CorpComms Magazine

When Alan Geere, editorial director at Northcliffe Media South East, recently looked to recruit a new reporter, he asked potential candidates to apply for the position via Twitter. Professing to be 'fed up wading through turgid letters of applications and monstrous CVs outlining an early career in retail handling and a flirtation with the upper slopes of the Andes', Geere wanted a snappy introduction.

It may be a new approach to recruitment, but Geere is not alone in using social media to sort out the inspirational from the run of the mill. Advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi last year replaced traditional online application forms and psychometric testing with a Facebook group where graduates were asked to 'join and await instruction'.

Would-be interns built Facebook groups of their own and were invited to be as 'creative and interesting as they can'. Successful candidates were those who managed to persuade lots of people to join them.

Even more seemingly staid brands are jumping on social media as a way to find good staff. In March Thompsons Personal Injury Solicitors in Scotland launched Law Idol: The No Win No Fee Internship offering a two month internship at one of its offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen.

Candidates were invited to write a blog post on a legal subject. The seven shortlisted were posted on the law firm's website; their authors had to use their networking skills to collect votes on Digg, Twitter and Facebook - meaning that the competition tests them more on their social networking skills than their legal expertise. The authors of the most popular blogs were then invited to prepare a video on Why I should win the 'No Win No Fee Internship', and again garner votes.

Patrick McGuire, partner at Thompsons, claims the contest is designed to give students 'the opportunity to demonstrate their talents in a multitude of fields through a variety of disciplines. In an economic climate with few opportunities, the Law Idol competition opens doors to a highly competitive industry.'

Stomping ground for young talent

Reckitt Benckiser, which owns brands as diverse as Lemsip and Cillit Bang, also launched a recruitment drive using social media. It has been running a blog called My RB Opportunity, where employees from around the globe talk about what it's really like working for the company. As well as young people, senior executives including former chief executive Bart Becht have blogged. It has a YouTube channel, a Twitter feed, and even launched PoweRBrands, a role playing game on Facebook that allows potential graduate candidates to hone their marketing skills through a series of online challenges. In fact, almost all of the company's social media presence is based around recruitment.

'Social media is increasingly important if you want to engage with young talent and get them thinking about your organisation,' explains Sara Holton, director of human resources at Reckitt Benckiser. 'We need to be where they are and that is increasingly in the online space.

'It is still early days, but the increased use of social media as an integral part of our recruitment and general corporate profile raising is having an impact. We are definitely attracting more applications. However, we are seeking the best and brightest talent - there is a lot of competition for the best so it is never an easy task or a done deal.'

The PoweRBrands game might look fun, but it has a serious purpose. 'The PoweRBrands game, along with other games launched since, is just one of the ways in which we seek to engage with graduates and young career professionals,' says Holton. 'They are a great way of introducing Reckitt. So many people know our brands but not the parent company so it has been a relevant and fun way of helping people to discover the company.'

Other established brands also turning to social media to recruit include British Airways and Centrica, which owns British Gas.

BA has started using YouTube to find would-be pilots. Previously, the group says, candidates have been deterred from becoming pilots due to hefty upfront costs, but BA's YouTube site provides details of a programme that will allow them to pay this back later in their careers.

British Gas' recent foray into recruitment via social media is seen as vital to its reputation amongst the young. Spokesman Kerstin Voelkel says that using Facebook and Twitter is 'essential to ensure we're perceived as a modern, forward thinking organisation'. She says that this is particularly important when trying to recruit graduates and apprentices.

'To assess the value of social media we don't just look at the number of hires we make via that channel - we also believe that it's becoming an increasingly important factor in a person deciding that Centrica/British Gas is the sort of place they want to work.'

Cost effective

A survey last year by human resources specialists Michelle Fischer and Linda Parkinson-Harby found that social media channels were growing in popularity with recruiters. They describe the phenomenon as 'Social Resourcing'.

The survey found that social media was already more popular amongst recruiters than traditional press advertising and that this seemed likely to continue. One of the main reasons given for its popularity was its relative cost - often less than £500 against the cost of head hunters and other advertising.

The most popular social media platform for recruitment was LinkedIn, which is traditionally seen as a business network, although Facebook and Twitter were also popular. Other tools mentioned included TwitJobSearch, YouTube, Google Wave and Blog Talk Radio, highlighting that this marketplace is changing rapidly.

However, Fischer and Parkinson-Harby found that many companies remained confused over how to use social media to recruit. Nearly half of those who responded said that they didn't use the channel because they didn't know how to do it.

'This reflects a common business perception that using social marketing tools and techniques takes up too much time and that there is too much to learn, when in fact the very opposite it true, particularly when there is a strategy in place,' the survey said.

James Whatley, marketing director at social media experts 1000 Heads, believes that the early adopter phase, where 'forwardthinking brands and creative' used social media to recruit, is passing. 'As the barriers to entry lower and acceptance grows, I predict that more and more varied businesses will get involved,' he adds. 'It is ultimately a square-off between how much time you're willing to invest in social recruitment versus how much money you're willing to pay a recruitment agency to do this for you.'

