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Conference produces evidence that ‘social recruiting’ is gaining traction within the staffing industry

 

So, can recruiters really make money through social media? 

 

On 22nd April I went to the second Social Media in Recruitment Conference, which was held in the hugely auspicious British Library in Kings Cross.  And the content of the day certainly lived up to the grandeur of the venue.  But what did I learn?

 

I’ll be honest: having attended a number of social media events this past twelve months I was marginally sceptical that the content would be a repeat of what I’d heard countless times before.  I mean, I’ve joined the Twitter buzz; I use Facebook for business; and LinkedIn took over my life ages ago.  So, I wanted to be challenged: What’s new in town?  What aren’t I doing that I should be?  How well am I doing what I do?  And, of course, where’s the money?

Naturally I arrived at the venue late.  Unnaturally, I arrived wearing the wrong trousers.  An unusual clothing misjudgement ensured my jeans/shirt/retro-bag combo stood out amongst the slick suits being sporting elsewhere.  Was this an ironic un-social media conference?  Had I been hoist with my own petard – so often frowning upon other people’s fashion mistakes?

Unnerved, I retreated to the orange juice corner to assess the mood.  Certainly I was in the minority but not, thankfully, condemned to hell.  Phew.

Distinguished delegates

So whilst sipping Seville’s finest export I took a moment to asses the rabble.  But this was no rabble.  Because unusually for a social media event it appeared the anti had been upped – even Bill Boorman looked to be sporting a new hair-do.  Distinguishingly-dressed delegates represented all spectrums of the recruitment fields: independent recruitment consultants; multi-national agency owners; direct employers; and, of course, job boards. 

I felt happy that I’d not only learn something but possibly contribute, too.

Speaker content

There were nine speakers in total, with a panel rounding the day off.  Here are the highlights:

LinkedIn’s dominance as the world’s premier professional business network is set to continue.  Managing director of hiring solutions, Ariel Eckstein, managed to explain the many recruitment benefits of LinkedIn, without actually explaining how to use them.  To me this was a less than surreptitious sales-pitch, which whilst delivered well, was way too figures-led and not in any way personalised.

Twitter is a conundrum to many – even the afflicted addicted, so hearing Andy Headworth’s key strategies for using Twitter effectively in recruitment was energising.  Apparently, 5.5 million UK folk participate in Twitter, with the fastest growing group aged between 18-34 years of age – the perfect demographic for any recruiter.  The Twitter tools were of most interest: RSS feeds; Backtweets; #hashtags; Monitter.com; Tweetdeck; and more.

Social recruiting is all about communities.  Lisa Scales kindly used my own Only Marketing Jobs experience to accentuate how by building communities via social media, recruiters and jobseekers alike can benefit from more intimate engagement.  As humans we’re intrinsically social, she said, so communication is nothing new – it’s the evolution of this communication that is fundamentally different.  If you want to find a marketing jobseeker, go to where they hang out.  Lisa’s community presentation visually highlighted the importance of community-building.

Intriguingly there were two case studies presented to highlight how social media has benefited recruitment businesses.  Jonathan Hart-Smith of CK Clinical Recruitment and Elikie Holland of Prospectus IT Recruitment both recounted success stories over the past year.   To me this was particularly encouraging to hear, since I tell my clients every day how they should be using social media to help their talent-attraction strategy.

As usual BraveNewTalent founder, Lucian Tarnowski, eulogised about social media strategies for ‘Generation Y’ jobseekers.  Online engagement is the future;  CVs are now ‘talent profiles’; candidates no longer exist – they are ‘talent’.  I like Lucian’s stance.  His views resonate.

Peter Gold, founder of Hire Strategies Ltd, taught us how to maximise the use of Facebook pages as part of the recruitment mix and Andrew Marlow, director of Lawspeed, tackled the legal issues surrounding social media and employment.  Of course Facebook is often the centre of this conjecture.

Finally, Luke McKend, industry head of careers at Google UK, provided some alternative Insights to using social media in recruitment. 

So can recruiters make money through social media?

In my opinion, yes.  I knew this before I attend the conference and believe it even more now.  I believe that recruiters – whether from an agency or direct or a job board – who aren’t hanging out with their talent have a very short shelf-life.  It’s not just about filling out a profile on LinkedIn or creating noise on Twitter (it’s definitely not about creating noise!).  It’s about having a defined strategy: not just joining the buzz, but participating, too; engaging with peers; raising your head above the parapet; joining relevant communities – and networking within them. 

The networking bit

After the speaker content delegates mingled to sip wine, slurp beer and chew the metaphorical social cud.  And to me this was equally as important as what I’d learned in the auditorium.  Before the internet and all things digital us social beings actually met people face-to-face.  We met in bars and cafes (but mainly bars!) and had tangible, meaningful conversations with people we wanted to do business with.  And honest, profitable business was done.  So whilst I love social media and appreciate it for its ability to bring people together I still believe old-fashioned habits die hard.  Certainly in recruitment.  Sure, grasp Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn et al by the scruff of the neck and engage your audience – just don’t forget to share an offline natter from time-to-time.

What’s happened since the event?

My business has concluded that we’ve been right for past eighteen months (lucky us!) so we’re continuing to build our community of UK marketers – using the ‘big 3’ plus further progressing with YouTube.  With social media falling into the generic marketing mix we’re engaging with the early-adopters on a more succinct level and encouraging late arrivals to develop their own social strategies.  Our clients are beginning to take notice, with two of them from the conference already more proactive on LinkedIn and better aligned on Twitter. 

Social media can no longer be seen as a passing fad – it’s here; it’s enormous; it’s the future.  But it’s not the be-all-and-end-all: it’s an important part of an evolving cultural mix and I’ll be interested to see where we are in another twelve month’s time.

 

So, social recruiting: cash cow or a load of bull?  To me it’s an 18oz juicy rump steak with a pile of fries on the side.  Lovely.

 

Hear what others had to say about Social Media in Recruitment 2010

 

Thanks to the organiser

Web-Based Recruitment chief, Mike Taylor, was rightly due the plaudits as he pieced together an occasion that managed to transcend many faculties of the social media mix.  And it wasn’t just the speaker panel, either.  The delegate list was full of industry thought-leaders, keen both to learn and impart their experience.  Well done Mike.  Looking forward to next year.

 

 

Simon Lewis | Editor | Only Marketing Jobs

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