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The Country Intelligence Report
Navigating the Job Market: A Recruiter's Perspective Part 2
In today's episode, we welcome back Antonio Gamble, a recruiting manager at Country Intelligence Group. Antonio reveals how data-driven decision-making and innovative data mining techniques are transforming the way recruiters source top talent. You'll learn the power of platforms like Indeed and LinkedIn and discover how timing and method can enhance your outreach efforts. Antonio shares insider tips on gathering comprehensive candidate information and engaging potential recruits effectively, even when dealing with specialized roles and security clearances.
Stand out in today's fiercely competitive job market with actionable strategies from our discussion. We dive into the art of showcasing your unique skills and experiences through quantifiable data and effective networking. Antonio emphasizes the critical importance of tailoring your resumes and cover letters to company values to bypass applicant tracking systems. We'll also guide you through professional development opportunities on LinkedIn Learning and Coursera and offer expert tips for mastering virtual interviews. Whether you're a recruiter seeking to optimize your process or a job seeker eager to make an impact, this episode is packed with invaluable insights and practical advice.
- Hosted by: Terrell Cummings & Devon Florczak
- www.countryintel.com
Hello and welcome to the Country Intelligence Report. We are your hosts, Devin Florizak and Terrell Cummings.
Speaker 2:All right, everybody. Welcome back to the Country Intelligence Report.
Speaker 2:I'm Terrell Cummings here with Devin Florizak and we are going to have our guest still on from our last episode, antonio Gamble, who's a recruiting manager for us at Country Intelligence Group, and I know we're going through our last episode discussing different elements of recruiting and how, antonio, how you got to that point in your career. We're recruiting, you kind of became an expert in that field and we're discussing last time kind of how technology and recruiting come together and everything and how we utilize technology. So we kind of think we want to go from that point forward if possible. So, like, what role does technology play in moderating recruiting for you when you're going by your position?
Speaker 3:Hey, well, first I just want to say thank you for having me on again, yeah. So yeah, we did. We discussed technology know playing playing a real critical role. I think, really, it's definitely helped to streamline the recruiting process. I think one of the main things is, you know it's been able to assist in enabling data driven decision making for recruiters. Utilizing data, you know, to determine conversion for where to look for different candidates, being able to effectively assess that and knowing how to how to assess that data, you know can help to speed up the process and, you know, give you more more efficient candidate pool. So, and being able to, you know using that to leverage some of those ones that we mentioned, like Indeed and LinkedIn. You know it, it takes it to another level, honestly.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. Yeah, I think you know something that you know we started doing. You know we've we're sort of learning as we go. You know definitely pulling some data mining techniques and you know, for example, myself and you know everyone on this call and a couple others have been working on is trying to fill our sort of recruiting pool of folks that you know we can reach out to in resource positions and you know we're sort of looking at.
Speaker 1:You know different out-of-the-box ways that you know we could find certain applicants and certain people to fill these roles. You know such as you know on these different, you know we could find, uh, certain applicants and certain people to fill these roles. You know such as uh, you know on these different, you know government uh websites here you know most of most of the folks and most of the pocs are listed for. You know these contracting. Our contracts are out there are, you know, contract management folks. So you know if we're looking for, you know, folks that to fill a role like that, even though you their data is out there attached to you know a contract field where that's, you know, available right now, you still maybe use that sort of data to connect them or connect their colleagues to fill some of these positions.
Speaker 1:So, you know, I think you know, with the way the technology is now, you got to get really creative. You know, of course you can go, you know, indeed, whatever, uh, but you know there's a bunch of data out there and um, it's definitely all available for you know us to use. Yeah, absolutely yeah, and um, you know, regarding the, the data, antonio, when you know, whenever we, uh we send over data to you, is there, uh, you know, within these uh applicant pools there, anything that sort of sticks out to you when, when we should be contacting someone, you know we have a, we have a bunch of different data elements. Uh, we connect to, you know people's name and email address, phone number, uh, job title, and then you know, eventually we get to their linkedin. You know, when we're looking for position, is there, is there anything that for some folks you know it might stick out for them? Where you know you go? You know, hey, like you know, we should probably contact this person first.
