Problems using Outlook’s Social Connector with the Outlook Hotmail Connector | Outlook Daily Tips

When you use the Outlook Hotmail Connector and have the Hotmail Live account data file set as your default data file, any Social Connector provider that creates a local contact folder won’t work as expected. Specifically, online contacts won’t be synced to Outlook and the people pane will show only email, not profile photos or feeds. This is because Hotmail Live accounts support only the default Contact folders and the Social Connector can’t create a contacts folder for “this computer only” in the Hotmail data file. The LinkedIn and Windows providers are two popular providers that are affected. The Facebook provider is not affected because it does not store copies of your Facebook contacts locally. Note that while setting the Hotmail data file as default works “ok” if you aren’t using social connector features, it can result in additional problems. It can cause sync errors and if you use Tasks, Journal, or Notes they are easily lost if you need to create a new Hotmail data file and forget to export the folders that are identified as for ‘This computer only’. For this reason, we currently recommend setting a local pst file as your default data file with Outlook Hotmail [...]

If there was a LinkedIn war for dominance who would win? I believe that the greatest of the “Cold Call Sellers,” the most “Old School” and yes the die-hard Phone Jockeys are the ones with the greatest edge. We are the ones who have the most to gain from staking a claim in the rich land that LinkedIn has created in cyberspace.

I propose that LinkedIn is actually the current ultimate source of unstoppable leverage for cold call selling. This leverage comes from LinkedIn’s unique, revolutionary method of organizing and presenting your most rabidly raving fans’ boldest recommendations. We will also discuss the power of the small, free step of connection when building relationship to your prospects, and also the power of your LinkedIn profile as your most important marketing document (and most definitely NOT merely an online resume!). But our main focus will be unleashing LinkedIn’s power to build instant, overwhelming credibility to enhance our cold call selling success.

LinkedIn Recommendations as an Irresistible Sales Asset

How do LinkedIn recommendations improve telephone selling? Once we’ve broken through the resistance we always meet, connected with our prospect, and succeeded at opening up a new conversation, we must immediately face and overcome the great challenge of building trust and credibility. In overcoming this hurdle, LinkedIn changes the game like no other instrument a cold call seller has ever had at his or her disposal. We’ve always attempted to marshal the power of testimonials and recommendations in order to help us overcome this barrier. But any other form of recommendation cannot hold the same power for credibility that LinkedIn recommendations enjoy.

At LinkedIn you can follow the trail of connection instantly. When anyone posts a recommendation there, they know that they can be contacted for verification. The ease of this means of checking naturally results in the fact that most people never check. Thus, the reader experiences a type of immediate credibility that is truly new in the world of normal, everyday business.

The exact same testimonial published at your company website holds NO such ease of verification. Until now, no written testimonial held the instant emotional force of complete, easy verifiability. In some ways, LinkedIn’s power of recommendation is exactly what Ronald Reagan used to push for as he and Mikhail Gorbachev negotiated over nuclear arms issues. Reagan used to hammer away, “Trust, but verify,” in every meeting. This exact capacity – trust with verification – is precisely what your prospects enjoy when learning about you at LinkedIn.

So what must you do in order to tap into this incredible source of leverage? And, how does this flow back into your tactical telephone work?

Recommendations for Beginning Recruiters

Let’s take the hardest case of all: you’re just getting started as a recruiter and have no clients or candidates who even know you, let alone can rave about you. LinkedIn gives you incredible power to get started even here. First, think back over the things you’ve done in your life that would count as successes by any definition you care to employ. I’m not kidding. Old blue ribbons from art class in elementary school may be too much of a stretch, but your high school debate club instructor is as appropriate to validate your business abilities as you need to come. And hey, one of the most credible sources of reference in the business world is any athletic endeavor in which you excelled. If you were on a varsity team, and if your coach is on LinkedIn – or willing to join on your behalf – then you have a fantastic recommendation waiting for nothing more than your well-executed request.

