It is ironic that the current trend is to use technology to form better business relationships. Moreover, in some respects, it has. However, more often than not, people just collect ‘Connections’ rather than form real relationships. But even though you have hundreds, or thousands, of connections and followers the odds are that you actually speak with very few. Just as there are great candidates stuck in Applicant Tracking Systems across America, you have valuable connections in LinkedIn that you may have never spoken with.

On the flip side, there are other connections that started as a business relationship but have morphed into a friendship. People you trust; those that when you have a work issue to turn to for advice. Those who are willing to help you succeed and you would do the same for them. And they know people that would be willing to help them help you. And that is whom Cohort wants to help you find; people you need that are connected to the people you already know and trust, ‘your cohort.’

Professional Networking

Cohort is a simple mobile app that connects with Twitter. It then goes through your followers and asks ‘who can you ask a favor of.’ once selected, cohort analyzes the public data of your network to detect their interests and expertise.

Cohort Founder Eamon Leonard built this tool out of necessity after being constantly asked for introductions to people in his network. Leonard said,

“LinkedIn has dominated ‘professional networking’ but lost interested leveraging deeper relationships and social capital to realize the potential in your network.”

cohort

Now Tell Me, What You Want, What You Really, Really Want.

What makes Cohort great is that once you decide which ‘connections’ you have a real connection with, you can leverage those relationships to get referrals for potential candidates. Here is an example:

The downside from the app perspective is that if the person you would like to network with is not on the Cohort app, you will not be able to see their complete profile. But of course, if the person you are asking to help is a true connection, they would share all of the info they can as well as make an introduction.

By using Cohort, not only can you build on your real business relationships, you can find the candidates that you are looking for as well. To be a top recruiter, you must stop collecting ‘connections’ and start making them through people that you already trust.

 

 

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By Jackye Clayton

Jackye is an acclaimed thought leader and inspirational speaker on recruiting and DEIB topics. She brings years of experience recruiting across a variety of industries including tech, HR, legal, and finance. In her role as VP of Talent Acquisition and DEIB, she leads all related work at Textio, provides critical expertise to customers, and serves as a leading voice in the products Textio creates for the broader ecosystem. Jackye has been named one of the 9 Powerful Women in Business You Should Know by SDHR Consulting, one of the 15 Women in HR Tech to Follow by VidCruiter, and is on the Top 100 list of Human Resources Influencers by Human Resource Executive Magazine.