Recruiting using Social Media

I am the Recruiting Manager for a small firm. My team consists of a Junior Recruiter and myself, so we have limited time on our hands to do anything outside of hitting the phones. The owners of my firm keep pushing us to use social media for recruiting and the only source we have had success with is Linked In. Can anyone else tell me if they have had success using Facebook or Twitter and how you used it to be successful? Thank you!

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 23, 2012 at 10:35am

A few thoughts. First being I do not consider Linkedin to be "social" media. It's a job and applicant board. Granted - a very modern job and applicant board - but that is what it is. Anyone who can't make something happen with Linkedin may very well consider a new profession.

But regarding Facebook? Twitter? Why force something that really isn't there? The majority of us (or should I say the recruiters I am in personal contact with) are done pretending there is any recruiting going on there. I guess if you consider a nonstop string of "Are you a fit for this job...?" going by at a thousand miles an hour "recruiting" - then one may have a point.

It's a joke. A waste of time. The only people talking about using FB and Twitter for recruiting are no longer recruiting. They're traveling the world telling wide-eyed recruiters how to do it - though they're not doing it. Just yapping about it.

I have tried - and some may say I've failed - at "social" recruiting.

Could it be done once or twice to somehow prove it can be done? Of course. But by the time someone has proven it can be done (once) I've gone the "traditional" route and done it a dozen times with the same effort.

Save your time and energy. The last thing a Jr. recruiter needs to be thinking about is social media.

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Permalink Reply by Dave Wood on August 24, 2012 at 3:50am

Have you seen Amanda di Silvestro's awesome blog on using Pinterest for recruitment?

http://www.recruitingblogs.com/profiles/blogs/how-to-use-pinterest-...

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Permalink Reply by Ron Kubitz on August 24, 2012 at 8:33am

Agree somehwat with Jerry's thoughts! Is Linkedin really "social media"??? that can be debated but the bottom line it si a great source for both free job posting to groups as well as pay per post if you wish to go that route. I tis also great for sourcing candidates and networking with those in your industry. I have found and reached out to (and hired) many more folks using LI than the big job boards combined (which I now no longer use). Li is great for sourcing so building a big "social" network is key'

Twitter and FB can be used for recruiting purposes but it is very time consuming. They do set themselves up to be boolean searched and one can ferret out industry specif folks for sourcing but you need to have the time and resource to do this. I use FB (company page for job postings, branding) and Twitter (jobs page, branding etc) but really it is not true recruiting as I am putting stuff out hoping (with some success) candidates find me.

I use third party sites to post my jobs, topical info etc and I then sit back watiing for folks to find me. I have hired 3 folks from Twitter so far in 2012 and 1 from FB that have seen my posts ojn these sites and respond with resumes etc. SO you can see some results!

It is all about branding. And a Social Media program with LI, Twitter, FB, YouTube (company, hiring videos) do help get the word out and will attract people to your job sites as well as allow for some good sourcing. Is it true recruiting???

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Permalink Reply by Suresh on August 24, 2012 at 9:12am

Its funny isn't it, its about bragging rights at the golf course. We are using Social Media too..

The bottom line, does it work. Facebook could work if people can see your page and that is the challenge - how do you get enough people to like your page. Not just anyone, but the right people who you want to recruit to like your page.

(Personally it works for big brands who have enough followers). I seriously doubt if any small or medium sized businesses have enough likes/followers to reach the right people.

Same goes for twitter.

The belief that Social Media is free is the fallacy. Time and money has to be spent to market/advertise..

