Social Media Recruiting Works? Prove It.

I am working on two searches that have turned out to be somewhat of a purple squirrel and shouldn't be..I thought. Having advertised the positions, direct called, asked for personal referrals etc. etc. Still no viable candidates that are of interest to my client. Now, they have changed the job requirements mid search which caused some whiplash. But here's my thought. To all you who believe that social media recruiting is the holy grail..show me the candidates. If you can find candidates for these two positions using only social media, no posting ads, no direct calls, if you have one in the data base he/she has to be the result of social media recruiting, i'll split with you.

These will not make you rich, but on the surface they won't seem to be that difficult so if you want to give it a try, let's see if your medicine works. If it works we'll post about how you did it and give you the opportunity to show us how you did it.

Here's the job description:

Position: Staff Level Operations Manager - Wholesale Distribution

Location: Atlanta, Georgia - Here's the catch. Must be within 20 minutes commute time from the Lawrenceville, Georgia area. Prefer not to relo.

Salary Range: 50 to 60K. No bonus potential. 401K, Medical insurance effective after 90 days and expensive for family coverage first year. Fee is 20% of base, split paid upon receipt of check from company. 90 day replacement guarantee.

Deg. Supply Chain Management, Logistics, Business with supply chain management or other four year degree with Supply Chain/wholesale distribution experience..

Functional Responsibility: Supervise a team of 20 -25 hourly associates in a fast paced , automated pick, pack ship environment. Flexible for second shift or weekend shift work. Position is one of 12 Ops Managers at this level reporting to the AGM and GM. Experience with SAP, Red Prairie, High Jump or Manhattan WMS PkMS.

What the client wants. Min. of 3-4 years management experience in the wholesale distribution warehouse facility of any of the big box DC's ie; Target, K-Mart, Toys R. Us, Best Buy, etc. Can not consider candidates coming directily from Wal Mart distribution. Manufacturing background not a fit.

Retail not a fit. Stable job record. Heavy on the stable job record. Good reasons for change.

If you can find candidates using social media only i will be impressed. Questions, comments, my email address is prosearch@suddenlinkmail.com. Or post it here. We have looked at a lot of candidates for these positions. If we already have them from ads or direct recruiting will let you know immediately. I want to see if social media is really a tool that will produce candidates who are not findable using other recruiting processes. Wanna play?

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on November 4, 2010 at 6:38pm

I certainly feel your pain about texting. I hate it..because i have long fingernails that don't work so have to use the side of the finger which has created at best a new language. But having a granddaughter who refuses to answer her phone but will not ignore a text i am forced to use it. Admit to sending nine exclamation points in a row, which literally means. Call me now damnit or i will have your ears on the wall. Although nothing irritates me more than watching a world full of people walking around falling off curbs , driving and sitting in restaurants texting away. Rude pukes, get bumped by taxi once or twice or go in the ditch if you're lucky. Some of that needs to be reined in IMHO.

I use a code with candidates. If the text comes in CMN Candy Barr. If means Call me now. Candy Barr was a stripper of some fame (just in case somebody else sees the text). there are companies who monitor text messages on company issued cells.

God did i hate onion skin paper. I thought it was grand when things began to be printed in triplicate and were pressure sensitive so we could eliminate carbon paper. If anybody ever trys to hype you about the "good old days", tell them to kiss your grits. It was wretched.

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Permalink Reply by C. B. Stalling!! on November 9, 2010 at 4:02pm

anyone fill this for you?

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Permalink Reply by Michelle (Shemenske) Hagans on November 9, 2010 at 4:08pm

Just an update: My sourced from LinkedIn candidate interviews with the client tomorrow.

Michelle Shemenske said:

We got a new order at 2:01 ET on Tuesday. As we're primarily an IT staffing company and the order was for a Jr. level product marketing candidate, our database was of little help. We quickly set up ads and then I personally jumped to LinkedIn to do a search. I contacted 3 previously unknown to me potential candidates with what appeared to be great background. By 2:36 PM I had a response from one of them. She was employed but not in her chosen field. She emailed me her full resume at 3:16.

