Tag Archives: Recruiting

April 30, 2013 · 4:30 am

Recruiting and Social Networking

data point tuesday_500

SHRM (Society for Human Resource Management) debuted some new survey data at their recent Talent Management Conference in Las Vegas. Published on April 11th, Social Networking Websites and Recruiting/Selection is interesting. And some of the data may not be what you think.

Employers use social networking sites during the recruitment process as tools to recruit candidates who might not normally apply. Expanding their reach to passive candidates, candidates with specific skill sets and candidates in specific geographies, recruiters seem to be very strategic in their use of social networking tactics and sites. I’m not surprised by these data.

Here are some of the findings I found a little surprising:

  • More than half (57%) of employers do not have a formal or informal policy on screening candidates via social networking sites.  

Really? In this age of increasing regulation and compliance, the majority of employers don’t have a policy about using social media to screen candidates? No guidance for recruiters? No guidance for hiring managers? I wonder if this is an “ignorance is bliss” approach or a calculated “we already have policies covering the use of social media at work” approach.

  • Employers that have policies on screening candidates are evenly split (21% each) in allowing or prohibiting the use of social networking sites for screening purposes.

This fascinates me. And it bears watching. There are legal dangers in the offing. Court cases are starting to decide the legal issues involved in using social media sites for applicant screening. And recruiters and HR pros don’t want to end up on the wrong side of this one.

  • About two-thirds of employers never have used or no longer plan to use social networking sites (69%) or online search engines (65%) to screen applicants.

This makes sense given the regulatory environment HR deals with today. And the fact that the courts are just starting to address these issues. However, it’s entirely unrealistic to believe that hiring managers aren’t using social networking sites to screen applicants. I believe that HR isn’t. I don’t believe that hiring managers aren’t.

  • 41% of employers target executive/upper management (e.g. CEO, CFO) when searching for candidates on social media.

This is really surprising and could spell doom for the executive recruiting industry. I would have expected a much smaller percentage of employers would use social networking sites for the recruitment of executives since it’s assumed that most employers turn to executive recruiters to find executive talent like CEOs and CFOs. If the use of social networking/media sites for executive hiring gives employers confidence to recruit executives on their own, a major shift in the executive hiring dynamic could be underway.

I was also interested in the differences in the survey question answers between 2008, 2011 and 2013.  Not only are the percentages changing, the number of respondents is growing, which I believe means that social media is being integrated into more nooks and crannies of HR. Take a look:

Social Networking Websites and Recruiting Selection SHRM 2013

This is interesting on lots of levels. And I look forward to continued growth at the intersection of HR and social technologies.

Hopefully SHRM will field this survey again in 2 or 3 years.

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June 18, 2011 · 2:45 pm

Who cares about your candidates’ experiences?

Are the experiences job seekers and candidates have with your organization on the minds of anyone at the top of your house?  Does anyone in your organization connect the dots between your corporate brand, employment brand and candidate experience?

Paying attention to the candidate experience is the logical next step as organizations confront the looming talent shortages in many geographic and skill areas.  Thought leaders in the recruiting field are suggesting that automated ATS replies to job candidates and the all-too-common resume “black hole” are negatively impacting many organizations’ ability to attract top flight talent and begin creating relationships with them – relationships that end with employment.

Some really smart people in the recruiting field are stepping out on the edge and calling attention to the need for better candidate experience practices by creating an award to recognize those organizations whose processes show that attending to candidates in a more respectful way has a positive impact on their ability to build talent communities and to actually hire the talent they need.

Gerry Crispin, Elaine Orler, Mark McMillan and Ed Newman have created The Talent Board to manage the North American Candidate Experience Awards which will be awarded at the 2011 HR Technology Conference in October.  The three-round process is easy to complete and gathers information from your organization about the experiences prospects and job seekers have when interacting with your recruitment processes and people.  Even if you aren’t selected as a winner this year, you’ll get to receive feedback on how your organization compares with the others in the competition and how you might improve your recruitment practices in this area.

