Not sure if I like this or not?
Have a look at let me know what you think. It’s cheeky and cheap (the bit I like I think), missing the point of social media entirely, and totally not what this agency should be using Twitter for. I’m sure they have heard of Seek, so why just mirror your jobs and not engage with your target candidate market instead?
Over the weekend I finally went and saw Inception. Unless you have been living under a rock you know this movie has something to do with dreams, and stealing them. On the surface that is initially what it is about, however as the movie progresses the key plot is planting an idea in someone’s dream/subconscious so that when they wake they will think the idea is their own.
Sounds simple right, wrong. And without giving away any more of the movie for those who haven’t seen it yet, (Go see it now) I want to focus on that point, “planting an idea in someone’s dream/subconscious so that when they wake they will think the idea is their own”.
Something dawned on me when I heard this and thought back to my recent Social Sofa episode with Steve Ludlow. Steve mentioned that the benefit that his business receives out of Social Media is that he gets to communicate with his network and does not feel the necessity to sell to them at every opportunity. With a more engaging and sharing approach, Steve has been able to fill 25% of his positions via Social Media in the last 12 months, without the need to sell or broadcast/spam his jobs.
Engaging with your network, providing interesting and varied content, encouraging feedback, conversation and no selling. When someone within your network is seeking a new career opportunity, they reach out to you, without the thought of another company. Without realising it they have you in their subconscious as the “Go To” company and it was all their idea. Did I hear you say Social Media Inception?
If this is not your strategy perhaps it should be, or at least be forming a large part of your social media communication, engagement and content creation strategy.
Social Media Inception, not a bad thought/approach if you ask me, what are your thoughts?
Social Recruiting is still developing , and some countries, let alone companies are further ahead then others. Australia for me it seems is still waiting and watching. So I had an idea……Lets help them and everyone else out there with some tips.
All I ask is 30 seconds of your time (ok maybe 5 minutes) to record, via video, your No.1 social recruiting tip. It could be a tool you can’t live without, or something to consider when looking at a social recruiting plan.
Here’s how you can send it to me.
1. Think about your No.1 tip for a company about to embark on Social Recruiting
2. Record your tip in 30 seconds or less
3. Send your 30 second video to me via www.yousendit.com Email is justinhillier at talentonview.com (Thanks to TOV for my email account)
4. Provide me with your name, company website, Twitter account and a short, 120 character Bio in the comments below.
That’s it. I will collate all of the video’s, upload to the SR360 Youtube channel and create a blog that will have a link to every video with the information you provide me. My aim is to build a large library of video tips that we can all share and use to help everyone on their social recruiting journey.
Any questions please shout out. I’m looking forward to hearing, and seeing some great tips from all over the world. I of course will provide mine as well. I hope this will turn out to be a great resource for everyone.
I will give everyone till the 23rd August to complete. It should only take you 5 minutes, enjoy……The more the merrier so spread the word and get as many people involved as you can.
About eleven years ago Job Boards burst on to the scene to end the demise of print advertising. Whilst that has not entirely occurred, it certainly has made a massive dent in to the once prominent employment sections of the Saturday paper. But what of eleven years from now? Social Media, or Social Recruiting as we like to call it, is starting to make in-roads in to companies strategies of building talent communities to engage more directly with the candidates, but what will 2021 look like?
Here are some perhaps weird, out there, crazy ideas.
Augmented Reality
This one I think has some real merit. Augmented Reality is going to be quite big I believe for the Hospitality, Tourism and Retail markets, but what if you could point your smart phone at a store, company Head Quarters, or just down the street to see what jobs are available. This brings the technology of Location mapping, Augmented Reality and Mobile all in one. Give the candidate the ability to apply, send of their online resume and all of a sudden candidates can apply for jobs just while walking down the street. THIS I REALLY WANT TO SEE.
Voice Recognition/Voice Sentiment
Ok, I said some whacky ideas, but what if whenever you said you hated your job or were talking about a really bad day at work, you received some type of message with the latest jobs in your area/industry etc. Ok there are some obvious privacy issues here, but if the candidate had control over these privacy points there may just be another angle to target candidates who are not happy in their jobs. A bit out there but you never know.
Gaming
The gaming industry is HUGE. There are already companies out there using gaming to target potential employees, but for the moment it seems to be gaming based jobs or Paul Jacobs using Farmville for Deloitte in New Zealand.
