Optimize Your Network to Generate Referral Hires in 5 Simple Steps

Optimize Your Network
to Generate Referral
Hires in 5 Simple Steps
Groupies, Linchpins
and Stalkers:

1
Optimize Your Network to Generate Referral Hires in 5 Simple StepsGroupies, Linchpins and Stalkers:
Full Disclosure:
You Are Not Your Number of Connections.
Let’s face it:
You’ve heard the buzz about social media and did
what you were told to do. You’re on LinkedIn, have
a Twitter account and have even…gasp… started
accepting professional connections into your private
world of Facebook. Still, it doesn’t feel like much has
changed, does it? You’ve got connections, followers
and some activity, but when it comes down to trying
to mine your network for real recruiting results –
referrals, recommendations and direct applies to
your open positions – it still feels like 1998, complete
with that client server ATS you used to rock in the
.com era and the flannel shirt left over from when
Pearl Jam came through town.
Good news.
It doesn’t have to be that way. If you’ve made most
of the right moves related to the tools (social media
involvement, a LinkedIn account and a decent ATS),
odds are the only thing standing between you and
a network that delivers real recruiting results is a
networking/marketing strategy that makes the most
of who you and your company are. Let’s get started.
Let’s address the elephant in the room as a starting point: LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook did not invent networking. Networking is a state of mind and a skill,
not a technology platform. Long before we measured you based on the number
of digital connections you had, cavemen were networking without technology to
check on the location of fire and Woolly Mammoths. Cave drawings indicate that
large shells and animal horns may have been used to create sounds indicating
an incoming message.
Networking Is
Not New.

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• Version 0.0
I don’t use Facebook for work – that’s for my private stuff. I like to keep
the wall nice and high. It’s scary out there.
• Version 1.0
I’ve got a LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook account but limited
connections – where are all the great candidates?
• Version 2.0
I’m a networking superfreak, a “LION”, a
“LinkedIn Open Connector”. However, despite
my 10,000 1st Degree Connections, I have
no clue who is actually in my network and my
LI home page is more cluttered up than my
Farmville dashboard.
• Version 3.0
I’m a networking machine. I’ve successfully
made the transition to digital networking, but
you could plop me down in the 1920’s and
I’d be a networking machine without Linked
In. That whole prohibition thing might be an
issue, however.
As a result, recruiters look at their deployment of tools like LinkedIn, Twitter and
Facebook and find themselves running one of four versions of digital networking:
The Bottom Line:
Networking transcends technology. The best
networkers today make technology work for them,
but the behaviors related to networking are more
important than the technology used.
Still, technology is
here and it’s hard
to be an effective
networker without it.

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At this point, we’ve established that technology won’t create a great network
while you watch YouTube videos all day long (our favorite – Office Space and
this classic video from P.O.D. – but we digress). Your network and its success in
helping you get great recruiting results is a direct reflection of your networking
strategy.
What strategy you ask? To build a killer network that’s responsive to your calls
for referral requests, we recommend the following five-step plan:
A Five-Step Networking Program:
Focus on
Strategy, Not
the Technology
1. Have a plan for what you
want to accomplish via a
networking strategy.
Who do you want to target with your networking
efforts? Do you need a focused strategy that
looks to build a network related to a narrow/
specific set of profiles and skills, or does a
general outreach plan to the community you live
in make more sense? You need to know the
answer before you start building the network
machine.
2. Agree and institutionalize
how you capture new
members of your network.
The biggest mistake people make as they
consider building a network is that they don’t
formalize a “capture” approach. Questions you
need to answer related to capture include the
following gems:

