“Eighty-percent of success is showing up.” How many times have we heard Woody Allen’s famous line? Countless. Why? Because no matter what you’re referring to, it’s true. When I think about how Social Media has changed recruiting one of the primary ideas that comes to mind is accessibility. Candidates, fans, and interseted parties now have access to brands and their employees on multiple fronts. Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google+, the list goes on and on… This means, if you expect to attract top talent, you need to make yourself available to them. You need to show up.
My point is that every opportunity to make yourself available to the public, is one worth taking. While some people may argue that Google+ is a ghost town – I think not. I think it’s a great place to share your jobs and your brand. Here’s why.
Volume: According to Time Magazine, there are 390 million people on Google+. Of course not all of these people are going to be the right candidate, not even a fraction of these people are going to be. But say they know someone and are willing to share your job? Or say you create a bunch of new fans because you’ve created such a great presence. The thing about Google+ is that Google rules the internet world. Meaning more and more people are connecting their Gmail and YouTube accounts everyday. It’s a network and talent pool no one, including you and your company can afford to ignore.
SEO Value: The more of a presence you can create, the more your jobs and your company will show up in search. Visibility is always a good thing. On Google+ companies and recruiters have a unique opportunity to get ahead of the curve and create a large, strong presence. Google+, unlike other social networks is in the business of “internet equity” for individual posts. Meaning work hard for those plus ones because they will work hard for you. Overall a good brand strategy includes a strong digital presence, and who doesn’t love coming up first in search?
I always save the best (and my favorites) for last.
Community: Conversation and community bring us back to my point about accessibility. You want to be able to communicate with talent at every juncture. Google+ is another portal for conversation. If you’re competing for top talent, which I assume you are – you do not want to miss out on opportunities for people to have a chance to talk to you. Google+ does more than share updates; it allows you to create communities. These communities give your company a chance to speak about specific topics related to your field with people all over the world. This shows potential employees that you’re committed to sharing knowledge and making yourself accessible. Don’t get me wrong, going in with no strategy and spamming people is not creating a community, that’s merely creating frustration. The simple of it is approach Google+ like you would face to face, or over the phone conversations. There needs to be back and fourth, there needs to be an equal amount of invested interest on both sides (if anything more so on your side), and there needs to be a sense of community.
So recruiters, hiring managers, and companies of the universe I urge you to share your jobs on Google+ and get social. I have advised before only posting open positions isn’t enough. Mix it up by sharing your company culture, posting industry related articles, or just saying hello. Some companies have already gotten a head start, and because I seem to love clichés, I’ll leave you with this, “The early bird gets the worm.” Which for recruiting purposes can be translated to, “The company that adopts social recruiting on Google+ first, gets top talent.”
