Colleen McKenna
So, you’ve set up a profile on LinkedIn, added a few connections, and maybe uploaded a photo. Now what?
Join us on December 13 to learn more about optimizing your LinkedIn presence and using this B2B social media platform to initiate new business. The Maryland Chamber is partnering with Sales & Marketing Executives International (SMEI) to present a seminar on LinkedIn best practices featuring Colleen McKenna, Principal of Intero Advisory and a member of the Maryland Chamber. Colleen teaches business executives strategies to achieve business success using LinkedIn. Don’t miss this opportunity to:
- Learn how to search and initiate new business opportunities
- Incorporate LinkedIn’s new features
- Optimize your time with five LinkedIn To-Do’s in five minutes a day
- Join the right groups
The event will be held on December 13, from 7:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., at PSA Insurance and Financial Services in Hunt Valley. Chamber members can attend at the partner rate of $20 per person. This will be an outstanding opportunity to network with sales and marketing executives from throughout the Baltimore region and learn more productive using LinkedIn. Register online here.
I know there are many Maryland Chamber members using social media in interesting and creative ways – interacting with customers, driving sales, providing customer service, raising brand awareness, etc.
Share your best practices and gain recognition for your efforts by nominating your company for the Baltimore Business Journal’s 2012 Biz Buzz Awards. Nominations are being accepted in the following categories:
- Best App development firm
- Best Business App
- Best mobile website
- Best in Twitter [Individual]
- Best in Twitter [Business]
- Best in Facebook
- Best in Foursquare
- Best Daily Deal promotion
- Best Blog
- Best Vlog
- QR Codes
Submit your nomination by December 2. Nominees must be based in Baltimore City or one of the following counties: Baltimore, Harford, Anne Arundel, Howard or Carroll. Nominations will be judged by a panel of judges and Baltimore Business Journal editorial staff. Winners will be recognized at an awards ceremony and featured in a special Baltimore Business Journal publication on February 10.
Nominate your company today.
For small businesses, finding the right employee for a position can be a daunting task and present several challenges. Smaller firms may have difficulty gaining enough visibility to attract top talent and traditional recruiting methods, such as posting on job boards or classifieds, can often flood them with overwhelming amounts of applications, many from unqualified applicants.
Being innovative and using new technologies to support your recruitment efforts can pay off. Social media, industry associations, and networking events provide the opportunity for small businesses to gain visibility in their community and industry, as well as the possibility of identifying potential hires.
“Social media provides us with this great technology at our fingertips, and it’s a great way to find talent and gain visibility,” HR Anew President & CEO Deborah Stallings said.
Posting company profiles and advertising the benefits of working for your business on a profile on LinkedIn, a Facebook page, or a video on YouTube, is an easy and free way to promote your company to potential candidates.
“Social media also provides us with the opportunity to maintain our professional relationships and contacts, which can be incredibly valuable when looking for talent,” Stallings said.
Stallings said many great candidates for small firms are ‘passive job seekers,’ or those who do not apply directly to a position, but instead are referred through a professional contact. “Recently HR Anew hired six new employees, and all of them were passive job seekers,” she said.
Even your current employees can serve as recruiters. They can advertise the benefits of working for your company to professional contacts and friends. Industry associations and networking events can also provide you with the opportunity of identifying potential hires without having to go through the process of posting an ad and sifting through applications. Attending job fairs and working with career centers at local universities is another option to indentify new talent.
Wherever your recruitment efforts take you, it is important that they are continuous, and do not just start when a new position needs to be filled. Maintaining professional contacts and relationships will make the talent-finding process easier when it is time to bring on that new hire.
