So, What's your LinkedIn strategy?  It amazes me, yet again, how many recruiters out there aren't either using LinkedIn or, even worse, use it a lot, but haven't really thought about the right strategy to really maximize their returns.  Of course, for me to list all of the great tips, strategies and techniques would require a book, as my webinar here is over 3 hours long on the topic.  However, I wanted to share with you some great tips that you should adopt immediately!

So. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that I am now getting more and more questions about the candidate side of the biz! If you want to get right to the great tip about sourcing then just go right down to the bottom of the post.

So, are cover letters and "objectives" on resumes helpful or hurtful?  Most hiring managers, statistically, will bypass the cover letter! DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE this as the implications are far worse.. The stats really show that they don't read it, but that they scan it. They also will thus spend more time reading the cover letter and, of course, the big "objective" opener of the resume. Both the cover letter and the "objective" are a bit of a myth. None ever aid you in getting a job and both can actually CAUSE you from getting the job.

To stump or not to stump.... Should you throw "curve-balls" at your candidates during the interview process?  Frankly, it is critical for a recruiter or staffing specialist to wear two hats when asking these types of questions.  The first hat, of course, is to assess the candidate. The 2nd hat, though, is of salesperson. NEVER forget that how they answer these questions for you will also likely be how they answer them for your clients (when you create a sendout with them). Therefore, I always make sure to ask the SAME question perhaps 4 or 5 ways. Ironically, I often either get very different answers each time OR I get new information each time. Since we try to glean their selling points in an interview, it is key that you have methods to pull out ALL of them.

Ok. Any recruiter worth their salt (never really knew what that means) knows that if you sell an exclusive, that you dramatically increase your chances of placing or filling that order! Well, that's all great, but the real question is how to sell it and how to use it right! Most of the time when I hear a recruiter sell it, it is all self serving... In other words, the benefits to doing it are for the recruiter and not really for the client.  If you can get an exclusive it's also good to sometimes consider discounting the fee, or conversely, if you have to discount a fee, it's often worth exchanging that negotiation "give in" for an exclusive...... So, how do you do it...