Recruiters have nailed the big three of social media: LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, but going beyond the big three is the next step. Some of us were dragged into the social media world kicking and screaming. It has been derided and called a passing fad, but it has become apparent that social media in recruiting is effective, inexpensive, and … fun? Expanding your company’s reach via these newer social networks is the next natural step.

Think bigger … or smaller, whichever way you want to look at it. You’re expanding your reach through smaller outlets like Quora, Dribble, Github, Foursquare, and Instagram. keep reading…

Odds are, you read the title and just said, “not me!” So we’re left with the question, “Is it worth your time to build an employment brand?” Absolutely.

I get it. There aren’t enough hours in the day, and this isn’t exactly a “today’s to-do list” type of endeavor. But building an employer brand is only as complicated and time consuming as you make it. It will also be as expensive as you make it, but it will be worth more than its weight in work.

You will get more out of a properly constructed employer brand than you put into it. And if you believe that time is money, then take note. In a survey of more than 4,700 talent acquisition decision makers, a reported 50 percent savings in cost per hire is associated with a strong employer brand.

I work with small- to medium-sized businesses every day, and many of them don’t have the time, resources, or knowledge base that the big guys do to recruit. That’s where employer brand shines. According to research firm Universum, two of the top three channels that will be the most used for employer brand promotion are the website (92 percent) and social media (80 percent). Most of us have those things and in a smaller firm you often have far more access to the control of those things than you would in a Fortune 500.

Here’s what to do: keep reading…

Writing job descriptions or (the new term) job ads, is a big part of a recruiter’s day. In fact, I have a candidate contact me recently about this article and point out specifically that the job advertisement or “req” was a huge reason why he would take (or not take) a new position.

His email got me to thinking. What elements need to be in a job description to make it attractive to candidates? Here are some tips to ensure that yours gets read and (hopefully) clicked on! keep reading…

Recruiting, as many of us know it, has undergone a transformation in the last few years. In fact, there are recruiters coming in to the workforce now who only source within LinkedIn Recruiter, or who’ve never had to keep a physical (read: paper) file on a candidate. Some of the changes that have rocked our industry over the last six to eight years have been great ones. Some could use a keener eye, but I’m not here to criticize.

What I want to do is point to the things that haven’t changed; I want to talk about getting back to recruiting basics. Because not everyone can afford the fancy social recruiting suites and very few can veto the boss when he says no to a perks program. These are the skills that every recruiter should know and all recruiters used to know. These things obviously work with the new tools and platforms … but they’re effective without them. So let’s get back to the basics.

Here are five things not to forget in the social recruiting fervor. keep reading…

A few years ago, I might not have written this article. In fact, a few years ago, we were still debating whether “social” should be used for business at all. Now there are entire companies out there whose marketing and sales cycle depends heavily on social selling, social service, and social media marketing.

It’s fair to say that we’ve arrived. Now, before I get hammered in the comments, I do not believe that social media is the cure for all business ills, nor do I think that some business isn’t best conducted face-to-face or over the phone. However, as the owner of a company which not only takes advantage of social recruiting but also uses social advertising and selling to inform and educate customers, I’m ready to give some heads up about what not to do. keep reading…