Social Media Strategy: Three Wrong Assumptions about Candidates
April 6th, 2010 by Louis P. Kadetsky, CPC
Social media-savvy job-seekers don’t come in only one size, shape or color. They can have any number of demographic or lifestyle characteristics. So, don’t think that because you connected with a candidate on Facebook or Twitter that he or she is of Generation Y. According to Mashable, a small focus group yielded social media super-users ranging from their 20s to their 40s and sporting varied educations.
So, what are the mistakes you can make when trying to judge a user by his or her limited profile? Here are three surprising and powerful tips that can help you keep an open mind.
1. The world is ageless
With ages ranging from the middle of Generation X to the middle of Generation Y, it’s hard to draw conclusions about age from social media use or skill.
Lesson for corporate recruiters: Don’t worry about finding candidates who will fall short of experience profiles. Everyone from new hires to seasoned executives has found a home on the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
2. Education doesn’t translate to social media skill
Whether you worry about a pool that has either too large a diploma or none at all, your fears are unfounded. It doesn’t look like there’s a specific education level among the most skilled social media users.
Lesson for corporate recruiters: Social media is not a filter for the education line item on a resume. Look past social media technique to content, where you can get a sense of how a job-seeker thinks and behaves. KGTiger’s BYTE Service can help you cut a path through all the data.
3. Social media is not the exclusive domain of the lazy or the ambitious
Someone who tweets 30 times a day must have too much time on his hands, right? Or, a decked out Facebook page means someone’s a small business owner and trying to pitch a service. Well, cast aside your employment assumptions. You’re not limiting yourself to a “type” by using social media as a recruiting tool.
Lesson for corporate recruiters: I’m on Twitter … as are my kids. There are budding entrepreneurs in their teens using Facebook to kickstart what they hope will be the next Microsoft-caliber empires, and grandmothers are using it to spend more time with their families, if only virtually.
Bookmark this link to find the rest of this series easily throughout the week >>
Become a fan of KGTiger on Facebook >>
http://twitter.com/louiskadetsky