I know that I am going against the "popular" grain here...but I am not a social media recruiter per se. Everything you see or read about now days (especially on Social Media) from other recruiters or "brand managers" or "talent engineers" or whatever they call themselves these days - is focused on how important a social and branding strategy is to recruiting.
I'm not here to disparage that...I'm guessing that social media really works for some folks. But...I'm also here to be honest and say - it doesn't work for me! There...I said it...social media DOES NOT help me recruit top talent.
*One caveat here....I do not include LinkedIn as social media....I consider it more of an online resume and professional media forum (though some people seem to be trying really hard to make it more like Facebook).
Here are the numbers from my nearly 20 years of recruiting experience (for those who need data):
Number of placements from different social media sources -
- Twitter - 0
- Facebook - 0
- Instagram - 0
- SnapChat - 0
- YouTube - 0
- Pinterest - 0
- Google+ - 0
- MySpace - 0
- Online blogs - 0
Rather than taking the time to throw that into a spreadsheet and google how to do a "SUM formula", let me do the math for you. 0 placements over my entire career from social media sources. ZERO.
Now - if you were to include LinkedIn, then the answer might be 200-300?. If you were to look at non-social media sourcing, the answer would literally be 1000's.
Again, I'm not saying it doesn't work for some recruiters....just sharing my experience with you.
My real reason for the post is perhaps an explanation to myself...I've been justifying having Twitter, Facebook, Snapchat, etc. on my phone for years. The justification always being - well, I'm a recruiter and I need them to be successful at work. Social Media is the new recruiting Mecca....
Truth be told, social media on my phone is nothing more than a time-suck. It has become a thing for me to open and check almost without even conscious awareness. I am weak...I get sucked in. I end up spending valuable time reading about politics, news, sports, and opinions from people who I really don't care what their opinions are. I've found myself disliking friends and even family...not even to speak of complete strangers...because of their opinions. Perhaps I just follow the wrong folks...or bots. But I've hung it up (mostly). I'm done.
I've deleted my Facebook account entirely (after just taking it off my phone a few weeks ago), I've removed Twitter and SnapChat from my phone. I've found myself so much more content with life and so much less stressed by the contention and division that may or may not even be real in this country and world....btw, who even knows what is real and what is fake on social media anymore. People that I care about can connect with me by phone or text or....heaven forbid...in person! I still have a Twitter account that I Buffer professional links to (at the same time as LinkedIn - thank you Buffer)...but no longer can check it from my phone. I'd have to actually login from my laptop to check it now...which I don't.
Again - not preaching here...spend your time how you'd like. I'm just done spending mine on social media and justifying the accounts for "work purposes"...
I carry a book now and my life is better for it.
