It’s okay if you’re not social media recruiting

Social recruiting is the future. Facebook with it 200 squillion members. Linkedin has buckets of them too. Shouldn’t you be social recruiting too?

Using social media to recruit is becoming an increasingly common (and much-hyped) method of recruiting. There are many examples where companies have successfully recruited using social media. And cases where, in many ways, social recruiting may well be the best method of recruiting.

But let’s take a step back for a moment and look at the reality of recruiting. For those of us involved in the online world, we sometimes forget what it is like in the real world. At the recent Birmingham Digital City conference, for example, it was reported that 40% of companies in the West Midlands were not online in any shape or form. So you can forget about a social recruiting strategy there. But these companies are still recruiting. They fill jobs without Facebook and Twitter, or the internet.

You don’t have to be an online genius to fill a job. Sure, it’s exciting to think that you were the first company to have a job interview in Second Life or World of Warcraft. But did you fill any jobs? If you have a job vacancy in your company think carefully about how you are going to fill it.

Go back to basics. Is this a role that can be filled from a jobboard? Or a radio ad? Or, God forbid, a print trade ad? Or a classified in the local freesheet? Or even a sticky card thumb-tacked on the noticeboard down the local Tesco? What about a footer note on your company signatures? Or a referral programme for your own staff, friends, colleagues and even competitors?

Sure, it’s not sexy: but does it work? If you are already filling jobs with good people, do exactly what you are doing and continue to do exactly what you are doing. Your recruiting channel should be decided upon by your recruiting needs and your recruiting resources.  It’s okay, if you’re not social media recruiting.