Social networking sites seem to be all the rage now, and have definitely changed the way people interact and communicate information with one another. Yes, Facebook and Twitter might be a cool place to bash the latest celebrity foul (Kanye West stealing Taylor Swift’s moment at the 2009 VMA’s) or to talk about Sunday’s football game (Donovan McNabb broke a rib during the Eagle’s season opener…oh no!), but is it really the most professional setting for job seekers to find a job and employers to recruit candidates?
Probably not. In my opinion, there is an avenue for work and an avenue for play. Although social networking sites seem to have really blurred that line, there is still a need for professionalism when recruiting. Not to mention, with the entire world jumping on the social networking “bandwagon” it is only a matter of time before these sites share the same fate as Monster.com and CareerBuilder.com...an overload of irrelevant information and no simple solution to easily sift through the mounds data to efficiently recruit candidates. Also, the majority of social networking sites don't offer a very advanced search interface capability, with the exception of LinkedIn, and even theirs doesn't compare to the capability of a resume search database on a job board.
Now I’m not saying to disregard social networking sites all together, but it would be your best bet NOT to put all your eggs in one basket. Any successful recruiter knows they shouldn’t rely solely on one recruitment method to source candidates. As long as your recruiting efforts on social networking sites are supplemented with other tactics, such as online job postings, email marketing and resume searching, it can prove to be a very useful tool. In fact, social networking sites do a great job of increasing corporate brand awareness and driving additional traffic to existing job openings.
So how are social networking sites impacting online job boards?
While it is true that the job board industry has taken a hit as a result of the growth in popularity of recruiting on social networking sites, it does not mean in any way that job boards will soon be extinct. Job boards that offer a unique value to employers and job seekers, especially career communities that offer targeted local and industry-specific recruitment, are the most likely to stick around.
As a result of the social networking movement, many job boards are introducing new tools into their business that are more social media friendly to stay competitive and encourage more personal connections between job seekers and employers. For example, Beyond.com recently launched My Career Network, which allows job seekers to easily refer a friend, share jobs and connect with other job seekers. The job boards who do not adapt will likely be left behind...
What are your thoughts?