Speaker 3:Well, um, yeah, you definitely you know if, if I, if I'm looking at these candidates or these leads and we're we're using, we're using LinkedIn to evaluate their, you know their, their, their skills and their experience, you know, we want to kind of, we want to kind of prioritize it like that, you know, and then also think about the, the timing or the method of prospecting for them as well.
Speaker 3:Some of these individuals it may be easier to engage with an email. For example, if we're looking at top secret level positions that require a SCI clearance, this person may work in a SCIF. So you know them, having a phone on them, you know, and trying to reach out and contact them or message them that way, or something like that, it may not be beneficial. This is, you know, just for you know, we use this method for cold calling, not just passing, you know, not just posting and hoping that someone applies to a position. But you know, we want to really engage the market and I think that you know, once again, going back to that data analysis, it really can help you to determine what would be the best time that you know to actually reach out to this particular group.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that makes sense, would you say. Then is LinkedIn the first spot you sort of go to, or do you go to, you know, maybe, the company's website or the organization's website of of the person who works at you know if they do have a job, um, and see, you know where they're working at first and then sort of see their LinkedIn, or or is LinkedIn definitely the first spot?
Speaker 3:I think that, um, linkedin is is uh, one that's that's very effective because it gives more. It gives more information. Now you have a lot of platforms, right Going to the company website. It doesn't necessarily paint the whole story, but LinkedIn versus, I would say indeed where you can have an advanced search and you can find their resumes. You can find their resumes when you're using a site like LinkedIn. It also allows you to interact with the candidate as well, so you can also send them a message or you can view some of their. Once again, I like to look at some different things that they may be working on, some of their interests, skills, that they may be developing, things like that as well. So, yeah, I think you know LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn in that way, I would say you know that's definitely. You know where I like to go.
Speaker 1:Yep, yeah, makes sense. Within LinkedIn, though, one common experience I feel like you know we all have experience with is, you know, all those different messages that we all probably get from recruiters or whatever else Regarding and maybe you could talk about this with the people that are in the SCIF and have a top clearance as well. You know how do you go about. You know one, you know, for those folks that you know might not be able to be reached during the day, during business hours, you know, is sending a LinkedIn message the best. Business hours, you know, is sending a LinkedIn message the best, and you know, if so, you know how do you make sure that your message sort of sticks out within LinkedIn message. Best per se, and, you know, is that the way you know you'd recommend going for folks that you know might not be able to be contacted during the day.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, and I think you know your approach should be. You know you want to be brief because you know this is a person that doesn't really have much time. You know a lot of time to be on social media. A lot of them may not even have LinkedIn accounts or or any social media, and that's that's the potential issue that you face there, with a lot of clear talent, they don't they're not active on social media to send messages. You want to be brief, you want to be clear, you want to be concise and you want to make sure there's a compelling message as well, um to you know, to interest them, so that we can further carry the conversation and pose some potential times or ask them what their availability, you know, looks like, so that we can follow up this discussion. Make sure that you know you send follow up messages as well.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I wonder, you know what? What do you sort of lead off with that message and do you bring up that you know the role that you know we're sort of recruiting for is, you know, paying above market rates, or you know if it's a remote role, you know that we might want to lead off with that. But you know, maybe that just depends on the role that we're recruiting for, or I'm not sure if you sort of tailor the messages depending on you know who we're actually messaging.
Speaker 3:Well, the message is definitely going to be tailored to the person that we're messaging. Also, you know, tailored to the particular position as well. Given, given, detail regarding salary and things like that is not always the most most compelling part of it. You know, yes, that's a main question that people have, but sometimes leading off with with salary can actually scare people away as well, because you know they'll look at. You know, ok, it's a price tag here, but what does this require me to do? You know, what are the details of this job, what are some of the rewarding things? So I think that really leading off with telling them how they're, you know that. You know we have this, we are looking for this position, and how their skills, we feel they align with this particular role, and you know, hey, we would like to discuss this further to see if this is a potential fit for you. We're looking for this type of person. You know I want to talk about this a little bit further with you.