One of the great powers of all social media is that it gives you a basis to reconnect. If you look at my profile, you’ll find a perfect example. One of the recommendations I enjoy and am most proud of is from my first boss in life, a fellow named Norman Hallett. Previous to my time as a commodity broker, I’d been self-employed. I have been self-employed ever since. So, Norman is actually the only “real” boss I’ve ever had — and he taught me so much! But when I joined LinkedIn, he and I had not spoken in 22 years.

You can imagine that finding him after all these years and winning a glowing recommendation from him was a profoundly emotional moment for me as a new LinkedIn user. Customers top the list of desired recommenders, but the very next group is your former bosses. Actually, they may be the favored group of “customers” considering the fact that your bosses likely paid you more money for your work than any other group of people. The key is the conversion of paid-for effort into profitable, dramatic return-on-investment and pleasurable benefits that are fun to recall and a delight to share with others. Every value you’ve ever created is the basis of a potentially powerful recommendation.

I hope I’ve persuaded you that even the newest player to the field can get started. But if you’ve been a successful recruiter for any period of time at all, then investment into your profile and most importantly your raving, worshipful fan testimonials is the most powerful marketing step you can make here in 2011.

Discovering Your Own Greatest Values

How well do you think you can define and communicate what you actually do, and why someone would be a fool to NOT use your services? I hope you’re not still using those ancient, boring, “Our 57-step search process is the most thorough…blah, blah, blah” statements of value! If you’re like me, identifying my greatest values and most compelling sales arguments is one of the most difficult parts of your selling practice. Funny thing is, guess who often has no difficulty identifying your most powerful benefits? Your delighted and satisfied customers are able to identify these values and are often thrilled to do so.

The difficulty is one of perspective. When thinking about your work, your mind can’t escape going through the comprehensive list of all the steps and actions you take. Often it’s the tasks you hate that you think about the most. But, those who benefit from your work have a totally different point of view. They just see and feel the magic. It is virtually impossible for you to step into their shoes and fully feel the power of what you do for them. The only way to even discover this is to ask. But if you’re just in a conversation and ask, they may stutter and stumble. It takes time and effort to express it. Even to think about it takes time; not much, but some.

LinkedIn provides the needed context like no other medium. Simply connect with your customer and then shoot them a recommendation request. Go to their profile you’ll see the link offering this action. LinkedIn fills in a simple, basic message for you. Typically, I recommend against using the default message. The smallest effort in personalizing your message makes such a tremendous difference. Better yet, you really should SPEAK ON THE PHONE.

What is needed is a warm, personal connection. You are asking for a favor. Do not be boring. Do not be assumptive. If you are, your recommendations will have no spark or fire to them. No, what you want is to have a conversation in which you ask for your customer’s help, and then, only if they are true “raving fans”. Remember, this is no small tactical maneuver, quickly done and then over. This is a strategic investment of the highest order.

You are requesting the thought and effort to express your greatest values boldly, in public, and as a permanent record. Imagine how much this really means. I propose that no other effort offers the same return. Approach this with respect and, yes, love, even if you don’t call it that. Ask kindly without expectation, only desire. Always be ready to let someone say no, too. You only want recommendations from those who will feel happy to have written them, and even happier to be called upon to stand as a witness to your glories and amazing powers.

Telephone Power

How does this translate back to the telephone work you do all day every day?

You will surely want and need to connect with your prospects at LinkedIn. This brings an additional and positive dynamic to your call. Understand that the more ways by which you connect with your prospects, the better. This must be emphasized. One of the great principles of cold call selling is the dynamic of permission-based interaction. At first, you’re interrupting and have no permission to do so. The sooner you get permission the better. And, the simpler, smaller, and less costly any choice to be connected is, the better.

