My undies are still in a bunch over Peter Weddle’s comment that social recruiting is a scam, so I did some poking around on the internet to see what I could learn. Smart people are thinking about the future of recruiting, the use of social media sites, and the effectiveness of job boards.
Normally, this kind of stuff puts me into a coma—but I found an interesting report from my buddies at Arbita. They love this kind of stuff. Here are some statistics from the report (totally out of context, mind you) that stuck out to me. My comments are in blue.
- Nearly four of every 10 survey respondents (39 %) say recruiting metrics and analytics are not a major part of their recruitment marketing strategy. [This is HR/Recruiting 101. Measure it. Learn from it. Do better. Move on to the next challenge.]
- 89% of survey respondents still advertise on job boards, 80% advertise on niche job boards, and nearly half advertise on global job boards — even though the survey shows an increasing dissatisfaction with these sites. [Wow, yet another example of how companies are throwing good money after bad.]
- 78% of respondents do not have an effective strategy for finding candidates on blogs, and 45% do not have an effective strategy for finding candidates using major search engines. [Do these companies know about the internet? It's a series of pipes and tubes, and I hear it's gonna catch on.]
I’m just struck by how much money and effort is spent on figuring out how to hire people, and we are no further along in 2009 than we were in 1997 when I had my first job as a recruiter. Companies are still struggling to find the right way to identify and hire talented people in an economy where candidates—both passive & active—are falling all over themselves to find new jobs.
I wonder if the savviest and most successful job seekers are the ones who identify hiring managers using social media sites like LinkedIn. They land the job without posting their resume on an obsolete job board, enduring an interview with a recruiter who doesn’t know anything about Twitter, or navigating their way through a Human Resources department that still uses behavior-based interviewing.
Maybe the future of recruiting is a system where jobs are posted in a thoughtful way and the burden is shifted to the candidate to take the initiative and make contact with the company using simplified tools and procedures.
What do you think? What’s the future of recruiting, and moreover, what’s the role of Human Resources when you think about the future of recruiting?
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amen.
You have to measure and metric your sources to know where the best bang for your buck and time is being expended. This also helps you find out where your targets of opportunity are. To be more of a business manager than an HRManager, think like one and do a ROI analysis. You will learn what works and amaze your CEO.
I think recruiting is much like like auto industry. There are embedded systemic structures in place that make it difficult to alter the fundamentals. In other words, we upgrade systems, make pretty new interfaces, design better engineered products to track the same old information, bu at the end of the day. It still comes down to a metaphorical “2 people in a room” doing their best to make an educated guess about a major life relationship.
How do you alter the paradigm of what puts those two people in that room with so many systemic controls overlaying the process?
Start with resumes. The entire systme collapses from there.
http://bokardo.com/archives/the-blog-is-the-new-resume/
http://blog.stealthmode.com/2008/03/17/setting-fire-to-the-resume-pile/
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/seths_blog/2008/03/why-bother-havi.html
Great post Laurie, thanks for rolling up your sleeves and digging in a little further on this issue. Let me first preface by saying that I am a director with a leading online recruitment resource that includes a family of geographically-niche internet job boards in the northeast. I’m sure this colors my following remarks.
While I’m not ready to follow Weddle’s lead blindly, I do believe that the hype and promise of these social media services do not match the actual value TODAY. I do believe that more and more people rely on social and professional networking sights to get an edge in getting an interview. However, without larger databases of job openings, it would be extremely difficult for a person to go out and find a better job. The current social recruiting platforms are built on the premise that if I spend enough time and effort online, someone will eventually call me to offer a job from within the hidden job market. That’s not a good use of anyone’s time.
I also think it’s important to understand the (slightly) declining satisfaction with job boards is directly related to the boom of new job boards opening up. As Weddle reports, there are now 100,000 websites where you can search for job openings. When only a couple companies were making computers, the quality of those products, and the satisfaction level of users, was much higher. Once companies say a profit, they all started making computers. Thus, the low satisfaction rating of eMachines users affects the overall satisfaction rating of the industry. It doesn’t however, affect the satisfaction of top end HP or Mac users. The same principle applies in the job board world. The investment to enter the market is a couple hundred bucks, drawing many lower quality carriers.
As my grandmother used to say, Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Yes, social media will continue to evolve and increase its value, but it will likely always operate next to job boards, not in place of.
