SEO for Recruiting

SEO for Recruiting Why SEO for recruiting? What does SEO (Search Engine Optimization) have to do with recruiting? The answer is simple. Recruiting is part marketing, and part sales job. And the digital marketing is the way forward. Why SEO For Recruiting Is Important? Where do you think candidates are searching for a job? If you think they are searching for jobs on job boards or career pages, you are partially right. Candidates may land upon your companys career page or job board but for most candidates, their search begins at Google search. Every month, approximately 30% of Google searches are job-related. Thats massive. Just look at a few job search related numbers from March 2019 for the US region. Search Keyword Avg. Monthly Search Accounting jobs 10k 100k Data Science jobs 10k 100k Full Stack developer job 1k 10k Marketing jobs 10k 100k Sales job 10k 100k Above numbers are for the US region for one month alone. You can do this analysis by yourself using Googles keyword planner tool. Companies need to realize that candidates are no longer searching for jobs the way they used to. They are searching for jobs on the internet by entering Jobs near me or using similar queries. Google has come up with Google for Jobs Search. It is making it easier for candidates to search for jobs. Google aggregates all jobs from various job sites, career pages of companies and shows the most relevant jobs to candidates. Looking at these search numbers and kind of queries candidates are using to search jobs, you may realize why Google may have entered the recruitment space. How SEO Helps In Recruiting 1. Candidate Sourcing For Free SEO helps you in getting traffic. When you search for anything on google you get 10 links on every search engine results page (SERP). These links are organic results. And then there are links with prefix Ad, these are paid results; basically ads. Most people like you and I, dont go to the second page of Google search results. In fact, 95% of the visitors dont visit second page  of  google  search  results. That means, it is extremely important that in order to get traffic to your company webpages, a link from your website must appear on page one of Google search results; even better if its in the top three results. The Same applies to Google for Jobs Search. Being among the top job search results will ensure more traffic to your career page. More traffic means more candidates applying to jobs in your company. This is all for free. 2. Find Talent For Niche Skills We all struggle when we are hiring for niche skills. Resource pools for niche skill are always limited. That means you cannot miss out on the opportunity of reaching out to any potential candidates. Ranking higher in Google search for niche jobs is easier compared to jobs with common skills because it is less competitive. Not many companies focus on SEO for recruiting and hence you could have an edge over your competition. SEO for recruiting is a good strategy when you are hiring for hard-to-fill jobs. 3. Build Brand Value When webpages of your company website show up on the first page of Google search results it builds trust and credibility for your brand. It is natural for users to believe in your brand more if it appears on page one in Google search. It contributes positively to the candidate experience. Also, it improves brand value for your company. Data has proven that organic search results get more clicks (CTR Click through ratio) than paid search results (PPC). Imagine your company manufactures mobile phone covers. When consumers Google search for mobile phone covers and if mobile covers from your company show up on page one, it naturally builds that great first impression. Its a huge advantage for your company. Similarly, if a candidate searching for jobs finds pages from your company website on the first page. Hence, SEO for recruiting is not limited to career pages but it should be for the complete website. This will eventually help immensely in recruiting in the long run. What Are The Challenges In Implementing SEO For Recruiting Here are some basic challenges or limitations you will face while implementing SEO for recruiting. 1. Legacy Recruiting Technology and Software Most websites built today are SEO-friendly. There are modern tools that are available to help you achieve SEO for most of your webpages. However, the same may not hold true for the career page of your website. Career pages are generally generated, linked or designed using ATS (applicant tracking system). Here are some of the important things that contribute to SEO Is job page optimized for Google For Jobs Search Is career page or job page mobile, tablet friendly, and optimized Is page load speed quick enough Is job page crawl-able for search engines Traditional recruiting software or applicant tracking systems may not be optimized for generating SEO friendly recruiting content. You should contact your ATS vendor to find out if they follow all the guidelines for SEO. 2. Mindset SEO is not easy. Its a lot of work. It needs patience. You need to work consistently to produce quality content which helps in improving your domains authority. If you do it for a few months consistently, it starts showing results in the long run. And the results are great once you start appearing at the top of the Google search results list. However, because of a lot of work in the initial phase, people tend to ignore SEO completely and miss out on a great opportunity to attract talent. They rather believe its not something feasible. They fail to see the bigger picture. We cant deny the fact that most candidates are searching for jobs on the internet using Google search. Google for jobs has changed and will continue to change the candidate experience with job searches. Indeed is also competing in a similar space. Facebook also has entered into the recruitment business. Hence, it is crucial for companies to realize that candidate sourcing methods are changing. Google has no competition in the search engine business. With Google for Jobs, they are making sure candidates use Google search even for finding jobs. The first step towards this is taking SEO for recruiting seriously. About the author: Amit Gawande is a Co-Founder of CVViZ, an AI recruiting software. He has more than 15 years of experience in software development and leading large teams. He has products using NLP and machine learning. He has recruited engineers, programmers, marketing and sales people for his organizations. He believes in using technology for solving real-life problems.