When you speak to a new prospect, and then that person decides to connect to you on LinkedIn, this is a virtually pain free and absolutely cost free step. This new element to your cold call is so perfectly constructed we should have figured out some such equivalent decades prior to the Internet. Actually, if you’re old school enough, you might remember lead cards we published in magazines. When someone filled out a lead card, they were giving us permission to contact them. It isn’t the same, but it holds some of the same force.

A LinkedIn connection, though, is the perfect form of permission to win, even in a very first cold call contact. This is worth much meditation on your part as you envision your evolving practice.

Your Profile as Your Mightiest Marketing Tool

Once connected — or even if you’re not connected — you will surely want to recommend that everyone you speak to go read about your magical powers and amazing prowess at making money and building success for your customers.

Which brings us to our last point. For all the power of your recommendations (and nothing else matters so much) you do still have to think carefully about your profile itself. Let me tell you what it is NOT:

Your LinkedIn profile is NOT merely a boring online resume.

Now let me tell you what it is, or actually what you must make it to be:

THE MOST POWERFUL MARKETING DOCUMENT YOU’RE ABLE TO CREATE.

Here, you really can think about it exactly as if it were going to be a simple, old-fashioned, typewritten document. LinkedIn is becoming more visual, bit by bit. Soon, we will surely hire graphic designers and artists and people with visual design backgrounds to help us improve our profiles, and wisely so. But, the technology base is not quite there yet. So for now, you really can think of your profile mostly in terms of the written word.

By the way, you don’t have to become a great writer. You do, however, need to build your business sense. What is it that impresses prospects? What values will drive their decision to work with you? Solid business claims of verifiable value; these are the hallmark of your profile. It is an advertisement. This means that you must never forget your target market and their values for a moment. Here, the more you invest in to your recommendations, the more they will help you and guide you toward crafting the mightiest, most powerful message you can with the rest of the profile itself.

One small design element I’m happy to clue you in on is this. The sections of your profile can easily be moved. Most users don’t realize this yet. As you might imagine, I strongly recommend moving your recommendations as high up and close to the top of your profile as you can. Your recommendations are far more important than your own statements of your background or job history, etc. You really do want them front and center, and LinkedIn makes that very easy to do…but not obviously so.

LinkedIn Black Belts

Before we conclude our LinkedIn exploration, let me say a word about all the many powers and directions that LinkedIn mastery will take you. There are scores of powers to be won. The best way to think about this is as if you were going to learn a martial art — or any art form, for that matter. If you decide to take up oil painting, you won’t likely be competing with Rubens or Da Vinci in a matter of days or weeks. In Taekwondo you will not master a perfect roundhouse kick overnight. So also with LinkedIn and all social media investments. You want to find the smallest steps you can, and work to master those as well as you can, and then move forward gently.

And on that note, I must say a word about all the powers of LinkedIn that we’re NOT discussing in this article. If you search for it, you’ll find a seemingly infinite set of guides out there all offering to teach you how to extract maximum value from this amazing technology. My focus, as you’ve noticed is a bit different. I want to help you capitalize on LinkedIn’s powers while you improve your telephone performance and enhance your ability to hit your objective goals. The most important value to go get, right now, is the power of credibility that will immediately transform your cold call selling success.

Conclusion

If you’ll execute the steps we’ve discussed, you’ll rapidly discover your own new strength in each and every call you make. I can honestly testify that for me, the ability to confidently direct prospects’ attention to my profile was nothing short of a stunning new ability. The truth is that my clients and I have fought dragons together, and we’ve lived to tell the story. Now, LinkedIn empowers us to share in the telling like never before. My prospects don’t have to connect with me in order to see these testimonials, but closing on that connection is a wonderful, easy, resistance-free action they can take. That too makes me bolder, on the one hand, but more comfortable in my selling steps on the other. I don’t know that my profile is the best marketing document I’ve ever created for my practice, but I can easily attest that it is, by far, the most successful such marketing instrument I’ve ever invested into.