I spoke with the candidate Tuesday morning at 9:30. We met in my office Tuesday afternoon at 3:00. She was a great candidate. She was submitted to the client before 5:00 on Tuesday. We're waiting for them to set up interview times. I'll let you know how it goes.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on November 9, 2010 at 5:32pm

The candidate that Maria found is scheduled for onsite on 11/16. Stay tuned.

I had one candidate back for second interview today. He was a personal referral from an HR contact with another company. Another candidate interviews tomorrow who responded to a Career Builder post. No other response from social media gurus. One lady gave it a try with several linkedin candidates but they were not a fit for the position. Still no takers with candidates from twitter or facebook or talent communities.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Whitfield on November 16, 2010 at 1:09pm

Social Recruiting, especially Linkedin (which I consider the best of the social recruiting sites), is just another tool in a recruiters belt. It is just as ridiculous to think that it should be ignored as a potential source as it would be to ignore job boards, referrals, or any other possible tool. A good recruiter uses every source available to them for a difficult search. Period. Anybody that doesn't use the available tools is costing themselves time, effort, and money. For a very specialized search, twitter and facebook are less likely to be successful IMO. Targeted recruiting using Linkedin, including groups, is a fantastic starting point. They will NOT fill the job by themselves. You still have to contact the people and do everything else you would in any 'cold recruiting scenario'.

Maria already proved the usefulness of linkedin - even if her candidate doesn't get the job. She found a good candidate who is getting interviewed. The source is actually irrelevent.

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Permalink Reply by C. B. Stalling!! on November 16, 2010 at 1:20pm

good luck to all, wonder what the fee is?

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on November 16, 2010 at 1:25pm

Agree 100% Brian, I think everybody agrees that Linkedin is an excellent source. Particularly the groups as you have mentioned. I was looking for some successful use of twitter, facebook or somebody that had a candidate from one of the fabled talent communities to see if anything other than Linkedin could deliver.

Maria's candidate is interviewing this afternoon. It will be interesting to see how this interview goes because the thing that intrigued my client was a short video presentation that the candidate had provided a link to on his linkedin profile. It was professionally done by a firm in Georgia who specializes in outplacement. The candidate is not being outplaced but took advantage of the career services of this firm after contacting them thinking they were a recruiting firm. The most interesting thing about this candidate is that he does not fit the job profile in any respect. So we will see if getting him in the back door because he is an impressive person will work.

My take is that good recruiters use every source known to man or beast, if a source doesn't yield someone after a reasonable amount of time spent utilizing it, it's time to focus on a source that does.

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on November 16, 2010 at 1:27pm

CB, fee is listed in my original post. 20% of base.

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Permalink Reply by Naomi on November 29, 2010 at 10:33am

Sandra,

How did the 11/16 interview go? Have you been able to fill this position yet? Or have the holidays stalled everything? :)

-Naomi

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on November 29, 2010 at 12:10pm

Maria's candidate who was interviewed on 11/16 was not offered a position because, as the hiring manager put it, "He is an impressive young man, has great talent but because he does not have experience in our industry, i would have to bring him in at 10K less than what he is making now." "He is underpaid where he is currently so i would be doing him a great disservice to him career wise if i even considered asking him to take that kind of step back." The candidate was appreciative of the candor.

After three on site interviews another candidate was about to be offered a position until it was discovered that a glitch in his background check prevented the offer from being made.

I am waiting to hear the results of a second interview that took place the day before Thanksgiving.

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Permalink Reply by C. B. Stalling!! on November 29, 2010 at 12:26pm

OK so it has been a month. Is your client happy with the 3 interviews and using these social sites or would time been better spent just hounding candidates and searching job boards?

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Permalink Reply by Sandra McCartt on November 29, 2010 at 12:33pm

The candidate interviewed on 11/16 was a linkedin candidate. The one turned down due to background glitch responded to an ad. The one interviewed the day before Thanksgiving was a referral. The client doesn't give a rip where they come from. Don't think anyone has wasted any time searching job boards. Positions have been posted on two of the big boards. Aprox 400 applications from those with four or five who were interviewed but turned down. Social Media recruiting has actually yielded none who fit the requirements.