These are words that online shoe retailer Zappos might use to describe the traditional recruitment process.

And they’re not the only ones. Since bad hires can cost companies a lot of money, many recruiters have begun looking for alternatives to the endless cycle of job postings and resumes.

Zappos, which has no job titles and pays employees to quit, is already known for its experimental policies. Now, it’s turning the recruitment process on its head.

The Social Side of Recruitment

As described by a recent Wall Street Journal article, hopeful Zappos employees will no longer be able to apply to traditional job postings:

“Instead, they will have to join a social network, called Zappos Insiders, where they will network with current employees and demonstrate their passion for the company—in some cases publicly—in hopes that recruiters will tap them when jobs come open.”

By eliminating job postings and “keeping a pool of willing and able candidates at the ready,” Zappos hopes to streamline their recruiting and hiring processes, as well as find better candidates, the WSJ reports.

Though few companies have taken measures as extreme as Zappos, several — such as General Motors — are starting to become more social (and less formal) in their hiring practices, the article says. We’ve seen that in our experience, too, with more companies recruiting through social media and video, online networking events, and open-ended job postings.

The bottom line: You want to find people who are a good fit for your company. To do this, it might be time to turn to social media and other informal forms of recruiting.

Because if Zappos’ new methods prove successful, maybe even resumes will go the way of the VHS.

Do you think the recruitment process most companies use is outdated or inefficient? Should other companies follow Zappos’ lead?

Susan Shain (@TravlJunkette) is a travel blogger who loves helping people discover adventure through international travel or alternative careers.

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The post How One Company’s Decision to Eliminate Job Postings Could Affect Recruiting appeared first on Brazen Life.

Building networking relationships can be difficult, especially if you’re focused too heavily on how you will benefit. A more effective and natural move is to take on the role of helper and simply share your knowledge freely. It’s a no-brainer; you can speak about something you have mastery over and you aren’t asking for anything.

When you let go of the old-school exchange of cards and sales schmooze, networking becomes a whole lot less scary, especially when you move your networking online. (Click here to Tweet this idea)

Follow these three tips to network authentically and build lasting relationships online:

1. Find relevant LinkedIn and Facebook groups

Groups are where the action is on both LinkedIn and Facebook. Join relevant groups to connect with your peers and ideal customers. Listen in for a bit, get a feel for the group, then use your expertise to answer questions and get to know other group members.

Set aside time each day or week to dedicate to group activity, and you’ll quickly build a reputation as a go-to person on a given topic. You’ll build personal and professional relationships that keep you top-of-mind the next time someone needs to hire or is looking for a consultant.

Over time, make a point to seek out new groups to widen your circles and let go of those that are less relevant. Avoid showing up only when you have something to ask of the group, as you’ll quickly be pegged as “that” person who’s only concerned about what’s in it for them. Not cool.

2. Forge connections in the blogosphere

If you blog, you know how solitary blogging can be as you pour yourself into writing content, sharing it and waiting for responses. Reading blogs in your industry and actively commenting where appropriate is a great way to forge connections. Well thought out, genuine comments can get you noticed by bloggers.

Repeat commenters become a part of that person’s tribe and can lead to bigger opportunities as they get to know and trust you. Create a list of blogs to follow, including both bigger names and up-and-comers. Get to know them and leave comments when you have something to add to the dialogue.

Don’t go crazy and comment on everything — that can make you seem like a blog stalker. Also, make a point to add these bloggers to your social networks such as Google+ and Twitter.

3. Go beyond the retweet to get noticed

It’s no secret that getting active on social platforms like Twitter and Google+ is a low-risk way to engage with people you want in your network. But you can’t hop on and retweet a couple things, then hope you’ll land a spot as their business BFF.

For this strategy to be effective, you need to have a presence on the platform, with a fully built-out profile. Imagine you engage with someone you want to get to know better, and they visit your profile to learn more about you — but your profile is blank. Would you do that on an online dating site? Then don’t do it on Twitter, Google+ or any other social network.

Take time to select people to follow, fine-tune your profile, tweet or “+” your own content and get active commenting and sharing. Be yourself, add value and be consistent. If you need to, focus on one platform at first instead of dividing your focus across many.

Networking doesn’t have to be scary. It’s easy and enjoyable when you focus on your zone of genius and are authentic. Pick one of these ways to get yourself out there today and start building your network based on value and expertise, not schmooze.

