4 Ways Technology has Improved Recruiting

Tracking your progress (analytics)

When job boards turned virtual and sites like Indeed.com and

SimplyHired.com popped up, companies scrambled to put themselves everywhere.Putting time and energy into 10 different sites is less efficient than focusing all that energy on the top 5. People will argue the value of one site over another, but it’s all-relative. Your company is unique and won’t get the same results as others.Technology can help you find those top 5 sites that are most valuable for your business.Keep close track of all your virtual listings. Monitor how many applicant search one draws in. Monitor what percentage of those candidates were strongly considered and how many were hired. Document as much as you can about the results you see. It might seem tedious to organize all the data, but the more data you collect, the easier it will be to see trends. Maybe one site doesn’t reign in many candidates but the ones they do are all very high caliber. This might be more useful to you than a site that gets a lot of attention but little real talent. Figure out what is working for you and focus on that -- Quality over quantity.

Universal Branding

Competition is fiercer than ever; that goes for both recruits and recruiters. So you’ve got a cool website and some fancy business cards, so does everyone else!That is not enough! What is it that makes your company different from your thousands of competitors? What do you do better than ANYBODY else? Focus on that and highlight it.This is branding. When a candidate leaves your career booth or website this is the thing that should stick in their head. Technology allows you to integrate your brand everywhere, so take advantage of it. Sprinkle your company’s personality throughout everything applicants are looking at; websites, job listings, twitter posts,applications, everything! Good branding will help candidates remember you and feel familiar with your company, so don’t miss any opportunities to make an impression.

Social Integration
A resume is a summary of someone’s professional history…but that’s about it. It doesn’t do much to help get a feel for the person, or gauge their personality. Many application processes and recruiting sites now provide social media integration.This means when you look at a candidate’s application, you aren’t limited to a resume and a few short responses, but can access their online personality as well.The candidates aren’t just names on a piece of paper, they’re people!  The online application process can be pretty impersonal, social integration can help to alleviate that.

Unparalleled Convenience

The in-person interview used to be the go-to first step for job recruiters. New technology has changed this standard and has created more convenient ways to

interview applicants. Phone interviews led to Skype interviews, with even newer methods emerging. Convenience is great, but beware the price you pay for it.Some companies are now using Video Interviews for new candidates. This process involves a recruit being video and audio recorded at their convenience.They are fed a series of pre-recorded questions and given a few minutes to record each response. This allows recruiters to interview virtually limitless candidates and sort through their responses at their utmost convenience.This sounds great, right? It’s much more convenient for both parties, so why not use this convenient new technology? Take a long look at what you lose in the process.  Can you really gauge a person’s personality from a video of them answering questions asked by a computer? Is this the best way to get a feel for your applicants and for them to get a feel of you and your business? I don’t think so.Before you implement fancy, convenient new technology, take a step back and ask yourself if the convenience is worth the cost.  

Why Unworking is Awesome!

I love keeping up with the modern working world.  As I sit here and write this blog from my swanky co-working space in Chicago, I think about what the modern career path is morphing into.  Careers are becoming fluid, companies are recognizing that they have to change they way they employ and develop their employees. It allows the employer and employee the freedom to be completely transparent with one another about their professional goals. Imagine that you go to work with clearly defined objective and goals for your next 2 years of employment.  After your 2 years are up, you can either sign up for another 2 years or take your new experience to the next company.I recently read an article by Reid Hoffman called, Tours of Duty: How to OrganizeModern Employment. Reid talks about “the tour of duty is away of choreographing the progressive commitments that form the alliance between company and employee.”  

The Employee
What does the employee get out of it?  

• Predictability – The predictability of working in on clearly defined goals and objectives for a specified period of time.

• Flexibility – Working on different projects in a flexible work environment.

• Networking – Working in different facets of business opens you up to meeting some great people and connections.  You’ll open up and improve your network of connections greatly.

• Skills – Who doesn’t love learning a new set of skills every few months or so. Working in a constant state of development and learning new skills sets up the employee for greater employability in the future.

• Experience – Gain valuable work experience performing a variety of tasks.

The Employer
What does the employer get out of it?

