Jury's out on how BeKnown (the new Facebook app from Monster) will fare, but the 'big beast' in the field - linkedin - is upping the ante with this tool..
Question remains, will the corporates pick up the baton, or will the Rec Cons stay ahead of the curve when it comes to candidate sourcing?
LinkedIn tools could shift recruitment landscapeBut research shows limited current take-up
The debate over the business uses of social media is set to be reignited amid news that professional networking site LinkedIn is about to unveil a set of tools to push it even further into the recruitment world.
An enhanced “recruiter tool” for employers – which includes an engine for users to refer contacts for a job and a function for recruiters and managers to exchange and give feedback on candidate profiles – is in testing phase. Meanwhile a direct plug-in for employer websites, where LinkedIn members would effectively use their profiles as CVs in job applications, is also rumoured to be in development.
LinkedIn has now passed 100 million users globally, and is used by many employers searching for potential hires on the network – including “passive” users who may not be actively seeking a role change. So is it now becoming a game-changer for recruitment?
“LinkedIn is a living database and allows companies to connect with top talent and be more conversational,” says Matt Alder, director of strategic recruitment consultancy MetaShift, who is an advocate. “Employers that don’t understand how these platforms work will be at a real disadvantage.”
Global engineering and project management firm CH2M HILL is one company that has turned to professional networks to fulfil specialist roles.
David Mason, its international talent acquisition director, told PM that 10 per cent of the company’s hires in the past 12 months had come through LinkedIn, and it was typically using the platform as a sourcing stream for highly skilled roles, commanding salaries of £50,000 upwards.
He said that contributing to member groups and building an alumni community was an important part of the firm’s LinkedIn strategy.
“The big change is that we tend to focus on 10 people who match our job profile very quickly, and can invest time in managing expectations, while letting unsuccessful candidates down in a way that leaves them with a positive view of the company,” explained Mason.
He added that the ongoing challenge for HR professionals was fitting their approach to “a rapidly developing online space into their overall recruitment strategy.”
But widespread corporate use of these online channels could be overestimated, according to the CIPD’s latest Resourcing and Talent Planning survey. It found that currently 16 per cent of organisations use LinkedIn to attract applicants – a 2 per cent rise on last year.
“Our survey found the use of LinkedIn is much lower than you would expect; it doesn’t seem to be following the hype,” said Claire McCartney, the CIPD’s resourcing and talent planning adviser. “But Generation Y will increasingly look to social media and professional networks for jobs, and I think organisations need to respond and look at the positives they bring.”
McCartney added, however, that she saw such channels as being supplementary to traditional recruitment strategies, and firms “should be wary of investing all their resources in one route to generate candidates”.
LinkedIn may not be the most suitable social media conduit for hiring graduates with a limited career history, while not every experienced professional will be signed up to the network.
“Organisations need to be fishing in a really diverse pool and you will only get a certain type of person on LinkedIn,” said McCartney. “Employers need to ensure they are not preventing applications from different demographic groups.”
The emergence of social media networks as talent sourcing channels could be seen as a direct threat to recruitment consultancies – which the CIPD survey showed are still the second most popular method of attracting candidates after a company’s own corporate website.
But this is not necessarily the case, according to Julie Waddicor, managing director of Hays HR, who says the recruitment firm is actively embracing social media.
She said networks such as LinkedIn “added value for the HR community”, but cautioned against assuming that such digital techniques would be less labour intensive than traditional methods.
“To use LinkedIn effectively, firms will have to invest time in trawling through the network. And you can’t recruit above a very low level without interviewing,” said Waddicor. “But, although there are far quicker ways of attracting candidates, I can think of several roles where we’ve sourced a shortlist from LinkedIn because it has been such a niche job.”
Another company exploring the social media space is the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), which as well as building the profiling abilities is of its own global careers website, is running pilots on Twitter, YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn.
This move has been with a view to “gaining an understanding of what candidates are saying about RBS as an employer brand,” said Nimai Swaroop, group head of employer branding and marketing at the banking giant.
“With increased candidate awareness and information available 24/7, our employer brand needs to respond – otherwise we could lose out on the large population currently on those networks,” he continued.
“They foster competitiveness because everyone else is online providing similar message. It is becoming increasingly important for customer and employer brands to be clear, specific and consistent about what they are actually offering.”
