Best way to recruit quality SEO staff?

[RobertFisher]

We are in a nice position in that we are growing everyday. As the result, we need more staff, but do not have the time to bring along someone without any real SEO background. I have used just about every source over the years to hire people with good and bad result. 
For an SEO, with experience in some or all of the process:

Link building,

Keyword Analysis

Site evaluation,

eCommerce,

Analytics... where do you go to find someone good? What about to find them yesterday?

Obviously, they do not have to be expert at all, but they need to be familiar with all and have experience in at least two or three.

[TheGrid]

This is a great idea if you understand what SEO is and how you can leverage it for your business. Most good SEO Specialists are available in a consulting capacity (like myself) and to get one in-house full time would probably require upwards of 80k salary with benefits (at least in suburb of Manhattan where I live). You do get what you pay for, so look at applicants experience over everything else. You may or may not know there is no legitimate  accredited degree you can get in SEO, so experience and portfolio will be a large part of your hiring, then of course the person must have a good personality and get along with other people at your company, especially your webmaster and IT dept as they will need to be coordinating regularly.

[RobertFisher]

kynduvme,

I think you may not have understood the question. We are an SEO/SEM/WebDev firm, I am looking for ideas as to where to find the candidate. I would consider consultants, but it would be with strings as my experience with "consultant" hires is that many turn out to have a full time gig, etc. and when it comes time to deliver, the full time takes precedent.

Thanks for trying though,

[rhutchings]

Robert-

The million dollar question Here is what has worked the best in my opinion/experience:

• Poaching via linkedin- find people with your requirements in descriptions, browse their experience and shoot them direct emails to try to lure them away (actually how i got one of my positions, i was hit up on linkedin)
• Networking groups locally- At least here in Utah there are like 50 different little networking groups- social marketing, online marketing, AMA, women's councils, tech councils, etc... I have also found that those individuals that are active in attending these types of groups are always looking for opportunities, whether they say so or not.

Hope that helps.

[EGOL]

Nice.  Congratulations on this success.

When the phone is ringing too much you can raise prices by 20%.

Use the extra money to hire one Yoda.  Problem of new staff is solved.

[firstconversion]

From my UK experience - I would take the time and get the right type of person and train them in the way you want. Its less trouble than getting the wrong person and having them screw it up or getting someone with the right skills but wrong attitude for your company

Paying well helps, having a great environment helps

Get out and give kick ass SEO presentations at conferences and let people know you are hiring - being known as an leader in an area can help attract ambitious people

Maybe ask your current staff? Good people tend to know other good people

Getting out and meeting people is the best way I know - network at SEO events and see who you gel with

Once you have someone great, make sure you keep them - set them decent long term challenges and maybe think about business related remuneration like shares etc

Reversing the problem, some alternate thoughts:

• slow down growth until you get the right people on board
• cutback on the trouble clients and keep the good ones
• only grow the stuff you can scale (linkbuilding over consultancy)
• bring new clients on board only at a higher rate

Let me know how it goes, Id love a solution to this problem!

Stephen

[RobertFisher]

I hope most people who read this understand it EGOL. As a fact, we have raised prices by nearly 50%. More because we provide massive value in my opinion.

Secondarily, one Yoda versus a handful of Luke's makes total sense. Especially if they have a Yoda like work ethic.

Thanks as always,

[RobertFisher]

Ryan, 
I like the answer, but I also had to smile. I go back and forth with Linked In. I was just in a pissing match over the latest Panda update not saying that you have to do 50% of anchor text using primary keyword and the other half with secondary etc. God, where do they come up with this .....stuff??? I know there are some good SEO's on there, but the couple of groups I was in I baled on as I could not take the BS clowns trying to drum up business and having sites showing AdWords Certified that linked to Google stating they were not. Etc.

Sorry for the rant.

I also like the idea of the local marketing groups. Out of the ones you are aware of which do you find brings the most to you?

Thanks again for great advice.

[RobertFisher]

Stephen,

Well thought out and very much appreciated. My lead web developer was the best hire I have made in 20 years...because I took my time, was methodical, refused to settle for less than the best, etc. He is a 27 year old guru, great attitude, great ethic, loves the work, etc.

I think your idea of reversing the problem shows sound business thinking btw. Luckily, the only client I did not love went and got himself fired by me about two weeks ago. Agreed on the higher rate. One question? would you care to elaborate on scaling linkbuilding vs scaling consultancy?

Thanks again and I will let you know what our answer becomes.

Best,

[TheGrid]

ha"  thanks for trying" if i dont try i cant get 1000 points and an seo moz tshirt. try the obvious places, dice.com,craigslist, and career builder, thats where i foundmy last great in house. just dont be dumb, carefully read resumes and review port folios. it is hard to find good in house seos for the reasons stated above

[Keszi]

Hi Robert,

If it was me, I would be reading through the Q/A. There are some very good SEOs in here, who just started and they just seeking for a job (just ask the question right).

Another place where I would go is LinkedIn (SEOmoz group again).

Great place to find talented people.

Gr.,

Istvan

[firstconversion]

Hi Robert

For most agencies, linkbuilding is a lower level activity that I think can be scaled the most easily

• that everyone in the company can do it,
• new recruits can learn it easily
• new recruits can support established team members to deliver more
• you can outsource parts of it
• generally people who are cheaper to employ will be doing this

I see good consultancy as a higher level activity that is restricted by the available time of your most skillful employees

• not everyone  in the company can do it
• harder to learn in a short time
• hard for a new recruit to support someone effectively
• cant really outsource it
• generally your most expensive (experienced) employees will be doing this

S

[firstconversion]

It's finding and enticing Yodas that are the tough bits

[rhutchings]

Totally agree with the linkedin crap that goes on.  I actually ignore most of the Linkedin online marketing groups for that very same reason.  Dont care much to get involved with a bunch of people that for the most part dont know what they are talking about.

I would just use it soley for the purpose I proposed. Find people that look like they have some good experience, and shoot them a personal email and take it from there.  I have never had success trying to get in the middle of discussions or groups on there.

As for the local groups- really any of them.  You will probably find that a lot of the same companies attend a lot of the same groups (thats how it is here).  We actually started our own online marketing organization here in Utah for networking purposes www.slcsem.org. But other ones that work well are ones like "social media club" (I hate social media, but its hot right now) and some entreprenuer/startup ones always attract young talent, and its easy sometime to offer them a bit more money.

Hope that helps.

[RobertFisher]

Stephen,

Thanks for this, it is actually quite well thought out and makes a lot of sense. I appreciate the time and effort you put into it.

Robert

[rbrianforrester]

Robert, I'm in a similar position and was about to post the same question. My friend in PPC found a great candidate by actually taking out a paid job listing on LinkedIn. He said there was a lot of crap to sift through but after two interviews he found an employee that's been there for the last 7 months and has been great. I'll try that along with some other suggestions but if you find something that woks well, please share! I know there's no special process that works, but any clues to make the path more manageable are welcome! -Brian

[rbrianforrester]

This is really solid advice. I've been doing a combination of turning down smaller projects, leveraging existing relationships, and charging more to get the growth I'm now experiencing. I thought I'd get more no's when I increased fees, but surprisingly I haven't. I'm just starting my search for an employee now--fully understanding that it will take some time to train anyone for the position.