My strongest counsel to you is simply this: put the power of your most raving fans’ witness to work for you at LinkedIn as soon as you can. If you have a few recommendations already, go get a few more. If you have none, get some right now. You will immediately empower your telephone work more in this way than by any other single step you’ll take.

Next week we’ll bring you another installment of the Die-Hard Phone Jockey’s Guide series. Stay tuned!

Tip 908: How to change accounts used with the Social Connector

A user wanted to know how to change the accounts used by the social connector: “I’m using the Outlook Social Connector and it says I have to re-logon to Facebook. But I changed my Facebook e-mail address since my last login and the dialog in the Social Connector doesn’t allow me to change my e-mail address, only to type my password. How do i change the account used by the social connector?” You need to click the x button to delete the account and re-create it, using the new address. In Outlook 2010, go to View, People pane, Account settings to access the dialog if the screen you are looking at doesn’t have an X on the right of the social connector account. Close the dialog after deleting the account then reopen it and set up the provider again. In Outlook 2007, this dialog can be opened from the Tools, Social Networking Account settings. In this screenshot, click the X beside the #1 to remove the account then close the dialog. Reopen the dialog and select the account (#2) and enter the correct username and password. Published August 30 2011

Now that we’ve discussed how to go about cold calling candidates, let’s rewind just a bit and discuss cold calling for business.  Obviously without business, you’d have no reason to cold call candidates! A lot of the same principles apply in both types of cold calling, so why not put your skills to work on both sides of the desk? I realize that not all third party recruiters handle business development but a well-rounded recruiter should definitely be capable of doing so. The most successful recruiters are those that control both ends of the placement equation, thus resulting in more earned fees.

Smart recruiters will seek relationships with clients where they can have direct interaction with hiring managers, allowing them to gain a deeper understanding of the client’s needs and environment beyond just a job req.  Instead of competing with hundreds of vendors on VMS requisitions, targeting smaller environments where these relationships can be built is a great way to position yourself for long term success. While I certainly would never discourage big business, relationships make the best placements. Period.

That being said, what’s the best way to go about cold calling for business? The same way you would if you were looking for a candidate.  Research! Every well-laid plan begins with research. Start by reading local press releases, business journals, trade publications, etc. Reading these publications will allow you to identify opportunities where a cold call might be good timing. News of expanding or new businesses opening up, promotions, projects – these are all prime opportunities to introduce yourself to a hiring manager. Company names identified in the news give you a starting point; from there you can research them on LinkedIn, Spoke, ZoomInfo, Manta, etc. You may recall that all of these were recommended in my last article to help identify candidate names. They are just as helpful – if not more so – in the identification of hiring managers. In addition, you can research the company to learn details that will help you prove to the hiring manager that you’ve done your footwork. I also like to use Google to find out what other people are saying about that particular company. Are they active on social networks? Are they a tightly run ship with little turnover? Do they have strong financial backing? Do they use contractors or do they only hire full time employees? A lot of these types of details might be found in discussion forums where current (or former) employees gather.  Google and Yahoo both have strong group discussion forums on a wide variety of topics, as does LinkedIn. There are a plethora of discussion forums and blogs to be found out there if you just take the time to search.

Once you’ve done your research and have identified a potential hiring manager by name, you’ll want to waste no time in reaching out to them. My preference is to make contact by both phone and email;  but what if you don’t have an email address? Easy! To obtain a hiring manager’s email address, simply Google: “@abc.com” (putting the @domain name of the company in quotes). Often, this will reveal hits of email addresses on that domain within documents or web pages, helping you to identify the company email format. For instance:  jane.doe@abc.com, janedoe@abc.com, jdoe@abc.com, etc. I would recommend keeping emails short and to the point. Don’t send the hiring manager a diatribe about your company and how wonderful you are. That isn’t going to get response.  If you’ve found the hiring manager through some kind of information about their department, such as a new project that might require hiring staff, then say so.  Let them know what you heard about and where you heard it, then ask them a question.

