Why Social Recruiting? Because recruiting is fundamentally social.
Employers network to find candidates, candidates network to find jobs and within companies, people collaborate to choose the right hire. With a critical mass of jobseekers and companies now using social media, recruiting has naturally migrated online.
Social recruiting encompasses a wide range of activities that use social media to research, engage and ultimately hire people. Social recruiting can take many forms – when you ask your contacts in your network to pass on information about your open jobs; when your employees speak positively about your company to their social networks; when you use social networks to find and connect with qualified candidates – that’s all social recruiting. Why does social recruiting make sense now?
1.
People increasingly networking online
People from all age groups are spending more time on social networking sites, using them to build both social and professional networks and gather real-time information. According to a Nielsen study, social network usage now exceeds Web-based e-mail usage. And social networks aren’t just for kids anymore. People 35 and over are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook and the majority of Twitter users are between 25 and 54 years old.
“To twist a phrase from bank robber Willy Sutton, job boards are where the jobs are. Social media, however, is where the world is.”
John Zappe
ERE.net
Quick links:
Global Faces and Networked Places
A Nielsen report on Social Networking’s New Global Footprint.
2.
Networks shape how people think
People use their social networks online – just as they have always talked with friends offline – to find information and ask questions of their own trusted sources. According to a study by DEI Worldwide 70 percent of consumers have visited social media sites to get information and 60 percent of people said they are likely to use social media sites to pass along information to others online. People look to their network for advice on where to work, just as they do for advice on what car to purchase or what movie to see. Rather than searching job boards with boilerplate job descriptions that lack context, people would rather find out about a job from a friend – or friend of friend.
“…We’ve allowed our brand to evolve from our internal culture. That's resulted in a lot of blog posts, a lot of people tweeting, a lot of people recording and posting online videos about what they’re working on.”
Ed Scanlan
CEO, Total Attorneys
Quick links:
Using Social Media to Build Brand and Trust
RainToday.com
Engaging Consumers Online
The Impact of Social Media on Purchasing Behavior
3.
Networks provide connections to passive candidates
Good recruiters have always been skilled at researching the set of relevant qualifications needed for a job, finding a person that embodies them and then making a connection. Because most people are not actively looking for work, recruiters look for passive candidates that fit the bill. New online sources – including social networks, blogs, online resumes and profiles – give recruiters more ways than ever to research passive candidates and connect with them. People are changing jobs more frequently than ever and while they are not be combing job boards, they are keeping an eye on companies that interest them – and an eye out for new opportunities. Social networks enable easy connections for the job seeker and the recruiter, even among those who aren’t actively looking for a job.
“During recessions there are fewer good people actively looking and it’s tougher to get the best passive consider to even discuss your career opportunity.”
Lou Adler
The Adler Group
Quick links:
Recruiting Passive Candidates in Tough Economic Times, ere.net
No Resumes, Please
Human Resource Executive Online
2008 Bureau of Labor Statistics Study
This study found that the average person born in the later years of the baby boom held 10.8 jobs from age 18 to age 42.
Poll results
LinkedIn fertile ground for passive candidates.
4.
Social networking lowers recruitment expense
Social recruiting provides a targeted and viral way to reach the right candidates. It empowers employee referrals and enables companies to reduce recruiting costs by involving the whole company in hiring. Study after study has found that referrals, through social networks or personal connections, produce the highest quality hires at the lowest cost. By using tools that increase the efficiency of social recruiting and allow for measurement, social recruiting can provide a high ROI.
“Referrals (employee, alumni, vendor, etc.) make up 27.3% of all external hires and is arguably the number one external source. (Employee referrals make up most of this category but Alumni referrals are growing.) The efficiency of referrals is one of the single most important characteristics of US hiring practices.”
CareerXRoads
Sources of Hire 2009
Quick links:
Referral Programs Can Produce Millions in Business Impacts
Dr. John Sullivan
Jobvite Total Attorneys Case Study
The Power of Your Social Graph.
