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Sunday, 10 March 2013
Thursday, 13 December 2012
What's in it for me ? Why your employees should embrace Social Media in 2013
I have just read a really good article on getting all your employees on Social Media
I have taken a paragraph out below - have a quick read and then I will get onto my thinking beneath the article theme.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121211105953-33767-big-idea-2013-get-all-of-your-employees-on-social-media
2013 is the year that organizations are getting serious about social, looking at ways to move it out of the marketing and PR departments into places throughout the organization that engage a far larger number of employees – from the obvious like customer service and product development to the less obvious, such as supply chain and employee development.
This goes far beyond just putting in place a social media presence managed by a few people. It’s about involving potentially all of your employees, asking them to rise to the opportunity of becoming advocates of your brand. The question to ask yourself is, does your organization have the discipline and resilience to allow all of your employees to become active participants in social media on behalf of your brand? For some leaders, this is an exciting, game-changing opportunity. But for most organizations, it’s absolutely terrifying.
I think simply Employees need to understand the "why" and they then need to "Understand" Social media
Why?
I am not going into lots of dialogue but next time an employee asks you why? - "simply it will give you networks, expand your social path to clients new and old, and might potentially create income that gives you a payrise, gets you a promotion or keeps you in a job !!!" - it is obviously not that simple but every company needs "buy in" and maybe concentrating on the not understanding is a better route than answering the "why"?.
Understanding
We are all unsure of lots of "new" things, as one prominent women in my life once said to me "Typical man - why do you never read the instructions !" - We all just like to be good at things straight away and don't like to admit when we are not.
Nothing in Social Media should scare anyone, it takes time a bit of learning and a proper strategy.
I will be doing lots of training, reading a few maps and trying to answer the instructions with HR Network Social Media Academy next year and will be happy to share thinking on all things strategic at any of our sessions.
For further details about available dates and to book your place, please contact: The Hr NETWORK Social Media Academy - Email: sma@hrnetworkscotland.co.uk or Tel: 0131 625 3267
I have taken a paragraph out below - have a quick read and then I will get onto my thinking beneath the article theme.
http://www.linkedin.com/today/post/article/20121211105953-33767-big-idea-2013-get-all-of-your-employees-on-social-media
2013 is the year that organizations are getting serious about social, looking at ways to move it out of the marketing and PR departments into places throughout the organization that engage a far larger number of employees – from the obvious like customer service and product development to the less obvious, such as supply chain and employee development.
This goes far beyond just putting in place a social media presence managed by a few people. It’s about involving potentially all of your employees, asking them to rise to the opportunity of becoming advocates of your brand. The question to ask yourself is, does your organization have the discipline and resilience to allow all of your employees to become active participants in social media on behalf of your brand? For some leaders, this is an exciting, game-changing opportunity. But for most organizations, it’s absolutely terrifying.
I think simply Employees need to understand the "why" and they then need to "Understand" Social media
Why?
I am not going into lots of dialogue but next time an employee asks you why? - "simply it will give you networks, expand your social path to clients new and old, and might potentially create income that gives you a payrise, gets you a promotion or keeps you in a job !!!" - it is obviously not that simple but every company needs "buy in" and maybe concentrating on the not understanding is a better route than answering the "why"?.
Understanding
We are all unsure of lots of "new" things, as one prominent women in my life once said to me "Typical man - why do you never read the instructions !" - We all just like to be good at things straight away and don't like to admit when we are not.
Nothing in Social Media should scare anyone, it takes time a bit of learning and a proper strategy.
I will be doing lots of training, reading a few maps and trying to answer the instructions with HR Network Social Media Academy next year and will be happy to share thinking on all things strategic at any of our sessions.
For further details about available dates and to book your place, please contact: The Hr NETWORK Social Media Academy - Email: sma@hrnetworkscotland.co.uk or Tel: 0131 625 3267
Thursday, 6 December 2012
HR NETWORK launch Social Media Academy
Hr NETWORK will launch the brand new Hr NETWORK Social Media Academy in January 2013. Offering HR professionals and those closely associated with the profession including recruitment agencies the opportunity to take part in half day social media courses designed for beginner level users through to advanced social networkers, providing new tips and updates on this ever changing medium, with an emphasis on all social media channels including LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
The half day programmes will be hosted at their bespoke training facility based in Haymarket in Edinburgh and will cater for 6-10 people per session. Topics covered will include an overview of all social media channels, refining social networking profiles, searching for candidates and ensuring that recipients gain an understanding of the very latest updates available, as they happen.
In order to ensure those taking part receive the most relevant training in social media, Hr NETWORK has devised two programme options; Foundation and Advanced, each offering participants the most relevant techniques and updates tailored to their experience level.
Each morning session will cost only £125.00+VAT per delegate, including refreshments, personal log and CPD certificate of attendance.Furthermore, the courses could potentially qualify for a Government funded grant of 50% off the full cost, via Skills Development Scotland.
For further details about available dates and to book your place, please contact: The Hr NETWORK Social Media Academy - Email: sma@hrnteworkscotland.co.uk or Tel: 0131 625 3267
The half day programmes will be hosted at their bespoke training facility based in Haymarket in Edinburgh and will cater for 6-10 people per session. Topics covered will include an overview of all social media channels, refining social networking profiles, searching for candidates and ensuring that recipients gain an understanding of the very latest updates available, as they happen.
In order to ensure those taking part receive the most relevant training in social media, Hr NETWORK has devised two programme options; Foundation and Advanced, each offering participants the most relevant techniques and updates tailored to their experience level.
Each morning session will cost only £125.00+VAT per delegate, including refreshments, personal log and CPD certificate of attendance.Furthermore, the courses could potentially qualify for a Government funded grant of 50% off the full cost, via Skills Development Scotland.