Speaker 1:So yeah, and in general, you know how do you, for all of us here, you know how do we think we stay up to date with the latest recruitment trends and making sure that you know our different methods are consistent, uh, sort of top of the line. Um, you know, obviously, uh, we, we do a lot of work with the data and I think, uh, something that we're really good at is, you know, for, for, uh, you know, working with certain sites or, uh, we're we're using a certain data methods on another project. I think we're really good at trying to translate things over to different areas within the company. Yeah, and that's that's sort of how uh you, you know we've come into, you know being a little bit better at populating our recruiting pipeline. Um, so I think we're we're really flexible as far as uh, uh, trying to translate different methods. But what do you guys think?
Speaker 3:Um, I think, uh, so, tyrell and I, you know we've, we've, we've done a couple of these. I try to always uh, you know, network and you know this leads to potential information interviews as well, to learn about different tools and how it could be beneficial to us, and then it helps in our ability to be, you know, an innovation, to determine how we could best leverage this to even work even better to our page. There's a lot of different. There's a lot of different. There's a lot of different resources out there as well.
Speaker 3:But, you know, following, you know I try to make sure, you know I'm following a lot of different groups to stay abreast with the, the, the, the various changes that are happening, forums as well, and just networking, you know, with other industry professionals kind of like I mentioned. You know those, those are some of the ones. Society for uh, human resource management, sherm you know that's all things HR, but that can provide you with a lot of uh tips and uh resources, uh, to become a more effective recruiter as well, as, you know, uh recruitercom as well.
Speaker 1:So yeah, yeah, that makes sense. Yeah, and then you know the job market. I think is really interesting right now. You know it seems like there's a lot of folks that are looking for jobs right now. You know, as far as you know us, and you know branching into recruiting here, what do you think would be the best advice for people that are seeking jobs? And you know, you know us as our recruiters. You know I think that we play a pivotal role here in uh getting people into positions, making sure that our our processes find the right folks that are looking for jobs to fill these positions here. But what do you think would be, uh, the best sort of advice here for people searching for jobs? You know how do they stand out, you know from the crowd and you know, especially with respect to our different methods and things, that we're looking for.
Speaker 3:I'd say this if they're, you know if they're in a saturated market where you know what I mean by that is it's very, you know, it's competitive. You know it's a lot of people out here that may have your same skills right, may have your same experience, but you know to stand out. You know how can you best, you know just discussing. You know and showcasing your unique skills and you know your experience within what you've done, I think you know one of the biggest things is making sure that you know you're showcasing your quantifiable data right within your work ethic. That's going to help you to stand out as well, you know.
Speaker 3:And just networking with once again, networking with industry professionals that work in your profession and kind of get an idea of what they're doing. And it doesn't hurt either, you know, if you get a message from a recruiter or hiring manager that says that you know you didn't get the particular position, to reach out and find out what you could have done to make yourself a more competitive candidate for the position. Sometimes you know they even welcome it and they respect it and it could potentially lead to other opportunities. And then you know just continuing to develop your professional work on professional development. You know, just continue to develop as a professional. So a lot of you know you got LinkedIn learning out there, you got Coursera. You got a lot of different ways to make sure that you're staying up to date on different training and resources to make yourself even more competitive in that type of market.
Speaker 2:So, as far as those candidates are looking for, positions like, how important are like cover letters and resumes in today's job market, like ideally with resume, like you would think you want to have it tailored to the position that you're applying for.
Speaker 3:as far as that, but in general you know how important are cover letters in terms of that. Make sure that it is tailored because a lot of companies now with that contracting systems they're filtered even before it's in front of a person that's actually evaluating. So you want to make sure that if you have those skills, that you tailor your resume to indicate that so it could hit those particular algorithms. You know, as far as getting a job actual position you know resume is not, is not intended to get you the position and you know it's going to be. You know it's intended to get the the interview.
