Facebook and LinkedIn for Recruiting - The students speak out

So if you are a breathing, upright HR Professional in 2009 I know you have read countless blog posts, articles, or attended webinars exhorting you that you need to be mining social networking sites like Facebook and LinkedIn for recruiting purposes.  Whether it is to network with and uncover passive candidates, (the primary use of LinekdIn) or research and background check prospects (primarily what recruiters are doing on Facebook), you have been told over and again that you need to be leveraging these tools in your recruiting efforts.

This post isn't another one of those 'How to recruit on Facebook' pieces.  If you are interested in that sort of thing, check out the HR Tech News blog which ran a fine series of 'Recruiting on Facebook' posts early in 2008.

In my HR Tech Class for this week's discussion assignment I asked the class to offer comments and observations on this new trend in recruiting.  These students are quite likely in the target demographic for many recruiters, mostly young, educated professionals working on an advanced degree.  And they are almost all on Facebook and LinkedIn.  So what do they think about recruiters and employers 'snooping' around their social networking profiles?  Here are a few of the best comments from the class:

The general consensus was 'beware what you post online':

 Even though we might not like it, we have to realize that employers are going to be googling our names and we have to be careful about the type of information we put online, because if we put it there it is fair game for anyone to see. - 'S

On the usefulness of Social Networking in onboarding and relationship building:

If employees can be 'friends' with their manager on facebook then that could help them to have a mentor. It's a safe and informal way for the employees to interact with their managers on a social level where they can learn from each other. - 'A'

One student astutely observes ways in which the progressive organization is starting to leverage these social networks in a more positive manner:

For example, companies and organizations have taken up these social networking sites to create their own business networks as a motivation to maximize interaction and networking among their own employees, even with the CEO. It not only limits to the networking connections, but to more job opportunities. For example, I have noted one CEO posting on Twitter about job opportunities. - 'V'

There were many other comments and observations in the discussion, some students really wishing that their Facebook information would remain strictly personal and never be used in a professional situation. But realistically, they realize that the horse is out of the barn, and anything they post on any site is likely ot one day be scrutinized by employers and recruiters.

A really good discussion, any one have a recommendation for the next HR Tech issue we should discuss?

Comments

[HR Maven]

What about how to clean up a not-so-stellar online brand? If your students have made some not so wise choices, might be nice to discuss what options there are to clean it up.

Do you talk about paperless offices? We are completely paperless (except for beneficiary forms and immigration documents).

I don't have your syllabus but do you cover teaching/learning topics, esp the future with technology?

[Steve]

I think that most of my current students are pretty aware of the dangers or potential pitfalls of having some shall we say 'less than flattering' content out on the internet. I will probably spend a little bit of time talking about 'personal branding', (basically I will refer them to Dan Schwabel). As for the paperless office, I don't specifically talk about that directly, but we start with a quick overview of the essential components of an HRIS, then move into the more strategic talent management processes, then finally get to collaboration, knowledge management types of topics. I try my best to keep the content really up to date and relevant. I discussed and demonstrated some brand new products like User Voice, Voice Screener, and Standout Jobs already this quarter. We use wiki technology extensively, and we will be doing online performance reviews and succession plans using Halogen Software. So I think in the short time I have, we really cover a lot of ground, and I really try to equip them with some real knowledge and information that they can take back with them to their workplaces.

Thanks so much for the comment and for reading the blog.