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With Facebook now tipping 845m users, its potential as a recruitment tool is massive but the world's favourite networking site is playing catch up. Recruiters are using Twitter more often than Facebook for social recruiting even though Twitter users have fewer connections on average. Twitter drives almost twice as many job views per job as Facebook and three times more applicants per job.
However, a Twitter follower is almost three times more likely to apply to a posted job than even a LinkedIn connection and eight times more likely to apply than a Facebook friend. Recruiters are reporting almost three times more applications per contact from Twitter than LinkedIn. The report states that recruiters are adding more Twitter followers to their network per week than Facebook and will grow their Twitter 'Following' list much faster than Facebook friends or Likes.
LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook - how are they different?
Speaking to AMEinfo.com, Zafer Younis, CEO of social media strategy firm The Online Project, outlined the main distinctions between the 'big three'. LinkedIn is ideal for headhunting, as profiles offer more clarity about skills and experience. Facebook is better suited to both the recruiter and the jobseeker to tap into a unique social network, while Twitter opens the door to finding immediate opportunities, within and beyond your social circle.
Younis also gave insight into the development of social recruiting: "We can see more companies in the region moving from snooping to actively engaging with current and potential employees. In the Middle East, word of mouth and though personal referrals have always been the industry standard when it comes to mainstream recruitment, social technologies are accelerating these processes.
"We can also see the emergence of some very useful regional social recruitment tools and trends. Two examples are Akhtaboot's social platform, and a Jordanian hashtag on twitter #JOBJO that companies tweeting about vacancies are using to find applicants. A new trend in the region is attaching a YouTube video to your electronic CV, adding another component to the mix."
Ali Sinaei, Bayt.com's Head of Ad Sales, also gives a perspective to the upsurge of social recruitment: "As recruiters recognise the importance and power of digital tools to help them identify and communicate with talent, the real opportunity is for market leaders in the online recruitment space to press forward their advantage by creating more social and open channels within their existing platforms."
Privacy and transparency - where can we draw the line for social media recruitment?
A debate is ongoing as to the pros and cons of a prospective employer gaining insight into candidates' personal lives - both parties share the benefits, but the risk is weighed on the jobseeker. A recruiter can more easily get an important sense character in addition to competence, assessing how the candidate would fit relationally into the work environment and represent the company.
The jobseeker has the opportunity to sell themselves, with relevant Tweets, LinkedIn recommendations and a healthy range of interests showcased on Facebook, though they run the risk of 'overshare' or portraying a negative image.
An added fear is permanence. Once a post or entry is made to a web profile or forum, it can be quite difficult for a user to completely eradicate all traces of that content, particularly if Google has cached the site or screen captures have been taken. In the case of a local news story or similarly published article, damage limitation becomes a near impossible task.
Bayt.com is currently completing a process which empowers Middle East applicants to streamline their online existence through their jobseeker profile. The privacy level is dictated by the user; an important feature, explains Bayt's Sinaei.
"There is a massive, and logical, difference between how the average person wants to be seen socially versus professionally. The real opportunity for jobseekers is to ensure that, irrespective of what their Facebook or Twitter profiles show about them personally, that they have comprehensive and impressive profiles."
Asked if there is room for LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook in the recruitment market, or whether we should expect a clear emergence of one platform, Sinaei adds:
"I think that the current dynamic makes sense, with LinkedIn being the most actively used. However, if one of the other 2 was to emerge I would put my money on it being Twitter because its nature lends itself much more to the job posting market as it is a pure broadcast model."
Steven Bond, Reporter
