"The importance of the new social networking sites in recruitment" by Grégoire Beaurain (1996)

The importance of the new social networking sites in recruitment


The Author
Grégoire Beaurain has been working for the Robert Half International agency for over 10 years. His experience in the sector of full time finance and accounting recruitment is largely based on an extensive international background as he has worked in the field in both Europe and North America. He returned to France in summer 2004, and has now taken up a major new challenge: to develop the Nord area of France, which includes the Nord-Pas-de-Calais, Picardy and the French departments of 93 and 95 in the Paris suburbs, taking this EDHEC graduate (1996), who is ‘Chtimi’ by birth, back to his roots.
After noting the impact of the new social networking media during a stay in Canada, Grégoire now wishes to share his analysis of the precise role played by the new professional and social networking sites in the recruitment sector.

LinkedIn? Viadeo? Facebook? Twitter?
If you don’t know at least one of these four websites, then maybe it would be a good idea to start thinking about them now, and begin by reading this article.
The others? We’ll look at the impact of these sites in recruitment agencies today and, more globally, in the social media.
The article will begin with an outline of the influence of the social networking media.
We will then look at the importance of these sites in the challenges inherent to the full-time employment sector.
Finally, I will offer a few useful tips on how to optimise your present job-seeking techniques.

1/ There’s no getting away from it: the new social media are of prime importance today

Let’s begin with a staggering figure that sets the scene for the rest of the discussion.
Today, 80% of American companies use the professional networking site, LinkedIn, as their first step to external recruitment.
Internet is not just a phenomenon reserved for the Y generation. It has caught up with all of us. It is a tsunami that has shattered all the media records of previous generations. The radio took 38 years to reach the 50-million user mark, TV took 13 years, Internet took 4 years…IPod passed the 50-million-consumer mark in less than 3 years…but even more impressive, Facebook recorded its 100,000,000th member in just 9 months. If Facebook was a country, it would be the fourth most populated place on the planet…
We have to admit that the social media are not just a passing phase, but have fundamentally changed the way we communicate. Some qualified American thinkers even consider it to be the greatest change since the industrial revolution…
The neologism “socialnomics” has even been coined in the United States to describe the growing importance of the social networking media in the way Americans consume. 78% of American consumers give credence to recommendations from networking sites (peer recommendations) against only 14% for traditional advertising.

Of course, the phenomenon is even more marked for the Y generation. 96% of this generation has joined the battalions of social networkers. They were born into it and have developed their own unique consumer skills and reflexes. The flow of traffic has gone way beyond the framework of the Y generation though. YouTube now counts 100 million videos, Wikipedia boasts over 13 million articles written by web users like you and me and there are 200 million blogs worldwide.

The new social media have reversed our relationship with information….The best organised no longer look for interesting information …no! It’s the information which finds them … this information which can be so valuable when you’re looking for your dream job or, at a pinch, simply a job…
 

2/ The importance of professional networking sites for job seekers

It’s no secret that the job market has been in the doldrums since September 2008. The downturn has affected permanent jobs more than temporary jobs.
In order to cut costs, leading groups are all following the same scenario; internal mobility. But how can you find a new job when internal mobility isn’t available or, worse, if you have no job at all?
Today, job seekers must be extremely patient and be well-prepared to meet the fray. Each potential opportunity must be treated very seriously. Today’s market is very much in the employers’ favour. Consequently, companies have become ultra demanding and make virtually no concessions away from their initial offer. This stringent approach may even be exacerbated when firms use recruitment agencies as partners. The message is; “100% of technical, sectorial and interpersonal skills or else…next please!”

But first you have to find the ideal job ad or be called up by a recruitment agency….
Too many job seekers still don’t realise the advantages offered by the professional networking sites. Networking has long been a term with negative connotations in France. The networker was often considered as a self-seeking profiteer…This era is well and truly over but, nevertheless, it’s true that a good networker needs to network continually. It may be a bad idea to build your network during a period of economic downturn or professional stagnation because your aura is not the same at such times. You need to have given to be able to receive. However, as you always have to make a start somewhere, I strongly advise jobseekers to set up their profile on the best-known professional networking sites in France, namely, Viadeo or LinkedIn. These sites are extremely useful nowadays to raise your profile, market yourself, or get useful information that could make the difference during the final interview. Headhunting agencies (direct approach) use these sites to identify good potential candidates. The best in the field are certainly the London agencies that specialise in headhunting. It’s worth knowing that these specialist agencies are also active in the Parisian job market. Viadeo is a French site that has become European. LinkedIn is a more international, Anglo-Saxon site that began in America but which is growing rapidly in France. These two sites are the French leaders today. More and more agencies use them to identify new talented profiles. They also offer the possibility to post ads, join groups and receive targeted alerts. They have become a key tool for prospecting in a depressed market. If you have defined your parameters well, these sites can help you to get useful information before it becomes public.

Personally, I don’t think you need to be present on both sites at the same time. The main thing is to be qualitative rather than quantitative. Every individual should study the options available in accordance with their personal profile and choose the site that offers the most from this vantage point. Being a member of a professional networking not over site also involves a certain amount of work. Set aside at least 15 minutes a day to update your profile so that it will correspond to diverse offers and help you to build up a sound social network. A jobseeker in finance and accounting should thus select the most interesting discussion groups and alumni networks. LinkedIn has an interesting ‘jobs’ section insofar as the software used for each ad selects the people most likely to make a useful contribution. All help is welcome in today’s market. The social media lever will be all the more useful if you have a good qualitative and quantitative network. However, the sites have also made it crucial for all jobseekers to be extremely quick off the mark. We mustn’t forget that everything has speeded up in the last few years…

Finally, I want to warn jobseekers about Facebook and Twitter. Facebook is not a site for professional use. Be very careful of everything you post on it. As for Twitter, the instant messaging site, it is certainly very popular in the United States but is not yet used by French recruiters. It seems to be journalists who get the most out of it to cover events live.

3/ Useful tips for a successful job search

Today’s jobseekers must be ‘multimedia’…

The HR option certainly has a key place in today’s world. HR? As in “Highly Resourceful.”
Job seekers need to have several irons on the fire if they’re going to optimise their chances of finding a good job. Traditional avenues should not be neglected, however; e.g. answering job ads in the press, unsolicited applications, etc. You should also seek out the best recruitment agencies and develop a good relationship with reputed consultants. Call the best consultants you met during your last job search. Free up some time for them and explain your new project. Phone discussions are only a short-term measure though and are in no way enough to build a good quality relationship.

Lunch is still the best moment to talk. It creates favourable conditions and gives each party enough time to discover one another. Choose a good business address and book a table away from the crowd and indiscreet ears. It’s a very worthwhile investment but it’s not an end in itself. Each contact should be systematically followed up. You must be extremely meticulous. Organise your outlook schedule so as not to forget anyone.

All candidates need to be extremely quick off the mark in their job hunt nowadays, given the speed that information circulates. That means HR again, as in highly responsive! In addition to a fast response, you need to prepare your sales pitch. You must be motivated by the job but this is not always enough. Today, we also speak about the fit with corporate culture. Above all, organisations want a return on investment and they need to feel that the candidate has real potential to develop in France or abroad.

Finding a valid opportunity today involves investing a great deal of time. Be really adaptable about the type of contract you’re willing to accept. It’s not easy to get an open-ended contract so you also need to think about transition management that enables experienced managers to take on short-term assignments to complete or coordinate specific projects within a firm.