Take care when you do your social media sourcing that you don’t let candidates think you’re creepy, says Staffing Advisors recruiter Kelly Dingee. You don’t want to come off as a stalker.
People you contact are going to want to know:
- How did you find me?
- How did you know that I can …?
Maintain transparency, says Dingee. Explain how you found them. You’re not hacking, you’re searching the internet for publicly available information.
Dingee’s tips came at the Advanced Employment Issues Symposium in Las Vegas. (Info on this year’s symposium here. )
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Some other things Dingee suggests that recruiters consider:
Branding
Before you get started, think about how you’re going to appear to those with whom you have contact. Are you presenting yourself in an appropriate, business-like, and attractive way?
Take Advantage of Interactive Capabilities of Social Media Sites
Social media is set up for communicating. Take advantage of it, says Dingee. Encourage questions and inquiries—they are opportunities for more engagement and interacting and more networking.
Sourcing is tedious and time-consuming, says Dingee. However, when you get familiar with the social media sources for the particular types of jobs you look to fill, you can be very efficient. For example, she recently identified 200 candidates for a newly assigned opening in about 2 hours.
Connecting After You Find Someone
Connecting with people is pretty simple. You just say, “Let’s chat.” Consider:
- Skype
- iChat
- Google+hangouts
- Anywhere the kind of people you look for hang out
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Another major timesaver for Dingee is applicant tracking systems. She suggests considering the following:
- iCIMS
- Jobvite
- iRecruit
- PCRecruiter
Dingee’s Final Tip
In all your interactions, be sure to personalize, says Dingee. No “Dear Applicant.”
Social media sourcing—just one more daily challenge. In HR, if it’s not one thing, it’s another. Like FMLA intermittent leave, overtime hassles, ADA accommodation, and then on top of that, whatever the agencies and courts throw in your way.
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E-mail review. All e-mail is subject to review by management. Your use of the e-mail system grants consent to the review of any of the messages to or from you in the system in printed form or in any other medium.
Solicitation. In line with our general policy, e-mail must not be used to solicit for outside business ventures, personal parties, social meetings, charities, membership in any organization, political causes, religious causes, or other matters not connected to the company’s business.
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What about the risks of relying solely on social media sourcing? Isn’t there a risk of not getting a diverse enough group of candidates? Or of discovering protected traits like race?