Wendy Schollum: Looking for staff in all the right places

Social media channels are not just a place to 'dump' a link to your job listing. Bringing together the right group of people to work for your company is much like piecing together a giant jigsaw puzzle - you have to find just the right fit for each role (and the company culture) or you quickly find you can't keep working towards your bigger picture.
Even with helpful legislation such as the 90-day trial period, and an economy in which a barrage of business professionals is looking for employment, the average cost to hire and train a new employee is still about $13,000.
You want to know you have the right fit from the start, and social media channels are fast positioning themselves as one of the most effective mediums to quickly find the perfect person for each new role in your company.
While many companies have been using Twitter and Facebook to provide links to their new job openings for years, very few are doing it right.
Many companies forget social media channels are not just a place to "dump" a link to your job listing and then run - instead, it's about engaging potential employees to create interest in the role (and foster further spread of the advertisement), as well as evaluating (from online interactions) a person's suitability for the role and company, reducing the time spent with unsuitable candidates.
Job vacancies (particularly online) should be treated like any other product or service you offer - they need to be "sold" in order to attract the right people.
With this in mind, make sure any information posted about your job openings demonstrates the company's culture and the personality of the type of person you are trying to attract.
Also, make sure you understand the requirements of the person you want to draw into your company.
If you are seeking experienced professionals, then keep in mind that they are unlikely to want to interact with you via Twitter or Facebook, as these mediums are far too public and could put their existing role at risk, if they were seen to be job hunting.
For this type of recruitment, try using social networks such as LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com).
The great thing about LinkedIn is that it has made it acceptable for professionals to post a CV online, without indicating to an existing employer that he or she may be looking for other opportunities - probably the reason 98 per cent of US businesses use LinkedIn for recruitment.
Posting your vacancies on LinkedIn can be a great way to strike up a dialogue with a potential candidates (in private) while also providing an initial reference check tool. LinkedIn is set up to allow companies to indicate if an employee has or has not worked for them, making it hard for people to "fake" CV's on LinkedIn.
You can also view individuals profiles, and read any recommendations posted by their clients or employers, in order to paint a much more "telling" picture of each candidate, when compared to traditionally CV's.
In order to whittle down your candidate lists (especially important in an economy in which so many people have become serial CV submitters), consider using social media channels to convey the existing picture of your company, converse with candidates to limit meetings to only those who seem to be the right fit and ultimately slot the missing piece into your team.
Wendy Schollum is a web strategist and managing director of Xplore.net Online Solutions (www.xplore.net).
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