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• Would you consider
someone you traded
business cards with eligible
to be added to your network?
Most people say yes to this question. What’s the
digital equivalent of trading business cards? That
should be the digital cue to capture someone in
your network (examples: email exchange, twitter
conversation/add, online application, etc.). If you
consistently capture according to this standard, your
network is going to explode.
• Who on your team is
responsible for capturing
new network members?
All recruiters and HR pros? Key managers? Anyone
else? How do you enforce/encourage compliance
with the capture standard?
• What’s your tool of choice related to
formally adding people to your network?
Your ATS? LinkedIn? Can you afford to build a network in multiple locations?
Will that work?
• Don’t forget about portability issues.
When team members capture new members of the network, who owns
the network? Do they own it or does the company? You need to figure out
what you’re comfortable with now before a recruiter leaves with 60% of your
network on her LinkedIn account (LinkedIn Professional, anyone?), then
disables the ability for you to view her connections.
• Think about transparency on the open
web, as well as the risk of it.
Is Johnny Competitor watching? Newsflash: They should be, and if they’re not,
take advantage and start recon’ing everything they do! Bottom line: When it
comes to the open web and the transparency offered, remember that 1. The size
of your 2nd degree is much more important than your 1st, and 2. Being a “1st
Degree Connection” is again a state of mind – it’s about a “strong tie”, which only
comes from actual relationship building (both online and offline as well).
Ouch.

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3. Make Technology work for you related to
how you capture new members of your
network
You’re a busy person, so you and I both know you’ll never build a sweet
network unless you’ve got technology helping you minimize the work needed
to invite people to join your tribe. Ways to automate adding people to your
network include the following:
4. Do proactive outreach to
grow your network beyond
the “business card”
approach.
Once you’ve reached a steady state related to
capturing those you communicate with as part
of your network, you need to do some proactive
outreach. Go back to your plan and carve out
some time each week to go trolling on LinkedIn,
Twitter and Facebook and connect with your
target audience. Give yourself a quota to fill for
outreach connections.
5. Have something to say to
your network once in awhile.
Let’s face it, if you connect with thousands of
people but never have anything to say, your
network won’t respond when you need it to. A
cold network generates no recruiting results.
You need to communicate with your network
consistently, even if it’s passive in nature. No,
this doesn’t mean spamming white-box job
descriptions everywhere you can. We’ll cover this
more in the next section.
• Killer App:
Jobvite. Target, capture and manage all social recruiting in any
network without breaking a sweat. LinkedIn Outlook toolbar. You
click, the target gets an invite. They know you because they’ve sent
you an email. Shazam.
• Good but not great:
The auto-add feature for your flavor of ATS. Includes the popular, yet
elusive, LinkedIn profile “scrape” and the “email into the system”
option. Not as dynamic as the LinkedIn Outlook toolbar, and the ATS
world is all over the map related to functionality that’s available.
• Your website:
If you’re getting traffic, your network should be able to opt-in at your
website to some degree. Who cares about eyeballs if you’re not
capturing them? So are you offering some thought leadership that
will entice them to give you their name, title, and email, etc.? How
about a cool video series? Your website should be a magnetic funnel
in which you’re passively building your network. Most suck, however.

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Repeat after me: You Are Not Your Number
of Connections. If you take our advice, your
network will grow. That’s the good news.
The bad news is that unless you find a
way to consistently engage your network,
they won’t have any clue who you or your
company are.
I Know That Dude!
Building Trust
and Recognition
in Your Network 1. Content is king.
You need to figure out something to say to your
network to keep it warm. People don’t refer
without trust. You can’t expect referrals if people
haven’t heard from you in 2 years.
2. Content ranges from Nerd
Papers to Status Updates.
Hardcore content includes whitepapers and case
studies, which are valuable and build thought
leadership, but both take a long time to produce.
Midrange content efforts include blogposts
and videos. Light content includes Tweets and
Facebook status updates related to what’s going on
at your company without creating original content.
That’s where the concept of conversation comes in.
Have 5,000 people in your network? Great!! Got
anything to say to them? No?
If you’re struggling with what to say to your recruiting
network beyond sending them a link to your open
jobs, here are some thought starters related to
developing your own content plan to prime your tribe:

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3. Topical content distributed through social
networks is the sweet spot.
Commit to a manageable content creation schedule as a starting point.
Cover stuff happening in your company through a blog post or short video,
then distribute through social networks. The voice of the content matters,
so make it natural and assessable and write like you talk. Don’t forget
content titles also matter. Open APIs mean you can distribute a single
piece of content to LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter with one update (this
is a bigger key than people think – because it allows to look like you are
everywhere, when you’re not.) If you don’t have your own content, you can
keep the flow going with value-added links of interest distributed through
the big three social networks.
4. Provoke Like You’re a Reporter from TMZ.
Focus on eliciting some emotional response – make the network laugh, cry,
scream, or jump out a window … but don’t put them to sleep. The way to
engagement is by shaking trees and actually having something interesting
or contrarian to say. Otherwise, you’re just white noise. If there’s one
complaint about Social Media, it’s that you can’t pick up a real signal
anymore.
Consistent content makes your job postings
more attractive and increases distribution of your
openings/referrals that directly result.
In order to tap into that reality, you not only need
to build a network, you’ve got to build your/your
company’s brand to that network through simple, yet
consistent content.
People
apply to and
refer the
employment
brands they
know best.

