Last week at the Recruitment Unconference I listened to a number of large recruitment agency firms and various industry experts discuss the impact of Social Recruitment.
One camp felt that the Job Boards of today will be killed off by agencies and HR; sourcing directly via Social Networks.
Some worried that the recruitment agency would be killed off in 10 years when today's teenagers join tomorrow's HR, with their wide digital networks nurtured over the years.
There were examples of agencies cutting 100% of job board spend! Where are the candidates coming from?- From their website via Twitter or Linked In.
Before we rush our attention to killer tactics of social recruiting to save thousands of pounds, I would like to consider the following framing points...
1. Social recruitment is very young. The social web evolution is in its early phases. Those early birds are, in some cases delivering strong results, but will this success remain feasible as the marketplace gets more crowded? How will it scale? Will it infringe privacy and be reined in by legislation?
2 Every new thing is always going to kill the last thing, according to media hype! But does it, or does the hyped frenzy just promote the killing? If the job boards embrace social media, it could become their best friend since Google, instead of the executioner. (Just as Google was a serious threat back in 2000)
3. The last major digital recruitment revolution - the online job board - delivered the CV database, which has created a volume of monstrous recruitment agencies. The volume of consultants that just forward CVs straight from a database as a "punt" is staggeringly high. The service level has suffered- no screening, no client relationship, no candidate relationship. Will social recruiting improve the situation or build on an ever-increasing bad named industry?
One thing is for sure, social networks are here to stay, even if the platforms change (Friends Reunited, MySpace, Bebo, Facebook, Twitter). Any network of people will attract recruiters.
So what are you doing with Twitter or Linked In?
What would you like to see job boards doing?
What can we help you with as an online recruitment technology expert?
P.S.
Further listening (not reading!) check out http://www.blogtalkradio.com/bill-boorman/2009/11/30/job-boards--rip-uk-show to listen to myself, @SiteAdvisor, @RCEURO and the host @BillBoorman chat about the future of job boards.
Sourced from: http://www.allthetopbananas.com/Blogs/Dave/post/2009/11/Will-Social-Networks-kill-off-the-Job-Board.aspx
A few weeks ago I talked about a significant increase in job advertisements, suggesting we are starting the climb of recovery, out of recession.
At the start of last week we were told our economy is still contracting as we remain in the record breaking recession. Surprisingly, the FTSE did not buckle at the news.
At the end of last week and start of this week there are reports telling us the property market is growing for the first time in 19 months,
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/house-prices-record-first-annual-rise-in-19-months-1812311.html I feel we are definitely on the road of recovery, a brief look in Google News this morning agrees....
US company launching in Europe (and UK) creating 8,000 jobs -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/article-1223730/Best-Buy-looks-8-000-staff-massive-recruitment-drive.html New Zealand report showing similar analysis to Allthetopbananas.com job advert analysis, showing growth in the recruitment market -
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10606831 UK Infrastructure jobs growing and banks lending to big projects -
http://news.efinancialcareers.co.uk/newsandviews_item/newsItemId-22051 Abu Dhabi witnesses increased recruitment rates -
http://gulfnews.com/business/general/jobs-abu-dhabi-witnesses-increased-recruitment-rate-1.521604 As it is the first week in November we will be analysing the job advertisement data for October. I expect to reveal a positive headline showing continued recruitment improvement.
