Recruitment strategy ??

[Soctty]

Was it not mentioned a few months ago that the club have no scouting network? If so, more innovative ways need to be used to find players. I'm certain we won't be signing anyone based on their linkedin profile, but will offer them a trial based on the information they give in their reply and on the information we can glean from some online research about them. This will hopefully be shared and picked up on by scouts and agents over the UK, which can only help us become aware of what is available.

 

For those bemoaning this as not being a professional way to go about things, surely linkedin is the most professoinal mode of social media to acquire staff?

 

If we don't have a scouting network, we don't have access to the information we need on who is available and who could do a job for us. Therefore we need to do the groundwork in another way. Or are people suggesting we limit ourselves to the players and contacts of the manager and his assistant? I guarantee they would be slated if they only signed players they had worked with before, or who were recommended by a pal.

 

If there are players available and keen to play, we need to find them. This is one way of putting out feelers.

[zurich_allan]

I am genuinely perplexed at why anybody would view this as a bad thing. LinkedIn is not like Facebook or Twitter, it is a professional and recruitment focussed network. On James Fowler's direct network there will be contacts who are agents, players, coaches and others with direct links to clubs and the game in general. This is nothing like sticking an advert on Gumtree or similar. Professional recruiters and organisations use LinkedIn as part of their strategy. I've been approached twice through the platform, about two years ago by the Law Society of Scotland, and bizarrely 3 days ago by a University in Australia inviting me to apply for a position with them that they've matched my skills to.

As others have pointed out, multinational companies use LinkedIn for these purposes.

There is nothing to criticise.

[kevo_smfc]

As much as this may look amateurish to some, Linkedin has a massive network of potential business and I see this as business. You have someone within your network who has connected with someone else in this field, who knows someone elsewhere on that persons connections, could lead to many opportunities.

Finances are tight so any possible way of sending potential talent our way at very little cost, then i'm all for it. 

[shull]

Nothing wrong with Linkedin. 

I am on it. 

I possess black football boots. 

I am waiting. 

[El Gingero]

I use LinkedIn every day and have gained some of my best clients through it. I just don't agree with a Professional Football Club acting this way. On one hand It's like admitting the Management admitting they haven't a clue about players who are available etc. On the other hand it could be a master stroke.

I hope we can find a good player through this.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Fowler and as I've said before, I hope I'm wrong.

[Sonny]

Surely finding a decent player by any means is better than you feeling embarrassed?

[STGBuddy]

10 minutes ago, Isle Of Bute Saint said:

Sorry mate can't agree with you. If you want to employ someone you want as many applications as possible. Can't understand why your getting your pants in a twist. At least we know there will be recruitment in January time will tell if it has been successfull or not. 

Like any recruitment 'strategy' you're spot on time will tell and I hope they make me eat my words ... it just inspires no confidence when folk on here think advertising for players on LinkedIn is 'innovative' .. maybe just highlights where we are just now 

[STGBuddy]

1 hour ago, Buddy Marvellous said:

Well you are right about one thing, this isn't about finding established world class players like Messi or Bojan, they have world wide TV networks that show off their talents.

The fact you keep going on about an ad to find a UK journeyman shows how narrow minded you are about this. This is about throwing the net wider than the UK and alerting players scouts and agents in USA, Canada, Australia and every other country in between. These are places we could find another Dorman or Goncalves.

Throwing the net wider ? You say I'm being narrow minded but at least I can read .. his ad said U.K. based senior pros on a free .. this isn't about worldwide scouting .. at least read the original post eh ? 

[Sergie's no1 fan]

32 minutes ago, El Gingero said:

I use LinkedIn every day and have gained some of my best clients through it. I just don't agree with a Professional Football Club acting this way. On one hand It's like admitting the Management admitting they haven't a clue about players who are available etc. On the other hand it could be a master stroke.

I hope we can find a good player through this.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Fowler and as I've said before, I hope I'm wrong.

The management will know of players who are available, agents will be working round the clock for free agents who want a club. The difference is they don't know who are actually willing to come to us. Doing something like this eliminates players who won't be interested or will expect way too much money and maybe gives them a better scope. We can still be used as a bargaining chip for better offers elsewhere sadly. At this time of year it is only going to be dross available though, and unfit guys. Did Morton not sign the likes of Nacho Novo and Gary O'Connor at this time of year a few years ago in their dreadful relegation effort.

[STGBuddy]

48 minutes ago, shull said:

Nothing wrong with Linkedin. 

I am on it. 

I possess black football boots. 

I am waiting. 

