Message Received!
What message? The message that social media has changed the world we live in – not just communications, or how we connect with family, or reality TV, but also the world of work. It’s kinduvabigdeal. Everything has changed because of social media, and that includes recruiting. No doubt you’ve heard about and maybe even experienced the “Skills Gap” in this country, which has made recruiting one of the fastest growing and most challenging careers.
Recruiting has Gone Social
For years HR professionals and recruiters have been warning prospective employees that their social identity could impact their ability to get a job. But what about companies?
We’ve also been advising jobseekers that they need to research companies online before applying for work. Now, jobseekers are doing just that – they are jumping online and investigating your company, and if they do not like what they see, they are moving on to the next one.
Over the past 4 to 5 years, the enhancements of mobile technology, coupled with social media, have truly altered everything. Not only are jobseekers using social networks and mobile technology to research companies and jobs, but they’re also researching their potential bosses. The emergence of LinkedIn, Google+ and Facebook (especially with the recently released Graph Search) makes it increasingly easier for jobseekers to perform background checks on YOU.
The Mobile Takeover
Today’s jobseeker is judging your company based on your web-based job application and the candidate experience. There are millions of users are online, and a healthy portion of those users are active or passive jobseekers. Active jobseekers are unemployed and looking for work constantly. Passive jobseekers are those that are underemployed or unhappy with their current job. That’s about 20 million people looking for work, and you’d better believe they are using tablets and smartphones, so be sure to have a mobile interface on your careers page.
An article written by Kirsten Smith, Work4 VP of Marketing, titled “Mobile Recruiting IS Social Recruiting” lays out the statistics plainly: 56% of all Americans have a smartphone. The job search is now going mobile and if your site is not optimized for the mobile user they will not stay on your site to “figure it out.”
Welcome to Reverse Social Recruiting
Social jobseekers are using social connectivity to their advantage. Again, the message that social media can be used as a tool to market and sell one’s personal brand has been received. Some Facebook users have created pages – not personal profiles – but “company” style pages, and they invite companies and recruiters to “like” their page. It’s a creative way to position themselves in the job market. I’ve also seen YouTube pages and, of course, webpages and digital resumes. Serious candidates are utilizing all resources (resumes, cover letters, blogs, and LinkedIn profiles, Facebook, Twitter and G+) to help leverage that perfect career opportunity.
Highly skilled workers want to work for highly skilled organizations. For instance, DYK YAHOO! receives 12,000 resumes per open position. Why do think so many people want to work for YAHOO!? It’s simple. They’re an industry leader with an attractive culture, they’re innovative, have great social corporate branding – and of course bragging rights. All the things the social jobseeker looks for in a company.
Chris