Social Sourcing and Staffing

Social Sourcing and StaffingBy Eric Schwalbe

One of the keys to our success has been our ability to consistently provide top notch event staff in even the hardest places to find them.  Eric Schwalbe is an account manager at On Tour 24/7 and pioneer in the field of Social Sourcing and Staffing.  Here is his account of how he uses emerging social media trends and technology to enhance our recruiting strategy.

9/8/2014

Social Sourcing & Staffing is the utilization of an individual’s social content to engage and drive targeted employment applications. We will cover using established and developing networks for active candidates and how to use social searches for reaching out to passive candidates.

Active Candidates

People are on social media, and they are easy to contact. So if you’re looking to recruit staff, certain techniques applied to social media platforms can help you find exactly who you are looking for.

Recruiting resources and the access to people have rapidly evolved with technology, especially in the digital and social media age. Facebook and LinkedIn “Groups” have grown virally in the past several years, especially in high volume staffing industries. While we are going to focus on experiential marketing contractors, other professionals like actors and bartenders have also developed similar networks locally, nationally and worldwide.

Clutch Media Group started a job sharing network utilizing these groups with 20 people in 2010 and in two years grew to over 3k members and 110+ regions. Another two years later it boasts 15-20k US members, over a thousand UK members, 160+ regions, 150-200 recruiters, and an exponential growth rate fueled by viral recruiting.

Clutch Media Group’s main group serves as an umbrella for the nationwide social media groups and its regional job boards. Check it out! Type into your Facebook search bar ‘Clutch Chicago, Clutch NY, Clutch TX, Clutch FL, Clutch, etc.’ and see what regions suit you. A rapid evolution in networking amongst field marketing contractors is taking place as social media connects not only us, but agency recruiters and their clients as well.

These groups are easily accessible from any Facebook profile, simple to post in, and can instantly engage applicants via the push notification system. This approach makes it easy for active candidates and job seekers to connect with recruiters and their application instructions.

There are many different groups.  In the experiential marketing industry alone there are many overlapping groups of similar organization as well.  “Brand Ambassadors of New York”, “Bilingual Brand Ambassadors of Texas”,  and ”Promotional Models of California” are just a few examples that have state by state and sometimes city by city membership.

Exclusive prescreened groups have also seen a rise. Clutch has specific networks of experienced, prescreened Tour Managers as well a group for trained, prescreenedAutomotive Product Specialists. There are several groups on LinkedIn for Tour Manager & Senior Level Managers In Experiential & Relationship Marketing  and websites that host job boards specific to the industry. Similar networks exist for all sorts of high volume recruiting industries as well. You can explore a variety of ways and Facebook will help make suggestions with Facebook’s ‘Find Groups’ Feature.

Passive Candidates

Like-minded individuals frequently flock together whether it’s based on their social or work related interests and aspirations.  Whether you are a college student interested in part time work or a marketing professional aspiring to a full time career, you are often surrounded by friends with similar interests and skill sets.  Your use of social media creates social content which allows someone using social sourcing to find you through your friends, the groups you join and where you live.

Passive candidates are those like-minded individuals that are seeking new job opportunities but have yet to connect with the same recruiters and social media groups.  Passive candidates can also be new to the field all together but are intrigued by their friend’s social media posts about all of the exciting events and locations they get to work.

Facebook Graph Search is one way to reach out to these passive candidates. You can search for ‘friends of your friends’ as well as specific targets such as location, sex, job title, languages spoken, and much more.

If your social presence is made up of professional contacts your leverage on these tools is exponential. Those secondary contacts, or “friends of your friends”/”people who you may know” (fairly interchangeable search terms), are likely to be in or at least familiar with your professional industry.

You can narrow it down by all sorts of factors to find a very specialized staff, someone remote, or someone specific you were looking for:

As you can see from the examples above, Facebook graph search gives you incredible access to individuals online. You are able to directly contact passive candidates through the direct messaging system and invite them to apply to your jobs.