I think that social media plays a huge role in recruiting and should be the way we recruit candidates. However, social media takes time. And HR folks need to get out there, spend the time building networks/relationships, and finding candidates will get easier (if we build it, they will come). For me, and I can only speak for me, the critical point is TIME. I happen to be a one-person HR department which means that all things HR fall to me, including recruiting. I have not yet found the right balance of social media time, other HR responsibilities, home, husband, kids, etc, but I’m working on it. Are there other HR folks like me who have been successful in building their social media networks and improved their recruiting numbers? And are there full-time recruiters who have social media recruiting success stories? I hear a lot about how it’s THE way to find candidates, but are there a lot of actual success stories out there yet?
Dude your last line really caught me “…what’s the role of Human Resources when you think about the future of recruiting?” I think there in lies an issue, are recruiting and HR really family?
You know I’ve always had a beef with SHRM, and it stems from the fact that the discipline of recruiting has always been treated like a 2nd class citizen by SHRM. Historically, recruiting was used as an entry level chore to gain admission to the hallowed ranks of a Generalist. It was the shit job you had to do to pay your dues.
This has changed in the past decade to some extent. The more progressive the organization, the more they realize that to recruit well you need a highly trained, motiviated and dedicated team of recruiters.
That being said, I’ve never felt like I’m part of HR, even though I am a part of HR. I and my team, we’re a sales function. We operate like one, we are tenacious like one. Because of that we are still viewed as, at best, the rough cousins of HR (you know the ones no one really wants to invite to family events).
So to make a way to long story short, I’m not sure what role HR will play, but I can tell you this, watch the recruiters, will figure it out with or without HR (and sooner rather than later).
I’m with Crystal on this one. How can a one person HR balance the social network and the 1000 other things that we are doing? Especially if your company hasn’t gotten on the social media bandwagon yet. I would also like to know what are the success stories with highly effective candidate placement via social media?
And cousin Puf, you are always invited to the reunion if you bring banana pudding and jack daniels.
Man I have to agree with Jim here…not this is not a love fest between me and Jim…though he is cute!
Recruiting and HR have never been and will never be the same thing. I have made plenty of enemies among the HR types because of my continued preaching about how recruiting needs to be moved away from HR and into a LOB – reporting to a C level title in an organization. Very few organizations have figured this out but the ones that have enjoy a talent acquisition engine that drives the business.
I am not surprised by anything in the Arbita survey. These are things I have known for a long time and the bottom line is anyone who relies on one mechanism to drive candidate traffic is a fool and anyone who thinks they don’t need to return to some old school recruiting tactics, namely using the damn phone to do recruiting, might as well be in Land of the Lost. In many ways the recruiting profession has evolved back on itself. It is pretty easy to get names and titles and find out who is an up and comer in their business. It is not so easy to actually recruit them. All the emphasis on social media, job boards, boolean searches and sourcing in general has de-emphasized the art of recruiting.
I think it was Danny Cahill who said we are fast approaching a day when we will all have all the names. What will separate the good and bad from the great is the ability to actually recruit them. Lose sight of this and you are destined for the ash heap of recruiting history.
Oh, better add, I use social media and other alternative mechanisms for recruiting as well. If these tools fit the overall recruiting strategy for a specific position or set of positions then I say use every weapon in your arsenal. I am just saying that I see far TOO many recruiters who are amazing sourcing professionals but can’t engage in the “real world”. They have no clue how to manage a real relationship with a candidate or client, no understanding of pushing and pulling a candidate through a process, no negotiation skills…heck…I could go on but I won’t. You get the idea.
Social media aren’t the be-all and end-all of recruiting, but they can turbocharge your networking efforts — which are still the best way for candidates to find great gigs (and vice versa). The key is to make everyone in the organization a recruiter/networker, *especially* the leadership team (since they’re usually the best-connected within the industry). This expands your circle of contacts exponentially.
HR’s role is to facilitate, on numerous levels. Make sure there’s a decent referral bonus program in place, and that everyone’s aware of it. Create custom job profiles (updated with each posting) that reflect company culture, accurately describe your needs and speak your target audience’s language. Draft simple networking letters that staff can use for outreach. Support adoption of social media tools and track their use. Be the face and voice of your employment brand, acknowledging ALL applications, spotting and “concierging” top prospects through the process, handling the logistics for hiring managers, representing the organization at recruiting events and panels. Build and maintain relationships with relevant college or trade school placement offices and alumni networks. Cultivate specialized 3rd-party recruiters for temp-to-hire or hair-on-fire openings. Understand the business: its functional needs, financial priorities and strategic goals. Identify and keep in touch with the candidates you’ll need *next* year, or the year after (Twitter and LI are great for this). Be the expert and answer questions from all comers throughout. Stay curious about HR practice and the bleeding edge of innovation in your industry, and devote an hour of every workday to keeping current.
