The "Wild West" of Social Media Recruiting

I attended a seminar today about job searching and social media management.  The most valuable part was the communications with other participants.

Many people are afraid of social media to the point where they are argumentative refusing to accept the fact that employers are using social media as a first and primary source to fill open jobs.  Others in the groups were looking for convincing that they should use social media professionally, one participant was a conspiracy theorist, and the rest of us just did not understand the negative attitude surrounding social media.

You have to look at who is writing to understand my point of view and where it comes from.  My close friends will testify that my father is a video game addict from the early Scott Adams games on the TRS80 and all of the generations of adventure games before the age of 7.  My mother, in her late 70's, calls me on Skype with her iPad to give me grief in video shaking her fist because she needs an item in Café World or Farmville, or maybe get stuck on a puzzle and hold the ipad up to the laptop so I can see her dilemma.  I remember they had a problem with programming their 3D television and my mother is holding the skype camera to the television so I can troubleshoot and walk my dad through it.  I recently threw a party at the Asbury Park Pinball Museum and we could not find my Dad because he was all hunched over the machine playing the game with the fierce intensity of a teenager.  Needless to say, I was nurtured in an environment where technology played a role watching the evolution of technology from the first Magnavox Odyessy video game system to the evolution of current technology.  Needless to say, I am comfortable with technology and look for effective ways to use that technology.  

One of the participants argued social media is a waste of time, claiming there were no jobs posted on social media sites. I would have loved to challenge that idea to determine if she was just not understanding how it all works or if it was a preconceived notion.  The jobs are out there and success is happening.  In a Management Thesis I wrote for school, a credit union conducts all of their hiring by sending announcements and asking for referrals to their employees and customer base through social media.   

One of other points that stuck was a comparison made of social media being like  “the Wild West” and perceived as “the enemy”.   I disagree that social media is "the enemy", but I do agree this is like the wild west because employers are using social media not only for finding viable candidates, but determining the candidates skills and compatibility.  The laws in place protecting employees and candidates are obsolete and do not address new technologies.  

Third party companies who traditionally conducted criminal background and credit checks are now conducting social media background checks going back seven years.  The Federal Trade Commission lumped this in with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Social media researchers are looking for volunteerism, professional activities and affiliations, leadership ability demonstrated through industry influence, communication skills, as well as education, honors, or awards.  The list is not limited there because specific industries may have specific qualifiers and it will take a little legwork to learn what those qualifiers are.  Ultimately, this will help you determine how to manage your social media content to attract new professional connections, job opportunities, and continual collaboration.  

The disqualifiers are pretty standard looking for undesirable behavior such as speaking bad about your employer, disclosing employers proprietary information, discussion of illegal drug use or excessive alcohol use, excessive ranting and raving has been described as a disqualifier because it reflects the candidate has a bad temper and poor judgment.   They also look for inappropriate sexual content, racist or anti-social behavior, dishonesty and other industry specific traits.

There are some key questions that have arisen in the past few weeks as people have reported that employers are demanding social media passwords.  People refusing full access to their social media sites have terminated or disqualified for jobs.  This brings up a lot of legal issues which I will save for another blog post as this unfolds a little more.

Another concern is the violation of Equal Opportunity laws that prohibit discrimination against employees for race, color, religion, marital status, disability, or sexual orientation.  Questions normally prohibited during the interview process are facts that can easily be determined from a social media profile.  There are no specific protections when it comes to social media.  Law suits have already been filed and we are in a time where there will be growing pains as the use of social media for background screening is ironed out.

This is the “wild west” of the internet, but I believe by harnessing the knowledge and focusing efforts we can ultimately achieve more.

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Job Search Secrets

The contract I was working on terminated on September 30 and I have been taking advantage of training, development, and a host of services provided by community groups, my county, and On-Line to better prepare myself for finding an income replacement.

Getting out there and doing something to keep busy is extremely important.  When you are sitting home, and displaced from your peers, the negative self talk can creep up.  The longer you sit by yourself finding your way through the maze of this new economy, the more damage you are doing.  I am not talking just about the emotional end, but keeping your skills and professional networks up to date.

I have been going to various networking groups, and following on-line newsgroups to share information on success and failures in the job search game.  The game has changed, and people not finding success are typically not changing with the times, not focused on personal development, and not keeping up to date with their skills. 

I am receiving at least 20 emails from legitimate recruiters offering positions each week.  I am getting a good 10 -15 solid job referrals/leads from people I know.  I am getting about 6 phone interviews each week and selecting who I want to meet face to face.  In fact, I have 2 interviews next week.  This really upsets my friends who have been on unemployment nearly a year and are close to exhausting all of their benefits.

What makes me special?  I am well prepared.  I made sure I had a number of "informational" interviews from various companies even though they were not hiring.  I connected with key people in my industry on-line and asked for a phone call to see what the current challenges are.  What are the strategies companies are looking at.  

I also looked very closely at job postings in my field to analyze trends of skill sets employers are looking for.  This was really critical to developing a solid resume and a continuing education plan to improve upon my skill sets.

More than one company asked me to write a statement explaining how my personal life philosophy meets their corporate culture and specifically asked how I differentiate myself from all of the other candidates.  I was also asked to explain what I have been doing with myself since my last day of work.  Employers are asking for this, before they even schedule a phone interview.  Two companies called to schedule an interview next week.  I have been playing phone tag with two others to schedule an interview time.

I was able to write volumes on my management philosophy and style.  I was able to show how I am not afraid to step outside the box to keep myself positively focused in commission sales to learn about “the green movement”.  I explained that money was not a motivating factor in this commission based venture, but the networking, relationships and education was inspiring.  I also talked about my volunteer efforts to share career management techniques at a local events.  I was able to write about various achievements that I was able to illustrate  a desire to learn, grow, and contribute to a greater cause.  What differentiated me was not only the words of my philosophy, but the evidence and achievements to back it up.

All of these commission/volunteer activities are a far cry from my career path of Operations Management, Procurement, Resourcing, and Strategic Planning but again serve an important purpose to expand my skills as a top performer and valuable asset to a would be employer.  The great people I connected with along the way are phenomenal.

Of all the seminars I have attended, you would think the meeting space would be “standing room only” given unemployment rates are at an all time high.  The truth is, the events at the Unemployment Center host maybe 12-18 unemployed/underemployed people who are looking for ways to improve their presentation. The County Library hosted an event and that number dropped to 6.  A religious organization asked I come in to present to their “unemployed/underemployed” congregation.  No one showed up.

This is really a testament to the unwillingness people have to change the way they are doing things.  It takes a lot more than sending your resume through a job board.  You need to brand yourself, have a portfolio, and be able to show you value every day.  Even when you are employed, you need to get out there and network with industry people not only to share business information but to create relationships in the event your company is looking for a solid candidate, or possibly you will need a new opportunity at some point.