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Social Networking and Employee Recruitment

social-networking-image on employee screening blogRight now, lots of good, smart people are looking for work. If your business is in hiring mode—and plenty still are, despite the economy—how can you focus your recruiting efforts and find the right people?

Employee recruitment has become more complicated as the usual practices have changed over the past several years. Mass advertising, online or in print, won’t always target your best hire—especially for higher-level professional positions. If the perfect employee never sees your ad, how can you hire them? And a better question is, where are they and how can let them know you’re hiring?

That’s where social networking comes in to boost your recruiting efforts.

linked-inLinkedIn is probably the largest online social network for business. You could think of it as a replacement for your Rolodex—only it contains 42 million names across the entire globe!  Once you join and complete your profile, you can easily search for people you know. LinkedIn does just what its name implies—it links business people, whether they work in the same building or worked together twenty years ago.

But LinkedIn goes much farther in building community. It links you to all the contacts held by each of your contacts—so through degrees of separation, you are connected to all those millions of people.  LinkedIn also finds commonalities among its members, who then form groups based on shared industry connections or interests. Whether you’re in manufacturing, medicine, or marketing, you can find thousands of like-minded folks quickly.

Once you’ve established contacts, you can easily put out the word about positions you need to fill. Rather than calling thirty of your Rolodex contacts, LinkedIn can automatically put your message out to thirty thousand of your contacts’ contacts! Plus, you can search by keyword through the entire LinkedIn network to find people with the skills and qualifications you require. So instead of waiting for the perfect employee to come to you, you can find them in seconds—even if they weren’t looking for a job.

But remember that online social networking is much like face-to-face networking. Just as smart people are always looking for their next great position, smart employers are always recruiting their next great hire. That means you have to stay involved, be helpful, keep adding to your contacts, and invite others into your circle.

Social networks can make recruiting employees a breeze!

Before you hire, screen every applicant. Check out our Pre-Employment Screening services. Increase your peace of mind and save training costs by hiring smart.

Don’t forget to check out our Pre-Employment Screening services. Increase your peace of mind and save training costs by hiring smart.

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