should not – post online. DON’T respond to negative blog postings or other negative commentary you see online without first checking in with your DPRM. Ask: Do online networking activities replace traditional follow up practices with clients and/or candidates? No. Staying connected with clients, prospects and candidates can be enhanced with social networks, but it should never replace telephone calls, in-person meetings, handwritten thank you notes, or any other means of staying in touch.
Present: RHI recently brought together a task force of established RHI staffing professionals who had successfully integrated LinkedIn into their operations. The best practices we cover here come directly from their experience and include all of their recommendations on how to use these tools to grow your business. LinkedIn is currently the leading professional online networking site and offers us many opportunities. Therefore, we will spend the next section of our training walking through how the best practices we just covered apply specifically to LinkedIn. Please log into LinkedIn and we will get started. Facilitator Note: For this portion of the session, your class will toggle between the screen shots in the PowerPoint presentation and their own live LinkedIn session. They may also access MJ to ensure that information discovered on LinkedIn is correctly added into MJ.
Ask: What is LinkedIn? LinkedIn is a free business-oriented social networking site that was founded in December 2002. Currently the site boasts more than 44 million members in over 200 countries. A new member joins every second! And, according to their website, “executives from all Fortune 500 companies are LinkedIn members.” LinkedIn is a proven way to find candidates and prospect for business leads. You can search people, companies and job postings, arming you with real-time information that will help you get to market faster and with better results. Ask: Has everyone set up an account in advance of our session? Facilitator Note: Probe the audience for their level of familiarity with LinkedIn. Determine the balance of new users and frequent users. Keep this in mind as you facilitate the session. By a show of hands, how many people visited Linked in for the first time when preparing for this training? How many of you consider yourself a frequent user?
Present: The general LinkedIn navigation is similar to most sites. Access to features on the top navigation bar such as; People: Search for leads by name or type or role (any of these variables) Build org charts by searching on titles and Company Name Determine who you might already know at a company that can help make a call warmer send an MPC Jobs : Search for open positions listed on LinkedIn and Manual Job Posting (all RHI jobs approved in CIA are being posted by Corporate Marketing) Are there ad-call opportunities? Answers : Online questions and answers posted and answered by members of the community Companies : Search for leads by company name or you can browse specific industries Now let’s look at the left navigation panel starting with the home link. Home : Takes you to your main LinkedIn page. Once you have built up your network, you will be able to view updates of people connected to you Groups: Adding groups to your profile may help expand your network through common interests. i.e. User Groups Profile: Update/Edit Online Profile NOTE: Whether you choose to make your Profile public or keep it private is entirely your decision. The task force recommends that you make your Profile public so that contacts can easily find you. Others prefer greater privacy. RHI supports either decision. Contacts: View current contacts and import new contacts Inbox: View messages sent from others in your network and those trying to connect to you Applications: Enables you to enrich your profile, share and collaborate with your network, and get the key insights that help you be more effective Add Connections: One-click add of existing contacts to your LinkedIn Network To use the "Add Connections" feature, click the green Add Connections button . A tabbed section will open allowing you to invite contacts, import contacts, find colleagues, and find classmates. Select appropriate tab and follow the on-screen instructions. As a reminder, use LinkedIn as a proactive tool; add connections as you return from client visits or interview candidates. Do NOT export data from MJ into LinkedIn to build your network .
Activity (5 minutes): You were asked to bring three names to add to your LinkedIn network. Let’s take the time to practice now. Click the green Add Connections button on the left side of your screen and enter your contact’s email address -OR- Search by name at the top of your screen Ask: What did you find when you added a person to your network? How many contacts do you currently have? Present: Before we go any further, let’s ensure that your Privacy Settings are set to protect your network. First, click on the Account & Settings link at the top of your screen. Next, click on the Connections Browse link. Disable Connection Browse Feature Perform the following steps to disable: While on LinkedIn.com, click on the “Account & Settings” link at the top of the navigation bar NOTE: You may be prompted for your username and password Your personal “Account & Settings” page will be displayed Facilitator Note: During the LinkedIn activities, check in often with the participants to ensure that you have answered any questions and that they are able to complete the exercises in the time given. Walk amongst the participants, looking at their computer screens to gauge your facilitation speed. Ask questions like: Who needs more time? What are you seeing right now? What questions come to mind as you complete this exercise?