Of course, using social media is not just about attracting lots of candidates. Companies hope that by using it as a recruitment tool, they will also attract the quality they need. Reckitt Benckiser's Holton wants candidates to 'self-select'. Their games are designed to attract those with the necessary skills, as well as raise the company's own profile.

'The games we have reflect the culture of RB - the competitive spirit, the pace, the dynamism, being part of a winning team. The reality that every day is different and you never know what challenge will be around the next corner - it makes it a very exciting place to be,' says Holton.

In the same way, the Saatchi campaign focused on attracting people with an ability to build networks - vital for those in the advertising world.

Tapping into a fanbase

By contrast, marketing agency andsome focused on another vital function of social media: its ability to attract and connect diehard fans.

The agency, which won this year's Grand Prix in the CorpComms DigiAwards, ran a campaign to recruit new writers for Coronation Street. The campaign, in association with ITV, used 'micro tweets' asking applicants to complete the storyline for Coronation Street, and also used Facebook to show classic Coronation Street videos to provide inspiration.

Mark Rice, co-founder of andsome, said that ITV wanted to attract diehard Corrie fans, prompting the move to tweet at times when they would be active on the sites - while the programmes were on. 'We knew that these people would be Corrie fans - and were also active on social networking especially during broadcasts of the programme,' he explains. 'So we were able to 'broadcast' the opportunity during programme times to achieve maximum exposure of the opportunity to the target audience. We were able to reach - and excite - an audience that probably wouldn't have seen this chance to work for ITV if it wasn't for social media.'

More than 900 applications were received, and the discussion even continued for those who did not progress to the next round. They created a Facebook group, Story Disassociates, where they continued to discuss programme ideas. Rice believes social media could be used to attract many types of employee - it just depends on how it is targeted. 'We have run campaigns which have attracted applicants for restaurant waiting staff to marketing and sales teams,' he says. 'It does work exceptionally well for entry level and graduates as they are more well versed with using social networking - and specific sectors such as online and media, again due to the influence of social media in those areas, have a high interest when using social recruiting.

'Don't be afraid - many companies shy away for fear of any 'negativity' that will surface in the social media environment. The use of social media for recruitment is growing all the time - the more it is used, in the right way, the more widespread and successful it will become.'

However, not everyone is a fan of the social media recruitment model. Geoff Newman, chief executive of RecruitmentGenius.com, an online recruitment site which advertises jobs on up to 2,000 job boards and social media sites, warns companies may be limiting their potential pool of candidates by solely using social media. 'There is a big compromise if you limit your potential pool of candidates to only those who use social media,' he warns. Recruiting for roles such as PR, IT and marketing is easier than recruiting HGV drivers, for example, because the former group are more likely to be early social media adopters.

'There has been a lot of hype about social media in recruitment. Now there is more realism. People understand social media is not free (it's a huge time investment) and it isn't going to solve recruitment problems - good candidates are still hard to find, and good employers even harder,' says Newman.

He also warns that using social media - especially those channels which are primarily seen as 'social' or 'fun' may even alienate social media savvy candidates. 'Many don't want to be interrupted in their personal sphere,' he says.

Newman has a list of 'don'ts' for companies that include not 'interrupting with self-aggrandising updates like most companies offer'. He also says that nurturing relationships with prospective candidates is a waste of time, since the best candidates find work fast.

'Importantly be yourself. It will inspire trust, encouraging more people to comment and participate. This involves using relaxed language, being honest, and addressing people directly,' says Newman.

Somewhat discouragingly, Newman adds: 'Social media is another channel for recruitment that I would recommend should only be adopted after all other traditional channels have been used such as advertising and referral schemes.'

Jobseekers are socially savvy

Given the explosion of companies using Twitter and Facebook to source their staff, it seems that many disagree, especially when it comes to recruiting younger staff.

A spokesman for CWJobs.co.uk believes that many of these jobseekers are already stepping out further into the social media space. The company recently ran a competition for some of these savvy job seekers to have their CVs turned into 'Augmented Reality' documents - combining video content, data and moving graphics.

'We wanted to find a way to help IT candidates get their CV noticed in an increasingly competitive jobseeker market. At the same time, we also knew that augmented reality was attracting widespread attention among tech enthusiasts in the IT community,' he adds.

'Social media has provided jobseekers with a range of tools to attract the attention of recruiters and has had a profound effect on the ways in which recruiters and jobseekers are exposed to, and build relationships with one another.'

LinkedIn even launched a special 'Apply with LinkedIn button' in July, allowing candidates to send CV information straight to an employer from the networking site.

Whatley says that any employer who wants to hire fresh young talent needs to understand how they use social media. 'The fresh young talent out there today are socially smart and definitely web savvy; they'll be expecting their new employer to be equally so. To that end, by using the social tools mentioned above to help bolster recruitment drives, those same prospects will be both excited and inspired by a brand that embraces digital in such a way,' he concludes.

In short, those companies who want to recruit today's youth need to be active where they are. And they aren't all looting televisions; some of them may be your best employees yet.

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