Impact of Social Media on Recruiter Experience
Let’s get serious. How does social media and all of those super popular sites like Facebook, LinkedIN, Tweeter, Spokeo, Plaxo, Glassdooor, and a couple of dozen others impact our job search? Can they actually help us land a job, or are they just sites with cool usability that are fun to use, but can’t deliver?
In business world, people often say that social media does everything except sell products and services. This opinion, however, is not unanimous. The goal of social media is to engage in a conversation with potential customers. The focus is not on transaction, but rather on the interaction. Let’s examine a few case studies of how large organizations are using social media:
- GM keeps a blog to communicate with their customers and share with them news on car designs and various green technologies. The goal is to educate consumers on what GM is doing, so when consumer is making a decision they remember a company they interacted with over a long period of time.
- Delta has a video channel, photo sharing site, where their customers can share images from their recent trips and a fan page on Facebook that support their philanthropic initiative. The goal is to get Delta’s clients to interact with each other and become advocates of the brand.
- Learning from what the companies are doing, it is safe to say that the goal of a job seeker is not to seek job openings, but rather seek connections. Here are a few strategies on how to interact with decision makers.
1. If you want to work for a specific company, do the appropriate research. Do any company employees have blog, LinkedIN page or a Twitter account? If so, what are they saying across those sites? Use Spokeo (www.spokeo.com) to research current employees and learn what they are doing across social networks.
2. Once you find some information that can help you establish a point of contact prepare a plan of attack. It goes without saying that sending a desperate message ‘please hire me’ will not work well. Your goal is to add value to the conversation. The contact has to be established over a longer period of time, one short interaction will not get the job done. For example, using LinkedIN you can look at the groups the person has joined. Try joining the same groups and engage in a conversation. Q&A feature on LInkedIN will allow you to post answers to some of the questions that people have, thus establishing yourself as an expert.
3. If you can’t find any company employees using social media, and you can’t establish point of contact try looking at local news. This way, even if your only option is to send a letter to the Recruiter, at least you can demonstrate your knowledge, and make your letter stand out more. Google Alerts (http://www.google.com/alerts) and Alltop (http://www.alltop.com/) will help you keep track of the company specific recent news.
Some people use social media to launch their own social media campaigns. TwitterShouldHireMe.com a campaign to get Jamie Varon a job at Twitter was a huge success as Jamie not only landed a job, but became a celebrity.
My next blog postings will focus on specific social media applications and how they can be used to interact with potential employers.