Using Research Effectively
Amybeth Hale
Sourcing Strategist
Waggener Edstrom Worldwide
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Please Contact Me!
• Via email: amybeth@amybethhale.com
• Via blog: www.researchgoddess.com
• Via Twitter: @researchgoddess
• Via Skype: researchgoddess
• I can also be found on:
– LinkedIn
– Facebook
– ERE
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Using Research Effectively -
Overview
• Survey Says….
• What do you need
• What do they need
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Survey on Research
and Sourcing
• Who was polled?
– Corporate recruiting/staffing
teams
• HR (all levels)
• VPs/Managers
• Recruiters
• Researchers/Sourcers
– Recruiting agency/Search firms
• Owners
• Recruiters or managers (but not
owner)
• Researchers/Sourcers
– Research/Sourcing agencies
• Owners
• Researchers/Sourcers
– Recruiting/HR
consultant/product vendor
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Total Responses - 283
200
169
150
100 92
50
22
0
Managers/owners and Recruiters responding
Researchers responding
Other
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Agency vs. Corporate
Corporate
45% Recruiting Team
55%
Third Party
Recruiting Team
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Number of Employees
29
1 33
2-3
4-5 125
6-10
11-20 26
>20
37
33
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Are there different opinions between
managers and researchers on what a
researcher should be responsible for?
80.5%
66.7%
Non-researchers
Researchers
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Additional responsibilities
provided by survey responders
• Company blog
• Research training for recruiters
• Using social media and/or developing social
networks
• Agency vendor selection (for corporate
researchers)
• Company website design/administration
• My personal favorite suggestion: “Once a month,
I would [like to] send my researcher with a laptop
to a free Wi-Fi coffee shop to work on MySpace
& Facebook and perhaps meet people in the
process.”
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Does Company Size Matter?
90%
80% 76.58%
70%
60% 54.40%
50% Have dedicated
45.60%
researchers
Do not have dedicated
40% researchers
30% 23.42%
20%
10%
0%
<10 >10
employees employees
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Do companies practice
what they preach?
• Of the 283 respondents, 189 said their
companies employed dedicated researchers,
and 94 said they did not
• Of the companies who did not have dedicated
researchers, 20% indicated that if hired, their
dedicated researchers would only be
responsible for research-related duties
• Of the companies who DO employ dedicated
researchers, only 9% of them actually have
researchers who are only responsible for
research-related duties
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

What does all this mean?
• As recruiting organizations grow, the need
for specialization becomes greater
• While there are “best practices” for a
researchers’ duties, you should put your
company’s needs above best practices
• If your intent is to hire a researcher to do
research duties, make sure that’s what
you’ve got them doing
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

What Do You Need?
• Do you know what
you’re looking for?
• Are you looking for the
right kind of person
based on what your
needs are?
• What exactly are your
needs?
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Things to consider
• How many people need to be supported from a
research standpoint?
• Do you want someone who is quick on the
phones or quick on the Internet?
• Personality characteristics are huge
• Are there activities that are done by everyone in
your office?
• Are there activities that you only want one
person responsible for?
• Do you need someone to specialize, or do you
need a hybrid?
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Research and Sourcing Related
Activities
• Mining resume boards
• Internet Research (excluding mining resume boards)
• Competitive intelligence gathering
• Evaluating technology tools
• Running email marketing campaigns
• Initial email contact to sourced contacts
• Telephone sourcing activities (cold calling into
companies, scouring phone trees, etc.)
• Conducting phone screens for potential candidates
• Initial phone contact to sourced contacts
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Recruiting Activities
• Many of the research and sourcing
functions
• Client phone calls
• Business development
• Candidate relationship development
• Conducting own reference checks
• Closing
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Administrative Activities
• Job postings
• Database data entry/maintenance
• Tracking recruiting metrics (phone time, # interviews, #
placements, etc.)
• Office management duties (payroll, time cards, invoicing,
collections, answering phones, supplies, etc.)
• Arranging interviews/candidate travel
• Helping create marketing materials for your company
• Managing office technology (network, phone systems,
PC troubleshooting, etc.)
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

What Do You Need?
What mixture of activities are
you looking for from your
“researcher”?
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

What Do They Need?
• How do you effectively use
a researcher?
• What can you do to help
them become successful?
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Be Clear On:
• What activities your researcher will be
responsible for
• What activities your researcher will not be
responsible for
• Any expected career path you have for
your employees (make sure to
communicate this with your research
candidates)
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Be supportive of:
• Your researcher’s personal and
professional goals
• Furthering the education of your
researcher
• The creative use of new technologies and
resources
• The development of good lines of
communication between your researcher
and the rest of your office
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Your Needs and Their Needs
• How this will help you use research more
effectively
– You understand exactly what you need before
you start your search for a researcher
– Everyone knows their role
– You tailor your research needs to your
company’s needs, not just based on what
everyone else is doing
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008

Q&A, and my contact info (again) ☺
• Via email: amybeth@amybethhale.com
• Via blog: www.researchgoddess.com
• Via Twitter: @researchgoddess
• Via Skype: researchgoddess
• I can also be found on:
– LinkedIn
– Facebook
– ERE
Amybeth Hale ▪ Sourcing Strategist 5/15/2008