The most successful recruiters have always had a strong understanding of the need to remain connected to their clients, hiring managers and candidates. Over the years, this has driven the recruiting industry’s rapid adoption of new and innovative technology to deliver top talent – from personal computers to fax machines and applicant tracking systems to social media.
As you know, there’s a lot of buzz about social recruiting and mobile recruiting lately. We’re seeing a lot of mobile apps and tools emerge for recruiters on the go, and not a convention goes by without 10,000 references to how important social media is becoming. But are these trends just buzz – or will they become a permanent part of every recruiter’s toolbox?
Recruiting and Technology: Who’s Driving Whom?
Over the years, recruiting professionals have been all over new technology like white on rice. And for good reason. Computers, fax machines, Internet and email have progressively helped streamline the recruiting process, evolving it to what we have today.
But a major shift has occurred in the recruiting industry. The high-volume demands of 21st century talent acquisition are now driving advancements in hiring technology. To the joy of recruiters the world over, we’re seeing software vendors designing new technology – mobile and otherwise – for the specific needs of hiring professionals. The two hottest topics software vendors are focused on? Mobile and social recruiting.
There’s often a bit of confusion when we talk about mobile recruiting. That’s because there are two very different definitions for the same term. On one hand, mobile recruiting refers to marketing and recruiting strategies that rely on SMS, QR code and mobile technology. It’s a relatively fresh concept in the industry. On the other (more widely used) hand, mobile recruiting also refers to the tools themselves (smartphone applications, mobile websites, tablet PC technology) for managing the recruiting process on the go. These different definitions are arguably two sides of the same coin.
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve also noticed a major emphasis on social recruiting in the recruiting blogosphere. Social recruiting is the all-encompassing term for strategies for tapping into social media outlets for sourcing and recruiting candidates.
As hiring professionals have always drawn on their social networks, some might argue that social recruiting is only reinventing the wheel. But I would say this is something different. It’s taking the wheel, and bringing it out of the Stone Age.
Mobile Recruiting: Five Useful Apps
We’ve been exploring the rise in apps across many markets here at Software Advice, including an article I wrote last month highlighting some of my favorite HR apps. While researching the article, I was astounded by the number of mobile tools that are designed specifically for recruiting. Recruiters love gadgets, and mobile apps are, like, so in right now. Beyond the staples like LinkedIn’s mobile app, there are a few that stood out to me:
JobScience brings the power of the applicant tracking system right into recruiters' pockets. Recruiters can access jobs, applications, candidates and clients on the iPhone, and their nifty resume search completes this powerhouse package. To use this award-winning application, you'll need a subscription to JobScience. Pricing varies.
TrafficGeyser’s Instant Customer is a handy tool for business card and contact management. On your way out of an interview? Snap a picture of the contact’s business card, and Instant Customer scans the contact info, creates a profile for the candidate, and allows you to send a pre-written follow-up. It's simple to use, and highly useful for the recruiter on the go.
Recruit2’s Global Recruiting Roundtable app does more than give users access to top industry news and trends. It connects with a community of experts. The application delivers some serious functionality (sharing capabilities, videos, full article library) and offers an easy-to-use interface. A great resource for novices and gurus alike.
The Hire Syndicate Pro app has staked a claim in the recruiter split placement community. This app enables hiring professionals to collaborate with networks of trusted recruiters and share placements using real-time technology on the go. Though it has some kinks to work out, I’d say it’s definitely worth exploring (it’s free).
JobSpeek wins the award for originality. This free app adds a new dimension to job postings: audio. When posting a job description, recruiters can record a “hiring message.” Your very original postings go live on JobSpeek, as well as the major job search engines. I’m interested to see if this will catch on. For now, though, it’s just downright cool.
Looking beyond apps, mobile SMS and QR code recruiting have also been getting some serious attention in recent months. Michael Marlatt, organizer of the inagural Mobile Recruiting Camp in San Francisco later this month, is a huge proponent. I had the pleasure of speaking with Marlatt recently, and he had a lot to say about the potential impact this new trend could have on an organization. “With a little creativity, a bit of help and a willingness to try something new,” he said, “deploying an SMS campaign might be the missing link to your ‘experienced hire’ recruitment strategy.”
Though many of the big-name innovators in talent acquisition are on the quest to get candidates using smartphones to connect with their organizations – recruiting leader and sourcing consultant Geoff Peterson says, “The technology’s not 100 percent there.” A lot of time and energy is going into tapping into this new avenue for recruiting, though, and I expect we’ll see more developments in the next year or so.
Social Recruiting: Plan for Your Slice of the Pie
Recruiting has always been social, there’s no doubt about that. Social media, however, has opened an entirely new can of worms, and many hiring professionals are easily lost when it comes to harnessing this powerful tool for sourcing and recruiting efforts. Experts have emerged from the flocks of blind leading the blind, and there are some sound best practices emerging. If you want a piece of the social recruiting pie, there are a few things you should keep in mind:
- You need a strategy. You may have a Twitter account, but that doesn’t mean you have a social recruiting strategy. You need clear goals, an execution plan and metrics for measuring success. Otherwise, you’re just filling my Twitter feed with white noise. For a passive candidate, that’s beyond annoying.
- Don’t bombard, engage. Anyone can post “an exciting opportunity” on Facebook. If that’s all your using your social media accounts for, however, you’re going to lose your audience fast. Even active candidates are going to begin filtering you out. Share an article you enjoyed, link to something interesting you’ve come across, just don’t bombard them with jobs.
- Keep the social in social media. You can get all the Facebook fans and Twitter followers you want, but unless you’re engaging your network, they’re just numbers. There are a number of communities out there that revolve around social media in a number of industries. Do some research, and see how you can connect more effectively. You’ll thank me later.
Do Social & Mobile Really Create an Improved Process?
Amidst all the social and mobile recruiting buzz, there’s one phrase keeps popping up. Everyone is talking about an “improved process,” and gushing over the benefits of all of these great developments in recruiting technology. I would definitely consider myself to be an HR tech nerd (no one gets excited in a product demo like I do), but that phrase strikes a chord with me.
My question: What, exactly, dictates “an improved hiring process?” Will all of these nifty apps and tools continue to drive a volume-oriented industry? Or will the automation of the more tedious processes give us the time to shift the focus back to what recruiting is all about – getting to know people?
Based on your answer, you’ll be the one to decide what hip new trends are worth investing in.
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Mobile_Dave
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Anonymous
