Step 1: Complete your profile and keep it current
A complete profile will let other LinkedIn users know that you are active in the community. LinkedIn has a “Profile Completeness Percentage”. This can help so that you know the completeness level of your profile…make efforts to reach 100%. These efforts include uploading a picture, expanding your work history, adding an educational history, including a professional summary, and areas of specialty.

Within your LinkedIn account go to: Profile – Edit Profile
You will then see ways to edit the individual sections of your profile.
You might also see a yellow box labeled “Improve your profile”, this is a user friendly way to expand your profile on the website.

Learning Activity:
Follow the steps on LinkedIn to reach a 100% Profile Completeness Percentage.

Step 2: Add Connections of people you know and new people you’d like to meet
Adding connections on LinkedIn is very important to maximize your experience. You can add connections of people you know in the real world: current and former colleagues, classmates from educational experiences, family, friends, etc. You can also add connections of people who you’d like to network with. These are people who you have never met in the real world: potential candidates for hiring needs, industry leaders, HR professionals from other organizations for benchmarking, etc.

Within your account go to: Contacts – Add Connections
You will then see some tabs to assist you: Add Connections – Colleagues – Classmates – People you may know. Click on each tab and follow the directions to search for people. LinkedIn will make suggestions on who you might know, based on information in your profile.

When you add connections, always include a brief note to describe who you are and why you’d like to connect (especially when adding connections of people you don’t know). The focus of your message can be on “future networking opportunities”. The other person will need to approve your connection request; a personal message will help set the stage for your new relationship.

There are two primary ways to add connections of people who you don’t know:
1. Join Groups (see step 3 below)
2. Use the search function to search based on key terms, location, job title, etc. (see step 4 below)

Learning Activity: Add 5 people you know; Add 5 people you have never met.

Step 3: Join Groups
LinkedIn Groups are an excellent way to source candidates for challenging hiring needs or network with industry leaders for benchmarking, etc. Within a group you are able to post discussion topics, respond to discussion topics and send messages to other group members. There are many groups available for you to join, or you can create your own group.

Within your account go to: Groups – Groups Directory
You will see a “Search Groups” box on the left hand side. Use key terms to search available groups. Join large groups with many members. These groups will be the most active and beneficial. There is a limit on the number of groups you can join. Some groups are open and others are closed. Your request to join a closed group will need approval by the group owner.

Popular Groups for Human Resource Professionals:
Linked:HR
SHRM Networking Group
Human Capital Institute

Learning Activity: Use the Groups Directory to join three groups. Post a discussion topic.

Step 4: Use the Search Function to “meet” new people on LinkedIn
There are many industry leaders and potential candidates using LinkedIn for networking purposes. LinkedIn is a great channel to meet and interact with new people. The best way to find people with common professional interests would be to use the Groups Directory to search for topics of interest to you. Then once you are an official group member (see step 3), you can explore the other members in the group, by going to the “Members” tab within a group page. You can then browse the profiles or use the “Search Members” box to find people to meet. The “Advanced search” can be very helpful to narrow your results.

Aside from the people in your groups, you can also do a “People Search” of all LinkedIn users to find interesting people on the website. On the top right corner of your LinkedIn page you will see a search box. On the left side of the search box you can select what you’d like to search, select “People”. Then you can enter names in the box, if you know their name. Or you can click “Advanced” to search by job title, location, company, school, etc. Within any search, always remember that “less is more”. The less search terms that you use, the more search results that you will see. A very narrow search will limit your results. Start with a broad search and then add additional search terms as needed.

When you find someone to start a relationship with…add them as a connection (see step 2).

Learning Activity: Use the search function. Find five new people to interact with on LinkedIn.

Summary
LinkedIn is a great resource to expand your professional network. The website is fairly easy to use and also has a robust “Help Center” (the link is at the bottom of the website on the left side). As an active member of the LinkedIn community, you can make the most of your experience by following the four steps presented above. Best of luck and I look forward to see you on LinkedIn. You can view my profile here: http://www.linkedin.com/in/brianweidner

Many organizations participate in career fairs.  At these events recruiters have an opportunity to network and interact directly live and in-person with candidates.  Organizations are upset when few candidates come to their table.  Organizations lure candidates to come talk with them by handing out free logo’ed trinkets.  Relationships are built at these events and many great conversations take place.

But then at certain organizations a strange thing happens when the recruiter gets back to the office…

When a candidate calls to ask a follow-up question she receives a voice mail greeting that states that “individual calls to candidates can not be returned”.  So if she leaves a message about her interest in your organization, you won’t return the call?

With the failed phone call attempt, she might try sending an email to the address on the business card given at the career fair.  Hmmmm…..will sending an email to :  hr@organization.com really be seen by a live person?

