PunkATL Eric with two great women of HR Laurie Ruettimann and Chris Havrilla

Eric Jaquith

Eric Jacquith is ubiquitous, he’s an enigma, and  he wants to keep it that way.  He’s so successful exactly because he lurks in the shadows sourcing,  providing recruiting strategy, and executive project management for global talent management initiatives.  He’s a consultant extraordinaire.  Just ask anyone in Atlanta.  Just ask anyone in the sourcing & recruiting communities.  He’s a back channel ninja, in search of the candidates that don’t want to found.  He finds candidates that other recruiters miss because he looks in places others don’t.  Because of his low profile, his clients can trust that he can keep their secrets in confidence.  Eric is a man of integrity and loyalty, that’s what his clients appreciate.

Last week, I interviewed him on the phone.  He spoke candidly about his background off the records.  As a blogger of integrity, when someone tells me “this is off the record,” I respect their confidence, and that is why I’m able to interview the best HR/Recruiting professionals.  What I can and will do is review his session from SourceCon and ERE.

SourceCon was by far the most valuable conference I’ve attended in the past 5 years. One session stands out heads above the rest.  Eric Jaquith’s presentation was brilliant.  I loved how he described his method of internet competitive strategy.  While I can’t share everything in one post, I can tell you this much.

His session detailed the importance of having the competitive advantage without becoming a “target.”

According to Jaquith, sourcing is about GETTING Coverage, and finding people.  Finding the right person for a position is a science, and an art. 

He asked, “how many people in the room were just sourcers, and how many were recruiters” Less than half the attendees were sourcers and the other half were full life cycle recruiters.   Then he asked how many of you have more than one profile on linkedin to attract a wide range of candidates. Let’s see a show of hands?  If you don’t have more than one linkedin profile; you don’t belong here.  Jaws dropped, controversy stirred, I smiled with glee.  In the back of my mind I was thinking, “I really like this guy.”  He knows how to break things down. 

For instance, he suggests that sourcing can be broken down 3 ways.

3 sections of sourcing/recruiting are as follows:

1. The Find
2. The Engage
3. The Share

Some people are better at finding information better than others. People are better suited to different areas of recruiting based on their temperament. Sourcers are specialists. One of the more interesting points Jaquith made is “ how NOT to use social media.”   With a plethora of people discussing how to use social media, it was refreshing hear how not to use it.  He described the strategy.

He stated, “The opposite of recruiting is privacy and confidentiality.” Some clients want do not want to advertise a position, but they want to know who is the best candidates might be.  That’s where good sourcers come into play.  Many candidates that fit the description don’t have linkedin profiles, or resumes.

Interestingly, Eric doesn’t tweet, blog, nor connect with professionas on facebook.  He said it’s because his clients don’t want him to, and he doesn’t want to found.  He does NOT give away his competitive advantage.  That’s why he’s so good at what he does.  Here’s his strategy in a nutshell—in order to be really competitive, working privately, and confidentially is very important.

The next critical point he made gels with my knowledge of personality typology.   For the past decade I have led seminars and led groups to interpret their MBTI and DiSc profiles.  People have individual temperaments.  Based on their temperament, they are going to excel some skills, and not at others.  For example, Jaquith said there are two primary types of sourcers:

1. Typers
2. Talkers

Recruiting is a team sport.  Typers are the research people.  Researchers (internet sourcers) are typers.  The talkers are the phone sourcers.  Sourcers are the people who get the leads.  Most “typers” would rather lie on a bed of nails than talk on the phone.  They want get off the phone, and give what they find to the “talker.”   Then there are logistic experts.   According to Jacquith that is his specialty.

In order to be a good sourcer, one has to be innovative, curious and have the mindset of a hacker.  I liken it to being like a scent hound.  You catch the scent, and follow it until you find it!  Eric introduced us to lots of tips and tools.   Some of the tips were simple, for instance, when speaking with a candidate, always ask for a number where s/he can receive texts, and where he can send secure email.  Most candidates can’t, and should receive recruiter correspondence at work.  So he makes sure he compiles his candidate’s information in a safe and effective manner.

Here’s a laundry list of tools Jacquith suggested we add to our sourcing tool kit.

1. Get a Jigsaw account-data base of business call data.  1 million people have accounts. It has information other sources don’t have.
2. Ixcitable for I Phone is a great app. “Ix” will give you valuable information to compile data.
3. Zip-code.com can search jobs in a zip radius

Google’s navi-guide, takes in zip code and the center where the loc is Circle radius center

Microsoft users:  He suggested sourcers set up separate profiles to compile information from each tool.  He even suggested using the names of family members to keep them separate.  Set up another user for different accounts e.g.: Microsoft 2010 is in beta, Firefox.

He also recommends investigating the following tools:

1. Outlook Social Connector
2. TOKBOx
3. OOVOO 6 way party calling with web cam conference call. Candidates don’t have to have soft ware.  Use it cheap and easy with colleagues.  This allows you to do one to one
4. Gist.com It allows you to bring information in about your contacts from twitter, facebook, and LinkedIn.  He recommend that you don’t load all the contact information at the beginning of the set up.
5. LinkedIn Connector: this is a tool he believes every sourcer ought to use.

Jaquith is like a breath of fresh air.  If you have more questions, I suggest you contact him.  This was by far the highlight of my ERE/Sourcecon experience

Eric Jaquith is on linkedin http://linkedin.com/in/jaquith

Email: Eric@dailyresumes.com
Calls preferred +1 (770) 598-2751

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