Using Social Media in Recruiting

There's been a lot of chatter about about this topic. I'm interested in hearing real stories! What about you ? How are you using social media to recruit and evaluate candidates?

The Landscape of HR Recruiting is Changing

By Valerie Plis, Master Certified Career Coach

When laid off or downsized from work, most job seekers migrate directly to the online job boards to begin their job search. Unfortunately, the very strategy that is the most comfortable and convenient -- and most widely used -- has quickly become one of the least effective.

Here's the deal. A recession makes the recruiting process very hard. There is a tsunami of high-quality applicants for every published job lead - far more than the employer can interview. The problem for the employer is the expense to post the ad, not to mention the time and resources needed to sift through the thousands of resumes. This is truly like trying to find a needle in a haystack and it is prompting employers to rethink their recruiting strategies. Therefore, as the employer changes their process, it is critical that job seekers change their strategies.

Employers are beginning to use a combination of old and new methods to make recruitment work better, cost less, and attract a better-qualified applicant. Here are a few ways in which the recruiting landscape has changed:

It's a fact: A-list employees tend to know A-list candidates and 80% of recruiting professionals say that referrals from current and former employees are the single best source of great hires. Therefore, companies are dusting off (or creating) their employee referral programs whereby the employee is paid a cash bonus of $500 to $2,500 for referring a candidate who is successfully hired. With an effective referral program, recruiting is not left up to a select few but rather every employee in the organization becomes a miner for talent.

What does this mean for the job seeker? It is important to connect, interact and remain in contact with your network, especially those folks who are working with your A-list employer.

According to the recent Social Recruitment Survey, employers are recruiting extensively on social networks such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter because it helps them uncover a better-qualified recruit. The report also showed that employers are likely to invest more in these types of candidate sources, trimming down their spending with job boards. Here are a few interesting stats from the report:

• 76% of companies surveyed plan to invest more in employee referrals
• 72% plan to invest more in recruiting through social networks
• 80% of companies are planning to use social networks to find or attract
  candidate
• LinkedIn use grew from 80 to 95% in 2008
• Facebook use grew from 36 to 59% in 2008
• Twitter ranked third at 42%

What does this mean for the job seeker? What would you do today if you knew you would find your dream job tomorrow through Twitter? Of course you would create your Twitter account and begin using it right away. Unfortunately, you don't know which job search strategy will result in your next job offer. I often use a fishing analogy when speaking to job seekers about the importance of a strategic mix of strategies. If you want to catch a variety of fish faster, you need to have multiple "poles in the water." Social media is simply another pole in the water.

Employers are interested in developing their own pool of candidates using their website. Job seekers can go directly to the company's career site to review job openings, search jobs by keywords, apply for jobs, and set up job notifications much like the functionality of a job board. In addition, the interactive career site (including video, blogging, chat, and widgets) is designed to showcase and brand the company's culture, share the latest news on what's happening with the company, and, attract, capture and communicate with the A-list candidates.

What does this mean for the job seeker? Using a variety of internet resources can help you identify a list of targeted employers. Visit their website and bookmark their career page. Visit it often. The reason employers believe this strategy recruits an A-list candidate is because it requires the job seeker to be more proactive at seeking out their A-list employers.

The bottom line ... employers are indeed hiring; they're just fishing in a different pond. What this means to the job seeker? They need to swim in a different pond.

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©2009 Exceed With Purpose Coaching LLC www.ExceedWithPurposeCoaching.com All Rights Reserved.

Writing High-Impact Accomplishment Statements

When it comes to remarkable resumes, employers are not interested in knowing what you can do; they want to know what you've made happen! Employers are most interested in RESULTS. That's why your resume must be more than a historical document describing your knowledge, skills, abilities, education, and work history. It has to be more than a comprehensive job description outlining every task or responsibility you've had throughout your career. Honestly, there are few things more boring and drab.

In addition to an employer-centered job goal and critical keywords, a compelling resume also must include high-impact accomplishment statements that truly showcase the valuable you can bring to an organization. This is a good predictor of what the employer can expect of you in the future. Therefore, rather than say I was "responsible for increasing existing customer sales," you can literally transform the employer's perception of your value proposition by saying something like "Generated $1.3M in sales by developing meaningful customer relationships and providing exceptional technical support." Now that's a high-impact statement.

How do you go about writing these high-impact accomplishment statements?

Step 1 -- Rough Notes
Set a timer for 10 minutes. Starting with your most current position, write down any accomplishment, contribution, or achievement that comes to mind, no matter how insignificant it may seem. Do not stop brainstorming until the 10 minutes are up. Highlight any accomplishment, contribution, or achievement which directly relates to your job target.

Step 2 -- Get Organized
You can organize your rough notes by identifying the tangible result and a brief explanation of how it was done. For example:

Tangible Result - Generated $1.3M in sales from existing customers

By Explanation - by increasing meaningful customer contact and providing exceptional email and telephone support during initial installation of products

Step 3 -- Write your Accomplishment Statement
Now you need to make your accomplishment statements resume-ready by rewriting each statement using clear, concise language.

Generated $1.3M in sales by developing meaningful customer relationships and providing exceptional technical support.

If you do not have any statements which directly relate to your job target, begin the statement emphasizing the talent or transferable skill. Example, "Developed meaningful customer relationships and provided exceptional technical support which resulted in $1.3M in sales from existing customer accounts."

Once the resume does its job -- that is to get you the interview -- then you must be prepared to back up those claims with compelling work-experience stories. These stories will provide "proof" of these statements and go a long way in positioning you as being the most valuable and remarkable candidate for the job!