THE BEGINNING OF A NEW RECRUITING INDUSTRY?

Lately I’ve been doing a lot of thinking, about Facebook. And as a result, I found myself watching the “Social Network” movie for a second time!

It’s interesting because I do have a Facebook page, but only because friends & family and those from the past continued to send invites to connect. Very seldom do I log in. I don’t play games, write on someone’s wall or read updates.

So it’s obvious that I am not yet a real fan or user of Facebook! I see it as the old beer commercial (just watching TV enjoying a Bud), chill in, or just hanging out with friends. Basically it was something to do if you had time to kill.

Because I am a recruiter, LinkedIn is my social network of choice. The only real benefit of Facebook from a recruiting perspective is being able to send a direct email message to a person of interest without having to go through a connection or the In-mail process that is currently available on LinkedIn.

But lately, Facebook has become a hot topic in recruiting. A number of prospectors have developed tools to find the gold nuggets of talent; all because of two important demographics:  number of people on Facebook and the amount of time people are spending on Facebook. I guess it’s the new “if you want to catch fish-you need to fish where the fish are” recruitment strategy.

Here is what’s really bugging me about Facebook! I am becoming convinced that it is here to stay and will become an institution in our lives like the banking and insurance industries!

Think about it-today we put our hard earned dollars or life savings in banks without even thinking about the concept of banking.  And if you compare banking of the 1800’s; convincing regular folks that they should reveal their gold and other valuables by transferring them from their secret hiding places to a public place that is more secure than their secret hiding place.  Hmmm, think about back then and where we are today!

Anyway, back to Facebook!  At the end of the movie the caption said Facebook was valued as $25 billion; and a year later I read that it has an implied value of $80 billion.  What does that tell me; it tells me that after years of building my professional LinkedIn network, Facebook will replace LinkedIn as THE recruiting platform of the future!

Why?

Not because of the value, but because it was the recruiters who shaped LinkedIn into what LinkedIn is today.  Recruiters saw it as THE tool that could be a game changer in the Industry.  They were the true early adapters; they jumped all over it by inviting candidates in their proprietary database to connect, they started groups and continued to build their networks, but on property they do not own or control.  LinkedIn encouraged this usage by simply responding to their needs and offering more stuff, which is gradually shifting from free to fees.

What if?

What if real recruiters took back control of recruiting?

What if recruiters showed their true powers by collectively encouraging their connections on Linkedin to reveal their presence on Facebook?  According to the numbers-if they are on LinkedIn, most likely they are on Facebook as well!

Not really sure what the outcome or result will be, hopefully good! But what if every recruiter clicks the like/share buttons on this particular post or any other articles written this specific subject?

What is the true power of social media in the hands of real recruiters?