We’ve discussed previously how contract recruiters are using Social Media recruiting tools. Our main focus has on been on connecting to people on LinkedIn® because that seems to be the tool most contract recruiters we’ve spoken to use. But there are many other tools and ways to use Social Media to bolster your contract staffing services.
For example, Heidi Kay of Pediastaff uses Social Media more as a branding tool. Pediastaff is a little larger than some recruiting firms, so Kay spends about 50% of her time on marketing and new business development and says that she has some form of Social Media open on her computer all day. As of “press time,” she had 1330 followers in Twitter, 544 in Facebook, and 545 in LinkedIn. And as we stated in a previous blog post, Pediastaff has its own Pediatric Therapy discussion Group in LinkedIn.
“What we’re using (Social Media) for is to gain recognition that we are experts in our field,” Kay said. “We are reaching out to everyone in the industry.”
Kay utilizes Google Alerts to pull topics for her niche, which revolves around special needs children. With Google Alerts, you can have Google notify you via email or RSS feed when information has been posted on the Internet on a certain keyword phrase you specify. When Kay is alerted to a relevant article on the Internet, she provides a summation and a link to the article on Pediastaff’s FaceBook and Twitter pages for their followers to read.
When using these Social Media sites, she does not post anything about jobs. To explore job opportunities, candidates must visit the PediaStaff Web site. Kay considers Pediastaff’s Social Media posts to be a gift to the community, and they use them to build brand name recognition and cultivate relationships rather than directly get job orders or place candidates. She feels it is important that Pediastaff’s participation on these sites is not self-serving so that they don’t lose followers. They routinely ask people in the field to write articles and provide “therapy tips” in exchange for publicity for their company or practice with the article linking back to the author’s Web site. Pediastaff also often asks for permission to reprint articles from non-profits. This results in a robust resource for articles on current news and industry-related information, a virtual library for people in their field.
“Anything that is printed in the press, we are repeating it as a news aggregator,” Kay said. “We help candidates and clients keep up.”
PediaStaff also publishes both a weekly and a monthly newsletter, which Kay uses to gain more Twitter followers. She also follows important Web sites tied to her niche and in turn gets followers of those sites to follow her. Because there is no direct selling through these Social Media sites, it’s hard to pinpoint how many placements have been generated due to their efforts, but Kay is confident that PediaStaff has made a number of contract and direct-hire placements through this approach to Social Media.
Another unique thing Pedistaff is doing is using Social Media to “Pay it Forward.” A recent example Kay is particularly excited about is an auction they are having for charity. Kay found an autographed copy of a clinician-focused book by Dr. Stanley Greenspan, a pediatric psychiatrist who is considered to be THE guru about children with autism. Kay found it “for a steal” on Craigslist thanks to one of her Google Alerts and is now auctioning it off to benefit the Dr. Greenspan Memorial Foundation. Kay posted about the auction throughout Pediastaff’s Social Media sites, and because it is for charity, it is being reposted by the entire special needs social networking community. They have had thousands of hits to their auction page just from the social networking clicks, and the story was picked up by the two big Autism daily e-papers. So not only are they doing something great for the community, they are also getting great PR for Pediastaff!
Do you work in a niche where it is important for clients and candidates to keep up with ever-changing information? Do you have knowledge that you could share that would help increase your value as a contract recruiter? If so, you may want to consider branding your contract staffing services through Social Media Web sites like Pediastaff has!
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