Why Kuhootz is better than LinkedIn
For me, LinkedIn has become the ultimate Rolodex - a place where all of my business-related contacts are stored and dynamically updated by the individuals themselves. No longer do I need to worry about sending friends and colleagues my new contact info. I can simply update my profile on LinkedIn, and everyone will know about it in short order. That’s terrific.
But LinkedIn was supposed to be much more than a Rolodex.. wasn’t it? It was intended to be a platform for connecting people and getting business done. A place where you could meet folks beyond your reach - through introductions.
Aside from head hunters, very few people actually use LinkedIn that way. Why? Perhaps because there’s little to no incentive for people to go out of their way. Most folks won’t even bother if there’s nothing in it for them. They don’t mean to be rude; they’re just busy and your request doesn’t stand out.
LinkedIn is also a “pull” (rather than “push”) strategy, whereby users attempt to hook in their target connections so that next steps can be pursued. You know how that goes… You ask someone you met five years ago at a conference to connect you with a person you need to know, but you never hear a thing.
Despite these issues, LinkedIn has done well for itself. The company has found ways to make money, and it has become a place for finding talent. But where does that leave its users?
If you’re actively looking for work, you may keep up with the latest job listings on LinkedIn. But for the most part, listings are stifled at the point of discovery. And if you’re a recruiter, your best bet is to pay LinkedIn a very hefty sum of money for unlimited yearly access to their database of talent.
Fact is, for a social network LinkedIn is not very social.. and it certainly isn’t viral. That’s partly by design. After all, LinkedIn was built as a private club of sorts.
So, where should one go in an age when everyone is connected but no one is truly connecting on matters of business - or commerce? Kuhootz.
Kuhootz picks up where LinkedIn, Craigslist, Monster and others have left off. I like to describe Kuhootz as “classifieds 2.0”, but it’s really much more than that. It is essentially the world’s first social incentives platform.
With Kuhootz, users create listings for the people they’re hiring or things they’re selling, then push them to their friends and colleagues on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. It’s social (and social network agnostic), but it’s also highly incentivized and viral because you can attach cash incentives (or finders fees) to motivate your friends - and friends of friends.
If you place a listing on Kuhootz, your connections can either solve the need at hand or help out by representing it as “agents”, and republishing it to their own social networks.
Finders fees can be shared, so others can benefit through collaboration. And this can make your listing quickly turn viral… enabling you to reach people who may be several degrees of separation away.
When qualified prospects (e.g., job seekers, buyers, etc) are identified by folks within your extended social network, they are bubbled back up to you - along your connected path of trusted contacts - for review and acceptance.
Prospects are always pre-screened, so the process is efficient and you’re not bombarded by hundreds of unsolicited emails, lackluster responses, or spam. And finders fees are not payable until you’re satisfied.
In a nutshell, Kuhootz is about getting things done. http://kuhootz.com
The Challenges and Rewards of Recruiting Generation Y
75% Gen Y maintain an active presence on Social Media
In July 2010, youth unemployment reached 19.1%, the highest rate ever recorded
Social media marketing offers an efficient and effective way to stay connected with Gen Y candidates
Recruiters to help Gen Y candidates understand how these roles can translate into a career
Read the full article here:
http://hiring.monster.com/hr/hr-best-practices/recruiting-hiring-advice/attracting-job-candidates/recruiting-generation-y.aspx
Facebook live streaming #socialrecruiting
It appears New Zealand and Australia are leading the way when it comes to one area of social recruiting. Working with Deloitte New Zealand, we adopted an approach used by celebrities and politicians and applied this to a graduate recruitment context. About 15 months ago we ran our first interactive live streaming video show on our Facebook page. At the time Livestream’s unofficial Facebook application was very buggy, so we applied to Ustream and Facebook to embed their application. Over the course of 2010 we ran about 12 live shows in various formats and won some lovely silverware and write-ups for our pioneering attempts to be more “social” in how we engaged with our student community.
Fast forward to 2011. Lion Nathan National Foods Australia, Ernst and Young Australia and New Zealand, and Deloitte Australia have all launched using the official Livestream Facebook app, which is surprisingly quick to set up and has some nice sharing and community-related features to it.
I’ve enjoyed tracking how these employers are experimenting with the technology. It looks like some are trying to be very slick in their production, possibly to the point where it could diminish the level of authenticity and approachability.