Messaging Best Practices

Unlike LinkedIn, Facebook is geared towards a more personal and social experience so your outreach must be sensitive to this while still encouraging a potential candidate to apply.
With high volume recruiting you must be mindful of the traffic you send through Facebook as it has several spam algorithms which monitor the content and speed of your messages.

While not as strict as Craigslist, Facebook will focus on repeated website URLs or email addresses, mark the messages as spam, and send them to an inbox users rarely check.

If you send too many messages per hour it will begin to slow you down and request captcha inputs.

If you make too many unreturned friend requests or similar actions, Facebook will put a temporary block on your account which limits you from sending messages to people you are not directly connected with, or requesting new connections.

Facebook is constantly updating their code and policy so your social staffer will also need to be adaptive to additional changes.
LinkedIn, Twitter, and Google all have similar search capabilities and are updating and refining their targeting capabilities when searching for individuals.

Social Sourcing can supercharge any existing recruiting strategy. Recruiters who research their candidates can tap into the auxiliary benefits of prescreening candidate’s public content, engaging on a personal level, encouraging social follow up, and viral recruiting.

For more information on how to use Social Sourcing and Staffing feel free to drop me a line!.

—

Author: Eric Schwalbe

Eric Schwalbe is a founding member of the Clutch Media Group as referred to in this article. Eric was recruited to join the On Tour 24/7 team because of his staffing resources and use of Social Sourcing and Staffing. Email Eric at eric@ontour247.com or call office 866.878.3609 ex. 105.

Clutch Media Group - Free experiential event staffing and job board

Clutch Media Group - Free experiential event staffing and job board

My last article was about the evolution of social media and still stands as a descriptive article, but this blog postings is more like an update.

I've listened to feedback from staff online and in the field and decided to get behind the movement of organizing the groups regionally. By providing a main hub for general networking with conversations and discussion topics while removing the majority of nationwide job postings looking for local BAs to regional groups we are provided a far more effective and efficient resource. While Clutch Media Group's membership is very inclusive, we have exclusive groups for proven tour managers/staff as well as for automotive product specialists. There is also a group for models/photographers and that genre as there is some overlap.


With that said, to all my field marketing friends, please join us with Clutch Media Group as we step forward with the next phase of free experiential event staffing. Over the past year, thousands of Clutch staff have been networking and connecting directly with their recruiters and agencies. We've adapted to a larger growing network by adding regional groups along with a main hub and specialized groups like modeling and tour staff.

Check it out! Type something like 'Clutch Chicago' or 'Clutch TX' in to the facebook searchbar. With 115 existing location based groups to make the job boards more effective and efficient, and the below group as a main hub, we hope you join us! You can also follow us on twitter, @ClutchMediaGrp, and if you really support us, please repost this directly on your wall!

We invite you join us with the next phase of our industry's social media revolution!

Clutch Media Group - Free experiential event staffing and job board

Social Media Groups leading the evolution of networking

It's been half a year since I wrote my last article about 'Kicking in the Door of Promotional Marketing' and I can tell you I've done just that. I've been an Independent Contractor working more than full time as a field marketer all across the country. You can read further down the blog for a description of what my position entails, but is basically face to face advertising, traffic driving tactics, experiential marketing (which leaves a strong impact on consumers), and typically an immensely effective soft sale.

I'm writing today to talk about the facebook groups that have been evolving through the networking efforts of our social media savvy brand ambassadors across the country. Awhile ago agencies began using facebook pages as platforms to post staffing opportunities (and for the larger marketing companies, post results, campaigns, and other media), staff caught on, and agency recruiters and BAs began to connect personally. In the employee/any industry workforce it is heard of for employers to google you, or to look you up on facebook, but in this industry we found ourselves accidentally even researching talent (and recruiter alike). The most recent step has been the use of the 'group' function.