The contact details are there Shull .. fire in a reply .. if you're on a free 

[STGBuddy]

53 minutes ago, zurich_allan said:

I am genuinely perplexed at why anybody would view this as a bad thing. LinkedIn is not like Facebook or Twitter, it is a professional and recruitment focussed network. On James Fowler's direct network there will be contacts who are agents, players, coaches and others with direct links to clubs and the game in general. This is nothing like sticking an advert on Gumtree or similar. Professional recruiters and organisations use LinkedIn as part of their strategy. I've been approached twice through the platform, about two years ago by the Law Society of Scotland, and bizarrely 3 days ago by a University in Australia inviting me to apply for a position with them that they've matched my skills to.

As others have pointed out, multinational companies use LinkedIn for these purposes.

There is nothing to criticise.

I disagree .. this just shows exactly where we are right now as a club 

everyone is entitled to an opinion but to me , this just highlights a lack of contacts and awareness across the country.

I hope they prove me wrong but I'm not convinced that this 'advert' will throw up anything they shouldn't already know

[Stuart Dickson]

Was it not mentioned a few months ago that the club have no scouting network? If so, more innovative ways need to be used to find players. I'm certain we won't be signing anyone based on their linkedin profile, but will offer them a trial based on the information they give in their reply and on the information we can glean from some online research about them. This will hopefully be shared and picked up on by scouts and agents over the UK, which can only help us become aware of what is available.

 

For those bemoaning this as not being a professional way to go about things, surely linkedin is the most professoinal mode of social media to acquire staff?

 

If we don't have a scouting network, we don't have access to the information we need on who is available and who could do a job for us. Therefore we need to do the groundwork in another way. Or are people suggesting we limit ourselves to the players and contacts of the manager and his assistant? I guarantee they would be slated if they only signed players they had worked with before, or who were recommended by a pal.

 

If there are players available and keen to play, we need to find them. This is one way of putting out feelers.

Alex Rae claimed that he had recruited a scout.

This seems desperate. I'd have thought that Ross, Fowler, McManus and Fitzpatrick would have tried scouting the local amateur and Junior clubs first. I'd have thought running open trials would have come first. I'd have thought that contacting coaches around the local community to see what names are thrown up would come first. But I guess this highlights the state the club has got itself into where ads on LinkedIn and using You Tube as a scouting tool has become an early port of call.

As I said before scouts don't need to cost money. Falkirk asked me to scout for them for free a few years ago offering me free tickets and a fee if any player I found made it to the first team and a cut of any future transfer fee.

[WeeBud]

13 minutes ago, STGBuddy said:

I disagree .. this just shows exactly where we are right now as a club 

everyone is entitled to an opinion but to me , this just highlights a lack of contacts and awareness across the country.

I hope they prove me wrong but I'm not convinced that this 'advert' will throw up anything they shouldn't already know

Over the past few years, with the very odd exception, our "January" signings have made no real difference and it is a notoriously difficult time to sign players. Those signings have been made through contacts, agents etc............we'll still be approaching these usual suspects but also giving some, who may not come through the usual sources, a chance to make contact and see what develops.

Should we not look at players playing in organised trial matches because they haven't come through our contacts etc??

[STGBuddy]

30 minutes ago, Sonny said:

Surely finding a decent player by any means is better than you feeling embarrassed?

Decent player ? Should the management team not have a fair idea who the 'decent' players are? 

[Soctty]

1 hour ago, El Gingero said:

I use LinkedIn every day and have gained some of my best clients through it. I just don't agree with a Professional Football Club acting this way. On one hand It's like admitting the Management admitting they haven't a clue about players who are available etc. On the other hand it could be a master stroke.

I hope we can find a good player through this.

Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Fowler and as I've said before, I hope I'm wrong.

Normally, at a club, it's the scouting department who help the management team identify what players are available. We don't have a scouting department. This is innovative from Fowler, as it will hopefully be seen by agents and scouts over the UK who can assist the club in finding the players they want, or at least finding players the club can take a look at. The alternative is probably to sit on our hands and wait for people to contact us offering us players.

 

I'm pretty sure the management team are also pursuing other avenues. I'm not sure why people are so desperate to look on things negatively all the time.

[div]

I genuinely couldn't care less where new players come from as long as they are good enough.

Agents will be hurling CVs at the club from all quarters at the moment, don't really see anything wrong with James using his contact network to put feelers out.

January a very difficult month to trade in, as we have seen in the past. Teale and Longwell tried to bring in literally dozens of players in the Jan they were in charge trying to save our Premiership place and they found it incredibly difficult.

 

[STGBuddy]

1 minute ago, Soctty said:

Normally, at a club, it's the scouting department who help the management team identify what players are available. We don't have a scouting department. This is innovative from Fowler, as it will hopefully be seen by agents and scouts over the UK who can assist the club in finding the players they want, or at least finding players the club can take a look at. The alternative is probably to sit on our hands and wait for people to contact us offering us players.

