Editorial Articles

Jonathan Lindon, Founding Director of digital recruitment specialists Source on the significance of social media for employers and jobseekers

Good recruiters will use social media to build an audience of employers and candidates regardless of the need to find a candidate or gain a client. However many recruiters use social media as a blunt tool to simply shout about jobs they have to fill – turning off anyone not looking for an employee or job.

By taking a philanthropic approach to sharing advice and insight online, recruiters can develop an interested audience of candidates and clients. You can then direct those specifically interested in job opportunities or recruitment services to other channels (website etc) through which the recruiter can then engage with them on a formal fee-paying basis.

LinkedIn is a good way for recruiters, candidates and employers to check each other out. However we advise to only connect to people you know in order to keep your network as meaningful as possible.

By developing a tight Twitter strategy around key contacts at a business you want to work for, you can target them directly, as long as the contacts are interested in engagement in this way. There are a plethora of Twitter tools available to search for jobs and an interesting Twitter profile is a great way to set yourself apart from the crowd. Looking at potential employees' Twitter is something both ourselves and employers will do.

A Facebook page, Twitter or LinkedIn group are good ways for employers to post that they are looking for candidates, direct them to their website and potentially have them in front of a decision-maker quickly. The negative to this is that as yet, many businesses don’t channel their recruitment through social media channels, and there is usually not a robust response mechanism in place. Candidates' interest is not always acknowledged, or taken to the next stage, which reflects badly on the brand.

For prospective employees the perils of a badly managed Facebook profile have been discussed at length. But checking your privacy settings, not uploading anything you wouldn’t want a prospective boss to see, and not joining any groups you don’t want to have access to your information should be standard. If you’re concerned about your FB profile but don’t want to delete anything, consider deactivating your account during a job search.

Looking for work via social media does have pitfalls - openly announcing you are looking for work can attract unwanted attention from the wrong type of employers/recruiters, and if you’re a candidate already employed, you risk your current employer finding out. Those interested in speed of response, accuracy, personal service, filtration and depth of knowledge, will ultimately find recruitment through social media laborious and largely ineffective.

Social media should be just one of many channels used to find a job or find someone to do a job. It complements the service offered by recruitment agencies rather than removing the need for us. 

www.wearesource.co.uk