Expert Interview with Imriel Morgan on the Evolution of Recruiting for Social-Hire
By Cheryl Morgan
The biggest challenge facing recruiters today is that they move too slowly, says Imriel Morgan, head of content for recruitment platform TalentPuzzle.
"Hiring is still seen as a very departmental problem instead of a company-wide problem," Imriel says. "Everyone in an organization should be held accountable for who joins their teams."
For companies with a great culture and where everyone is working toward the same goal, this should be effortless. For this reason, startups and SME's tend to have an easier time than larger organizations with a lot of bureaucracy, she adds.
We recently checked in with Imriel to learn more about how hiring has evolved in the digital age and what recruiters should be doing to adapt. Read on:
Tell us about TalentPuzzle ... what services do you offer? Who should be using them?
TalentPuzzle allows employers to recruit faster, smarter and better. Employers deserve to work with great recruiters and with us they can. Recruiters get to generate new business leads through the marketplace and the Find an Agency directory.
How has recruiting evolved in the digital age?
I think hiring has become a little chaotic at the moment. The traditional methods (job boards and recruitment agencies) are still the go-to because there is still uncertainty around social and mobile hiring. I think the digital age has really leveled the playing field between employers and candidates. Nothing is private anymore, and employers are taking advantage of this trend to source and vet potential candidates. The problem is many employers forget that candidates are also watching and vetting them as well, which is why employer branding and employee engagement are huge trends right now.
What do you think are the biggest changes or innovations on the horizon?
I think social and mobile hiring are on the verge of becoming amazing. There are one too many "Tinder for Jobs" out there, and the fact is they are fads, unsustainable and inevitably won't work that well long term. I think social hiring is actually going to be truly social in that employers won't just be approaching strangers on social media; instead, they'll use their actual connections to make introductions. Products that embody close personal connections are off to a great start.
What tools should recruiters be using today in order to find the best talent?
There are so many tools out there offering so many different things. If you are looking for highly technical or niche roles, then you'll need to opt for referrals or TalentPuzzle for specialist recruitment agencies. You should definitely utilize at least one social channel really well; I think Facebook will dominate this space if you have the budget for some targeted advertising. I'm weary of LinkedIn now; they say you get access to passive candidates, but mostly active candidates and recruiters use it frequently and some early statistics we'll be releasing next year have so far found that candidates respond to less than 10 percent of LinkedIn messages.
How important is social to the recruiting process today
Social as we know it now is becoming less important. I think there are going to be major changes in the way people utilize social media for hiring. We'll see a far more personal approach as companies begin to wake up to the fact that their #hiring tweets go unnoticed and their LinkedIn statuses go virtually unviewed by the candidates they want. As more millennials enter the workforce with their supposed "entitlement issues" and "recognition complex," the hiring approaches will have to become more original to really appeal to them.
What are best practices for using social media to find high-quality job candidates?
Never be generic and do your research. Really think about why you are approaching this particular candidate and use that to engage them in a conversation. Most people will entertain a conversation about themselves. Don't spam your jobs on every channel; it's counter-intuitive and looks a little desperate to your ideal passive candidate. Exclusivity feels good to almost everyone.
What are the most common mistakes you think recruiters make using social media?
Carrying out basic keyword searches on LinkedIn and sending the exact same inmail to all the people that matched the search term without checking whether they are relevant. The same goes for Twitter or Facebook. I think the second most common mistake is not responding in a timely fashion once you have got someone engaged. We just curated a newsletter on this last week.
How can recruiters improve the reputation of their brand online?
Don't over-think it, and don't get hung up on messing up. As long as you keep it professional, personal and authentic, people will respond. Always think of what your brand values are and try not to deviate from them. If you're a corporate brand, don't try to be casual and use slang; it will come across as inauthentic.
Connect with TalentPuzzle on Twitter and LinkedIn.
The kind of stuff that Social Hire do...
We won't just do social media strategies. Social Hire will work collaboratively with your team to ensure your business gets genuine value from us and that your team gets the most out of the service. Our experienced social media managers are motivated to make a enhancements to your social media marketing and reaching targets in a way that realistically makes a difference to your business goals.
What the Social Hire gang loves is making a difference for our clients, and we don't want to waste your, or our resources on campaigns that aren't right for your organisation, if it doesn't get your organisation the difference you need - we take a different approach. When your business utilises social media management, Social Hire get your brand the exposure it needs and offer your business the lift it needs to improve.
Our team of managers are a team that assists our partners improve their digital presence by producing online marketing services on a regular basis. Our service is transparent and economical, which ensures that you get a great service and results that make a difference when you utilise our services. We arrange many different marketing services for enterprises from small businesses to large corporations to help make the most of of your company's digital and social marketing.
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