Recently, I learned that India is the second-largest member base for LinkedIn. This is probably a reflection of how social media has impacted the professional lives of Indians as much as it has their personal lives. This is just one example of a global trend. With all operations slowly moving towards being cloud-based, it is now a no-brainer that companies with a great online presence are bound to attract great talent. This opens the playing field for smaller firms. It has brought together creators and builders from across geographies and helped nurture new ecosystems.
As a recruitment consultancy, the social media movement has disrupted the way we source talent. It has become important for us to understand the dynamics of recruitment marketing to better help our clients attract the best people. A big aspect of this is social media marketing – the new buzz word in town.
Most people would agree that one of the primary advantages of social media is its amazing reach and how cost-effective it is to find who they are looking for. And this thought leads us to the concept of “Passive Users”. These are people who aren’t actively seeking a job or looking for a change. However, there is a high possibility that some of them have skills that match our requirements perfectly and social media gives us a chance to arouse their curiosity by reaching out and having a conversation which is personalized and driven by mutual interests. Even if these passive users do not take up the opportunity (some other phrase) they can help us connect with their peers who are, in all probability of a similar mindset. This also helps us improve the quality of candidates as the people hired thus are more likely to be open to new ideas, well-informed and tech-savvy. Reaching out to passive users also helps us understand what aspects of an organization are attractive to the talent pool which can then be utilized by our clients to improve their employer image.
While the merits are numerous, there are also a few cons that we have to discuss. One of them is the possibility of obtaining more information than necessary about a candidate which can lead to unintended bias. Another is the authenticity of the information presented. The lack of verification creates a lot of room for error and hence we need to be highly vigilant in the conversations that follow the evaluation of a profile. Social media also does not account for discrepancies in the profile which is not regularly updated. This could mean loss of valuable time.
Like with the use of any tool it becomes important to adapt to the changes but at the same time be aware of the limitations and take appropriate precautions. Even still social media recruitment is a buzz word and rightly so. As it has improved the way we look at talent and it has changed the way people look at companies. With due diligence, social media will help build people-based businesses and a more engaged talent pool. With this, the future looks savvy indeed.