Gerry, Elaine, Mark and Ed are just the people to put meat on the bones of this conversation.  And announcing the awards at HR Tech is brilliant.  I encourage you to fill out the initial questionnaire – it takes less than 15 minutes – and apply before June 30.  You’ll be starting down the path of connecting the candidate experience and your employment brand to your broader corporate brand and strengthening all of them.

Not a bad way to start the summer.

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March 25, 2011 · 11:01 am

I Heart Recruiters!

I guess I’m an HR Conference junkie.  Because here I am at my first EREexpo and I’m lovin’ it!  (With apologies to McDonald’s.)

EREexpo is presented by the folks at ERE.net – led by David Manaster.  Because he knows I know HR conferences, he asked me if I had any suggestions for him.  And you know what?  I don’t.  He and his team have done a spectacular job.  I’m going to go out on a limb and say that it’s the best conference – altogether – that I’ve attended in the last 12 months.

Networking:

The nearly 500 attendees are here to engage with the content and each other.  I’ve been to a lot of HR networking events in my time, and these recruiters and talent acquisition leaders know how to network.  At the jam-packed opening reception last night the connections and re-connections being made were a thing of beauty.  These folks came to meet their peers, share the latest in “what works” and help each other be more effective.  Aggressively open and supportive.

Speaker Selection:

I am absolutely impressed with the quality of the keynotes and breakout sessions.  The Keynotes are all practicing recruiting leaders.  Leaders of actual recruiting functions inorganizations.  Practitioners.  Organization leaders.  So their content is full of current examples of what their organizations are really doing in the field. These aren’t sales pitches from consultants or “motivational” stories.  Actual relevant and actionable content by practitioners in the field.

Breakout sessions – only three at a time – are also nearly all led by practicing recruiting leaders.  The consultants who are presenting are true thought leaders.

Social Media:

I am thrilled to see that all the keynotes and one session per breakout time is being live streamed for any interested viewer.  Free.  As in no cost.  How’s that for using the power of social media to strengthen a community and drive stickiness to a brand?  During coffee breaks the great Steve Boese from HR Happy Hour is streaming live interviews with speakers and other notable attendees to keep the content flowing between sessions.  A truly brilliant move on ERE’s part – and not just because I was one of the interviews.

Awards:

This really caught my attention.  The ERE Recruiting Excellence Awards presentation took a 90 minute keynote slot.  There were 8 categories and representatives from the top 2 finalist organizations in each category were on the stage.  That’s 16 people sitting on the stage.  The winners and 1st runners up were announced live very attractive trophies were presented.  So far pretty normal.

Then the magic started.  The chair from last year’s conference moderated the winners and the audience in a panel Q&A/discussion session that let the audience look under the hood of the winning organizations’ strategies and tactics from the people who led the innovations.  I’ve never seen such engagement between a panel and an audience.  There were more questions than than time to answer.  (Of significant interest to the audience were the successes with putting wounded warriors to work at some very impressive organizations)  It was a very powerful session.

Venue/logistics:

The Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego is a stellar conference property.  The conference rooms are set up classroom style with table covers – a very nice touch.  Very comfortable and accessible.  ERE sprang for complimentary WiFi throughout the venue for attendees – a meaningful differentiator.  Other conference organizers should note that feature.  The food is pretty good, the staff is extremely accommodating and the sleeping rooms are lovely.

What else can I tell you?  This conference is the complete package.  Excellent content from current practitioner/leaders, excellent social media approach, excellent execution on the logistics.

The most impressive things about this conference, though, are the attendees.

I  recruiters.

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February 21, 2011 · 1:51 pm

The King of All Social Recruiting

    You know how Howard Stern is the King of All Media? 

     I now declare Bill Boorman King of all Social Recruiting.

I’ve just returned from TruLondon, a social recruiting unconference.  It started on Wednesday with a day of Master Classes – unlike any Master Classes you’ve attended.  These were 45 minute sessions led by experts on topics ranging from Global Diversity (one of the sessions I led) to HR Challenges to  Personal Branding to Case Studies of Rackspace, Hard Rock Café and Zappos (another session I led).  The session leaders presented prepared remarks for 10-15 minutes and then opened the floor to questions and discussion.  Three sessions, sometimes four at a time, gave the attendees a real smorgasbord of learning and opportunities to engage.  Thought leaders and practitioners from all over the world attended, although the U.K. and the U.S. seemed to represent about 85% of the crowd.

