Social Networking – The Future of Recruitment

Just like any successful industry around the globe, recruitment is now riding the bandwagon of online technology. We are hearing so much about success of online recruitment everywhere, how efficient and easy it is to close positions with just the click of your mouse.  

BurjExecutive would like to share with you the top 3 social networking sites which have grown phenomenally over the last few years. And recruiters living in the World Wide Web have testified to having met both clients and quality candidates through these popular websites.    

Facebook

Facebook – Helps You Connect and Share with the People in Your Life 

What it is: According to Sarah Philips of Guardian.Co.Uk in her article A brief history of Facebook: 

“Mark Zuckerberg, 23, founded Facebook while studying psychology at Harvard University. A keen computer programmer, Mr Zuckerberg had already developed a number of social-networking websites for fellow students, including Coursematch, which allowed users to view people taking their degree, and Facemash, where you could rate people’s attractiveness. 

In February 2004 Mr Zuckerberg launched “The facebook”, as it was originally known; the name taken from the sheets of paper distributed to freshmen, profiling students and staff. Within 24 hours, 1,200 Harvard students had signed up, and after one month, over half of the undergraduate population had a profile.” 

In April 2008, Facebook became the largest social networking site based on monthly unique visitors overtaking it’s main competitor MySpace according to comScore. The former social networking site attracted 132.1 Million unique visitors as of June 2008. 

Facebook’s ability to let its users to join more than one network, organized by region, schools/college, or companies, has propelled its popularity in the English-speaking regions. The website also has its flare of media options for uploading pictures, videos, online messaging, and different applications for entertainment and networking. 

Recruitment Tips: You can search for different groups ranging from professionals from different industries or company profiles on Facebook. You can also do “Profile Search” which can enable you to set your parameters to look for a profile’s current company, position, location, interests, activities, and even education background. Whether you are a recruiter or a job seeker, Facebook offers that vast coverage needed for online networking.

  

LinkedIn

LinkedIn: Relationships Matter 

What it is: A detailed description of this professional networking site is featured on Wikipedia.Org: 

“LinkedIn is a business-oriented social networking site founded in December 2002 and launched in May 2003, mainly used for professional networking. As of February 2009, it had more than 35 million registered users, spanning 170 industries. 

The purpose of the site is to allow registered users to maintain a list of contact details of people they know and trust in business. The people in the list are called Connections. Users can invite anyone (whether a site user or not) to become a connection.” 

There are several features that you’ll love about LinkedIn in it’s aim to be the one of the largest professional networks in the web. First, you have LinkedIn Answers, which is somehow similar to the famous Yahoo Answers, but your questions are responded by experts in the respective fields. All you have to do is post your questions in the relevant categories/industries and in a few minutes to a few days, you’ll have your answers from the brightest minds in the industry. 

Then you have the LinkedIn Groups which enables you to join or create your own networking groups may it be an Alumni association, inter-corporate groups, or even non-profit organizations. You can have discussions within a group, share relevant articles or groups, and share your company updates or press releases. 

Recruitment Tips: Apart from giving you Guy Kawasaki’s 10 Ways to Use LinkedIn, here are some of the useful tactics:

1. Your LinkedIn profile is your dynamic online CV so keep it updated. Be specific and comprehensive with your skills and experiences. The do’s and don’ts in making your resume should be applied in establishing your LinkedIn profile
2. Network with people within your industry and inside your region. This will give you a good coverage for opportunities (if you’re seeking career change) and excellent profiles (if you’re looking for someone to fill a vacancy).
3. Join groups and participate in discussions. The only way to get to know people and businesses is through engaging in conversations. Let them know your opinions and what you think. If you are asked to give a professional advice, be generous with it. But always remember to follow basic professional etiquette in dealing with professionals or you could ruin your reputation in just a few seconds. 

  

Twitter

Twitter: What are you doing? 

What it is: How can we not include Twitter? This micro-blogging phenomenon has grown tremendously in the past 2 years. Twitter has revolutionized the social media & blogging industry. It’s a fast-paced conversation filled with the most interesting people on earth sharing information on just about anything under the sun including the simple answer to their question: What are you doing? 

Here are excerpts from the beautiful article from Dom Sagolla, @dom of How Twitter Was Born: 

“I remember that @Jack’s first use case was city-related: telling people that the club he’s at is happening. “I want to have a dispatch service that connects us on our phones using text.” His idea was to make it so simple that you don’t even think about what you’re doing, you just type something and send it. 

The original product name / codename “twttr” was inspired by Flickr and the fact that American SMS shortcodes are five characters. We prototyped with “10958″ as our shortcode. 

We launched Twttr Beta on @Ev’s birthday. We could now invite a slightly larger circle of friends, but still excluding any large companies (with a few trusted exceptions within places like Google). I’ll never forget the family-friendly feeling of that day. 

@Jack was still just an engineer, and the service was only a few months old when the group acquired Twitter.com and re-branded. Back then, we had no character limit on our system. 

@Jack became the CEO of a newly spun-off Twitter, Inc. during the Boom Times. People still didn’t quite “get it” but at least some people had heard about it.” 

Corpororate-Eye.Com described how The Twitter Phenomenon is helping businesses: 

“Large corporations and even home-based businesses alike are all catching on to the Twitter phenomenon! They are making it work for their businesses as they develop their social networking prowess, establishing business connections and social circles.  

What corporations are starting to notice about the Twitter phenom is how profitable the concept is for their business.” 

PCMag.Com, has mentioned that even presidential candidate, John Edwards (@johnedwards) have communicated their urgent messages through Twitter.

Recruitment Tips: It’s as simple as letting your network know what you’re doing but not in a shallow way. Let your fellow Tweeps know what you are working on, what your insights are, what you have learned and what you are trying to uncover. Aside from the fact that ever large corporate brands are now on Twitter, you also have top recruiters you can follow on Twitter. Don’t forget to share valuable information, your newly posted blogs, projects, and other social media sites you are part of. This will give your future employer an easier and broad range of references for your profile. Last but not the least, follow us on Twitter (@BurjExecutive) and we will give you updates on the UAE employment scene and will share you resources for your next career executive choice.

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