Finding a Needle in a Haystack

Since completing OpenView’s recruiting framework, I have begun to provide our expansion stage portfolio companies with recruiting support. The question that I must answer at the beginning of each search is:
Once we know who we’re looking for, how do we actually find that person?

The more diversified the media landscape becomes, the harder it is to find candidates. Placing a single job posting in the local newspaper or on a job board is clearly not a complete search plan (although I’m sure you could luck out!). In order to have the greatest chance of building a strong pool of candidates, you need to implement targeting strategies (in addition to tapping your own personal and professional networks) which utilize multiple media vehicles, including job boards, social networking sites, search engine optimization, and your own company website.

Since I worked in media planning for an advertising agency prior to beginning a career in recruitment, I am especially interested in tapping into new media channels to source candidates, and had already planned to do so through websites such as LinkedIn and Twitter. But recently, at OpenView’s Content Marketing Forum, I realized that a content marketing strategy would likely increase the number of inbound interest that OpenView and our portfolio companies receive from potential candidates. The idea of using content marketing to aid in recruitment is a new one to me, but I’m looking forward to adding it to my recruitment marketing mix and seeing the results!