Personally, I have hundreds of contacts and staff on my facebook page, and they all have their contacts that I don't know yet. Using the group we've both added all our contacts into one pool, and effectively combined and organized our network on a convenient and friendly platform (as a job board the way groups 'walls' keep the most recent posts on top and give you notifications - the way it functions is easy to use and effective). This almost reminds me of LinkedIn and the way it connects you by second and third and so on connections...but I have interviewed several staff in the field and heard similar feedback along the lines of how a facebook account and social media linking make the connections feel more personal and meaningful. You not only instantly assign a face but also who a person is and who they know and talk to (or you can even learn that they are very private and have their walls hidden from all but close friends). (a whole side conversation can be spoken about social media, not only about responsibility but also about the  'circles' that google+ pioneered and then facebook adopted with 'close friends' but I digress....)

Now, you may understand how we've been networking recently. Before the groups began there were community websites, forums, and job boards like EventSpeak, StuckforStaff, MarketingRockStar, and craigslist. They provide google index searchable websites that provide the most permanent and public resource, but the social media groups involve dynamic and personal (while professional) interactions and both quick and deep networking. Between the groups there is a variance between how privately restricted and publicly open the groups operate, but found across them all that the connections made with the face/pictures/social media personas attached make for stronger, more personable, and more meaningful connections.

The USA Promotional Talent Lifeline has breached over 1900 members at this point, and has staffed entire stafflists for clients upwards of 60-100 positions for a single days activation at locations across the country, as well as single teams over 50 strong in a single location. Our staff (including myself!) find it to be an immense resource in booking jobs and events. It has drastically cut down my office hours spent on searching for, applying, and booking events. I used to spend 10-15 hours per week working as such (and of course with an hourly rate of 0$/hr) and now accomplish more in less than 5 hours spent similarly!

While it is in the lead as the largest of the nationwide networks, there are several dozen groups, most of them being regional, run by different moderators (with slightly varying view and directions), and many overlapping. While there has been some competition, it seems to be at a low level as the majority of the groups are interested in working with each other and networking across the board. So, we have a staggered set of group names and locations like: USA Promotional Talent Lifeline, Brand Ambassadors of the Greater LA Area, Florida Promotional Talent, Chicago Promo Hookup. (I'll post another document as a 'group masterlist' that Sara Eliza who started the Promo Road Trips group put together as well at the bottom of this posting*). Aside from the regional groups there are some that have been created for other effects like the last mentioned for arranging travel/lodgings. There is one call United Trade Show Talent which focuses on tradeshows and similiar (more often high end) events. There are also groups that have focused more on conversations, like Super Promotional Rockstars, The Promotional Network, and even Promotional Access, the group created  and moderated by agency owners to provide a place to solicit questions and answers about the other side of the industry, and have access to those agencies!

I've put a lot of work into branding the group as the nationwide network for field marketers (and look forward to meeting and recruiting many more members at large events like the upcoming superbowl activations) and have recently started a subgroup for Automotive Product Specialists. Those staff who have reached the levels with the automotive clientele who fit the brand image, have the ability to learn, and articulate product knowledge have a different supply and demand within the industry. Although many Product Specialists also do BA work, for someone that is consistently employed at a higher rate with travel and lodgings compensated, the field marketing groups don't have much to offer them in relation to a job board. Now, I do highly encourage everyone in the industry to connect with that group to strengthen the network and maintain the lines of communication that also exist within the groups and hone our skills and professionalism.

The USA PTL has a job board demanding a minimum rate of 15/hr to honor a job posting (we've agreed that as an IC with the tax situation, the hours (convert it to a day rate) and the consistency of work anything less is not enough to be reasonable compensation). We have a casual screening involving verifying that applicants are or have in fact worked as a brand ambassador and ask new members to introduce themselves once to the group with their experience. Event and industry related conversations are both fostered and encouraged on a  range of things from tips for successful activation in the field, negotiation tactics, positive things like favorite events, and negative things like reports of non-payment, contract violations, or other issues.

The USA Automotive Product Specialists may be in need of a catchy name, but is selectively screening applicants for proof of automotive brand training and product specialist history as a prerequisite. I am interviewing staff that apply as well as verifying employment through various measures (photo proof, approved recommendations, and further verification) and have plans to maintain tabs on the group and remove members who do not maintain the level of quality and integrity the group demands.