Here’s a potential email:

“Dear Bob,

While reading the most recent issue of Telecom Weekly magazine, I discovered that your company won a large government contract to install cabling. I wanted to take a moment to congratulate you on the great news! It sounds like you’ll soon be in the market to hire some cabling technicians.

Will you be considering outside staffing assistance on this project?

Regards,

Sandy Snell

Snell Staffing”

When you close your email with a question, you’re more likely to get a response – even if it’s “no”.

Use the same approach in a phone call to the hiring manager. Be brief, to the point and emphasize the information you know just like in the sample email above.  Then, ask a question. Don’t talk about you, your company or anything like that. If the manager is interested, he’ll ask more about you and your company. If you get the hiring manager on the phone, don’t just keep nervously rambling until he/she cuts you off; do more listening and less talking. Most of all, don’t be afraid of the word no.

A response, even a no, is a confirmation of an email address and an opportunity to try again. Once you’ve received a reply, touch base once per month and ask one simple question: “Any hiring that you need help with?” – or something to that effect. By doing this, you’ll be sure to keep your name in the recent memory of that hiring manager, as well as stay on top of any new staffing developments. Make sure to keep a running list of hiring managers to contact in your CRM or Outlook by date and contact preference. Some hiring managers will never answer their phone but they will answer an email and vice versa. While you might get several months of no responses from a hiring manager, it’s just a matter of time until you get a yes. Timing, persistence and patience will pay off in the long run. Don’t mistake that for being a pest; once per month is plenty frequent enough. Touching base more frequently will only drive potential customers away.

Even if a hiring manager doesn’t need your services, you can always ask them if they know anyone else that might need assistance. Remember, you don’t get what you don’t ask for! Big billing recruiters aren’t afraid to ask – why should you be?

Did anybody else read this most recently emailed NAPS Legal Update for June?

If you haven’t, you should.  Doesn’t matter if you are an owner or a producer on a desk, this could be a game changer, and for much more than just LinkedIn messages and contacts.

In this email which NAPS Legal Counsel Bob Styles typically sends out on a monthly basis, tucked between two updates that didn’t have much application to my desk/business, was the below two paragraph notice about a yet to be adjudicated case titled “LinkedIn Messages As Evidence in Non-Compete Case“:

Did anyone else just feel the ground shake?

It doesn’t take much of an imagination to wonder about who then “owns” LinkedIn contacts?  And by extension Facebook, Twitter, and for that matter any social network/media contacts that one compiles in pursuit of success as a search/sourcing/recruiting professional while in someone’s employ.

And please don’t misinterpret my intentions for bringing this up.  I do not believe that anyone who signs a non-compete should EVER violate that agreement.  If you leave one employer to work for another employer or to start your own business, do it the right way, take the high road, and honor your non compete.  If you are that good, you don’t need to do anything illegal to get started on your new job or your new business.  EVER.  Period.  There is always enough OTHER business out there for you.

Still, this case will bring up a whole new set of questions our profession, its owners, producers and lawyers will need to address.  Not only can messages on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter now likely be used as evidence that you violated your non-compete, it can’t be long before “ownership” of those contacts comes into question as one leaves a job as a search or sourcing professional to begin a similar one somewhere else or on their own.

That’s why, in my mind, is case could become a game changer for how search professionals will use and manage the online social networks and social media tools that are now considered essential to success as a modern day sourcing and search professional.

What do you think?

I sure hope Mr Styles, Esq, will keep us up to date on how the case is finally adjudicated.

Oh, and for those interested, you can see the full Legal Update at skrentnyspeaks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/NAPS-June-2010-LEGAL-UPDATE-LinkedIn-As-Evidence.pdf because, as of this writing, NAPS does not yet archive these informative missives.  I hope they will change that someday soon as they update and revise their new web presence.

