Tag: Social Media

Beyond the Job Board

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It was the 20th century, and job boards were all the rage. Sites like www.monster.com sprung into being, linking beleaguered career-seekers with more opportunities than the classified section of their Sunday newspaper could provide. Since then, aggregators and site scrappers have snagged and deposited job listings and descriptions in centralized locations site for complete ease of access.

Of course, times change. What seemed like the pinnacle of online recruitment is changing as employees-to-be spend less time on traditional websites, and more time on social networking webpages.

Facebook remains the go-to source for social networking, and combined with the raw mass of human beings logging in every day, and excellent way to talk about jobs. And that’s the trick with social media: it isn’t simply listing positions your company needs to fill—it’s just as important to start a dialog with people. Friends recommending friends for open positions. Answering questions about your work environment. Sites like Twitter offer quick, popcorn glimpses into your workplace, while LinkedIn perfects the art of connecting people with positions in a way that’s more personal than “click-n-apply”.

The switch to social media is exciting, but it can also be confusing. Sometimes it takes months to plan the right strategy. Agencies like Buyer Advertising help.

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Networking, Farming, and You

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Not too long ago, we posted this quote on our Facebook page: “Networking is not about hunting. It is about farming. It’s about cultivating relationships.” Quote courtesy of Ivan Misner. Hunter/gatherer tropes aside, farming is an excellent metaphor about networking the right way. It’s about a mindset—and not just the actions a company needs to take to succeed at networking. A hunter is primal, focused, and infuriated every time his spear misses the wild boar—meaning, of course, no tasty dinner for his family tonight. On the flip-side, the farmer is patient. He plant his seeds months in advance, cultivates the seedlings as they arise, and harvests on the plants’ own schedule.

As any good farmer will tell you, it’s important to choose your fields wisely. You’ve going to want to plant on fertile grounds where your business potential is maximized. In the online world, this translates into sites like Facebook, Twitter, and your own company blog. But the modern farmer can’t neglect his tool shed. Sites like Digg.com and StumbleUpon bolster your efforts and catalyze the growth of a customer and fan base. Seek out forums and exchange links to stay relevant and visible.

A good farmer also knows when to weed the garden. In social networking circles, weeds translate into spam messages and negative feedback. Whether you pull out the green invaders by hand (managing content on a per-post basis) or use a pesticide (IP filtering, content management tools for your blog) every garden needs to some attention paid to upkeep in order to thrive. Make sure you’re keeping an eye on your networking investment. Be genuine. Be real. Offer value. The customers will come.

New Methods for New Media

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The face of recruitment is changing. There’s already been in shift in how your organization hires employees, and social media is responsible. Where job seekers used to open the classified section of their newspapers, where they once logged into Monster.com, now their method of choice for securing a new position is to turn first to their social networks. That’s where you come in. To recruit top talent, you need to put yourself at the front lines. But it isn’t as simple as building a site on Facebook, as Tweeting out your jobs every morning. Tackling recruitment using social media has to be effective—not just cost-effective. It requires a new strategy.

To reach the maximum number of hires, talk to the client in a more personal way. If your approach comes across as too business-like, you’re going to scare potential recruits away. Answer questions as they arise on your networks. If you prove to a there’s a human on the other end of the keyboard and that your social media site isn’t simply Job Board 2.0 or a bullhorn that’s an afterthought to your hiring practices, you’re going to have more interest in your open positions.

Another approach to consider is building a place for social media promotion into your traditional marketing. Update your website with links to your Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. Build job promotional details into your current materials and job marketing efforts. The more people would follow your lead, the larger the pool of quality of employees you’ll have.

Managing Negative Facebook Feedback

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You’re a business, and that means you’ve got a Facebook account. As the nation’s consumers and potential hires continue to toss out the newspaper, delete their links to monster.com, and instead log onto social media, crafting a Facebook presence is a good idea. But what happens when good ideas go bad? If there’s one inevitable in life, it’s that you’re going to run into conflict. People will badmouth you. On Facebook, this takes the form of negative and sometimes downright nasty comments, justified or not, on your Facebook Wall—right where it’s viewable to all who visit. What should you do? Here’s some advice.

Stay positive. Facebook is still so new, and it’s all too easy to confuse the personal nature of the medium and reply in a personal manner. When you respond to negative comments, don’t get defensive. After all, you’re representing your business, and as a rule, businesses have thicker skin. If you decide to write back, remain calm, courteous, and professional.

Engage your detractors. Oftentimes, a person will make a big splash to get noticed. Barring profanity, try and find out what they’re after. If you turn an unhappy customer, that’s positive PR that lives on your wall for at least a few weeks. Nice!

Don’t be afraid to hit “delete”. Should the conversation go from productive to public spectacle, you need to take action. Delete the thread. Some folks are just out to do a little mud-flinging, and Facebook empowers you to nip that in the bud. If your online assailant uses profanity and verbiage of an adult nature, get it out of there. You don’t want other (and possible younger) consumers exposed to that.

Social Media and Recruitment for Education

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Social media: it’s a phrase that inspires thoughts about real-time interaction, reminiscences of the flowing green fields in Farmville, and a healthy dose of anxiety if you haven’t been keeping up with the trend. With an astronomical growth in popularity of Facebook and Twitter—not to mention a user base who is spending more and more of their leisure time online—social media remains a premier way to tackle your recruitment initiatives. Recruitment trends in education have a distinct flavor. Read on and discover what strategies schools and universities are using to pull in top talent.

The multi-platform approach. Facebook, Twitter, blogging: educational institutions have been using a multi-pronged strategy to reach out to students and talent alike. As large educational institutions create spaces for sports and students activities, it’s a no-brainer for them to use separate Facebook and Twitter pages specially designed to advertise jobs opportunities.

Real-time feedback for job seekers. Nothing is more discouraging to potential job applicants than submitting their letter of interest or resume and then waiting… and waiting… and waiting. Posting their interest as a Facebook entry or blog comment allows an administrator to acknowledge them as a person and give feedback.

Research goes both ways. Just as candidates can click through and explore the culture and information on an institution of a higher ed., so too can a school explore the personality of a person. The tables have turned, and some hiring decisions are being made without ever meeting a candidate in person.