Social Recruiting: The Replacement for Cold Calling

By Justin Miller

Article Originally Posted on RecruitingReach.com

A Blog that Caters to the Marketing Aspect of Recruiting

I think it goes without saying that probably the hardest part of the job for recruiters is making cold calls.

Having to make hundreds of calls a day can be a bit daunting on people, especially when only a handful are willing to let you get passed a sentence, and only a handful of those people are willing to work with you on a contingency basis.

It’s a main reason why the turn-over rate is so high amongst recruiting firms; young people with little patience and thin skin. But the cool thing that Biz Stone(Founder of Twitter) Reid
Hoffman (Co-Founder of LinkedIn) and “The King” Mark Zuckerberg (Founder of Facebook) has brought us are avenues in which we can rely less on cold calling, and more on pressure-free conversation.

Sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn are quickly over-taking job boards as places where candidates are going to find their next job opportunity. I get the sentiment that candidates now feel sending their resumes to places like Monster and CareerBuilder is akin to sending it into a black hole, often times never even getting emails back to let them know their information was received.

Why is there a growing trend of candidates on social sites?

Quite frankly, it’s not as if candidates joined these sites to begin their job hunt, they were already members to begin with.

Now as opposed to just interacting with family and friends on sites like Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn they are able to engage companies they are interested in working for. Yet for whatever reason, a lot of recruiters seem unaware that sites like these are crucial for the direction their business is moving towards. As more and more things like televisions, smart phones,
and tablets include social applications in their design features, so too must our industry.

Social sites encourage conversation and interaction, this can help recruiters avoid cold calls and embrace joining in on the dialogue. Depending on what each recruiter’s specialty may be there is a group on Facebook for it, or a list on Twitter that applies. Being present online and having exposure can benefit recruiters to the point where people will now come to YOU (what a thought!). But it’s important to not just overwhelm people with job ads and constant pitches. Become a trusted source for a topic, gain a reputation as someone who knows what their talking about and I guarantee you will find success.

Quality over Quantity.

Do you currently use social media for recruiting purposes? Does it work?

Comment Below

Comment by Justin Miller on December 2, 2010 at 6:19pm: Well since we're quoting:

"Memo to self: I will never, ever get involved in one of these goofy exchanges about social media with a kool aid drinker, ever again."

I think the people reading these comments are getting tired of the arguing Sandra. I'm just as guilty as you are. The good thing about us bickering is that it brought this article some attention and people are actually starting to converse again. So any more posts from you about how young or inexperienced I am...I'm just going to delete them so we can clear the space for people that want to continue to focus on the issue not just on trying to keep digging when there's nothing there to dig...Don't use social media...we get it it doesn't work for anyone.

Comment by Paul Alfred on December 2, 2010 at 6:56pm: Sandra I am trying to finish up at work here I have this proposal to finish but I am crying over the desk you Killlllllllllllll me with Jokes .... I can't stop I am on the ground.... Gesussss!!!

Comment by Thomas Patrick Chuna on December 2, 2010 at 7:21pm: I look at the issue this way.. some prospective candidates & clients pick up their phones, some do not..some return voicemails, some do not..some respond to emails, linkedin requests, and FB messages, while others do not.

Why? Who the hell knows..everyone's different, has different preferences, and has different needs at different times.

How I reach someone isn't important..what's important is that I have something of value when they pick up the phone, or listen to my voicemail, or check whatever social media platform I'm using to stalk them with.

So I like to use all the tools, and i try them all in order to identify and make contact with folks.

A problem I do have with social media is when it's used as a total phone replacement..for gods sake, at least spend the mornings on the phone, even if you are just leaving messages...save the web stuff for the afternoon...or do the reverse if you are more "with it" after lunch.

Not to get too far off topic, but I enjoy writing, so it's natural for me to use email a lot.. however, there's nothing like power phone time to develop the skills needed to think on your feet and have answers..a skill like "reading" the voice comes in handy too.,, I like a holistic, kinetic blend of every tool I can make use of, but that's me.

