The Social Media Recruiter Job Description

If I were in need of talent and just starting a company one of my first hires would not be a regular recruiter. It would be a Social Media Recruiter.

I believe over the next few years many companies will be doing the same. When it comes to recruiting in social media, it is very much a human driven strategy. Its takes an actual person, not technology to do it.

There was a lot of talk at the Social Recruiting conference last month about the 'tools' but they are only part of the equation. It takes special skills to do this and I wanted to write this post with some guidelines for the Job description of a social media recruiter. I think if your company is going to venture into this arena to recruit, start small with 1 person and let them teach the rest.

First I have to point out 2 people who come to mind as excellent examples of what I consider true Social Media Recruiters. Chris Hoyt from AT&T and Kerry Noone from Sodexo. These two individuals are among the most prolific bloggers/tweeters/facebookers I have ever seen and you would do well by following them and learning through osmosis. They have almost single-handedly strengthened each of their companies employment brands through their efforts.

So lets define the role. If you have anything to add, please comment:

SOCIAL MEDIA RECRUITER

A person who engages with and sources job candidates through online social networking tools and technology, while representing and promoting an employers brand.

POSITION GOALS

To establish & maintain relationships online to help proactivly fill the talent pipeline.

DAILY TASKS

* Use Twitter to promote new jobs and communicate the positives of working for company.
* Use Twitter to answer follower questions about working for, or applying to jobs.
* Maintain Facebook fan page by writing/posting content such as links, videos and pictures of workplace.
* Manage Facebook ads for specific job postings.
* Write content for company recruiting blog on topics such as job search advice, best practices for applying, whats it like to work there, etc.
* Source candidates through online tools such as LinkedIn, ZoomInfo, Twitter, etc.

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Chris Russell is the founder and Chief Jobcaster at Jobs in Pods, the only podcast that lets employers talk about their jobs and tell job seekers what its like to work there.

Comment by RecruitinginVT on December 16, 2009 at 11:37am: Me too :)

Comment by William G Morgan on December 17, 2009 at 9:54am: Hey Chris, I agree partially. This is an excellent piece and is completely accurate but the True Search Agents of today and the future better equip themselves with these skills and make it part of their repertoire if they want to succeed.
I just put out a quick article here entitled 'What Version Are You? which gets to this point exactly. I hope to stay one step ahead of my fellow recruiters by being on the edge of technology but I'm also old-school enough to know that give me a phone and a database using today's tools and you'll be very successful... corporate or agency.

Thanks.
Bill Morgan

Comment by Gary Melton on December 20, 2009 at 6:56am: Chris - you have basically described 75% of my job. We are at the early stages but fortunately the company I work for (there are only 4 of us in the company at present) has the foresight (with a bit of persuasion) to realise that Social Media, if embraced properly, can have the same sort of impact on the recruitment market that "email" did when it replaced the good old fax machine. I think a lot of recruitment companies struggle to understand the benefits of social media because they see it as extremely time consuming (which it can be) without necessarily generating instant return in the monetary sense. Many recruiters are so transfixed on the 'hard sell' and making an instant return that they fail to realise the importance in engaging with professionals on a 'non-sales' level and promoting the company's brand to a wider audience. However, in my opinion there will always be room for the 'traditional' recruiter; I have worked alongside and continue to work alongside people who are extremely competent at the job without ever embracing this new technology. It seems inevitable to me that successful recruitment companies will be made up from a combination of social media recruiters and more traditional recruiters working in conjunction to deliver results; this is the model we will be trying to follow as we expand our business.

Nice post.