Social recruiting? It's just a passing fad (unless you're a household name company of course)

Microsoft. Apple. Google. Coca Cola. Virgin. The BBC. What do they have in common? Each of them could advertise on the back of a cigarette packet, put a card in a shop window or float a message in a bottle out to sea and they would still get a good response to their recruitment campaigns. Indeed all of them receive hundreds of unsolicited applications each and every year.

Go to a conference and listen to the head of HR of one of these corporate giants wax lyrical about how social media is an integral part of what they do, has generated great interest and they have even filled a few vacancies through it. Great. I’m genuinely pleased for them. But what about the rest of us? The companies not so many people have heard of or aspire to work for? The unknown SME that may well offer better terms and conditions and brighter career development possibilities?

You'll hear plenty of talk about social recruiting is where it's at. Build a relationship with people. Get a fan page on Facebook. Get people liking your company. Get them wanting to work for you because you sound like such a great, down to earth yet aspirational organisation. The theory's great. The trouble is, it's just a theory. Do individuals really want to announce their interest in working for a particular company when someone from their current employer might be snooping around? Is declaring your love of a certain organisation something people are happy to do in a group or are career aspirations strictly an individual, private thing (not to mention the embarrassment of an adult confessing to ‘liking’ a company. It’s like the virtual note passed under the desk at school - ’I really fancy you’)? Truth is, no one really knows for certain.

What is certain however is that if you go looking online for testimonials about social recruiting as a success story, you'll find they are few and far between. Yes, you'll find the household names extolling the virtues but, as I said, what about the hundreds and thousands of other companies that don't enjoy such a high profile? The information to back up the theory just isn’t out there.

Easy, the social media gurus will tell you. Companies just need to go out there and get themselves a Facebook fan page, tweet a lot, blog about how great they are etc. etc. “Build it and they will come” mentality. But, if every organisation did that then social networks would merely be full of companies talking about how great it is to work for them, so how would a potential candidate be able to differentiate? How would seeing the wood for the trees be any easier? If anything it would get more bewildering and confusing.

Quite simply, social recruiting is an over-rated fad that will only ever get results for well-known companies that people have aspired to work for for years. There, I’ve said it.

Sure, there’s no harm in having a company page that talks about how great an employer you are, just as tweeting your vacancies may possibly generate a bit of interest. But, the social networks themselves are so time critical, so full of transient inhabitants who a lot of the time aren’t looking for a job but just want to talk about their day or crack a joke or tweet a link to a picture of a redneck house built out of multi-storey caravans. There are so many other channels they can use if they’re looking for a job. Plus, no one really knows how many accounts are active and how many have been created by individuals who, once the novelty wore off, just went off and explored the latest fad to come along (right now, they’re probably on Quora. In six months who knows?)

Don’t get me wrong. I think social media as a whole, has its uses. I myself get business from it. It’s also a consumer products company’s dream (low outlay, add in to the whole marketing mix etc) But, as a recruitment vehicle for anyone but the Fortune and FTSE companies, the household names and the high profile? Sorry, but no (though of course I would be more than happy for recruiters to post comments about successes they have had via Twitter, Facebook, Linekdin and the like.

Remember, when I blog, I like to be contentious and generate a lively debate, so don’t take it personally. No one really knows what's down the road for social and this is just my take. Why not prove me wrong with some testimonials that aren't from well-known companies?

Comment by Paul Alfred on February 14, 2011 at 3:19pm: Yes at the VP Level from time to time and a lot of HRIS Folks ... Do you have a need in this area ... ?

Comment by Jerry Albright on February 14, 2011 at 3:24pm: I was just wondering. Yes - there is exposure here. That's clear. And for anyone recruiting in this space I'm sure it's fantastic. But you can hardly use this an example of Social Recruiting.

If anyone can show me a community (this involved) populated by Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Plant Managers, Process Engineers - I'm all ears. Believe me. But as far as I know - and I've looked - there simply is not one. Most of my target recruits just keep to themselves - hardly visit any social media sites.

So it works in some (limited) fields - and doesn't quite bring home the bacon in others.

Comment by Paul Alfred on February 14, 2011 at 3:40pm: Jerry just because we have SM Tools does not translate to lay down your old school headhunter training ... The point I am trying to make to Alasdair is that folks who have entrenched themselves in the SM World in combination with the offline world have seen and continue to have success with SM in more ways than one and in my case recruiting has a been positively impacted .. But if you are not prepared to invest the time to fully understand the new tools and the World of SM ... How can you expect to reap any positive benefit .. ?

Comment by James Todd on February 14, 2011 at 6:06pm: Alasdair, I think your orginal assesment is dead on. My observation is that when it comes to SM the biggest proponents and I assume the folks getting the most out of it are personnel in marketing vs sales and internal recruiters for large firms vs smaller independents. Additionally there seems to be job functions and industries that SM is more effective with than others.

The upcoming IPO for LinkedIn and the required disclosures are beginning to reveal just what a major player they are in recruiting.