For further details about available dates and to book your place, please contact: The Hr NETWORK Social Media Academy - Email: sma@hrnteworkscotland.co.uk or Tel: 0131 625 3267
Wednesday, 28 November 2012
30 Out of every 100 Google searches are job specfic
Very good blog on SEO and Web Content - full article can be found on
http://www.sourcecon.com/news/2012/11/19/search-engine-results-providing-engaging-content-and-a-great-experience/
Quick thought from me is that most clients don't have the time for this sort of strategy but there are lots of really talented people out there who do - individuals and company wide. Seek them out ! (a big hint is that it is not always the people who blog about it - find the people who do it for clients lol)
------------------------------------------------------------
What did we do before Google? Drivers needed maps – or their memories – to navigate from one place to another. Arguments couldn’t be resolved with instantaneous, fact-based support and job seekers had to rely on classified advertising and job boards to find the next opportunity. But that has changed as “The Google Machine” has taken over.
Each month, more than 338 million people use Google and other search engines to look for job-related content. 76 percent of job seekers are using mobile devices to search and more than half of all Internet users have Google as their home page – according to market research firm ComScore – making Google, by default, the world’s largest job board.
It’s no secret that investing in search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) strategies enable organizations to leverage search engines for sourcing talent. Companies, however, also need to consider how the audience thinks and adjust their strategies to reflect user expectations. It’s time for companies to start putting search and the resulting content at the center of their sourcing strategies.
According to Google Insights for Search, the term “job” shows up in about 30 searches out of 100. The term “careers” only shows up in approximately 15 searches out of 100 in the same time period.
While active job seekers may be using the terms ‘job’ or ‘career,’ location-specific search terms or looking for a specific company by name when they search online, passive job seekers are more likely to see your company’s information if it appears in conversations they’re having on social networks or if the content is optimized and included on sites and platforms where they’re already active. For recruiters, optimizing search is less about analyzing algorithms and more about ensuring the right content is surfaced by search engines. Providing your audience with information that goes beyond a simple job description, to that which is visually engaging and that showcases the work experience and culture of the organization, will drive deeper connection to your brand.
Here are some tips for optimizing search and getting your jobs in front of candidates.
Go beyond the job description
The best way to showcase company culture is to show it. Instead of flat, text-based content, showcase a mix of images, videos, employee profiles, news articles, location profiles, product releases, awards and other information. This helps candidates understand who you are and the value you bring as an employer.
Be location and role specific
Don’t fall into the trap, however, of showing the same, generic images and videos on all pages. What you show needs to be relevant and compelling – allowing the user to envision themselves in the job and at the company. If it is a job in New York, show images and videos of the office in New York, employees with whom they may be working in New York, and highlight what is nearby – restaurants, transportation, the gym, etc. If the job is for a web developer, show cool projects the company has worked on in the past, awards won, or other specific information that can help you “close the deal.”
Be visually compelling
As noted above, search enables users access to not only text, but images, videos, and more. Leverage existing photo libraries and current employees as content generators and ask them to use their mobile phones to snap photos of their work environment, colleagues, etc. Posting content to Pinterest and Instagram is a great way to start gathering and sharing compelling images that will be indexed via search engines. As an example, check out #ShowTMP on Instagram to see some of our team members at work.
Get gritty
Monitor the social space to see what others are saying about you. Be prepared to take the good with the bad. In addition to a straight search using your company name, conduct a secondary search with your company name followed by the word “sucks.” Taking an honest look at your brand can provide insight into the image others have of your company and reveal areas for improvement.
Show some link love
Companies must make sure they deliver content in such a way that it can be easily indexed and found through search. Making it easy for candidates to find content while delivering a positive candidate experience requires organizations to revisit their website strategies and messaging and potentially even the way they promote themselves. With more candidates starting (and ending) their day on Google, search is a critical component in a successful recruiting strategy.
http://www.sourcecon.com/news/2012/11/19/search-engine-results-providing-engaging-content-and-a-great-experience/
Quick thought from me is that most clients don't have the time for this sort of strategy but there are lots of really talented people out there who do - individuals and company wide. Seek them out ! (a big hint is that it is not always the people who blog about it - find the people who do it for clients lol)
------------------------------------------------------------
What did we do before Google? Drivers needed maps – or their memories – to navigate from one place to another. Arguments couldn’t be resolved with instantaneous, fact-based support and job seekers had to rely on classified advertising and job boards to find the next opportunity. But that has changed as “The Google Machine” has taken over.
Each month, more than 338 million people use Google and other search engines to look for job-related content. 76 percent of job seekers are using mobile devices to search and more than half of all Internet users have Google as their home page – according to market research firm ComScore – making Google, by default, the world’s largest job board.
It’s no secret that investing in search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) strategies enable organizations to leverage search engines for sourcing talent. Companies, however, also need to consider how the audience thinks and adjust their strategies to reflect user expectations. It’s time for companies to start putting search and the resulting content at the center of their sourcing strategies.
According to Google Insights for Search, the term “job” shows up in about 30 searches out of 100. The term “careers” only shows up in approximately 15 searches out of 100 in the same time period.
While active job seekers may be using the terms ‘job’ or ‘career,’ location-specific search terms or looking for a specific company by name when they search online, passive job seekers are more likely to see your company’s information if it appears in conversations they’re having on social networks or if the content is optimized and included on sites and platforms where they’re already active. For recruiters, optimizing search is less about analyzing algorithms and more about ensuring the right content is surfaced by search engines. Providing your audience with information that goes beyond a simple job description, to that which is visually engaging and that showcases the work experience and culture of the organization, will drive deeper connection to your brand.
