There is a ton of information to sort through as a recruiter. There are news feeds of every kind that could be relevant to your industry. How do you NOT suffer from information overload when you are trying to keep up with all of the happenings in your industry?

Take for example, the real estate industry. There are thousands of articles, news feeds, blogs, radio and television programs daily relating to the real estate industry. It's impossible to keep abreast of all the news, but is it necessary to try?

Think about it, really big news will be heard regardless of your pursuit of information. The industry changing news has a viral effect that penetrates every social media, news and traditional media outlet. So is the stress of following every other related industry news site or blog really that important? As a recruiter, follow the important industry news, and disregard the rest. Use your recruiting minutes wisely, listening to all the chatter will just distract you. You will know when change is happening, it's impossible not to.

How well do you know the prospects and candidates you are trying to recruit?

This week, I have been busy tracking the production of the prospects for each of our 16 market areas. The first quarter results are in for 2008, and the production tracking is my first clue for those prospects that may be considering a change in companies.

In past years, if there was a significant change in production, chances were that agent was considering a move. They were either slowing their business down to get ready for a move, or were not happy with their current broker, and were open to meeting with other companies.

This year, most of the agents have seen a decline in production, due to the housing market. This change in the market conditions makes for interesting recruiting to say the least. Every broker is actively pursuing those agents that are closing transactions, but this year, the prospects are considering moves that they wouldn't consider in prior years. They are having conversations with other companies and brokers. They are looking at what other companies are doing to promote their agents, they are intently listening to what is being offered, and they are making decisions.

The opportunities for recruiting are great at this time. The old way of thinking, "agents won't change companies in the spring" is out the window, and the agents who have seen a drop in their income during the first quarter are trying to save the rest of their year. Go ahead, call your prospects, they may move sooner than you thought if your company is a better fit than their current broker.

As recruiters, we have all met the candidates that just don't know what type of position they are looking for. They want something different from the role they are currently in, and would consider roles within a very diverse variety of companies, but when you provide them with an interview or opportunity, they aren't sure if they are interested. They change what they are looking for, either in terms of commute or compensation, and leave you guessing if the next opportunity you find will be a better fit.

If you have run into this situation as a recruiter, it may just be that you aren't asking your top candidates the right questions.

Every recruiter should not only know the companies that their prospects would (or would not) consider, the roles they are qualified for, but also know where the candidate would like to see themselves down the road, not just this week or this year. Ask them these questions up front, and listen to their answers. Ask them why they see themselves in that dream scenario, find out if they have a personal dream or goal of relocating to another area of the country in 3 years. Look for their answers that would indicate your opportunity may fit their dreams, and if they are not aligned, don't pressure them into a position that won't fit their goals.

The more you know about a prospect or candidate as a recruiter, the better you will be able to serve your clients, and in turn the more opportunities you will be recruiting for.

Just about 3 years ago, I was sitting on the other side of the recruiting desk, as an active candidate. I learned some valuable recruiting lessons during that time. The first lesson I learned was NOT to be an easy recruit, as that was what had landed me in the "active candidate pool."

Before I began my search, I had already made up my mind that I was going to make sure I accepted the right opportunity, and not accept offers that "seemed" right without further investigation. I had already made that mistake as well, and I value the lessons learned in past mistakes.

I had been recruited to my former company by past co-workers that had left my previous company, and quickly contacted me for an open recruiting position. I interviewed, and was made an offer almost immediately, and it wasn't until a few months after I joined the company that I realized the new company had extreme leadership issues, and no support system in place for their recruiters. I was in the "every man/ woman for themselves" recruiting headquarters. I used my 5 years experience to keep plugging along, but I was miserable every day.

At the end of my rope, I set goals and priorities for my job search. I decided that I would have a criteria of 5 things that meant the most to me, and if any of those items weren't a fit, the job was not going to make me happy. If I wasn't going to be happy, I was not going to accept a position, period. I explained to each person I spoke with my criteria, goals and what I wanted from a position with their company. Some listened, and understood that they had to meet my needs, and not just consider if I was a candidate that met their needs.