Why Talent Attraction is the Most Important Function in Your Business

Why Talent Attraction is the Most Important Function in Your Business Anybody I talk to who is super smart, recognise how important the alignment between core business strategy and talent attraction is. However,  as I discussed in September  after I went to the LikeMinds conference very rarely do businesses see it that way, or more crucially rarely do TA specialists genuinely get called in for c-suite business growth strategy meetings. It starts with the fact that the way we attract talent is generally an outbound experience. Every potential employee is also a potential customer, or someone they know and the reputation of any business is amplified more so now in the social media age, than ever. So if you headhunt badly, then you affect your brand badly. And people are queuing up to take pot-shots these days. Furthermore, the job advertising application process is a sensitive process involving 95% complete rejection and usually only 1% hired. How you treat the 95% when you splurge ads on LinkedIn that attract 500+ applications is kind of important.  If you do that 30 times a year, thats well over 10,000 people your business and brand is saying no to, if you are saying anything at all  (Salesforce, Hootsuite, Apple Im looking at you) So, Im a Talent Attraction Strategist. My first advice is usually remove cold headhunting and wide scale advertising from your talent attraction process. But it goes way beyond this. Its a well worn phrase that people are your greatest asset, and it usually relates to how we look after and nurture our employees. But what about before then before they are an employee. Why should it matter, whether they are an employee or not? When we say people are our greatest asset, we also imply that they drive the success and failure of our business. That very conference in September I referred to previously made this point, that the CEOs greatest obstacle to growth, is the recruitment and retention of great people. Yet rarely at c-suite level, do we consider who those great people are, and how we aim to attract them to our business. Thats where I come in. Each dynamic of a business plan, should have a talent attraction plan alongside it. How do we reach and exceed our ambitious business goals, without having the right people in place? When I see someone like Jennifer Candee (ex SABMiller) set out a strategy to recruit key people for the business, its commonly a 2 year process for senior execs. Its not about recruiting for open jobs, its about grooming and attracting the best people to create warm communications. The best people dont fall over at your first contact they have a whole range of crucial life and career factors to consider when considering leaving their very comfortable job to take on a new adventure. We have to respect those, but also have to regard these people as part of the business already. We should be looking after them and nurturing them even though they are not on the payroll. Fostering relationships with people who genuinely care about what we do as an organisation, and how and why we do it, is essential in an effective talent attraction strategy.  Recruit fans, not candidates, I always say. Business plans are filled with growth objectives which employees screw their noses up at as unrealistic, and recruitment plans are filled with the necessity to fill roles like yesterday. The two are rarely aligned. With every announcement of a business growth objective, should be a statement on how they intend to resource that ambition. The best companies already have the talent attraction plans in place, to support the business goal, and maybe even the next, and the next How will you have the best product, without the best and most suited product design team? How will win the best business, without targeting the best sales people in your field? How will be the most profitable firm, if you dont aspire to employee the best suited financial heads who get your business? This article is I guess aimed at C-Suite, as a wake up call from the TA ranks. But actually, TA HR Heads should also be having a word with their leaders about Talent Attraction Strategy, as another layer on top of mere recruitment as a necessity. I guess I can help that, thats what I do. There are lots of factors to consider, but I challenge you to present this agenda yourself.

