Social media is finding its way in to every part of our lives, personal, professional, business and now is in high demand in the Human Resources industry. Recent studies have shown that job searchers are increasingly looking for potential employers to utilize social media channels to enhance their job search. Some of the ways that job seekers are looking for companies to assist them include receiving job alerts via SMS/email, the ability to track the status of an application, being able to contact recruiters via these channels, and the option to share content with friends on social networks and platforms.

I feel that the introduction of social media is comparable to when the internet first become available. If your entity did not have an online presence with a website or email address you were almost non –existent.  The success of your business was highly dependent on your online presence, just like now how your success can be enhanced or hindered based upon your ability to utilize social media channels.

Currently only 7% of employers have a mobile version of their career website and only 3% have a mobile job app. This statistic is extremely interesting to me since the importance of job seekers having an online presence on networks such as linked in for the purpose of recruiters to find potential employees is in high demand. However, it is evident that the Human Resources within these companies have not yet realized the importance of their role in ensuring job postings and contact with recruiters is integrated into the social media realm.

Employers are looking for job seekers to be more open when applying to their companies, in return companies should be gradually more open with them. HR departments can take their recruiting a step into the social direction by posting job opportunities on Twitter, creating a Brand via social media channels (just as when marketing a product or service). In addition, it is important to know your target market and to select the correct channel based on the market you are trying to reach, finally creativity is key when trying to grab people’s attention, recruiters need to be creative when posting jobs to get potential employees interested and to ensure their postings are being noticed. So to all of the HR professionals out there if you are not already social be early adapters and get involved in social media recruiting.