Recruiting Trends in India for 2013

There will be two types of population available online, one who is actively looking for a job and will reach you and the other who is not looking for a job so you will have to reach them. There will not be any thing in between. So if your job as a recruiter involves working more towards the later part then you are going to love your job as much as I do. Below are some areas to look out for in 2013.

1.    Social Media:

2012 has seen many companies getting into social media recruiting and in 2013 more and more companies are expected to start using social media for hiring needs. Organizations need to be careful before they get into social media recruiting and not just jump on the bandwagon as this can be a time consuming activity and there may not be immediate results.
Companies may not even see a decent ROI if they do not have the right action plan.
Social Channels like Linkedin and Facebook would continue to dominate but Twitter
would be the channel to watch out for.

2.    Reduction in Agency Hiring:

This is one area which will top the list in most organizations when they are planning to reduce the hiring cost in 2013 and every organization would like to maintain the minimum agency contribution. Organizations need to think about their capabilities, capacity and identify the areas where the agencies add value to use them judicially.

3.    Lean and Mean Team of Recruiter:

This does not mean lay offs but an alarm for recruiter to think about cost and time to hire before making a sourcing plan. Also if the agency hiring has to go down then you need to focus on direct sourcing and for that there will surely be a need of highly skilled team who can do the job. Training the team on sourcing skills and having strategies to overcome the challenging areas of 2012 will definitely help. The most important area to focus will be the implementation of these strategies.

4.    Attracting Talent:

If you are into sourcing then finding the right person for your requirement should not be a challenge but getting him/her on board will make the difference. Gone are those days when finding the right talent online in India used to be a challenge. With the use of social media and technology you can now find almost every one online.

The biggest obstacles in attracting top talent would be:

a)     Competition

b)     Compensation

c)     Location 

d)     Employment brand

5.    Recruiting Leaders in 2013 would

a)       Invest in Social Media and Employer Branding

b)       Improve referral program

c)       Invest in recruiting tools and training.

6 Steps to Compel Passive Candidates on Linkedin to Respond

Almost every professional have a linkedin account these days and if you are a sourcer you can not afford to keep linkedin out of your sourcing strategy.
When ever you contact any one through inmail there are high chances that you may not get any response and your inmail may be ignored just like any other email.
Before sending an inmail it should be kept in mind that this is not a regular email which you are sending to any candidates. You are looking for passive candidates. You have to grab their attention just in few lines which would compel them to respond. 

Step #1: First message should be a conversation starter.

•The first message should be the conversation starter, don’t be in a hurry.

•Adopt a conversational.

•Write about the key skill or experience which you notice in their linkedin profile which prompted you to write to them.

Step #2: Choice of words

•Find the words that best represent your own “personal voice” and include you organization’s tone as well.

•Frame your message around how you can help them in their goals, instead of on your need to fill the position.

Step #3: A reason to reply

•Do not share every thing. Share the minimum possible information required to convey your message. Sharing too much information may take away the reason to reply.

•Be Brief and to the point. The first 255 characters are delivered in the notification email, so keep it under 255 characters.

•Include the webpage address of the job posting, shortened links (ie, bit.ly)

Step #4: Focus on finding out their availability/interest in a new job.

•Do not cut and paste the job description. This is not a mass email you are sending to random candidates. Remember you are looking for passive candidates.

•You have read their profile, so you already know they are qualified. Do not ask irrelevant question.

•Your message should start a dialog about their career path/goals or how you can help them.

Step #6: Always ask for opinions/referrals

•Just asking for referrals or advice may not work.

•Again the focus should be on choice of words and how you ask for referrals.

•Asking for referral would make them feel like you value their expertise and would compel them to respond.

The above points are not only restricted to linkedin but would also be helpful for other channels with little changes if you are sourcing passive candidates.