Comments on: How To Hire Smart & Find Hot Talent Locally

By: John Michel

John Michel — Thu, 08 Sep 2011 18:46:41 +0000

Lisa, you’re not alone in your struggle to find strong local talent. To combat this challenge, I’m a big fan of behaviorally-based pre-employment screening assessments. Contrary to what I used to think, behavioral traits are equally strong predictors of a job candidate’s future performance as that candidate’s professional history. Linkedin and similar tools are extremely useful for making you aware of which candidates are interested in your open positions, but assessment testing solutions do an outstanding job of filling in the rest of the equation.

By: Kat Caverly

Kat Caverly — Tue, 30 Aug 2011 11:50:21 +0000

I really enjoyed your presentation at #140conf Hudson Valley, as you and Rhea explored the problem of finding social media talent. It seems obvious that you find it ON social media but that is complicated by the fact that most companies want these hires to be local, which I just don’t find necessary.

I ran an animation production company with an international staff all interviewed, managed and hired via the Internet. It was a time when this was just not possible with local talent. I suggest that social media marketing companies would benefit from such “global” thinking.

By: Laurie

Laurie — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:17:45 +0000

Looking at it from the other side, this is valuable info for job seekers. Yes, you ARE wasting your time if you’re spending most of it looking at job boards, because many employers have figured out that’s not the best place to find qualified talent (since many job seekers just spew their resumes out into the void and hope to hit the jackpot). I’m retweeting to my followers – thanks, Lisa!

By: Henry Louis

Henry Louis — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 10:24:48 +0000

It is very important to hire local talent. It basically helps in the employees staying with the organization for a very long time.

By: Michael Said

Michael Said — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 08:32:17 +0000

Nice post, you would think that with the shortage of work that people would be putting their best foot forward when trying to find work.

By: Phil Buckley

Phil Buckley — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:25:33 +0000

I’ve read a lot of great articles here, but this one just shot into the top 3!

It makes me think of the old worn line that you grumble when you’re just getting started in the real world “it’s not what you know, it’s WHO you know”. The problem is that when you’re starting out, you don’t realize how much work it is to grow your network.

It’s a lot more work making a connection with 50 awesome people than it is to become a crack web developer, because html never has bad days, html never wants to “run an idea past you” or “pick your brain.

People are hard work.

By: Lea

Lea — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 06:57:30 +0000

I’m not sure you should beat yourself up over the linkedin search as ‘poaching’ :)
Poaching is when you try to take employees based on their working somewhere. For example if you had a contract with another company and wanted to hire an employee you thought was good – poaching.
You are probably getting close to the line if you, say, searched on linkedin on company X (that you knew was beating you, or a strong competitor) and went through their staff.
But a linkedin search for people within 50 miles of you? Naaaaa, thats not poaching :)

By: Nick Gowdy

Nick Gowdy — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 18:39:50 +0000

We do a lot of the “offline” recruiting — connections with universities, meetups. Outside of that, however, we do fall into the Monster / Craigslist trap, and then use social media more for screening purposes. For our next round, I imagine we’ll be a bit more proactive and start our hunt within the confines of LinkedIn / Twitter / etc.

Great stuff, as usual.

By: Todd Mintz

Todd Mintz — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 17:01:46 +0000

This is actually one of the smartest posts on employment I’ve ever seen…anyone in this industry should really follow your advice.

By: Jerry McCarthy

Jerry McCarthy — Thu, 25 Aug 2011 16:30:01 +0000

Lisa,
We are currently going through a slew of bad hires. At some point I wonder if we’re being too picky but my gut tells me otherwise. Since every hire is an extension of your brand, the criteria you look for is something I call L.E.A.D. Leadership, Enthusiasm, Ability and Drive. I know, it sounds like another corporate cliche. It’s not a phrase I use with my team (don’t want to bore them) but rather a road map to help us sift through. This post couldn’t have come at a better time as we are planning a few meet and greets at local colleges in the area and let’s me know if O.S.M. is doing it, it’s a good approach. Thanks Lisa. :-)