Have you ever hired someone through social media?
JW: I have not hired anyone directly, but I have monitored their social media platforms and checked out what they were saying. It’s a good way of highlighting a person’s intelligence. Sometimes your opinion of a person improves when you come across them online - at least if you’re talking about professional blogs and sites.
TC: We always post job openings through social media. We put them on my blog - thomascrampton.com - and our group blog - asiadigitalmap.com. These postings have brought in people whom we never would have reached through traditional means. They also allow us to pre-select people who are involved and interested in social media.
Which social media site(s) would you trust?
JW: I would never use Facebook or other more familiar sites. I would only really use LinkedIn. Sometimes you find good comments on Twitter, and there are some good blogs out there, but LinkedIn is the main one for me as it’s a very easy place to get a top line perspective on people.
TC: We do not mind which sites post or re-post our job offerings. We are happy to have anyone know about the job.
If hiring via social media, what sort of role would you look to fill?
JW: Obviously there’s a tendency for people who are active in that space to be suitable for digitally-oriented roles. I don’t mean that it’s limited to this group, but generally I would be looking for people interested in digital strategy.
TC: All sorts of roles, from entry-level to high level.
Who is the best blogger you have come across and what would you hire them for?
JW: Two good examples are Faris Yakob - farisyakob.typepad.com - who was one of the first people we hired as a digital strategist in London, and Adam Ferrier (a founding partner of Naked) - consumerpsychologist.blogspot.com.
TC: There are many strong bloggers, but we do not limit ourselves to bloggers. We look to people who have influence across all manner of social media platforms.
If you were job-hunting via social media, how would you pitch yourself?
JW: I’d make sure my profile was absolutely up to date with references from people who are highly respected in the industry. If I had time to run a blog or Twitter account I would make sure that was also up to date and relevant. I do think social media can be a significant accelerator of fortune if you use it intelligently.
TC: As someone able for the job and possessing online influence. My name card has no name on it; instead it has the URL of my blog. My social media presence is tightly tied up with my work, with my blog and Twitter communities serving as constant sources for leads for client work, public speaking engagements and hiring of new staff.
Will this process ever become the norm and threaten the survival of headhunters?
JW: I think it will. People will continue to keep a CV, but that will also be stored digitally on a social platform. Some of the challenges are making sure that you talk sense, and being careful whom you criticise. A lot of people pass comment on the industry without thinking about the ramifications of the platform they are using.
TC: It is now the norm for us and we will not turn back. Why pay for an advertisement when you can engage potential employees in a conversation within social media?
This article was originally published in the 12 August 2010 issue of Media.