There’s been an interesting development within the past week. In light of the recent earthquakes in Christchurch and the postponement of the careers fairs at Lincoln University and the University of Canterbury, GradConnection NZ has put together an awesome initiative. Using live-streaming, Christchurch students will get the opportunity to watch and chat live with a variety of NZ employers and industry associations (eg WHK, Westpac, BDO, Audit NZ, PwC, BNZ, KPMG, Ernst & Young, Telecom, Staples Rodway, ANZ, Deloitte, NZICA). GradAID NZ will take place on Facebook on March 24 and 25. There are already virtual career expos out there, but I believe it makes sense embedding a show on the Facebook platform, especially as that’s where are a lot of students are. Possibly this hosted foray into live streaming will be the confidence spark for many of the participating employers to roll out their own live streaming initiatives.
This year Deloitte NZ has evolved the live streaming initiative. We’ve run a couple of live shows where students can hear from career experts, and young leaders and entrepreneurial people. We’ve shifted the focus from a purely employee branding strategy to one where students can emotionally connect at a broader level with Deloitte’s values.
Before I go, I want to mention that UK-based Bill Boorman is doing some fantastic work with Hard Rock Cafe, and has introduced live streaming to Hard Rock Cafe Firenze (Florence) and their Facebook page. I look forward to seeing their “…live video chats and Q&A sessions with our guests, fans and applicants via Livestream on Facebook…”
If I’ve missed any other social recruiting examples of live streaming then please let me know.
Where are jobs being posted?
careersherpa.netGone are the days of scouring the classifieds for job openings on Sunday mornings. The good news is that there are dozens of online avenues to communicate hiring needs. The bad news is that without a centralized location for posting, job seekers and the companies looking for them don’t always connect.
So what can you do about it? My recommendation is that you have an understanding of all of the job posting options a company might use and have a presence or at least search all of them. Other ideas or questions? Please share.
Trending: Social Recruiting
Everyone is fond of saying: “It’s not what you know, but WHO you know” especially in the world of securing a new career. In the new world of social recruiting, it’s true, but only partly true.
Yes, it’s important for you to meet and connect through social networks like LinkedIn and Facebook. Some may accept your invitation, but usually people will only connect with people they already know. So taking control of your own destiny is becoming more and more important as you plan your career’s future…whether in the current position or future.
For recruiters, JobNet is an important tool in their arsenal. They can immediately:
- Post all openings without charge
- Build talent pipelines for passive professionals
- Search on skills, industry and occupations to set alerts to new members
- Browse the networks of members
- Socialize their openings through email, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn allowing people to initiate conversations
With the average employment today standing at 2.6 years per position, it’s vital that career-minded professionals pay particular attention to the quality and accuracy of their profiles, their skillsets and their work histories. Recruiters are anxious to find the best candidates for the right positions…and only YOU can control that messaging.
It’s full time work to find full time work. Take control of your career path and make it count. Don’t sit back and wait for the phone to ring, or emails to ding. Be assertive.
Scordati il CV, fatti un buon profilo se vuoi trovare lavoro [#infografica]
Hai mandato un CV ma non hai aggiornato il tuo profilo social? Forse devi leggere questo post!
Lo sapevate che più della metà (54 per cento) dei selezionatori del personale usa Twitter per scovare i nuovi talenti, e che il 15 per cento ha fatto assunzioni usando il social network di micro-blogging?
E’ un dato piuttosto impressionante; ma i numeri di Twitter sono niente se confrontati ai due grandi protagonisti del reclutamento sociale, ponendolo solo al terzo posto. Facebook, infatti,si piazza al secondo posto, ed è usato dal 66 per cento dei selezionatori (il 26 per cento dei quali l’hanno utilizzato per assumere), ma è LinkedIn, che è in uso da nove agenzie di reclutamento su dieci, l’89 per cento delle quali hanno utilizzato questa piattaforma di social business per assumere, a giocare sostanzialmente un campionato a sé stante.
Dai un occhiata all’infografica qui sotto per vedere più da vicino chi sta vincendo la guerra del reclutamento nei social media.
HR TweetUp Geneva #HRtug
If you’re active in the people space, interested in social media and based in Geneva (or willing to travel), then the HR TweetUp’s Geneva are events you certainly don’t want to miss.
By “people space” we mean everything remotely related to Human Resources like corporate HR, recruiting (internal and agency), training, communication, software vendors, compensation & benefits, job boards, etc.
Watch this blog for event dates and all kinds of information around #HRtug.
BranchOut: The Professional Network on Facebook and a New Recruiting Tool?