I went to interviews with 5 companies at the time, was offered 3 positions, and turned down 2 opportunities. The two I turned down were opportunities I knew would not make me happy.  I was lucky enough to be offered a position that met all of my criteria, was the one I felt would be the best fit, and on a personal level would make me happy. I am still in, and still enjoy the position I accepted 3 years ago.

So what prompted this post?

Today I received an email from one of the companies I interviewed with 3 years ago. It was a "just checking in" email that was simply asking where I was currently working and letting me know that if I find myself in the "active candidate pool" again to give him a call.

It just reminded me how good it feels to be a recruiter that listens to the goals, hopes and dreams of the person sitting on the other side of the desk from me. This email was a great reminder of the type of recruiter I don't want to be.

Let's just assume you have a LinkedIn profile already. I normally don't like to assume, but every recruiter really should have a LinkedIn profile in 2008. If not, go set one up... I'll wait.

Are you back? Good, now I will walk you through how to double your contacts on LinkedIn in just one day. The easiest way is to start with the people you work with. When you set up your profile, be sure to include not only your current company, but all of your previous companies you have worked for. You can go back and add them at any time, so if you have set up your profile with just your current company, you can still add more.

Once you have sent your connect requests to your current co-workers, run a search of the top people in your industry. As a recruiter, you are in the staffing industry, and in that case, you are in luck. Connect with Dave Mendoza first, from the SixDegreesFromDave blog. According to Dave, "To be a recruiter and not actively utilizing Linkedin as part of your daily resources is to proceed into the War for Talent unarmed." Adding him as a contact will add over 14,000 people to your network. He had a "Mega LinkedIn Networking Day" recently, which put him over the 14,000 connection mark.

They are other recruiters, as well as an excellent mix of people in just about every industry. I spent some time the other day reading a post Dave wrote about LinkedIn, and connected to him on LinkedIn that same day. About an hour after that, I came across the "Interesting Thing of the Day" about Six Degrees of Separation. It solidified my previous thoughts, connect to the top recruiters and candidates in your industry, and you too can double your network on LinkedIn in just one day.

Every recruiter, regardless if you are a 3rd party recruiter or corporate recruiter, needs to have a presence on a few of the social media networks that are relevant to your industry. It's just the way the industry is evolving. About 4-5 years ago, as a 3rd party consulting firm recruiter, I discovered LinkedIn. It was before it was mainstream, and I never really developed my network. It was before the onset of all the rest of the social media sites, and I had sent a ton of invitations, but got just a few replies. I left the firm I was with, and since I no longer had access to the email address I had used to set up the profile, I could no longer access my profile after I left that company.

Fast forward 3 years, I am a recruiter in the real estate industry. I have a profile on LinkedIn, with access under my personal email account. I now have access to over 2 million people, thanks to my contacts, and contacts of my contacts. Consider that a lesson learned. My work email address is the contact information provided on my profile, but the emails go to my personal account. I have set up profiles not only on LinkedIn, but on Twitter, Active Rain (Real Estate's largest social network, with over 75,000 real estate professionals). Those are the main networks I participate in, although I have personal accounts on other social networking sites.

A few weeks ago, I received a message from one of the recruiters I have communicated with online from California. Turns out, her mother lives in my area, and was considering moving her license. Had I not set up a profile, and become active in the network, I never would have received that referral.

Don't just set up a profile and forget about it... set up a profile and participate. Talk to other recruiters, talk to people that have profiles that match the industry you are recruiting for, regardless of location. You never know where their relatives, friends or past co-workers live that may fit the description you are trying to fill.

There is a new website/ self help social network/ online support group site all rolled into one. Have you ever written a to-do list that just ends up too long? You hope to have it done in 6 months, but it reality, would be happy if all the items got done in a year? Well then 43 Things is the site for you. Think of it as an "online bucket list" of the 43 things you want to do, but keep waiting for the "right time" to get it done...

