According to a recently released study of 5000 college freshmen by Mr. Youth, 58% use Twitter “all the time” and 40% visit Facebook more than 10 times per day. Increasingly, social networking is becoming the default mechanism for recruiting young people.
With the cheap and easy access of smart phones, those 30 and under don’t stop to check e-mail or browse the web on a PC or laptop. They go to Twitter, Facebook, Linked In and the like to find a new job. Large companies are beginning to get this. Abbott Labs, Telus, and Microsoft and others have now engaged full-time social networking recruiters to search the web for qualified
personnel. If a young engineer searches on Twitter, Naymz, Facebook or LinkedIn for careers, the chances are pretty good that they’ll find a variety of opportunities. In some cases, they may hear from someone at one or more of these companies who is attempting to determine their interest and qualifications. So much for submitting an application or resume via channels.
Even firms like McDonald’s and Taco Bell are getting into the act. Search for these names in Facebook and you’ll find a bunch of likely links. But here’s a secret. You don’t need to be a conglomerate to do the same thing. Find someone on a site like elance.com to set up Facebook, Twitter and Linked In accounts for the specific purpose of recruiting the applicants you need. Provide this person with the specifics who who you are seeking, negotiate a fee for an hour a week of work and cut him or her loose. Tweak as necessary.
You will not see results overnite. But after a couple of months, a diligent campaign will result in measureable interest. Your biggest obstacle? Beginning. So what are you waiting for?!