How to be a real digital recruiter X.0 ? But not too much…

Recruitment 2.0, 3.0 to 8.0 (??!) I see all over the internet new stuff on this but not sure everyone have the same definition. What I am sure is that we got numerous applications to find and manage candidates pool. We all know the big names : Linkedin , jobvite, iCims, …. and they can be very efficient to do our job properly. The only thing is that you usually are not able to choose your own ATS or jobboard because your company has already paid for a solution and use it for a long time…

How recruiters can enhance their productivity and work organisation in addition to the internal tools that we are already familiar with (ATS, Ms Office, …) ?
I got the answer: browser app extensions :) ! But not only, this also a question on how we behave towards the work.

It is time for us recruiters to free ourselves from the shackles of the establishment!

Internet is not only to look for great candidates!

I tried to select the best web extensions to help us on our work, and the great thing is that’s for free :

• Sourcing (find candidates and add value to our existing ATS)

Hellotalent : add, manage profiles in one place from any kind of websites. You can share also the talentpool with other people.

Hiretual : very good tool to search talents on most of the social networks. It can generates automatically boolean strings depending on the profile.

• Aggregator of profiles information

AmazingHiring : One of the best tech sourcing assistant specially to have github, personal websites and emails

360social : good aggregator that regroup several information on people that you can find on social networks

Finthatlead : same as 360social

Contactout : (best email finder out there but shhhh don’t spread the word)

Stalkface : to wake up the sleeping stalking beast within us. Facebook use only ;)

• Productivity (all the little annoying stuff of the recruiter life made easy)

Lazarus : Autosaves everything you type so you can easily recover from form-killing timeouts, crashes and network errors. a life saver when you have a crappy computer that crashes from time to time :)

Gorgias : templates for emails very very useful and easy to use. Saves a lot of time

Auto-text expander : same as Gorgias but with more possibilities

Screencastif : easy way to do video tutorial (to show new features on iCims to your hiring manager for example) using video screen capture

Docfetcher : it is like google search for your local files

• Recruitment watch (because we are always looking for what is new and useful)

http://recruitingdaily.com : great source to find lots of info related to recruitment methods, process, tools, events. There are also http://recruitingblogs.com/, http://recruitingtools.com/, … all the recruiting.com network !

Sourcon : I know you already know this one and like biggie said :

Hope those tools will be helpful to you dear readers. However to use efficiently those tools, One must be organised.

What’s the point using all those apps without organisation ?

This is a topic that deserved it’s own part since it is so important for us to find the right way to organise efficiently. Recruiters (not only at Axway but in most of the growing companies) are dealing with multiple job position including those tasks : sourcing, job posting, interviews and scheduling organisation, managing managers, employer branding, …
To do our job properly (great candidate and manager experience, have good results on metrics, and always with the smile) it means that we need to find our own way to organise our time.

But having heavy workload usually means that you are more keen to do several things at the same time : Multi-tasking !
Is it our best friend or biggest enemy ?

Many people assume multitasking is a great way to get more done each day and manage time wisely. However, focusing on multiple tasks at once actually makes you less productive. Things will take longer to do, as you’re not giving anything your full attention. Focus completely on one task at a time instead. You will get your work done quicker this way, allowing you to make the most of your time.

Let’s do a simple test during the webinar :

1. take a piece of paper : In the first row, recopy the phrase Multitasking is worse than a lie.
2. In the second row, write down the numbers 1 through 27; one number for every letter in the phrase
3. Write down your finish time off to the side.
4. Do the exercise again but this time, for every letter that you write in the third row, you’re going to write a number in the fourth row.
5. Write down your finish time off to the side.

So there are 3 bad consequences see to multi tasking :

1. Tasks takes longer
2. Mistakes increase
3. Stress levels increase

How can we change our behaviour ? Here are some simple things to do (and you don’t need a chrome extension for that ;)

GTD
One of the most well known methodology is the Get Things Done method : list everything you need to do, and take action on task that comes in if it takes less than 2 minutes and if not put it your task list. The thing is to separate collection phasis and what is done. On the outlook agenda you can put only meetings (no to do list) and on the notebook your to do list. Can go a little further you can use contextual todo list when you classified “to do” on specifics topics (by job types, projects, recruitments steps, roles,....).

The picture below shows an example of the GTD thought process :

1. Capture : Collect what has your attention.
2. Clarify Process : for example you can use inbox zero. I means that you archive your emails that you already treated instead of letting them in the inbox : less confusion , less procrastination and better understanding of the amount of task you need to do
3. Organize : Put it where it belongs ! The thing is to separate collection phasis and what is done. On the agenda put only meetings (no to do list), for tasks use onenote, or a notebook
4. Reflect : Review frequently to adjust your tasks
5. Engage : set up your list the evening before or early in the morning

The 4 hours week by Timothy Feriss :

This one is also interesting and is in contradiction with the GTD. In this method you prioritize what will get you the most value. you have to manage your email at certain time of the day and turn your notification of.
This example could be applied to the job ads : Do we need to still have beautifully personalized job ads when you know you will have a little to no applicants ? It is a logic of Return On Investment, all the energy, time and contration put into a task must worth it

The bullet journal :

Everything is analogic, calendar and tasks are created with a specific system in a notebook. Lots of ink consumed but you can have really nice notebook with that check this blog to see

Pomodoro :

Create best conditons to be in extreme concentration state (we call it the zone) for 20–30 mn and then have 5 mn pause and repeat.
Here is a website to help you manage the time and tasks: https://www.tomatoid.com/

Method 135 :

only 9 tasks on the to do list : 1 task super important , 3 majors, 5 or more minor tasks

And many more methods are available on the internet but I selected the most famous ones (I guess…).

We can see that there are lots of connections and sometimes contradictions between different work organization methodologies. It is proof that there is no perfect method. The most important thing is not to follow by the letter, but to know yourself at first (how do you work, what drives you, what are your limits, …) and use part of those methodologies to have your own specific way to organize your work. This way you can pick elements from several methods to create the right organisation method.
Combination of digital tools and tailor made work organisation is key to improve as recruiters and bring more value to the function. So share with me if you find something that might be useful and help us being more efficient at work !

Sources :

GTD 101: The Beginner's Guide to Getting Things Done

Think You're Good at Multitasking? Take this Test. | Dave Crenshaw | Conquer Business Chaos

How to Manage Your Time