Present: From within the Privacy Settings section of the page, click on the “Connections Browse” link In the preview screen for your Connection Browse setting select “ No, hide my connections list” Click the “Save Changes” button at the bottom of the page
Present: Company Searches are one way to quickly identify and learn more about high-value prospect companies. Once in the company search section, you can start typing the name of the company you are trying to find new leads from. Whenever you type in a company name, if the company has a LinkedIn profile, you will start to see it come up in the suggested results.
Present: After selecting the desired company, it will bring you to a page with the following information: Company Summary - Prepares you to “target market” to that client with industry specific talent! Current Employees - Who do I know at this company that can help me make a warm call or send an MPC? Former Employees - Possible candidates to connect with/network….did they find a job…are they at another potential client? New Hires - Who in my network were recently hired that I should connect with? Which company/function did they leave and is there a need to back-fill/replace the person who left? Recent Promotions - Who in my network should I call to congratulate and/or see if they need some staffing help in their new position? Which company/function did they leave and is there a need to back-fill/replace the person who left? Popular Profiles - Who else is being called upon within this organization and why?
Present: To narrow down your search to more specific local results: Select your targeted location by selecting a “Top Location” in the Key Statistics section located on the right side of the page. Now, modify a search to narrow the results on the Results page; notice a “Modify Your Search” column on the right side of the page . Type in keywords or the title of the person’s role. The more you fill in, the fewer the results. For example, we will type in “IT Director” in the “Title” section. From there, you will see suggested results. If you are not satisfied with the results you see, go back to “Modify Your Search” and try a different title or keyword…like VP of IT or IT Manager. Remember, every company is different as to the titles they assign staff members…so search smart! Activity (10 minutes): You were asked to bring three target company names to research during our session. Pull those out now and begin to identify leads: How many people are you already connected to within two degrees? How many new hiring manager names can you identify? Who has been recently hired or promoted? How many open job postings do they have listed? Who is already in MJ that needs an updated job title or name spelling? You can identify a great deal of information by clicking into individuals’ profiles. As you go through this exercise, let ‘s highlight two areas of opportunity within a person’s profile. Ask: What have you been able to uncover about a target company that you didn’t know before? How many new line manager names have you found? How closely are you linked with senior managers at the organization? What have you been able to update in MJ?
Present: “ Views of this profile also viewed” Can also be found on the right side of the profile page…usually towards the bottom. Essentially, this gives you a list of other people who ran similar searches and shows the resulting managers they found. “ Recommendations” Can be found on the right side of the profile page. Note: recommendations will only show if the individual has been recommended by someone. The benefit to you is the person who writes the recommendation is usually a manager…aka, another potential lead! NOTE: It is against RHI policy to recommend clients, candidates or fellow RHI colleagues.
Present: NOTE: It is against RHI policy to recommend clients, candidates or fellow RHI colleagues. Ask: Why do we have this policy? We have always been committed to protecting the confidentiality of our clients and candidates. As you can see when looking at others’ recommendations in their profile, you can view who wrote the recommendation and for which company they work, thus negating the privacy protection we promise. Many of our client contracts have confidentiality clauses written in to them. If you write a recommendation based on your positive experience in working with a line manager, you are violating the terms of the contract and we risk losing the account. Ask: What do you risk by recommending candidates? Someone hires the candidate you recommend and he/she performs poorly (hurting your personal reputation) Someone hires a candidate you recommend and you lose your inventory! The client gains a skilled candidate without paying you a fee. Present: We have decided a blanket policy of not providing recommendations is best at this time to protect to privacy, avoid confusion and prevent putting any client or candidate relationships at risk. If you are asked for a recommendation, consider using these statements: For Job Seekers: “ I would love to write you a recommendation, but our company has a policy to against providing recommendations to protect the privacy we promise our clients and candidates. Is there a manager I could speak with on your behalf to describe the good work you have done?” For Clients: “ I would love to write you a recommendation, but our company has a policy to against providing recommendations to protect the privacy we promise our clients and candidates. Many of our client agreements contain clauses around confidentiality and I wouldn’t want to risk our long term relationship because I violated a contract provision.”
