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Today, employers and recruiters are sifting through the LinkedIn and Twitter pages of prospective job candidates and reaching out to them directly. For professionals offered jobs out of the blue, this can be a great career boost. The practice also highlights the importance of keeping your social media footprint relevant, human resources and recruiting experts say, because those accounts could become de facto resumés that can make — or break — a job opportunity.
About two years ago, Meredith D’Agostino was employed at a public relations agency but looking for a better opportunity. She didn’t expect one to fall in her lap, especially via a LinkedIn message sent from a marketing company director who wanted to hire someone and liked her credentials.
“It was kind of interesting because I’d never been approached that way by a company,” she said. “My first thought was, this was meant to be.” Within a matter of weeks, D’Agostino was in her new job, a quick turnaround she believes was facilitated by the fact that her new employer came to her.
"I think it’s a growing trend because of all the white noise employers get if they post a position," said Amy Letke, founder and CEO of Integrity HR.
Even with high unemployment, a dearth of specialized skill sets, especially in IT, social media and big data analytics, have prompted companies to turn to the Internet to find the right person, said Heidi Golledge, CEO and co-founder of job site CareerBliss.com.
The rise in recruitment via social media is especially a boon for the army of professional freelancers who hopscotch from one short-term contract to the next.
“I've used LinkedIn to hire contractors,” Joseph Lo, a principal at Encore Web Studios, said via email. “I've also posted updates on LinkedIn asking my network if they know anyone with a specific skill set.”
Jenise Fryatt, a social media strategist at content marketing company Smarter Shift, said she’s been approached to speak at events and collaborate on research papers by people who found her on Twitter or LinkedIn. Adrian Segar, consultant and author of "Conferences That Work: Creating Events That People Love," was even hired for one project after a comment he wrote on a blog attracted the attention of the blogger.
“We leave no stone unturned when it comes to hiring,” said Maneesh K. Goyal, president of marketing firm MKG. “At this point, social media and a person’s social footprint is becoming one of the top three go-to places to find talent.” Within the past year alone, Goyal said his firm had added a few new hires it found via social networks.
Sometimes, those recruited are taken by surprise. Last summer, Azita Arvani, head of partnering and alliances for Nokia Siemens Network, was contacted out of the blue by a search firm working on behalf of a company looking for someone to join its board of directors. "I wasn’t looking for a job or a directorship," she said.
Initially, Arvani said the unorthodox approach made her skeptical. "To be honest, it was so far away from my thinking, I thought it was maybe not legit," she said. Further correspondence allayed her concerns and piqued her attention about the company, and she accepted the position a few months later.
The appeal of social networks is that it gives a hiring manager a more holistic picture of a person’s professional background than a traditional resume can convey, said Abby Euler, general manager of job site Salary.com. “It's about telling a story about yourself as opposed to using bullet points,” she said.
Those who use social networks say different sites are useful for finding out different kinds of information. LinkedIn tells them about the person’s career path and how much of an impression they’ve made on former colleagues, bosses and partners.
“You get to know a sense of a person’s personality more through Twitter than LinkedIn,” Goyal said. “You’re able to kind of look behind the curtain a little more with Twitter.”
"Twitter is a very unique example because anything you Tweet is public and searchable,” Segar said.
If you think about Flickr and Instagram, a lot of people use them to build their portfolio,” Euler said. “If you're in a creative industry that's a great way to share your work.”
When hiring managers look at Facebook, though, it’s more about what they don’t see. “Facebook is a little harder to decipher,” Goyal said. “I think we look at it for younger staff just to see if they’re sending red flags.”
"Facebook is not a safe place to post things that might be judged," Letke said. "The rules of privacy are constantly changing and that’s my warning for the job seeker."
The experts say it's a good idea to keep public profiles looking polished on general principle. "Putting anything out online is like bringing it with you in an interview,” Golledge said, because this trend is only going to grow.
"We really know who we need and who we want sometimes we find it’s easier to go to them as opposed to waiting for them to come to us," Goyal said.
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Hopefully that peek behind the Twitter curtain doesn't reveal a bunch of drunken drivel linked to pictures of your junk on Flickr and Instagram...