• Trust – Trust in employees because they’re putting in the time and learning about you and your company performing a variety of jobs and tasks.

• Better Talent – Attract and retain better talent with a fluid career flow.

• Progressive Employment Model – People want to working in a progressive

• environment and set their own course for success.

• New Products – With better talent and career flow your employees with build new products to increase revenue.

• New Customers – New products bring new customers.  Enough Said.

• Increase in Profits – This is self-explanatory.

I can’t think of a better way to work and a better win-win situation; the employee and employer building a relationship of trust and transparency.  The new way to unwork!  What do you think about what I’ve pointed out?

Your Video Interview Doesn’t Have to be a Total Waste

Congrats!  You’ve gotten an interview, but it’s a video interview.  Bleh…  How do you even prepare to get ready for an interview over a web camera?  There are a couple of things that you can do to get yourself camera ready for the interview before the interview.  Prepare yourself.  Duh!  Not only do you have to prepare yourself mentally, you have to prepare physically.  Don’t just get dressed from the waist up, dress yourself from head to toe, you never know if you might have to stand during the video call.  Also, if you look good you feel good.  There’s a saying that says, “dress for the job you want,not the job you have.”  I always dress for what I want and not what I have.  Now that you look good, make sure that your surroundings look good too.  Open up your web camera and take a look at your backdrop.  Is the floor clean? Is your desk tidy?  Is that window in the background letting in too much light and drowning you in darkness?  Make sure the area in the frame of the webcam is clean and looking good.  Be a cheater!  Being on web cam has some sneaky advantages.  Make notes of potential interview questions and answers and have them laid out in front of you.  In fact, if you’ve prepared for your interview, you’ll have done your research on the company you’re talking to, so have those notes in front of you as well.  Don’t be afraid to refer to those notes during your interview. The person or persons on the other end doesn’t know what you’re looking at, so take advantage of the situation.Finally, fire back.  Don’t be the only one answering the difficult questions.  Fire back with thoughtful and creative questions about the job and the company you’re looking to join.  What do their employees say about their jobs on Twitter, Facebook?Don’t just be interviewed, do some interviewing yourself.  Make sure the company is the right fit for you and your personality.

There is Life After Death, At Least on Facebook

Did you know that 10,000 Facebook users die every day on average? Believe it or not, it's true. What happens to their accounts once they've gone to their great reward? Well, until recently there were only two options. 

If Facebook didn't know someone was dead, anyone with their login and password could get into the account and delete it (or whatever other macabre plans they had in mind). If Facebook did know they were dead, the account got locked down but remained on the site, essentially becoming a forever-more social memorial to the deceased. Now that's a bit macabre.

Your Social Heir
Facebook has made some bonehead decisions over the year (you know it's true!), but this time they got it right. They now will let any user pick someone to become the manager of their account after they have passed from this world.

This option is only available in the US for now, but it's rolling out to all users soon. If you don't want to pick a Facebook heir, you can alternately choose to have your account deleted when you die, something that also wasn't possible before.

To choose your "legacy contact", just go to your security settings - that's under the little upside-down arrow at the top right of your page, if you've never gone there before - and choose someone to take over upon your demise. Or choose for your account to be deleted. If you choose a legacy contact, they have to also be a Facebook user.

Keeping it Not Weird
The whole "memorialized account" thing was weird enough by itself, but use some discretion if you pick a legacy contact. Your cousin Ed with the really strange sense of humor probably isn't your best bet here. Do you really want your online life to go forward after you're gone, especially if it goes on in an extremely bizarre way? Probably not.

Personally, I think I'd choose to delete my account. Or at least pick a relative that I know I could trust to have some common sense and decency. But that's just me. Maybe you want to have an online afterlife that freaks people out. If that's you're thing, more power to ya. 

Socialty is a full-service social media marketing and social recruiting agency in Chicago.  We create content, websites, blog posts, email marketing and strategic marketing plans for small and medium size businesses. Our social recruiting team helps you attract talented candidates via social media outlets.  Socialty connects you to your audience and potential employees.  We'll keep you social while you carry on with your business.  Keep Social and Carry On!