Job Search: You can also find the jobs search menu on the top of your LinkedIn page. We recommend you select the drop down arrow and click on “Advance Job Search.” LinkedIn offers contact recommendations on almost every job posting it finds. In other words, you could look at the same job posting found on www.indeed.com within LinkedIn and get potential managerial recommendations! Once in the “Advanced Job Search” section, enter the appropriate information. Keep it simple for best results. Once the search has been run there will be two sets of results: ”LinkedIn Jobs” & “The Web”. Typically, the web results will give you more hits, but you can toggle between both results as needed. The results page will bring up a list of companies and job postings. Once you have found the posting you’re interested in, click on the title to bring up the description, as well as the leads. Remember to look further into client profiles as well as job postings. Activity (10 minutes): Take a moment to search jobs by functional role. At the top of the screen, select Advanced Job Search from the Jobs drop down menu. Type in the desired functional role and narrow down the location to your specifications Note companies currently hiring and contacts you already are connected to Log events in MJ for follow up
Present: Status Updates: Use the “What are you working on now?” feature to give everyone within your network a quick summary of the job or skill sets you are trying to fill. To update what you’re working on, go to the home page of your LinkedIn profile. “Home” can be found on the top left side of the page. You will then see your status update on the top of the page. Recruiters can use this function to let all their connections on LinkedIn know what they’re having trouble finding which allows you to network with those people and who they know. Notice you are limited to 140 characters per update, so keep it short and to the point. A nice trick is to include the URL of the actual job posting if you already have one. The challenge however, is the URL of the postings are generally long, and would take up or go well past the 140 character limit. To shorten the URL with the posting: Copy the URL with the posting in a new web browser, go to www.tinyurl.com Paste the URL from the job posting into the box and click “Make TinyURL!” Once complete, the web page will show you a shortened URL, which you can now copy and paste into your status update. Ask: Who has experience using Status Updates? How do they work for you? How could you see yourself using this feature?
Present: People Search: Use the people search function to find new candidates in conjunction with MJ. On the top tool bar, click on the drop down arrow under “People” and click on “Advanced People Search.” Once in the advance search page, fill out the appropriate information you’re searching for. Remember to have the location near your area to help narrow down the results. When viewing results notice the options that show up when you scroll over someone’s profile. Some options show up on the top right side of their profile. These options will allow you to choose how you would like to connect. Depending on how close they are to your actual network, you may have more/less options. Notice whenever you find someone who knows people already in your network you can “Get Introduced”. This can be used as a warmer way to get connected instead of through InMail. Finally, always make sure to cross-reference with MJ prior to connecting with them to assure you’re not duplicating efforts or contacting a DNU’d candidate. In summary, utilizing status updates will give everyone in your network instant updates on what you’re working on, allowing greater speed to market. Also, by tapping into the advanced people search you can find new candidates that may not turn up on the job boards.
Present: LinkedIn can provide you additional value and new outlets for networking by joining established groups or creating your own. Look for industry associations, alumni organizations, non-profits, special causes, etc that enhance your community presence or business development opportunities. To join a group, Click on the Groups link on the vertical left navigation bar Click on the Find a Group button Enter keywords to find a group of interest Once you find a group you’d like to join, adjust settings to your preferences as to how often and in what format you would like to receive information from the group. Ask: What advantages could you see in joining a group? Look for: Local market intelligence Becoming a part of a community of candidates (local AICPA chapter for example) Learning more about an industry/market sector Present: If you see a need for a group that has not been filled, consider creating your own group. Note: our internal PR & Marketing departments manage all RHI branded groups. Please do not start a company branded group. Click on the Create a Group button and you will be directed into a page that asks you for your group name, group type, purpose of the group and display settings.
