Top Three Concerns of Recruiters Using Twitter (Resolved)

A few weeks ago, I held a roundtable discussion with recruiters on their opinions of and experience with social media sites. Mentioning LinkedIn elicited a positive response and Facebook stimulated a robust discussion about balancing their personal and professional lives. When I brought up Twitter, one of the recruiters responded “eh…” and another shrugged her shoulders (sigh).

After the crickets stopped chirping, they only expressed concerns:

My daily schedule is full. How do I have enough time to be twittering?
I get how LinkedIn works, I’m getting the hang of Facebook, but Twitter is a mystery.
Who will follow me on The Twitter? I’m not that interesting.

Recruiters recognized that some companies were successful recruiting candidates on Twitter, but could not picture themselves as active users.

Rewind to January 2010, when I found myself in a situation that has nothing to do with social media…

After doing some research, I found that buying a house provided a substantial return-on-investment, better than purchasing a condo, renting or living in my mother’s basement, especially with the current tax credit. Minor problem: I had no idea how to go about buying a house. So I took a trip to Barnes & Noble and bought the most obvious book possible, “Home Buying for Dummies.” Bringing the book to closing at the bank elicited some laughter from my loan officer and sitting on the floor in front of the sump pumps at Home Depot with my subsequent purchase of “Home Maintenance for Dummies” provoked stares from more savvy home-owners. However, I overcame my worries about how time consuming this would be and the dread of spending entire weekends trimming trees & gardening after learning about the process. I did the research, absorbed a lot of information and eventually purchased a house.

Leaping into some unfamiliar terrain (i.e. Twitter) is worth the time it takes to learn something new and make some mistakes along the way for that ever-so-satisfying ROI. With the right tools and resources, recruiters who can alleviate their fears about Twitter, become consistent users and feel a glow of satisfaction when that first candidate rolls right into their applicant tracking system. Don't believe me? Talk to attendees of ERE's #SocialRecruiting Summit.

I’m looking for recruiters who don’t have enough time to pick up a copy The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Twitter. What questions do you have? How can I help you understand Twitter enough so that you can improve your sourcing & recruiting efforts? Tell me (I won’t make you fork over $26.99). Too shy to comment? Fine. Read Geoff Peterson's post on 3 Ways Recruiter Can Get a Jump Start in Social Media instead.

Seriously, do not go buy that book. Post a comment below & get ready for an answer.

Originally posted on Recruitalicious

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Comment by Elouise MacFarlane on June 1, 2010 at 8:41pm: For a year from 2007, Facebook was what my teenage kids used - I am apparently banned from Tumbler - but that’s OK. in 2009, once i got a decent laptop from work I decided to start putting extra hours after hours and naturally found myself gravitating to Facebook, which led to the games. A bout of sickness and day time TV and I was quickly hooked on Yoville and farmville - so silly I thought, such a waste of time.

But like your analogy above playing these games has given me an insight into how the industry is built, the methods and linkages and the need for constant change and action on these media. Now I am recovered and have the best Farm you ever saw on Farmville!! I have applied what I have learned to my work, looking at how to keep the audience interested and find a way to 'pull' as well as 'push' to the time stream of Twitter and Facebook. We still don't have access to FB at work, so all this has to be done after hours, but as I am in Australia this actually works quite well.

I am 40 and believe learning anything new is just about dedicated effort, application of time and plain old fashioned motivation.

Lou

Comment by Ali Webster on June 2, 2010 at 10:22am: Lou, have you attended a Farmville Addicts meeting yet? :) Actually, you provide a great example of something you had no knowledge of but eventually became an expert at. No matter what your age, your attitude will serve you well when learning about & experimenting with all this new technology.

I'd like to hear more about how you "keep the audience interested" and found "a way to pull as well as push to the time stream of Twitter and Facebook."

Comment by Trish on June 3, 2010 at 7:43am: This is such a timely post. As a former recruiter and current HR practitioner, I have been teaching colleagues, friends, and other recruiting and HR pros how easy it is to learn to use Twitter for both recruiting and HR purposes. When I think back to my start into it, I didn't understand how it could possibly make life easier. What worked for me was when I signed up for Twitter, I quickly "met" The Red Recruiter, Michael Long. He said we needed to take the discussion offline and have a phone conversation. He invited Jason Davis, our esteemed RecruitingBlogs leader, and several others. It was during that call that it clicked for me. I signed up for Tweetdeck and the rest is history.

I think your offer to personally help is great. I'm finding that people just need a few minutes with someone already successfully using the twitter tool. I'll echo your offer to help. People can feel free to contact me with any questions about getting started. It may also be helpful to offer a free webinar. If you do something like that, I'd be happy to help and jump on board.

Great post!

Comment by Justin Hillier on June 3, 2010 at 11:52am: I was a little worried about Twitter at the start and honestly didn't want to join. But after 6 months I saw benefits that I was amazed at, nearing 12 months I couldn't believe the knowledge and network that I had connected with.

I wrote a blog post on "Why should you be on Twitter". Here is the link http://socialrecruiting360.com/2010/01/20/why-should-i-be-on-twitter/

Hopefully this helps some people get over there fear of Twitter, I know I certainly did.

Comment by Amy Gardner on June 3, 2010 at 12:03pm: Ali, funny how if you want to learn how to do something you educate yourself about it first. Yes, home buying for dummies helps--did it too.
I was hesitant to do any social media at the beginning of 2009--but a media maven convinced me to give it a try. I love it--especially twitter. I do use my social media as a business tool--sitting at my home office desk every day doesn't allow people to know what I'm doing, or my expertise in wine industry recruiting. By pushing information about happenings in the industry, or current searches I'm doing--people know a lot more about my work, and connect with me on a more personal level. I interpret social media as the diner around the block that I would be going to regularly if I had a regular office--back in the day. People would see me there, and if they had a question, they'd stop and chat. If I saw someone I needed to connect with, I'd say hello and strike up a conversation.
And I turn off all those game apps--I only have so much time for social media--gotta get back to work.

Comment by Will Branning on June 3, 2010 at 12:55pm: I am on Twitter and even have a feed of technical articles and a link from my LI account (mostly making opportunity announcements with occassional link to career-related blog) to my Twitter account...this is the extent of what I've done recruiting thus far. Any suggestions on a next step to take?

Comment by Lesley Hardy on June 3, 2010 at 3:24pm: I like twitter because it provides a links to people like yourself and I learn so much. I intend to blog, but wordpress alludes me, or I lack the focus to make it happen right now. Like you, I spend a lot of time out of work hours researching, learning, opening my mind and the internet is my "dummies book"

I do struggle with twitter however, in that when I have tried to engage with some of the people who's opinion I respect, very little response comes back. Its not yet a conversation for me. I guess a blog may fix that, if I'm intelligent about what I write.

Comment by Ali Webster on June 3, 2010 at 8:10pm: @Trish - Thanks for sharing your experience & encouraging comments. A webinar, you say? THAT'S an idea!

Comment by Ali Webster on June 3, 2010 at 8:20pm: @Justin - My favorite reason why you should be on Twitter: Listen, watch and learn. You don’t have to contribute 24/7, there are great learnings to be had just by watching your feed sometimes.