Social Media Survey Results

Social Disruption

Social media has caused widespread disruption of the hiring process.

The hiring process is very broken.

Anyone who has searched for a job or has had to hire someone knows this is true. The primary culprit of this disruption is social media and technology.

Let me give you some history.

Twenty Years Ago – 1995

Twenty years ago, when you wanted to find a new job, you looked in the newspaper or professional journal. The Internet was in its infancy.

You filled out a paper application or faxed your resume. Yes…that dreaded fax machine.

You then sat by the phone (remember the ones with cords?) for a phone call from the recruiter or a hiring manager. Confirmations and rejections came on paper—definitely not texts. Remember those days?

Ten Years Ago – 2005

Ten years ago is when the disruption started. Social media was in its infancy.

You searched for jobs online. Monster.com was created in 1999. Indeed.com was created in 2005. Most companies listed their jobs online. Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) were being used by most major corporations. Jobvite.com, one of the major providers of ATS technology, was incorporated in 2003.

The hiring process was automated. You could find job postings online. You filled out applications via online forms. You waited for an e-mail, rather than a phone call, to see if you would be interviewed.

Nothing had really changed in ten years, except that the process was automated.

The problem was that it became too easy to apply for jobs. Companies were inundated with applications. This has been growing over the last ten years. When a job was posted in 2013, companies received an average of 100 applications. In 2014, this had grown to 180 applications per posted position.

Today – 2015

Depending on who you talk to, 50-80% of jobs are never posted or advertised.

Why are so few jobs listed online? There is no need. Posting a job on LinkedIn, Monster, or Careerbuilder is expensive. Why post a job when you can source your needs instead?

Sourcing?

Wikipedia defines Sourcing as:

Sourcing is a talent management discipline which is focused on the identification, assessment, and engagement of skilled worker candidates through proactive recruiting techniques. Professionals specializing in sourcing are known primarily as Sourcers; but also Internet Recruiters, Recruiting Researchers or Talent Scouts.

Sourcing specialists search the Internet for the best talent. They look in:

• Social Media – Primarily LinkedIn, but also Facebook, and Twitter. Social media provides the bulk of candidates.
• Resume databases – Monster, CareerBuilder,  Indeed and other websites. Companies have been searching these websites for years.
• Applicant Track Systems (ATS) – Many companies have collected hundreds of thousands of resumes within their ATS databases.
• Specialty websites like Github.com where users can display work product. Think of this like Pinterest for software.

Companies may still post jobs on their website for a variety of reasons:

• Corporate policy – They may have already identified an internal candidate, but they always post the position publicly.
• To collect resumes for future positions. The position may not be real, but they want to find out who is qualified.

Just because a position is posted publicly does not mean there is a real opportunity to be hired.

Qualified Interested Available (QIA)

Sourcing is difficult because of the QIA.

Each sourcing professional needs to create a pool of qualified candidates.

Whether they are sorting through a stack of resumes or a collection of LinkedIn profiles, selection of the most qualified candidates is difficult. This is where hiring is really broken. Often, candidates are deemed qualified based on the types and quantity of keywords they stuff into their resume or LinkedIn profile.

Ain’t that a great way to pick the most qualified candidate?

Next, sourcers take the pool of qualified candidates and contact them to see if they are interested.

Have you received an e-mail or phone call from a recruiter asking whether you are interested in a particular position? My guess is that, when you do, most of the time you say no. This might be because you truly are not interested or you are thinking, “Leave me alone!”

Lastly, they need to find out who is available when and where they need them. Now they have a list of candidates to interview.

Wow—this is broken!

The chance that the most qualified candidate was overlooked or ignored is really high. It could be:

• The resume or LinkedIn profile did not properly demonstrate or display the candidate well.
• When the recruiter called to see if there is some interest, the candidate was having a bad day.
• The recruiter did a lousy job of communicating with the candidate due to cultural or generational differences.
• So many other reasons that my head spins thinking about it.

The Social Job Search

How do you fix the broken hiring system?

You can’t.

You can make yourself into an excellent passive candidate.

You publish enough about yourself and your skills that you are easy to find.

You develop the right relationships with the right people so that you are considered for positions that you want.

You do this by leveraging social media to your advantage.

This is the beginning of a series that I am calling The Social Job Search. How to use social media to attract hiring companies to you.

Marc Miller  

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