Short version: own the process behind the scenes; anticipate needs before they’re acute; advocate for change where necessary; keep score and stay ready to adjust on the fly.
I am speechless (a shock I know) that my buddy HRPufnstuf did not talk about metrics. He is the guru of metrics. Freaks me out a bit and I am sure he would fire me after 2 weeks of not filling out my TPS Reports
Crystal, the corporate recruiters who I know here and nationally who are learning to make this work for them are not talking about it for mainly these two reasons: 1) not wanting to share with the competition 2) their company saying it is proprietary information. A few of of my local speaking gigs are because my corporate friends are not able to talk about it.
BTW, to make social media work for you and your customers (internal and external), it helps to think about what these tools can and cannot do. Jason Baer (@jaybaer) has a great post about this on his “Convince and Convert” blog today: http://is.gd/O5Em.
Nice post Laurie. When (I mean if) I go looking for a job again, I want to find a company that is teaking best advantage of current technology. Or I could just wait and see what opportunities are in the Sunday classifieds. Mmmm, don’t think so.
And if I were hiring someone to be a knowledge worker, I want to know that they are aware of technology trends and that they are problem solving with the best tools available.
Tim
Weeding through resumes is the worst. The Wall Street Journal wrote an article a couple of weeks ago that spoke to this. They highlighted some technologies that are replacing recruiters. They name 3 companies that are replacing recruiters.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204475004574126832685403014.html
Thank You Jason –
“..if I spend enough time and effort online, someone will eventually call me to offer a job from within the hidden job market. That’s not a good use of anyone’s time.”
As somebody stuck on the other side of the table – I can say that the chance of those random calls is between slim and none
Aftercollege did a survey recently with entry level jobseekers. These are the people who you would think would be all over social stuff.
“The survey also asked students and alumni about their use of social networks. Over 82% of respondents use them. However, these sites ranked as the least effective options for finding a job, with only 11% of respondents selecting this option and only 4% of those who found it easy to find work selecting it as an effective channel.”
I have been working with H.R. depts for 10 years (lots of hospitals) and I can tell you they are slow to adopt new methods. Many I talk to are fearful of legal ramifications and are trying to work this out with their legal teams.
Having a social strategy I feel require the intervention of marketing and in all likelihood need 1 FTE to handle it. Are some companies going to leave their brand in the hands of H.R.?
Job boards are going no where anytime soon. I think a lot of people use their social network as the next step.
1. Find the job on a board, or maybe even twitter.
2. Visit that company site to get some info
3. Go to linkedIn, Facebook and see if you have any connections
4. Apply
In this digitally connected era of email, blogs, Twitter, Linkedin, and Facebook the ability to connect with a company goes beyond the “About Us” section on a website.
Social networking is mutually beneficial for employers and candidates. It allows both parties time to get to know each other. In addition to improving the candidate experience, it allows the employer an opportunity to share with candidates their culture and it allows the candidate to connect with real people who can answer their questions. It also allows the organization to learn about a candidate’s career goals and aspirations and it allows candidates to choose companies that meet their moral expectations. The easier employers make it for candidates to connect with them through social networking sites the more successful a company will be with their social recruiting.
What the candidate chooses to do with these resources once they have connected with us through our social networking sites is the bigger picture of social media marketing.
In the last month, Sodexo hired at least two people who used our social networking tools to learn as much as possible about us. They used the available information to make a decision about if they wanted to work for us. And that impressed us we became “fans” of theirs and this gave them an edge over the other candidates being considered.
In the end the futire is the same as the past. It’s who you know not what you know. The vehicle or process is less important then the outcome. Doesn’t matter how the person lands, itr matters only that they are a good fit and happy. It’s also a futile debate of whether recruiting is an “HR” function or if it should be…the real question is why is there talent not being found by your organization (maybe you don’t pay, maybe your co. sucks to work for, maybe you have no luck, or maybe some other reason)…
WoW…
M
I am in HR and I can’t spell, “futire” or future…
M
@Amanda Thanks!
@RMS I wonder if you can be a HR Manager while being a business manager? I’m not sure.
@Michael Whoa, you are passionate about this and have thought about it. This is *yours* and I want people to follow you because of this.
@Jason Good points about the volume of job boards. I’m not ready to throw out the baby, but I am ready to throw out Weddle.
@Crystal I know, it’s all about where you stake a claim and how you position yourself online so that, when it’s time, you can either a) find talented people or b) be found by recruiters.
