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Position listed : March 11th, 2010
Of late, there has been significant hype regarding social media and its use within the recruitment industry. So much so, that some of the larger businesses (internally thought of as the McDonald’s of the recruitment world), are actively creating new positions titled “social media” specialist. As a candidate, you may be left asking yourself how such mediums can aid you in securing a future employment opportunity. Furthermore, a current and troubling question from our perspective is“will social media eliminate the need for recruiters?”
With descriptive marketing plans in conjunction with exceptionally elaborate position descriptions, a number of new employment opportunities have surfaced as companies jump on the social media band wagon. Recruitment agencies seem intent on harnessing the use of such mediums to maximise both their brand name and further grow their brand knowledge into the marketplace. But as a job seeker, the concept of social media may very well not only work against you but may also cause irreversible damage to your long term employment pursuits. Let me explain why……
As a manager of a successful recruitment agency, we are always looking to identify opportunities which will aid us in our endeavors to wave the “Milestone” brand and further grow our business. During our travels in exploring the concept of “social media” and how it can help our business and aid us in obtaining the best employment opportunities for our candidates, we have been approached by various “pseudo specialists” who are seeking to sell their service of “exploiting” the immense opportunities that “social media” represents to the recruitment industry. Our company has even been approached by apparent “social media specialists” who, after significant investigation, turn out to be nothing more than overzealous salesmen who carry with them the flag and promise of phenomenal profits using this new medium as their core business model. In reality however, most of them are wielding snake oil and these promises are nothing more than a poor extract from the latest edition of a cheap online marketing subscription. Cutting and pasting extracts from other industry authorities, what they sell is really nothing more than nicely packaged snake oil. “Don’t let your business fall behind and don’t fail your candidates” they taunt.
But in my opinion, the truth is somewhat different to the hype that the “social media specialists” would like to convince us it is. Sure, for companies seeking staff or wanting to grow their brand name, “social media” can have significant advantage to this endeavor. But just how applicable is this in relation to a job seeker looking to find work, or alternatively, looking to be found by work? Firstly, as a candidate, having a potential employer find you *one of the major purposes of utilising Social Media for employment purposes* is only part of the equation which is of course important to securing another employment opportunity. But, this is really only part of the process and left unmanaged, can quite possibly end in naught and a perception that may well work against you at a later stage. Let me elaborate on what I mean by this statement. A recruiter I once interviewed explained to me how a successful placement is like attempting to conquer a tall mountain. Sure, you can commence on your journey at the beginning and everything looks like it is going fine until you get half way to the top at which point you realise that you have forgotten to pack your tent, your food or your water. Chances are, you’re either going to die, or, you’re going to have to descend again to get the essentials required to making sure you can get to the top next time round. Unprepared is guaranteed to ensure that you fail on your endeavors and as such, can ultimately result in tragedy.
So how does this little story apply to candidates using social media? Well, firstly, understand that when you put your details out there, and are approached by a potential employer directly, you will remain totally unprepared for the interview. No one, at any stage has actually spent time and energy making sure that you are a good fit and furthermore, you are shooting blind trying to satisfy a number of key requirements without the information required to ensure that you can satisfy the interviewers expectations. “A lost opportunity is no big deal really”, you may be thinking? Well sure, it’s reasonable to think that other than your time no it isn’t. But the truth is that a failed interview can actually haunt you for many years to come. For example, I know of a manager in a large insurance company who keeps a database on file of every candidate she has ever interviewed. If you were interviewed with her 10 years ago and she decided against hiring you at that point, her opinion would remain the same 10 years on. So if at some point in the future you happened to be looking for another opportunity in the same domain and your details were represented to her once more, you’d automatically be ruled out based on your interview some 10 years ago. But that’s a just a unique scenario you may be thinking? Well, in fact, candidates forget that hirers are people too. Like all of us, chances are they have flaws and little idiosyncrasies just like everyone else and are not impervious to forming opinions that can never be changed and are in fact totally incorrect.
This is only one small part of where a quality recruitment consultant can aid you in the job process. A good consultant should seek to firstly identify that you are in fact the best candidate in the marketplace, but then secondly, seek to provide you with enough information to properly prepare yourself for the interview letting you know both what your client is seeking and what remains important to him/her. Not surprisingly, even the smallest amount of information provided to a candidate prior to interview can make all the difference between a successful employment offer, and a failed interview.
But then what about your LinkedIn profile or other such information that is freely posted on the internet? Surly this can only help you? In truth, and for some people, I’m absolutely does. But for others, it can not only limit the number of options available, but also work against them in relation to biases associated with the company you may be working for or alternatively your on-line profile may not mention areas of expertise that you are more than proficient in. To elaborate further, on a number of occasions now we have qualified a candidate, technically tested them and then reworked their resume prior to sending it to the client. The response from the client after which is one of concern as they have found the candidates details on LinkedIn and it does not seem to mention the same proficiencies. This concern rarely goes away and even after explaining to the would be hirer that the on-line profile is both limited and has missed certain components of ones skills, the client more often than not will have already decided that the potential candidate is not right for the opportunity even before they have the opportunity to attend interview. Another great example is a recent client of ours who refused to interview a candidate because he/she was currently working for Telstra. The client was convinced that no one who worked for Telstra would be suitable for his company however after interviewing the candidate we felt that he was extremely suitable and more than capable of satisfying the expectations. We managed to organize an interview with the client and then confirmed it with the client. Shortly after, we received a call back from the client informing us that he had just perused the candidates details on-line and as such decided he didn’t want to progress to interview. Had this occurred if the candidates details had not been available online? Possibly not…..
But then again, there are absolutely many candidates and job seekers who use their own networks wisely and manage to secure employment by branding their own resumes, skills and capabilities and then secure employment on their own accord. This is not the rule, but it does happen and works well for some people.
All in all, it would appear that the primary “social media” tool that most “specialists” are currently branding for job seeks or at least those who want to be made aware of employment opportunities, is a well detailed LinkedIn profile in conjunction with a pretty picture and some indication of your highly developed interpersonal skills. For some, this will work great. For others, the value that a good recruitment partner brings to the table will never be replaced by “social media” or intelligent candidate attraction systems. It is also unable to jump out at a client and say, “Hey, I just came across this candidate who you have to meet!” After all, “Social Media” which is based on logic, rules, process and systems defies all those wonderful things, such emotion, illogic, irrationality and unpredictability that tend to make humans, human…..
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