Stop The Presses!
How many contacts and/or resumes do you have at your disposal? Here is a nifty idea that could pay big dividends in the long run (consistency is the key). One thing I have noticed about several agencies is the old resumes “a la carte” approach where an agency takes 10+ resumes, condense them into very brief biographies of acronyms and then send them out to current and prospective customers (I have done this myself in a former life). This technique works well if there is an immediate need, but what if there is not? I’ll tell you… The recipients will see it as spam and hit the delete button (ouch! - another harsh reality of life). What you need is a way around the delete button, a way to stay on your potential client’s radar screen for at least a while longer than your competition.
Fortunately, I know such a way…
· For the sake of argument, let’s pretend that you recruit security experts for companies who hate hackers. No doubt you have interviewed quite a few techies in your day. Why not ask your candidates to write a review on security products. Ask them to be brutally honest with their opinions and the reasons why they feel that way.
· After you have compiled this information, create a mini newsletter featuring the comments made by your candidates. Give each candidate a nickname or resume ID number.
· Hype in your “Security Product Review” newsletter that you are a search firm that specializes in staffing elite security talent.
Now, to whom do you send this newsletter? You send it to companies who have a need for such products! Invite them to send a rebuttal to the comments made and use it as a bridge into their respective companies.
Are you in love with that idea? Hopefully you are, but if not I have another one for you. Actually I think I like this one better. Instead of publishing a product commentary, create a weekly newsletter pointing to the best articles and news stories online about your niche.
Let me give you an example…
A couple of years ago I stumbled across an email newsletter called DAVENETICS that spotlights the technology industry in the United States. It is a GREAT newsletter that eventually morphed into a wider coverage of political news events and pop culture. It has since brached off into several blogs such as NEXTDRAFT and ELECTABLOG I highly recommend you check this guy out.
http://www.davenetics.com
Anyway, in the beginning Davenetics was a collection of tiny commentaries of stories that Dave Pell (the publisher) found online. For example, if he read an article about Compaq laying off a significant number of people, he would title his comments “Compaq drops the axe”. He would add a witticism akin to, “Is Compaq trying to live up to the sound of its name by reducing the size of its workers (Compact? Get it?)? You decide” (okay, his would actually be funny). And at the conclusion of that comment would be a link pointing to the article itself.
Pretty simple, hun’h? I think it is genius personified. Davenetics produces relevant content to people interested in technology. His subscriber base grew to well over 35,000 in a short period of time and these are steady readers (myself included). Now at anytime he could put out a request with his newsletter that says, “I Recruit Tech” and a short bio of his skills. Chances are with 35,000 plus subscribers all operating in his field of interest, there are bound to be quite a few business leads there.
Another example of this technique is The Southeast Tech Wire. The Southeast Tech Wire is (more or less) a collection of links to other news stories on the web and somewhere in the presentation is a short advertisement. This approach requires low maintenance, it’s easy to implement and is something you should be considering for your business. Check them out online:
http://southeasttechwire.com.
