 An interesting development at this year's Social Media in Recruitment 2010 conference in London has been having two delegates from the 2009 event come back and share their experiences and journey with Social Media as presenters.

Jonathan Hart-Smith of recruiter CK Clinical was up first (more on his presentation when I get the slides) followed by Elkie Holland, founder of Prospectus IT Recruitment.
Here are some of the high points of her very engaging presentation, which she started by saying: "I am not a social media expert". IMHO, Elkie, you certainly are an expert, with the hard earned experience and scars to prove it. Bravo.
What did we learn from the 2009 conference?
A recruiter with 25 years experience, came to the 2009 conference to try and figure out how to attract more people and then place them in jobs.
What did she learn?
- Rules - there aren't any
- Choices - types of SM, how to use, what they do - too much information and too much choice
- Currency - old model, you paid. Currency of Social Media is knowledge, sharing, helping
- Preconceived ideas were challenged, for example YouTube wasn't just social videos
- Definition
- Evolution - communication and meeting places
Her strategy started to emerge
- Joined the communities
- Searched to find out what channels clients and candidates were in and just went there
- Follow people and Listen and engage with them
- Broadcast her jobs
- Tweets info and jobs, up to the 'listener'
Key Take Away. Be there and be visible, helpful and informative
What has she implemented?
- Blog
- LnkedIn - 100% of personal profiles complete, join groups and post jobs
- FaceBook - fan page, advertise jobs, pull in industry feeds
- twitter - personal account and company ID
- YouTube - put up some video, someone called to help build better videos
- Created iPhone app, share knowledge
Effect on business
- Reputation increase, clients find her
- Relevant candidates
- Unsolicited sole agency agreements
- Google rankings increase
- Unsolicited positive candidates
Key Learning Points
- The Three D's: Dedication, discipline, determination
- Watch out for the Time Thief, stick to a plan
- YouTube return on investment
- 6.5 hours work, over 200 enquiries
- Plus unmeasurable mentions and redirects
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