Last week I was at my client’s site walking back from the cafeteria when I was stopped by one of the SVP’s of technology. During the course of our conversation we started to discuss the transition of employees from technologies that they were most familiar with to those they were not familiar with.
He felt that this effort was turning in to a failure and his reasoning behind it brought out a very curious point. His analogy was based on himself as he proceeded to tell me that he wouldn’t have the ability to remove himself from the type of software he currently develops to developing software for Facebook.
At first I nodded in agreement but as I walked away I said why not. Is it impossible to say that those of us who were not raised in the generation of social media cannot become as intelligent about it as those who created it? Funny enough as I read through Edelman’s Digital I found that Vint Cerf Google’s chief internet evangelist turns 68 this year. How is that for being a dinosaur? In fact as you read through the article, you will find that in 2011 social networking among the 50 and over set has almost doubled to 42% and they make up nearly 16 million profiles on Facebook.
Smartphones are finally breaking into the older adult market. Numbers vary, but as many as 15% of people aged 55 and older are using smartphones, according to data from Nielsen. So with all this information I decided to give those dinosaurs an idea of what is out there and what they need to know:
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook Inc. As of February 2012, Facebook has more than 845 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as friends, and exchange messages, including automatic notifications when they update their profile. Additionally, users may join common-interest user groups, organized by workplace, school or college, or other characteristics, and categorize their friends into lists such as "People From Work" or "Close Friends." The name of the service stems from the colloquial name for the book given to students at the start of the academic year by some university administrations in the United States to help students get to know each other. Facebook allows any users who declare themselves to be at least 13 years old to become registered users of the site.
Twitter
Twitter is an online social networking service and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, known as "tweets." It was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July. The service rapidly gained worldwide popularity, with over 300 million users as of 2011 and and has added 11 new account per second. Twitter is generating over 300 million tweets and handling over 1.6 billion search queries per day.[3] [8] [9] It has been described as "the SMS of the Internet."
LinkedIn is a business-related social networking site. Founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, it is mainly used for professional networking. As of 3 February 2012, LinkedIn reports more than 150 million registered users in more than 200 countries and territories. The site is available in English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Romanian, Russian, Turkish and Japanese. Quantcast reports LinkedIn has 21.4 million monthly unique U.S. visitors and 47.6 million globally.In June 2011, LinkedIn had 33.9 million unique visitors, up 63 percent from a year earlier and surpassing MySpace.
I certainly learned more than expected while researching the top three social networking sites. It is not as difficult to understand what they do and more and more of the baby boomers, or as my client aptly put it dinosaurs are not only using them in their everyday lives but creating and advancing these tools so they have become a part of the very fabric of being no matter what the generation.
Everyone has their own reasons for becoming a recruiter. For some it’s the compensation, others it’s relationship building, but for me it was the “woo” of the highly skilled candidate. While it has been a few years since I sat in a recruiter role and there are some aspects of the job that have changed over time (thank you social media!), the principals behind how to woo top candidates have not. Here are some of my methods for wooing great candidates that led to success as a recruiter, as well as relationships that continue many years after I changed careers.
Understand The “Why”If you were in a candidates shoes, whom would you want to find you your next job? Would you want a recruiter who randomly emailed you a job description you are “perfect” for (a.k.a their Boolean search results uncovered your resume), or would you want a recruiter who asked the right questions before sending you opportunities to consider? You would want to know that the person on the other end of the phone understands your goals, whether they are professional development, increased compensation, better work-life balance, etc.
Know Your AudienceNow that you know the “why”, use your knowledge of what the candidate does to begin establishing trust and respect. For example, if you are recruiting UX Designers and you fully understand what this position does and the technologies (new and old) they work with, the candidate will begin to respect your knowledge of his/her industry. Trust me, I was no SME, but I did know more than the basics of the job titles I recruited. I read book and articles, attended workshops (great for networking, too!), and if a new technology or methodology had emerged I sometimes asked former candidates I’d placed if they had any exposure - -if so, tell me about it!
Do Not Go DarkWe have all experienced it at least once - - the disappearing candidate. The candidate that you call because you have an interview or offer lined up, and they never call you back. Would you want to work with a recruiter who did the same? If the candidate is a casual job seeker then at a minimum make sure to check in once a week. Even if you do not have a new opportunity for them to consider, they will appreciate the follow-up. If you are working with an active job seeker you may need to check in multiple times. Provide them with submittal updates, new opportunities, etc. Let them know that they have not fallen into a black hole of candidates you are working with.
Maintain The RelationshipMany times I found this to be one of the most important aspects of recruiting. While I did not place every single person I first wooed, I still maintained contact for a few reasons.1. Referrals. They may no longer be looking for new opportunities but they may have some really great previous co-workers or friends that are.2. Does anyone ever stop looking for a better career opportunity? You may have something land in your lap a year after meeting on of your candidates who is “no longer available”. While they may not have been expecting the opportunity to come along, send it their way and see if it’s too hard for them to pass up!
