The High Cost Missed Opportunities - Social Media Explorer
The High Cost Missed Opportunities
The High Cost Missed Opportunities
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Ever need to hire anyone? It is hard. Ask most anyone out there. Hiring people is long and arduous. And far too frequently, it doesn’t work. Turnover is increasing, people switch jobs more frequently than ever and it isn’t getting any better. In fact, as the economy is turning around, it is only going to get more difficult. The recruiting industry has not changed much in many years. Yes, there is LinkedIn, but it’s just an online association with a job board, which really, is the old-school newspaper classifieds on your computer.

If you take a look at many social feeds of top employers, they are currently using social to post more “Help wanted” ads as if there are not 1 bazillion other places to post those job descriptions. And we all know that 70% of a job is in that last bullet item on the job description, ahem, “Other duties as assigned”. I’ve often pondered the challenges in recruiting and have come to the conclusion that the whole transaction is built on two things that are total and complete BS: the job description and the resume. I think this is why we have such a hard time finding talent and why it is so hard to get them to stick. Which brings me to the missed opportunity of social recruiting.

The Miss

Miss the MarkChanging jobs is asking a lot of someone. Most people do not enter into this lightly. They may enter into the application process lightly, but not the acceptance of an offer. They do research online. They talk to people. They ask their friends. The good ones even interview the employer. All of this is done to really understand if they are going to fit. And they cannot get this information on the corporate career site. So, they turn to Glassdoor and other avenues to research the environment.

<cue rant> is why I cannot for the life of me figure out why employers continue to use social as a free job listing service. Social is where questions can be answered and transparency could reign. It could be the place where candidates could talk with peers and hiring managers and have a real conversation about the truth that is the actual job and the values of the company. It could also be the place where you drive the conversation over the noise at Glassdoor. It could be the place where you educate your candidates. Where you help them self select in or out. And please, for the love of Pete, let them select out. Because when we want to create a big recruitment marketing puff of smoke you know what you get? You get people who interview and accept offers who feel duped. And then they are forced to stay because they can’t be perceived as a job hopper. And then they are unhappy; they talk to others and make others unhappy. It can be a virus in an office. Then they hit the Internet and social where they are far from the brand advocates you are looking for, they are the ones who are writing negative reviews of the work environment and dragging your employer brand down. So now you need to do a whole bunch of reputation management, which is hard, like, waaaaayyyy harder than simply using social as a two-way communication vehicle to educate candidates on the realities of the work. <end rant>

The cost

But, I suppose that is both scary and hard. Bright side: It works. I’ve worked with companies in the past that went from post and pray on social to dialog. They even respond (gasp!) to people on Facebook. They even have live recruiter chats (super gasp!) with candidates. And you know what, it paid off. They increased their engagement by 400% and their quality of candidate increased as well. Good candidates are well informed. Good hires who stick with the organization know what they are getting in to. It is really simple, but the missed opportunity of social is not only financial (turnover is insanely expensive. So is a disgruntled workforce) but also in terms of time. Great content marketing on social for recruiting can save time by reducing the number of bad applicants you need to screen through and increasing the number of the well informed. It is simply good business.

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About the Author

Tracey Parsons
Since 1995, Tracey has been developing digital solutions. Currently SME Digital’s lead strategist, she continues to be dedicated to bringing cutting edge, thoughtful and measurable solutions to marketers. With more than 15 years in digital, Tracey not only brings vision, but the tools and strategies to execute against complex next generation concepts. She has worked with some of the world’s most recognized brands to develop and devise cutting-edge social, mobile and digital marketing practices.

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