I Hate to Be the One to Disagree, But...

Social Recruiting is not a fad. Polaroid thought digital cameras were a whim, a fad. Nothing could possibly replace or be as cool as a photgraph that would develop right before your eyes, right? Everyone thought Barbie was a fad - she'll be 52 in December. Swatch thought their cool bands and faces with the coolest colors wrapped around their precision works would keep customers coming back forever, so why should they invest or change because of a little disruption -> the fad of digital watches.

It's very time consuming to be involved in the many aspects of social media / social recruiting. You can refuse. You can say, "It's not for me." You can fritter away your time online, like most people do, or you can wisely use it for the betterment of yourself and your business. The fact that there are so many sites available to you, as a business professional, to take advantage of, can be a little daunting, to be sure. Just start at the big three - you know the current fads.

I guess if your business is good enough without using it, then, by all means stay away. And I guess it is easy to look look at it with eyes of woe and wonder how you could ever incorporate it all into your daily recruiting life. Yes, it is a lot. Yes, it is time consuming. Yes, it may eat into your day and take you away from other things believed to be important. But, just like exercise, you only get out of it what you put into it. So, if you decide to only contribute an hour a week or even an hour a month, don't expect to get much of a return on your investment.

It's a pretty basic idea of how to increase your network: to reach those you may not normally connect with by just cold calling or attending organizational meetings or conferences. An idea is to spread, potentially virally, information about yourself and/or about your business. If this isn't something that would benefit you or your business, then, there you have it - your answer: It's not for you. However, if there is potential that your business could increase or that you might reach a candidate, client, or vendor that could help your firm/company or current requisition, what have you got to lose? Except maybe a few hours a week. Probably hours you spend sorting through spam email or devising new ludicrous ways to reach customers or clients.

Why not invest virtually no money and a little bit of time in something that is sort of new and, I'm sorry to be the one to tell you this, is going to be around for a while. Because, guess what? This fad not going away.

"You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means." - Inigo Montoya

by rayannethorn

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Alasdair Murray on February 11, 2011 at 1:09pm

With respect Rayanne, you've kind of defeated your own argument with the line "You can fritter away your time online, like most people do"- that's my whole point. Many people do fritter away time talking to friends and family and posting the inane, but that's just how they roll in their leisure time. From a potential candidate point of view, good people don't seek jobs or want to 'like' or be 'a fan'. They don't want to reveal their career aspiration cards in the public domain, plus they're too busy doing their current job to spend ages seeking out opportunities or companies to follow. There will be the odd exception, but that's all it is, hence the occasional tweet you see that is entitled "How I got a job through Twitter". In short, I'm afraid I have to stick to my guns, social recruiting is just a fad. (not to be confused with social media in general, which I find extremely useful for business)

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Permalink Reply by Alasdair Murray on February 11, 2011 at 1:21pm

"If people are going to their social networks to look for love, why would it be any different when they're looking for work?" Yay,let's put job ads on dating sites and kill two birds with one stone! If only it were that simple. As Rayanne said, most people fritter away their time on social networks. Do you honestly think that consummate professionals have the time and inclination to surf even more channels than already exist in the vague notion that just perhaps there may be a job out there that hasn't been flagged up by other means?

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Permalink Reply by Jacki on February 11, 2011 at 1:24pm

Fad (definition) - "an interest followed with exaggerated zeal" According to this definition, I would have to agree with Rayanne. Social recruiting is not a fad. It's a new paradigm in its infancy.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Haygarth on February 11, 2011 at 1:27pm

Wholeheartedly agree. Networks are good news for Recruiters, online or otherwise.

Blogged about this here the other day http://www.recruitment-seo.com/featured-articles/more-jobseekers-us...

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Smith on February 11, 2011 at 2:49pm

If a recruiter is frittering away their time online by playing with social media, then it's a fad "to them." But that doesn't mean it's a fad (carte blanche). The tools we use within the realm of social media will just continue to change and we'll continue (hopefully) to adapt and use those that make most sense to us individually. But I'm willing to bet one of my paychecks (heck, maybe even one of Jason's) that the use of social media tools, for the purpose of recruiting, isn't going away. Which is what fads do. Can you say #petrock?

It's just plain silly to call it a fad when so many companies are using social medial tools in a huge way to drive targeted recruiting. Yogi Berra said, "When you come to a fork in the road, take it." That's how I feel about social media - it's working for some, and not for others, but possibly all for different reasons. But if you choose to NOT use it just because you think it's a fad, you are being short-sighted. Be smart. Do the hard work of recruiting, and when you come to the fork in the road, take it. If it turns out to be a #fail, drop it and keep using the tools that are most beneficial for you.

