For the first time in several years I’ve put my recruiting hat on.  Broadlook is expanding and we need to hire about 10 people.  I decided to get in on the ground floor and do the initial outreach to prospective candidates.

Here is what I observed:

The general professionalism of the better candidates was…better.  Does this seem obvious?  Possibly, but what I am talking about is simple things like voicemails and formats of email addresses.

Emails: One of the emails contained the following:  DaddySpankU@(email domain.com). This was in application for a Director level position.  The resume contained the minimum level of experience, but I had to ask myself, “what is this persons level of professionalism?”.  In the end, I don’t care, I’m not going to roll the dice with this person.

Voicemail recordings: Next, I called a candidate and got a voicemail with dogs barking, an obvious party going on in the background.  Again, not professional.   BTW, he also sounded as if he had at least a six pack in him, slurring his words.

Poor Voicemail message: “Yeah, high um, I like got your message and I ahh will send you my resume…. blah blah blah”.   Message deleted.

Voicemail message with no recording:  “You have reached the voicemail number 414-555-1212…etc”.  My goodness, if you are applying for a sales or customer facing position, record a voicemail so people know they are talking to. I want to hear how professional you sound.

Funny voicemail: “If you are driving or over 30 send me an email later.  If you are under 30, send me a text message”.  I liked this guy.  Shows some personality and that is better than an “UM,  Er, Ah, speaking dolt”.   Sales reps should have personality.

Facebook pages: I don’t care if you have a tattoo on your ass.  But putting it as your *Profile* photo on Facebook is a bad choice.  This lady did not get a call.  Ok, nice photo, but I don’t want you representing my company.  Mrs. politically correct in Human Resources may tell you different that you can’t be discriminated against due to something on your Facebook page.  Reality: your application will be deleted and you will never find out why.  No call.  No job.  No explanation.

Regarding your resume.  For the experienced people… dates like 2010-2011 is a huge red flag.  That could be December 2010-Jan 2011.  Fill in all dates.  Good interviewers will ask you to account for all dates and gaps in your work history.  Did you take a 4 months off to travel Europe?  Don’t hide it.  This is a positive thing. What did you learn and grow from it?

Don’t lie.  You will get caught and there is no excuse.  In the first 10 phone interviews, I caught a few people in lies.  The interview immediately ended.  People lie about stupid things.

Example:

“I made $55,000 last year. ”

“Are you sure about that”,  I ask

“Yes.  It might have been a little more.”  (then I got a detailed description of the compensation).

I interjected.  “You do understand that we require copies of your last 3 years of W2 to verify past compensation”.

Pause… then. “Ok, then I only made $45,000 last year”.

“So you lied to me”.  I stated

“I just really wanted the job”.

I terminated the interview.  This is something that he should have learned in Kindergarten.  Funny thing is that his skills would have commanded the $55,000 he was looking for.

What it all comes down to empathy.  Job Applicants need to understand how each and every way you interact with a potential employer looks to the employer. Here are some take-aways.  There are many articles and tips and what to do and not to do.  Here are some of my pet-peeves.

• Have a professional email address.  DormStalker@gmail.com  FAIL.  Try something like First.Last@something.com
• Have a clear voicemail message. If your message includes “Um”,  “Er”, “Ah”, “you know”,  “like” (at the start of every sentence),  then re-record it.
• Fill in all dates on your resume.  If there is a gap, explain that gap.
• Spelling mistakes on a resume.  Have a friend proof-read it.  Yeah, I’m awful, but I have a job
• Unless you are prepared to forge W-2′s Don’t lie about compensation.  You will get caught when you are asked for proof.
• Do what you say you will do.  Return calls when you promise, send paperwork, etc.  Failing in what is required in the job application process is a huge red flag.
• Don’t treat my assistant rudely.  She has a copy of your resume and will write notes about how you engage her.  She is interviewing you too!
• Don’t lie.  What you think is important may not be.  Job applicants lie about the stupidest things.

Last week, while presenting a live webinar “The Near and Far Future of Recruiting” I had an epiphany.  I was talking about the eventual decline (or morphing) of Facebook.  The theory is this: Mobile computing power in 10 years will be server-capable.  Add in violation of trust and general mistrust of social networks.  The result is peer-peer social networking.  No Facebook needed.  Everything sits on your mobile device.  More private, more secure, total user control and no ads.  Facebook may lead the way, but it will be hard to do as they would cannibalize their own ad-driven revenue model.

This was last year’s Epiphany.

What led to the new epiphany was my pontificating on CRM systems.  This was a recruiter-centric talk about the future of recruiting.  Many recruiter CRMs have connections to LinkedIn profiles.   Every one of these, that I have seen, has been implemented incorrectly, not due to any fault of the vendors.  In an optimal situation, the data inside the Profile should be mashed up with current CRM data.  Instead, LinkedIn requires usage of their API which brings back a canned LinkedIn profile. This is what I call “social linkage”.