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Permalink Reply by Rolf Kramer on August 24, 2012 at 10:47am

Start with Bullhorn Reach - you can get a free version at www.bullhornreach.com. It will get you started using Facebook and Twitter, help with LinkedIn and it's very intuitive. Yes I did work at Bullhorn for 4 1/2 years, but now I use Reach Team in my own company and we are getting great results.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on August 24, 2012 at 3:28pm

Go to the yellow pages online type in accountants if you are looking for one. Start calling them. Tell the owner you are using social media. If you are looking for a candidate in any city who is a licensed professional person, ie; accountant, civil engineer, petroleum engineer, attorney, doctor they will be identified much faster using the yellow pages for any city than flopping around on FB, even Linkedin. Most are happy to give you the name of the person in charge of any professional organization in their area, ie; Jr. Bar, county medical association. etc. etc.

It has been my experience that most employers , if at all possible would prefer to hire someone in the local or surrounding area so they do not have to pay relo so i start locally with the yellow pages.

If it's management or IT or some of the other disciplines who may not be licensed look for an industry. It has been my experience that given a candidate with same industry experience or other industry experience, all things being equal they will lean toward the candidate with same industry experience.

There is nothing magic about social media other than the time spent would be better spent trying to pull a rabbit out of a hat.

My opinion is that recruiters have made this whole thing way too complicated and way too high blown sounding doing boolean search strings that would reach from New York to Chicago when they could utilize something as simple as the yellow pages. You want a software engineer, look in the yellow pages under software development firms. It may be sketchy at first but a couple of phone calls to whoever is there they will tell you who in that city uses sharepoint. How long do you think it would take to find sharepoint developers in St. Louis on FB. My take is a lot more time than calling one person in a software development firm in St. Louis to find out which companies use Sharepoint and going from there.

Sure run a search on Linkedin and FB at the same time but it just doesn't have to be that difficult. Find one person who does what you want and they normally know who else does what they do. Come on. If you needed a plumber would you go on facebook or Linkedin to find a plumber. I would just type in Amarillo yellowpages plumbers and risk it that i might find a couple of them. Or if push came to shove i could just pick up that phone book on my credenza and risk looking under P for plumber. Then shades of old school, pick up the phone and call instead of sending them an inmail or building a relationship or adding content that a plumber might be interested in on twitter. Cripes you guys make this all so difficult and sexy sounding.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 24, 2012 at 3:55pm

Sandra - I often wonder why so many recruiters are so dead set on squeezing a result or two out of social media. As I read through your common sense reply it dawned on me.

Your approach involves CALLING somebody. That means there is a possibility of being told no. The horror!

Social media is about following, friending, adding contenf, joining groups, pinning, tweeting. There is no "no" potential. These recruiters are doing everything they can to avoid hearing it. Social sure helps you just feel good all day without ever being rejected.

How absolutely grand..!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on August 24, 2012 at 10:59pm

Lol. i am always amazed at how our somewhat simple profession is taken to some nutty degree of yaha, whoop ti doo, sexier than my hat level. Co. needs an employee, Co. calls a recruiter who can find them an employee. Recruiter finds a person who can do the job, wants the job and wants to work for the company. Where to start. Call somebody who does that job. The worst thing that can happen is that one makes a contact with someone. It took about 30 seconds. So it's no. The worst thing that can happen is that i have a name and number on my call list for this kind of job. The next time i call, the person chats a bit about the market, talks a bit about his own job and company. The worst thing that can happen is that i know more about the company he works for and what is going on with him. The objective is to drain the swamp not make friends with all the aligators so one can talk about how many aligators they know.

No doesn't mean no contact. No doesn't mean no information. No is the fastest way to get to yes. When i hear no i change the subject. "Hey no problem ,"By the way John, did you see that the city is getting a new plant?" Really hadn't heard about it. I will shoot you an email after i meet with them next week and give you the scoop if you would like." Yes, good. Me too i always like to know about new industries or expansion projects does your company have anything on the board for expansion? "Hey that's good news." Nice visiting with you , what is your email and i'll let you know what i find out about the new plant. Contact made, interest generated, (interest does not have to be about a job just interest in hearing from me again) info gained, reason to recontact. Time spent 5 -10 minutes maybe.

