I am conducting two research projects about social media because I have great interest in this topic. Today, I attended three concurrent sessions about social media at the SHRM Conference. I like two presentations in particular. One was about the power of social media in recruitment (by Matt Kaiser, VP & Talent Strategist for NAS Recruitment Communications). The other was about the legal and liability issues of using social media in recruitment and selection (by Jason Morris, President & COO for EmployeeScreenIQ).
According to Matt Kaiser, “social media has changed the way we act, think, and communicate personally and professionally.” Companies can leverage the power of social media and recruit top talent. No matter if a company wants or not, its “employment brand” has been widely discussed by people at career websites like JobVent.com, Glassdoor.com, and Vault.com. Companies need to take an active role in defining its employment brand. Social media strategy starts from a good action plan. Then, managers need to make social networking a “lifestyle” and engage the target audience. Continuous monitoring and updates are also important. A 24-mouth timeline is necessary. Why? It takes 1-3 months to make the brand presence, 3-12 months to engage with job seekers, and then 6 to 24 months before a company sees any returns on investments.
Interestingly, Jason Morris, also discussed the application of social media in recruitment and selection, yet he focused more on social media’s potential risks to companies. According to Jason Morris, companies need to be very careful when using social media as recruitment and selection tool because of the EEOC regulations. He believes social media policies are important and necessary to provide clear guidelines. In addition, training and educating applicants about a company’s social media policy is also critical.
If a company can manage social media and deal with the potential risks, social media can become an invaluable business tool. What do you think?
References:
Picture of Matt Kaiser was downloaded from: http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok06282010P-1
Picture of Jason Morris was downloaded from: www.jasonmorris.com
According to Matt Kaiser, “social media has changed the way we act, think, and communicate personally and professionally.” Companies can leverage the power of social media and recruit top talent. No matter if a company wants or not, its “employment brand” has been widely discussed by people at career websites like JobVent.com, Glassdoor.com, and Vault.com. Companies need to take an active role in defining its employment brand. Social media strategy starts from a good action plan. Then, managers need to make social networking a “lifestyle” and engage the target audience. Continuous monitoring and updates are also important. A 24-mouth timeline is necessary. Why? It takes 1-3 months to make the brand presence, 3-12 months to engage with job seekers, and then 6 to 24 months before a company sees any returns on investments.
Interestingly, Jason Morris, also discussed the application of social media in recruitment and selection, yet he focused more on social media’s potential risks to companies. According to Jason Morris, companies need to be very careful when using social media as recruitment and selection tool because of the EEOC regulations. He believes social media policies are important and necessary to provide clear guidelines. In addition, training and educating applicants about a company’s social media policy is also critical.If a company can manage social media and deal with the potential risks, social media can become an invaluable business tool. What do you think?
References:
Picture of Matt Kaiser was downloaded from: http://tinyurl.com/linchikwok06282010P-1
Picture of Jason Morris was downloaded from: www.jasonmorris.com
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