Speaker 3:I think preference wise cover letters. I think cover letters are very important. It shows that you've done some research about the position and you know you've also used that to tailor your. But now you know a lot of companies they're using you know a one click where you submit your resume and you know they evaluate your resume and then they make you fill out an application, or sometimes they don't even make you fill out an application, you know. So I don't think that's going anywhere anytime.
Speaker 2:So when we're saying tailoring, you know how I guess, when we were applying for a position from a particular company, how would you actually tailor it in your opinion, to making sure it gets through those filters? But are you utilizing? You're definitely taking language from the position description that you see and put it in your resume, or from their website, or is there any kind of certain tips you can give on that?
Speaker 3:I think both um with both with the resume and the cover letter For a cover letter, I think looking on the company website and kind of understanding some of their core values and speaking to how you align with their core values, that could help to build a strong cover letter For your resume. Looking at the position description the position description and this is a gem position description is the answers to the test. Now, obviously, don't lie on your resume. But if you have these particular skills, I want to know that the only one that knows that is you. So if you don't list it in your resume and I've had people reach out and say, hey, I have this experience, but it wasn't indicated in your, in your resume so you know, I have no way of evaluating you against the actual position description, because that's what we're doing, you know. So, yeah, it's definitely important to do that.
Speaker 1:How do you, like, sort of filter out the folks that you know might be just putting something on the resume just to put it there and match the position description that's out there? Is that something that's done during the interview process? I haven't been on much interviews, but I'm assuming that and with some of my friends that have looked for positions as well, I'm assuming that we probably ask certain questions to make sure that the person actually does have that experience that they said they do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and that's that's. That's one of the challenging parts, because you know I can't, I can't really. I mean there are things that that'll stand out on a resume that raises red flags and then you kind of make that determination on whether you want to move forward with the screening flags. And then you kind of make that determination on whether you want to move forward with the screening and sometimes you know you can get an interview just based on that, because you know it did bring up some additional questions. I think really I can't, I can't really say that you know, just through, you know kind of reviewing a resume, you know if this person has this particular skill or not. You know it would. You know that process would have to move forward to an interview just to kind of gauge their level of understanding of what the experience you know their center they had. And that's one of the things that you're going to bring up and that'll be a tailored question to a particular bullet point or skill that they put on their resume.
Speaker 2:So obviously you said, you know, get them to an interview. A lot of those interviews could be over the phone, could be a virtual interview. You know what are some tips for those job seekers to kind of ace those virtual interviews? Or, you know, make sure that those skills that they do possess, that they make sure to get those you know, those skills, pointed across to the employer or whoever is hiring is hiring them for that position.
Speaker 3:I want to make sure I answer this question properly. But you know, honestly, I think really you know open and honest communication. You know professional communication as well, making sure that they have done they have done their own research on those particular positions. You know to ensure that they prepare a list of their own questions so that there's, you know, there's a proper understanding between what the company is looking for and what that you know that candidate brings. You know, so, yeah, yeah, I think I think, uh, I think that's that's important. Hopefully I answered. You know that all points of that Right.
Speaker 2:Well, and you know, for those interviewees, you know if they're going through the process. You know they want to talk about themselves, want to brag about themselves, but you know how much did it hold back? Or should they really just bring everything to the table and just play it out, if that makes?
Speaker 3:sense. Well, you know, honestly, I think that one thing to be being a good recruiter or anyone that's evaluating candidates, you know is, you know, crafting your ability to read people. Um, while you want to brag about your experience and while you want to, uh, show that you bring a level of competence, you also want to show that you know you are your, your personality, is is not one that's that's that could be difficult to get along with, you know, and that you, you know you can adapt to changes in, in, in teamwork, depending on the type of position that you're, you are coming into. Um, you know that teamwork could be, you know, very important. So, yeah, I want, you know, this is the, this is the time to showcase the uh, the biggest and best attributes of yourself. So, you know, definitely do that, you know, but make sure that you I don don't know kind of filter that approach as well, if that makes sense.