I have also opened another group for Tour Staff and Managers, and then realized there was another preexisting one. Big things are coming...a leader I know who has been training himself in social media, internet, and viral marketing told me some plans that will open the floodgates on our industry. Experiential Field Marketing is going to grow and continue providing brands and companies more productive, effective, and financially efficient means for promoting their products and services.

*PROMO GROUPS - MASTER LIST (complied and edited as of 1/24/12 courtesy of Sara Eliza)

UNITED STATES
CLUTCH MEDIA GROUP - They have a FB group for nearly all markets!
http://clutchmediagroup.webs.com/apps/links/
PROMO NEWSWIRE
https://www.facebook.com/groups/327385847271807/
SUPER PROMOTIONAL ROCKSTARS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/superduperpromorockstar/
USA PROMOTIONAL TALENT LIFELINE
https://www.facebook.com/groups/PromoHotline911/
USA AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCT SPECIALISTS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/338093216209337/
USA MOBILE TOUR STAFF AND MANAGERS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/225218154226882/


CALIFORNIA
CENTRAL CALI PROMO PEEPS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/105343049555561/
D.C.
Baltimore/Maryland/DC Brand Ambassadors and Promotional Models
https://www.facebook.com/groups/142060565850352/
FLORIDA
FLORIDA PROMOTIONAL TALENT
https://www.facebook.com/groups/FloridaPromotionalTalent/
BRAND AMBASSADORS OF ORLANDO
https://www.facebook.com/groups/227618977307874/
TAMPA BRAND AMBASSADORS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/TampaBrandAmbassador/ +
SOUTH FLORIDA PROMO MODELS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/148262540540/
GEORGIA
ATLANTA PROMO
https://www.facebook.com/groups/268338553214843/
HAWAII
BRAND AMBASSADORS OF HAWAII
https://www.facebook.com/groups/295257043847778/
ILLINOIS
CHICAGO PROMO HOOK UP
https://www.facebook.com/groups/chicagopromohookup/
MARYLAND
Baltimore/Maryland/DC Brand Ambassadors and Promotional Models
https://www.facebook.com/groups/142060565850352/
NEVADA
BRAND AMBASSADORS OF LAS VEGAS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/327488013932905/  

NEW YORK
BRAND AMBASSADORS OF NYC
https://www.facebook.com/groups/102105246573695/
TEXAS
BRAND AMBASSADORS OF TEXAS
https://www.facebook.com/groups/227247787343352/  

Kicking in the Door of Promotional Marketing

Hi everyone!


The blog has been neglected, but will soon evolve with Rockstar Field Marketing which operates on the evolving edge of experiential marketing with strong social media presence and traditional field marketing. We also contract out as Rockstar Field Photography, primarily for sports, action images, commercial marketing, event photography, and portraits. Our team of photographers are ready to tackle any challenge.


Today we're going to line out not just a simple how to on where to find promotional work and opportunities but how to dramatically take it to the next level, and brand yourself! Working as an independent contractor requires the grind of reading your job listings daily, whether it be craigslist, job boards, or even your inbox, it demands the dedication of a morning routine. Working 'part time' can be a 24/7 career, so we've got a crack list of some of the hottest resources currently available to cut your office hours down with more efficiency.

Craigslist - Craigslist is the dominant classified advertisements. I no longer look in the newspaper for jobs (or couches for sale) and turn to the online source which is free to the advertiser, and only requires a access to the Internet. Often look in the 'event gigs' category, although listings are also included in the jobs section also

Eventspeak - The established community forum of the industry that serves not only as an open public forum connecting recruiters also as a clearinghouse for agencies and independent contractors in airing disputes, contract claims, and applause.

Stuck for Staff - The leading job board for both agencies and staff i connecting for both last minute activations and longer tours. It's detailed agency listing alone earns it a notation.

Marketing Rockstar- Another competitive job board.