Here are some tips for optimizing search and getting your jobs in front of candidates.
Go beyond the job description
The best way to showcase company culture is to show it. Instead of flat, text-based content, showcase a mix of images, videos, employee profiles, news articles, location profiles, product releases, awards and other information. This helps candidates understand who you are and the value you bring as an employer.
Be location and role specific
Don’t fall into the trap, however, of showing the same, generic images and videos on all pages. What you show needs to be relevant and compelling – allowing the user to envision themselves in the job and at the company. If it is a job in New York, show images and videos of the office in New York, employees with whom they may be working in New York, and highlight what is nearby – restaurants, transportation, the gym, etc. If the job is for a web developer, show cool projects the company has worked on in the past, awards won, or other specific information that can help you “close the deal.”
Be visually compelling
As noted above, search enables users access to not only text, but images, videos, and more. Leverage existing photo libraries and current employees as content generators and ask them to use their mobile phones to snap photos of their work environment, colleagues, etc. Posting content to Pinterest and Instagram is a great way to start gathering and sharing compelling images that will be indexed via search engines. As an example, check out #ShowTMP on Instagram to see some of our team members at work.
Get gritty
Monitor the social space to see what others are saying about you. Be prepared to take the good with the bad. In addition to a straight search using your company name, conduct a secondary search with your company name followed by the word “sucks.” Taking an honest look at your brand can provide insight into the image others have of your company and reveal areas for improvement.
Show some link love
Companies must make sure they deliver content in such a way that it can be easily indexed and found through search. Making it easy for candidates to find content while delivering a positive candidate experience requires organizations to revisit their website strategies and messaging and potentially even the way they promote themselves. With more candidates starting (and ending) their day on Google, search is a critical component in a successful recruiting strategy.
Tuesday, 20 November 2012
SILVER BULLETT REQUIRED ?
Just read a great piece by Andy Headworth at Sirona
http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2012/11/remember-linkedin-is-great-but-it-isnt-the-only-recruitment-option.html
-------------------------------------------
The point I am making is that there isn't one magic solution for recruiters. LinkedIn isn't the magic solution; job boards aren't the magic solution and social media isn't the magic solution.
What is needed for successful recruiting is a blended and integrated approach combining different things:
An understanding of your actual candidate audience and where there are - no assumptions or historical thoughts here, find out where they are right now, today!
Use your own database first - you have already invested in putting those candidates on it, make them pay for that investment. If your recruitment system is old and out of date, talk to the guys at companies like BullHorn or Broadbean - let them breathe life into your database and allow you to search and socialise it. You are in the 21st century now!
Do use LinkedIn - but make sure you get your ducks in a row first. Make sure all your consultant profiles are spot on and make sure your company page is the best it can be. Then and only then, think about upgrading your account.
Do use job boards to post vacancies - but not all of them. Be more selective. Use some of the specialist job boards in your industries, after all they just focus on attracting those types of candidates to them. Boards like OnlyMarketingJobs and SimplySalesJobs are good examples of sector focus.
Use email marketing to reach out to your database. Do you know what, it still works and it is an efficient way of communicating with candidates. REMEMBER though, if you put links to jobs on your emails, make sure the page you are sending them to is mobile friendly! Many candidates open those links on their iPhones, Androids and Blackberries.
Use the social media channels. Twitter and Facebook are the main headliners but there are many other niche networks that you might well be able to use to find, source and recruit candidates from. And of course they are a great way to encourage referrals for your jobs.
Try other tools that are better suited to your industry - for example if you are recruiting in the tech/IT space try TalentBin instead of LinkedIn - it is an awesome (and I mean awesome) recruitment product as it aggregates social profiles from ALL the online places these types go to including GitHub and StackOverflow.
So just to bring you back to the point of my post - yes, LinkedIn is a fantastic tool and a given for recruitment, but don't just focus on that network to the detriment of all other proven channels!
I hope you now get my point - a blend of methods will definitely be better than a pure vanilla model. And for the purists, I haven't forgotten the most important channel/tool in recruitment - it is of course the telephone :-)
----------------------------------------
There are some great points in the article and my thoughts on most of this are very similar - one thing for sure is that as more recruiters buy target tools through LinkedIn then certain skill sets will start to close off their detail. Will a candidate more likely respond if the initial response comes direct from a client?
http://blog.sironaconsulting.com/sironasays/2012/11/remember-linkedin-is-great-but-it-isnt-the-only-recruitment-option.html
-------------------------------------------
The point I am making is that there isn't one magic solution for recruiters. LinkedIn isn't the magic solution; job boards aren't the magic solution and social media isn't the magic solution.
What is needed for successful recruiting is a blended and integrated approach combining different things:
An understanding of your actual candidate audience and where there are - no assumptions or historical thoughts here, find out where they are right now, today!
Use your own database first - you have already invested in putting those candidates on it, make them pay for that investment. If your recruitment system is old and out of date, talk to the guys at companies like BullHorn or Broadbean - let them breathe life into your database and allow you to search and socialise it. You are in the 21st century now!
Do use LinkedIn - but make sure you get your ducks in a row first. Make sure all your consultant profiles are spot on and make sure your company page is the best it can be. Then and only then, think about upgrading your account.
Do use job boards to post vacancies - but not all of them. Be more selective. Use some of the specialist job boards in your industries, after all they just focus on attracting those types of candidates to them. Boards like OnlyMarketingJobs and SimplySalesJobs are good examples of sector focus.
Use email marketing to reach out to your database. Do you know what, it still works and it is an efficient way of communicating with candidates. REMEMBER though, if you put links to jobs on your emails, make sure the page you are sending them to is mobile friendly! Many candidates open those links on their iPhones, Androids and Blackberries.
