NameSourcer.com

Labor Day Sourcing

A string a couple months back over on ERE is worth revisiting for tips about sourcing around the holidays. Labor Day is Monday! Get your holiday sourcing orders to your sourcers early this week before you leave for the holiday. Don't let this valuable sourcing time pass you by!

Shawn Draisey asked, in the string:
I...want to get more in depth about what can be done on the holidays or fridays or the like as far as information. Can this be a whole chapter of a book? ~ Shawn Draisey

We're doing just that over on RecruitingBlogs.com on Saturday nights! MagicMethod Midnight Moves (Sat, midnight (EST)) is about the things you can do in the off-hours with a telephone - don't miss it!

Email Tip from Richard Stack, Executive Director, StackVentureGroup advises:
While I believe that phone sourcing is the best approach for gathering the most accurate and timely data, I would also recommend using Thursday through Monday of this week for aggressive email targeting as well. Out of Office replies can give you mountains of data and many people will be taking off Thursday afternoon and returning Tuesday morning, enjoying a nice long holiday.
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Need telephone names sourcing to fill your hard-to-fill positions? Call the experts at TechTrak 513 899 9628

Body Language

The following is one of the lessons from Module VI of the seminal "Magic In the Method" phone sourcing course.

Body Language is just as important for those of us who work on the phone as it is for those who work in-person. Don’t believe it? Continue reading.

Here are some GOOD things to do:

1) Hold yourself upright when you’re on the phone. Think of how you'd hold yourself if you were the most confident person in the world. Be the most confident person in the world!

2) Move slowly. Gesture slowly. Speak slowly. Blink - slowly. This communicates comfort and confidence to yourself, and that’s what matters here.

3) Pause often. Only respond if you choose to. Remember, you don't need to react or respond to anything that you don't want to. An experienced and defensive Gatekeeper will often try to push you off balance, utilizing that famous “the best defense is a good offense” theory. Don't fall for it. Stay cool, and pause if you need to in order to keep your composure. Breathe.

Here are some BAD things - avoid doing them!

All Things Fade

That smart Sam Medalie said, yesterday, over on ERE:
Two months ago, I was searching for a great account executive on LinkedIn in Baltimore. I came across an office for a company that was well known and not in the technology arena. It only had (1)one Baltimore employee on LinkedIn. I contacted that candidate and while he was open to my opportunity, he wasn't interested in relocating. Two months later, I revisited that same Baltimore company and there were now 5 employees on LinkedIn. What does that tell you about where LinkedIn's going and what's happening to passive candidates?

Sam is asking for your ideas and though you're not asking for mine - here it is:

Although it may seem to some of us that LI is approaching hyper-warp speed in its growth there still is a very long way to go - the Universe is a mighty big space. Yesterday's LI birthday page (LI was 5 yesterday) stated LI had 22million members as of May 5. Though it is tempting to allow your eyes to pop out of your head at the number bear in mind that it is only a number - in five years I'd venture to say a good percentage, maybe even the majority of the information on LinkedIn's member profiles (and this will only increase as the network ages as all Internet info "ages") IS WRONG!

Organizing and Starting the Candidate Search Process

Stephanie Lada writes in the Fordyce Letter:
Whether you are an account manager working all sides of the desk or a recruiter focusing strictly on locating top talent, when you start the candidate search process for a job order it is imperative that you cover all of your search bases. How many times have you gone to cover a search where you’ve randomly drifted from job boards to various databases and other tools? It often leads to frustration and lack of productivity. To help avoid this, here is a list of standard targets for generating candidate call lists:

5.) Exercise your cold calling techniques. What truly differentiates the best in the candidate search business is the ability to cold call and generate new relationships. Start with the creation of target lists for competitive companies and utilize tools like Harris or OneSource to help you generate existing names within the companies. It also is helpful to spend time online visiting competitor websites to review recent news announcements for names to add to your cold call list. No one likes to do it, but it’s a trusted means to help build your network.