While I mentioned that I enjoyed wooing the highly skilled worker, the comment is partly due to the fact that I recruited highly demanded, highly skilled, Sr. level candidates. However I believe you could apply these methods to any level of skill set and the results would be the same.
We are often asked by potential customers, “So tell me … what is different about your company?” They want to understand, what differentiates us from our competitors? Perhaps the customer currently has or previously had another RPO firm providing services or they may be exploring making the initial move to an outsourced provider. Either way, there are a few key differentiators that add value to customers, their candidates, hiring managers, and other stakeholders.
Focusing on these key differentiators will provide recruitment platforms that can deliver improvements in:
Bruce Morton, AGS CMO, on the coming TalentNet Live Recruiting Conference and how social media is changing the landscape of recruiting.
Bruce will be joined by some of the world's top minds in Social Media and Recruiting. They will be sharing their tips for Blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Employer Branding, Content Development, Profile Optimization, Cold Calling to Warm Calling, Personal and Corporate Branding, Location / Mobile Recruiting, and the latest tools.
Speakers you’ll be learning from and networking with include: William Tincup, Crystal Miller,Jason Seiden, Veronica Ludwig, Amber Osborne, Matt Charney, Craig Fisher, Trish McFarlane,Ryan Leary, Lars Schmidt, Maren Hogan, , Sarah White, Marianthe Verver, Geoff Webb… and more!
You have heard the reasons for and against using social media in all aspects of your business. I am fortunate to be part of an organization that embraces innovation and emerging technology but, in the world of social media implementation, this is not always the case. Companies are often hindered by a cumbersome approval process, a “keeping up with the Joneses” marketing approach or an inability to push proper initiatives through the decision process.
After garnering inspiration from Sean Nicholson’s outstanding post, 10 Surefire Reasons NOT to Start a Corporate or Product Blog, I decided address the social media naysayers. Here are 10 reasons why “HR professionals and recruiters should avoid social media.” In the comments below, share more reasons for and against the use of social media in our space.
As an organization’s global footprint increases so does its need to effectively communicate and maintain its unique corporate culture. Deloitte Consulting has created D-Street. D-Street is the company’s intranet which functions like a customized melding of Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. Employees maintain strong lines of communication through creating personal interest groups and sharing business-related news. Deloitte’s intranet runs on a supped up version of Sharepoint. Any HR representative can find an inexpensive platform with similar functionality. I recommend Yammer, Tgthr, Chatter or, a personal favorite of mine for smaller teams, Posterous Spaces which is free.
AGS encourages our recruiters to use Twitter (see the #TeamAGS and #TeamISW hashtags). Pete Sweeney, who at that point had just started, interacted with AGS CMO, Bruce Morton. Bruce and Pete shared a few tweets on emerging industry trends. This got our new hire some great visibility with leadership! Furthermore, social media is an efficient way to keep in close contact with applicants before, during and after the application process. Also, it keeps you top of mind as a quality employer in the eyes of the candidate pool.
Proper use of social media creates a dialogue between your company and candidates. Social media allows employers to broadcast their unique employer branding message across various channels. NBC, whose employer brand proposition is “A Universe of Opportunity,” has a consistent look and feel to all of their communications. For employment opportunities, they have a dedicated website, Facebook page, Twitter handle and LinkedIn account. NBC incorporates their consumer brands into their Twitter communications to enhance and strengthen the value of their messaging. If your company has a strong consumer presence, this can be leveraged. For additional resources and insights on employer branding, check out Renegade HR’s blog.
If you are part of a large organization, chances are that there is already chatter on social media about your employer brand, products or services. If you currently do not have any “listening station” set up, you will more than likely be surprised by the results. Rule number 1 of branding is that your brand is not what you say it is, it is what the market says it is. Social media, for the first time, allows you the opportunity to see what people are saying about your employer brand, products and services and use this information to inform your strategies moving forward.
Our company’s president was surprised that, at our first meeting, I inquired about his gardening hobby. How did I know that? I researched him using social media. Do you think that top talent isn’t researching your company’s staff? Think again! Tools such as Glassdoor make this extremely easy. Further, LinkedIn is a living list of your company’s staff. Changing positions is an emotional decision. Knowing who you may potentially be working with can be a mammoth factor in determining your next career move.
The development of one’s personal brand is becoming of increasing importance. Top talent has already discovered that one of the best ways to promote your personal brand is through the use of social media. HR representatives and recruiters can use tools such as Rapportive to research this wealth of information to determine if potential candidates are a fit with the culture of the organization for which they are recruiting. Michael Haberman, on his outstanding blog Omega HR Solutions, writes about how HR leaders are crowdsourcing social media to help write new job descriptions.