Use the social media channels. Twitter and Facebook are the main headliners but there are many other niche networks that you might well be able to use to find, source and recruit candidates from. And of course they are a great way to encourage referrals for your jobs.
Try other tools that are better suited to your industry - for example if you are recruiting in the tech/IT space try TalentBin instead of LinkedIn - it is an awesome (and I mean awesome) recruitment product as it aggregates social profiles from ALL the online places these types go to including GitHub and StackOverflow.
So just to bring you back to the point of my post - yes, LinkedIn is a fantastic tool and a given for recruitment, but don't just focus on that network to the detriment of all other proven channels!
I hope you now get my point - a blend of methods will definitely be better than a pure vanilla model. And for the purists, I haven't forgotten the most important channel/tool in recruitment - it is of course the telephone :-)
----------------------------------------
There are some great points in the article and my thoughts on most of this are very similar - one thing for sure is that as more recruiters buy target tools through LinkedIn then certain skill sets will start to close off their detail. Will a candidate more likely respond if the initial response comes direct from a client?
Friday, 16 November 2012
Your new LinkedIn profile is coming
Having seen a few people adopt the new LinkedIn profile I would think by new year we will all have one - and we will enter a new era of "Picture and Infogram" style profiles.
Here is my brief overview of what to expect from the bits I have seen and from some of the bits I have read from the experts !!!
What is new?
More pictures, more interaction and facebook stylee interactions as below
These piccys and venn diagrams like images will be the norm for those of you using new tech and google+, my first feeling was very much I better lose that piccy of me in a tank top !!! Things like Groups will now be in logo form which will help - maybe they will let us join more than 50 soon ? Who said do you really want to ?
However much remains the same and many of the key areas are still included - we will of course all get used to it !
Essential stuff
Opinions would differ on the right Profile components and everyone has their favourite aspect (Photo, Professional Headline, Recommendations, Skills, Experience, Website etc.).
Well now we know exactly what the most important features are on a LinkedIn Profile. Why? Because LinkedIn have decided this for us and have distilled the LinkedIn networking experience into 5 core elements:
SUMMARY – Make a great first impression.
NETWORK – Discover new insights.
ACTIVITY – Start a conversation.
CONNECTIONS – Say hello to your network.
BACKGROUND - Tell your professional story.
What’s Non-Essential?
The stuff that’s been tucked away out of sight, deemed not as important as those 5 core elements:
Recommendations –
News & Companies – by default these two are at the very end of your Profile
What’s Gone?
Some features didn’t make it after the re-design - I def do not like the fact that our link is now not a live HTTP link on your profile - does not allow you to cut and paste as easily !
Contact For, personal info, apps, V cards, your HTTP link being live etc etc
Paid for accounts -
My final thoughts on the day
As many of you know my thinking has changed dramatically on what is required from your LinkedIn profile but as my network is now covering 9.7 million people in the UK it makes sense that I can see them all ! So I am now in month 5 of Talent Finder and actually quite like it, it is funny that any down grades are not now shown when I look at available accounts but at circa £60 a month it is working for me and my clients. Just dont tell anybody I said that ....
I started writing this blog and read the blog below which was doing the same - its a good source for all things LI take a look for some more detail. The 5 core elements part is very good in the blog - I paraphrased lots of it !
http://www.linkedinsights.com/the-new-linkedin-profile-explained/
Here is my brief overview of what to expect from the bits I have seen and from some of the bits I have read from the experts !!!
What is new?
More pictures, more interaction and facebook stylee interactions as below
These piccys and venn diagrams like images will be the norm for those of you using new tech and google+, my first feeling was very much I better lose that piccy of me in a tank top !!! Things like Groups will now be in logo form which will help - maybe they will let us join more than 50 soon ? Who said do you really want to ?
However much remains the same and many of the key areas are still included - we will of course all get used to it !
Essential stuff
Opinions would differ on the right Profile components and everyone has their favourite aspect (Photo, Professional Headline, Recommendations, Skills, Experience, Website etc.).
Well now we know exactly what the most important features are on a LinkedIn Profile. Why? Because LinkedIn have decided this for us and have distilled the LinkedIn networking experience into 5 core elements:
SUMMARY – Make a great first impression.
NETWORK – Discover new insights.
ACTIVITY – Start a conversation.
CONNECTIONS – Say hello to your network.
BACKGROUND - Tell your professional story.
What’s Non-Essential?
The stuff that’s been tucked away out of sight, deemed not as important as those 5 core elements:
Recommendations –
News & Companies – by default these two are at the very end of your Profile
What’s Gone?
Some features didn’t make it after the re-design - I def do not like the fact that our link is now not a live HTTP link on your profile - does not allow you to cut and paste as easily !
Contact For, personal info, apps, V cards, your HTTP link being live etc etc
Paid for accounts -
My final thoughts on the day
As many of you know my thinking has changed dramatically on what is required from your LinkedIn profile but as my network is now covering 9.7 million people in the UK it makes sense that I can see them all ! So I am now in month 5 of Talent Finder and actually quite like it, it is funny that any down grades are not now shown when I look at available accounts but at circa £60 a month it is working for me and my clients. Just dont tell anybody I said that ....
I started writing this blog and read the blog below which was doing the same - its a good source for all things LI take a look for some more detail. The 5 core elements part is very good in the blog - I paraphrased lots of it !
http://www.linkedinsights.com/the-new-linkedin-profile-explained/
Thursday, 18 October 2012
A few more LINKEDIN TIPS
7 LinkedIN sessions this week and a cracking set of attendees all round - many new things learned by me as well! Not decided on the new profile yet - just getting used to the current one! Anyway here are some useful tips and a wee piccy !