 

I'm pretty sure the management team are also pursuing other avenues. I'm not sure why people are so desperate to look on things negatively all the time.

I've been supportive of them and never post anything negative but I'm depressed at this as it shows exactly where we are at this time. That word 'innovative' is mentioned again ... it's not innovation .. it's an admittance that , regardless of a scouting network being in place or not , Ross and Fowler (in my opinion) look very inexperienced in realising what we need and who can fit in. I'll say it again .. I hope they prove me wrong but I'd have expected a new team to come in , realise where we are weak before taking the job and identify targets .. this looks desperate to me 

[Soctty]

8 minutes ago, STGBuddy said:

I've been supportive of them and never post anything negative but I'm depressed at this as it shows exactly where we are at this time. That word 'innovative' is mentioned again ... it's not innovation .. it's an admittance that , regardless of a scouting network being in place or not , Ross and Fowler (in my opinion) look very inexperienced in realising what we need and who can fit in. I'll say it again .. I hope they prove me wrong but I'd have expected a new team to come in , realise where we are weak before taking the job and identify targets .. this looks desperate to me 

How does this make them look inexperienced in realising what we need and who can fit in? Can't see that logic.

 

Fowler is merely utilising a tool at his disposal. He has over 500 professional contacts on Linkedin - as has Jack Ross, which I would say is a good spread of contacts who will see what he posts. Jack Ross wasn't watching St Mirren when he was managing Alloa - how is he to realise where we are weak? He has given everyone a chance to play, and is getting an idea of who is good enough for him and who is not. He will no doubt know what positions he needs players in, but will be open to any player coming in who is better than what we have.

 

People want Ross and Fowler to use their contacts to get players, then moan when they use their contacts to get players... 

Edited November 24, 2016 by Soctty

[Sonny]

11 minutes ago, STGBuddy said:

Decent player ? Should the management team not have a fair idea who the 'decent' players are? 

You expect them to know every single player in all Leagues in England, Wales and Ireland as well as Scotland who may be available and within our price range? Get real.

[Soctty]

Just now, Sonny said:

You expect them to know every single player in all Leagues in England, Wales and Ireland as well as Scotland who may be available and within our price range? Get real.

They should just get Football Manager and fire that up for a few days - that's the way to do it...

[STGBuddy]

Just now, Soctty said:

How does this make them look inexperienced in realising what we need and who can fit in? Can't see that logic.

 

Fowler is merely utilising a tool at his disposal. He has over 500 professional contacts on Linkedin, which I would say is a good spread of contacts who will see what he posts. Jack Ross wasn't watching St Mirren when he was managing Alloa - how is he to realise where we are weak? He has given everyone a chance to play, and is getting an idea of who is good enough for him and who is not. He will no doubt know what positions he needs players in, but will be open to any player coming in who is better than what we have.

 

People want Ross and Fowler to use their contacts to get players, then moan when they use their contacts to get players... 

So you are seriously telling me that a manager who is considering taking over a new club doesn't have them watched or analyse the club from top to bottom ?? Really ? Ross along with other folk in the game (including folk on here) knew that Rae's jacket was on a shaky peg early doors and they would have , if they hadn't done already, started their homework. To suggest Ross knew nothing about St Mirrens squad is at best naive 

so at the interview he just says 'oh I haven't seen much of St Mirren this season so I'll just pick it up as I go along' come on 

[STGBuddy]

5 minutes ago, Sonny said:

You expect them to know every single player in all Leagues in England, Wales and Ireland as well as Scotland who may be available and within our price range? Get real.

This may be a shock to you but Managers who are in the game and have contacts do exactly that ... otherwise they would all be on LinkedIn and it wouldn't be 'innovative' 

[Stu]

3 minutes ago, Soctty said:

They should just get Football Manager and fire that up for a few days - that's the way to do it...

I'd been going to suggest that "At least we're not using Football Manager" but I think some teams do genuinely use it as a scouting tool. Of course, it would be as a starting point and you'd still have to see the player in the flesh or look at him during a trial period.

Maybe someone should start a save game and filter it to look for players who are out of contract to see who's available...

[Sonny]

Just now, STGBuddy said:

This may be a shock to you but Managers who are in the game and have contacts do exactly that ... otherwise they would all be on LinkedIn and it wouldn't be 'innovative' 

Rubbish. If they did there would be no need for agents. I think your consternation about asking in a professional capacity for new staff (that's what Linkedin is), says more about you that Fowler.

[Sergie's no1 fan]

Well well well.

Who fancies kidnapping him and forcing him to sign a contract?