Successful Recruiting: Resources Mystery Shopping Companies Use

Successful Recruiting: Posting Jobs, Finding Jobs & the Resources Mystery Shopping Companies UseAs the owner of, Integrity Consultants, a Market Research & Retail Marketing Firm, one of the mostcommon questions I get is, "How do you recruit?" Integrity Consultants has assisted many clients andfellow industry service providers over the last four years with scheduling, recruiting and projectmanagement. In that time, Ive learned some things that Id like to share with you.Its important to remember that one of the qualities that make a good scheduler, recruiter or coordinator ishis or her ability to build relationships. Working on multiple projects for multiple companies, Ive alsogained the insight of how much more marketable and successful a scheduler can be if he or she has theability to route mystery shoppers, brand ambassadors, merchandisers, in-store product demonstrators, andother contractors on a national level in conjunction with other projects. As a scheduler, you can bundleassignments for multiple companies, saving contractors from excessive drive time caused by multipletrips, reduce overall travel expenses, and also help contractors increase their efficiency and profitability.The end result of effectively using your routing skills can include: higher overall pay for contractors, agreater ability to meet client deadlines, and overall better time management for both the contractor andscheduler. You can also help preserve the budgets of multiple clients by working with companies andspreading expenses like bonuses and travel allowances across multiple companies and projects.At this time, my recommendation in regards to software for mapping, trip planning and routing isMicrosoft Streets & Trips, which we will discuss in greater detail in a future article. It costs around $50and allows you to effectively layer data and route with multiple features, like optimizing fuel efficiencyand avoiding tolls where possible. A contractor might import all the assignments they are consideringdoing, and then have one type or color of pushpin for Integrity Consultants assignments and otherpushpins for other companies, or one color/type of pushpin for banking & financial services shops andanother for their video shops. He or she might use one pushpin for Mondays jobs and another forTuesdays jobs, or one pushpin for jobs being done under alias "A" and another pushpin for jobs beingdone with alias "B." Just customize your map to meet your situation, preferences and needs. As ascheduler, you might have one pushpin per company that you are scheduling for, or one pushpin per clientor project. A scheduler might use one pushpin for the project or client with yet another pushpin for his/herregistered shoppers. This allows you to see at a glance what you need to fill and where your talent is. Itsaves time on both ends with routing and calculating travel allowances, when applicable. It also facilitatethe "bundling" of shops across multiple companies and projects which leads to the budget savingtechnique of spreading those costs across multiple companies and clients. Well get into this more later,and remember that we will be presenting a live tutorial on exactly how to do these things at both the Reno& Las Vegas Independent Mystery Shoppers Conference (IMSC) coming up in September & October.Beyond that, the questions I hear are most related to recruiting resources. There are a few resources thatare a "staple" among mystery shopping companies and schedulers. These include: ShadowShopper,Volition, Mystery Shopping Solutions, Yahoo Groups, Market Research Pros, which is available onXING and Facebook, the MSPA Listening Post, and other various groups and forums. Schedulers shouldbe aware that jobs posted on volition.com are also posted to JobSlinger, and both shoppers and schedulersshould be aware that there is a JobSlinger app on Facebook. This is very handy. For companies using theSassie reporting system and shoppers working with companies utilizing the Sassie system, you haveJobSlinger Plus. Finally, companies utilizing the ShopMetrics reporting system have access to theMSJobBoard, which also has a Facebook app.Schedulers have also used classified ad sites, and even Craigs List on occasion with varying degrees ofsuccess. You can do a Google search for, "Post a job free" or "Classified ads" and come up with anynumber of places to post. You can also get a $50 free ad credit for indeed.com and occasionally, LinkedInoffers a $50 ad credit. Yahoo HotJobs and Facebook ads are other paid alternatives that may have a freetrial or ad credit available. Jobs posted via Yahoo HotJobs can go to SimplyHired, Indeed, Monster,LinkedIn, GlassDoor, CareerBuilder, Dice, Taleo, LinkUp and other "Job Search Engines" which includeand/or post to the majority of websites making up the "traditional job board" network. Also worth noting,

