Why large organisations are using social media to recruit

You will have no doubt heard the word ‘brand’ bandied about a lot recently. Usually followed by the two biggest buzz words of the 21^st century; social media.

There’s no getting away from the fact that social media has taken the business world by storm recently. Companies who have managed to harness its true potential for generating brand awareness are reaping the rewards; those who haven’t are losing out.

It really is as simple as that. What social media can offer, in the way of brand exposure, is unparalleled in terms of its cost and effectiveness. What’s more, you can make your brand accessible and build relationships with your fan base using minimal effort.

Once you have an established network of followers, you are in a position to boost your brand and bolster your company’s reputation. Not only that, but you are effectively building your very own talent pools with which to source candidates from.

The beauty of using social media to recruit in this way is that, not only is it easy on resources, but you are also able to vet your own candidates. LinkedIn is a prime example of this. Really, what you have is an online CV database with a myriad of additional extras.

You can instantly ascertain whether a person possesses the necessary skill-set for a certain role, but added to this you are able to see what other professional activities they partake in. It helps to give a far more rounded portrayal of a person and adds depth to your understanding of whether or not they would be suitable for the role.

It’s worth investing the time to have a presence on all of the major platforms, such as Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest, so as to tap into each of the unique audiences they attract. This will increase your brands exposure and will allow you to make use of different techniques within your social media strategy.

Statistics from jobvite show that 80% of companies are using social media platforms to recruit and 9% of the remaining respondents said that they plan to begin. When asked whether or not they had successfully hired a candidate using a social network 2/3 (64%) answered yes. The trend for utilising social media as a hiring resource is certainly on the rise.

For companies, the incentives to go social are both rich and plentiful. It won’t have escaped your notice that our economy is suffering and so, with recession, comes cut backs. The biggest draw of social media is that it’s wallet friendly and fairly easy to implement.

What it requires is people and, more importantly, people engagement. To achieve this, companies need to provide a generous mix of high quality content and consistent interaction. Transparency is the key here. It’s no good a company trying to control every aspect of the message they are putting out. People just won’t buy it or bother taking an interest. What needs to happen is for people to make up their own mind and the company just to provide the back drop for people to say what they think.

A really good example of where this was effectively rolled out was when Ford decided to reinvent the brand’s damaged reputation. They gave out 100 free Fiestas to people who were big on the social media scene. This included popular bloggers and social networkers who were already documenting their lives online.

Their stories made for an authentic and compelling narrative which was completely organic and not at all dictated by Ford. It generated much respect for the brand, as it made it appear more personable and real.

Ask James Caan – Issue 101

Dear member,

In these turbulent economic times, businesses have taken the brunt, with many being forced to go under. Subsequently, this often means that the owner has to go out and find a less prominent role within another company.

The transition can be a difficult one to make, however, it doesn’t have to be. When executed properly, it can bring about refreshing change and open up new, exciting opportunities.

Last week I received an email from Jackie, who has owned her own business for the past 5 years. Changing circumstances, however, are forcing her to look at returning to employee status.

She asked:

“Being a business owner is it harder to get back into main stream employment? What challenges may I face?”

Firstly, thank you Jackie for getting in touch. Your situation is not uncommon; especially in the current financial downturn we are experiencing. Rather than being daunted by it though, you must ask yourself how these shifts in the marketplace are opening up new opportunities for you to tap into.

The key here is to stay ahead of the game. You have already accepted a big turning point in your career, so you are in a prime position to now go ‘whole hog’ and diversify completely. Everyone needs to be chameleon-like in a recession and be able to adapt well to change.

The biggest issue you, and others, face is the art of re-packaging your skills. This is so as not to scare off potential employers, whilst at the same time remaining truthful. Although it is a case of survival of the fittest, rather than being focussed on yourself, you need to think carefully about what a potential employer is looking for.

Having owned your own company you will have acquired a wide and varied skills set. While you may need to play down how you applied some of these skills, you certainly shouldn’t omit them completely.

For example, it is likely that you will have managed a team of people. But, instead of playing up your managerial experience, make the focus more on ‘effective teamwork’. The main concern an employer will have when hiring someone who is moving ‘down’ the career ladder, is whether or not they can adapt to being in a less authoritative position.

You need to make them believe that this is a transition you want to make. Thinking of not having that ultimate responsibility anymore and being less stressed should help with this.

All the very best Jackie,

James Caan
Chairman

Question? Email me at askjames@webrecruit.co.uk for the chance to appear in next week’s column.