Social Media has changed everything for the better. People are spending more time on facebook, orkut, Linked In, Twitter and other Social Sites.

People are building their social and professional networks to stay connected, communicate, share and much more. Everyone is more approachable now than before.

Now, It is easy to reach out to others with similar interests on Linked In, Facebook or Orkut by searching profiles, groups, communities and blogs. Let’s look at the Growth of Major Social Networking Sites people spend their time
online.

Facebook’s strong growth and ambition is ready to take over google in Traffic Rank. The growth of LinkedIn and Twitter is also remarkable. The Orkut rank has suffered bit after addition of photograph privacy
feature and facebook sucking up their users. Orkut, although not
growing, has been steady.

Everyone looks happy with Social Media. Is someone really suffering from Social Media? Let’s take a look at the Alexa graphs of Major Job boards of India over last two years.

India’s #1 Job board Naukri had Alexa traffic rank of around 300 before mid 2009. Now, It has a traffic rank of 437. The change has been consistent over last 2 years.

Monster India had a traffic rank of around 600 before mid 2009. Current Monster India traffic rank of 1029 reflects a considerable loss. Apart from
loss in the traffic rank, the ‘page views’ have also reduced
significantly.

If the same trend continues, we can question the popularity and value of big Job Boards over the next 2-4 years.

Why is this happening?

Now with a large number of people becoming easily approachable on social media. The mechanics of ‘Post Job and Pray’ (for people to apply) doesn’t work well any more. The quality talent is already being
approached by a bunch of recruiters on Social Media.

The professional has been won with social media. The professional has the choice of choosing the right company and companies need to work to get to the right talent.

Recruiters can search and directly reach out to potential job candidates on Social Media with ‘Job Opportunity’ messages. It is a win-win situation. Candidates receive the relevant Job Opportunities in
email and Recruiters don’t have to wait for people to ‘Apply’ to it.

This results into talented people not needing to go to the job boards.

Some Tips for Professionals

• Connect with the best in your company, industry and skill-set. If you’re a best an IT professional connect with other IT Professionals. This helps you build your ‘Social Graph’.
• It is recommended to keep your Social Network profiles updated on Linked In, Facebook and also Orkut. You can put down professional information for others to approach you.
• Social Media is about conversation and engagement. It is also a good idea to join professional communities and groups on Social Networks that you may use. You may get noticed and approached with high paying
  job offers.
• Open Source Contribution is good idea for programmers. It becomes easy for your next employer to verify your strengths if you’ve major contribution online.
• Blog is one of the best way to express yourself without a doubt. You can write articles on your subjects on interest, technologies or ideas.

All these will help recruiters and other people with similar interests to reach out to you and connect with you.

Sounds great? – Get started soon

Tips for Recruitment Managers

Although Job boards are a proven value proposition and easiest way to reach out to the ‘Active’ job seekers, excessive dependence on job boards may result into receiving of many unrelated profiles, heavy
dependency on agencies that will incur high costs.

Social Media has increased the work of bringing talent on board. Companies will need to work smart to anticipate the change.

The recruitment managers may need to devise a good social media strategy to reach out people on the social media in general and social networks in particular.

I am sure very soon you will hear Job profiles with titles like Social Media Recruiter, Talent Attraction Manager and Sourcing Strategy Manager

The Social Media has emerged as a new way to connect with people, stay in touch and also get new opportunities.

what do you think ? Is social media the next job board? Looking forward to your ideas, views and comments.