Social Media Recruitment – What Is It?

There can be no doubt that the GFC and resultant job fallout had a dramatic and lasting effect on not only the executive search and recruitment industry but also on the way professionals approached and managed their job search.

The use of social media, a phrase unknown to many tongues five years ago,  is now an integral part of one’s assault on the job market and from a researcher’s point of view it has become an essential weapon in the armoury of search tools.

ProShortlist (www.proshortlist.com)  recently released some interesting statistical data on the Australian recruitment agency market.  These were not confined to executive recruitment companies but embraced the whole market.  A snapshot of their results reveals that

• 2969 recruitment agencies operate in Australia
• 15284 staff work at these agencies
• During the GFC 207 agencies went out of business along with 4241 consultants
• 122 agencies have no website
• 49% recruitment consultants have no LinkedIn profile
• Only 85 consultants publish their Twitter link in their LinkedIn profile
• You are quite likely to be called David

The statistics for social media usage are, in my opinion, misleading because LinkedIn and Twitter are not complementary tools.  But is this a misnomer?  What can Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn offer?

Facebook is a familiar social networking site with, for many, the emphasis on social.  The younger generation have grown up with Facebook and taking it to the next step to professional networking is a simple process.   For someone who has not been in the job market for a long time this is not the case and the advanced applications that Facebook has may not be familiar.

The Inside Job application allows users to be in a network of professionals.  You can search for other professionals based on their place of employment, previous employment or where they have interviewed at.  This gives you the ability to gain inside information on the company and therefore, perhaps, an interview advantage.

The Professional Profile application is similar to a standard Facebook profile but it allows users to create a professional profile where they become part of a network. Users can post resumes and import recommendations from LinkedIn accounts.

LinkedIn is marketed as a professional social network and therefore is the most valuable site from an executive recruitment, search or executive job finding perspective.  A well thought out entry will leverage your career for business contacts, capture references and profiles.  Both increasing visibility and connectability are essential to rank well in LinkedIn. The more connections you make the more visibility you will have.  As Guy Kawasaki wrote ‘People with more than 20 connections are 34 times   more likely to be approached with a job opportunity than people with less than five’.

Twitter usage is growing exponentially but for the seasoned sceptic it is hard to be converted and a visit to the twitter job search page does nothing to allay the disquiet.  The preponderance of weight -loss advertising alongside the job vacancies is not enticing.

In a nutshell, using only 140 characters (or 120 if you allow for retweets) employers and job sites post job openings or entreaties for a particular type of candidate and job seekers use Twitter to help facilitate their job search.  Tips from the experts suggest that if you are going to promote yourself on Twitter make sure you have a professional looking avatar and include a link to an online CV in your bio using a tool such as visualCV.  Twitter is incredibly time-consuming for the rewards it produces, which is perhaps helpful if you are underemployed but potentially disastrous if you are a time-poor recruiter or researcher.

CareerXroads www.careerxroads.com surveys large firms about where they find new hires.  Since 2005 27% come from referrals, 12% job boards and the rest recruiters, company websites etc.  The difference is that a lot more of these recommendations start with connections made through online networks.

Helen Fisher is the Communications Manager at Carmichael Fisher.  hfisher@carmichaelfisher.com; www.carmichaelfisher.com