In the car business, it can be difficult to get names of people. If I just had a name, I can easily stalk find people. I can call them at work and directly ask for them (pretending to be their girlfriend, sister, anything…) if I just had a name.
I’ve been known to do some pretty sneaky things to get names. Today, I am going to show you how to sneaky-recruit on Facebook.
There are more than 750 million users on Facebook. These people fall into two categories: HAS A JOB and DOESN’T HAVE A JOB. I’m always targeting people from both of these categories, so it makes sense to use the biggest people network on Earth to stalk find talent.
Let’s pretend. Today I’m looking for a Finance Manager.
If any of my employees are reading this, I am JUST PRETENDING! Don’t freak out. I’m not replacing you. Yet.
NOTE: Before I show you this, I don’t really care if you think I’m stalking people. They will be happy when they get a better job with my company, and I will be happy when the hiring manager fills his position for ZERO dollars in advertising. You know, since Facebook is free and all.
1. LOG IN! Easy enough.
If you’re not on Facebook, get an account. How else are you going to spy on your employees once they work for you? Hello?
2. Find ONE person who works for the company you want to steal people recruit from. In my case, I wanted to recruit from Yark. They are our biggest competitor. And they like to steal my people, so I don’t feel even a little bit bad about this.
You don’t know one person’s name at your competitor? Call the company, tell them you have a complaint, and ask to speak to your Salesman. You can’t remember his name though. Under pressure, with an upset customer on the phone, that Receptionist will start spouting off names. WRITE THEM DOWN and start looking for these people on Facebook. SALESMEN ALWAYS HAVE THE MOST FRIENDS! It’s in their nature.
3. Look at this employee’s friends. He is bound to be friends with people in the company on Facebook. Especially since he/she is in Sales. Sales people have a deep, burning desire to be friends with as many people as possible.
4. THIS IS WHERE IT GETS GOOD! You can weed his friends out based on where they work. There is a drop-down box by the search bar below his name (“Search by Workplace”). Type where he works in the search box. In this case, “Yark Automotive Group”. If the company has a Fan page, it will auto-fill for you.
5. Once you get it sorted by their company, matches will appear (even for private profiles) for the people who have listed this business as their employer.
6. Now that you’ve clicked on a name, look and see if these people are listing job titles. Angie is a Warranty Administrator. This is not what I’m looking for today (remember, I need a Finance Manager). Time to go back to the mattresses. You can go back and search from the original person you stalked found. Or you can search the new girl’s friends.
7. I chose to search through her friends. She has 11 matches of co-workers. Once again, I start clicking on these profiles.
8. I am now clicking away on her co-worker friends. This girl does not want to be recruited. Her profile is locked down. But I can still search her friends! That information is not private. Back to the mattresses again.
9. I go through her friends (again by narrowing my search to their workplace). And just like magic, I find myself a Finance Manager. TA-DA!
At this point I do what all good recruiters do, I send him a message on Facebook. My profile picture is pretty and approachable (and photoshopped). People want to respond back to me and my pretty picture.
(read: make sure you have a nice profile picture if you’re going to do this)
Dear So-And-So,
I work at This Place, and I’m looking for a Finance Manager. I see that you work for Yark as a Finance Manager, and I have heard your name come up in the industry as one of the best in town!
Our benefits and pay plan are better than Yark’s. I know this for a fact. DJ works here now, and he’s never been happier! Call me on my cell phone so we can set up a confidential meeting. What do you have to lose? Nothing. But you have everything to gain.
(555) 867-5309
Thanks!
Meredith Soleau
HR Manager
This Place
I wait one day for a response, and I call him at work the following day to tell him to check his Facebook messages if he didn’t follow-up. If that doesn’t work, I go back to the Facebook mattresses.
1% of the time, a person’s manager will call me and tell me to stop reaching out to their employees on Facebook (clearly this employee is very loyal – which makes me want them more). But I don’t really care if the bosses get mad. My job is to find the best people for my company. So you need to have a thick skin and stroke the egos of those you’re recruiting throughout the Facebook process.
There you have it. 100% free stalking recruiting. I imagine this also works for stalking finding an ex-boyfriend.
Have you ever tried this? Will you try it now? Will it work for your industry?
Meredith Soleau was supposed to be a famous country singer, but her parents made her go to college and major in something “real.” She graduated with a B.S. in Business from the University of Toledo, and landed a gig as a Human Resources Director at a large car dealership in Ohio. After eight years of HR at a car dealership, she burned out, decided to sell cars herself, and has since launched her agency, where she specializes in finding blue-collar workers. Clearly she has plenty of stories. But the best stories are probably about Meredith, herself. Read them on her personal blog, meredithsoleau.com, where she holds nothing back.
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