Recruit people using social media networks

MORE and more companies are turning to social network and mobile channels to recruit new people. But Niteske Marshall, managing director of Network Recruitment, warns that technology must not be allowed to squeeze out the vital human connection to the process.

Young jobseekers are using their smartphones to browse, locate and respond to potential jobs online and “tweet their skills to their followers and ask their Facebook friends to inbox them details of possible posts”.

Marshall has this advice on how to get up to speed with this style of recruitment:

Recruitment through social media has been on the increase and LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter are the most popular platforms. LinkedIn is used most often in e-recruitment, but Facebook is expected to feature more prominently in future recruitment strategies alongside newer social networks such as Google Plus and Pinterest;

However, do not get too used to this way of recruiting, because using mobile technology is likely to take over from the social networks. The Mobile Marketing Association of South Africa says there are 29.56 million cellphone users in South Africa and 86% of internet users access the net through their mobile phones — many of these must be job hunters; and

In an environment in which skills are in short supply, companies will need to ensure they can reach these jobseekers or lose out. While one employer is still searching for a candidate’s CV in their inbox, their future-forward competitor has already located the candidate on LinkedIn and done a video interview on Skype. —