Social Media Catalyst

70% of successful job searches depend on personal contacts’ according to Career Development Center of Hollins University. The above fact emphasizes the need for having and creating personal contacts and networking. In an age, where job seekers outnumber the available jobs, it has become imperative to be at the right place at the right time. But how will you know where to be at and at what time? Someone has got to inform you. And this is where ‘networking’ assumes importance.

Networking is not a new age phenomenon. The Western world came to know about Indian spices through networking. Trade between the Indus valley civilization and Mesopotamia can be attributed to networking.

The rise of the Internet saw the traditional avatar of networking donning new clothes. While traditional networking allowed making contacts via our acquaintances, online networking allows us to contact people with whom we share something in common. For e.g., online networking allows you to contact someone who is engaged in the same profession. You can directly approach the person on your own.

Business and social networking sites are changing the way of searching and finding the latest vacancies that exist. More and more people are logging into the virtual world and making appropriate connections to land that dream job.

Thus, business and social networking sites are witnessing a phenomenal growth rate. But how are business and social networking sites changing the way we find jobs? Social networking makes sure that you are among the first who gets the whiff of the latest job posted. Networking allows the easy and free flow of information. It also makes sure that the information is forwarded at a lightning speed. For e.g. you are a resident of Mumbai looking out for a job as a sales person. You comb the local newspapers, swamp innumerable firms with your resumes and make sure that your profile is visible on all job sites such as naukri, monster, timesjobs, shine etc. that you can possibly think of. And the result- you are still looking for a job. And then a miracle takes place. You are registered with one of the social networking sites. You get a call from your friend who knows about a particular vacancy.

Recruitment in the initial days was through the recruitment agencies and placement agencies. Then with the online boom, now we have naukri, monster, shine, firstnaukri and other online recruitment websites where the recruitment does not pay nor does the employee. The revenues are from the advertisements and thus a win-win situation for all.

Thus how can social networking agencies be far away? The leader of the pack seems to be linkedin which is for social networking but for professional people. There has been a lot written about how companies are using social networks sites like Facebook and MySpace to screen prospective candidates even before the interview process begins. There has been a lot less written about how companies can use social media to recruit new employees.

As the online recruitment and social networking space evolve and it makes for some interesting reading, there are interesting takeaways that are worth noting.

One is that job boards are going away. The proliferation of job boards has created confusion and frustration among job seekers and diminishing returns for employers. As a result employers waste valuable resources at a time when their staffing needs are most dire. So what will replace the giant job sites like Monster.com? How about social networking sites?

The future of online recruiting is not just in sites like LinkedIn, but in more closed sites (closed except to professional society or college alumni memberships). Some widely respected recruiting technology services and consulting firms, predict that “the growth of thousands of closed social networks will increase in the next 18 months.”

Thus if you are a college sophomore getting ready to graduate in 2 years or an alum looking for a new job then stop focusing on the job boards and instead look for professional sites in your industry or college alumni sites.