LinkedIN Tip 1 - Your new profile is coming - very facebook and lots more piccys - might have to change mine soon ! Read the below and click on the link to see more!
https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/903
LinkedIN Tip 2 - New feature - when you view Who has viewed your profile - you now get the option of linking up with the viewer straight away - be warned though it does not give you the option of adding a message - it is just a straight connect !!
LinkedIN Tip 3 - Following - with the advent of FOLLOWING being added to your profile tab - did you know you can see who is following you?
https://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/2717
LinkedIN Tip 4 - Somethingelse new on your profile ! Are you wondering about Skill Endorsement ? here is a simple overview - will be interesting to see if this will be novelty or use !!
http://help.linkedin.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/31888
LinkedIN Tip 5 - You might need to buy a paid for account if your on a free your so limited now on your searching that you should think about what you need !
I paraphrase from the great website Social talent
"2 weeks ago, LinkedIn rolled out a change to their database that effectively hides the entire profile of someone in your 3rd degreee network (and we in Social Talent have heard about instances where 2nd degree connection data is also hidden). Early last year, LinkedIn started hiding the full surname and this appears to be just another step in reducing the value of a free account. This move is smart business as up until now you could do everything you needed to do on a free account. You still can, but by adding this extra obstacle, I believe that a free account just became too much hard work if you really want to use LinkedIn as a hiring tool.
Did you know that there are 16 separate account types you can choose from? Yup, it’s more confusing than you think! Firstly, there is free, or “Basic”. When you upgrade from here, you face 5 different streams: Premium, Talent, Job Seeker, Sales and Recruiter
The real trick to using LinkedIn is NOT getting access to “hidden” parts of the system for free, it is knowing 1) how to search effectively, 2) knowing how to prioritse your results and 3) knowing what do do AFTER you have found the perfect candidate!
I am currently using Talent Finder and I have to say it is working and searching deeper than previous accounts - but maybe my needs have just changed!
LinkedIN Tip 6
- When using keywords use "Currently seeking new " it brings up all the free and available candidates who are looking for a job - well if you tinker a bit !
Here are 397(ish) - For Edinburgh !
http://preview.tinyurl.com/9hef7ov
And finally everything is not always what it seems that is NOT me in the piccy !!!
Friday, 11 May 2012
HR EVENT on “Perceptions of Social Media as a Recruitment Tool”
FREE EVENT for HR Practitioners - EDINBURGH - JUNE 15th.
“Perceptions of Social Media as a Recruitment Tool”
This Seminar is being held to report the results of what we believe is a unique piece of research, focusing on “Perceptions of Social Media as a Recruitment Tool”, and also to share expertise on Social and other Recruitment media strategies. We gathered very useful data that identify which media are actually successful for recruiters today, as well as examining the growing impact of LinkedIn in the recruitment market.
Why attend?
The Seminar is an opportunity to learn from Scotland’s leading independent recruitment, HR and digital experts, there will be five brief sessions from a range of industry specialists examining key subjects such as the legal issues around social media, talent pools, mobile apps, localised communities, and the complete range of media, from YouTube to Facebook and Job-Boards to LinkedIn. You’ll gain insights and get practical advice on how best to make use of technology and social media to ensure your organisation’s recruitment strategy is where it should be now and in the future.
There will be a full question and answer session at the end with a panel of independent experts. We’ll also set up a subgroup in HR Innovators to continue sharing future information with you.
If you would like to attend please can you reply (with any dietary requirements,) to alastair.blair@thepotentmix.co.uk
The Seminar is being held at the offices of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), just next to Haymarket Station, Edinburgh, on Friday the 15th of June, from 10.00-13.30 (buffet lunch afterwards). Please arrive c. 09.45 for a coffee first.
Numbers are limited with preference for the HR practitioners in the group. If you can’t attend but would like to send a key member of your team then please let us know.
A big thank you to Spider Online and COSLA for sponsoring the event to allow attendance to be free.
For those unable to attend the headline research details are available on http://www.thepotentmix.co.uk/social-media-research-results
“Perceptions of Social Media as a Recruitment Tool”
This Seminar is being held to report the results of what we believe is a unique piece of research, focusing on “Perceptions of Social Media as a Recruitment Tool”, and also to share expertise on Social and other Recruitment media strategies. We gathered very useful data that identify which media are actually successful for recruiters today, as well as examining the growing impact of LinkedIn in the recruitment market.
Why attend?
The Seminar is an opportunity to learn from Scotland’s leading independent recruitment, HR and digital experts, there will be five brief sessions from a range of industry specialists examining key subjects such as the legal issues around social media, talent pools, mobile apps, localised communities, and the complete range of media, from YouTube to Facebook and Job-Boards to LinkedIn. You’ll gain insights and get practical advice on how best to make use of technology and social media to ensure your organisation’s recruitment strategy is where it should be now and in the future.
There will be a full question and answer session at the end with a panel of independent experts. We’ll also set up a subgroup in HR Innovators to continue sharing future information with you.
If you would like to attend please can you reply (with any dietary requirements,) to alastair.blair@thepotentmix.co.uk
The Seminar is being held at the offices of the Confederation of Scottish Local Authorities (COSLA), just next to Haymarket Station, Edinburgh, on Friday the 15th of June, from 10.00-13.30 (buffet lunch afterwards). Please arrive c. 09.45 for a coffee first.
Numbers are limited with preference for the HR practitioners in the group. If you can’t attend but would like to send a key member of your team then please let us know.
A big thank you to Spider Online and COSLA for sponsoring the event to allow attendance to be free.
