2012 Recruiting Trends: Companies Need To Develop A New Social Media Recruiting Strategy

In this age of e-recruitment, the focus of talent recruitment is increasingly shifting from online job boards to social media networks. In fact, considering the 2011 global statistics of active users, the adoption of social media as a “talent pool” is an obvious and necessary choice for recruiters.

How Do Recruiters Use Social Media Sites As Talent Pools?

In the past few years, recruiters’ interest in social media has dramatically increased.

In a 2011 global HR Professionals survey by StepStone Solutions, it was noted that over 96% of recruiters believed that social media has a role to play in recruitment because it’s one of the best ways to reach out to potential employees worldwide and build new talent pools, especially for high demand skills like mobile application developers or managers with experience in emerging markets. And over 82% of candidates responded positively for contact via facebook, twitter and linkedin.

Thus, social networking sites feature a huge network of recruiters and job seekers that are looking to connect with each other online.

What Role Does Social Media Play in the Recruitment Process?

In a 2010 Vault.com survey that included 150 companies and 3,500 job candidates, it was revealed that – while 93% of employers did not care what people did outside work, almost two-thirds of them actually looked into candidates’ social networking profile during the recruitment process. Nearly 28% of companies confirmed that they use social media to “spot check” on candidates.

Over the past few years, many recruiters have started to leverage social networking sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter in creative ways to source talent and build relationships with fans that may one day be candidates. LinkedIn is known to be the most popular professional networking site and has proven to be a great resource for recruiters.

According to Jobvite survey of U.S. Human Resources & Recruiting Professionals, social media has played a significant role in the recruitment processes of several companies. The number of companies that use social networking sites for recruitment has increased from 68% in 2009 to 80% in 2011. And the number continues to grow. From 2010 to 2011, companies that have successfully hired through a social network have increased from 58% to 64%.

Naturally, these numbers will continue to escalate during 2012 and beyond. What remains uncertain is the extent to which social media can transform from a connecting tool to a recruiting tool…

Why Do Companies Need A New Social Media Recruitment Strategy?

Considering the extensive number of active users, it has become increasingly challenging for recruiters to screen the right candidates. It is indeed difficult to pick the “most interested” or “best fit.” However, a number of recruitment apps have been developed to specifically enhance recruitment on Facebook and LinkedIn.

Many of these recruitment apps not only help “recruiters find the right candidates” but also enable “job seekers to apply for the right job.” Thus, companies are able to identify the ideal talent for their jobs quickly and more effectively.

To best utilize these resources like Facebook and LinkedIn, many companies are developing new social media recruitment strategies. In fact, many companies are now employing a social networking recruitment expert on their HR board to maximize their use of such opportunities.

Watch Out For New Apps For Social Media Recruitment!

In light of evolving recruitment trends, it is prudent for both “the recruiters” and “the job seekers” to utilize recruitment apps:

• LinkedIn Apply: LinkedIn, the #1 professional network, indeed leads the charge with its “Apply with LinkedIn.” The new LinkedIn Applyis the now the norm for nearly every ATS from Taleo to BrassRing.
• Pooldip: Pooldip is an emerging new job app on Facebook that allows users to create Facebook professional profiles to connect effectively with recruiters. Pooldip ‘sexecutive board is comprised of tenured HR professionals. It is an ideal addition to the LinkedIn Profile. Pooldip provides quick connections between company recruiters and interested job seekers.
• Mobile Job Apps– Innovative companies like Pepsi are creating mobile apps to connect with their talent pools. This is an efficient means of bringing recruitment from laptop to palmtop, in essence hiring on the go.

What Do 2012 Recruitment Trends Look Like?

• Companies will embrace social media recruitment and are likely to spend more time on social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook for recruitment activities including identifying, screening and connecting with candidates.
• Companies may consider increasing budgets for social recruiting and developing new strategies to best utilize the social recruitment apps.
• Recruitment departments may employ social networkers to fully screen candidates on social media sites and it would play an important role in the recruitment process.
• Job interviews may likely be preceded by online interactions via a social networking site. The communication method during the recruitment process may change from calls and e-mails to IMs/chats on social sites.
• While social media will continue to increase its role in recruitment, more traditional offline career events may diminish in importance as recruiting methods. Additionally, offline events may be replaced by similar online events, group chats or conferences on social media.
• Job seekers may need to build online resumes through Facebook Apps as well as CV-websites and online portfolios. Candidates will feature their resumes through professional Facebook and LinkedIn profiles.
• Application developers will continue to build core social recruitment apps to enhance e-recruitment. Additional one-click recruitment apps are likely and social media may feature more professional job boards.
• With the emerging variety of Facebook recruitment apps, Facebook may become a strong contender as a professional network like LinkedIn.
• In tandem with the recruitment apps on social networking sites, more networks like Google+ may attract recruiters and job seekers as well as developers for facilitating talent recruitment.
• Companies may encourage candidates to apply through social recruitment apps so they can quickly complete social-media background checks prior to consideration.

For certain, social media will continue to play a vital role in the recruitment processes in 2012 and beyond.