Tony Morrison is the Vice President of Business Development at Cachinkoa unique professional community where social networking and job opportunities come together. Find him on Talent Connection and connect with Cachinko on Facebook or Twitter.
For all its efforts to adopt new technology and adapt to the communication tools and needs of the candidate pool, recruiting overall is still in the dark ages. Candidate submits resume and cover letter, recruiters select the candidates based on their hiring materials, on paper or their online application they seem like a good fit, so you advance them to the interview. You spend the time and money to interview, but you still have only a 50/50 chance that the candidate you selected is a good fit. The problem here is that candidate selection still is a veritable tossing of the coin by the time you reach the interview stage. This is a waste of time and is fraught with error. I guarantee you are overlooking qualified applicants. To reduce that chance of selecting bad prospective candidates, interaction must take place first. This is where talent communities come into the picture.
If you're not attracting and connecting with the best candidates, talent communities may be the missing ingredient in your recruiting strategy. True talent communities facilitate two-way communication between employers and candidates, something that is unmatched in standard recruiting practices.
Admittedly, talent communities can't be built in a day. They do require consistent management and upkeep to produce results. If you're still on the fence, here are some reasons why talent communities can work for your social recruiting strategy.
The Talent Is Already Present
While half of job seekers spend anywhere from 6-25 hours looking, 9 out of 10 job seekers spend all of that time online — why wouldn't they? Without millions of resources, vast networking opportunities, and the ability to be seen by thousands of employers, the old way of finding a job just seems inconvenient. The problem is, if job seekers are just posting resumes onto a job board with a sea of other job seekers, then even great candidates become white noise.
Online candidate searching is not a utopia for recruiters either. Anxious job seekers blast out hundreds of generic cover letters and resumes flooding employers with hundreds to thousands of subpar candidate applications. Job seekers do this for two reasons. First, they're desperate and think it's a quick and easy way to yield results. Second, some job seekers really do not understand what the employers' job requirements really are. The result is that the average job seeker thinks it's best to "spray and pray," hoping that some employer will stumble upon one of their hundred resumes and online profiles and be able to tease out the value proposition that will earn them an interview.
With a talent community, you'll be able to identify candidates who are already "fit" to apply. How? Because you'll have the opportunity to interact and demonstrate your company's brand, values and mission. The best and most interested candidates likewise will have the opportunity to engage you as well as interact in the community demonstrating their true values and capability to fulfill the requirements of a posted job. You cannot stop candidates from spamming out their resume, but in your own talent community you will be able to distill your candidate pipeline down to those that follow the company and display the passion and for the field they have chosen.
Candidates Want To Get Noticed
Since candidates do prefer searching online, where do they go when they've decided your company is their dream company? A 2012 CareerXroads survey reveals that while job seekers are influenced by certain hiring channels (social media, referrals and job boards), the majority will go to the company's career site first.
Heading straight to the company page is not a bad thing, but instead of having them hit the apply button, why not give them some room to get noticed first. Candidates want to show off their brand, make connections and make an effort to differentiate themselves from others. Talent communities allow them to be more than just a resume. This leads us directly to the last benefit.
It Allows For 'Passive Screening'
Talent communities allow you to passively meet and screen active candidates one-on-one. This interaction alone allows you to both watch and interact with candidates while they engage with others. You'll get to see — and discuss — their view on various topics, their professional experience and even career aspirations. All these become more prevalent factors that can help you source candidates that are not only right for the job, but right for the company.
The buzz around talent communities isn't new, but most companies have yet to enable one. These communities exist to encourage two-way communication and engagement between you and potential candidates. You will have more quality hires if you know more about who you're interviewing before you ever open the door to an interview.
What do you think? Does your recruiting strategy include a talent community? What are some other good reasons for creating one? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Social Media Job Listings
Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we've selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting!
- Software Engineer – Mobile Developer at Yelp in San Francisco
- Associate Product Manager at Meetmoi in New York
- Social Media Manager at Landry's in Houston
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, JulNichols, vicky_81
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