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Social Media and Human Resources: How are they working together?

March 29, 2010 by MSI

According to recent research conducted by Pew Internet, 46% of Americans aged 18 and older are using social networking sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube or MySpace. A vast increase over the 2005 study, at which time only 8% of Americans were engaging in social media outlets. 

Ofthe 46% using social media:

  • 73% have a Facebook account
  • 48% have a MySpace profile
  • 14% have an account on LinkedIn

It’s estimated that Facebook now has more than 400M users and LinkedIn, growing by 5M users in the two months between December 2009 and February 2010, has eclipsed the 60M user mark. And, time spent using social media is growing at a rate of 3X the time just spent online. While marketers continue to leverage the socialmedia outlets to engage with customers and drive additional traffic and sales for their respective companies, a growing number of human resource professionalsare also engaging in and expanding their social media practices to support their organizational objectives and hiring goals. 

According to a 2009 Jobvite Survey a growing number of companies are using social mediato recruit talent, forgoing traditional job posting sites and printed publications: 

  • 95% using LinkedIn
  • 59% using Facebook
  • 42% using Twitter

And,companies are also getting creative, using social media to compliment their hiringprocess. Referencing the same Jobvite survey:

  • 75% are using LinkedIn for background checks
  • 48% are using Facebook for background checks 

Organizations, like Ernst & Young are using Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ernstandyoungcareers) to recruit their next generation of professionals. With more than 40,000 fans,the site has served as a major contributor to their recruiting efforts. Is your company using social media to support human resource initiatives? Have you uncovered any perils or pitfalls? Please share your stories with us. 

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Jill Heineck
3/28/2010 2:16:01 PM #

Many of the organzations that I consult with ask me, how do we integrate social media during the recruit and select process, and how do we control the internal brand using these online outlets?

My answer is simple: Baby steps. Many of these companies are established and seasoned, and understand that this is the direction in which HR is going: the talent pool is online, and that is where they need to be.

I would estimate that only 1/3 of the companies I consult with the in the area of relocaton strategies as it relates to the real estate professionals on the ground are actively establishing a presence. Those that are are reaping the rewards, as long as they are putting out valuable content that is relevant and transparent.

Companies also ask how to mitigate issues that may arise as a result of using social media. One is to implement an internal social media policy, so that HR and/or relocation personal understand what information can be promoted online. The other is to implement an internal dialoguing application, similiar to Twitter, which allows team memebers to communicate in real-time and allows for mitigation immediately.

For example, one client's HR generalist made an offer to an employee for a transfer. The employee accepted. However, internal changes to the relocattion policy were made within the 4-hour window between offer and acceptance. The HR generalist did not get wind of the change until 2-hours AFTER acceptance. Real-time Twitter-like internal communications might have mitigated the problem of now having to go back to the candidate and re-explaining the policy. The change could have been made as the details were being explained.

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