Technology has become a blessing in disguise helping organizations save tremendous costs recruitment related activities. Employers generate the interest of potential pool of talent by using numerous online resources like Monster.com, Careerbuilder.com, Dice.com, etc… Why have professionals suddenly turned their back on conventional sources of recruitment? Well the answer lies in a simple fact: Social media websites have a user base of over 500 million users worldwide and is steadily achieving the status of being the most effective medium to find the perfect job-fit personality. It opens a door to fresh talent from across the globe that tempts us all to use social media as a more effective source of sourcing.

Successfully using social media sites as a recruitment tool – to both market your role and source candidates - is however both an art and a science that requires extensive training, creativity and patience.  Let’s take a general look at the potential with the top 3 social sites used for recruitment today:

1.    Facebook                                                                       

No matter how many candidates a company has in their database it can never be compete with the numerical strength of the active users on facebook as it has gradually evolved into one of the most interactive social media websites in the present era. You can increase the pool of applicants by using the option of facebook directory through which you can search people, pages, groups and applicants. The most essential part of the facebook setting is the work experience feature that enables every user to share their employment history with other facebook users. Recruiters consider it as a green signal to offer promising positions to capable candidates who might be interested in their company's job vacancy. Also an extensive co-workers network is maintained as they update their work experience which enables an HR manager to connect with numerous employees of a respective company by simply typing it's name.

The website further allows individuals to specify their position title, and recruiters can easily type the job titles and find themselves connected with prospective candidates. The biggest obstacle in using facebook for sourcing is the privacy limitations settings that restrict you to only viewing personal information of applicants added in your friend's list or in your regional network. Despite this, facebook can still assist you in finding relevant candidates who you can easily approach and invite for a job interview.

 Another beneficial facebook feature titled 'facebook marketplace', allows you to post advertisements which if used wisely forms an effective tool for sourcing. You can use it to post a job at no cost by providing basic information about the vacancy including job title, location and description. Being a recruiter you can filter out the advertisement audience by paying a small fee.

Facebook also allows you to create a business profile page at no cost. The page can be made public and then used to share business products and other related information. The page can be a huge source of revenue generation and promotion medium if you ensure that the information listed on the page is updated on a regular basis. On this page you can post job openings for users following the page. Given that the page has a hefty amount of followers you will automatically have access to a very large amount of possible candidates.

 2.    LinkedIn

LinkedIn is described on the website as, "LinkedIn is an interconnected network of experienced professionals from around the world, representing 170 industries and 200 countries. You can find, be introduced to, and collaborate with qualified professionals that you need to work with to accomplish your goals."

LinkedIn is a major source of recruiting individuals - its sole purpose of creation was to fill the gap between the supply and demand of talented pool of candidates. Instilling its roots as a professional social networking website, it has gained immense popularity in recent times. LinkedIn has created 'LinkedIn Talent' which is a heaven of tools for recruiters and employers that can be accessed after paying a minimal fee ($2,000 - $5,000 for the basic membership).

In addition to the search functions within the site, you can purchase and post jobs for candidates to find and apply to. LinkedIn also allows users to join different groups which you can access by joining groups relevant to the job vacancy of the organization Once you have joined the group you can easily interact with all the members and communicate with them by sending messages. Another effect method is to create and manage your own industry relevant group

3.    Twitter

Twitter is regularly being used by many small companies and recruiters who are seeking a competitive edge in the market. Firstly, it is extremely essential to have a fair amount of followers. To carry out this task, recruiters have to first build relationships with candidates.  Once you have attracted a decent amount of followers you can now tweet jobs to gain maximum attention. An example would be “looking for a marketing manager in California, competitive salary, to apply call at xxxxxx or email at xxxxxxx”. To make your tweets more unique you can also add hash tags. Hash tags are a convenient feature to sort out relevant information. By attaching the hash tag with a suitable keyword you allow it to be easily searchable. In the case of recruiters relevant keywords can include #marketingmanager, #employment, #jobavailable, #recruiting and the list can go on and on. You can use as many hash tags as you want however you are limited by 140 characters only.

The tweets you post, the number of followers you have gained, and the level of interaction you exhibit with the followers sends out a strong message about your company's image. Make sure you use the space well to generate interest from the right kind of individuals.

Social Media -  The next step in talent identification...

Companies have realized that in order to achieve a position of sustained competitive advantage they need to carefully recruit an army of talented individuals that will weave a pathway of success for the organization. In order to recruit a pool of talented individuals it is essential to locate the biggest sources of relevant candidates. Social media has played an integral role here by opening doors to a new form of recruitment where the talent streams are seemingly endless. These sites give you access to extensive personal information compared to job boards and so they also serve as a perfect alternative for background information seeking and for fully understanding the non-technical makeup of the candidate (i.e. personality, priorities, hobbies, goals, etc). Social media websites, especially facebook and LinkedIn provide you with a broad insight into the lives of the individual and this plays a major role in helping companies realize whether a candidate is a fit in terms of corporate culture, job specification and other job-related factors.

Learning to strategically use social media websites is a necessity for the digital age. Molding the elements of this technological medium requires expertise rooting from practical as well as intuitive knowledge. Again, effectively incorporating social media sites into your talent acquisition strategy is a fusion of both art and science that feeds on creativity, experience, expertise and patience and whose yield could be THE determining factor in your company's long term success.