Why Social Networking Will Not Replace Job Boards
Many individuals who have turned to online job boards as a recruiting method for their businesses or companies are fearful that social networking will soon overrun and eventually completely negate the need for these boards. This, however, is not the case at all. While social networking is a popular happening in today’s internet dependent world, it is rarely truly useful in finding potential employees.
Social networking, for those who are unaware, is the practice of meeting and networking with individuals through the computer. Common social networking sites include Facebook and Myspace, though there are much more professional sites such as LinkedIn.com. These professional sites are designed to bring together employees or owners of similar businesses and companies. Additionally, those seeking employment may post their resumes to the site in the hopes of securing a job, or members of one company may recommend potential employees to members of another. In some ways, these sites serve as a “who knows who” kind of environment, but in others, they are simply a shot in the dark as to what kind of people one will meet and interact with.
As you can see, however, this is a long process that takes a great deal of work, both for the job seeker and for the potential employer. Job seekers will not want to waste all the time and effort required to post their resumes and cover letters on a wide variety of websites that may or may not be useful. And why should they, when they can simply log onto Craigslist or another “help wanted” site and answer a few ads that pertain to work they know they would enjoy doing. The same is true for employers as well. Employers simply do not wish to wade through tons of resumes and information on applicants who might potentially be qualified when they can post an ad and hear from hundreds of applicants who most definitely are.
It must also be noted that the best candidates – the candidates an employer really wants – will be too busy with work, school, or other important activities to have the time to waste on social networking. If an employer wants a good, hardworking employee, then he or she should not turn to social networking sites. Most of the people on these sites are desperate for work and have exhausted all other options. This means, sadly, that they will take any position or maybe even fudge a resume to get a job.
Obviously, these are not the candidates one wants to deal with. Employers will want to use online job boards to be sure that they are getting those individuals who are fast, who can work efficiently, and who know the most direct route to finding employment. For these reasons then, there are really no worries about social networking taking over online recruiting. It’s just not going to happen.
About the Author:
Eric operates OnlineRecruitingNews.com a social network managed by an alliance of job sites serving specific recruiting niches. Our monthly newsletter brings you news, information and connections in online recruitment.
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Comments
In my opinion, this is just a sad article. If it was supposed to be ironic, I couldn’t see the funny in it.
Please keep some sort of filter for what gets posted on a site like Mashable.com, after all it is a site which a lot of people follow, it would be sad if it kept getting spammed with this kind of content.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Thomas Shaw, Global Recruitment, Geert-Jan Waasdorp, Corey Hudgins, Gloria Accioly and others. Gloria Accioly said: RT @ThomasShaw: RT @recruitmentjob: Why Social Networking Will Not Replace Job Boards http://bit.ly/9YbEge [...]
So hundreds of millions of people on social networking sites are lazy, good for nothing wasters and not worth emplioying – obviously ? What? Sorry, do you really, really believe this?
Many of my fellow job board owners are like ostriches with their heads in the sand. They don’t want to admit that social media is having and will have more of an impact on our businesses. Unfortunately, those owners fail to realize that while some of the effect is and will continue to be negative, some is and will continue to be positive.
More and more employers are not just talking about building candidate communities but they’re actually doing it and social media is integral to the success of those groups. Job boards can also play a large role, but not the only role. But go to the conferences and listen — really listen — to the thought leaders in corporate recruiting and you’ll hear loud and clear that the day of spending the lion’s share of their recruitment budget on job postings and resume searching is gone and never coming back. Few will say they won’t spend anything and even those who do will agree that they will spend on niche sites but whether they’re spending none or just less there can be no doubt that job boards which continue to offer the same tools as we offered in the 1990′s will perish.
For job boards to survive and even thrive, they must innovate. They must integrate with social media. They must listen — really listen — to their clients. And if they do all of that, they’ll get that job boards aren’t job boards because they sell postings and resume searching. They’re job boards because they provide their employer clients with value in helping those clients more efficiently and effectively connect with the best candidates for those employers.
Thanks for all the great comments. You’ll notice that this article was cross posted from a job board blog. Of course the writer is going to say that there will never be a change.
What’s funny is that there have been a couple of articles this week that talk about how niche boards are the future of recruitment and another that says that this year, niche boards will lose all their mojo.
So, what’s really going to happen? I would guess something in between. Thoughts?