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Why Should I Hire You Recruiting

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One of the most searched questions on the Internet is, “Why should I hire you?”

When it comes to recruiting, business leaders need to be asking that question. They also need to be asking, where can I find you?

Here is the good news and the bad news: the economy is good.

“Recruiting can be challenging in any economy,” says author Jeremy Eskenazi. “When times are good, top candidates have many options, and when times are bad, employed people don’t want to make a move.”

Today’s challenge is to get the best candidates for the least amount of cost. As with any marketing challenge, it’s important to tackle it strategically, and recruiting professionals is no different. What is recruiting but marketing for the right job candidates? The best tactic is to be prepared.

“When it comes to acquiring talent, having your sourcing strategy and process in place should happen before you even need to hire someone,” says Eskenazi.

Eskenazi is an internationally recognized speaker, author of RecruitConsult! Leadership, and founder of Riviera Advisors, a boutique Recruitment/Talent Acquisition Management and Optimization Consulting Firm. He says he is not a headhunter, but a strategist.

“With the market quickly fluctuating, it’s important to know where to look, and what type of talent you will be looking for, because as much as you want to snap your fingers and have amazing candidates appear, it often takes a lot longer than that,” says Eskenazi.

To help you get started, here are some low-cost/no-cost sourcing channels from Eskenazi that could be considered as part of a recruiting strategy. Also if you are looking for a better job, be sure you can be found in these ways:

Referrals. “Employee referrals (ER) are the number one source of candidates by far—and usually rated the best quality source. ER programs don’t always have to have a monetary reward, though many do, and the best focus on recognition and simplicity.”

Job Boards. “Job boards are great for attracting active candidates. Ensure that your team’s postings are well written from a candidate’s “What’s in it for me” perspective. Don’t use company acronyms and slang. Check out and “borrow” great postings using the job board’s search system.”

LinkedIn. “First, make sure your team members are easily found. Their profiles should be complete and public. Change the settings in LinkedIn to ensure that they are searchable in Google. There are places on profiles to include links to websites for your company and other information. Your team should thoughtfully ask and answer questions in LinkedIn answers to be more findable.”

Facebook. “It’s harder to find sources on Facebook, but your team can use regular searches to find their co-workers, classmates, and others to get beyond their own network. Search for Friends on Facebook or leverage it to find candidates to join Facebook pages that are appropriate to you and your jobs. Facebook company pages are also great ways to attract candidates.”

Blogs. “Search relevant online blogs for subject matter experts and sources of candidate referrals. Find blogs by using Google Blog search and review the “About me” section. Look at their blogroll to find others who share the same interest. Discussion groups are great places to search too—you can simply review their content and decide if you want to pursue.”

Resume Mining Services. “Instead of buying expensive resume database access, consider using a Resume Mining Service. These services offer a low-cost solution on a per-job basis or in packages of jobs. The work they do is simple: they source and scour internet online resume databases for actual resumes and provide those resumes to you, usually overnight. Most services can offer an additional resource to do quick telephone screens on the resumes submitted.”

Let’s face it: Sourcing can be stressful. But with a game plan, and a little creativity, you can find the best talent with little, or even no budget. By laying the right foundation, the candidates you recruit should have no problem answering the question, “Why should I hire you?”