What if the next time a company is building the next Sim City game (is that still around) or something where you have to work your way though a city that a company has a billboard on the side of the road or an advertisement comes up on the screen. You could target specific countries or even have a game within the game in a strategic manner to find a specific candidate with the skill set you are after.
Holographic Interviews
I love video interviews and they are certainly going to be the way of the future for first stage introductions. But what about holographic displays. No, I’m not talking about Princess Leia in Star Wars, but full scale holographic displays that shows every characteristic of the person at the “other end”. The technology is certainly out there, I have seen one company doing great things already (name escapes me) and I’d imagine that in eleven years time that cost, and access will come down considerably.
Youtwitface
This was a great joke by Conan O’Brian that in 3022 (something like that), that Youtube, Twitter and Facebook will merge to become YouTwitFace. Although it was a joke, is it really that hard to imagine that not all 3 will survive as we know them today or even be around at all. Facebook may overtake Google with most users and traffic, and it’s certainly heading that way at this stage, so why not in eleven years time would you not simply just use Facebook, or whatever it will be to recruit. If Facebook ever head down the business path with communities I think we can say game over for the rest.
These are just a few ideas of what recruitment might look like in 2021. Whacky, Zany, think outside of the box, what would, or could, totally change the way companies recruit today, the technology is likely out there, let your mind be free. So, what is your idea?
This won’t be the world’s longest list – I could sit here for the next 3 hours and list every reason I can think of, but I won’t. I just want to make some clear observations and highlight my thinking around a Social Recruiting strategy, which combines with your current sourcing techniques to add value to your business.
So here we go.
1. Seek has just put their prices up again.
I’m leading with this as it is always a sore point with many. It isn’t totally surprising (it is a yearly occurrence), but it does make other alternatives more attractive. I am a big Seek fan (I worked there for many years, so I have a slight bias) but the more the price goes up, the more other options need to be explored.
2. Market your employer brand with minimal cost
There are 1 million people on LinkedIn in Australia, approx. 2.5 million on Twitter and over 7 million people on Facebook. If you are not promoting your company via these channels what are you waiting for?
3. Engage with candidates more effectively
You want to talk to candidates out there that are interested in working for you. You don’t know where to find them. Look at the numbers above in point 2, that should be a good starting point.
4. Expand your knowledge of the HR/recruiting market
There is an enourmous number of people out there (both colleagues and candidates) that love sharing their ideas (I am one of them or you wouldn’t be reading this) regarding best practice, new concepts or whacky ideas for HR & recruitment. Tap in to this huge pool of knowledge and start reading. You might find something you like and can implement to get started in the area. Learn from other people’s mistakes.
5. Strategic, Proactive, Cost Effective, Multi-dimensional and NOW
Social media has downsides, just like everything else. The benefits far outweigh the risks, if it’s approached as a strategy and not just a cheap trick. The five words I used as the point title tell you why. If you don’t see the potential in something that’s strategic, proactive, cost effective, multi-dimensional and current, maybe it’s time we talked.
6. Be seen as innovative
There are only a few companies doing anything serious in the social recruiting space in Australia. There are many different ways to utilise social media to stand out from the crowd. One of the finest examples is Deloitte in New Zealand run by Paul Jacobs
7. Social media is not a fad!
I may have to say this 500,000 times. Look at the statistics, the media saturation of stories, the proliferation of blogs and ideas out there in this space – this is not something which will come and go, but something which is radically redefining the way we communicate and share information. Facebook is trying to out think Google everyday now (badly at times yes) but the trend of people using these tools to stay connected is undeniable.
8. Are your current methods fool proof?
The ultimate question. Is your current sourcing strategy 100% effective? Social media may not be the silver bullet, but it can certainly go a long way to providing a different perspective and a wide range of enhancements and improvements to your current approach. It is not meant to replace everything you currently do, but should be seen as an integral component and channel to a candidate market place that has moved on from newspapers, radio and to some degree job boards.
Recently a question was asked on LinkedIn regarding best practices when it comes to building your LinkedIn and other online networks? Here it is here. A great question and one that many people fail to remember when going about their every day social media strategies. I jotted down a few points I thought were relevant below.
1. Quality relevant and diverse content
2. Engaging in conversation
3. Giving more then receiving
4. Consistency in your message
5. Accepting feedback
6. Trying something new and not being afraid of failure
7. Listening to your network/community
8. Integrate across sites where possible and your own company site
9. Highlighting success and failure and learning from both
10. Define your objective but be flexible
11. Get in and do it and have some fun with it.
Can you add anymore?
