Twitter Top 50 Recruiters - What exactly is it telling us?

The Recruiters Lounge has The Top 50 Recruiters on Twitter

OK. Sounds interesting. But when you check out the majority of who's following whom - you'll see it's mostly the same crowd (of us - I'll admit I am also guilty) of RECRUITERS following each other.....SO it begs the question -- The Top 50 doing what? ? ? ?

So while I think the general idea is interesting - when you dig just a pinch below the surface - there is not much there. 50 recruiters who have the highest number of other recruiters following them all reading the same things from the same people.

What a breakthrough.........

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on January 27, 2009 at 2:41pm

The list was a simple post - type in recruiter in TwitterGrader and it grades you;

It's not "top" recruiters on Twitter.

It's Top Recuiters "on Twitter."

And it's a social media think not a recruiter thing.

If you want to be on the list, change your profile to include the word, recruiter.

Is Twitter useful for recruiters? I bet $89 it is.

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Permalink Reply by Paula on January 27, 2009 at 2:51pm

It depends on why people are using twitter. Are they wanting to recruit or are they wanting to network with people in their same/relevant position to learn from/teach. Either way, results must come forth for particpants to continue in the practice. If a recruiter is looking for new hires and only finds other recruiters-this is not productive for them. And vice versa--if goal is networking and only finding people who want a job....then the op's goal is not met.

I am sure it is a bit of both--but to motivate me to come back, I need get something out of it.

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Permalink Reply by Paul Lipman on January 27, 2009 at 3:02pm

Still trying to determine the value of Twitter - right now it seems like a lot of white noise.

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Permalink Reply by Joshua Letourneau on January 27, 2009 at 3:02pm

What we're all forgetting here is that there has been, and always will be, and underlying popularity contest among certain pockets of the Recruiting Industry. We can say there isn't, but then we all know we'd be lying :)

For example, I know Recruiters who would rather trade annual billings for Twitter followers - no, I'm not kidding. And for those Recruiters, being on this list really matters . . .

What I noticed was that only 8/50 had something remotely identifiable in their Twitter name (i.e. location, sector, the word "jobs", etc.) So would the other 42 be necessarily 'findable' easily by a Twitter rookie who is a potential candidate?

Anyway, I'm 'guessing' (literally) that his post was more about those Recruiters who will take this as a popularity competition than those who could care less. Then again, who knows? I guess it's all relative.

P.S. This might be completely off topic, but one thing I liked about this was the fact that the list was listed in order of number of followers. In that sense, it's an objective list . . . as opposed to a panel or group of judges subjectively and politically voting on who is the 'Best Recruiting Twitterer'.

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Permalink Reply by Chris Havrilla on January 27, 2009 at 3:22pm

Well, regardless of the reason or thought behind the post, I love the discussion it has inspired. Props to Jerry for getting it started!!!

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Permalink Reply by Duane Roberts on January 27, 2009 at 3:27pm

I agree there are probably quite a few who just want to be "loved" and approach their twitter account with this in mind. I usually will follow folks that have topics/background of interest or I think can potentially further my business.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on January 27, 2009 at 4:09pm

The jury rests

KarenM / Hirecentrix.com said:

...and there is no significance to it..

Karen

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on January 27, 2009 at 4:17pm

There is some signifigance. Those of us who are {ahem}, "experts" in social media understand the use of Twitter Grader, and online profiles, and know how to utilize the services for profit.

The list itself matters if you want to be found as a recruiter on Twitter through the use of TwitterGrader. If you're looking for someone with Twitter expertise, you would want to be found that way.

But otherwise, it's a nice way to drive a bunch of followers to people using social media.

For example - I've added about 40 followers instead of my daily 10, and in doing so, made contact with two potential candidates who forwarded resumes and LinkedIn invitations, as well as connecting with a company that is introducing me to a video technology for use at my marketing firm.

So it was of value to me. Your mileage may vary.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 27, 2009 at 4:17pm

For those of you who don't have enough time in the day to follow every link - I've got it here from Recruiters Lounge - "According to Twitter Grader, below is a list of the Top 50 Recruiters on Twitter according to their number of followers and (presumably) their influence in the Twittosphere........"

So Karen - you're a bit off on this one. However - the topic has morphed a bit from the original post. I think it is now "just what the heck are we/they/us/you doing on Twitter".......?

KarenM / Hirecentrix.com said:

LOL, I am just ROFLMAO - Jim expressly states that the List is JUST what pops up when you type in the WORD RECRUITER -- those who have the WORD RECRUITER in their profile would have come up based upon their useage of Twitter. Nothing more nothing less...

If YOU want to be on the list, just add the words on Your Profile

Type in the word RecruitING and another list will come up.. and there is no significance to it..

Karen

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on January 27, 2009 at 4:20pm

With or without your husband?

Maren Hogan said:

I'm cruising for a hot date.

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Permalink Reply by Jim Durbin on January 27, 2009 at 4:28pm

An excellent point, Jerry. You encapsulated the difference between Recruiting Sales and Recruiting Marketing.

If your list is a private rolodex, you shouldn't give it out. If your list of followers is all the best candidates in the field that you have personally vetted, you should hold on to it.

What if your list isn't private? What do you do when the people on the list put their names out voluntarily to social networks, and involuntarily to ZoomInfo, Jigsaw and Google? What happens when someone else builds the list of Twitter folks and builds relationships with them? What to do when data is free and has nowhere to hide?

You should have a marketing strategy at that point. It may or may not be on Twitter - it depends on your industry. This stuff is what, four years old? Imagine what happens in the next four years.

Jerry Albright said:

I'll admit - I've had fun with Twitter. Just as I have fun meeting a few friends after work for a cold one. But when I meet a few friends after work - I don't drag my entire list of potential placements with me and leave it on the bar for anyone/everyone to have. Especially since the "bar" is being combed by thousands of recruiters doing exactly that - looking for my list! My list is pretty hard to come by - trust me - I know what it took to get them!

So what intrigues me most is why a good recruiter would spend a great deal of effort compiling a list of targeted candidates to follow - only to then have that very same list "adopted" by any/every recruiter with those same intentions?

This is far different from the Linked In discussion of having "your contacts" made available to your entire network. Twitter requires no permission, correspondence or even awareness on the part of the one who has a great "following/followers" database. If I see you have 300 great candidates - I'm going to click FOLLOW on every one of them.

I doubt highly that this has only occurred to me. Perhaps I'm the only one saying it out loud though......

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 27, 2009 at 4:40pm

Karen - thank you for that clarification.

Jim - I see your point and it certainly is a logical way to look at this. Data on most individuals being freely available - but not "centralized" on the interwebs is a far cry though from finding a Twitterer with an entire list of my targeted candidates.

What I'm starting to see here is the old "easy come - easy go" principal at work. If I can easily build a pile of candidate info in just a few days - then I've really not got much invested. Therefore - someone else coming upon my profile, seeing my followers/ees and "grabbing" them all is no big deal to me. Easy come. Easy go.

I like the discussion. Thanks everyone.