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I’ve heard it all…every reason in the book as to why someone should not be hired. Of course, often the skills don’t match or the cultural fit just isn’t there, but first impressions take center stage. Wouldn’t it be foolish to blow the opportunity for your dream job based on a bad first impression? Miss Manners may seem old fashioned and passé, but manners never go out of style. Standards may change with the world, but the basics always stay the same. Common courtesy is always in fashion.

For many adults, Facebook is a way to connect with friends, old and new — find out what they’re doing, who they are with or where they are going. Although it is the most used social network today by all ages, the most active users are Generation Y – ages 18 to 29 years old, who have an average of 700 friends. Their networks continue to expand as they add co-workers, friends of friends, and anyone else they may know. But what is the significance of any of this when it comes to recruiting and hiring? Facebook is an inadvertent business network for Gen Y. So how can you take advantage of this on your quest for great employees?

It’s now 2012, a new year and a new start for most people. Many like to begin their new year with a fresh start, a new outlook on life, or even a new job. Over the past few years we have seen trends and fads fade in and out, but one trend for certain that isn’t going anywhere is social networks! Since its start up in 2004, Facebook has continued to grow and become the largest social network with over 800 million active users. If you thought that you could be the few left without a Facebook you should think again.

How many recruiters have sent candidate after candidate to a hiring manager and for some reason, there is always a reason why they are not good enough to hire? When you, the recruiter or HR professional, initially spoke with the hiring manager, you found out some tell-tale information about the position. You found the position has been open for three months, the manager has interviewed 15 people, and there are four agencies working on it. The first question a perceptive recruiter would ask is “Is this a real opening?” If there is a real opening, is there any pain associated with not filling it? Ok, for argument sake, let’s say there is an actual position with some pain. From there you have to follow the links of the recruiting chain: the sourcing, interviewing, selection process to include notice being given and an actual start. It has been my experience that hiring managers tend to see the interview and selection process, as a process by which they look for every reason they can to not hire someone. Many of the companies I have managed recruitment processes for initially had a system set whereby candidates had to jump through several hoops in terms of assessments, several rounds of interviews with everyone in the company (all asking the same twenty questions and any one having veto power). This is a disqualification focused interview process. A screening out system.

It’s a pretty common thought that this is a difficult time of year to hire. I hear this over and over each year once the leaves stop falling. In actuality, the hiring climate changes a bit at the end of fourth quarter – so planning for it can work to your advantage. Now is one of the best times of the year for passive candidate recruitment – people seem more open to speaking – maybe it’s the holiday spirit, some free time on their hands or they are thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Whatever the case, passive recruiting is a key part of a recruiting strategy. Smart companies look for the best people, not the best available people.

You probably don’t think too much about it, but take a step back and consider what your job applicants are saying about your organization when they finish up an interview. Do they walk out the door, jump on their mobile and update their Facebook status: “Crossing my fingers I just landed this excellent job at a cool company”? Or maybe they are tweeting about how they “Just wasted an hour at an unorganized and dismal company”. Working hard to build your employment brand? Consider all that sweat and money shelled out to build a great career page — or have a top shelf campus recruiting program. Unfortunately, negativity is viral… and damage can be done in 140 characters or less!

Kendall Knox

My dad always said, “Son, the best time to look for a job is when you got a job”. He always called me son when he was saying something that I should be taking to heart. Kind of like when he used to say “Son, if your tadpole butt could keep up with your alligator mouth, you’d be one heck of a guy!” I still use that one today. But the point of the message was very clear: Don’t wait until you need something to start looking.

Why should you work with a professional recruiter? Well first, we have to define what a professional recruiter is and what they do. Do you know what the recruiter you are working with actually does day to day to fill your position? Have you asked them? Well, like everything else in life, not all recruiters are created equal. In this article, I will talk to some of the basic value-adds I believe an authentic recruiter should bring to the table. I will not be getting into the various recruiting models — that is a topic for another article. Let’s just keep this as some basic things all good recruiters, regardless of the model, should be doing as a matter of practice.

So you need to do some hiring. You want to do it quickly, but at the same time you need full confidence that you are bringing the very best talent into your organization. Recruiting should be viewed as a business strategy, not just an operational task. I recommend taking a step back from the constant need to “put out the fires” and examine the engine you have in place for recruitment at your organization.