Maggie Patterson is a PR strategist who helps entrepreneurs use DIY PR to grow their business. You can connect with her and learn more about DIY PR on her website and on Google+.

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The post Easy Online Networking Tactics That Really Work appeared first on Brazen Life.

This concept is vital to the recruiting game. When looking for the best new hires, HR professionals need to identify a key group of exceptional people who will drive their recruitment efforts. This group should be well-connected to potential new hires, highly informed about the needs of the company and motivated to locate top talent.

In the past, hiring managers often relied on headhunters and job boards to help them fill roles. Today, dependence on those tools is trending down, and HR is increasingly able to look to their colleagues for referrals.

Employees have a firm grasp of the company culture, and they understand the demands of the job. And thanks to social networking, employees today are also connected to hundreds of people in their own or related fields of interest.

If properly motivated with a reward program, employees can post job vacancies on their own social networks and locate a strong pool of potential candidates: their own friends, former classmates and past colleagues. They can function as the all-important 20 percent that “tips” the trend and makes it successful.

Six degrees of good recruitment

As Kevin Bacon fans know, “six degrees of separation” is the theory that everyone is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world.

The theory is based on a 1967 experiment by social psychologist Stanley Milgram, in which Milgram distributed letters to 160 students in Nebraska and asked that the letters be sent to a certain stock broker in Boston who was not known personally to them. The students began passing the letter to anyone they believed to be socially closer to the stockbroker, and on average, it took six links to deliver each letter. Gladwell’s “Law of the Few” was influenced by a key finding of this study: just three friends of the stock broker acted as the final link that resulted in the delivery of the letters.

These individuals, called “Connectors,” are particularly important in the context of social recruitment. Connectors are people who love knowing people, enjoy interpersonal communication and are usually also charismatic and in-the-know.

Companies should identify those employees who are Connectors in their own lives and tap into that base. Most Connectors would love the opportunity to help others and be an integral part of the hiring process.

Today, with one billion Facebook users and over 100 million LinkedIn profiles, you could argue that we have all become Connectors. Any employee has the ability to publicize a job opening to thousands of potential candidates and to reach ideal candidates with just a few degrees of separation.

So, how can you use these concepts from The Tipping Point to recruit more successfully?

• Create attractive, informative job postings for employees to post on their social media profiles.
• Develop a great employee referral program that rewards employees for actively sharing information about job openings.
• Identify those employees who are Connectors in their professional and personal lives.
• Consider social media networks as an important part of your recruiting strategy.

Tal Moran is Co-Founder and CEO of Tomigo, a social recruiting platform that leverages your company’s social connections to hire top talent.

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The post How Recruiters Should Leverage Social Networks to Find the Right Hires appeared first on Brazen Life.

Ryan Healy here, Co-Founder & COO of Brazen Careerist. I want to let you know about some exciting developments at Brazen.

As many of you know, we launched in 2008 as a tight-knit network of bloggers writing about careers, salaries, work and everyday life as a young professional. We then quickly grew into a networking site for professionals to discuss, connect, grow and learn from each other through conversation. Hundreds of thousands of you made real connections that turned into real friendships, shared your experiences with a supportive community of peers, established and built your professional brands, and generally had fun in an online environment that was built for you, by you.

You might have noticed over the past 12 months that the number of virtual career fairs and recruiting events we host is increasing, and that’s because more and more employers are asking us to help connect them with job seekers through our virtual events (which grew out of Network Roulette through the help of all of you, our community!). Registration, participation and the number of hires made from these events continues  to climb, and the feedback from job seekers and recruiters alike has been incredible.

After more than a year of testing and learning, we’re committing to this new and unique way of creating the right connections and conversations through our virtual events. With this new focus, we have made the decision to shift our attention away from the social networking portion of our site.

When we make the switch, we will officially “retire” the Brazen Careerist professional networking site. What this means is that if you are a member of the social network, your profile, groups, conversations, fans, trending discussions, private messages and your fan feed will no longer be available.

This does not mean Brazen is going away. In fact, it means just the opposite: we’re here for you more than ever, we’re simply shifting our attention to the products that provide the most value to you and to our clients. The community will still be alive and well, and we sincerely hope you remain a part of it.

Our core communication and engagement will shift from the social network to the Brazen Life blog. We have an awesome team of writers and editors creating great career content every day, and you can always find interesting debate and conversation in the comment section.

