Social media transforms the job search, recruitment landscape ...

By Pedram Tabibi

Recently I read an interesting article about whether Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn can really help people find a job. The article noted how nowadays, a college degree and even years of experience do not necessarily translate into a good job. This is especially true for young professionals entering the work force for the first time in many cases. Young professionals may lack the experience many employers look for and to make matters worse, many must now compete with experienced job candidates let go as part of the economic crunch. In these challenging economic times, people are looking to new mediums and techniques to gain an edge in their job search. Social media is now becoming the premier landscape for job searching and hiring and if used right ? by young professionals for example ? it could lead not only to a job one desires but also allow one to advance in their business career.

Social Job SearchAs I detailed previously about LinkedIn becoming the new social media platform of choice, LinkedIn is now an important resource for corporations and agency headhunters, many of whom have Twitter accounts and Facebook pages. The article includes an excellent infographic, based on a recent survey by Jobvite, on some interesting trends regarding social media use for job searches.? Among the more interesting findings:

One in six employees use social media to find their current job, up from one in nine in 2010;
Nearly 90 percent of job seekers have a social media profile;
54 percent of all job seekers use Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn to find jobs;
50 percent of job seekers have used Facebook, 26 percent used LinkedIn and 25 percent used Twitter to look for a job in the past 12 months;
18.4 million Americans say they found their current jobs through Facebook, along with 10.2 million through LinkedIn and 8 million through Twitter.

More interesting still, the demographics of job hunters on social media websites change from Facebook to Twitter to LinkedIn.? For example:

69 percent of job hunters on LinkedIn are males whereas 31 percent are females, whereas on Facebook, only 56 percent of job hunters are males and 44 percent are females;
54 percent of job seekers on LinkedIn earn more than $75,000 per year, compared to 48 percent on Twitter and only 36 percent on Facebook.
64 percent of job hunters on Facebook are under 40 years old whereas only 53 percent of job hunters on LinkedIn are under 40 years old.

The infographic also referenced ?super-social? job seekers, defined as those with more than 150 contacts on a given social network.? More than 25 percent of super-social seekers found a job through social networks and more than 45 percent of them updated their Facebook profile with professional information as opposed to only 9 percent of normal job seekers.

Further, the super-social job seekers had contact with a recruiter on LinkedIn 48 percent of the time compared to only 11 percent of normal job seekers. Therefore, the statistics back the claim that those with a better understanding and handle of social media are at a distinct advantage.

In order to gain additional insight on social media job recruitment and searching, I consulted with Brian Phifer, CEO of Phifer & Co.? Phifer & Co. is a full-service? recruitment agency with a total offering that delivers best-in-class talent management and recruiting services for the advertising, marketing, public relations, social media and digital industries.?? Phifer & Co., which recruits for major cities including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Houston, Miami, Philadelphia, Atlanta and more, is at the forefront of the current social media job search transformation and has shown others how to successfully recruit top-level talent through social media. According to Phifer, Twitter yields the best results for job seekers and employers and he asserts that nowadays people do not respond to advertisements on a company website as much as in the past.

Instead, he contends, ?Tweets provide a quick and easy way to post job openings and allows people to respond quickly.?? He added, ?People do not flock to jobsites such as Monster.com as much as in the past. When human resource departments started utilizing applicant tracking systems, which were very cumbersome, many people became dissuaded from using those websites for their job searches. However, a 140-character posting on Twitter instantly grabs the attention and interest of a job seeker, who can then directly send their resume via email and get an actual individual right away.?

Phifer continued, ?LinkedIn is in my opinion the best site for job seekers with Twitter being a close second because the anonymity of Twitter helps users feel more comfortable applying. They don?t have as much personal information readily available as they would on another social media site.?? Individuals may be dissuaded from posting detailed information on a social media website which may get into the hands of advertisers.

Another interesting note was that over the course of our discussion, Phifer contended that companies prefer to receive more responses to a job posting, rather than just the right responses, because the right person and exact fit does not usually respond to a job posting. Companies and recruiters accept that they may have to go outside of the box to find the right applicant and the additional number of responses helps with that. An added benefit of receiving more applicants though is that with proper recruiters and human resource representatives, respondents who do not necessarily match the job requirements of a particular posting or Tweet could actually fit the requirements of a different job posting.

Phifer & Co. typically posts on social media via a Tweet about a job opening and includes a direct email address at the end of the Tweet. An interested job seeker then responds to the Tweet directly to a recruiter at the email address provided. This makes the process much more personal and easier for the job seeker, and lends a level of accountability to the job poster. Over the past few years, people would typically apply to job search websites and applicant tracking systems in what Phifer would call a ?black hole? that is at times unresponsive to job seekers. Phifer believes that social media platforms such as Twitter, with direct responses and accountability, add a level of engagement between people and allow people to find some comfort in their job searches.

Phifer added that the best advice he could provide for job seekers utilizing social media is to make sure that all of their social media presence is in sync and professional. Nowadays everyone Googles everyone, so it is important to make sure that an individual?s message and presentation is structured the same across all social media.

In this challenging economy, companies as well as job seekers would do well to consider these points and evaluate these emerging techniques and technologies. For all parties though, be cognizant of the changing landscape caused by social media, and it may help you get ahead in your search for a job and a business?s search for the ideal job candidate.

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Follow Pedram on Twitter @PedramTabibi
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