Sales 2.0 versus Recruitment 2.0

Waiting in the airport is one of my favorite things to do because it gives me countless hours of reading time. There is a magazine that I recently subscribed to called Selling Power. If you are in sales, you need this magazine. I've received three so far and I've read it cover to cover each time. Today there was an awesome article on Sales 2.0 and the analgy to recruitment was uncanny.

According to the authors (Pelin Wood Thorogood and Gerhard Gschwandtner) there are five tenets to Sales 2.0. Making the connection to recruitment wasn't hard.

Tenet 1: Acceleration

You need the ability to get to your jobseekers faster and process them with the kind of speed you get from the internet. If you don't have a web-based application system you need one. We all understand about the early bird.

Tenet 2: Collaboration

Collaboration between the recruitment team and the hiring managers needs to happen. Even though it is difficult to pin people down, to be successful you need a relationship with your hiring managers (each one).

Tenet 3: Professionalization

Do you know where your recruitment dollars are being spent? Can you tell your management team which job board brings you the most qualified candidates? You need a system that can tell you that. Have you tried an applicant tracking solution that tells you where your jobseekers are coming in from? If not, you need one that does.

Tenet 4: Accountability

This tenet is tough because it means that if a recruiter doesn't produce you need to cut them loose. If they are disengaged, they need to re-engage. Recruiters that do well should have a compensation program much like a sales rep would have. Make the sale, receive a reward.

Tenet 5: Alignment

As recruitment continues to be competitive you need an advantage. Do you meet with your marketing department on a regular basis to ask for assistance? Does your website provide the most up-to-date information because recruitment and the webmaster meet regularly to update the site? Develop creative recruitment/marketing campaigns and measure results. Recruiters can't be all things. Utilize the people in your organization that can provide the expertise you are lacking.

Web 2.0 has brought us and unbelievable new world to use. Make sure you stay current on everything that is happening in recruitment by reading blogs (mine!!), newsletters, magazines, networking, etc.