Read all of the bullet points for organizing and starting your search processes here.
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Chat LIVE with real time sourcers here.

Name Theory

When people were asked to rate the physical attractiveness and character of someone in a photograph, it didn’t matter much if that someone was assigned an “undesirable” name. Once people could see a face, they rated an Oswald, Myron, Harriet or Hazel about the same as a face with a “desirable” name like David, Gregory, Jennifer or Christine.

Sourcing Highly Dependent On Mimicry

Artful persuasion depends on eye contact, but not just any kind. If one person prefers brief glances and the other is busy staring deeply, then it may not matter how good the jokes are or how much they both loved “Juno.” Rhythm counts.

Voice cadence does, too. People who speak in loud, animated bursts tend to feed off others who do the same, just as those who are lower key tend to relax in a cool stream of measured tones.

Cold Calling Trade Tricks

Firing Up Your Cold Calls Nothing triggers deep-seated fears of rejection quite like the dreaded cold call. Mastering the art requires more than Gatesian fearlessness. There are tricks to this trade. Learn these rules and you'll have access to the best deals and brains on the planet- and not just the ones you hear about from friends.

1. Dial when defenses are down.
2. Co-opt the gatekeeper.
3. Find something--anything--you have in common with the person you're calling.
4. Buy before you sell.
5. Be a little unprofessional.
6. Learn to love striking out.

New LinkedIn Discussion on Networking Sites

Do you use Facebook, ASW, Blue Chip Expert, Face Contact, Spock or any other networking sites besides Linkedin? Is ASW really elite? Has Blue Chip/Face Contact or any other networking site got you clients or jobs on a level comparable with Linkedin?
Discussion here.

What do you think?
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Do something today you don’t think you can do. Lose phone fear here.

"AKA"

Interesting question over on LinkedIn:
Can someone fill me on on the Ethics of not using your real given name as a Recruiter. OK, so this will probably start a flame war, so I will say that this is not asked in any malicious way.

Over the past few years the number of Recruiters and Staffing Agencies from India has exploded, and I have seen a greater and greater number of people using an "English" name, rather then their given one. Some include both on their LI profile, others don't.

WHY is this done? Why would someone blatantly use a different name in a field where INTEGRITY and honesty are all that you have? It seems to me that you are advertising that you have less than perfect ethics, OR (and answer if it is so) is this perfectly acceptable business behavior?

Read the whole question and all the answers here.

So, readers, why would anyone use a different name in our business?
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Do something today you don’t think you can do. Lose phone fear here.

Places to find info on sourcing online

I received an inquiry from one of my MagicMethod students, and she asked: “…do you have a listing/suggestion of websites/networking areas that you recommend Recruiters belong to? If you’ve sent that out before, I’ve missed it. I am within your Magic Group, Linked-In and a couple other board…”

I do have some suggestions for all of you who are looking for affiliations/information resources/groups/blogs that will help keep you plugged into the Sourceosphere. They are:

ERE
(Electronic Recruiting Exchange) Join the groups that interest you there
My ERE groups are:
ASK Maureen Sourcing/Research HELP 10,000+ members abt 4 yrs old
Good Morning CALIFORNIA! 2100 members
High Tech Recruiting 5551 members
Legislation
Working from Home 1100+ members
Entrepreneurship

Yahoo groups:
Sourcers Unleashed 2179 members started Aug 2005
Sourcers Guild 767 members started June 2007
Magic Method online study group - for MagicMethod students only
Recruiters and Sourcers Exchange 2400 members

Blogs:
The Recruiting Edge
Maureen Sharib NEW You're here!
Recruiting Bloggers
Easy links to many of these listed here.

Disclaimer: There are many others but these are the ones I frequent and contribute frequently to. These will lead you to others as well! And, oh, by the way, if you send me an invite to join your LinkedIn network, I promise I will - no questions asked! Send the invite to Maureen Sharib/maureen at techtrak.com (change the "at" to @.)
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Do something today you don’t think you can do. Lose phone fear here.