Social Networking and The Future of Finding Talent

I will be moderating a session on Social Networking & the Future of Finding Talent on June 7th at the Governor hotel with the SAO.  What will we be talking about? 

You have to go back..... to understand what is happening first. Essentially what we recruiters are hoping is that Stanley Milgram (a social psychologist at Yale University, Harvard University and the City University of New York) and his 1967 Small World experiment is true! The concept gave rise to the famous phrase six degrees of separation and suggested and that two random US citizens were connected on average by a chain of six acquaintances.

Now with the power of sophisticated community based web venues we can potentially tap into all those people that have forever been hidden behind the doors of our client’s competitors

• Is there a better way than just using these communities as "head hunting" databases? Is there a way to get broader involvement from all employees in seeking good talent to bring on board? 
• Is social networking just a web 2.0 fad or will it have a longer term impact of finding talent?
• Could this be as big to find talent as the internet was in the mid 90's?
• From a professional ethics perspective, should these forums be used by recruiters at all? Do we run the risk of crossing that line between personal and professional?
• How are staffing organizations leveraging social networking? (What are you seeing?) How do you envision that changing or maturing? 

These are all questions we will be surfacing at the event.  The questions will be directed at some folks who are intimately aware of current events in the social networking phenomenon. This includes an individual who helped launch Linkedin’s recruiting services module. Another panelist is a former staffing executive with Hotjobs whose current company is building the next generation of ATS that has an integrated social network tool for the enterprise

Please come by and join us if you have the chance.

For information about the event please give me a call 503-542-4570

 

Comments

[jesse]

Janet, I agree with you, as a recruiter you need to use all the tools at your disposal esp in this increasingly competitive market. Increasingly I imagine companies will be looking to leverage their employees social networks for recruiting purposes.

[Janet Johnson]

I was speaking at a conference in New Jersey in late 2005 when I met the head recruiter on the east coast from Microsoft. He gave a presentation about how recruiters should be using social networks to augment their more traditional search efforts.

He invited everyone to join his network on LinkedIn, and offered to help connect people through his extensive (and growing) network.

I thought it smart at the time, and still do. After all, there's no better (or more trusted) source for finding good people than other people's networks.

Why shouldn't recruiters utilize the best tools available, especially at a time when competent employees are the most treasured business asset?

[Lisa]

Hi Jeremy,
It sounds like a great discussion, how much does it cost to attend?