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 Steve Levy on January 27, 2009 at 11:47am

Tells us nothing - 50 recruiters using Twitter is simply 50 recruiters using Twitter. No sense of success metrics.

I wonder why Jim would even write a post like this.

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Permalink Reply by CraigCampbell (craigjcampbell.com) on January 27, 2009 at 12:24pm

Say it Jerry!

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 27, 2009 at 12:32pm

Just a quick note though - this is not any type of jab at Jim Stroud. In fact - I'm glad he did this. I like his stuff and this is great.

It should make us think about whether we want to be on list like that or not. Some aspire to it. Others could care less. I am squarely in the middle.......

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on January 27, 2009 at 12:53pm

Jerry - and Jim:

This isn't a knock on anyone. Lists like these remind me more of stuff for Cosmo and Glamour magazines. Speaking about social media and its uses in recruiting would be more effective if rather than posting the list, an article would have been written to include the time spent Twittering each week and the correlation to (in no special order)

New leads (compared to other channels)
Jobs to be filled (again, compared to other channels)

...I'm in the middle of a post lunch food coma or else I'd list a few more.

Again, I'm not panning Jim at all; it's just that in knowing him for years, I'm surprised he offered the list as a Top Recruiter's list.

Jerry Albright said:

Just a quick note though - this is not any type of jab at Jim Stroud. In fact - I'm glad he did this. I like his stuff and this is great.

It should make us think about whether we want to be on list like that or not. Some aspire to it. Others could care less. I am squarely in the middle.......

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Permalink Reply by pam claughton on January 27, 2009 at 12:55pm

Jerry,
Is that what it measures? I try to follow people in the space that I recruit in, and just follow a few recruiters that interest me. My goal with twitter is to get the word out to people who might be interested in the jobs I'm working on.

~Pam

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 27, 2009 at 1:00pm

I don't really know what criteria was/is measured on the list. Maybe Jim can shed some light on that. I think it is # of followers and or # of followees. Though I could be wrong.

The vast majority of those recruiters are following other recruiters and "social media experts" and the like.

I am personally looking for the recruiters - or anyone for that matter - who are following or being followed - again - I don't care which - by a group of the kind of candidates I am currently interested in. Oh what a find that would be!

So if you're reading this dear recruiter with a growing "follower/followee" list of C++ experts please hook up with me! http://twitter.com/jerry_albright

pam claughton said:

Jerry,
Is that what it measures? Seems silly. I try to follow people in the space that I recruit in, and just follow a few recruiters that interest me. My goal with twitter is to get the word out to people who might be interested in the jobs I'm working on.

~Pam

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Permalink Reply by Todd Kmiec on January 27, 2009 at 1:23pm

I'm sure Jerry is right that most of the following out there is same group/individual following same group, not group/individual following or being followed by target market. I see value in both. I am very interested in following like minded people in the recruiting industry that are innovative, work hard, and bring solid thoughts or ideas to the table. For a virtual office person I look at this as a method of building a network or circle of strong co-workers. I think the two strategies need to be separated. It's easier to build a following of people like you than to build a following in your target market. But, if you can get a strategy in place to build the target market following, that would be a huge winner. I'm still working on mine.

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Permalink Reply by Steve Levy on January 27, 2009 at 1:43pm

Todd, this is the Holy Grail of Recruiting and just like it's called sources of hire, every strategy must include multiple channels. What I'd like to see are people talking about their specific channel successes contrasted against other channels and the differences between them as far as processes and techniques are concerned.

Todd Kmiec said:

...if you can get a strategy in place to build the target market following, that would be a huge winner. I'm still working on mine.

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Permalink Reply by Regina Farr on January 27, 2009 at 1:46pm

I basically setup my twitter up like Pam. I follow people in the medium for which I'm recruiting... I however follow many social media people because I hope to glean from them... and finally I may follow a few in a medium in which I'm interested in learning more.... Can others show how they address followers on twitter.

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Permalink Reply by Regina Farr on January 27, 2009 at 1:47pm

Regina Farr said:

I basically setup my twitter up like Pam. I follow people in the medium for which I'm recruiting... I however follow many social media people because I hope to glean from them... and finally I may follow a few in a medium in which I'm interested in learning more.... Can others share how they address followers on twitter.

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Permalink Reply by Dr.Larisa Varenikova on January 27, 2009 at 1:51pm

Good question LOL -:)

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Permalink Reply by Jerry Albright on January 27, 2009 at 1:54pm

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......