Will social media really affect recruitment in 2011?

Social media -  be that LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook etc - is already having a fundamental effect on recruitment. And we can expect to see that impact increasing even further in 2011 and beyond.

Out of all of the social media platforms, LinkedIn is by far the most prominent professional social network. Over the last few years it has increasingly become an effective tool for recruitment and certainly for us at Mortimer Spinks, we have much more direct success making placements from this than other social media tools (like Facebook for instance).

The big change we are experiencing is a shift in emphasise from candidates doing the searching (for jobs) to recruiters doing the searching (for candidates). Candidates are increasingly wanting more control over their profile, and who sees it. They want visibility and have trust in social media networks to bring the opportunities to them.  This ‘trust’ element is much better supported by social networks right now than it is by posting your CV onto a job board.

Similarly recruiters are also seeking a more trusted, targeted approach to their candidates and are looking more to the social media platforms for branding purposes and targeted recruitment campaigns aka ‘intelligent marketing’ that in turn leads to increased branding.

Will social media replace the need to for recruitment consultancies? I don’t think so; at least not for the ones that have genuine expertise to offer.  SMEs who recruit only a handful of people a year will still need a third party to provide the knowledge, skills and networks of contacts. For the larger corporates, access to social networks is a great way to get more candidates, but in many ways it makes the whole process of recruiting even more complex.  The good news about social networks is that it provides a better opportunity for everyone - candidate, agency and end recruiter - to match the best candidate with the best job.

LinkedIn vs. all the rest? – Size does matter – the scope of the LinkedIn network gives a huge pool plus the visibility, the quality and the suitability provide a transparent recruitment process. That said, LinkedIn’s desire to become the ‘recruiters friend’ does risk it loosing its exclusivity and trust. Right now LinkedIn’s USP is that it is ‘boss friendly’ - you can post your profile to LinkedIn and you’d be happy for your boss to see it. If ever LinkedIn became perceived as just another job board, the trust (and user base) would be gone. After all no-one would send their Monster CV profile to their boss!

Over time we also expect Facebook to grow as a tool. Right now we have had limited success, but with the advent of plug ins that mimic the functions of LinkedIn, and further development of Facebook as a platform for business applications rather than just personal applications, it is certainly an area we are monitoring, and experimenting with, closely.

In summary yes social media really will continue to affect recruitment in 2011 and more so this year with the new recruiter platforms that target this area.  Traditional methods will continue and no doubt evolve themselves influenced over time by new processes adopted by the target driven recruiters.

Sam Ebrahim.