For those unable to attend the headline research details are available on http://www.thepotentmix.co.uk/social-media-research-results
Friday, 9 December 2011
Social Recruitment and Attraction media into 2012
Source:
http://www.ere.net/2011/12/05/10-predictions-for-2012-the-top-trends-in-talent-management-and-recruiting/
2011 Was The Year of Social Media
2011 was a tough year for many in talent management, but despite compressed budgets, organizations continued to hire and develop talent. One factor that seemed to invade nearly every high-level functional discussion was social media. It’s clear that Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter will play a dominate role in recruiting and development best practices in years to come.
Not surprisingly, 2011 saw no fewer than 40 new vendors emerge to help organizations use social media to attract referrals. We also started to see early stage tools to use social media in talent assessment (pre/post hire) as well as applicant/candidate/employee experience management. New tools brought much enhanced visibility into talent issues, but most talent-management metrics continue not to resonate with key leaders outside of the HR function.
2012 Will Be “The Year of the Mobile Platform”
By the end of next year, even the skeptics will have to admit that the mobile platform will have become the dominant communications and interaction platform by early-adopting best-practice organizations. The capabilities afforded users of smartphones and tablet devices grows immensely day by day. Long before unified inboxes existed for the desktop, smart device users could see all incoming e-mail, social messaging, text messaging, and voice and video messaging in a single place.
Tablets will become the virtual classroom, and an emerging class of tools will let employees manage almost every aspect of their professional life digitally. During the next year, talent management leaders need to invest heavily supporting execution of talent management initiatives across mobile.
The Additional Top Nine!
Intense hiring competition will return in selected areas — global economic issues will persist for years to come, but the global war for talent will continue spiking in key regions an industries. While growth has slowed somewhat in China, Australia and Southeast Asia — including India — continue to see dramatic demand for skilled talent. In the U.S. and Europe, demand is still largely limited to certain industries where skills shortages have been an issue for years.
In high tech inclusive of medical technologies, 2012 will see a significant escalation in the war for top talent. As innovators and game changers step out of established tech firms like Facebook, Apple, Google, Twitter, and Zynga, a whole new breed to tech startups will be born each vying for the best of the best. While recruiting will move forward at a breathtaking pace, so too will “rapid” leadership development.
Retention issues will increase dramatically — almost every survey shows that despite high engagement scores, more than a majority of employees are willing to quit their current job as soon as a better opportunity comes along. I am predicting that turnover rates in high-demand occupations will increase by 25% during the next year and because most corporate retention programs have been so severely degraded, retention could turn out to be the highest-economic-impact area in all of talent management.
Rather than the traditional “one-size-fits-all” retention strategy, a targeted personalized approach will be required if you expect to have a reasonable chance to retain your top talent.
Social media increases its impact by becoming more data-driven — most firms jumped on the social media bandwagon, but unfortunately the trial-and-error approach used by most has produced only mediocre results. Adapting social media tools from the business coupled with strong analytics will allow a more focused approach that harnesses and directs the effort of all employees on social media. Talent leaders will increasingly see the value of a combination of internal and external social media approaches for managing and developing talent.
My thoughts -
Measurement is key !
Put a correct procedure in place - i.e. A Plan with key actions!
It is not a silver bullet - so it will work at times and not at others !!!
Remote work changes everything in talent management — the continued growth of technology, social media, and easy communications now makes it possible for most knowledge work and team activities to occur remotely. Allowing top talent to work “wherever they want to work” improves retention and makes recruiting dramatically easier.
Unfortunately, even though it is now possible for as much as 50% of a firm’s jobs to be done remotely, manager and HR resistance has limited the trend. Fortunately, managers and talent management leaders have begun to realize that teamwork, learning, development, recruiting, and best-practice sharing can now successfully be accomplished using remote methods. Firms like IBM and Cisco have led the way in reducing and eliminating barriers to remote work.
The need for speed shifts the balance between development and recruiting — historically, best practice within corporations has been to build and develop primarily from within. However, as the speed of change in business continues to increase and the number of firms that copy the “Apple model” (where firm is continually crossing industry boundaries) increases, talent managers will need to rethink the “develop internally first” approach.
In many cases, recruiting becomes a more viable option because there simply isn’t time for current employees to develop completely new skills. As a result, the trend will be to continually shift the balance toward recruiting for immediate needs and the use of contingent labor for short-duration opportunities and problems.
Employee referrals are coupled with social media — the employee referral program in many organizations is operated in isolation as are the organizations’ social media efforts, but talent managers are beginning to realize that the real strength of social media is relationship-building by your employees.
My Thoughts:
A tremendous tool in the future - make certain that you link your employees with both the information and the reward !
With proper coordination, employee relationships can easily be turned into employee referrals. This realization will lead to a shift away from recruiters and toward relying on employees to build social media contacts and relationships. The net result will be that as many as 60% of all hires will come from the combined efforts. The strength of these relationships will lead to better assessment and the highest-quality hires from employee referrals.
Employer branding returns — Employer branding and building talent communities are the only long-term strategies in recruiting. True branding is rarely practiced (hint: it’s not recruitment marketing) especially in the cash-strapped function of today, but years of layoffs, cuts in compensation, and generally bad press for business in general may force firms to invest in true branding. The increased use of social media and frequent visits to employee criticism sites (like Glassdoor.com), make not managing employer brand perception a risky proposition. While corporations will never control their employer brand, they can monitor and influence in a direction that isn’t catastrophic to recruiting and retention.
My Thoughts:
About time !!!
