Social recruiting – it’s the network stupid

If you are in recruiting there is no doubt you understand the value of LinkedIn, and other social networks, as a recruiting tool. Unfortunately, there are still companies that aren’t convinced the value outweighs the risk of using these tools, especially if you are in a regulated industry.

Let’s start with some math. While LinkedIn doesn’t publish the actual number, it is estimated that the average user on LinkedIn has 40 connections (the average Facebook user has over 120). Now assume your company has 1,500 employees using LinkedIn. Doing some quick math that means your company’s 1^st level network is 60,000 people strong. Counting the connections of their connections your network just grew to 2.4 million people!

Companies like Starbucks, Microsoft, Goldman and Deloitte are seeing great results using social networks for recruiting. Starbucks staffing manager, Carmen Hudson, swears by LinkedIn saying “It’s one of the best things for finding mid-level executives”. Keep in mind the best candidates are often the ones not looking for a job so you have to find them.

These are also invaluable tools for doing background checks. Every recruit will give you their standard references but the good information will come from digging deeper. Using social networks you can find connections that the recruit may not have listed and quickly get a full picture of the candidate. While CEO at Encover Chip Overstreet had a VP of Sales candidate he was looking to hire and did his own check on LinkedIn, “I did 11 back-door checks on this guy and found people he had worked with at five of his last six companies”. How important is it to do these checks and make great hires? Estimates vary but it is safe to assume that hiring the wrong person costs you 2-3X their annual salary. That’s an expensive mistake!

The other area to plan for is boomerang hires, those people that worked for you once before and have found their way back. Karen Palvisak, a leader of alumni relations for Deloitte said “Last year, 20% of our experienced hires were boomerangs”. The hires cost less to train and they hit the ground running. If you haven’t started one already, create an Employee/Alumni network. This will serve as a breeding ground for future hires. If you do a quick search on LinkedIn Groups you will see a lot of examples. Citi has close to 15,000 members, Deloitte has over 25,000 and P&G has over 10,000.

So get started today. If your company doesn’t allow access to these tools forward them this post. If they do make sure you have an Employee/Alumni group setup. Also be sure to encourage your employees to actively grow their own network. This will not only benefit them but will also benefit the company.