I don't think social media should be used this way. There should be a separation from your work and home life. I don't want my employer nosing around my social media accounts, and I don't want my family nosing around my work life... this is a really bad idea.
Unfortunately, I really think this is actually going to grow more and more. Whether we like it or not. Even as we have seen the newspaper business decline, the mail decline, with electronic and Internet taking over.
I believe this is the next natural evolutionary step for businesses to take. Those who can adjust to it, will fit in nicely.If you can't too bad. Sort of like grandma and grandpa don't do very well with modern technology, but their grandchildren can. We are seeing the first baby steps of a new technological break through.It does not matter how folks feel about it. Just wait, in a decade, this will be the new paradigm shift to finding the good paying jobs. While manual low paying jobs will be the old fashioned way. A way of separating the haves from the haves not.
Seems to me, someone will also have to come along and link all these different sites into one big connected web for a more concise instant look. It's the dawning age. Only instead of employer's trying to look by themselves for that perfect person, they will have a computer to do most of it for them, searching the Internet and delivering a final list of possible candidates. Needing only a human to select the final perfect employee. If our government can eaves drop on everything we say, surely a way will be found for companies to check out what we are saying on all those sites to save them the time, effort and money!
Nope, not with me. I apply to good old fashioned ads or sites that will let me upload my resume. My privacy is paramount and that won't change.
If I see someone using Taleo or any of the other info gathering software, I won't apply.
You sheeple are way to quick to compromise yourself by jumping on the latest, greatest thing. While you're at it, just send me your credit card information since you trust people with your critical info. smh
You can turn on a tag in LinkedIn, if you are looking for a job. I don't have mine turned on, but that doesn't keep hundreds of recruiters from spamming me about job openings. I'm about to shut down my account because I'm tired of it. If I was looking for a job, I would post my resume on Monster.com. In fact, I removed my resume off of the job boards, but recruiters still contact me anyway. They claim they saw it posted at some time in the past, so they decided to call to see if I'm looking for a job. I hate those guys.
Linkedin is a work related (professional) network, suited for posting skills, certifications, work experiences etc., Twitter isn't.
This has been in discussion in various HR firms before and not very many feel social media platforms will continue to be the future trend for resumes. Employers are to much in love with their own online databases for capturing applications/resumes.
Talk about sensationalism. This title is over-killing it. Good employers will ask for a resume, and social media will never be the "new resume". But I do know employers who have looked at Facebook & LinkedIn as supplementary information.
I completely agree!
So businesses are going to hire Keven Kostner types and end up with Mortimer Snerds?
I've got a perfectly good bridge for sale.......................
Social media is crap. Articles like this give false credibility to what is really child's' play. A company worth working for would never use social media this way or really at all. Get off of social media people!
Yoo hoo, fellas...we've got more important things to deal with.
Kwitcher btchin.
Interesting article. It’s true, the traditional resume is rapidly being supplemented by new ways of finding out about a candidate. Social media profiles are a great way for employers to get a more personal insight into candidates, as well as see their work history. Another great way is looking at a candidate’s video resume. On video, a candidate can show off their personality, passion for the job, and communication skills. The purpose of these new resume forms is to make a more personal connection with candidates to ensure they’ll fit into an open position and into the overall company culture.
As a professional resume writer, I have seen articles like this one for years and years. You might supplement your resume but first you have to create a good one. Social media can get you into real trouble.
Resumes are still important as it showcases your ability to employers. Your resume represents you.
I love this article. I found my job via Twitter almost two years ago. Where the gap lies is in educating professionals that this is happening...almost as the norm. How do we get more people to complete their LinkedIn profiles and clean up their social media presence so that positive opportunities such as the ones mentioned happen for them too? I think the gap lies here. The recruiters, staffing professionals and HR Managers get it, but the average job seeker...even young professionals...don't completely see the implications...YET. ;) I have friends (age 24-30) coming to me still, asking me IF it's worth having a LinkedIn profile, IF they should fill it out, and HOW it will make a difference. We're not there yet in educating the value.
Congrats on finding a job on twitter. I hope this opens the eyes of most people that you can use social media to find a job.