BranchOut, the fast growing professional network on Facebook is beginning to gain some traction but could it become a threat for Linkedin? They recently made it even easier to create a full resume on their site by syncing your Linkedin profile. I’ve been introducing this application to a lot of people in my Facebook and Twitter networks and so far the reaction has been very possitive. I just got a tweet back from one colleage that just joined it 30 min ago that said:
jakefrick: @willstaney 10 minutes later, i don’t know if i’ll check my linked in ever again
Of course, he was being sarcastic but there could be some truth to this. The average Linkedin user spends 15min a month on the site. If you’re a recruiter trying to send a message to someone on Linkedin about a job your trying to fill within a month…I hope you sent it during that 15 mins. Facebook users (almost 600 million strong) spend an average of 50 minutes on Facebook….a day!! You are much more likely to get a quicker response and more updated information on a social network that users spend that much time on.
Branch out describes their solution like this:
BranchOut helps you expand your career network to include absolutely everyone you know on Facebook. It’s an incredibly powerful tool — but also a lot of fun to explore.
Every time a Facebook friend joins BranchOut, you see where they used to work, where they work now, and where their friends work. You’d be surprised how many connections you have at companies you’ve always wanted to work at — all through friends of friends. If you’re looking for your dream job, these connections can open the door.
Not only that, you can help your friends get the jobs they want and make yourself look good while you do it. Have an open position you need to fill with the perfect candidate? Post it to our job board and take the guesswork out of hiring. Your friends can recommend people they know and trust.
I’ve been researching this app a lot and there is a lot of buzz in the recruiting industry around it. I think there is a real benefit here. Think about the people who are most likely to refer you to a job. It’s not that guy who gave you a business card at a conference that one time that you connected with on Linkedin. It’s that friend you went to college with, your uncle in the banking industry, or your old friend from highschool. People who can really vouch for you and are comfortable really reaching out to their network for you to help you land that job. Your personal network. With the amount of users on Facebook this is a huge untapped resource for networking with people to help you find jobs at companies your friends or mutual friends work at. I was surprised I had 5,000+ PERSONAL connections at companies like Facebook, Google, Apple, VMware and other great companies to work for!
Recruiters have been really slow to begin utilizing Facebook as a recruiting tool because they are afraid of mixing business with personal life. Well, I say to that: In this day of age and in the generation to proceed us…there won’t be that much distinction between worklife and personal life. I don’t know why we pretend there is now! You commonly become friends with people you work with or end up working with friends. I wouldn’t post ANYTHING online that I wouldn’t feel comfortable with my boss seeing (or my mother for that fact…though she’s my Facebook friend too. And why not?). Anything you post on the internet runs the risk of being public or coming back to bite you so just use common sense.
Now think about it from a recruiting stand point. Companies spend big money on recruiter licenses to be able to search for and send messages to users on Linkedin. On Facebook you can message just about anyone you want whether your friends or not (unless they turned that privacy feature on) for FREE. The facebook social graph is so much more complex because of it’s sheer size that 6 degrees of separation works even better than on a smaller network like Linkedin.
As far as BrachOut goes, though, I think Linkedin really might have dropped the ball on this one. For years I’ve been wondering when a Facebook app for Linkedin would come out. A colleague of mine, Simon Salt, Founder and CEO of Incslingers wrote a blog about this. Do you think Linkedin missed the boat by not integrating with Facebook sooner? It was bound to happen sooner or later.
Check it out here:
Has LinkedIn missed the boat now we have BranchOut?So, what do you think? Will BranchOut end up being a major competitor for Linkedin? Will Linkedin surprise us with an integration with Facebook much like they did with Twitter? Comment below.
Social Recruiting: Tips and Tricks
We agree that Social Recruiting is the way to go. We have also seen the various Social Media platforms that we can leverage on. So before we take the plunge in this latest trend, here’s the final post in this series on Social Recruiting: tips and tricks for Social Recruiters.
Be Professional!
Hire a Social Media Agency: they create and maintain professional profile pages for you, as well as attractive and easy-to-use job search Applications. Furthermore, the portals and pages need constant monitoring and tracking. An agency dedicated to this task is the best bet for you. MixORG is one such agency that is currently handling Social Recruiting for reputed organizations.
Think before you speak
Content on your social media portals is very important as this is what job-seekers may rely on to judge your brand. Hire excellent Community Managers to manage the content and relations with the community
Sneak-peek
Keep your audience engaged by giving them what they want: a glimpse into what life would be like if they join your organization
Be Polite
Even if you don’t plan to hire someone, be polite. Negative comments about your company can go viral faster than positive ones
Privacy Problem
If you’re scanning a potential employee’s Facebook or Twitter page to form an impression on him, double check the laws of the land: privacy issues could easily arise
Are you Listening?