Remembering Names is Part of Your Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Remembering Names is Part of Your Personal Branding - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career You probably like to hear your name favorably called out. Well, so do others. People never forget that you remembered. It’s funny; the same guy who says he can’t remember names remembers the Tennessee/Florida football game score in 1991 or the wine he drank in Tuscany two summers ago. Why does he remember the score? He watched the game so he heard the score (over and over). He talked about it with his buddies after the game, repeating the score. He read the newspaper articles about the game the next day, seeing the score again. Why did he remember the name of the wine? He read the label when it was placed on the table, sniffed the cork, maybe even saved the cork and soaked the label off for his scrapbook. Later he shopped for that specific wine at the market, repeating the name to the clerk. The steps required to remember anything are hear it, repeat it, read it, use it. To remember names, it is first of all important to make sure you hear it. As one person said, “As soon as he told me his name it went in one ear and the other.” Despite the fact you have a million different things going on in your head, have the person’s name go in one ear and stay there. When you introduce yourself to others, you generally hear only your own name. No wonder you don’t remember theirs. When they say it, right then clarify the pronunciation if it’s unusual and verify it. “What is your name, again, slowly?” Or if you heard it clearly the first time, “It’s Seth, right?” To further associate the person and the name you can ask a question such as “How do you spell that?” “Is that a family name?” or “What inspired that name?” If there is a story, people like to tell it. Some people are particularly sensitive about the pronunciation of their names. People named Susan don’t like to be called Suzanne. Elaines don’t want to be called Eileen. Kathays don’t want to be called Kathy. Michaels may not like Mike, just as Roberts may not like Bob, and so on. It takes a little effort to get it right, so do. If you get the person’s business card, look at it and read the name. Tying the visual with the audible doubles your chance of remembering. Add a note on the back about something you learned about the person in the conversation, the “do list” item you want to follow-up with for the person, or some distinguishing characteristic. What works best for me is to visualize the spelling of the name, letter by letter. I usually remember faces with no problem, so it’s about trying to visualize the name written next to the face, says Yvonne Hao. Use the person’s name to introduce him or her to another person. State the second person’s name clearly, so it increases the chance of the first person hearing and remembering it also. When I’m walking my dog on the bike path and people stop, chat, and bend down to pet him, I’ll volunteer, “His name is Scooter,” and inevitably the person will say, “Scooter, you’re a good dog… or Scooter you’re a cute dog.” And when we depart, they’ll usually say “Good-bye Scooter.” Then weeks later I’ll run into the same people and they’ll say, “Hi Scooter.” They remembered the dog’s name because they repeated it so many times. When you meet a person again, volunteer your name to make it easy on them whether you do or don’t remember theirs. Preferably you can say, “Roger, nice to see you, Debra Benton,” as you extend your hand to shake with a smile on your face. If you can’t remember his name, you can say, “Hello, I’m Debra Benton,” pause and shake. He’ll likely volunteer his name. This time make sure you register his name in your memory so you do remember next time. If you’re with someone who can’t remember the name of someone you are both meeting, you can be the one to initiate an introduction with, “I’m Debra Benton, this is my friend Kristie.” Then pause and let the person say his name. You end up making it easier and smoother for both of them (a two-for-one maintaining of esteem!). By the way, at a meet and greet when you wear a nametag, place it on your right shoulder, not your left. It’s easier to read when people shake hands with you because they can see it and therefore remember. I saw a man in a wheelchair put his nametag on his hat to make it easier to read. The worst are name tags on neck chains that hand around your chest of drop below; if you are a well-endowed female this causes men and women to study your bust area to see your name.