How long did you spend jack donkeying around on twitter, facebook, digging through online data bases of outdated resumes for people who have long since taken another job, tracking them down with a google search or a linkedin search and writing sexy search strings that yielded the obits, people in foreign countries who once worked in a city in another lifetime.

If the objective is to drain the swamp, you have a sump pump that works and works fast why mess around with trying to suck the water out through a straw standing on your head in a fog of a billion other people with straws. Sure eventually you will drain the swamp but you also may be known as the worlds greatest sucker. Pun intended. Add power to the sump pump when you can but i can see no reason to end up with a whole tool box of shiney new toys that take more time and expertise to operate just so i can say i have a big tool box and waste all my time playing with my tools.

And as far as mobile recruiting or mobile a lot of things. I am not the slightest bit interested in trying to do business squinting like a myopic frog at a three inch screen that jumps all over the place to the Dunkin Doughnut ad if you breathe on it wrong. the damn thing is a phone i talk into it and somebody talks back.

I figured out about 35 years ago that it was possible to make a placement or two by going to every chamber of commerce function, joining every professional group on the planet, writing a column in the paper, speaking at college groups. See we called it "social recruiting". I figured out about 34 years ago that if stayed in my office, picked up the phone book and started calling people i could make a whole lot of placements without meeting all those realtors at the chamber, having to do fund raisers for all those professional groups, writing a job ad instead of an column and i would get all those college kids anyway because we all know they don't listen to a damn thing anybody tells them until they are desperate.

Some things don't change ,just because somebody stuck the word "media" in the middle of "social recruiting". The only difference in then and now is that when you stick" media" in it one can do it in their night shirt without combing their hair. And what's social about that. Yuck!

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Permalink Reply by Ron Kubitz on August 27, 2012 at 7:27am

Sandra and Jerry it is always nice to see your back and forth "lovefest" that I must admit does provide good points on most occasions but however NEVER leaves open the possiblity that some modern technology actually does work. Having been a Agency recruiter for over 15 years and now on the CORP side for over 6 years I embrace the old tried and true yellow pages method but also see how sites such as LI can be the "new" yellow pages.

FB and Twitter for sure are not recruiting/sourcing meccas but are greart ways to brand your company, post jobs (for free) and have folks find you. What is wrong with having 2-3 folks per day find you (with little effort on your part if you use Bullhorn or similar aids) while in the midst of calling 60-70 possibles per day.

Why spend time on the yellow pages when I can search LI for civil engineers with USACE and rock anchor experience and then yes dare I say call them (and alas many say NO) as I search for talent for my company. Just because one uses Social Media as a recruiting tool does not mean they do not hit the phones seeking talent or are afraid of the word no.

I use Social Media, have had good success filling needs by using SM and yes Virginia do pound out the calls on a daily basis often times hearing the word NO. Heck I am on my third wife, an considered old for using SM purposes so I am certainly not afraid of a few "nos".

Be open to what is new becasue if used effectively it just may make you some $$.

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on August 27, 2012 at 8:16am

I love Linkedin. In fact I'd say I'm one of the most.progressive users of it. Love it!

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on August 27, 2012 at 2:28pm

Don't misunderstand Ron, i use LInkedin like a big dog. I think Jerry and i both were some of the first who tried using twitter, facebook, and all the other new stuff. I always try something new and see how it works but it doesn't take long to identify what is a time suck and a feel good. I was recruiting in MSN chat rooms back in the late 90's. I use Monster, Career Builder, and various niche boards as well as posting jobs on Linkedin in specific groups. If you got the idea that either Jerry or myself are sitting in a dusty little hole digging through phone books and trade journals we didn't make ourselves very clear. :)

All i am saying is that while anybody is running searches on all the trendy stuff, try looking in the local yellow pages for people who live there, work there and know most of the people who are in their profession who may or may not be on LInkedin. I know this is a shock but there are thousands of people who are not involved in social media and won't ever be.

Nice commercial Vinda. Buy an ad!