The first half of a two-part interactive workshop given at the 2010 TechServe Annual Conference. The goal of this session was to challenge participants to think about their current recruiting process and how they could optimize their efforts by incorporating social media in order to build relationships.
Get Connected: Building Digital Relationships to Improve Recruiting
1. Get ConnectedBuilding Digital Relationships to Improve Recruiting Michelle SpellerbergSenior Director, Brand Management and Emerging Media Leah McKelvey Marketing Manager, Staffing & Recruiting Group
2. The Digital Economy is Here 1 in every 4.5 minutes online isspent on social media1 22% Internet traffic has increased by 2/3 in one year2 66% 52 hrs U.S. Internet users spend an average of 13 hours online per week3 1.8B Social media users access networks via their mobile4, 5 *Sources: 1) NielsenWire, June 2010; 2) Cisco Cisco, Visual networking index: 2009-2014; 3) 2010 Personified Social Media Survey 4) Morgan Stanley Research 2009 5) ComScore Global 2010
3. Job Seeker Social Media Usage 30% use social media at least once a day Source: 2010 Personified Social Media Survey of active and passive Job Seekers
9. The Candidate Experience The candidate experience impacts the brand – beyond just that person Ask yourself: How can I help my candidates find the information they seek about my company? VERSUS
10. The Community Effect – Social Advocacy Jason’s friends see he liked the page Automatic Post to Friends’ Walls Jason “likes” A Company Page Fact: The average Facebook user has 150 friends on the site Jason’s 150 Friends see the post and could like the Company page, too Thousands of friends see the post and could become fans Source: Facebook
19. More Information Michelle Spellerberg Sr. Director, Brand Management & Emerging Media Email: michelle.spellerberg@personified.com Twitter: @mspellerberg LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/michellespellerberg Leah McKelvey Marketing Manager, Staffing & Recruiting Email: leah.mckelvey@careerbuilder.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/leahmckelvey
Notas do Editor
Obviously, the demand for companies to use social media as a recruiting tool will continue to rise. In our survey, nearly half of those that interact with a company on a social media site want to see job opportunities.Let me just take a moment and highlight that — Nearly half of people surfing your company’s Facebook page want to see a list of job openings… career information… opportunities in your organization. This is something you should do immediately if you have not already.In our March 2010 survey, participants were asked how they use a company’s social media page….Here’s what they said:The NUMBER ONE reason they visit a company’s social media page is to apply to jobsThe SECOND reason is to see responses to real issues….you can see how important candidate engagement is in this answer! The THRID answer was to get information – ask questions and get answers that was not found on the not company’s web siteRemind yourself of the question, “how can I help my candidates?” As you look at these survey results, are there opportunities for your company to better service your candidates needs?
To take advantage of the fact that job seekers are already using social media, we truly have to understand the relationship aspect of successful social media employment campaigns.Building relationships and being “connected” are important in both active and passive job searches. That’s clear by the fact that they are participating in social media communications, making comments and asking questions – looking to add new connections to their network each day. For this to happen, however, information has to go beyond a simple job posting or facts about a company. The information has to be a value-add to each connection. For example, if you are already happily employed, why would you continue to visit a company’s page? Well, if you are a programmer, and the page promotes the latest advancements in coding, you would see that page as a valuable resource and continue to remain connected. However, if that page just promotes job openings, you would likely want to unlike the page because the posts have become like spam. The posts have to connect the candidate and the employer. They have to provide an understanding of the organization in terms of a personality and culture and how employees fit into the grand scheme of things at the company. Aligning your employment message with these core values is critically important to success. In a recent poll, over 60% (61%) of people say that a fulfilling job is more important than money or advancement. The values and support of the people worked with is also reported as a top criteria.Stop and think about those to statements. We are all competing to better ourselves and provide more for our families. But at the end of the day, we will sacrifice money for fulfillment and RELATIONSHIPS! The Power of Relationships!