The candidate experience is finally getting the attention it deserves — Organizations have never treated candidates as well as they did their customers, but the high jobless rate has allowed corporations to essentially abuse some applicants. As competition for talent increases and as more applicants visit employer criticism sites like Glassdoor.com, talent leaders will be forced to modify their approach.
At the very least, firms will more closely monitor candidate experience metrics as they realize that treating applicants poorly can not only drive away other high-quality applicants but it can also lose them sales and customers.
Will be interesting to see how this develops !
Forward-looking metrics begin to dominate — Almost all current talent management and recruiting metrics are backward looking, in that they tell you what happened in the past. Other business functions like supply chain, production, and finance have long championed the use of “forward-looking” or predictive metrics and the time is finally coming when talent management leaders will shift their metrics emphasis. Forward-looking metrics can not only improve decision-making but they can also help to prevent or mitigate future talent problems.
Other Things to Keep Your Eye On…
http://www.ere.net/2011/12/05/10-predictions-for-2012-the-top-trends-in-talent-management-and-recruiting/
2011 Was The Year of Social Media
2011 was a tough year for many in talent management, but despite compressed budgets, organizations continued to hire and develop talent. One factor that seemed to invade nearly every high-level functional discussion was social media. It’s clear that Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter will play a dominate role in recruiting and development best practices in years to come.
Not surprisingly, 2011 saw no fewer than 40 new vendors emerge to help organizations use social media to attract referrals. We also started to see early stage tools to use social media in talent assessment (pre/post hire) as well as applicant/candidate/employee experience management. New tools brought much enhanced visibility into talent issues, but most talent-management metrics continue not to resonate with key leaders outside of the HR function.
2012 Will Be “The Year of the Mobile Platform”
By the end of next year, even the skeptics will have to admit that the mobile platform will have become the dominant communications and interaction platform by early-adopting best-practice organizations. The capabilities afforded users of smartphones and tablet devices grows immensely day by day. Long before unified inboxes existed for the desktop, smart device users could see all incoming e-mail, social messaging, text messaging, and voice and video messaging in a single place.
Tablets will become the virtual classroom, and an emerging class of tools will let employees manage almost every aspect of their professional life digitally. During the next year, talent management leaders need to invest heavily supporting execution of talent management initiatives across mobile.
The Additional Top Nine!
Intense hiring competition will return in selected areas — global economic issues will persist for years to come, but the global war for talent will continue spiking in key regions an industries. While growth has slowed somewhat in China, Australia and Southeast Asia — including India — continue to see dramatic demand for skilled talent. In the U.S. and Europe, demand is still largely limited to certain industries where skills shortages have been an issue for years.
In high tech inclusive of medical technologies, 2012 will see a significant escalation in the war for top talent. As innovators and game changers step out of established tech firms like Facebook, Apple, Google, Twitter, and Zynga, a whole new breed to tech startups will be born each vying for the best of the best. While recruiting will move forward at a breathtaking pace, so too will “rapid” leadership development.
Retention issues will increase dramatically — almost every survey shows that despite high engagement scores, more than a majority of employees are willing to quit their current job as soon as a better opportunity comes along. I am predicting that turnover rates in high-demand occupations will increase by 25% during the next year and because most corporate retention programs have been so severely degraded, retention could turn out to be the highest-economic-impact area in all of talent management.
Rather than the traditional “one-size-fits-all” retention strategy, a targeted personalized approach will be required if you expect to have a reasonable chance to retain your top talent.
Social media increases its impact by becoming more data-driven — most firms jumped on the social media bandwagon, but unfortunately the trial-and-error approach used by most has produced only mediocre results. Adapting social media tools from the business coupled with strong analytics will allow a more focused approach that harnesses and directs the effort of all employees on social media. Talent leaders will increasingly see the value of a combination of internal and external social media approaches for managing and developing talent.
My thoughts -
Measurement is key !
Put a correct procedure in place - i.e. A Plan with key actions!
It is not a silver bullet - so it will work at times and not at others !!!
Remote work changes everything in talent management — the continued growth of technology, social media, and easy communications now makes it possible for most knowledge work and team activities to occur remotely. Allowing top talent to work “wherever they want to work” improves retention and makes recruiting dramatically easier.
Unfortunately, even though it is now possible for as much as 50% of a firm’s jobs to be done remotely, manager and HR resistance has limited the trend. Fortunately, managers and talent management leaders have begun to realize that teamwork, learning, development, recruiting, and best-practice sharing can now successfully be accomplished using remote methods. Firms like IBM and Cisco have led the way in reducing and eliminating barriers to remote work.
The need for speed shifts the balance between development and recruiting — historically, best practice within corporations has been to build and develop primarily from within. However, as the speed of change in business continues to increase and the number of firms that copy the “Apple model” (where firm is continually crossing industry boundaries) increases, talent managers will need to rethink the “develop internally first” approach.
In many cases, recruiting becomes a more viable option because there simply isn’t time for current employees to develop completely new skills. As a result, the trend will be to continually shift the balance toward recruiting for immediate needs and the use of contingent labor for short-duration opportunities and problems.
Employee referrals are coupled with social media — the employee referral program in many organizations is operated in isolation as are the organizations’ social media efforts, but talent managers are beginning to realize that the real strength of social media is relationship-building by your employees.
My Thoughts:
A tremendous tool in the future - make certain that you link your employees with both the information and the reward !
With proper coordination, employee relationships can easily be turned into employee referrals. This realization will lead to a shift away from recruiters and toward relying on employees to build social media contacts and relationships. The net result will be that as many as 60% of all hires will come from the combined efforts. The strength of these relationships will lead to better assessment and the highest-quality hires from employee referrals.
