Social Recruiting on Facebook – Networking or Job Posting?

Yesterday evening Crexia hosted the first Social Recruiting Twitter Chat.

We had two Facebook Recruiting experts on the virtual panel. David Henry from Monster, you can follow him at @hoorayhenry, and Stephane Le Viet of @work4labs.

We identified 36 people on Twitter that took part. You can follow them all by checking out this Twitter list. We’d also like to thank you all for your input – there’s nothing like a good debate to move thinking forward.

We asked our panelists five questions each. Here are some of the highlights…

Why should companies consider Facebook as a Recruiting tool?

A1: Sorry to break it to you but work life and private life have become one social life & FB is the place to leverage this trend #srchat

— Work4 Labs (@work4labs) May 30, 2012

Are Facebook profiles an alternative to CV databases? 

@vicokezie I agree with @petergold99. People aren’t sharing enough career info for FB to be useful as a candidate database. #srchat

— Katharine Robinson (@TheSourceress) May 30, 2012

What is the value of posting jobs into Facebook?

A2. Posting jobs onto FB builds and qualifies traffic for your career site too blog.work4labs.com/2012/01/recrui… #SRCHAT

— Work4 Labs (@work4labs) May 30, 2012

How can candidates use Facebook as a Professional Network?

@alanwhitford A2: Facebook Apps like BeKnown let you identify & connect with friends and professional contacts from multiple sources #srchat

— David Henry (@hoorayhenry) May 30, 2012

Any case studies of job posting successes on Facebook?

We used FB and Work4Labs successfully for new G Casino openings, hired dealers, croupiers, chefs and more #srchat

— alanwhitford (@alanwhitford) May 30, 2012

Many people see Facebook as private and for friends. How can companies deal with this scenario?

Just asked my FB friends what their thoughts are? to quote “Facebook is for mates, jokes and leisure time… Linkedin all the way” #srchat

— Lisa Scales (@LisaScales) May 30, 2012

How does hiring on Facebook compare to the likes of recruiting via LinkedIn, Viadeo?

the very wonderful @blogging4jobs has just sent me this ht.ly/bfJrj #srchat

— Lisa Scales (@LisaScales) May 30, 2012

Could recruiting on Facebook replace traditional job boards?

@alanwhitford q4: The audience on Facebook is so huge, it’s about getting the tools and the communication, messaging right #srchat

— David Henry (@hoorayhenry) May 30, 2012

How can companies implement a Social Recruiting Strategy for Facebook?

@alanwhitford @louisetriance A Social CRM Strategy is definitely needed before diving into FB. #SRChat

— Allen Jerkens (@AllenJerkens) May 30, 2012

Where do you see Facebook within the Social Recruiting space?

@alanwhitford @Monster_UK A5: It reminds me ironically of the early days of internet recruitment; bit like the Wild West#srchat

— David Henry (@hoorayhenry) May 30, 2012

I think we can safely say that Facebook holds an awful lot of data about people and recruiters are in the people business. This makes it very difficult to ignore. It gives us the ability to target people in ways that job boards and search engine advertising do not.

Facebook also allows companies to engage with people and humanise their brands without those people having to hand over all their information.

As Matt Alder points out, it can be easy to think that everyone uses social media platforms in the same way we do – that is not the case. We all use it differently and different communities suit some social networks better than others.

Stop generalizing! Every group uses Facebook differently. If you work in the film production industry FB is your LinkedIn #srchat

— Matt Alder (@mattalder) May 30, 2012

The topic of next week’s chat will be announced here on the blog so watch this space!

#SRCHAT will take place every Wednesday at 8pm BST, 3pm ET and 12pm PT. We recommend Twubs as a great tool for taking part in Twitter Chats.