Social Media for Recruiting

If you are a recruiter at any company then you really should be tapping into the social media space to look for future talent.  Recruiting via social media has several advantages over traditional recruiting methods:

• allows you to build short and long term relationships with prospects
• turns a passive approach into an active approach, instead of people coming to you, you go after the people you want
• humanizes the brand and makes the recruitment process more personal
• allows you to get more information about your prospects; you can also explore their connections
• gives you a glimpse into who your competition is hiring and from where

You can find a world of information about someone just by Googling their name and adding the words “linkedin,” “twitter,” or “facebook” to the end of it.   Consider what you can find out about someone just looking at their Linkedin profile:

• their key areas of expertise
• where they currently work
• where they have worked previously
• where they are located
• what they are looking for in a new job
• and that’s just the beginning

Social media has become a virtual marketplace for job seekers and recruiters.  Job seekers are turning to social media sites such as twitter to ask their connections if they know anyone hiring for a particular position.  Facebook status postings are now used as ways to share  “job seeking” status with the world.  Recruiters can easily take advantage of these social media channels to hire talent that is LOOKING for a career change (or a new career).   Massive job board sites such as Monster and Career Builder are becoming obsolete and are being replaced by “twitter search” and “linkedin” jobs.  Companies such as KPMG have been using Facebook and Youtube for little while now to recruit new hires.  The KPMG Youtube channel features videos from existing employees about what it’s like to work at the company.  The site also features information about some of their current recruitment and job placement programs.

Fresh college grads are now being advised to join networking sites such as Facebook and Linkedin to find jobs out of college.  I remember when I graduated college; I found my first job by submitting around 200 resumes and cover letters to various companies in Los Angeles (and throughout California).  The process was cold and impersonal; it became a numbers game for me, the more resumes and cover letters I could crank out, the greater the chance that I would land a job; this is no longer the case.  Now you can go onto twitter and send a reply to host of organizations asking if they are looking to hire.

You no longer connect with companies; you connect with people.