Thanks to the foundation we’ve built here, within the community, our content is now reaching more people than ever. Outlets like The Chicago Tribune, The Huffington Post, AOL Jobs, and Business Insider all want to share the “Brazen” voice with their audiences. We will also continue providing valuable skills and career training through our bootcamps and our soon-to-be-released partner courses.

If you want to save any of the information from your Brazen profile, you have the next two weeks to do so. Please note that any personal information you submitted as part of your profile will no longer be visible on this website and will not be used for any purpose. Please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at info@brazencareerist.com if you have any questions.

I’m incredibly excited to take this next step in the evolution of Brazen. Stay tuned for many more great products, enhancements and updates in the coming months.

Again, thank you for being a valued member of our community. Your continued support of Brazen means the world to us.

Cheers,

Ryan Healy
Co-Founder & COO
Brazen Careerist, Inc.

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The post Exciting Changes at Brazen Careerist: More Chances to Get Recruited appeared first on Brazen Life.

Either way, one thing is certain — you’re probably not taking full advantage of LinkedIn. That’s why freelance writer and author Susan Johnston refers to the site as the “neglected child of social media.”

Yet with her new ebook, LinkedIn and Lovin’ It: Unleash Your Business Potential with LinkedIn, there’s no excuse to ignore the tool’s potential.

If LinkedIn lacks tender love and care, that’s a perception that will soon change. For some websites, referral traffic from LinkedIn dwarfs that from Twitter, TechCrunch reports. And hundreds of freelancers worldwide, some of whom Johnston interviewed for her book, vouch for LinkedIn’s ability to drive traffic, clients and business.

Here’s a sneak peek at Johnston’s hints for using LinkedIn to make new connections, showcase your skills, and find an “in” with companies you admire – rather than as a two-dimensional resume.

Have fun — without security concerns and distractions

The fact that LinkedIn is geared more toward professional networking may be “a benefit, not a bug,” Johnston says. “You don’t have to worry about creating circles or limited profiles because you should assume that everything you post on LinkedIn might be viewed by a boss or prospective client. That awareness lets you focus on building your professional network but that doesn’t mean you have to be all business all the time.”

But don’t be fooled: Just because the site isn’t all fun and games doesn’t mean you can’t give your profile a bit of pizzazz. “There’s room for personality but there are fewer distractions, silly polls, and so on,” says Johnston.

So what’s one creative way to stand out and give your profile character? Johnston encourages adding apps to display your portfolio, link to blog posts, create events, identify travel plans or present slideshows.

Avoid awkwardness with flattery

LinkedIn’s main purpose is linking people, yet sometimes it’s difficult to do that when you don’t actually know the person you want to connect with. Johnston recommends approaching someone you only sorta, kinda know by requesting an introduction from a mutual connection or using InMail. But how can you do so without seeming creepy?

“I’d recommend customizing your invitation to connect instead of using the default,” says Johnston. “For instance, ‘I didn’t get a chance to introduce myself at the Designer’s Conference last month, but I really admire your packaging designs (especially the ones for Old Spice) and I’d love to connect if you’re game.’ Flattery can’t hurt, right?”

Need proof that LinkedIn messages are more credible than cold e-mails?

One of Johnston’s favorite stories is about an author who set up an interview with Zappos’ director of customer loyalty. “She didn’t have an email address but she’d worked with someone from Zappos before, so she sent a customized LinkedIn invitation and that person referred her to his colleague,” says Johnston. “She’s now connected to both people and told me she doesn’t think she would have landed that interview without LinkedIn.”

Explore uncharted territory

Like other social networking sites, LinkedIn is constantly evolving and adding new features. Even once you think you’ve mastered the network, there are probably tools or simply ways to use them that you’re overlooking. Even Johnston was surprised to learn of several throughout her research. Which topped her list? SpeechIn, which allows you to listen to LinkedIn headlines on the go, whether you’re on your computer or smartphone. And InMaps, which offers a color-coded visualization of your network.

Remember: Just because LinkedIn can be more straightforward than Facebook and Twitter doesn’t mean it’s no fun. Earning new clients, securing a job or simply researching your options all sound like great fun to me!

How have you used LinkedIn to grow professionally? Got any tips to share?

Alyssa Martino is a writer and editor who loves digging for stories that connect people, place and possibility. Click your way over to her website to learn more.

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The post Tips for Using Social Media’s Neglected Child, LinkedIn appeared first on Brazen Life.