I would love to read your thoughts on this, you can share them below.

Yesterday’s part 1 of this series detailed the right mix of marketing, PR, and social media for recruiters today.

Now we continue with the right ways to build your social media brand.

6 Steps to Build Your Social Media Brand

1. Secure your vanity name on all social media sites. As mentioned earlier, the “Big Three” are LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. For a full list, Google: [Social Media Websites]. Do this quickly, before another obtains your name. If your name is gone, a nickname or pseudonym could work. Choose your “handle” with your audience in mind.
2. Write a professional bio. You might have two bios (short and long), but include your accomplishments, a professional photo “avatar,” and contact info. When writing your bio, think about your unique background and a broad audience. For help, review others’ bios and/or Google: [How to Write a Professional Bio].
3. Learn how the social media sites work. Each has their own how-to page and lingo. Visit the sites. Observe, listen, and watch what others do and how they’re interacting. If a friend or colleague is an active user, ask for help. You might also Google: [How to Use Social Media Sites].
4. Build your networks. On LinkedIn, send “Please join my professional network.” On Facebook, send “Be my friend” messages. On Twitter, follow people who seem interesting to you. Many will follow back.
5. Join the conversation. Post what’s going on in your life. You might find something interesting or have something in common (work life, travel, food, sports, politics, etc.) Post a comment or respond. Engage others by asking questions. For example, “Do you …?” or “How do you …?”
6. Link your networks. Most sites have areas to connect other sites. This enables “networking leverage.” By connecting your full network, you will maximize your reach and build your brand further.

An Investment in Time

Social media takes an investment in time, like building relationships with clients, candidates, and industry partners. Remember the two parts: “social” and “media.” Both should be integral to your marketing strategy and incorporated into daily/weekly activities.

Keep in mind the 5 Es of Social Media:

• Enlighten
• Educate
• Entertain
• Empower
• Engage

When used effectively, social media, marketing, and PR can be very powerful in building your brand and your recruiting business. All increase your name as an expert in your field: people find you; business flows to you; and your revenue increases.

Finally, you can create and manage your own brand.

It’s been said that LinkedIn is like going to the office, Facebook is like going home, and Twitter is like going to the bar. Hope to see you at the party!

Editor’s note: This is Part 1 of a multi-part, weekly series on cold calling. Look for Part 2 next week.

Even if the economy isn’t in turmoil, gaining new business has always been a tricky task in the recruiting industry.

Some say it’s a numbers game. For example: make 100 calls to submit 10 candidates to schedule four interviews to get two hires.

We can argue the stats, but this line of thinking and measurement is perpetuated among recruiting management like a plague.

I can remember a time when my recruiting performance was measured by phone time. That’s right; my employer at the time actually tracked the amount of time we spent on the phone during the day. What this led to, of course, were recruiters and account managers trying to “cheat” to meet management’s expectations.

I’ve got news for you: recruiting isn’t about numbers. It’s about skill. You want more placements? You want to earn more money? You want the respect of your clients? Then you need to master the art of cold calling.

This is a phrase that makes some recruiters cringe. They perceive cold calling as pushy and invasive.

That might be true to some extent, but with proper research and execution, it should go pretty smoothly and net some type of favorable result. Don’t misunderstand me, the task of cold calling itself is pretty tedious and not the most fun part of our job. However, once you’ve done it successfully and landed a great candidate you’ll be eager to keep trying your hand at it.

With the amount of competition in this industry, finding the perfect candidate before someone else does can be quite a challenge. If you’re willing to incorporate cold calling into your recruiting methodology though, you’re almost certain to get to that perfect candidate before your competition does. That’s because in most cases, the perfect candidate is already employed somewhere else and your competition isn’t likely to use this strategy.

There are a lot of “lazy” recruiters who will rely upon a database or job posting before they will ever try cold calling. Use this to your advantage!