Speaker 1:It's kind of give and take there yeah, you said, uh, one thing that'd be uh good, I think, for either the recruiter or you know the person that's being interviewed is, to, you know, sort of hone, your ability to read people. Uh, is that definitely some advice that you'd give to a recruiter and someone who's in the recruiting business, and do you have any some advice that you'd give to a recruiter and someone who's in the recruiting business? And do you have any other advice that you give to? You know folks are recruiting, you know whether it be, you know, returning, you know linkedin and different tools that are available. Or you know how do we, uh, you know, filter through pools of applicants so quickly? Uh, any general advice?
Speaker 3:sure? Um, well, honestly, I think that recruiting is ever changing. So, coming initially, coming into to recruiting, I think that before you take that step to, you know want to be, you know want to be a leader or lead, lead people, I think that it's important to definitely make sure you work on your craft because this is, honestly, is this is not for the faint of heart. You know, having learning, different tips and different tools that you could use to give to other people is going to be important. So, learning different things along the way, make sure that you know you really go through that growth process, because there's going to be some growing pains there as well. So, but you know, some advice that I would give to recruiters is honestly, leveraging. Now, you know, especially now, and just to go back to the beginning of the discussion, you know leveraging technology is going to streamline your process, is going to speed up, it's going to make everything quicker and more efficient. So, and you can also bring forth that innovation and help your particular organization to be more cost effective in the resources that they're using, the better that you know you learn to leverage, leverage technology for your. You know your searches and, as well, I think, you know brand. You know work on helping to build your brand as well, continuously trying to try approaches and ways to put your name out there. And, you know, just engage with. You know, diverse talent pools.
Speaker 3:The workforce is going to change from, you know, one year to the next. So, you know, just continuing to stop looking for one type of candidate, stop looking in one place for one. You know, just continuing to stop looking for one type of candidate, stop looking in one place for one. You know, for a particular candidate, try to use, you know, a variety of different resources. Be as innovative and as creative as you can be. That's the one thing about recruiting is that you know it's going to be as creative as you make it Um, so definitely, hey, obviously, you know you want to utilize that data as well and determine, you know, if, hey, if this is um, if this is working, let's use the conversion data to determine if this is something that could potentially work. So, yeah, I think you know.
Speaker 1:I think, uh, those are some tips and yeah, yeah, I agree I think that we've been doing really good was about sort of honing our process and introducing a lot of reciprocity to it. Yes, chart of you know how things should sort of flow about. You know the different people that are in the different positions within our company. You know sort of uh go through a pool of applicants to. You know who's in charge of uh. You know initially reaching out to them, who's in charge of scheduling everything, who's in charge of uh. You know doing the interview and then facilitating that. You know introduction to another company.
Speaker 1:I think you guys have done a great job as to sort of laying that process down on an actual I would say, pen and paper, but we're virtual, so on an actual flowchart, and I think that definitely helped introduce something that we're able to actually look at and run through consistently. And then, as far as the data side and wherever else, I think we have a pretty reproducible process now as far as you know sourcing our candidates, and you guys do a good job of making sure that you know the data that we have. We're able to filter through it and sort of pull out who we want to contact. So reciprocity is, you know, very important. That's something that we definitely do. Really good, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:Thank you too Appreciate that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, for sure. And, like I said, you know we've had you on again. I know we could talk probably multiple episodes on this topic and in our process and everything else, we may have you back to discuss things further, you know, on what you know candidates should be doing, or how recruiters, can, you know, stay up to date on the latest trends, or whatever it may be Now I'm sure there's definitely many directions we can take this conversation. Probably have you back, I'll say for sure. So, antonio, definitely thank you for coming out again. Thank you to everybody out there that's listening. Please go out to our social medias and subscribe to the podcast out there on all platforms medias and subscribe to the podcast out there on all platforms. So thank you very much and see you later on.
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