Google - I kid you not, everything is on google.

LinkedIn - Establish your name on the professionally minded networking group.

Facebook/twitter/blogger - Brand yourself and realize what you put online that your boss or your boss's boss can read

How you present yourself in your applications is with a resume, a photo, and an email. Tweaking your resume to perfection and gearing it's voice to the job you are seeking and the company you are applying is oldschool and powerful. The promotional resume mirrors an actors resume as it is more important to list the events you've been on and the positions you've held as to the traditional resume listing your employers and job duties for each. Most promotional staffing companies are content with a snapshot quality picture of just you with a good smile or expression, they want a photo of just you and not with someone else cropped out, but it doesn't have to be professional. A professional headshot though, and photos of you in action at events step it up and make you look your best for high profile clients, which is where we're going with this. 

Every time you write an email, that is your cover letter, and I have to say I wonder when the last time someone has actually bothered to read my attached resume after my email recaps the best events I've recently been executing and the results for those clients. The email also is a quick place to further advertise yourself as a brand, including with your signature your name and your phone number, include your facebook, website, blog, or twitter. In the current era where content is king, operate on the same scale of branding yourself and at every event try to capture yourself in a few good promotional images and you'll have dozens of images that speak a thousand words more than your resume. You can highlight these any number of ways whether it be facebook albums, fan pages, blogs, or other mediums like model mayhem, any images hosting, or your dot com.
Social media is an obvious place to promote not only your clients and products but also a place to brand yourself! More and more are companies turning to facebook and google to research potential candidates for high profile events or even in corporate or managerial positions in any industry. Try looking for yourself on the internet and seeing what you can find, and then thinking of what you'd like to find create that as your content whether it be facebook, google, linkedin, a website, a blog, a profile on stuckforstaff, or a profile on some obscure unprofessional group you wouldn't want your boss or your boss' boss to read.

While involved in a campaign consider using social media as an extra tool to draw more attention to you event! Facebook has a large draw from your personal connections, and twitter has an even more powerful system of searching public tweets and gathering live and post event data. I have used social media to absolutely swell and nearly overwhelm myself in my hometown during my seasonal work as a tax preparer for Jackson Hewitt in which our traffic at the location I manned was doubled from last year (due to several reason including a reduction of 3 to 2 offices in Green Bay). I have also reached out to our target audiences groups on facebook (highschool pages for the K-Swiss train for life now program and marathon and race events for connection with my sales job with Spibelt) and driven immense amounts of traffic to websites, booths, and store locations, all generated from social media which is completely extra to the spectacular results achieved in the field.

Consider investing in a nice camera, or a functionally durable one, or even an iphone/smartphone (which also claim the humongous benefits of constant access to your email and gives you the ability to respond immediately 24/7). When you are selected for a manager position along with your recaps you are often requires to submit several photos. I try to take photos for both agency and client at an event regardless of whether I am managing it or not. There is a gray line though where you must be very sensitive. If taking out a camera impedes your ability to do your assigned job, and especially if taking those pictures is not your job, it could get you in trouble and detract from the quality of the event's execution. For higher profile events companies often hire professional photographers directly and unrelated to the promotional staffing itself. At Rockstar Field Photography we produce commercial grade photography and not only take those contracts ourselves, but often provide photos as an additional courtesy to our clients.

Neglection of the blog

Oh blog you have been neglected!

I found myself very busy as I entered into the play return engagements. It went great! we had 10 shows and over 1400 people enjoyed our performance, we received a great review in which I was mentioned!

I've become a very excited person lately. There are many posts I could make detailing promotions I have been involved in let alone the jobs I'd hoped to post for any readers, or the few followers I might have.

Although I have started a secondary fb for my professional marketing and promotional work. http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Eric-Schwalbes-Portfolio/126857434011410?ref=ts

I created it as a fan page since it could be tied to my original fb, not sure if I like the fanpage status as much as if I had created a second fb profile itself. Hmm, and if anyone knows how I can shorter up that url (aside from something so useful as tinyurl) please let me know, and please follow me!

Goldstar Global Gig one of few lead for week of March 21st

A recruiter from Goldstar Global is recruiting up to three people from the green bay area to work Mon-Thus 8pm-6am, so for one week four shifts overnight, a little way to pick up a little extra cash with potentaially more work to come. Didn't have the work posted on their own website, I found the ad on craigslist, and Diane responded within the hour and wants to hire people over the weekend to work March 22nd-March 25th.

Not the ideal in my jobsearch as I had set out yesterday morning and walked onto the recocstruion job of military ave in green bay, Dorner is doing the sewer utility work amonst several other cotnracters and road jobs in the area. I got told they still had 14 of their regular employees out of work, so although I did pass my resume off with a good verbal selling of myself, that job looks dim. Hopefully I have better luck with Lunda on the 172 job or any other local construction contracters.

So on my list, a few construction places I need to apply to EEO or by whatever means, and hope they have work and not too many workers. (Its a shame I don't really know anybody, cause that helps):
Dorner, Lunda, Degroot, and even the city? I used to work for Hillcrest Homes in highschool and even heard from one of their employees I should reapply, but got shut down by a lady at the front desk who said they weren't hiring, hung up on me before I knew the conversation was over.

Should would be nice to get a 9-5 or regular stable day job, but for now it's every little bit I can find.

http://www.atnpromo.com/

Overall yesterday left me feeling rough, but I also have one response I'm waiting for from Across The Nation Promos, sent me an email about a concert on March 27th they needed staff for, and then posted a less detailed ad on craigslist a few days later. Nice I got the email before the ad and responded, but I haven't heard back. So we'll see as the date approaches.

Cast as Henry in Return Engagement at Green Bay Community Theater!

Auditions have now been set for the final production of Green Bay Community Theatre's 2009-2010 season. Return Engagements by Bernard Slade, is the charming and funny play that examines the complexities of the human relationship over years time. Director Michael Laskowski is seeking eight actors; 4 men and 4 women.

Daisy: Age 23-25. Artistically ambitious actress. Rather thorny and humorless though.

Raymond: Age 18. Insecure and much too eager to please.

Joe: Age 24-26. Unpolished and rugged appearance of a former athlete.

Miranda: Age 25-27. Warm and open with a witty sense of humor.

Oliver: Age 31-33. Sarcastic and volatile.

Fern: Age 29-31. Bright and pleasant with an academic manner.

Henry: Age 27-30. Precise and unimaginative, though kind and decent.

Dawn: Age 20-22. Ditsy and perky.

Auditions will be February 22 and 23 at 7:00pm. Performances will be April 8-10 and 14-18 2010. Scripts are available at the theatre for rent. Please contact the theatre box office at 920-435-6300.

Above is the post that I responded to, and I have to say I'm glad I went on both open audtion days as something unexpected happened to me. I got on stage and suddenly I was nervous! I didn't expect this, and performed poorly. The next day I took a deep breath and with slightly more preparation went to my audition again, and did much better, I was cast. 


I was cast as Henry and have been enjoying my rehearsals with the Green Bay Community Theater, one of the longest standing theaters in the state of Wisconsin. Tickets are 16 dollars or 8 for a student, the theater is located at 122 N Chestnut Ave, Green Bay, WI 54303. Showtimes will be April 8-10; 14-18, 2010, call the theater at 920.435.6300 for tickets.


This is my first foray into acting in theater, I've long been a patron and fan of the arts, although only recently expressed an interest. Perhaps my inspiration is derived from the recent promotional modeling/brand promotion/field marketing gigs I've been involved in since this last fall, perhaps my recent work at the haunted house Terror on the Fox, or perhaps peer pressure. 


It's an unpaid gig, actors at community theaters tend to be unpaid volunteers, but it's an experience. I intend to add it to my resume, and my goal is that I perform well enough to use it as a stepping stone to real paid work in acting, modeling, or any foothold in the entertainment business available.

*sigh* What cheesy picture *sigh*