On Thursday the real two-day unconference began and the meetings rooms overflowed with energy, expertise and passion for social recruiting.  TruLondon was, quite simply, a happening. 

A couple of words about Bill Boorman, the self-described conference disorganizer, and host to all the track leaders, sponsors and attendees.  He’s like the ring leader at the circus.  He keeps the lions at bay, makes the elephants behave and keeps the horses jumping through flames of fire – all while delighting the crowd.  If the timing isn’t quite as posted, if the speakers’ topics change at a moment’s notice, if a speaker doesn’t show:  no matter.  Our genial host was out in front ensuring that everything ran smoothly.  And it did.  In a manner of speaking.  Because the focus was on engagement not precision of operations.  I rather liked that.

Bill collected an incredible array of talent and expertise from the global social recruiting scene to lead sessions and to participate in the discussions.  In fact, it was hard to tell the experts from the attendees:  everyone was energized and passionate about connecting, learning and sharing.  It was less of a conference and more of a revival meeting.

From my perspective attending TruLondon provided a rich and meaningful experience:

  • I met many social recruiting experts from all over the world with whom I’ve connected through social media but never met face to face
  • I learned so much about the intersection between recruiting, social media and technology – especially what’s happening that’s innovative and bleeding edge
  • I have a much greater understanding about job boards and their role in the employment cycle (thank you, JobSite!)
  • And I have a sense that the confluence of global talent needs, the recruiting function, social media and technology holds great promise for organization leaders as we create sustainable strategies for managing our talent and our talent pipelines
  • And, it was in London, my favorite city in the world

Bill’s Tru Unconferences – coming to a new city every month this year – need to be experienced.  If you are a recruiter – internal or third party, if you are an HR professional, if you are involved in talent communities, heck, if you just want to hang out with smart visionaries and talk one-on-one with thought leaders in this space, you should attend a Tru Unconference.  But come ready to share, to engage, to network, to connect and to participate. 

And leave your notions of what a recruiting conference should be at the door.

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January 6, 2011 · 5:42 pm

TRU London: Here I Come!

I wrote a lot about HR conferences last year because I spoke at a lot of them.  And because some of them are changing their approaches to engaging their target audiences.  And because I learn a lot at HR conferences.  And because people who attend HR conferences are among the best in the profession.  And they’re fun.

I’m pretty excited that my 2011 HR conference experience is starting next month in London at TRU London 3.  Did I mention it is in London, my favorite city in the world?  Bill Boorman, founder of the TRU unconference movement, invited me to be a track leader as well as to lead a master class prior to the start of the event. 

While I’ve been a speaker at HR conferences that bent the rules (see my post on RecruitFest! last fall), I’ve never actually participated in a true (no pun intended) unconference.  So I’m really looking forward to this. 

I’m not sure what to expect as a track leader, but I’m gearing up for great discussions, divergent points of view, a truly global perspective, and the chance to hear from people way smarter than me about the latest approaches to recruiting.

My master class is going to be focused on tying engagement to recruitment.  In Turning Back the Tidal Wave of Turnover I’ll provide some of the most recent engagement data from leading organizations like Gallup and BlessingWhite and lead a discussion about what the data means as organizations start losing employees to the improving economy and start hiring again. 

I expect to learn a lot from that discussion as well as from the interactions with a great group of track leaders that include thought leaders like Craig Fisher, John Sumser, Laurie Ruettimann, Glen Cathey, and many more big thinkers whom I have not yet met.  Here’s the website to check out the other leaders.

So here’s the deal:  join us in London February 16-18 for TRU London 3.  Sign up here and make your reservations today.  I can’t imagine a better spot to be in the middle of February – or a better group of people with which to learn. 

And did I mention that it is in London?

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