Another Blog - Recruiting Solar Energy Professionals

So, I got up way too early this beautiful Saturday morning and as usual I pulled out my iphone and started reading the latest news and came across an article on using blogs as a marketing tool. That isn't an entirely new idea to me but what stood out is that there are websites where you can hire professional bloggers to get the word out about your company. It's called pay-per-post. One company said that they began using a similar concept 1 year ago and their website traffic has increased 200 percent. Interesting.

My problem is that I don't like to pay for things and I question the effectiveness of the concept of hiring professional posters to recruit professional engineers. The kind of people that I am looking for can probably spot a fake when they see one. Maybe the idea works for companies trying to sell consumer items, but for my purposes I have to doubt the effectiveness and wonder about the damage that might occur in the companies brand identity in the minds of a select group of highly intelligent engineers.

When I recruit, I don't pretend to be an expert in the field but I do take time to understand my subject as not to waste the valuable time of the people I am trying to recruit. My goal isn't to necessarily to get someone to jump ship and join my company. My goal is to develop a personal relationship with each individual, understand their skill set, inform them about the nature of my company, it's technology as well as finances, the living conditions of Austin, Texas, the working conditions of an exciting leading edge thin-film photovoltaics pre-IPO startup and anything else that the engineer wants to know. My goal is to befriend and inform, and then when the time is right for that person - they know that they can come to me for help in getting a conversation started with my hiring managers.

I think this approach is a two way street. I position myself as an ally in the unpredictable quest for job security. We never know when a company or an idustry is on the brink of boom or bust.

I certainly try to sell my company but for some people a move across the country is just not in the cards. But I can still be helpful in getting them in contact with the right people at companies in their region of choice.

A lot of HR teams rely on job boards or they use what I call the yesorno approach. Do you want the job? Yes or No? Okay, next person. They think it is more efficient and that they can get through the masses quickly to find the pearl. I prefer a more long term view - it is more effective and generates a higher quality resulT.

If we take the time to know each individual, they will take the time to refer their friends or perhaps even themselves.