She decides to try it anyway.  (A few seconds later)  Darn, an auto-response.  “Thanks for your message.  Please visit our website to learn more about our organization.  Individual emails can not be returned.”

She visits the website and decides to go ahead and submit an application.  After getting started, she realizes that your application is asking to recreate her resume in your system.  Wow, this is going to take a long time.  She wonders if she is really that interested to move forward?  And even if she does submit the application, what are the odds that it will be seen by a live person?  With frustrations mounted she says: “This stinks, I’ll just apply somewhere else.  Or maybe I’ll call that nice headhunter that I met.  He gave me his cell phone number and told me to call him at any time.”

–

After working with candidates for many years, I’ve obtained some very interesting feedback on their view of the job search process and the associated frustrations.  This concept of the recruiter in the glass office can be most frustrating to candidates.  I know that the recruiter is there, but I can’t reach them.

Recruiters are busy and often don’t have time to handle individual requests from candidates.  Especially because many candidates are unqualified for their current hiring needs.  This is understandable, but yet at the same time…I see it as a big problem to be solved.

In my mind, we are in the people business.  If we close the door on people, we are not doing our job as recruiters.  When we close the door on unqualified candidates, we also close the door on the highly qualified ones.

One way to solve this problem is to incorporate a Sourcing Model.  This would involve a dedicated person to source candididates for your critical hiring needs.  This person would attend career fairs and be in the business of candidate communication via any method (Phone, Email, Text Messaging, Fax, In-person, Facebook, Twitter, Carrier Pigeon, etc.).  Once a candidate has been deemed qualified for a current hiring need, they would be passed along to the Recruiter for an Interview.  The Recruiter would also screen candidate applications, work with internal stakeholders, etc.

Technology and other cultural shifts have made it easier and more natural for one-to-one communication to occur.  As recruiters we need to be more accessible to candidates or be willing to pay headhunters to build relationships on our behalf.

I’m not an expert on using twitter for healthcare recruitment, but I play one on TV. 

In my opinion there are no social recruitment experts because we’re too early in the game to predict a winning strategy.  With that said, I have seen some success with the use of Twitter for Healthcare Recruitment.  From that framework I’ll try to share some wisdom with you within this post.  The good news is that Twitter can be used for Healthcare Recruitment.  The bad news is that it might require more time than you’re willing to spend.  Here are three ideas to get you started:

1.  Think Telephone not Megaphone. 

Many recruiters are looking at twitter as a megaphone where they can broadcast their open positions to a wide audience.  Picture an automated system where every job opening is posted on twitter with a link to the job description on your website.  The technology is capable to achieve this, but the audience is not there.  If a tree falls in the woods and no one is around to hear it…

A better approach is to view Twitter as a telephone where you can have two-way conversations with candidates.  This would involve dialog and a mutual sharing of information.  I wrote about this pretty well in a previous post on the best way to invite me to a party.  This “telephone” conversation on twitter will be time consuming, but on the other hand there are candidates on twitter ready to talk with you. 

2.  Search the Twitter Universe. 

I’m sure that I’ve lost a few people after my first point.  If you’re still reading this, thank you.  I’m impressed with your solid work ethic.  Since you’re willing to have a conversation with people the next step involves finding people to talk with.  There are many tools that you can use for free to search the conversations on twitter as well as the profiles of twitter users.  I like using Tweepsearch but there are many other tools at your disposal.  Enter “search twitter profiles” or “search twitter conversations” within your favorite search engine to explore some options.  You can also follow other recruiters and human resources professionals for ideas and suggestions such as @garrickt and @mysensay.

3.  Engagement involves risk.

After you’ve found people to talk with, the next step is to engage them in conversation.  The key here will be to take a three pronged approach.  1.  Say interesting things  2.  Reply and ReTweet with commentary on their posts  3.  Ask questions. 

Your approach can be recruitment focused, but this is not a direct sales pitch.  The engagement must contribute to the conversation rather than be solely focused on messages with a “come join our team” mantra.  You must put yourself out there and openly engage in the community. 

How is your organization using Twitter for Healthcare Recruitment?  What success have you seen?

I don’t know much about Roman Mythology. (Are you surprised?) However, I’d like to mention Janus in my post today. Janus is the god of gates, doorways, beginnings, endings, and time. He is also the namesake for the month of January. Most often he is depicted as having two heads, facing opposite directions; one head looks back at the last year while the other looks forward to the new, simultaneously into the future and the past.

Within this blog post, I’d like to take a quick look back at Healthcare recruitment in 2010. Then within a new post next week, we will explore what might be on the horizon in 2011.