The optimal situation would be a pair of  “social agents”.  While a company may have 1000 company prospects  in their CRM, they may only contact 50 in a given day. One “social agent” would automatically refresh the entire CRM on a longer cycle such as once per quarter.  Another just-in-time social agent would update the CRM just before the outreach process.  Why is this important?  LinkedIn is not a definitive data-source; nothing is.  What happens when you combine Facebook, Google+, Jigsaw (now data.com), Foursquare, twitter and whatever social network Microsoft comes up with?  Are you going to clutter your Salesforce or Microsoft Dynamics interface with 6-8 little snippets, much with redundant information?   This gets ugly fast.  The optimal implementation is to have a social agent retrieve LinkedIn, Data.com, Google+, Facebook, Twitter information.  Next, mash, score, apply analytics to present the information in a way that optimally fits your selling model.

Read the rest of this entry »

After about 2 years of talking about this topic, I thought it best to collect some solid data before doing an official blog about it.

LinkedIn is not a social network.

A thing is defined by it’s major attribute.  While LinkedIn has aspects of a social network, it is actually a social database.

Hey Donato…But they say they are a social network!

In the early days they were.  As the network grew, savvy users realized they needed to grow their networks as large as possible to spread their reach.  In polls done over the last year in live webinars, I’ve asked groups ranging from 200-600 how they use LinkedIn.  Here are the questions and the responses.

1.  I get as many connections as possible and figure out how to contact people directly.

2. I use LinkedIn to as it was meant.  Connect with people through a series of connections.

3.  I don’t use LinkedIn.

69% of people choose option 1. Last year, it was only 50%. The trend is growing and…

LinkedIn is a social database.

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You picked the right trade show, you got people to your booth.  Great conversations and a pile of cards.  Your sales team is excited!  What next?

There are many facets to success at a trade show.  Elevator Pitch, pre-show marketing, booth setup, etc.  If you don’t have a good elevator pitch, here is a blog that can help you.   Nailing the 30 second Elevator Pitch.

Again, I ask…what next?   Think about this scenario, it is an important concept.

For the sake of this scenario, our fictional vendor is TabletCo.  They sell the hottest new Android Tablet for the educational market.

A prospect, Harry, walks up to your TabletCo booth.  He loves your product! Harry is excited about using the tablet at the school where he is a History teacher.  The school district is large. It is a good opportunity.  Some further questioning yields the fact the entire school district wants to have a tablet for each student.  Being a conscientious sales rep, you get Harry’s card.  You are all set for the follow up…or are you?

This is the disconnect point.  Not just in sales at a trade show, but sales in general.  Important questions:

1. Is Harry the decision maker?  Can he say YES to a purchase?
2. If is he the decision maker, is he the ONLY decision maker?
3. What is the approval process for purchasing at Harry’s district?  Is Harry even aware of the process?
4. Is the information on Harry’s card current?  He is a teacher, did you get a cell phone, direct line and email address?
5. What happens if Harry moves to a different position in the next week?
6. What happens if Harry gets laid off?
7. What are the names, titles, emails phone numbers and backgrounds of other people that will participate in a decision?

Simple questions.  Do you normally have the answers after the show?  Why is it important?

Having multiple points of contact is the single greatest factor in getting a sales advance.

What is a sales advance?  It is not a sale.  A sales advance is forward movement in the sales process.

Having, and leveraging 3 points of contact “after show” will give you a 9X success factor over following up with a single contact.

Did you get 3 points of contact or a single card? How do can you turn a single point of contact into multiple points of entry?

Turn this:
Scan of Donato's Biz Card

After spending $1000′s at a trade show, every lead is precious. Don’t waste them.  If you have the opportunity at the show, leverage each connection to get as many points of contact as you can.  Some good questions to ask:

Does your contact sign off on the purchase or does she simply recommend? Who are the parties involved in the decision process?  What are their titles? When was the last time your contact signed off on something?  What is the approval process?  Are they currently using another vendor? When does that contract end?

If you are having trouble getting those additional points of contact, a great resource is Broadook’s Profiler.

Bottom line.  If you are not prepared, your first outreach after a trade show can be your last. Spend the time to get as much out of your leads as possible.

Last thought:  Think hard.  People getting back from a trade show are bombarded with every vendor emailing and calling after the show.

How are you going to stand out?

Looking to build you own iPhone app?  Don’t make the mistakes I made.  It is not just about developing the application;  you need the talent to do it.

So  I’m at it again.  Too much content for one blog.  For those readers of mine that are in the recruitment industry and digg the iPhone, you may want to check out iPhoneRecruiter.com.  Since I have recruited for iPhone Development Talent and led cross platform mobile applications, I’ve got some experience to share on the topics.

www.iPhoneRecruiter.com