It's free for now, as their website states, so I am thinking I should "wander over" and see if any there are items other people have on their lists that I want to do too. I have been thinking about writing up a bucket list anyway, (ever since the movie came out I first heard of them) It's good to have goals. Make sure you check out their community guidelines too, you don't want to be "creepy."
Maybe I will add a few of my recruiting goals on my list, and people will find a match between my recruiting goals, and their goal of finding an exciting career in real estate Hey, like the lottery, you never know...

Please don't think that if you focus on a small group of targeted prospects, and only pursue those prospects, that you will be successful in recruiting. A few of our managers are thinking if they heavily focus on their top 10 prospects, eventually they will be able to recruit all of them. My experience shows that they will be able to recruit about 30% of them, but not 100%. In my opinion, recruiting is like baseball, if you are batting .350, you are doing really well.

Think about it... recruiting and baseball are both "games" that you can fail 70% of the time, and still be successful. Appreciate your failures as they stack up, every one brings you closer to success. That is paraphrased from a famous quote, I think by Thomas Edison or Benjamin Franklin. Although I can't tell you exactly who said it first, I can tell you that I believe it 100% .

Some days, I can send out 100 letters, and get 15 people that are interested in learning more. I can make 50 phone calls, and only get a positive outcome from 5 people. I can add 150 to a recruiting campaign, and end up recruiting 60- 75 people. It all balances out in the end, and usually ends up with me having a .350 batting average, not bad at all...

If your idea of recruiting is waiting for a referral, then we are not in agreement. You need to prospect, build a pipeline of potential candidates, and actively recruit your top candidates. You also need to keep in touch with the rest of the candidates in your pipeline. You never know who will refer someone to you, even if they aren’t interested in being recruited. The more people you can touch, the more will be willing to refer someone to you.

Don't sit back and hope someone remembers to give you a referral. Call them, ask them for their referral, whether client or candidate. It is human nature for someone to help someone who asks for help. Most people are just too busy to remember your needs much longer than the initial conversation.

I have come across some pretty creative recruiting methods over the last 8 years. Some have worked, some haven’t. Here is one that seems to make sense in my industry, although I am not sure how well it would translate outside of real estate. Since I am a recruiter in the real estate industry, this may be one of those hints that is industry specific, but then again, it may just benefit your recruiting efforts.

The reason for my skepticism is simple; real estate agents often work alone. There are some who are on teams, and others work as partners, but most work alone. Real estate agents are almost all independent contractors, and the numbers of agents that primarily work from home are growing every day. These agents compete with every other agent in their market area for business, but also work with other agents daily on co-broker or referral transactions. Their transactions can be with other agents in their office, or with an agent from the office across the street.

Time spent working from home, or out and about with clients can leave some real estate agents feeling disconnected from their office. Sure there is a whole virtual world out there, some blog, twitter or flikr but there are some who crave face time with their peers. They not only want to be a part of something bigger for their business growth, but for the personal face to face interaction as well.

A few of our offices have started holding meetings on a variety of topics in their offices, and their agents and recruiting prospects are invited to join. This gives them an opportunity to get together, network and build relationships in an industry where they are all competing against one another. The focus of these meetings is not on their individual businesses however, so they seem more comfortable to share their opinions and knowledge on the topics being discussed.

Several offices have started book clubs, reviewing some of the motivational best sellers such as "The Secret" or "Think and Grow Rich". One office has started to hold "Weight Watchers" meetings and the agents get together for "weigh ins" once a week. Another has suggested starting a "local tour" group that goes to different local restaurants, events and attractions in the area to assist them in recommendations to their clients.

The impact this will have on their recruiting efforts is still unmeasured, since our groups are still just beginning. This seems to be a wonderful way to introduce a prospect or a newly hired individual to your organization. Let them get a look at the "real" office dynamics, meet their peers in your office, and form relationships with your agents before or just after they "sign on the dotted line". It may even encourage prospects to join your office sooner rather than later, when they see a "behind the scenes" view of your office environment.