if you have an RSS feed of jobs from a job board or website, like we do for the Market Research Pros,that RSS feed can be submitted to a number of job board search engines.One of the things that have made me such a successful recruiter and scheduler is my use of technologyand social media. Ive spent the last four years diving straight into those confusing and ever-changingwaters. Its a tall order to try to become a media expert for industry peers and also run a market researchand retail marketing firm, mostly because there is no finish line. Theres never a point where you feel likeyouve really got it all under control, because theres always any number of new apps, websites, and start-ups, and also because APIs change constantly. These changes alter rankings, visibility, and all kinds ofthings related to features and functionality. Online media management is a full-time job in itself, but insuccessfully accomplishing both roles, Ive learned a lot that can help you save time, become better, moreefficient, schedulers and even help contractors with finding the work they need. Thats why I am postingthis here instead of a purely company-based forum, because, for example, if mystery shoppers understandthe media that schedulers use, they know where to look for work, and if schedulers know what mediashoppers are using, they know where their audience is. Sounds simple, right?Well, sometimes it is, but those online venues change just as quickly as online apps and start-ups. A goodexample of this is Brightfuse, the "talent community" from CareerBuilder. There was a very successfulbranch of Market Research Pros on Brightfuse for two years, until CareerBuilder decided to closeBrightfuse in order to focus on job postings and other tasks. TwebaListings was a commonly used forpromoting jobs via twitter, again, there is nothing current since 2009, and it appears to have "gone withthe wind." The bottom line is that theres always a new "something" to try, and you never know for surehow long that "something" is going to be around.Most people will stick with what they are using, even if its not really working, because they dont havetime for the social media time funnel, so they certainly dont have time to try something and find out itwasnt a good fit for their needs. On that note, because I build and manage social media and onlinemarketing programs for companies in my industry, like ShadowShopper, for example, I am already doingthis research, and I would like to share some free resources with you that I have found helpful when itcomes to contractor recruitment.We have used MarketPlace, an app on Facebook, which is an app by Oodle.com (Oodle Marketplace.) Itseems that either the app is no longer operational or is under maintenance, so I recommend that you beginfrom the other end of this spectrum. Go to oodle.com and connect your Facebook and Twitter accounts.You can change your settings to allow for a post on Oodle to also go to your connected social mediaaccounts, or you can disable that feature. We do use hash tag TweetMyJob (#tweetmyjob) when postingjobs on Twitter, and also the Local Buzz network for Twitter at: http://localbuzznetwork.com/. Alsohighly recommended is utilizing Linkedin; you can join groups and follow companies, schedulers andshoppers.GooglePlus (Google+ or G+) is also a good option. You can create circles very similar to the way thatlists and groups are created on Facebook. You might have a G+ circle for mystery shopping, one forfamily, one for silly stuff, one for companies, one for shoppers, etc. Pinterest is also an option that wevefound promising. Integrity Consultants has a mystery shopping pin-board where we include industryresources and organizations, like NARMS, MSPA, and IASE, job postings (rotating out the old ones), andnews about our company. You can even make YouTube videos explaining the job type and requirementsand then post those videos, which get great visibility in general. So far, were getting good results withthis combination of resources.So then the question becomes, "How in the heck do I manage all of that?" The answer to this is simple,you dont. Let technology do the work for you, and get yourself on a schedule. There are many onlinevenues that allow you to combine your accounts across social media. Explore your features, and use thisfunctionality. If you can post to Facebook, FourSquare, Myspace, Mixi, LinkedIn, Twitter, and aWordpress Blog or RSS stream all at the same time, why wouldnt you? Using tools like CoTweet,TweetDeck or HootSuite will not only help you with "joining accounts" but also with scheduling of posts,tweets and status updates. Beyond that, organize yourself; post to resources 1-10 every other Monday andresources 11-20 every other Friday.

Doing this, youll find that you are putting out regular postings that your audience will not only come toexpect, but will log-in or visit specifically to look for, and you are more likely to receive a steady streamof new recruits, as opposed to short, inconsistent, and often overwhelming bursts.Furthermore, youll build your audience, and save time, by being courteous. Dont fight to keep your poston the front page. Dont "spam" or drive away your target audience by bombarding them on a daily oreven weekly basis with the same thing. If you can update a post, do so, and then "share" or "bookmark" it.Im of the opinion that social bookmarking sites can also be a useful tool when it comes to recruiting ifused properly.Remember that all posts on public social media venues are indexed by Google. Ive not seen any evidencein my practical application of these tools, tips and techniques that multiple and/or frequent postings of thesame type, on the same website, improve rankings or visibility, and they are much more likely to decreaseyour relevance, result in spam complaints, and alienate your target audience. Consistency really is key.Well, there you have it for today. I always tell my shoppers, auditors, and brand ambassadors that wework very hard to utilize social media and online venues as part of our overall effort to be there when youneed us, where you need us. This, and the basic responsibility for courtesy and etiquette that come withutilizing these resources properly, is what I call "Social Integrity." May you all experience it and benefitfrom it.http://www.twitter.com/IntegrityConMRPhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/ktrueloveintegrityconsultantshttp://www.linkedin.com/company/integrity-consultantshttp://www.facebook.com/integrity.consultantshttp://www.facebook.com/groups/MarketResearchPros/

Successful Recruiting: Resources Mystery Shopping Companies Use

by Integrity Consultants on Jul 11, 2012

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Successful Recruiting: Resources Mystery Shopping Companies Use Document Transcript