One of the main concerns about using social media for recruiting is that employees utilizing these tools will take actions that will damage the employment brand of the company. While this is certainly possible, there is also the potential for damage to be done using the telephone, email, or in-person. Perhaps, it is the ever presence of the web or the publicity that well-known brand gaffes have received that is leading to an overabundance of caution when determining how to use these new…

As surprising as this might be, prospective candidates that engage with your employment brand are not always ready to apply the moment they become aware of available employment opportunities. Think about the candidates that find your career site using an iPad or iPhone. Yet, many employers force candidates to make an application decision. This can either lead to a rushed application in an attempt to signal interest or an abandoned/incomplete application because the candidate is not prepared…

For far too long, marketers, advertisers, and recruiters have undervalued the way actual decisions are made. Witness the interrupt driven nature of product advertising and job postings. The assumption is that by placing information in front of customers or prospective candidates, we will automatically convince them to buy our products or apply for work at our organization.



Real World Decisions

In the real world, this is not how things works at all. Most…

Let’s face it, not every prospective candidate who applies will be selected for a job opening. However,the way in which your organization treats each applicant during the recruiting process may determine whether or not your employment brand can continue to attract top candidates.



A recent blog post on Harvard Business Review entitled…

For those who follow Chris Hoyt, AKA TheRecruiterGuy, you know that he recently began a new opportunity at PepsiCo. This week, he periodically tweeted about various aspects of his onboarding process. I'm not sure about anyone else, but after seeing what happened during his 1^st week, PepsiCo sounds like a pretty AWESOME place to work. Check out some of his tweets (…

When I first started using social media tools, I saw lots of complaints and news stories written about the level of personal information being shared. From what folks were eating for lunch to their relationship status, the strictly professional users felt these personal communications were diluting the ultimate value of these emerging platforms. While, there are some who can be described as oversharers; I actually think there is value in sharing personal information. Each one of us have many…

In a blog post released today (May 24^th, 2010) Twitter COO, Dick Costolo, covered a wide variety of topics regarding the Twitter platform. His main emphasis was on the fact that the Twitter management team is concerned with protecting the long-term value of the Twitter platform. Costolo’s main argument follows:

“It is important to keep in…

Employers seeking to utilize social media tools for recruiting are seeking to lower their risk by waiting until there is substantial demonstrable evidence of utility. While this might seem like a smart strategy, it creates a false sense of comfort and ignores the fundamentals of risk & return. Instead of waiting for other employers to lower the risk of investment, focus on creating a measurable strategy with milestone-driven decision points to manage the uncertainty in social recruiting…

Instead of waiting until your organization meets prospective candidates in person to create a connection, why not use the interconnectedness of the web to build those relationships earlier in the recruiting cycle? By communicating your company value proposition, allowing candidates to connect with employees, and having a quality application process; your organization can create a strong foundation for consistently attracting best-in-class talent.



Phase 1: Employer A vs. B, C…

As more and more companies begin to utilize Social Recruiting to achieve their broader strategic recruiting objectives. An important consideration is, what makes an effective social recruiter?



1. Be Present–This means establishing a presence on sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter & niche) that are important to your target audience. The key is to strike the right balance between heavily trafficked and niche sites. For each site that you join, you are going to have…

I’m not keeping score, but apparently a lot of folks in the Twitterverse are. After hacker’s found a way to exploit Twitter into forcing anyone to follow them, Twitter responded to the bug by temporarily resetting all following and follower counts to zero until they could sort things out. For an official overview of the situation, check out Twitter’s blog post.…

Over the past few weeks, Facebook has stayed in the news. While most companies would love the resultant free publicity, many of the stories have not been positively skewed. After introducing new platform changes designed to accelerate the adoption of the social web at their 3…

The opportunities to engage and interact are two of the most often communicated benefits of using social media. While these benefits sound good in theory, I’m not sure that most users are doing a good job of taking seriously their individual responsibility to ensure these benefits are realized. Often times, people who are active on social media and social networks are too busy building their own personal brand to be bothered with 2-way conversation. If the benefits of social media are the…

Over the past few weeks, there have been big changes from well-known technology companies including Facebook, Twitter, and Ning. At the core of many of these changes is a recognition that free only works to a certain point. With this in mind, it makes sense for those who are considering new Social Recruiting services to be cautious whenever a site lists one of its major benefits as free. If you can’t figure out how they are making money now or plan to in the future, it is very risky to base…

A few weeks ago during the 3rd annual developer conference, Facebook rolled out some important changes to their platform. Underlying all of these new changes is their vision for a more social web. While the social web has many potential benefits, the key consideration is, are these changes beneficial for Social Recruiting?



Opt-out vs. Opt-in

After their announcement, some members of Congress sent a…

Just because your company is still deciding on whether or not to implement Social Recruiting into your overall recruiting strategy doesn’t mean you should delay setting a Social Recruiting policy. This can be a simple one-page of guidelines for appropriate use by employees based on the expected usage of these tools now or in the future. Being proactive about developing a usage policy will help avoid many of the issues that can result from a hands-off approach.



Digital…

As our knowledge and learning about Social Recruiting continues to evolve, it might be tempting to simply try to mimic the success of the emerging case studies. However, these case studies should be used not as turn-by-turn directions but more strategically as the foundation for future success. As Wayne Gretzky famously described his hockey strategy, “I skate to where the puck is going, not where it has been.” For someone described as the best hockey player of all time, despite being…

During my professional career, I've been fortunate to be able to take advantage of some fantastic opportunities. As I result; I've developed an amazing network of friends and colleagues. I've personally tapped these fine folks when applying to various opportunities of interest and expect to continue to leverage these connections throughout my career. Since I've become more senior in my career, I knew that eventually I would be called upon to recommend someone else. Here's what happened, I…

After being on Twitter for some time, most people quickly discover that there are several different types of Twitterer. I thought it would be fun to categorize these users into complete arbitrary groups for those that are having trouble placing them.



The Burnout

Like a shooting star, this Twitterer started with a flurry and ended with a whimper. After being so enamored with the site upon joining and tweeting multiple times throughout the day, this user has…

As the conversation shifts from whether or not to use Social Recruiting to how best to use these new tools; I think one of the foundational principles that companies need to embrace is an aim to manage, not control the interactions. I think there are some compelling reasons why this approach will ultimately make the efforts of companies seeking talent more successful.



Network Ownership

In a network, each member is at the center of their own personal and…