Should Recruiters Attend Networking Events?
>> Aug 31, 2018
Recently Erik
Deckers, owner of Professional Blog Service, and the co-author
of Branding Yourself: How to Use Social Media to Invent or Reinvent Yo...,
presented a webinar on branding yourself as a recruiter to the members of
DirectEmployers Association. The following is a guest blog post from Erik.
I've
been a heavy networker for several years, and one thing I can count on when I
attend a networking event is that I will never see a single "back
office" person at the game. It's always, ALWAYS, ALWAYS the
sales and marketing people.
Always
We've
heard all the reasons why this is so: They're the "face" of the
company. You don't do sales or marketing. Office people aren't
"people." Everything you need to do your job can be found right here
in the building.
Bull!
There
are professional associations and networking groups for just about any
profession you'd care to name. I've attended meetings and gatherings of
technical writers, purchasing managers, foundry production managers, printing
professionals, sign makers, and even HR professionals.
Everyone
has had something to contribute to each other, to their association, and even
to their industry. But where the great networking happens is when someone shows
up to a meeting they usually wouldn't attend,
just because the two sectors are related, even a little.
What
would happen if a technical writer and a professional printing meeting? Or a
foundry production manager and a purchasing manager? Or even an HR professional
and a sign maker?
I
don't know either, but I'm willing to bet you could see some pretty cool stuff
happen.
So
Why Should RECRUITERS Attend Networking Events?
Because
it's going to make your job easier. It's going to make it possible to find the
professionals you've been searching for.
Let's
say your job involves recruiting a lot of computer software engineers. Where
are you going to find them? Online is going to be your best bet, but it's not
the only place. You can stand out from your competition — yes, you have
competition: other recruiters who are trying to win those same professionals —
by going to the places where those computer software engineers gather.
No,
not Star Trek conventions.
User
groups. Association meetings. Networking groups. Conferences and conventions.
Because
even professionals in a so-called "solitary profession" like software
engineering still need to gather with other software engineers, share
information, and socialize.
The
best place to find a bunch of software engineers all gathered together at once
is at their meetings or conferences.
The
phrase "fish in a barrel" comes to mind.
The
whole point of networking is not to meet as many people as possible or to find
one person to spend talking to for an entire hour.
It's
a simple psychological thing. Similar situation is describing in Chinua
Achebe's most famous work Things Fall Apart. I won't retell all plot in this
article, but if you don't know what this story about, strongly recommend you to
read it : https://artscolumbia.org/literary-arts/prose/things-fall-apart-summary-42656/.
It's
to see a few people you can find time to talk to later over coffee or lunch,
develop relationships with, and possibly use as a resource to help with future
recruiting efforts.
Consider
attending some of the events and meetings of some of your target job
candidates. Join their organizations. Serve on committees that will put you in
contact with the decision makers, thought leaders, and
best-connected people in the organization.
Those
are the people who will know who's looking for a job and can refer them to you.
They're the ones you'll call when you have an opening and need a top-notch
candidate. They're the ones who will pass the word to their networks, saying,
"Janice at Global Services has an opening for a network manager, and needs
to fill it yesterday."
By
getting out of the office and going to the gathering places of your target
candidates, you'll make your job much more comfortable, and your success rate
much higher. It just takes some effort and some willingness to shut off your
computer and get out of the office. At least, until after you finish this blog
post.
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