Over the past months I have been very vocal (and critical) about how I believe many in the recruiting profession have become lazy. So much talk about "The War for Talent" but I have witnessed most recruiters (search firms and corporations) are using a pea shooter at best when it comes to sourcing, recruiting and ultimately hiring talent.

Job boards are a tool, not the only tool just as cold calls, referrals, and email are tools of the trade. But there are more "weapons" that a recruiter has at their disposal.

Besides, if you are on the job boards and are finding lower numbers and less talented candidates why do you spend more time and dollars on them? That is the definition of insanity.

Tools and techniques that will be talked about:

• Creating passive candidate relationships
• Building talent pools
• Proactive recruiting
• Use of internal databases
• Use of search engines to locate candidates using keywords and search strings
• Use of newsletters and email communication
• Using Social Networking sites like MySpace and Facebook
• Establishing relationships via Twitter
• Using and promoting RSS Feeds
• Starting a blog
• Writing job ads
• Customer service to candidates
• SEO

There are many more topics than the above that over time will be covered.

There will be a few main themes that will be mentioned on a regular basis:

• This is the main one: it is about creating and developing relationships with people. We do not sell iPods, cars or widgets so stop treating people a like a "thing" you are trying to sell.
• Go where your candidates are. Do not wait for them to come to you.
• What distinguishes you, the company, and the opportunity from the other five calls your candidate received this week?
• A recruiter must hunt and farm at the same time. Relying just on cold calls and job boards is as insane as only building pools of candidates. Balance is needed.
• Customer service, customer service, customer service. Treat people the way you want to be treated. Respond to candidates in the same timely manner you expect when looking for a job.

Recruiter 101 will be just that, an introduction to a tool or technique. Where available I will link to other sites and blogs where you can get more in depth information on the topic.

One thing to note is that I will be writing from my perspective as a 10+ year IT recruiter here in Minneapolis. No doubt something I write may not work for your situation, that you have done it a different way or you just in general think the way I have gone about things is wrong.

That's OK. Just as I am trying to help "teach", I am hoping visitors will leave ideas that I can learn from and tweak what has worked for me and improve my practice.

Feel free to comment, question and challenge.

Article by Paul DeBettignies and courtesy of MN Headhunter -- where they "play with their cards face up."