@HRPuf You are a wise, serious prognosticator. Also, I had no idea you are buddies with my friend, MN Headhunter.
@teresagirl We’re talking about this at my session at the social recruiting summit. Where do you go & how do you spend your time online in the best and most effective way, yo?
@Homula I’ll say this much: after 9/11, I led a huge effort to remove the COE of recruiting and flatten a global HR department into generalists and outsource everything. Then I saw this happen again in 2006. So I agree with you that HR isn’t recruiting, but as far as costs are concerned, the function of recruiting gets thrown into HR at short-sighted companies when times are tight.
@MN Headhunter I’m not so hardcore about metrics because I don’t do math — but I know that people who care about math demand metrics, yo.
@Kentropic I really hate the word ‘concierge’ but thanks for the link to @JayBear’s article. Awesome.
@Tim I dunno, I don’t recommend looking for a job and I don’t recommend the Pennysaver.
@Debra That’s a good article.
@Elliott Prescient.
@Brian You’re right that job boards aren’t going anywhere — on a lot of levels.
@Kerry I’ve been a fan of the way Sodexo has infused social media in its recruiting process. You guys are on top of this.
@Mark That’s okay about the spelling — your point about the overarching pointlessness of the argument is totally appropriate.
Recruiting is like everything in business, something new creeps along, we look at, we try it, we either use it or discard it and then we go back to what works for us and our company culture.
I can weed through a hundred resumes, call ten people, interview five, and then go with my gut feeling. Or I can test the crap out of them using some scientific method that may or may not pass the OFCCP acid test. Or I can give it to the manager to do the interview (please don’t ask any illegal questions!!!!!) and then do referances. There are so many ways, the bottom line is what works the quickest and fastest and gets results and keeps your butt out of hot water.
I have a feeling after this recession shakes out someone will have a new and better way, so be it. Like an old boss told me “The more things change the more they stay the same”.
I really think social media is ONE of several strategies needed to attract the future of our companies.
But, I agree with those of you that lean towards that we are fighting some embedded, systemic tendencies of replicating what the heck we have always been doing. We know it does not work, so we do some more of it… “Add more power analogy”
But, as Henry Ford said… [Quote free ddfrom memory: I choose to stick with cars; the car is perhaps not as fast as a horse, but the horse has reached it end of developmentpotential – the car is just at it’s beginning of the future development.”
We haven’t seen social media’s full potential – but we need to accept “More of the same” does not create change… just frustration that the jobboards does not work, we still end up with the same…”
Kindest,
S
Laurie – you and I are on the same page – I just wrote a post about monster and workopolis as a sunset industry due to the fact that paying $750 to post a job online seems incredibly antiquated. Take a look –
http://peoplestuffwithsuz.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/monster-com-and-workopolis-a-sunset-industry/
Resumes must die!
http://humanracehorses.blogspot.com/2009/06/is-your-resume-killing-you.html
HR shouldn’t be in charge of recruiting. At least not at my company. If I take charge of it, then the hiring managers think that’s their excuse to be log bumps about.
We can create a fantastical empire of social networking, but if they won’t get off their duffs and make those face-to-face connections with the candidates, we’ll keep falling on our faces. I sit in interviews with hiring managers and cringe sometimes. It’s all I can do not to run after the candidate and say “I swear! We’re not all that socially retarded here!”
I’m hesitant to put too much emphasis on social media for our hiring managers because most of them need serious help developing face-to-face skills with new people. (Introverts, the lot of them.) Their employees work very hard for them once they get to know them, but they don’t exactly inspire excitement from candidates. All the cool Twitter toys won’t fix that.
Every few years – employment ‘site reviewers’ that sell books, comeup with some newer measure of effectiveness that makes everything else ‘obsolete’…(buy the book to find out what it is).. but making waves just gets that writers latest rev. generator into others blogs and sales driving mechanisms. Recruiting has NO end all. It is and will remain a multiple front effort. Job boards, social networking (real world and virtual) and even print ads are all parts of the pie. Yep, made a lot of recruitments off of well written, thoughtout and tweeked job board ads. Specialization details within job ads are the way to go in that area. They are a bit of an art and to those that do it well, reap the better returns.
It is work, not easy and you will always have to do more than using one or two sources. I agree HR should NOT be recruiting, it needs to go back to that quint but workable solution..e.g., the hiring manager does the main recruitment process with HR the paperwork. It only worked for several hundred years until the new enlightened models mucked it all up.
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