Lexie Forman-OrtizWith social media becoming such a large part of companies’ brand strategies there is no reason for companies not to use social media as a part of their hiring strategy as well. Social recruiting is recruiting using social media channels; your company blog, Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, Google+, etc. All employees can and should be involved in the social media recruiting efforts of your company. Spreading the word about job openings via social media is part of highlighting your employer brand and opening yourself up to a larger talent pool.
Even CEOs are taking time to participate, and ones that do show potential candidates they are involved in their recruitment process and dedicated to the transparent nature of social media. When it comes to utilizing social media to hire the right people, these are the Top 10 Social Recruiting CEOs.
10. Bob Fish, CEO of Biggby Coffee, is dedicated to sharing his coffee culture. This CEO writes a blog, sharing tips for entrepreneurs, updating fans on Biggby Coffee, and showing the world the open culture maintained by Biggby Coffee. This is an example of a CEO who loves the company he represents. As a candidate you want to know the people you are working for believe in what they are doing and love it too. Fish does just that. The Biggby Coffee CEO invites everyone to be his friend on Facebook and retweets fans constantly. I bet there’s a line of people wanting to work with him.
9. Robert Hohman, CEO of Glassdoor emphasizes transparency for everyone in the workforce, from salary to workplace reviews. Finding Top Talent is difficult enough, add the competitive job and skills market to the mix and it can feel like the odds are working against you. You need to utilize everyone you have to help you find the right people. When the CEO tweets a job it is going to get attention.
Glassdoor seeking top talent! Interested in working in sales?Come join our team bit.ly/nuRWrN Spread the word!
— bobhohman (@bobhohman) July 8, 2011
8. Jerome Ternynck, Founder and CEO of SmartRecruiters has famously said, “hiring IS social.” This is his fundamental belief. “The CEOs that understand talent is a competitive advantage, use social media to attract. We should leverage social media. I consistently connect and keep up with everyone that I meet that has high potential whether it’s a good time to hire them or not. Networking is key. Ultimately, the aggregate network between my employees and me represent several million people in our industry. The likelihood of hiring someone outside of our social network is extremely low.” Ternynck reiterates the fact that EVERYONE is a candidate, and your candidates are your customers. Treat them like gold.
7. Rick Marini, CEO of BranchOut, has built his business around leveraging social sites to further develop your career. He told me, “Leveraging social media is the future of recruiting. Using sites like BranchOut, LinkedIn or even Facebook allows you to explore your extended network to identify your inside connections. This allows you to find your path to a warm introduction, which is the best way to get in front of the A-players. Those personal introductions convey trust, credibility and upfront knowledge of the role/company/fit. In recruiting, it’s often “who you know” and social media can unlock that powerful network of connections. A recent survey revealed that 89% of companies are leveraging social media in their recruiting efforts. Therefore, it’s no longer a competitive advantage… it’s the minimum requirement to keep up with the competition. CEO’s should not only leverage social media to attract top talent but also use social media to build their company brands. The best CEO’s understand that great companies embrace transparency so they encourage their employees to post publicly. This can help retain your best talent as well as attract other A-players who want to be part of that culture.”
6. Chris Russell, CEO of Career Cloud, explained to me, “Social media is a giant resume database. It also tells you much more about a candidate than just his/her paper resume. If the paper resume is what they did, then the social resume is who they are. Companies need that information to help evaluate the hire.” A good hiring decision can’t be made from a resume alone, you need context and background. Russell knows that there is more to a candidate than meets the eye, and having a holistic view of your candidate is dependent on their social footprint.
5. Roman Stanek, CEO of GoodData, like any big data believer, is focused on measurable results. For businesses to be successful they need a great team. Stanek engages his audience by posting relevant articles, retweeting employees, and retweeting available jobs at GoodData. You need to offer great candidates incentives to apply to your company, showing them they could have a CEO that likes to participate and take an active roll is a great start in sparking their interest.
Sales Director – San Francisco – GoodData -San Francisco, CA bit.ly/11h7spI #jobs #sales #sf — JobShoots (@sfsales) March 20, 2013
I’m on the way to exceeding my sales goals with @gooddata. See how you can too at bit.ly/ZjwF6d — Hubert Palan (@hpalan) March 22, 2013
4. Jon Bischke, CEO of Entelo, rarely leaves a question unanswered. If you’d like to meet someone who is Quora famous, here is your chance. Entelo’s mission is to make sure you NEVER miss out on great candidates, so why would Bischke take that chance? Respond to everyone, one of the people you answer could be your next star employee.
3. Assaf Eisenstein, Founder and CEO of GooodJob, understands the power of a referral. Eisenstein told me, “Leveraging your employees’ social media networks is the key to effective referral programs. Even better, optimize your program for mobile devices, and watch as the top talent pours in. Empower your workforce to make valuable referrals from wherever they are directly on their smartphones and tablets with solutions like GooodJob Mobile. Remember, referrals are born outside of the workplace – make sure you are there when they are.” Eisenstein reminds us it is not enough to just be social in the office, you have to take initiative to find great talent outside as well.
2. Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and co-founder of Tesla Motors and Pay Pal, has the ability to make stocks rise with just one tweet. If that’s not an example of Social Media strength, I don’t know what is. Elon understands that transparency is important to today’s consumer and candidate. He keeps his followers up to date by informing them of the day-to-day of his business endeavors and his company’s updates. You can tell he is a “hands on” CEO, he knows exactly what is happening in each of his companies.
Really exciting @teslamotors announcement coming on Thursday. Am going to put my money where my mouth is in v major way.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 25, 2013
1. Pete Cashmore, CEO and Founder of Mashable, has a name synonymous with social. Mashable is, ” THE social networking blog,” ahem… social blog, social recruiting, social networking. See where I am going with this? Having one of the most successful blogs ever is not an easy task. You need to hire talent. Cashmore said, “Generally we like writers who can take complex ideas and explain them in simple terms: we hire people who have deep knowledge combined with good language skills.” Where are these skilled employees? Reading Mashable, of course. Mashable has a job board, and they often posts jobs right at the bottom of an article.
Mashable is hiring.Come join us!OPEN POSITIONS: mashable.com/2012/11/20/mas… fb.me/2ehFJA9dc
— Pete Cashmore (@petecashmore) November 20, 2012
CEOs that are involved in social recruiting prove that they are not just figureheads. Social media is the best place to start speaking with your candidates, ignoring the public is not anoption. The most successful businesses will be transparent, and allow their candidates an in depth look into what their work is like. Social recruiting has changed the way recruiters and hiring managers work, not only can they attract talent but verify information the candidates give. Not only that, but HR and recruiters are no longer working alone to find talent. Social media provides a recruiting medium that everyone can use- yes, even the CEO.
Lee Ann Prescott
Matt Gillespie