I agree with Sandra.. lots of self styled gurus out there peddling SM as the way, the truth and the light, thinking they've invented something new. That's still not recruiting though..it's something applied TO recruiting..

Recruiting is still connecting and getting people to listen to you, and being an effective go between and it's always been that way..the only changes have been the external tools surrounding the activity of being a recruiter..some tools fall away, and some are kept, as she says.

frankly, given the choice between sandra's ability to read and connect with people and having a zillion twitter followers, I would take sandra's ability.. and I think that's the real key...I see a lot of folks over - focus on building their email contact list and posting to it, than actually developing real recruiter skills.

Comment by Justin Miller on December 2, 2010 at 7:49pm: Thomas,

I agree with what you're saying. But I mean the issue that I can't seem to make clear is that this post isnt about social recruiting replacing traditional recruiting but simply supplementing it. Of course recruiting is a trade that relies on communication and there's no better form of communication then 1 on 1 and you can only get that with traditional recruiting. But if cold calls (remember the article is about it aiding with cold calls) are something that recruiters, especially some of the newer ones have a hard time acclimating to...there are other options to help you reach out in a much less aggressive way...whether or not you choose to use them is up to you...but just know they exist.

and yes...Sandra posted another negative comment so I deleted it and will continue to do so in order to keep the conversation moving in a more positive way.

Comment by Ken Forrester on December 3, 2010 at 10:28am: Two things that are very puzzling: why was this post ever featured-it is very short, doesn’t add any new substance that we all haven’t heard before. And why did it get such a high volume of passionate comments of the same things repeated over and over again?

Comment by Thomas Patrick Chuna on December 3, 2010 at 5:01pm: Justin - you said - " the issue that I can't seem to make clear is that this post isnt about social recruiting replacing traditional recruiting but simply supplementing it"

Then why is the title of your post - "Social Recruiting: The Replacement for Cold Calling"

Wording it a bit different or adding a question mark would have made that point, if indeed "social media as a supplement to the recruiting process" is your point, and not "let's pacify the thin skinned newbies by telling them how easy recruiting is when you have a facebook account".

Just saying..the responses you get are your responsibility.

Comment by Justin Miller on December 3, 2010 at 5:07pm: Thomas,
Fair point. I think if I replaced "The" with "A" it would make a difference, but I hope people are actually reading the article because if you read it, no where does it say recruiters shouldn't cold call or get rid of traditional recruiting tactics, but simply use these as other options and avoid cold calls in certain situations.

Comment by James Todd on December 3, 2010 at 5:16pm: Justin,

You have been defending this blog like it was your senior thesis, let it go. When your thoughts on the industry reach the level where they are held to be ground breaking and significant by the community you will know, because someone will be you paying for them. Until then, relax and continue to stir the pot, we all learned something from this food fight and speaking only for myself I cannot remember when I laughed so hard. That last entry by Sandra should be framed.

Comment by Justin Miller on December 3, 2010 at 5:23pm: All due respect James but I'm not going to not respond to someone who comments directly at me.

So if you want me to stop, why would you send me a message. And I'm not sure what you mean by getting paid for my thoughts on the industry, because I'm currently being paid to oversee marketing for 3 companies. If you mean something along the lines of writing a book, then maybe but I wrote a blog...I didn't force anyone to comment, but I reserve the right to comment back to anyone who comments on my article...if anyone doesnt like what I have to say or feel I'm inexperienced or too young then direct your attention to another article...

Comment by Thomas Patrick Chuna on December 4, 2010 at 10:15am: "I hope people are actually reading the article because if you read it, no where does it say recruiters shouldn't cold call or get rid of traditional recruiting tactics"

Far be it from me to lecture a marketing pro, but I would think that you would want your blog title and thesis to be congruent.

Comment