As you know, the trust among social media users is generally much stronger than the trust between a user and a brand. This means that what your candidates say about the experience of interviewing at your organization will be important to your social media audience. And…it will command a high degree of authority!Candidate experience has always been an important factor in an organizations overall brand and recruitment success. However with the scale that social media provides, it is increasingly important that employers are staying up to date with what applicants say. Cause one negative – just one comment – could be seen by hundreds or even thousands of people. Take a look at the two job seekers on the screen. Here are their stories. Both individuals are working to change career paths and are looking for organizations that offer good training, development and growth opportunities. Like most job seekers, they’ve turned to a search engine as their starting point. Let’s discuss the frustrated gentleman first. His name is Richard and as you can see, he’s not very happy.Richard is looking to change industries. He starts his search on CareerBuilder to find a new job. He finds an employer and opening that looks interesting, but he wants to find out more about the company. He uses Yahoo! and finds only the company’s website. He view the web site, but with no true Careers section, he doesn’t receive the information he wanted. He tries Google to find more about the company and still not much information. Next, he heads to Facebook, and still nothing. Frustrated, he decides not to apply and wonders why the company does not have a Facebook page or any other social media presence.Naturally, Richard gravitates toward a channel that does provide good information. In fact, he finds himself on the Facebook page of a well branded and socially integrated employer that has a list of opportunities right on their Careers Facebook page! This starts to ease his frustration as he’s finally found an opportunity that may suit him. Ok, now let’s talk about Grace.She’s also decided to change jobs but wants to work in an industry closely related to the one she’s in now. Like Richard, she begins researching potential future employers on CareerBuilder. She finds a really interesting opportunity and decides to find out more information. Before she applies, however, she wants to find out what current and ex-employees of these companies have to say about the culture, management, and work environment.. o she logs into LinkedIn and Xing and finds several people in her direct and extended network who have worked for these companies. Next, she Googles the company and finds a variety of sources of information in addition to the company’s web site. She clicks on the link to the company’s Facebook page. Here, she reads a profile of a day in the life of one of the company’s product managers. After reviewing it, she still has a question. She connects to the page by liking it and posts a question. In a few hours, she has her answer and decides to apply for the job. Her overall experience is clearly better than Richard’s experience. And this just highlights the begging of the process. Each time you interact with a candidate, this is your opportunity to promote your company’s brand, even if the candidate isn’t the right fit – he or she may still know someone who would be the right fit. These stories illustrates how critical social media is… not only to the candidate experience but also to overall talent acquisition visibility and results! When you are working to figure out what next steps to take, ask yourself one simple question, “How can I help my candidates find the information they seek?”
First Things First: Users need to be able to Find You.This means your username on social media platforms should clearly identify you. No StockholmSimon or iloveupcakes1977. The best practice to implement is simply your first and last name. For companies, grab the name of your company now. There are sites, such as knowem.com that allow you to see where your company is available on social media sites. Go out and grab them. The company name is best but you can always add the word career or recruitment on top of that to make the presence more specific. Next, keep logos consistent and readable on all profiles. For a personal account you use for work, keep you main photos and name the same on each site. Next, keep in mind that Candidates often research US as much as we attempt to research THEM. Keep company profiles up to date and robust. Next, the way you fill in your information on sites like Facebook and your Twitter bio should be strategically worded to match the key terms that your job seekers use when searching for opportunities. Think of key words and phrases that are most often used and include these in your profile. And these keywords and phrases should be sprinkled in all of the posts. You have to write for social media and adjust for your reader. Also, don’t forget about humanism! Recruiters must build relationships and Yes, this means you need to share some persona information about yourself. For example, if you like cats, talk about the trouble your cats get into from time to time. If you like running, talk about the best trails. By sharing who you are, you make yourself approachable but also express affinities that many encourage people to connect with you!
Positive Response Strategy. This is the less complex and infinitely less scary side of things. In principle, there is one rule to follow here: Publicly recognize and connect with those who speak positively about your employment brand. There’s a way to do this without having to reach out to EVERY user – through recognizing and connecting with users known as influencers. In social media, an influencer is someone who talks about your brand often and has a large audience that listens to their comments. In your listening stage, identify who your influencers are, and create a working list of who they are and where they show up online. Then simply work to ensure that you consistently highlight their efforts and positive comments, sharing them with others in different communities. Looking for ways to humanize your company’s brand, and become more transparent?This tactic does both, by publicly announcing that your organization appreciates and celebrates its advocates and employees.It’s a very powerful practice.