There is no shortage of ways to source effectively outside the confines of an office cubicle. Whether you have a smart phone such as an iPhone or Blackberry, or use a laptop or netbook, there are countless sites, networks and tools to tap into for sourcing. By now, nearly every sourcer on the planet is either a member or active user of social sites, knows what RSS is and how to use it, understands bookmarking and tagging, and lives in the Blogosphere. If you’re by chance still caught in the stone age using only job boards and your career website, the following may seem “advanced.” Let’s explore a few areas you should consider for sourcing while on the move:
Use Search Sites and Tools
Google is a must have regardless of your mobile device. They’re the undisputed king of search, but also offer a wide range of other products you can access on the go. Take Google Reader for example. Try setting up RSS feeds of resumes from sites such as VisualCV, eMurse and other career or resume sites using FeedBeater. This way you can get notifications of fresh resumes hitting those sites on your mobile device. AutoSearch is a great “catch-all” search tool that scours search engines, LinkedIn, Twitter, ZoomInfo and Jobster for profiles and resumes based on key words. The real-value to sourcers with this tool is in the search strings it automatically sets up for you on the fly. If you’re an email junkie, try reMail for the iPhone which offers fast full-text email search in your pocket.
Tap into Social and Business Networks
Over 100 million people currently use the Facebook application from their iPhones compared to total membership of 400 million people on the site. That’s 1 in 4 Facebook members that are mobilized. The Facebook iPhone application is very robust and offers nearly every feature of the main site. This means you can search, chat and manage your pages from almost anywhere. The same goes for LinkedIn’s iPhone application. For Twitter, try using TweetDeck which offers the ability to form groups of those you follow to stay organized and set-up searches for active and passive job seekers based on key words. Also check into mobile social networks such as Mocospace.
Take Advantage of Utility Tools
Want to stay connected to all things on your work PC? Start embracing the cloud, as in cloud computing, or cloud recruiting in our case. There are a plethora of tools such as Diigo, which allow you to clip pieces or entire pages of websites and tag them for later viewing. Build a library of names, profiles and resumes, and access them anywhere using Diigo. Think of it like a portable information warehouse or a bare bones ATS while you are mobile. Take a good look at Evernote as well which offers similar features. If you need a backup plan for all your documents, try SugarSync. Need to manage your blog while at a client meeting or on the subway, platforms such as WordPress offer mobile applications to get your work done.
Use Mobile Specific Applications
Smart phones in particular were born to be workhorses for people as they go about their busy work days. Sourcers in particular will find a number of great applications that were made specifically for iPhones, Blackberrys and the like.
Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt are three in particular to pay attention to. These social network related applications revolve around the new “location-based” craze. All offer ways to find and connect with new people. Siri is a newer application that acts as a “virtual personal assistant” running searches for you based on voice commands and even performs tasks such as emailing you reminders. TweetMic is a tool worth investigating. It allows voice recordings that tie into Twitter. If you consider mobilizing your website, careersite or blog, Movitas is a solid platform to get it done right as it has many popular social network plug-ins and features for Twitter and YouTube in particular.
About our guest author:
Geoff Peterson is the owner/founder of General Lead. He has 10+ years experience in recruiting, sourcing, Internet research and social media and has held successful engagements with IBM, ADP, UnitedHealth Group, Booz Allen Hamilton, GEICO and other Fortune 500 clients, mid-size organizations and small businesses.