Best 6 Steps to Find Keywords for Your Résumé - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Best 6 Steps to Find Keywords for Your Résumé - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career More than eighty percent of all submitted résumés (and 100 percent of résumés sent to Fortune 1000 companies) get scanned by software commonly known as an applicant-tracking system (ATS), and such scanned résumés are stored on a server in a digitized format. Humans are seeing only about one quarter of them and only if it resurfaces based on a query. That’s why most job applicants don’t receive responses from companies after submitting résumés. They are simply not seen by a human. Therefore, in order to increase your résumé’s chances of being at least viewed by a humaneven if it’s not thereafter considered suitableyou have to understand the process and beat them at their own game. Human resources departments that use ATSs base their queries on keywords they lift from job descriptions or receive verbally from hiring managers. Based on that information, the ATS extracts appropriate résumés from the ones on file. The human resources employee’s query may result in just a few résumés or a vast number. The ATS also scores those résumés and sorts and prioritizes them. Then the employee reviews, say, 20 and submits 5 to be interviewed. Your job is to ensure that you embed sufficient, appropriate and relevant keywords in your résumé. So, what’s the best way to find those magical keywords? It’s a simple, albeit somewhat tedious, exercise. Search the Internet via job boards such as Monster and The Ladders.com to find 5 to 10 job descriptions of jobs advertised in the field you’re interested in. Cut and paste all of the descriptions one after another into a new MS Word document. Review the document, resetting in boldface what you consider the keywords throughout. Delete everything except the boldface words. Alphabetize the words, and delete duplicates. Copy your résumé into a new MS Word document, and repeat steps 3, 4, and 5 on that copy. The two resulting lists will display which keywords from the descriptions are missing from your résumé. And now comes the creative part: you incorporate the missing keywords into your résumé so it seems seamless and a perfect match for the context in which the words are mentioned in the job descriptions.   You can speed up this process by using Jobscan. By doing this admittedly laborious task, you increase manyfold your chances of being picked out from the crowd.   And now cross your fingers and pay close attention to the phone and your inbox.   Your invitation for further exploring your candidacy is on its way.   Good luck!

The Subtle Steps to Grow Your Networking Quotient

The Subtle Steps to Grow Your Networking Quotient Networking is all about cultivating relationships. It is the first and the foremost step that triggers young minds, job seekers, and aspiring entrepreneurs. It is easy to achieve your goals and objectives if you are connected with the right people.Photo Credit â€" Pexels.comAlso, to prosper in business and other sectors, one needs people that are not only beneficial but reliable. In the words of Robert Kiyosaki, “The richest people in the world believe in building networks. Everyone else looks for work”.Here are some examples of renowned entrepreneurs like Oprah Winfrey, Dhiru Bhai Ambani, Walt Disney, Lakshmi Mittal, etc., who had nothing but the idea and exceptional networking skills. Exception being “The Naturals,” these skills are not acquired by birth, you learn them by practice.evalTo help you assimilate the networking skills, we have narrowed down some key points for better understanding:1.Research KnowledgeWith no questions asked, a yes in every way. Facts, data, and statistics should be at your fingertips when you decide to pursue your core interest. The lack of information on the subject may lead to strike off and who wants that, anyway?To be precise, the more you are informed about the latest advancements of the topic, the more you are close to making favorable connections.2. A No No to Being Pushy ClingyOnce you meet the designated person, make an impression, discuss the insights and viewpoints, and you are good to go. You don’t have to keep texting or calling them, just to be in touch. A forced communication yields no good, and you may set camp in their block list.3. Keep it RealNetworking is based on one simple rule, “If you want to go far, make real connections.” Plastic smiles just don’t work anymore. The people you are meeting have been in the business for years. They can catch hold of your pretence in micro-seconds. Apart from being engaged in professional conversations, try hitting some trending topics to make your lasting i mpression.4. Bid Adieu to ComfortWhen you step up to build connections, ease should be the last thing your mind needs to think. Be prepared to embrace drastic climatic changes and ever ready to receive notifications regarding events at odd timings. If you cannot do this, it’ll be like dreaming about scoring 99 percent without even opening the book. Sounds terrible? Won’t be once you give your cent percent.5. Time Management Patience is the KeyA schedule is the most crucial thing to manage all the activities. A lot goes on while starting a business and you may have many events to attend. The hectic time-table may cause missing out on some important events or seminars that could have been your big break. To avoid this without losing calm, one requires effective time management.6. Events Seminars: A MustevalAlways attend the events and workshops that are of best interests to you. Making use of these amazing platforms solely depends on your talent. Be an initiator, pitch in the to pics and ask insightful questions. Also, it is advised not to interrupt in between and listen attentively to what others have to say.7. Socio-active Wins the RaceOnce you finished with the events and seminars, update the same on your professional social profile. Add the tags of the events you attended and people you met. They will bring you follow ups from top networks and will generate the chances to excel in the industry.To conclude, be helpful to people. A single righteous contact may bring you many connections and can be your super-connector. Nurturing relationship is the essence of excellent networking skills. It is never about collecting hundreds of visiting cards; it’s about planting relations.