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Let’s say you’ve systematically built your networkand
started to prime the pump by providing an interesting,
yet manageable, content stream to your tribe. As you
entertain/educate, here’s the personas you’ll start to
see emerge among the members of your network:
Groupies are Good, Stalkers
are Bad:
The 5 Faces
You’ll See
1. Groupies/Fans.
These are your fans – either of you, your company or a combination thereof.
You’ve opted to engage your network through content, and this group loves
what you’re doing. As a result, the “groupie” is highly likely to either apply
for an open spot at your company or refer an opening to someone who’s a
match. Handle your Groupies with extreme care – treat them like a number
and they’ll go Gangster on you in a hurry. Groupies and Gangsters are
a thin line removed from each other – that’s just how it is with extreme
personalities.
2. Linchpins
Linchpins are the influencers in the talent pools you need most, and they
hold the key to your success. They don’t need a job, and they’re unlikely to
apply for your openings. Still, if they like your content stream/overall vibe
and open up their network and refer candidates to your company, you win
in a big way. You’ll have to proactively build relationships with these folks
to reap the full benefits of what they can do for you from a referral and
promotion perspective.Keep in mind that Linchpins will often surprise you
that they’re as influential as they are – they’re typically more calculated and
strategic than the cheerleading Groupie, so your best bet is to remember that
anyone might be a Linchpin.
As You Build Your Network

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3. Stalkers.
Like a groupie, the stalker is your fan. Unfortunately, it’s going to be a little
uncomfortable for you. The stalker not only is your fan, but he’s desperately
trying to get into your company by applying for every open position at your
company. Customer Service Rep? Check. CFO? Check. He’s applied for both
of them. Once he applies for each job, he sends you emails and calls you to
talk about it. Do you have the restraining order form handy? You may need
that.
4. Zombies.
Every network is dominated by zombies, who are inactive members of your
tribe. The Zombie isn’t really sure who you are or what your company does. If
you do nothing to market consistently to your network, 99%+ of your network
will consist of Zombies – kind of like the Manhattan Will Smith inhabited in the
movie I Am Legend. Start marketing with a content plan, and the number of
zombies in your network comes way down. Still, it’s common for 50% or more
of a network that’s being actively marketed to consist of zombies. Your job is
to drive down that percentage so the network is there when you need it most –
when you need direct applies or referrals for your open jobs.
5. Gangsters.
A Gangster is someone that hates you and
everything your Brand stands for. Just ask
Walmart. A Gangster will hijack your group and
spam every member telling tales of rampant
illegal alien workers and how the Management
team intentionally tried to salmonella poison all
of North America. When you boot them from the
group, they’ll create a new profile and find a new
way in. While you can’t get rid of Gangsters, the
rest of your network can, like a team of ticked-off
white-blood cells.

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How much time should you be spending on
building and maintaining your network?
We can’t say this part too often: Get your game plan around capturing network
members rolling before you worry about sending content to your network.
Spending time on content when you don’t have a plan to systematically grow
your network is like eating Pop Tarts to get ready for the Olympics – it’s pointless.
Once you have the concept of “capture” down, expect
that content activities are going to take a couple of
hours per week. Here are some estimates:
Our recommendation? Work backward. Start with
light content, then as you get in a groove start laying
in original content about your company through blog
posts and videos, and only move to whitepapers once
you get your doctorate. Or you hire a complete nerd
who writes like Dave Chappelle.
• Hardcore content (whitepapers and case
studies): Eight hours per paper
• Midrange content (blog posts and videos):
Two hours per week for 3-4 pieces of content
• Light content (Tweets and Facebook status
updates related to what’s going on at your
company or in your industry without creating
original content): 15 minutes a day.
If Time Was
Money, You’d be
Bankrupt

