Use Indeed, LinkedIn & Google AdWords to Determine the Competitive Recruiting Landscape: Competing Firms & Firms Working Job/s you are Considering

There are many basic ways to determine competing recruiting firms. Usually the best way is via specialized directories or search engines such as:

Oya’s - www.i-recruit.com

Google Directory - http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Human_Resources/Recruiting_and_Retention/

And

http://www.google.com/Top/Business/Employment/Recruitment_and_Staffing/Sourcing/

DMOZ - http://dmoz.org/Business/Employment/Recruitment_and_Staffing/

Kennedy Information - http://www.kennedyinfo.com/js/der.html

Yahoo Directory - http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Business_to_Business/Corporate_Services/Human_Resources/Recruiting_and_Placement/

But what about finding out which recruiters are working on specific jobs and/or within specific industries RIGHT now? Perhaps you are currently working a specific position and want to know your competition. Or, maybe you received a call from an employer in need, but want to see if it’s really worth dedicating resources to the position. After all, do you really want to be working the same job 10 other firms are working?

One quick way is via Indeed.com, the job search engine.

Your query options via Indeed.com are typical, with the ability to enter job title, keywords, locations, etc. Type in your general area of recruiting focus such as “Supply Chain.” You will be taken to the initial results and given the ability to narrow or refine your search. To the left of the results, you’ll see the ability to refine via jobs posted by Employer/Recruiter. Choosing “Recruiter” will provide a list of jobs with that title that recruiters have posted. The name of the firm should be within the posting.

What about jobs you are working on now? Well, to do that, follow the steps above, but add in the name of the company, or any other identifying information about the job/s you suspect another firm may be working on.

I do have to say that this method doesn’t provide an exhaustive list of firms in your focus or of firms working on positions you may be working on. Many jobs simply aren’t advertised by all firms.. So, though this tool is helpful, you will need to supplement it with directories such as those listed above or via the following two resources.

The same can be done via LinkedIn. When logged in, simply search via the same keywords mentioned above using the People search function OR the Jobs search interface. The People search function will show you recruiters in your focus. Just make sure you use keywords in the “Title” field such as
(“recruiter OR “executive search” OR recruiters OR headhunter).

The Jobs search interface will help you determine if any other firms are currently working on positions you may be working or are considering working. Use the same keywords mentioned above (recruiting focus, and any other indentifying information such as company name and title of position). What’s good about LinkedIn is that you can even add in the area code the position is in. The other good thing is that LinkedIn partners with SimplyHired.com, another jobs search engine and the competitor to Indeed.com. So, you can choose to see jobs posted only within LinkedIn or those posted on other resources and picked up by SimplyHired. In fact, SimplyHired allows you to quickly see who in your LinkedIn network is related to a job posted. For more on using LinkedIn and SimplyHired to Find People and Businesses (Leads, Name Sourcing, Lead Generation) and Keyword Synonyms for Job Titles see an article I wrote at http://search-news-views.blogspot.com/2008/10/linkedin-and-simply-hired-partnership.html

I also want to mention Google AdWords. Though not all firms use AdWords to advertise their services, many of the larger firms do. As many of you know, AdWords results are seen above and to the right of the organic search results in Google. Use the same keywords we spoke about above in the Google search interface and add the keyword “jobs” and look to see just who is advertising in that recruiting focus. The good thing about this is that many firms advertise broadly on those keywords, so you’ll see even large general firms that don’t necessarily focus only on that domain, but may do some work in your area of focus. This will give you a good idea of what large, national, general firms a company may be using to fill roles you may work on or may be working on now.

So give these resources a try when determining the competitive recruiting landscape. Again, they aren’t exhaustive, but they might just expose how many firms are working on a given job, and if the competition is too much to justify putting in resources to recruit on the same openings.