7. You Don’t Care to Learn About Other Emerging Technologies That Can Help You Streamline Your Business and Save You Time and Money.
New technologies that can streamline every aspect of what you do are constantly being developed. It is almost a full time job to keep track of them. Recently, I was looking for a new calendar tool that would help my team with communications. I posted in the Social Media Success Summit LinkedIn Group, and, among other helpful responses, Greg Bardwell chimed in and suggested DivyHQ, a stand out calendar tool that my team is currently investigating.
We hope not! An astonishing 91-percent of recruiters are using social media to screen applicants. Mashable reports that 89-percent of companies use social media for sourcing candidates. Arguably, the most popular social media platform with recruiters is LinkedIn. Regardless, there are a host of other very powerful social media tools and platforms that recruiters can leverage. These tools help recruiters to shrink the top of the funnel and deliver top-quality candidates with increasing speed.
According to Content is Marketing Currency, an e-book by Marketing Interactions’ CEO Adrath Albee, 90 percent of B2B buyers prefer to consume information online. Producing compelling and relevant thought leadership is essential to differentiating your company from your competitors and gaining visibility with potential clients. Social media is a necessary piece to effectively deliver this content to your target audience.
10. Search Engine Optimization is for the Birds.
Last year, both Google and Bing confirmed that links shared on social media factor into search engine results. Exactly how much, some SEO professionals are still debating. However, given the fact that Google+ shows up in search rankings can be a tell tale sign of how Google will be drawing upon the social space to weigh in on their results. Furthermore, using social media, in general, exponentially grows your online footprint. If you are reaching your targeted audience with relevant content, you are more likely to enjoy the viral benefits of these technologies. For those of you who are just beginning to explore this space, click here for a great beginner’s resource.
Over the past few weeks we have seen many images that have brought us back to that day 10 years ago that will be etched in our minds forever. September 11, 2001 was not only a day that changed the way we look at the world and our own security as Americans but it changed the face of industry as we knew it. So I thought it might be interesting to take a look back at where we were, what we have become and where we are headed in the future. You may say what does this have to do with recruiting; well we no longer think in terms of recruiting but today it is about Human Capital, partnerships and outsourcing. The change in how we think about the workplace may be directly attributed to things that have taken place over the last ten years - the growth of technology, the arrival of a remote workforce and the disappearance of some of the major players in the financial industry. So let’s take a look at where we were and where we are today and see what the future holds.
Barely a day went by without news of one dotcom company or another going bust. Closure happening at the rate of more than one every 24 hours. The dotcom crash was well documented in magazines like the Industry Standard. We all would witness the phenomenon of the pink slip party. Apple, which had been in the doldrums for some time, started finding its way out of the woods once it announced the launch of Mac OSX early in the year. And how the company needed it: US sales had already fallen by 40% and the late Steve Jobs was struggling to make profit with its iMac and Cube computers. Today Apple holds the lion’s share of online music, phone and tablet equipment with the inception of the iPod, iPhone and iPad. These tools are now a part of our everyday life and no recruitment team would be complete without it. Blackberries were thought of as a fruit and the dialup modem was a part of everyone’s household. Today we have high speed and wireless internet and are connected to our businesses no matter where we are. We have become a society of 24/7 virtual workforce that can be connected from anywhere in the world.
The changes that have accord in staffing are almost as dramatic as those of technology since technology has become such an integral part of the recruiters’ arsenal. Today, instead of searching resumes through Monster or CareerBuilder, we are now using tools like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter to provide the candidate base we need to be successful. There are about 200 million people on the professional networking site LinkedIn, estimates Mark Weinstein, executive VP of Atlanta-based firstPRO. "If it was a country, it would be the sixth-largest country in the world," he says. Professional and social networking has now taken the place of career fairs and golf courses as we strive for faster and more direct ways to find talent. Candidate interviewing, testing, training and hiring have moved to the internet with tools such as, Montage, HireVue, Green Interview Jobs and Interview Stream. Off shoring and contingent workforces have become a staple of the global economy as companies fight to keep their cost down and become as adaptive as the world around them.
Now that we have seen what the last ten years have brought our industry, what will the future hold? Well many analysts believe that the use of contingent labor will continue to grow as companies shift with the ebb and flow of our economy. Baby Boomers will retire and the workforce shortage will continue to grow. Social networking with become more predominant with the usage of tools like Find.ly and other social media tools. Diversity will play a huge part of every recruiter's sourcing strategy as OFCCP and EEOC regulations become more a part of our vocabulary. Finally the day of the applicant tracking system will be replaced by Total Talent Management which will ensure our partnership with the rest of the HR community. It has been a wild ten years and we should all be sitting down as the next ten years will define what our industry will become for decades to come.