Present: Presentation is everything. If you choose to use a profile picture on LinkedIn or other site, make sure it represents you in a professional manner. Use a head shot, or a photo of just your head and shoulders, in professional attire. Ask: What is your first thought when you see these profile pictures? Present: The pumpkin patch and forest cabin are actual recruiter profile pictures! As your profile picture is one of the first things someone sees about you on any social networking site, ask yourself, “ Does this picture represent me in the way I want to be viewed by my clients and candidates?” If not, either remove your picture or replace it with an image that does. You may need to coach your candidates in an active job search to do the same.
Present: You can help your candidates maintain a professional image also by making recommendations in how they should represent themselves online during and after a job search. Ask: Who currently coaches their candidates on how to network online? What do you say? How is it received? (Take a few responses) Present: Unfortunate choices can end a candidate’s chance of employment before they start. The following are all real examples collected from the field: Example: An employed candidate confidentially looking for a new position is confronted by her supervisor after he viewed her LinkedIn contacts and discovered that she had suddenly added several recruiters to her network. Coaching: “While you are engaged in a confidential job search, I recommend that you hide your network contacts or limit how many recruiters you link to. Your current employer can see everyone you are connected to with an open network and may gauge your loyalty and long-term commitment by the contents of your contact list.” Example: You are reviewing a candidate’s resume during a pre-screen phone call and see that their email address is listed as follows: “bigfatheffercow@aol.com (not does describe me physically).” Coaching : “If you want to be thought of professionally, you need every part of your presentation to be professional. A client may not take you seriously with an email address like that. I recommend that you create a new email account that you use for your professional activities. The simpler the better. If you can, create some derivative of your name.” Example: During an interview, your candidate discloses to you that he was disciplined at his last job for posting confidential company information on an industry blog site. Coaching: “Anything you say on a website, blog, micro blog like Twitter, message board, or social networking site is public, visible, searchable and permanent. Even on non-professional sites, it’s prudent to think twice before you post something. A good rule of thumb: don’t say anything you wouldn’t want broadcast on the front page of a newspaper.”
Present: Now that we have covered best practices, it’s also important to discuss what you should NOT do in order to protect your personal information and your reputation, along with RHI’s. As always, we expect the highest levels of professionalism any time we interact with a candidate or client, no matter the forum. Therefore, the following activities are prohibited: Don’t quote or reference from any third party, such as clients and candidates, without their prior written consent . If you believe it is necessary to include such quote or reference, please contact your District Public Relations Manager. Don’t use contact methods outside of LinkedIn to make initial contact with a lead without first establishing a connection from within the network. LinkedIn’s terms of use require users to establish contact with potential candidate and client leads using their network and built-in contact systems. This is for the purpose of reputation management and giving users the option to determine if they want to connect. Users within this space view their profile and contact information as sensitive and privileged information. A traceable and trackable means of how initial contact is established with someone must be used at all times Don’t decipher or reverse engineer the e-mail addresses of potential leads identified from searches conducted within LinkedIn for the purpose of bypassing accepted networking channels. LinkedIn users have not given consent to email contact outside the established rules – don’t SPAM. Don’t aggressively try to establish connections with people on LinkedIn that you do not know. This is considered to be the equivalent of sending mass SPAM e-mails to people and will result in your account being shut down by LinkedIn. Don’t conduct pre-interview background checks using online connections found on social networks. There are inherent issues with the accuracy of profile data and a high-degree of probability that network contacts on a prospect’s profile do not know them well. Recruiters should not use candidate’s information posted on social networks as reference. Recruiters should always follow RHI’s policies in conducting interviews with candidate directly and perform selected reference checks according to RHI’s guidelines. Don’t create any LinkedIn Groups using Robert Half or any RHI’s line of business. Our Corporate Marketing Department is in the process of launching groups that will highlight our resources and expertise.
Present: If you would like to read more about using online networking resources to enhance your business, you can access the above titles through Skillport, in the Books 24x7 site.
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