Sourcing quality talent continues to gain importance, as a growing global economy with changing demographics puts greater pressure on locating and retaining the best talent. The candidate experience is also coming under the spotlight and, as a result, businesses are increasingly turning to Web 2.0-style tactics to gain competitive advantage in the war for talent.
Chris Philips, senior director of international marketing, Taleo, and Alice Snell, vice-president Taleo Research, said:
"The internet, and in particular the corporate career website, has emerged as a core channel for attracting and acquiring candidates, and is a prime source of new hires. At the same time, hype has been growing around social networking websites such as MySpace, Jobster, H3, Facebook and LinkedIn...
Social networks provide a significant tool for tapping into passive candidates, without the ethical issues surrounding headhunting and the costs associated with recruitment agencies. When one thinks of social networking in relation to the six degrees of separation - a theory which asserts that anyone on earth can be connected to any other person through a chain of acquaintances that has no more than four intermediaries - it becomes a hugely powerful recruitment tool.
In talent management, an additional and important aspect of a chain of connections is that it includes a degree of trust. Therefore, the true power of a social network comes from the trust that is built into a recommendation from one acquaintance to another.
Historically, candidate-sourcing activities have absorbed a considerable percentage of the recruiting budget and encompass a host of channels that include recruitment advertising, use of third-party search firms, on-site job fairs and recruiting, and referrals.
Traditional referrals have always been valued as a cost-effective recruitment method in leveraging the ‘trust’ factor that is demonstrated now in the form of online networks.
Social networking websites rank highly by recruiters as a cost-effective method of sourcing talent, when used judiciously to augment a well-designed recruitment strategy.
What’s more, social networking can extend beyond initially sourcing talent. Social networking platforms can be used in talent management practices with the workforce to support mentoring, coaching, and learning initiatives. Overall, social networking technology can facilitate interaction and collaboration throughout the full talent lifecycle."
Comments (1)
Posted by hans gieskes | August 22, 2007 1:25 AM
Beware of popular misperception: "six degrees of separation" does NOT mean that all of us are only six connections awawy from everybody else on this planet. Professor Milgram's famous research proved that only some people (very few actually) are six degrees removed from everybody else.
Implication for recruiting / finding a job: we all know a limited number of such special people we turn to when looking for that unique candidate. Trouble is we don't know enough of such "super-connectors" and that they get similar requests from lots of other folks.
Hence you have to motivate them in same way as you motivate well connected employees and head hunters: offer them a cash referral reward...
At H3.com, we find that 85% of referral hires are only 2 or 3 degrees away from recruiter, and thus screening quality is very high.
Posted on August 22, 2007 01:25