Bearing Fruit Consulting

Flirting, Social Networking and Passive Candidates

I came across a New York Times article from April 17th (yeah, I know I am tardy but I just found it) written by Marci Alboher.  I have not read anything by Marci prior to finding this article and after exploring her work in some detail I find her to be very impressive.  The article germaine (great work huh?) to this blog post is called The New Workplace Flirtation and the basic premise is that LinkedIn primarily, and other social media sources secondarily, have provided a an environment where people can be available for and search out new opportunities without setting off alarms within the company where they are currently employed. 

In fact, in some cases, their current employer actually encourages their participation in LinkedIn for legitimate networking and business purposes.  All the while the unanticipated side effect is that the person is now available for networking and approach for new opportunities.  Marci calls this a sort of online dating scenario and equates it to flirting.  I think this is spot on.

Best Example Yet of Web 2.0

Gautam Ghosh brings our attention to, in my  humble opinion, the best example yet of web 2.0.  For those of you who think blogging and social media are either flash in the pan or not adding any meaningful value to business and recruiting this story should change your mind.  While Ryan Kuder was laid off and was able to turn his twittering into attention to help him find a new or better opportunity, the ramifications of this are significant for talent acquisition and talent management. 

For those company leaders who think that how you coach, lead and treat people is confined to the four walls of your company or business this ought to make you think twice.  Truth is, these sort of stories are going to become much more commonplace and the leadership, recruiting and talent management mistakes companies make will soon be available for all to read.  Transparency will happen whether you want it to or not.  Creating great candidate and employee experiences will no longer get lip service because those that fail to deliver will be outed in a web 2.0 kind of way.   

Friday Frenzy - Quick Hits Across The Blogosphere

If any of our readers (all 5 of them - it's good to have family) took note, we posted a Monday Morning Quick Hits once before in which we just provided some links to some things of interest.  Monday Quick Hits might come back but today I am replacing it with Friday Frenzy.  Why?  Because I saw many things that peaked my interest today and rather then turn them all into extended posts I thought I would just share them, link them and perhaps comment on them in depth later. 

Without further ado, here is the first edition of Friday Frenzy:

• The Employee Factor provides a summary of the Ten Rules of Engagement.  Beyond employee engagement I think there are huge lessons here for prospect, candidate and client engagement as well.
• Wow!  The Chad, brings the thunder on TMP and their new Work With Me Facebook referral gadget.  Basically, he calls it all show and no go.  In case you were curious, we agree 100% with the Chad on this one.
• Michael McKinney over on Leader Blog quotes Charles Handy on Managing Paradox.
• Jim Durbin is launching Social Media Headhunter next week.
• This is a bit old, January 2nd to be precise, but I think it is a an awesome tool.  Shally Steckerl gives up a list of blogging resources with What Everyone Ought To Know About Blogging. 
• From The Daily Recruiter is an offering about not accepting counteroffers.  While the advice here is solid, I didn't find anything particularly new or innovative.  I think it is a good refresher.  That said, great recruiters employ a technique (one that we teach in our recruiter training programs) that ensures a counter offer isn't even made.  If a counter offer isn't made then there is no chance your candidate will have something to consider.  No offer, no change of heart.  Look for a training tip post on how to prevent counter offers from even occurring. 

Jim Durbin on Talent Scouting and Social Networking at HCI

Jim Durbin of Durbin Media and author of the StlRecruiting blog is doing a free webinar for the Human Capital Institute next Tuesday February 19th from 1:00 until 2:00 EST. 

The title of the webinar is Talent Scouting and Social Networking: The New Employee Referral Program.  Jim is uniquely positioned to talk on this important aspect of recruiting and brings extensive experience and expertise to this presentation.  Here is what you will learn from Jim during this webinar:

• How to Use LinkedIn the right way (it's not what you're seeing now)
• How to Use Facebook to recruit top talent with employee referrals
• How to Use MySpace to improve your sourcing
• The care and feeding of blogs as referral sources
• The use of cell phones to improve your candidate pool.

If you are serious about becoming more productive and getting better results in recruiting using social media then you need to be a part of this free webinar.  You can sign up right here!

Is Facebook For More Than Just Hooking Up?

Bill Martineau of Martineau Recruiting Technology asks if Facebook really produces real world results for recruiters or is it a waste of time. 

Like Bill, I have been incredibly skeptical about the value of Facebook in recruiting.  I have been so skeptical that it wasn't until just a couple days ago that I joined Facebook to find out for myself what value it might add to our work at Bearing Fruit Consulting.  For me, the jury is still out but I promise to update my thoughts as I learn and experience more. 

A few quick observations so far.  While it is seemingly true that I gain valuable insights about a persons background through the site it also appears there is a lot of information I don't need to know from the perspective of recruiting and consulting.  Again, I am a newbie and I will hold my thoughts and observations until I become better equipped and better networked to comment fully.  In the meantime please check out Bill's comments and feel free to add me as a friend on Facebook if you wish.   

Social Media Strategy From John Jantsch

Over on Duct Tape Marketing John Jantsch delivers a brief but incredible post on developing your social media strategy.  Here is the money quote:

You can’t approach new media with old thinking. Taking full advantage of social media requires understanding and adopting a specific social media strategy.

The comments in response to his thoughts are robust and equally as interesting.  Do yourself a favor and take 10 minutes to check it out.  It will be well worth your time. 

Consider how his message might change your thinking about recruitment advertising and connecting with the best talent in your industry or career discipline space.