LinkedIn says in its most recent SEC documents that it has three revenue streams, including advertising, premium subscriptions, and hiring solutions for HR managers who tap its database (emphasis added). “The last category has grown the most quickly in recent months, accounting for some 41% of revenue in the first nine months of 2010. LinkedIn’s revenue reached $161 million in the nine months ending Sept. 30, 2010.

I don't believe that SM is transforming the entire recruiting industry, but it is definitely leaving a mark.

Comment by K.C. on February 14, 2011 at 6:43pm: Todd - I'm confused with your post about Linked In...no disrespect intended, but you made the point that Social Recuiting is more suited to sales and marketing (not so much for others...), and on the other hand you state that LI got 41% of revenue in the first three quarters of 2010 from recruiting (its fastest growth category...)

Linked In is one of the mosts active Social Recruiting sites in the Internet...along with Twitter and Facebook, the three are the most actively described Social Recruiting sites by just about all of the thought leaders in our space...were you making the case that LI is not a Social Recruiting site? If you could explain further that would be great.

Comment by Phil Welch on February 15, 2011 at 4:26am: Jerry - you say you've been looking for "a community...populated by Mechanical Engineers, Electrical Engineers, Plant Managers, Process Engineers". Ever thought about starting one?

To my mind, the beauty of SM is that, if you provide the right forum, people will come (just like this site). And then you'll build a reputation for being a thought leader in your respective field.

Comment by Alasdair Murray on February 15, 2011 at 4:56am: But will people come Phil? BBS forums have been around for years. Indeed I was an active member of one, albeit a sporting one, not a work related one, and met many people who I would not otherwise have met. However, as novel as that was, employment related forums never really took off in abig enough way to attract advertisers in their droves. I believe that's because when the majority of people think about looking for work they already know where to go. I myself have alerts set up with The Guardian, Creativepool and one of the generalist sites using keywords to filter out irrelevant roles. Why then would I need to waste my time frequenting social networks looking for career opportunities? I'm not actually looking but like to get these alerts just to see what's out there, quality of writing etc., but the fact remains that for most people who are looking there are already plenty of channels available, some niche, some generalist. If it ain't broke etc.?

Comment by Phil Welch on February 15, 2011 at 5:30am: Alasdair - I think there are enough free platforms out there for people to create forums on, so you don't need advertising. A Facebook page, for instance, is a forum for people to post comments. The only commitment - and one that I think a lot of organisations underestimate - is the amount of time you need to spend to keep these social forums up to date.

We created a Facebook page and a Facebook game app for a client - a major organisation, whose product brands were incredibly well known, but whose corporate brand wasn't well known at all. They were finding this ignorance of their brand was affecting their ability to recruit the high calibre people they needed. By leading conversations, rather than bombarding people with direct marketing messages, research showed that brand awareness was raised in a number of key markets.

Now, some people might say that this wasn't using social media for recruitment. But the Facebook page currently has over 10,000 Likes and the Facebook game app, which gives people a clear idea of the challenges they may face if they work for the organisation, has had over 155,000 unique plays. So, by getting our client's message out to a relevant audience through recommendations, and educating them about the kind of careers available, I'd say we've raised their profile as an employer.

Yes, this is a large organisation, but they turned to SM because they were having problems recruiting, not because people were flocking to them. And they used it intelligently alongside a number of other recruitment activities. I believe a smaller firm could get similarly positive results from starting a forum that's populated with experts from their own organisation and attracting people with similar skills through word-of-mouth. Not a recruitment-focused forum, but one that talks about issues which are interesting and relevant to them and their role or profession. This would support and benefit their existing recruitment activities.

Comment by Alasdair Murray on February 15, 2011 at 5:37am: I agree that SM is good for raising awareness. Where I still have doubts relates to reach, people's reasons for being on Facebook and/or twitter, plus quality of those using social networks to try and find a job. That and the fact that for most jobs companies want someone within commuting distance so people may bang on about Facebook exposing you to 500 million people, but truth is, 499,999,975 of those people are probably irrelevant,no matter who is advertising. But I will concede that for minimal outlay there is no harm in trying to build an employer profile through such channels. Just not convinced the best/relevant people are interested in 'engaging' that way. Everyone likes to play the occasional game online though

Comment by Phil Welch on February 15, 2011 at 5:53am: Alasdair - Glad you agree on the awareness/reputation point. But I think you're being blinkered in seeing Facebook or Twitter as the only type of social networks. I was only using Facebook as an example. The point is, companies can create their own social network that makes them the place to work in their industry.

There are many people who would move home to work for a Google or an Accenture because of their reputations. Social media can help smaller companies to build equally strong reputations among their own audiences, which in turn will make them an equally desirable employer. It's not about spreading the net wide in the hope of catching the right person. It's about developing a community of people you'd like to recruit, so when the time comes they actually want to join you.

Treat social media as just that - social. It's not a forum for overt recruitment messaging. In any typical social situation, people still tend to talk about their jobs and what they enjoy doing. So, be part of these conversations (or, even better, lead them) and you'll soon discover whether the people using these networks are right for your organisation.