Establishing Connections in a Spider Web of Social Networks

Besides serving as an effective way of connecting people globally, social networking has become a powerful tool for job hunting and recruiting. For job seekers, these online networks provide a perfect opportunity for marketing their capabilities. For recruiters, social networking tools allow them to locate candidates with specific experience and skills quickly and inexpensively. To make the best use of social media tools, the job hunters and the recruiters may consider the following:

For the job hunters,

• Establish a presence on websites where recruiters or potential employers are likely to visit
• Establish profiles on social network sites, such as LinkedIn, Ryze, Facebook, Twitter, Coworkers.com, alumni networks, and other professional associations, to build new contacts and meet people for sharing knowledge and experience.
• Keep separate profiles for personal and professional use, but maintain consistency in the way you present yourself across different sites
• Showcase your skills, experience, interest; Emphasize your strengths that attract potential employers
• Maintain a track record to allow recruiters to solicit feedback on you from co-workers, both past and present (i.e. joining Coworkers.com)
• Raise your value and broaden your visibility by engaging in regular "tweets", maintain a 75%-25% professional-to-personal tweet ratio, and identify yourself in a professional way
• Set up a blog that represents you; use it for both information capturing as well as telling others about who you are and what you do regularly

For the recruiters,

• Use social media tools to complement traditional recruiting methods and generate a large number of results
• Identify potential candidates online and explore "passive hires", communicate and evaluating these candidates online
• Extend company's networks to become a part of a larger network (a "talent pool") by leveraging its relationships with employees and other businesses
• Set up online job boards to advertise jobs and provide accurate job description
• Employ different social network tools for different types of job openings (ie. use Craiglist for senior positions and Creativecircle for entry to mid-level positions)
• Make company attractive to candidates rather than simply specify the job requirements
  
• Establish a company blog to encourage communication, spot top talents, and project a desirable image to outsiders

Social networking embraces the concepts of "six degree of separation" - two random people can be connected to each other through six other people (Menon). Social network sites weave the weak ties among people into a powerful web of talents and skills by allowing people to tab into other people outside their direct association. It is this powerful web that everyone dabs into for resources. A common complaint from HR professionals is that the large volume of resumes received makes it difficult to identify the qualified candidates. On the other hand, a common complaint from the job seekers is that the recruiters do not always get back to them regarding feedback or decision.

I find social networking beneficial to recruiting because the online process is far more efficient, less costly, and definitely eco-friendly. In addition, both the recruiters and the job applicants get to check one another out, and become better acquainted prior to engaging in further time and cost commitment.

Sources:
Chalian, Henry. "Working with Financial Recruiters." WSJ Blogs - WSJ. 4 Mar. 2010. Web. 28 Mar. 2010.

"How to Not Hire Someone Via Craigslist." How to Change the World. 27 Aug. 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

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Menon, Nikhil. "6 Degrees of Recruitment." The Economic Times: Business News, Personal Finance, Financial News, India Stock Market Investing, Economy News, SENSEX, NIFTY, NSE, BSE Live, IPO News. 27 Mar. 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Miller, Lee E. "Social Networking Has Its Perks." New Jersey Local News, Breaking News, Sports & Weather - NJ.com. 21 Mar. 2010. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Porter, Joshua. "The Blog Is the New Resume." Bokardo Social Design by Joshua Porter. 19 Apr. 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.

Schweyer, Allan. "The Power of Weak Ties (in Recruiting)." Small Business and Small Business Information for the Entrepreneur. 1 Aug. 2005. Web. 27 Mar. 2010.