Staffing Optimization: Top Tips to Get You Started
For a staffing professional optimization starts and stops with the Job Description (JD)- This is where the rubber hits the pavement for staffing. A good JD means everything. Ensure you JD takes into account all the varying words and phrases that might be being used by candidates who would be a fit. For example, do not write and post a JD for a recruiter and not have the words staffing, sourcing, recruiting, etc.. in it. When candidates search, they might miss your JD because they searched under staffing and your JD did not have it. If need be have at the bottom a tag area were you put such tags in. Remember to use any buzzwords, jargon, or acronyms that are being used by the people in the field you are looking for.
Company Job Site: Obviously, since a company's job site is very important to staffing it would need to be optimized. For this, you can utilize standard SEO methodology. To do this many factors come into account (this is not all-inclusive):
1. Key/Buzz words
2. Links
3. Tags, Metatags
4. URLs, Domains, Misc
To help you with this I am providing some links to tools I find very helpful. Some of them can help you with the other parts of TSO below.
http://www.webseoanalytics.com/free/
http://websitehelpers.com/seo/
http://www.smallbusinesssem.com/how-to-seo-your-site-in-less-than-60-minutes/593/
Now some of the things they talk about are advance. However if you focus on keywords and tags you will accomplish a lot.
Resume Optimization - The idea being to ensure your resume or the resume of the candidate, whether on the web, in an ATS/HRIS system or where ever, has the greatest chance of being pulled by a recruiter or company or the hiring manager. You do this by ensuring you have all the correct key words or as they are called "Buzz Words". There are several methods to make this happen:
1. Job Descriptions (JD) - look at the JD of the positions you are submitting for, make note of the key, job related words used. Make note of the words that are used allot. Look at other JDs of similar positions and do the same. Soon you will have a list of "Key or Buzz Words". Also, ensure you pay attention to titles, as each company may call a particular job by a different title. I know a company that calls its PMs, Account Managers. You need to ensure the resume has as many of the relevant words and titles as you can to ensure you have the highest chance of being found.
2. Do research on the company, you find what is their culture and way of doing things and that will tell you the kinds of words and phrases they will look for.
The key with a resume and the biggest tool, is the JD, this is the key as it says what that company wants. You may in fact have to perform this process multiple times for different jobs and JDs.
And now for the "Forgotten secret weapons of optimization".
What are these "Secret Weapons" you wonder! A Dictionary and Thesaurus. That is right probably two of the oldest books around are the secret weapons. Now first let's not think of Dictionaries and Thesaurus's as only the old books on our bookshelves. I am talking about any dictionary; the standard, online, technical, etc.. Any book or website that defines things is by definition a dictionary. The same goes for a Thesaurus.
Now how can these two types of resources help us, as staffing professionals. Well in the age of the search engine, the age were you need to think of any way you can possibly write something and have it mean the same thing. The age of "Search Engine Optimization", both as a standard search engine, a job board, or a database, the ability to come up with all the different ways a person might search for something or the words they might put on their resume or in a document can help us find hidden gems.
Example let's look up resume in a thesaurus:
You get-Curriculum Viate, Vita, CV, Synopsis, Abstract, Precis, Work History, Biography, summary, Bio etc..
So now, let's do a quick search in Google
inurl:resume yields over 5,710,000 results.
inurl:workhistory yields over 4,510 and yes some of those results are what we would call resumes.
inurl:"work history" yields 15,100 results and again some are what we would call resumes.
Basically, all we are doing by using these age old tools; in all their varied forms is doing a type of optimization. Whether it is job description, search string, or resume writing the idea is to use as many possible words, and phrases that mean the same thing as what we want, in the event someone out there, and they will, uses them also.
Social Media and Optimization
Social Media - Now a day's everyone has a blog, or tweets, or whatever. When doing so and doing it in a staffing (work) capacity ensure your posts have the needed tags to get maximum visibility. It does you no good to post if no one can find your posts. If you have a professional social media persona, were you talk about your company, yourself as a staffing professional also ensure you use the right tags and buzz words. Make sure you are professional. Google yourself see what come up, ensure you add yourself to places like; wefollow, zoominfo etc.
Company News Propagating (CNP) - Big phrase. Basically, it means setting up news feeds (RSS- Simple Syndication) from Google or other sources that come to you in your inbox. Taking the ones that help you and your company and sending them and the link out via social media, utilizing the correct tags. I have set up numerous feeds that come to me via email, coming form Google, and other such sites, about different companies I have worked for. I read the emails and send out, the good ones, via, twitter, LinkedIn, facebook, and other Social media; I use the right tags and buzzwords. This helps to bring your company and yourself into the forefront of people minds and this can lead to connections, and candidates, but most of all great PR for you and your company.
Staffing News Propagating (SNP) - Like CNP(but not company orientated) the idea is to get you as a staffing professional out there and known. This will lead to people following you and as a result lead to connections and candidates. You can set up feeds to you of staffing related events, news, tools, etc.. and then propagate them out. Ensure you are using the right tags, buzz/key words etc..This will help people see you, and by proxy your company, as "in the know" about things and worth keeping track of.
The last three things I talked about SNP, CNP, and Social Media, are all listed in this paper on Optimization for one reason. They all require optimization to be fully effective.
The key to remember with regards to Social Media and Optimization is, they work professionally and personally. Also remember while this sounds like allot of work to set up and maintain, there are tools out there that can make it automatic requiring little work or upkeep. Tools such as; Ping.fm, hootsuite, tweetdeck, yoono, twitterfeed etc.
