For those of you that don't know what I am referring to, when I talk about 'Tipping Point':
The Tipping point is when the event of a previously rare occurrence become rapidly and dramatically more common
(If you want to understand this in a commercial context, then Malcolm Gladwell's bestseller entitled The Tipping Point is a seminal book, you have to read)

Even just last year, most people hadn't even heard of social recruiting. Sure, everyone had heard of social media, and then they combined this with recruitment to make it "social media in recruitment". But it was only the middle of 2009 when the phrase social recruiting really started to gain momentum.

But has social recruiting reached its tipping point yet?

The simple answer is no, it hasn't.

However, it does seem to have at last caught the imagination of many companies and recruitment organisations. It has finally got them asking questions about tools and platforms that they should be using as part of their everyday recruitment strategy. Whether they choose to use them is another story, and that is usually dependent on senior executives in organisations having the vision of how recruitment is quickly evolving.

What I am finding though, is that when I have conversations with new and prospective clients about the subject of social recruiting (this is the subject they all want to know about), it is nearly always highlights the need to review their existing recruitment processes, strategies and staff competency. While they may feel that they want to implement the 'sexy' social networking platforms into their business, many companies are simply not ready to deal with the implications of going social.

I call this the 'social recruiting drawing breath' phase, and I guess it really means that this is a quick reality check for a company, considering using social media as a recruitment and engagement tool.

The most common problem for companies, believe it or not, is a lack of an online recruitment system (also known as an ATS or applicant tracking system), to receive, a process and action incoming candidates. There is absolutely no point in generating loads of interest and buzz about vacancies and opportunities in your company, if all you have in place is an e-mail inbox! It is a car crash just waiting to happen!

So, will social recruiting ever reach a tipping point?

Absolutely, but probably not for little while yet.

There are still many companies who have social networking bans within their organisations - they simply don't allow their consultants or their employees access to websites like Facebook, Twitter and (absolutely amazingly) LinkedIn. Why, I don't know. Do they not realise that all social media platforms now have mobile applications across all types of mobile phone, PDA or smart phone? Employees simply connect via these mobile devices instead - simple!
So the tipping point for social recruiting simply cannot happen, until the companies with the old-fashioned attitudes get with the program, and realise that social media - whether that be Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare or any other platform - is now part of the corporate landscape.

So, all you companies or recruitment organisations out there who are still hedging your bets on whether you should be looking at social media, don't worry it won't bite!
Used correctly, social recruiting will certainly benefit your business, as well as bringing firmly into the 21st century.

This post was originally posted on my blog www.sironasays.com