Cold calling can be the embodiment of your success. Your ability to use this technique effectively will make clients swoon and earn the respect of candidates. Stop being afraid of the task and harness it!

How Do I Start? What Do I Do?

Typically it starts with a request from a client for a candidate. The first thing you’ll want to do is evaluate the job for any key words to help you identify a potential cold calling source.

What industry is the job in? What is the work environment like? What skills does the client need?

As an example, I’ll use a scenario from my own past:

Client is a credit card payment processing company, looking for an Oracle DBA to work in a large, fast paced, “always on” environment with lots of upward growth potential. They’d like to have someone with RAC experience as well as Apache.

Now, LinkedIn has been pivotal in the reduction of cold-call researching and it should be your #1 tool for identifying names. You don’t have to have a name to cold call successfully, but it sure helps!

The first step in identifying a great candidate is to examine your LinkedIn connections for various starting points. Is there anyone in your network that works for a payment processing company? How about a financial institution or maybe just an “always on” environment (this would be companies that provide services 24/7)? Do you have connections to anyone with Oracle experience? Even if they aren’t DBAs, developers could still refer you to one!

Once you’ve identified the relevant potential connections you already have – reach out! Phone is always best for cold call recruiting. Yes, you can email –but expect that you’ll get fewer results with this type of passive technique. Reaching out by phone will solidify the connection and allow you to interact with them in a way that email doesn’t convey.

Tonality, personality, and intent are very hard to gauge through an email interaction.

So let’s say one of your connections gives you a name of a potential candidate. What now?

PICK UP THE PHONE! Reach out to that person; identify yourself and your intent clearly and quickly. If you’re calling this prospect at work you’ll want to be discreet so don’t identify your company or intent until you’re actually speaking to them. If you don’t get through, don’t leave a descriptive voice mail. There are some people who check their voicemail over speakerphone and you don’t want their whole office knowing someone is trying to recruit them out. Leave only your name and phone number. If you do get through, get to the point.

A typical conversation might go like this:

“Hi Joe, my name is Robin Eads. I’m an executive recruiter with XYZ company. I was referred to you for a opportunity I’m currently recruiting for.”

At this point, pause and give the prospect a chance to respond. You’ll know right away if they are receptive. They may ask who referred you – I typically don’t reveal my source even if they say it’s ok. (Sometimes I don’t even have a source of referral but I say so anyway because it generally makes people more receptive when you say you do.)

If they seem receptive or at least intrigued, continue with the conversation:

“The client I’m working with is looking for someone like yourself and while I know you are probably happily employed I thought you might want to hear about this opportunity.”

Truth is, most people want to know about the greener grass even if they don’t want to graze in it.

Once you’ve discussed the potential match and opportunity, invite questions from the prospect. If they seem disinterested or you discover it’s not totally a match for them – ask them, “who do you know that would be a good fit for this?”

Any time you ask a yes-or-no question it leads to the greater possibility of a “no” response. Instead, ask direct questions such as “Whom do you know?” It will likely put a referral into your hands, but if the prospect is interested, make them a candidate!

There are a number of industries and professions that may not participate heavily in online networks such as LinkedIn. If this sounds like you or your industry, stay tuned for the second part of my series about how to cold call when you don’t have a name!

As the technology for the recruiting world continues to progress, top talent is more accessible than ever before. The potential for LinkedIn and other social networking sites to play a major role in your recruiting strategy is increased as millions of prospective candidates profile themselves on these sites.

In February 2010, LinkedIn announced that it has reached the 65-million user mark, growing quite rapidly, averaging 300,000 new profiles per month, with over nine million at the director level and above.

It’s not enough anymore to post a vacancy on the major job boards. Employers are typically spammed with many resumes from unqualified applicants. We have still found great candidates through these job boards, so continue to use them as a part of your recruiting mix. But the world of recruiting is changing. More and more, the online focus rests on social networking sites and smaller, specialized job boards.