Some of the Highest Paid Jobs in America

Some of the Highest Paid Jobs in America 1 Flares 1 Flares Just about everyone dreams of a high paying job that they enjoy. Imagine having an amazing career that would be the envy just about anyone. A career in any of these fields could have your nest egg looking pretty, setting you up for a dream retirement. Of course, you’ll need to make sure you are properly handing your wealth so that you can transition into retirement smoothly. You can even try putting in the amount you earn into a simulator (like this retirement simulator by Suncorp) to get a rough idea of how well your profession is paving a path to elderly bliss. Check out these high paying jobs to see if you have the talent or stamina to earn an incredible salary that sure beats how much you’ll make sitting at a desk each week. Standup Comedian Who doesn’t love a good laugh? If you’ve always been one to crack some jokes and get a good laugh out of people, consider a career as a standup comedian. Sure, it may start as a part time gig for a while, but the opportunity is there to earn millions. Imagine the possibility of bringing home over $10,000 for each standup comedy gig you book, simply by bringing some giggles to your crowd. Magician Say you’re a prankster that’s always playing tricks on their buddies. If you love entertaining others and watching their expressions of shock when you pull a fast one on them, consider a career as a magician. The pay may not be that of a CEO of a huge company, but it sure beats working at a fast food restaurant. Magicians get to perform their own shows for all different kinds of groups, watching people be impressed by their trickery, and they get to have a ton of fun every work day while making a salary of around $49,000 per year. Rock Star Just about every kid has dreamed about the rock star lifestyle. You can get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, or even more, just by performing on stages in front of tons of people. Imagine playing your guitar or drums to your heart’s content night after night. Of course, your sleep schedule might be a little rough and you probably won’t get to sleep in your own bed very often, but amazing thousands of people all over the world with your rock star talent is surely something to be envious of. Video Game Designer Sure, you can sit around for hours on end playing your favorite video games, but imagine actually getting paid to work in the video game field. With a degree in graphic design, you could be on your way to designing video games from your own imagination, and the pay is not something to complain about either. In the first three years, the average salary is around $46,000 annually. Then, after six or more years of designing video games, your salary may jump up to around $70,000. Safeguard Your Income With all that money you could be making, you’ll definitely want to make sure your finances are well protected. Imagine what would happen if you got sick and couldn’t make your performances for a few weeks or if you injured your hands and couldn’t work for a while. This can really put you in a bind when it comes to paying for your monthly bills and providing for you and your family. So, look into income insurance, which can provide peace of mind in case you ever are unable to work for a while.

Resume Advice Whats in a Summary - Hallie Crawford

Resume Advice What’s in a Summary Heres some resume advice to make your resume standout from the rest! Have you ever read the summary on the back of a book to determine it’s worth? Of course! Many have! It is there to spark and capture your attention with a gripping snapshot of the contents inside. Likewise, you want to make an impression on your potential employer. One that entices them to read on, gives them a quick snapshot of the contents, sets the theme, and hopefully convinces them that their search is potentially nearing its end. What do you write in your resume summary? Here are some pointers: Indicate the approximate number of years you bring (however be careful it’s not too much so you are not dated) If applicable mention the type of industry you specialize in, especially if this is the industry you want to stay with Your current position helps give the reader some background on the type and level of position you are seeking Definitely mention the skills and expertise you offer make sure they all respond to the needs of the role to better target your resume to the position Including some measurables can never hurt Sentences should start with active verbs to provide more impact Your summary should be written in the first case implied, so no “I”s should be included Try not to be too lengthy, remember you have less than 5 seconds to make an impact, so short, sweet, and to the point is best Your summary should set the theme for your resume with the rest of your resume being a validation of this theme and the benefits you offer Thank you to one of our resume experts, Jasmine Marchong, for this article and the resume advice. Schedule a free consult with HallieCrawford.com today