There is little doubt that most organizations have a sincere desire to connect with their target talent markets.  They spend millions (perhaps billions) of dollars a year analyzing their potential candidates.

• How can we attract the right talent?
• How do we connect with our ideal candidates?

Social Media, for all its wonders, is not the “have all, end all” of candidate interaction.  In fact, if we were discussing this over coffee, you would find out quickly that I much prefer the balanced approach.  Embark on the path of learning the tools, but control the amount of time invested.  Build into it, don’t just decide one morning that it’s the only approach.

Before you jump at me with a sharp “Twitter changed my life!” lashing – let me clarify a bit more.

Social Media is an amazing place to be.  You can meet all kinds of great people, very quickly target and connect with like-minded individuals… and perhaps even discover new avenues for your journey that you had yet to uncover.  Unfortunately, and fortunately, it’s not the only way that a person can go about doing this.  My opinion, and this is only my opinion, is that a balance must be established.

Candidates are people who have wants, needs and desires.  They are attracted to and they interact in the communities of interest to them.  Social Media creates an opportunity for us to connect with them on a different level… in a place that they choose.

According to a recent study performed by CareerBuilder and Inavero, “The average job candidate spends more than five hours on social media sites each week; however, only one in five organizations indicated utilizing social networking as part of their recruiting strategy.”

Baby Steps Into Social Media

There are thousands of posts on what to do and what not to do if you want to get involved in recruiting within social media.  It’s actually quite overwhelming if you consider the huge amount of information.

With that said, the study clearly indicates that many organizations are holding back.  Perhaps it’s due to overall understanding, a perceived lack of ROI… there are many arguments for and against getting involved.

The bottom line, however, is that Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and the many other community driven sites are here.  They are growing and they are catching on faster and faster by the day.  You don’t have to change your recruiting approach over night… but, I sure wouldn’t want to be the guy/gal who wakes up in five years to realize that one vital piece of the established recruiting approach had been entirely ignored.

So, get started… even if that means baby steps.  My advice, for what it’s worth, is the following:

1. LinkedIn – Set up your account with a complete profile.  Join some groups and occasionally jump in the conversation.  Perhaps create a survey based on what your candidates want, need and desire.  Be a presence.
2. Twitter – Find a picture you like, create a 160 character bio and set up your Twitter account.  Don’t worry about it being confusing at first… it will be that way for a while.  Check out my free video tutorial I created for SHRM on getting started and perhaps pick up a copy of Twitterville.
3. Facebook – Picture, bio, likes/dislikes in bio format.  Join some groups… interact.  If you are feeling really adventurous, go post a job using their social ad system.  On the bottom of your profile, you will see a little link that says “advertising”.  I personally recommend doing an “impressions” campaign… it’s cheap and you will get your feet wet with very little expense.

I love blogging and I think it’s a great tool… but, the time commitment is a bit much for some people.  For the time being, just work at understanding how the above tools can impact your recruiting efforts.  If you want to start playing around with blogging, check out RecruitingBlogs.com – try your hand at sharing your knowledge.  Be creative, think like your target candidates… see where you get.  Later, you can add other tools to the mix and really start building out a comprehensive targeting strategy.

Step 1 is to begin the process.  Whatever your organization decides to do, it’s a great opportunity for you to improve your skill set (yes, these tools are appearing on resumes now) and to discover what all the buzz is about.  Besides, we’d love to see you out there!

If you would like to connect with me out on one of the above mentioned sites, here are links for you to connect:

LinkedIn

Facebook

Twitter

The bottom line is just get started.  Try it… Twitter doesn’t bite

For those of you already involved in the realm, what baby steps would you recommend?  Any must-dos for those who have yet to take the leap into the world of social media?

For those who have yet to get started… I’m curious to know what has held you back?  Perceived complexity, time, clear ROI?  I’m interested.

Photo Credit, stargazr441

The right place at the right time…

Can you imagine how your life would change if you could solve that riddle?  Where is this “place” and what “time” has everyone been referring to?

After a day of way too much brainstorming and a few too many philosophical wanderings, my conclusion is that the time is always and the place is everywhere.

Consider this:

1. Opportunity never stops, it just evolves. Our job is to see it and pursue it.
2. No matter where you live, what you do or who you want to be… your chances are greater when you focus on and pursue your desires.  The alternative is to sit idle… become stagnant.
3. Opportunities present themselves in many forms. When we are open to those many forms, it is easier to recognize them when they come our way.  Leave the preconceived notions of a “perfect opportunity” behind.
4. Disappointment is your friend… it forces you to move on. These moments of truth can become your best chances to recognize and embrace a new opportunity… so stay open!  The more time you dedicate to focusing on the bad – the less time you focus on point #2.

Strengths and Clarity

I’ve been exploring some concepts lately around career development and potential as they correspond to a person embracing their strengths.  For reasons that I will eventually discuss, the topic is at the center of a pretty exciting project that I’ve been engaged with.

As someone who has dedicated their professional career to talent acquisition, the concept of strength alignment definitely perks my interest.  It makes me consider a few things:

• How many people who are outwardly miserable dedicate to professions that fall outside of their passions/strengths?
• How could a person’s life improve if they were given a path to capitalize on their main strengths?
• How many high achievers have you met who did not fully embrace their inner talents?

Whether you are hiring someone or advancing your own career… exploring how long-term success and personal strengths operate together seems like an important topic to consider – really important!

It might seem all fluffy and idealistic to think that we can all achieve more and accomplish our dreams… but is it?  Perhaps our reluctance has everything to do with our inner fear of rejection – the risk of striving for something and falling short… the potential embarrassment we will face by failing to accomplish our dreams.  Perhaps it has to do with the perceived complexity of identifying what we are good at and figuring out how we can funnel those talents in a constructive direction.

Just remember, dreams are like Play-Doh – they can morph and change as much as you want them to.  Natural talents, on the other hand, are a part of who we are… starting with these key elements, we are able to build a huge array of potential dreams and desires.

Build a dream, pursue that dream, fail, build another dream, add water, repeat.  The likelihood of you living in a van down by the river is pretty low… so, take some risks.

Talent Meets Opportunity

I had a point… so, let me get back to it.

Timing is one part, but talent/strength alignment is the other.  The likelihood of a person recognizing an opportunity goes way up when they are dedicating to something that they are skilled at or passionate about.  I’ve seen this in my own life and I see it in the careers of the many people I encounter.

I don’t know what the true answers or conclusions are to all of these mental wanderings… I suppose that it’s just some food for thought.  Perhaps it will spur something that leads you to something greater – perhaps it won’t.

I’d love to know what you think about the topic.

How do you see talent manifest itself… cause major change… impact a person’s life?  Do you think that people tend to do what they are good at or what they find a job in?  How can we change all this and open doors?

Photo Credit, Michel Filion