Monday, June 30, 2014

Social Media is the talk of the Town

Social Media explosion is the talk of the town. Almost every business , industry, company is trying to tap into the opportunities that explosion in Social Media provides for improved business outcomes.
Leveraging Social Media has become imperative for companies to engage with customers, employees and business partners. Marketing & comms department has been the first to jump on the bandwagon to engage in 2 way communication models to reach out to customers. In the age of information overload, attention becomes the currency and Branding acquires centre stage.
How can HR remain immune or impervious to this excellent opportunity. Broadly speaking, when it comes to Talent Management - HR function is about Capacity planning, capability building, engagement and retention. What I see is rise in the HR Job roles that has components of Social elements embedded into it.
For example , if you are a L&D professional, you must be thinking how to utilise newer models eg Flipped classroom into learning process.
Recruitment is not left behind either. We have newer roles in Recruitment eg Recruitment Branding , Recruitment Marketing . After all the job of hiring managers is to sell the "work" ,Organisation "culture " to the prospective candidates.

Social networking phenomenon revolutionises the recruitment experience for both candidates and employers. Companies are rethinking their social media strategies to make recruiting processes more transparent and to tap into and engage with the talent pools. More and more companies are on the lookout for know how on how to leverage social networking sites eg Facebook, LinkedIn to advertise jobs, increase brand awareness, showcase Company culture and provide a glimpse to candidates about the working environment, growth , learning, career and development opportunities.
Both candidates and employers are using the digital footprints to research about each other and find data points for better decision making. Hiring can be viewed as a Match making process . More the data points, assumption is, better would be the decision ie final outcome for both employers and candidates.

In my experience, I see 2 kinds of recruiters & hiring managers. On one end of spectrum, we have recruiters who has invested in self learning , acquired new skills to use social networking for sourcing, engagement, building relationships with candidates. On other end of spectrum , few hiring managers & recruiters are wondering and still pondering over the risks. Social networking adoption Benefits far outweigh the risks, ask any candidate or HR Professional who has reaped benefits from this new medium. Technology is neutral. A fool with a tool is still a fool.  Recruiters and hiring managers must enhance their understanding on the value Social media and social networking adoption and invest in self education and self learning. They must learn from recruiters who are using Facebook graph search, Linkedin recruiters license and reaping great benefits to minimise agency dependency and reduce costs & generate value for organisation with fewer resources. They are the ones who are innovating on the field. These recruiters understand Social Recruiting . Social Recruiting as a concept is relatively new. Talent can not be hired, it can only be courted.Go figure - how. Simply put, Hiring in other words , is a long & extended conversation. For hiring managers, Hiring is about channel mix too. Employee Referrals is another process which can be disrupted using the social networking platforms. Much scope to bring Efficiencies and Effectiveness  into the Hiring process and to disrupt the existing models and evolve new Hiring Models. Employer Branding has nuances and implications understood by the privileged few. Employer Branding and Social Recruiting is bound to witness growth in coming years.

Sage advice from Social Business gurus ~  Get Social. Do business
As Dr Marshall Goldsmith says ~ what got you here! won't get you there.
If you are still wondering why, what, how ..then remember, Self education is the key. Follow and Learn from Thought Leaders. .  I tweet and share insightful stuff on Social HR through twitter (@rucsb) and my blog ~ HR Gurukul.

Bonus ~

What IBM Recruitment is upto -
1. Integrated Social approach to ATS ( Applicant Tracking System)
2. Employee Referral Program empowered by Social Referrals
3. ROI of Social Recruitment measured through  Influenced and Direct Social Hires
4. Hiring Processes enabled & powered through Analytics
5. HR Leaders Rely on Data than on Gut. Better Decision Making on part of HR Leaders. Improved Business outcomes.


3 Key Actionables to get started on Social HR (Recruitment) Journey
1. Invest time  in building your own Linkedin and Twitter Profile.
2. Socially Network with Thought Leaders in Social Recruitment
    Tony Rustell
    Matt Charney
    Todd Raphael
    Sarang Brahme
3. Invest in your Learning and Development. Join IndiaHRLive, IndiaHRChat, TChat, SocialHRSuccess  discussions on twitter . Connect with & Learn from HR Leaders and Practitioners. Learn about Social HR from  Meghan M Biro, Abhijit Bhaduri, Khalid Raza, Gautam Ghosh , Self Promotion Alert : Ruchi Bhatia

I can be contacted via twitter @rucsb






 
 
 


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