Barack Obama used social media to get himself into the White House and thousands of companies are using social media to create brand awareness and an online buzz. However, social media can also be used for many other purposes as well. If you work in Human Resources, you may be thinking, “I dont want to get to the White House — I just want to recruit some employees”. Social networks are an amazing channel for finding potential employees and increasingly becoming an even expected way of finding them.

Social networking is a great recruitment tool for several reasons:

1. Social networks make it easy to build relationships with potential candidates and to create an open channel for discussion through which candidates can feel comfortable enough to approach you and ask you questions. It’s often the case also that people are dissatisfied with their current place of employment but are too afraid to actively look for a job online. By becoming their friend, you build a trusting relationship with them where they feel comfortable to let you know about their desire to find new employment. If you create real close relationships with people, they will feel comfortable enough to forward you their friends’ resumes as well.

2. Through social networks you can easily find relevant candidates for any position by searching for candidates with the skills your company is looking for.

3. When you recruit in social networks your company will reap the added benefit of spreading brand awareness and increasing the desire of others to work at your company.

4. One of the most popular ways to find a potential candidate is through connections. When you begin recruiting in social networks you expand your personal network so that you can reach a much larger number of potential candidates.

5. Job boards are on the way out and more and more employers are turning to social networks for recruitment. In fact, according to a recent survey done in the US, 78% of HR executives said that they use social media to recruit employees (see video). If your company doesn’t want to be left behind in the dust, it’s important to start acting today. Especially since there are many unemployed people right now just waiting to find the right job for them.

888 which stands for innovation is one of the first companies in Israel to recruit employees through social networks. I recently gave a lecture at the largest HR conference in the Middle East about how I help them recruit employees through Web 2.0 tools and the benefits of HR 2.0. Watch the below video to see my lecture: