Tag Archive for social networking

Block Social Sites at your own recruiting peril

June 18, 2010 / Justin Hillier / 3 comments

There are a few, wait, a lot of companies out there that block the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Youtube etc. from their employees as they fear they will spend every business hour wasting time talking to their friends and not actually working. Whilst this might be true of a small amount of employees, to generalise and punish not only the rest of your staff but your business is policy suicide.

With Social Recruiting now becoming more prominent, companies are now using these sites to attract and source staff to their business. This firstly is fantastic, I love the use of Social Media to engage and communicate with people about wider company values and what makes a business unique. Each company has a personality and any candidate worth their salt will want to know that their personality matches the company they are applying to and there are clear opportunities for growth and development.

But what happens when a candidate turns into an employee and they cannot use Facebook at work to tell their friends that they just had a great meeting with a client, won an award or are off to a day of fun and excitement with their team. This is where I feel some companies seem to lose their way and restrict themselves from being even more successful.

Utilising these sites to attract and sell your business to candidates is great and has multiple benefits. So why then would you, once a new employee starts on day one, or day two, let them know that Social Media sites are blocked to employees? What seemed good enough on the outside, now is against company policy.

There are of course many social media tools to maximise and enhance employee engagement, but by blocking the tools you use as external communication and engagement pathways in to your company, you are sending mixed messages to candidates and employees that what is good enough for some, is not good enough for others.

Why risk polluting your message and perception by blocking sites and your employees that you could actually be leveraging.

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Some reasons why you should be considering Social Recruiting

June 2, 2010 / Justin Hillier / No comments

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.

Category: Featured Post, Social Recruiting / Tags: , ,

Twitter – Some tips to build your network

May 27, 2010 / Justin Hillier / 2 comments

Gaining valued Twitter followers and building your Twitter network is hard work and there is no exact science. I have listed below what I think are some straight forward things you can do to build a stronger relevant network on Twitter.

  • Create your account so it can be found. Keywords in Bio are crucial.
  • Register with the Twitter Directories
  • Utilise hastags to be seen be like minded people
  • Follow relevant people and engage with them
  • Follow event # and get involved in the discussion
  • Retweet Retweet Retweet
  • Use tools available to search for your target demographic
  • Follow those who follow you, but keep them relevant
  • Follow Lists and create your own
  • Create a poll for your network, ask for it to be RT
  • Thank people who RT your tweets
  • Give/share more then take
  • Be personal, not corporate, but not to personal, there is a fine line.
  • Tweet as often as you can
  • Tweet in peak times
  • Add your Twitter username to your email signature, business cards and any other marketing material
  • Attend Tweetups in your area, search on Twtvite and share stories, take your online chats offline.

    What other tips or advice have you got?

    • Category: Featured Post / Tags: , ,

    Australian Social Media Stats – Nielsen Report

    March 15, 2010 / Justin Hillier / No comments

    Amazing stats this morning from Nielsen showing the growth of Social Media usage in Australia. If this doesn’t make the HR/recruitment industry realise there is a HUGE LOST OPPORTUNITY in not being in the Social Media game then I don’t know what will.

    Here is a brief overview:

    9 million Australians now interact via social networks
    Content sharing is the most popular activity
    4 in 5 Australian Internet users have shared a photo
    Twitter usage grew by 400% in 2009
    Nearly 3/4 of Australians read a wiki
    2 in 5 Australians interact with companies via social networks

    Add to this that LinkedIn reported last week to now have 1 million users in Australia and the arguments just keep stacking up for everyone to jump on board. You can download the 3 page report here

    Category: Uncategorized / Tags: , , , , ,

    Use "The Force" Luke

    March 11, 2010 / Justin Hillier / 2 comments
    Social Recruiting Use-The-Force

    Social Recruiting Use-The-Force

    Ah Star Wars, how I love thee. Three amazing films, well ahead of their time with ideas and special effects, and then 3 movies that left a little bit to be desired, but I’m not going to go into that today. The Star Wars story, the original 3, centered around Luke Skywalker and his father Darth Vader, Jedi Knights with abilities that mere mortals can only dream of.

    They can convince people to do what they wish, move items at will, fight with a light sabre like its a chopstick and essentially are the keepers of peace, and the instigator of evil. One wants to rule the Universe, while the other is there to keep things in harmony. “The Force” which gives these Jedi Knights their powers is EVERYTHING. It is the living organisms, the buildings, people, anything you can imagine has some element of The Force surrounding it. The Jediss use this to their advantage (or for Evil for Mr Vadar) and extract what they can out of every situation.

    The most famous line for me, and one that we all use on a regular basis is “Use the Force”. When I want something done, or someone else to do something, “Use The Force” is always thrown in there. Maybe I haven’t grown up, but that’s not the point and I have to eventually relate this to Social Recruiting.

    So what is “The Force” for recruiters and companies trying to find the best talent in the market? Your Network!

    Call it a community, a tribe, a bunch of people, call it what you will, but a recruiters “Force” is the breadth and extensiveness of your professional network. You see the more you are networking, be it via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Blogs, Events (yes something offline, it still exists) the list goes on, the better access you have to finding what you are looking for. If you are not using Social Media to assist with this, I have nothing to say other then YOU ARE MAD!!!!! Never before have you been able to network so EASILY…..

    It may not always be a candidate for that open position, you could need some specific industry information, a recommendation on your work or help with just about anything and your network will be there for you, Use the “Force”.

    So next time as a recruiter you are sitting there wondering where your next candidate or client is going to come from, or you need that specific piece of information that will win you a deal, or best yet you are seeking a new position, double check how much time and effort you have spent building your network of contacts across the various social media channels and how you can leverage “Your Force”…..or are you mad?

    PS. George Lucas has no copyright on this blog post at all.

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