Employer branding returns — Employer branding and building talent communities are the only long-term strategies in recruiting. True branding is rarely practiced (hint: it’s not recruitment marketing) especially in the cash-strapped function of today, but years of layoffs, cuts in compensation, and generally bad press for business in general may force firms to invest in true branding. The increased use of social media and frequent visits to employee criticism sites (like Glassdoor.com), make not managing employer brand perception a risky proposition. While corporations will never control their employer brand, they can monitor and influence in a direction that isn’t catastrophic to recruiting and retention.
My Thoughts:
About time !!!
The candidate experience is finally getting the attention it deserves — Organizations have never treated candidates as well as they did their customers, but the high jobless rate has allowed corporations to essentially abuse some applicants. As competition for talent increases and as more applicants visit employer criticism sites like Glassdoor.com, talent leaders will be forced to modify their approach.
At the very least, firms will more closely monitor candidate experience metrics as they realize that treating applicants poorly can not only drive away other high-quality applicants but it can also lose them sales and customers.
Will be interesting to see how this develops !
Forward-looking metrics begin to dominate — Almost all current talent management and recruiting metrics are backward looking, in that they tell you what happened in the past. Other business functions like supply chain, production, and finance have long championed the use of “forward-looking” or predictive metrics and the time is finally coming when talent management leaders will shift their metrics emphasis. Forward-looking metrics can not only improve decision-making but they can also help to prevent or mitigate future talent problems.
Other Things to Keep Your Eye On…
Thursday, 20 October 2011
LinkedIn launch talent pipeline
The boundary between social and professional networks has blurred in the last couple of years. On one hand, LinkedIn has introduced several social features and continues to gain momentum as the world’s largest social community of professionals. On the other hand, Facebook is fast emerging as a modern age hiring tool. Though Facebook remains the undisputed king of all social networks, it has launched several features worthy of a high end professional network. Similarly, though LinkedIn operated as a pure professional network earlier, it has been ringing in the changes to improve its social quotient.
LinkedIn further plans to up its social quotient by launching a new service ‘Talent Pipeline’ next year. The new service will provide a solution for recruiters which will give them the ability to more easily manage all of their talent leads in one place, helping them recruit the best talent more quickly.
Though it’s still early days and it would be interesting to see how things eventually pan out, there’s no doubt the Talent Pipeline may be the trigger to help recruiting firms move from a requisition-oriented model to a more logical talent-oriented approach.
What is Talent Pipeline?
In simple terms, Talent Pipeline is a service that streamlines all the job recruiting elements into a single database of information, which can be searched, organized and monitored. It makes recruiters lives easier as they can import leads and resumes from multiple sources and organizer it as per their preferences. The Talent Pipeline leverages LinkedIn’s massive professional network database thereby aiding in the process of monitoring potential hires.
In-House and External Hiring
Most recruitment solutions till-date either cater to in-house staffing or external hiring. Talent Pipeline claims to do both – it helps recruiters find suitable external candidates and it also lets current employees discover new promotion opportunities within their existing organizations.
Who should use Talent Pipeline?
The obvious question – will it work for my business or company? Is it better suited to larger or smaller companies? Given the limited amount of information available till now, Talent Pipeline looks to be a useful service for any company that wants to optimize its hiring process. To a large extent, it would depend on how LinkedIn pitches it to companies as a part of its hiring solutions portfolio.
Pipeline will be introduced next year as part of the current service, called the Recruiter platform and will also be available separately. Pricing for the service isn’t known at this time.
Pipeline is yet another indication that LinkedIn will continue to ring in changes to be increasingly social. Do you think it’s the right approach for a hiring solution to adopt a social approach? Or would the addition of more social features eventually turn LinkedIn into a social network rather than a professional network. Your opinion is welcome.
Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9K7Ffb/smedio.com/2011/10/20/linkedin-to-launch-talent-pipeline-in-2012/
LinkedIn further plans to up its social quotient by launching a new service ‘Talent Pipeline’ next year. The new service will provide a solution for recruiters which will give them the ability to more easily manage all of their talent leads in one place, helping them recruit the best talent more quickly.
Though it’s still early days and it would be interesting to see how things eventually pan out, there’s no doubt the Talent Pipeline may be the trigger to help recruiting firms move from a requisition-oriented model to a more logical talent-oriented approach.
What is Talent Pipeline?
In simple terms, Talent Pipeline is a service that streamlines all the job recruiting elements into a single database of information, which can be searched, organized and monitored. It makes recruiters lives easier as they can import leads and resumes from multiple sources and organizer it as per their preferences. The Talent Pipeline leverages LinkedIn’s massive professional network database thereby aiding in the process of monitoring potential hires.
In-House and External Hiring
Most recruitment solutions till-date either cater to in-house staffing or external hiring. Talent Pipeline claims to do both – it helps recruiters find suitable external candidates and it also lets current employees discover new promotion opportunities within their existing organizations.
Who should use Talent Pipeline?
The obvious question – will it work for my business or company? Is it better suited to larger or smaller companies? Given the limited amount of information available till now, Talent Pipeline looks to be a useful service for any company that wants to optimize its hiring process. To a large extent, it would depend on how LinkedIn pitches it to companies as a part of its hiring solutions portfolio.
Pipeline will be introduced next year as part of the current service, called the Recruiter platform and will also be available separately. Pricing for the service isn’t known at this time.
Pipeline is yet another indication that LinkedIn will continue to ring in changes to be increasingly social. Do you think it’s the right approach for a hiring solution to adopt a social approach? Or would the addition of more social features eventually turn LinkedIn into a social network rather than a professional network. Your opinion is welcome.
Source: http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/9K7Ffb/smedio.com/2011/10/20/linkedin-to-launch-talent-pipeline-in-2012/
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