On HR and the Social Network Phenomenon

Ok so I'm a big fan of Ning, the company that powers this site as well as RecruitingBlogs.com. In as little as 5 minutes anyone can create their own social network. There's even a premium version which allows you to remove the ads and point to your own domain.

This got me thinking that employers can take advantage of this technology to recruit. Here's how:

1. Create a social network for your company geared towards the industry you recruit for.
2. Require your recruiters to create content on it. Post your jobs. Give information on your interview process, etc.
3. Invite key employees to share content about what its like to work there and give a day-to-day look at their jobs.
4. Promote it on your main company career site to drive job seeker traffic. Give them incentives to become a member so that you can maintain a relationship with these candidates.
5. Use it as a PR tool to make new product announcements, personnel changes, etc.

Its cheap and easy to do this. But it takes a commitment. Today's group of job seekers demand new and unique ways of communicating with your company. It's time employers started engaging this "iPod" generation on their own level.

It's time for HR to "cowboy up". Who among you will be the first?

For yet another unique recruiting idea, click here.

Comment by Slouch on July 12, 2007 at 11:16am: Hey Chris, There are companies and people thinking about it now. The other thing is do you leave it as a public network or not. There are advantages to both.

These are exciting times right now. Ning is interesting in that in no time, you can have a network. The main thing you said in your post is that It takes commitment. The vast majority of blogs and Ning sites is that there is no usage and no one really driving it.

I guess the idea ultimately, is that the network drives itself. Until you get there though, (and I am not sure how many people you need to get there) someone or a group of people need to be very active and very interested in it's success.

Comment by Chris Russell on July 12, 2007 at 11:22am: Agreed Jason. Employers should be worried about the future however and those that don't take the initiative will find it increasingly tougher to recruit. You can still maintain some control over the content if its 'over the top'. The web is a jungle, employers might as well hack through on their own turf.