Ten years ago, applicant tracking systems revolutionized recruitment methods. These methods have evolved and progressed to reflect the needs of recruiters today. We believe that this will continue to happen with social recruiting (which many applicant tracking systems already incorporate). Social recruiting seems to be the recruitment tool of the now and into the future.

Have you checked out the ERE groups lately? We’ve got almost 100 groups in as many industries and geographies as you can imagine! If you haven’t stopped in lately, come post a discussion or join in on one of the many discussions going on already!

Here’s what’s going on in the ERE community this week:

1. Our members speak out on the .jobs issue
2. Personal branding is NOT evil
3. Are you on the no brain picking list?
4. Autoposting software for LinkedIn advertising
5. Do you know anything about Co-Sourcing?
6. Featured group of the week: New York Metro ERE

1. Our members speak out: What does .jobs mean to you?

We’ve had some great coverage on the recent .jobs issue from our editorial staff here at ERE. In response to the situation, several members posted some insightful opinions to contrast what has taken place over the last week:

• Gerry Crispin writes An Open Letter to the SHRM .Jobs Advisory Board. Hard to sum it up in a choice quote but he ends with this recommendation, “As to all the misunderstandings, mis-stated facts and other issues of timelines leading up to today, it would seem prudent of any truly independent council considering what to do next to at least offer a serious period of public comment- say 30 days.
• Sean Ryan writes how he’s Failing to See the “.Jobs” Hype. He says, “Call me cynical… but I simply don’t buy this “.Jobs” business. It’s not going to change the world. I also don’t buy the uber outrage. It’s not going to change the world. But what do I know… I’ve only been job searching in this terrible economy.
• Ernest Feiteira posts Dot Jobs 2006 and Now and adds, “Very few URLs in themselves are the key to success.  siliconvalley.jobs might seem like a goldmine, but why isn’t siliconvalleyjobs.com already?  It’s because it’s what you “make of it” and the value you provide users on  the site.

2. Personal Branding is NOT evil

Sarah Welstead posts an interesting take about personal branding. Sarah says, “If you’ve been resisting building a personal brand on the assumption that you’ll be contributing to the downfall of society, you can rest easy.  Branding (and advertising, and marketing) are good for society as a whole (by fostering advances in the absence of war); good for people individually (by allowing them to make choices); and good for the economy (by fostering capitalism).

It seems as though personal branding has gone through a hype and rejection period. Are we finally going to hit a point where we just use what we’ve learned and move on? Let Sarah know!

3. Are you on the no brain picking list?

Sandy Jones-Kaminski asks if people are on the no brain picking list. She goes on to write, “Are you a recruiting strategy consultant or a service provider? How many non-billable brain picking sessions did you sit through so far this year? Or, on the flip side, how many brains did you try to pick for free in Q1 of 2010? I think we should start a National Do Not Brain Pick registry and I want to be on it.

I’m sure we’ve all been in that boat before. Where do you personally draw the line on brain picking sessions?

4. Autoposting software for LinkedIn advertising

A group member asks, “Are there any products out there that can auto-post my paid LinkedIn ads as well as the free ads within my LinkedIn groups?”

Have you seen anything like that? If so, drop him a comment.

5. Do you know anything about Co-Sourcing?

Another group member asks, “Are you aware of different models in Recruitment Co-Sourcing? Can you provide any links for suggested reading?”

What do you know about recruitment co-sourcing? Let the group know.

6. Featured group of the week: New York Metro ERE

The New York Metro ERE group was started by Steve Levy and is “An offline community to augment the ERE’s online fraternity. Open to all metro New York (CT, NJ, NY)ERE members (if you want to travel from California to attend, that’s cool). Share contacts, ideas, problems and solutions, etc.” I wonder if they’ll take someone from Oregon?

This is a very active offline group too (check out their regular meetups, the next one is happening on April 22nd).

To see what else you’ve been missing, check out the ERE community.