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Here’s the big finish:
If you think technology is going to deliver a robust network that provides
a steady stream of candidates, you’re wrong. Technology can help you
automate how you track and communicate with your network, but it’s a terrible
replacement for having and executing a plan related to building your network.
Like Albert Einstein used to say, “Use the tools, but
don’t become one.” Or maybe that was Snooky from
Jersey Shore…
Follow our five step plan on building your network,
and start marketing to your tribe via a manageable
content schedule. You’ll get results.
And watch out for the stalkers. They’re a persistent
bunch.
Your Network’s
Most Important
Asset: <You>
Technology Doesn’t Replace

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About the Authors
Fistful of Talent (known to followers as FOT) is a multi-contributor blog that
focuses on all things related to Talent. Founded in 2008 by Kris Dunn and
known for its mixture of news, opinion, tips and snark, FOT features 14 HR pros,
corporate recruiters, third party recruiters and industry consultants who share
their views daily on the world of HR, recruiting and organizational talent. FOT
is featured at workforce.com and contributors such as Jessica Lee, Kris Dunn,
Tim Sackett, Paul Hebert and Josh Letourneau regularly appear at conferences
to speak and stay plugged in to what’s going on in the Talent industry. Put on
your helmet and join the conversation at
www.fistfuloftalent.com.
Kris Dunn is currently the Chief Human Resources Officer at Kinetix, the RPO
and recruiting firm for growth companies. He’s a VP of HR type who has led HR
practices in Fortune 500s and venture capital-held startups. Kris is also among
the most transparent HR pros you can find, caring so much about the art of HR
that he’s started two blogs (www.hrcapitalist.com and www.fistfuloftalent.com)
with the goal of building a community he could learn from. He’s been putting
his thoughts down every business day for over 4 years. That means what you
see is what you get. He can’t hide, and if he ever pulled the blogs down, Google
would probably haunt him forever anyway. Follow @kris_dunn.
Josh Letourneau is the Managing Director of Knight
& Bishop, an Exec Search and Social Network
Analysis firm that helps organizations unlock
performance by taking a look “under the hood”
of the OrgChart. Josh holds an MBA from Mercer
University and while not a PHR, thinks Elephants
are cool and lives with his wife and their 4 dogs in
Atlanta, GA. Follow @jletourneau.
Tim Sackett, SPHR is currently the EVP of HRU
Technical Resources, a 400 employee contingent
IT and Technical Firm based in Lansing, MI. Prior
to HRU, Tim has held executive level HR & Talent
level positions with Fortune 500 companies in
Healthcare, Retail and Casual Dining. Follow @
TimSackett.

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Jobvite is a complete, modular Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform which can
optimize the speed, cost-effectiveness and ease of recruiting for any company.
The Jobvite recruiting platform includes social recruiting, recruiter CRM and
applicant tracking solutions.
Here’s how Jobvite can help you optimize your network:
Makes the capture easy. An intuitive recruiter CRM enables recruiting teams to
share data, organize lead generation, and manage email and social network
campaigns. Live social profile feeds enhance your database and save research
time. That means recruiters can focus more on topical content and real
engagement and less on copy-paste. (And your database can’t walk out the
door.)
Find your target. Matching technology helps you find people in your database,
your network, or on the open web who are right for the job you are filling.
Seamless social recruiting pulls contacts from LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter
into one database – or tap 300 more networks.
Follow up. Now that you found someone, deliver your unique content through
email or social networks. Create campaigns that focus on the specific interests of
important segments in your network.
All hands on deck. Empower employees to help
you build a larger, more relevant network. Send a
Jobvite to extend your reach with viral distribution
through LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter as well as
email – it’s employee referral on steroids. Want to
build trust and recognition? Plugged in employees
can help with that.
Make the most of what you’ve got. Candidate-
friendly, engaging career sites help you optimize
your funnel. And you can drive more traffic by
extending your employment brand to Facebook and
Twitter with automated Jobvite feeds.
Get better all the time. Built-in tracking and intuitive
dashboards keep track of what works, so you can
keep optimizing how you spend your time and
money.
There’s more. Come by our website to explore or
take a tour.
CONNECT WITH US
www.jobvite.com
www.twitter.com/jobvite
www.linkedin.com/company/jobvite
www.facebook.com/jobvite
650 376 7200

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