Moz
10-06-2009, 04:34 PM
I’m getting sick and tired of hearing people banging on about the value of social media web applications such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs as recruitment tools. Some even suggest they are essential and that employers who don’t use them will be left behind or miss out in some way. In particular social media is claimed to be by far the best way to recruit “gen-y”.
However, a recent survey (http://www.aftercollege.com/content/blog/networking_effective_social_networking_not_there_y et/) by US careers site aftercollege.com (http://www.aftercollege.com/content/blog/networking_effective_social_networking_not_there_y et/) found quite the opposite. Out of of 670 college students and alumni, social networking sites “such as Facebook” was ranked last out of 15 different methods of finding a job.
Pretty much all of the Gen-Y people I know have a Facebook profile, but those who are active users participate purely for social/voyeuristic reasons within an established circle of friends. They don’t use it expecting to be sold to or recruited and if they’re looking for a job they go to suitable job boards (usually Seek and/or niche sites).
It seems some of the people who have been pushing social web applications as recruitment tools are starting to admit that the concept is over hyped and are trying to reset expectations, but they are assuming that these ‘social web’ apps will gradually become accepted by main stream business as ‘must use’ recruitment tools. I don’t think they ever will, and here’s why.
Traditional recruitment tools such as job boards, print media and recruitment agencies, can be utilised at will and require no time commitment outside the hiring cycle. On the other hand the social web applications start at zero effectiveness. A considerable investment in time is required to attract a sizeable relevant audience in the hope that they will respond when you start introducing recruitment into the content. To remain useful, social web apps require an on going and regular involvement to retain the attention of the audience, even when you are not recruiting.
So not only is your constant input required to nurture and feed your social web presence, but there’s another side to the social web which may cause sleepless nights for your PR people – it’s two way! The audience, which is effectively anonymous, can have their say about you as an employer and a corporate citizen.
I’m not saying that the social web is completely useless for recruiting, there will be always be some exceptions, but generally speaking the likes of Facebook, Twitter and blogs are far less effective than traditional recruitment tools and the return on investment is negligible.
The one exception to this is LinkedIn, but then I class LinkedIn as a business networking application, not a social networking app.
Moz.
However, a recent survey (http://www.aftercollege.com/content/blog/networking_effective_social_networking_not_there_y et/) by US careers site aftercollege.com (http://www.aftercollege.com/content/blog/networking_effective_social_networking_not_there_y et/) found quite the opposite. Out of of 670 college students and alumni, social networking sites “such as Facebook” was ranked last out of 15 different methods of finding a job.
Pretty much all of the Gen-Y people I know have a Facebook profile, but those who are active users participate purely for social/voyeuristic reasons within an established circle of friends. They don’t use it expecting to be sold to or recruited and if they’re looking for a job they go to suitable job boards (usually Seek and/or niche sites).
It seems some of the people who have been pushing social web applications as recruitment tools are starting to admit that the concept is over hyped and are trying to reset expectations, but they are assuming that these ‘social web’ apps will gradually become accepted by main stream business as ‘must use’ recruitment tools. I don’t think they ever will, and here’s why.
Traditional recruitment tools such as job boards, print media and recruitment agencies, can be utilised at will and require no time commitment outside the hiring cycle. On the other hand the social web applications start at zero effectiveness. A considerable investment in time is required to attract a sizeable relevant audience in the hope that they will respond when you start introducing recruitment into the content. To remain useful, social web apps require an on going and regular involvement to retain the attention of the audience, even when you are not recruiting.
So not only is your constant input required to nurture and feed your social web presence, but there’s another side to the social web which may cause sleepless nights for your PR people – it’s two way! The audience, which is effectively anonymous, can have their say about you as an employer and a corporate citizen.
I’m not saying that the social web is completely useless for recruiting, there will be always be some exceptions, but generally speaking the likes of Facebook, Twitter and blogs are far less effective than traditional recruitment tools and the return on investment is negligible.
The one exception to this is LinkedIn, but then I class LinkedIn as a business networking application, not a social networking app.
Moz.