Don’t just tell prospective job-seekers what you want, listen to them as well. Read and monitor their comments and discussions on each job posting. This helps you answer specific queries and you may learn a lot about how you are perceived as a potential employer
I’m lovin it!
Nothing works better than first-hand testimonials. Encourage your existing employees to talk positively about their work experience
All set? Now we know why we should opt for social recruiting, which Social Networks should we use for job postings and some tips and tricks for beginners in this field. Don’t wait! Get started, and if you need any help, MixORG is there to support you.
Read our other blog posts on Social Recruiting here: http://mixorg.tumblr.com/archive
Case Study: Fitness First employer branding, recruitment and employee engagement
Strategically Fitness First understand that having high calibre, engaged teams who are passionate about fitness is central to their ability to achieve their business goals and to deliver against their mission to make the world a fitter place.
The challenge facing their HR team was how to bring their employer value proposition to life globally in order to attract the very best talent and to engage existing team members while also ensuring that the candidate experience supported the delivery of the brand.
The first task was to get a handle on the employer value proposition (EVP) of Fitness First – why do people work there and what is it that attracts people to careers in the fitness industry and Fitness First in particular.
The key insight gained from the EVP work was the opportunity for team members to help make a difference to peoples lives. Helping people to: recover from accidents; deal with major illnesses; reduce disability; lose weight; and regain self-esteem are just some of the themes of the great stories that employees can tell about the purpose of their work.
The solution to bringing this proposition to life was to make sure that team members could tell their stories about what they do at work – the serious stuff and the fun stuff.
These stories had to be easy to capture and easy to share and
The sites have the standard recruitment material you would expect e.g. details of benefits. However, the lions share of space is devoted to the stories, pictures and videos that the employees have blogged themselves. This blogged material is then distributed via social media including a You Tube channel and Facebook page. All stories blogged and jobs opened up are also tweeted to Twitter to draw additional audience
Because the content is the employees’ own stories, pictures and videos they also distribute the material to their friends and contacts through their own social networks and activities. We call this ‘micro employee referral’ – while it’s not an employee referring someone to work at Fitness First they are sending positive messages to their networks about what it’s like to work there.
Blogged material can be curated into a narrative of the EVP via newsletters, adverts, video etc as per the example below as well as being used to support consumer facing social media activity.
The recruitment processes, systems and teams were also overhauled to ensure the delivery of global candidate experience standards in each market. Improvements included the establishment of central recruiting teams, deploying new applicant tracking systems (PeopleClick in Europe and Springboard in Australia) and the development of tools to support the clubs handling of a candidate when they arrive for interview.
It is too early to declare success but initial levels of interest and engagement in the blogs from team members, the growing fan and follower bases on social media and resultant traffic to the recruitment websites are promising.
We’ll keep you posted on how the story unfolds….
Pressemeldung: XING AG: Im dritten Quartal weiter auf Wachstumskurs
Heute veröffentlichte die XING AG Ihre Pressemeldung für das dritte Quartal 2011 und stellt fest, man ist weiter auf Wachstumskurs. Im Vordergrund der Pressemeldung, die wir hier in Teilen wiedergeben, stehen natürlich die Zahlen des Unternehmens.
HR Leaders: Your Biggest Talent Management Issue Today is Social Media Attrition #Infographic
Wait, what? What in the world is Social Media Attrition?
Let me define this for you: Social Media Attrition is the risk of losing your employees via social media marketing and professional networks.
How big is this risk? HUGE. It used to be that your risk of attrition (potential for people leaving your company) was anywhere between 5% and 25%, of which, typically, only half of that risk actualized. Nowadays? Your risk is up to 79%.
Connecting With Passive Talent
This is a guest post by Susan Strayer LaMotte, Founder, exaqueo and Board of Advisors, RemarkableHire
The concept of social evidence is thrilling on many levels. For years, recruiters have been trying to visualize candidate performance and really understand just how good a candidate is. Sure, he says he’s a Ruby expert. But what does that really mean?
Well now we know. RemarkableHire’s talent sourcing and assessment platform gives actual evidence that a candidate is skilled in a particular area of technology. It’s revolutionary. The challenge? The same one we’re used to as recruiters: the best candidates aren’t usually actively job seeking.
Connecting with passive talent you already know can perform is a huge win. It’s easier to sell to a hiring manager and easier to fill the job. But it’s that pesky connecting part that’s hard. Candidates are both on email overload and skeptical of cold connections.
How can you get past that hurdle? Here are five tests to apply to your passive candidate communication strategy:
