How Do Hiring Managers Find Candidates

This is the approach most people tell me they use to find a job.

• Focus on my resume; send it out to all my friends.
• Job Ads. Sending my resume to all the jobs I find on the internet.
• Use an agency. Sign up with an agency and hope they find me a job.
• Networking with family and friends.
• Know or find someone in the company who can get my resume to the HR Department.

This is how I would approach filling an open position as an HR professional.

• A private search. Most of the time, I would first seek out a candidate through my network of peers in the organization.
• A public search. I would seek out candidates through my public network of contacts and rely heavily on a personal reference of someone I know and trust.
• Hire a search firm to find and screen candidates. Interview final three and try to find a reference I know.
• Place a job opening on our ministry web site that is then advertised to the jobbing web sites.
• Consider a cold resume. Honestly, I almost never even consider doing this.

So, what do you see as to how a Human Resources department fills a job verses how most people approach their job search? Many people spend most of their time and energy using the least effective approach. Develop and leverage your network, it is as simple as that.