But you'll be hard pressed, in the future, to find a single tool in the recruiter's toolkit that has zero association with social media.

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Permalink Reply by Heidi on February 11, 2011 at 3:59pm

Rayanne:

When it comes to Social Media, I think it's all in how you look at it and how you utiltize the resources. It is a great tool to communicate, collaborate, connect, share.... In my opinion, the problems arises when some companies make assertions such as

"SM will revolutionize the recruiting industry by eliminating recruiters, you will save a lot of money in recruiting cost, Our company will help you reach people faster, there is no need for recruiters, Do it in less time we will save you money in recruiting fees, Cut your recruiting staff in half" Blah, Blah, Blah...The interesting part is that they are talking to recruiters.

Personally, I am tired of it. I am tired of Recruiters being attack and presumed a waste of money to an organization. There is so much to what Recruiters do yet these so called "companies" will tell recruiters how to recruit and they have never recruited. These so called "companies" build these elaborate technology sites, pages and who manages it? The recruiter... Many recruiters get Social Media, We get talent communities, we get sourcing, we get interviewing... We are always looking for new ways to find people because that is what we do... We understand networking...

We get it! Perhaps the problem is the folks telling us how to do our job. Perhaps instead of them creating these fluffy technology to replace us...maybe just maybe they should try working with us...

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Permalink Reply by Thomas Patrick Chuna on February 12, 2011 at 4:03pm

These threads amuse me.

Why is a recruiter networking online all day considered to be a waste of time, but leaving voicemail messages all day with people you don't know from adam is considered to be the only valid use of one's time?

I don't see a difference.

Judge the tree by the fruit it produces..whatever results in good candidates, trusty split partners and placement cash money is a good thing.

Everything else is just denominational bickering.

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Permalink Reply by Richard Stephen on February 13, 2011 at 11:11pm

Like most things, some smart person will find a better way to focus in on recruitment, but at the moment only LinkedIn seems to offer any real value as it is a great way to find "passive" candidates. Active candidates who are all over the social media spectrum might find it useful to them to get noticed, but they are generally not the type of candidates that would interest me. I look for Geoscientists in the Oil & Gas sector, and most of them are terrified of anyone knowing they are ready to make a move.

For the record, it'll be a sad day if I am foced to use Twitter. I can't stand the whole idea of it. Facebook seems to be going down this same inane route of countless tedious posts of what someone has just had for breakfast or suchlike. I had a cathartic session of deleting over 200 of my "friends" recently. It felt good to get rid of all those attention seekers who seem to share the same braincell.

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Permalink Reply by Ian Millar on February 14, 2011 at 12:38pm

Alasdair, I have to disagree with you and agree with Rayanne. Like any medium, it's all about how effectively you master the environment. Social Media is different: there is no set of rules and no set of instructions like you get with a job board. It's a "free-for-all" and ... frankly... the folks who master it may or may not tell you what they did and how they did it.

Really, when it comes down to it... what do you think is going to replace a good social strategy?

~IM

Alasdair Murray said:

With respect Rayanne, you've kind of defeated your own argument with the line "You can fritter away your time online, like most people do"- that's my whole point. Many people do fritter away time talking to friends and family and posting the inane, but that's just how they roll in their leisure time. From a potential candidate point of view, good people don't seek jobs or want to 'like' or be 'a fan'. They don't want to reveal their career aspiration cards in the public domain, plus they're too busy doing their current job to spend ages seeking out opportunities or companies to follow. There will be the odd exception, but that's all it is, hence the occasional tweet you see that is entitled "How I got a job through Twitter". In short, I'm afraid I have to stick to my guns, social recruiting is just a fad. (not to be confused with social media in general, which I find extremely useful for business)

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Permalink Reply by Ian Millar on February 14, 2011 at 12:42pm

Thomas, it's all about results! Right? If you're driving candidate traffic, who cares how you got there?

Thomas Patrick Chuna said:

These threads amuse me.

Why is a recruiter networking online all day considered to be a waste of time, but leaving voicemail messages all day with people you don't know from adam is considered to be the only valid use of one's time?

I don't see a difference.

Judge the tree by the fruit it produces..whatever results in good candidates, trusty split partners and placement cash money is a good thing.

Everything else is just denominational bickering.