So, where do we find great A Player candidates? I'm currently trying 3
approaches:
1. Craigslist
2. LinkedIn
3. Corporate Recruiter
1. Craigslist - in the past we have had some success with posting here. We
try to make sure the job ad is very clear: "Must include cover letter" for
example. so we can weed out all the spammers and not-so-serious candidates. For
manager positions, this is not the place A Players would hang out. So I give it a
FAIL.
2. LinkedIn - personally I love LinkedIn and have over 650 connections. It
has been a powerful way to build a diverse and deep pool of like minded
connections. A must for any business person. But what about recruiting? I needed
to ask around my LinkedIn network for who had done this already. The response
was overwhelmingly positive and at $299 for a 30 job posting - let's give it a
try.
I posted the jobs and immediately received very qualified candidates. Best
part is you can see their profile on LinkedIn and who in your network they are
connected to. There was nowhere to hide - I could see everything about them and
that saved us tons of time in the shortlist process. Our job ads were viewed by
hundreds, replied by many dozens and we interviewed a healthy handful.
I give LinkedIn an A 4 Awesome!
3. Corporate Recruiters - I'm very fortunate to have a good friend who owns
Titan Recruiting, so I know I'm getting their best efforts in finding me an A
Player. I gave them the Sales Manager posting as I expected this to be the
hardest to fill since our requirements were the highest. Although recruiters
charge 30% of the first year salary for a placement, I know there is a
right time to use them. In our case, it's to help us find a sales manager who
will get us over the 20 million in sales mark. The recruiter assists with us and
determines a perfect candidate profile, then seeks out that person. Although
expensive, if they deliver, it's worth every penny. I'll also give Recruiters an
A 4
Awesome!
****Follow Up September 4th, 2012***
We have filled all three positions!
- Merchandising Manager was a promotion internally - that was super
news!
- Marketing Manager was found thru LinkedIn - a former Electronic Arts
employee and Marketing Consultant who is going to really ramp up our on and
offline marketing efforts.
- Sales Manager was located thru the recruiter - a very senior level
manager who has build teams of over 600 people and is also a
customer service coach in her spare
time.
So there you have it - Recruiting MASHUP Summer 2012 is in the bag. We are
locked and loaded for our $20M sales climb!
Cheers
Calvin
