Are you a good fit for this job?

Who – me? You’re asking me if I’m a good fit for your job?

Well gimme a minute. You know what I do, right? I’m a recruiter! Nearly every person who follows you is a recruiter, resume coach, PR firm, ATS guy or HR lady. This is one giant fishbowl of people who DO NOT do what your client needs. So why do you keep up the exercise?

Remember waaaaaaaayyyy back a few years ago before social media? Remember how you actually had to put together a presentation? You know – a list of features and benefits? A general summary of reasons your prospect MIGHT want to consider your opportunity? Remember when the goal was to connect with people who know the skills your client is looking for? Remember the phrase “Say what you need to say to people you need to say it to?”

Did that just go out the window? Is “sales” no longer in style? Has anybody (ANYBODY) replied to your job tweets? Ever? Really? (Don’t fib now – it’s just you and me talking here…..)

My guess is no. This is not your “Talent Community.” It’s a Social Media Mutual Admiration Society. We do not know anyone who does what you are looking for.

And by they way – before you go on and on about how careful you’ve been about your follow list…..I looked. There’s not a single (fill in the blank) on your list. Or at least in the last hundred of so people that are following you. They’re all guys and gals like me…..and you. It’s us here – not them!

If someone on your list just happens to be a…….C++ Embedded SW Eng in NYC….here’s an idea. Call them. Get to know them! Why just throw out a random tweet or FB update hoping it happens to cross their newsfeed at exactly the same moment in time their eyes are looking at the screen? I mean – you don’t think they’ve got you set up with your own Tweetdeck column, do you? Just hoping, PRAYING that some point in the near future you’ll randomly tweet “Are you a good fit for this job” in front of a list of buzzwords tailored just for them….do you?

So why are you still doing it? Does it make you feel better? Like – you’re really working here? Like – this is business?

Here’s a tip for you – it’s not. You’re wasting your time. “Are you a fit for this job?” is not business – it’s a joke.

Get it? You’ve been had.

Comment by Sandra McCartt on October 3, 2011 at 4:08pm: @Frank I am so glad to know that email is dead. Does that mean that i won't get anymore spam crap. I hope there were a lot of internet marketers at that conference so they will quit emailing me. If we can't fight em, let's trick em'. Email is dead, recruiters are dead, so there is no reason to post or email your stuff. We are all dead. Go find a live audience.

Comment by Frank Zupan on October 3, 2011 at 4:14pm: @Sandra-Just don't count on finding that "live audience" on a job board...they're dead. Kaput. Finished.

Comment by Luke Collard on October 3, 2011 at 6:43pm: Obviously dependent on what sector you recruit in and how closely linked you Twitter followers and LinkedIn connections are to that. Anyone who uses these tools well, will have built a relevant populatoin of potential candidates or sources of referals. Maybe simpler for me as I work in Rec2Rec so my target audience of recruiters is pretty easy to build.

Comment by Bill Boorman on October 3, 2011 at 6:51pm: Jerry,

You make a good point here. I'm a big fan of social.I've made it work and seen it work first hand. At the same time I've seen plenty of people either half doing it in a lazy way, in the hope of an easy result. We see this constantly in LinkedIn in particular. I would argue that tweeted jobs can work, when you use an app like TwitterJobSearch, where the response comes from outside of your following. I've seen it working first hand for Oracle, but they are a big enough brand to sustain it. I've also seen twitter work well for niche consultancies like Cloud Nine, though Steve does recruit in social media. He has spent plenty of time building a targeted audience. and gets hires in this way. It's worth using the channels and tools available to find candidates and share opportunities, not at the expense of picking up the phone.

Bill

Comment by Sandra McCartt on October 3, 2011 at 6:57pm: @Frank I know , the last three i placed that came from a job board had to be resusitated after the cadavar dogs sniffed them out. But i do work with pathologists so i guess it doesn't make any difference if my candidates are dead 1.0 or 4.0. Blatt! I have been declared dead so many times that i feel like i should start a religion. But i promise it will not have a facebook fan page.

@Luke Geeze my friend, there is not much alive on twitter but recruiters. Like shooting fish in a barrel. You certainly picked the right niche for twitter success. Roll it out there and the pirrahna go into a feeding frenzy. :)

Comment by Christopher Poreda on October 3, 2011 at 7:49pm: Great post and commentary.

The truth is; telephone, linkedin, directories, job boards, ATS, paper and pencil, tweets, FB, etc. are simply tools...each to be used to varying degrees depending on a variety of variables.

Of course there is a lot of value to branding yourself; getting your name out there as often as possible so when you do use the telephone (the preferred method of selling) your name is more recognizable, at least in their subconscious. But ultimately it's all about focus and time management. Phone during business hours...everything else after and on weekends. No tweeting at 1:30 pm! Those of us over 40 need to understand that technology, when used correctly can only complement our efforts.

Comment by Bill Boorman on October 3, 2011 at 8:33pm: Quick question Jerry, does your LinkedIn network have relevance or also all recruiters?

Comment by Jeff on October 3, 2011 at 10:00pm: Luke Collard's comment is very interesting.

Comment by Simon Topps on October 4, 2011 at 5:05am: Thats a horrific closed question!!

Comment by Andrew Hally on October 4, 2011 at 9:15am: Hi, Jerry. As you know my company, Bullhorn, makes software to help recruiters utilize social media, including Twitter, more effectively. I don't know anyone who thinks recruiters should stop using the phone. Partly it's a question of marketing versus sales. You gotta talk to someone to close a deal. But most businesses I know need to market to create future sales and it's hard to market via phone. If you want to market effectively, you have to follow the audience. And they've gone from TV/newspapers to email/web sites and now on to social media. Check the stats from Nielsen. This trend is bigger than recruiting. People like getting info via social media more than those other ways. Recruiters will adapt to these new tools just as they always have.

How well does Twitter work for recruiters? I'll share data from those using Bullhorn Reach in the U.S. recently. 52% are leveraging Twitter versus 99% on LinkedIn and 40% Facebook. The average recruiter has 220 Twitter followers. I don't know what % are other recruiters versus candidates/clients. Interesting questions - I'll try to find out.

Twitter works well for attracting candidates to job openings. Our users have received over 6,000 applications from tweets. Anecdotally, candidates from social media are higher quality than other new sources. More candidates connect after searching Twitter rather than seeing tweets as they're posted. We see over 3,000 Twitter searches per day for jobs. And as others have pointed out, many leads come when people share with their own network. Most recruiters succeeding with social media mix in job posts with content about their industry, local employment trends, etc. to establish credentials and build/nurture their following. In this way they typically double size of following in the first four months.

Hope the info is helpful!