Job Sourcing Best Practice: Social Networks or Personalized Networking?

Social Networks’ Success

Snapchat, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn – with all these social networks in addition to job aggregator sites like Indeed and Simply Hired, recruiters and job seekers have a plethora of options at their disposal. But with so many choices, it’s hard to focus and still be successful.

Today’s candidates need to have many options in their tool kit. By diversifying their social strategy, one of them is bound to stick. But the key is patience and perseverance.

My daughter’s college has a Facebook page just for parents. The forum has everything a mom or dad could want or need to know about campus details; best nearby healthcare facilities, best hotels for football games, best places to eat, even just parents posting about how they miss their kids. If there’s anything I want to know about campus activities, that page is the first thing I peruse.

So I decided to use it to post an internship opportunity here at Phenom People. Within two hours of posting, I had a parent reach out;

“My daughter is a junior, majoring in marketing and looking for a summer internship. How do I have her apply?”

I connected with them and within a few weeks, she interviewed and was hired. This is just one example how utilizing social media played in this young girl’s favor - or maybe it was her mom in the right place at the right time?! Either way we cannot overlook the fact that social media is a powerful tool you should use in the job search.

But Don’t Forget About the Personal Touch

However, let’s not dismiss the old school method of good old fashion networking.

I recently sat down with one of our Sales Development Representatives, Lucas Pollack, to hear his story. Prior to joining the Phenom team, Lucas graduated from the University of Pittsburgh and was an agency recruiter right out of school. Nearly two years later, he knew he wanted to work for a SaaS company but instead of applying blindly, he figured he would take a different approach.

On a cold Pittsburgh day last April, he decided that he needed to think outside-the-box and come up with another job hunting strategy. He researched top software start-ups in Philadelphia and discovered Phenom People. He then cross-referenced the employees with any connections to University of Pittsburgh and noticed that the VP of People, Brad Goldoor, also attended Pitt. Lucas sent Brad a personalized note with his intentions of working at Phenom People. He was interviewed and then hired within the next month. His creative thinking and old school networking skills landed Lucas the job of his dreams.

Job seekers and talent headhunters alike can and should take advantage of social media to connect with people across the globe who have the opportunities they’re looking for.

But the traditional methods of doing your homework, reaching out, and personalizing the initial conversation outside of social networks, goes a long way!