On December 31st, 2009 I made a prediction about Wisconsin Healthcare Recruitment Trends.. The prediction related to the use of video within the Wisconsin Healthcare community. Specifically I predicted that healthcare organizations will begin to incorporate the use of on-line videos within their recruitment strategy.

Since then I have been casually tracking the use of video within recruitment. Here are some great examples of organizations that have put this to work.

1. Pink Glove Dance. Watch the video and read my commentary here. Currently this video has about 12.5 million views.

2. CheeseHead Dance Videos. Two Healthcare organizations in Wisconsin have created their own versions of dance videos. Watch the videos and read my commentary here. Fort Healthcare video has 1,303 views and UW-Health Chinheads has 2,439 views.

3. Aurora Health Care Video Job Posting. Earlier this week I can across this video job posting for Physical Therapist career opportunities at Aurora Health Care. Watch the video here.

I’m going to go ahead and claim that my vague prediction from last year was correct.

What are your thoughts on the use of video in healthcare recruitment? Comment below or Email me your input and I’ll include within a future post.

What if there was one central resource for Healthcare career opportunities in Wisconsin?  A primary marketplace where healthcare organizations and candidates came together.  

The Internet is great, but it has also cluttered the space for information.  Let’s say that I want to find a Physical Therapist job in Wisconsin.  I might go to Google and type, “Physical Therapist Job Wisconsin“.  As a result I now have about 739,000 websites that might be valuable in my search.  This is not helpful because, (A) I now have too many choices and (B) I don’t want to visit all of these websites.  What I really want is to see a full listing of the Physical Therapist career opportunites currently open in Wisconsin.  I want to view all of the postings so that I can understand the full perspective.  And I certainly don’t have time to visit 739,000 websites.  This creates a big issue for job seekers, but it’s not their fault.     

The real issue is that Wisconsin Healthcare organizations don’t have a central resource to post their positions.  As such, each organization posts their jobs in a variety of locations.  (And those organizations with limited recruitment budgets don’t post their positions anywhere.)   

With the jobs posted in a variety of places, where should a candidate go to research open opportunities? 

So we have two big problems…Wisconsin Healthcare organization are forced to spend lots of money in recruitment advertising so that their positions are posted in a variety of locations.  And, candidates are forced to spend time sorting through thousands of websites in order to research career opportunities.  

Which brings me back to the original question…What if there was one central resource for Healthcare career opportunities in Wisconsin?  A primary marketplace where healthcare organizations and candidates came together.

A central resource would:

1.  Offer healthcare organizations both free and paid advertising options to have their positions posted.

2.  Leverage technology such as data scraping and job wrapping so that the open opportunities would be automatically pulled and posted. 

3.  Provide powerful search capabilities so that candidates could quickly explore positions.

This is the future of job boards and at Career Tree Network, we want to be apart of it.  To Be Continued…

Here are a few comments that I’ve received this week:

“My cousin recommended this blog and she was totally right keep up the fantastic work!”

“Really interesting post, thanks! Do you mind if I publish it in my blog, with a link back to you?”

“Hi, I like your blog. This is a cool site and I wanted to post a little note to let you know, nice job! Thanks Lisa”

The only problem is that all these comments are fake.  When you leave a comment on a blog you can include a link to your website, these links will help with Search Engine Optimization (SEO), which helps your website appear higher on Google.  As a result, spammers have created automated systems that leave comments on blogs.  They are not real people and certainly don’t care about Healthcare recruitment in Wisconsin.

When I get the email with their “fake” comment I’m always excited.  Then a few seconds later, I realize that the comment is phony and disappointment sets in.  The idea of a real person giving a positive comment about this blog is very appealing to me.  In fact it’s what I crave…and what all of us craves! 

We want real connections with other people.  We want another people to listen and appreciate what we have to say.  If we have a question, we want to reach a knowledgeable person who can personally respond.  In many ways technology has enabled an abundance of fake connections which can be incredibly annoying.  Like when you receive a spam email message from a business owner in Kenya who wants to send you money.  Or when you call a customer service hot line and spend 30 minutes hitting buttons on your phone before a real person….in Manila, Philippines…answers the phone. 

Let’s tie this to Healthcare recruitment in Wisconsin.  Many recruiters seem to follow a transactional approach.  It might sound something like this:

“I have a position open for a Pharmacist, so I’ll post the position on a few job boards, and follow our hiring process.  On my outgoing voicemail I state that I can’t return individual calls from candidates.  I really don’t want to build relationships…I just need a qualified Pharmacist to come forward when I post the position.  Why are people so difficult?”

