Social Sourcing - what benefits and which networks

What are the long term benefits?

The current hiring process is depicted by the following graph which shows the degree to which a candidate was actively looking for a job when he/she took up the current job opportunity.

This demonstrates that the current hiring process is set up to recruit candidates reactively, not proactively. “It is easier to deal with applicants who come to you then try to seek out new applicants. Without doubt, that is why actives account for such a disproportionate percentage of hires.”

Another reason for the disparity may be that top-quality candidates regularly move between the active and passive realm, even exhibiting behaviors of both candidates depending on the job market, the economy or individual needs. In the following diagram, the dashed lines illustrate the open boundaries between candidate statuses.

A successful recruitment marketing campaign must utilize a complete media mix to cover the full-range of candidates in the job market as they move throughout the boundaries. “With the right message, a strong advertising campaign will reach active candidates immediately. However, a successful branding campaign will also resonate with passive job seekers when they enter the market.”¹⁵

Advertising is another way to get the passive job seeker's attention. About a third (30 percent) of all passive candidates who responded to the WetFeet.com survey said they had investigated employment opportunities at a company after seeing an employment-related ad. Almost as many (28 percent) had investigated employment after seeing a general, non employment-related ad.

Finally, a quarter (24 percent) of all passive candidates who responded to the WetFeet.com survey said that they used news media to learn about potential employers. Therefore, a corporate PR initiative focused on getting positive news about your company into the media could have a significant effect in attracting not only customers or clients to your company, but passive job candidates as well.

 

Which Social Networks?

 

A June 2010 study by Jobvite revealed that 73.3% of surveyed companies turn to social networking sites to recruit and hire new employees.  Nearly 60% of companies surveyed for the study also reported having successfully hired a new employee found through social networking websites like LinkedIn and Facebook.

Here’s the breakdown of which social networking sites companies are using for hiring as reported by eMarketer:

·         LinkedIn: used by 80% of companies recruiting through the social Web.

·         Facebook: used by 55% of companies recruiting through the social Web.

·         Twitter: used by 45% of companies recruiting through the social Web.

As you might expect, the success rates that companies report from those social network recruiting efforts reflect the demographics of the primary user audiences of each site:

·         LinkedIn: 90% of companies that recruit through social networks have successfully found candidates on LinkedIn.

·         Facebook: 27.5% of companies that recruit through social networks have successfully found candidates on Facebook.

·         Twitter: 14.2% of companies that recruit through social networks have successfully found candidates on Twitter.

Companies are having so much success in finding new employees through social web tools that half of the employers included in the Jobvite survey reported plans to increase spending in that area and decrease spending on traditional job boards and employee recruiting firms.

Key Finding is that Linked In, Twitter and Facebook are successful networks for Social Resourcing