So from a recruiters perspective, how do you become uber-marketable?

1. Start a blog. Easy to do these days, very easy. It’s a great way to prove that you know something about your profession. It’s also a great way to keep up with technology. My suggestion; research a certain topic/technology/trend you’re not familiar with, then write a review or blog post about it. You learn something, while also proving to others that you are familiar with that specific topic. Keep it clean, keep it professional, keep it updated, and keep it somewhat vanilla.
2. User Groups. Get involved online through the distribution lists, and in person. Attend events, network with other people. If I’m looking for a particular skillset, I search for the local user group, then dig around the discussions online and at times attend the events to see who’s involved or who’s participating. You can quickly see who the “go to” people are in that user group with a small bit of research.
3. Twitter. Another great personal branding avenue and a way to promote your knowledge and abilities, plus if you’re following the right people, a great learning tool. Plus, you can have your blog fed directly into Twitter. It takes a bit to grow your network and to attract and find the right audience, but it’s another way for recruiters and employers to find you. Again, keep it professional, with a little bit of personality.
4. Presentations. Instant PR and branding for yourself. Present at user groups, or wherever you can. It’s the single best way to get your name out there. And most user groups or conferences always have room for speakers.
5. LinkedIn….obviously. Network, network, network! If you don’t know about LinkedIn, you’re so far behind. The single best personal marketing tool out there. It’s a 365/24 hour a day online resume that employers won’t care if you’re using. Use it, and use it heavily. Then plug in your blog, twitter account, current reading list, and utilize slideshare to display your presentation materials….all on your profile page. It’s a recruiter’s one stop shop to find out all about you professionally. And do a google search on your name, LinkedIn will be one of the first items that pop up. Here’s some additional tips to optimize your LinkedIn profile for search purposes.

So how do you maintain marketability?

1. Training. Stay on top of the game. If your current job isn’t allowing you the opportunity to keep up with the trends, do so during your own time.
2. Relationships. Keep the relationships with those past clients or recruiters in tact, you never know when you’ll need them. Spend some time to reach out to them for happy hour or lunch, or send holiday cards or something out of the ordinary. Keep your name in front of them consistently.
3. References, either directly or indirectly. If you’re talking to a Sr. Recruiter in your profession, chances are that more than likely they know someone you’ve worked with in the past. And if those recruiters are any good, they’ll be reaching out to those connections to do a backdoor reference on you. You need to keep this in mind when you’re pissed at a client or particular colleague, you never know when someone will ask them how they feel about you professionally. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve checked references and they’ve come back negative (even ones that are supplied by the candidate).

Just keep in mind, recruiters and employers are always watching, we’re resourceful. If you become more visible and public, your chances of landing a job when you need one increase dramatically because people/employers will already know about you. Do a google search of your name, do you like what you see? Do you think employers will like what they see? If you do all the above steps (and do them well), I guarantee you will never have a difficult time finding employment.

Honesty. I was just talking about this with a colleague the other day. We were talking about bill rates, and how some companies don’t tell the candidates they’re working with what they’re billing them out at. Why not? If they have a problem with it, they are rookies in the consulting business and need some hand holding – or just don’t work with them. I always thought it was best to let them know what your margin is, they’re going to find out anyways. If you know certain things about the client or position (even if it’s negative), let the candidate know about it. Trust me, it does more harm than good if you’re trying to wiggle a candidate into a position that he/she wouldn’t normally be interested in. Don’t be one of those “shady” recruiters we all hear about. Be approachable and honest about the hiring process, it will pay off in the long run.

Work More. I hate to say this, because I don’t typically enjoy this anymore. But, when I was REALLY succesful in the recruiting biz, I was working well over 40 hours per week. There really isn’t enough time in the day to get everything done. And the best time to get a hold of people is after business hours. When I first got into the biz, I would work Saturdays most every week. And it paid off. I think all the work I did early in my career has really paved the way for me now. I don’t really need to work over 40 hours anymore, but I do when I’m under the gun. I’ve worked with recruiters in my day that were rookies and didn’t think they needed to work more than 35-37 hours per week at most. Wrongo! You can survive for a little while, but you’re not going to be a top producer. Put in that extra effort and hours if you really want to be a rock star recruiter.

Get involved with Sales. In our industry there’s always the sales/recruiting battle. I think it’s always going to be there, but I generally think it’s ridiculous. Recruiters are the heartbeat of the company, without them, sales can’t deliver. Goes both ways though. If you don’t have sales, no need to recruit! I think there also needs to be a solid management team in place that understands both sides of the business. I’ve been in situations where sales management would blame the recruiting staff for EVERYTHING. If submittal numbers were low, we’d get blamed. If someone wasn’t an ideal fit and didn’t get the job, we’d get blamed (I could keep going here, but you get the picture). Unfortunately it usually wasn’t the recruiting that was the issue, he just looked at his little reports and made assumptions. Needless to say, most of that staff turned over in a short amount of time. My advice as a recruiter is to get in really good with the entire sales organization. Go on meetings with them, go to happy hours with them, get to be the “go to” guy. Trust me, if you win the respect of the sales organization, you’ll be far more effective for yourself and the company.

Know the Technology. Obviously, not all recruiters should know how to program a Java application or anything like that, but at least know enough to talk intelligently to the candidates you’re working with. Want to sound like dumbass? Ask really technical questions you know nothing about. I always find that funny. You should research a candidates profession before meeting them. Know something about what they do, know some good questions to ask that you can comprehend the answers, make an effort. I used to recruit a lot for Business Analysts. So I made an effort to simply meet with a Sr. BA that I had hired and learn all about what he does on a daily basis. Pretty easy to do. He actually went so far as helping me with some general questions that I could ask new candidates. Most consultants (if you have a good relationship with them) will gladly help you understand what they do….just ask. Knowing a little about what your candidates do will help with your validity as a recruiter and will increase the respect you get from any incoming recruits.

Relationships! I mention relationships a lot when talking about recruiting. It’s the single biggest necessity in recruiting. This is a people business, you NEED to get to know the people you’re dealing with. Don’t just get to know them professionally. Get to know them personally, hang out with them outside of work, develop long-standing relationships with them. Back in the day, I’d judge some of my success by the amount of x-mas cards and wedding invitations I got from my candidates. I truly wanted to know them, and I made extra efforts to do so. I’d invite them to my house for a sushi party, I’d go golfing with some of them, I’d invite them to play on my hockey team, and of course I’d have regular lunches with ALL of them (whether they were looking for a position or not). Every year I’d hand write 500+ x-mas cards, and include something personal about my family and whatever I knew about theirs. I guess for me, I really like that part, I truly do. I didn’t just want to be another recruiter to them, I wanted to be “Skippy” or “Ehren” or “Seimer” or whatever other names I was called (I will not mention the bad ones). The great thing about the whole social networking phenomenon is that a lot of the “get to know them” is automated for you. Facebook is sweet because you can see them in their element, outside of work. Because of all of this, the amount of referrals I received were off the charts. And my turnover was lower than others, because they knew me and didn’t want to leave me in a bind. Don’t look at candidates as dollar signs, look at them as potential friends, they’ll open up more.

I guess I could keep going on this subject. There are so many things we all can do better as recruiters. But just remember, you’re dealing with people. Treat them with respect and dignity and they’ll do the same for you. And dole out free lunches and happy hours! Free booze and food make people happy.