This sends a message to candidates that we really don’t care about them.  We only want to go through the motions to uncover a candidate who we’ll never keep in touch with once the position is filled. 

Rather, I’d encourage you to give candidates what they crave.  Listen to their career goals and take a long term perspective to build a mutual relationship.  Develop active channels to stay connected for future networking and career opportunities.  Be a recruiter and a real person…at the same time. 

On December 31, 2009, I made a prediction that on-line video would be the #1 trend in health care recruitment in 2010.  I recently came across something on YouTube that has been viewed over 6 million times since it was posted in mid-November.  It’s a video that was created by the employees of Providence St. Vincent Medical Center in Portland, Oregon. 

You can’t help but smile when watching the video…and I’m sure that it’s been a big boost to the organization’s recruitment efforts. (Click on the image below to watch the 3.5 minute video.)

Many organizations are starting to harness the power of social networking websites within their recruitment efforts. These companies have probably created a Twitter account and Facebook fan page and are now working to keep their pages maintained with a continual flow of content.

Smart organizations are keeping their content interesting so that the target audience stays engaged. And lazy organizations haven’t updated their account since Christmas, or use some fancy automated system that posts a cryptic update for each new job posting.

Given the work involved with using social networking websites, it’s important to build your fan base so that your efforts aren’t wasted. A good rule of thumb is that you should have four times more fans/followers than the number of employees that you have.

Example: Let’s say that Weidner Hospital has 800 employees and their Facebook fan page has 90 people. This is not good. A better number would be something closer to 3,200 or higher.

Keeping your social networking profiles updated involves the same amount of work whether you have 5 fans or 50,000 fans. You need to work on building your fan base so that your labor investment can reach a wide audience and thus increases your potential pay-off (ie: sourced candidates).

Increasing your fan base is best accomplished through a dedicated marketing effort. Ask your marketing department for help…or call Career Tree Network.

Background:
Last month I read a study which reported that 45% of employers screen social media profiles as part of their hiring process. And, 35% of those organizations have found content on social networking websites that caused them not to hire a candidate.

Click Here for a press release about the study.

With more employers using Social networking websites, it suggests that candidates need to clean up their on-line reputation. A clean profile will ensure that the picture of you doing a keg stand doesn’t cost a job offer.

In this blog post, I’d like to share how I use social networking webites for both business and personal interactions. This method might not be the holy grail…but it has worked as an effective strategy for me. Please feel free to share your strategies or thoughts in the comments section below.

In January, I made a conscious decision to start using Facebook and Twitter to enhance my professional image. Most status updates are related to my business efforts, certain pictures have been removed, and I’ve found that social networking websites have become an effective way for me to engage with both health care employers and candidates.

The Problem:
A few months after I converted “Brian Weidner” to be 100% professional, I no longer had a place to post personal updates and the pictures of me in a bathing suit with a margarita in hand. My personal interactions were suffering. Childhood friends got my business sales pitch and I become unable to take advantage of the “social” side of social networking.

The Solution:
Using a different email address, I created secondary accounts for my personal use on Facebook and Twitter. Information about this ”alias” account was shared via an email message to friends and family. I am able to use these secondary profiles as my social outlet. While Brian Weidner is attending conferences and sharing career development resources, my alias is talking about fantasy football or debating the best micro-brewery in Wisconsin.

In my opinion, the role that social networking websites play in our lives will only increase. Many organizations have jumped on the bandwagon and now include social networking as a central component of their recruitment strategy.

As such, both Human Resources professionals and candidates should consider creating an alter ego account so that their main accounts on these websites can remain as tools for professional interactions.

I’m reading “The Long Tail” by Chris Anderson.  It’s a book that explores how technology has enabled organizations to profitably cater to niche audiences.  My favorite example is Blockbuster Video vs. Netflix.  Blockbuster can only have a certain amount of movies on their shelves so they carry about 3,000 of the most popular movies at any given time.  Netflix is not limited by shelf space and carries 90,000 movies.  Customers of Netflix prefer the opportunity to rent vintage and niche movies that are not easily found elsewhere.  These movies are widely unpopular but yet still do have an audience.  In this case, the long tail refers to the many “unpopular” movies carried by Netflix that greatly contribute to their success.

Career Tree Network websites fall within the long tail of on-line recruitment.  Thanks to the Internet, we can design and build specialized websites targeted to very small audiences.  The Career Tree Network offers Wisconsin’s Health Care employers a niche tool to source a specific group of candidates.  Conversely, health care professionals can enjoy a solution tailored precisely to meet their needs. 

The concept of leveraging technology to profitably serve niche audiences is an important trend in today’s business climate.  It is exciting to be operating at the front line with a business model that would not have been feasible a few years ago.