How to Find Employees - a thought leadership blog series from John Wentworth #2 WHERE ARE THEY?

#2: Where are they?

A very useful way of figuring out where to look for candidates is represented by the "Spider Diagram" below.

Candidates are in certain networks, look at certain websites, read certain e-magazines and blogs, belong to certain associations, etc.

A recruiter can find candidates by accessing the places candidates visit. In our last post, we talked about discovering the organization of a professional community. This is how you do that.

I remember one of the very first searches I did as a vendor. The job was a manager of voice and data, analog and digital.

I had friends who were back-room technical voice and data network experts, most of whom managed positions like the one I wanted to fill. I wrote down ten names on a yellow pad (that's how long ago it was!) and started calling. I never got to the end of the list because the first people I called gave me so much help, including successful referrals.

(A former employee and I, on a long winter drive across Michigan, figured out that you should be able to find anyone with two phone calls. The first call just needs to be to the right person.)

My friends explained how voice and data networks worked and how both digital and analog technologies fit into the picture (this was in the 1980's and digital technology was new to telecommunications networks). They told me which companies were advanced and which were not. They told me the names of people who were in the professional networks and who knew a lot of potential candidates and the names of professional organizations whose leadership was knowledgeable of the membership.

In more current times, those same individuals would have told me about websites, blogs, etc. also.

Also in more current times, if I do not have the "starter" friends, I can find people to talk with on LinkedIn. All of this work provides an education as to how this community was organized, who the experts were, who the vendors are and where to find the user groups or other professional associations.

The next step, of course, is the hard work. We have, on occasion, looked at as many as 2500 individuals to find a very strong pool of candidates with a rare combination of qualifications.

This work helps us find the seam of gold: qualified, interested and affordable candidates...and the job gets filled.

Because we figured out where the candidates are.

If you are interested in how Wentworth can find people you cannot find, or teach your employees how to do it, please call me at 310 732 2301.

Thanks so much.

John