1. Washington, DC February, 2010 Recruiting Using Social Media Suzie Grieco Associate, Booz Allen Hamilton
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3. L “ Social media is a community of people with common interests who connect with one another to learn, play, work, organize and socialize. Communities can be large, small, local or global. They can be public or restricted to members” 1 Geoff Jennings, On-line Recruiting Specialist Why Social Media Networking? Social Media Defined
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5. Why Social Media Networking? Source: Graph 1: Facebook statistics, July 2009; MySpace and LinkedIn: comScore data, July 2009; Twitter: Mashable and comScore data, July 2009. Graph 2: Nielsen Online, 2009 Why Social Media Networking? Social Media Users
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7. Developing a Strategy Who are My Stakeholders? Influencers Recruiting Commands Information Commands Officers & Enlisted
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9. iting Developing a Strategy Who is my Target Audience? http://www.2k.army.mil/faqs.htm#age EXAMPLE
10. iting Developing Strategy Where Do Job Seekers Get Information? How Survey Participants First Learned of Their Federal Job
11. Developing a Strategy Which Social Media is Right for Me? Image courtesy of Brian Solis, PR 2.0, http://www.briansolis.com/ Choose from hundreds of social networking sites… … to reach a variety of candidates
12. iting Developing a Strategy What Do Candidates Want To Know? Percent of Participants Identifying Each Factor as a Strength of Federal Employment
13. Social Media Recruiting Challenges Actions to Mitigate Risks Challenge / Risk Risk Mitigation
Good afternoon It’s an honor to be here addressing you. Since I started in the recruiting industry just over 7 years ago following over a decade in marketing industry—I’ve always recognized the power of relationships, but back then it was defined by the size of your Rolodex –a term maybe only baby boomers in this audience are familiar with. As the years progressed, I leveraged the power of outlook as a content management system followed by the latest Applicant Tracking system which helped me segment my contacts by skills and interests. And through regular e-mail blasts I ensured that my opportunities would stay top of mind when those candidates shifted from being passive candidates to active new job seekers! And while federal and military recruitment are benefiting from recent economic hardships as noted by the fact that all of both active duty and reserves for each of the armed forces met or exceeded their accession numbers for 2009 as mentioned by Gail McGinn in her presentation yesterday… …it’s important to use this time to leverage the current candidate pipelines to maintain them once the economy starts shifting in the other direction. My presentation today will focus on the Use of Social Media to facilitate recruiting functions. Building on our conference theme of Human Resources in a time of Change I hope to share some insights on how to utilize the emerging technologies to assist with the recruiting functions in 2010 and beyond. Ask for show of hand regarding who has ever used a social networking tool? … in the past 30 days? …in the last week? Booz Allen Hamilton Standard Colors Colors should be used in the color pairs whenever possible. Do not mix and match colors, use pairs together as shown. Black, White and Gray can be used with any of the other colors. Purple Pantone 2765 R 12 G 4 B 79 Green Pantone 357 R 15 G 67 B 24 Blue Pantone 2 88 R 11 G 31 B 101 Black Pantone Cool Gray 6 R 158 G 158 B 158 Red Pantone 485 R 252 G 5 B 14 Yellow Pantone 3965 R 232 G 244 B 4 Aqua Pantone 319 R 126 G 204 B 189 White
Voice Track: Specifically, I will be highlighting the following: Why Social Media Networking? Not too long ago, I realized its impact on my day-to-day recruiting activities—improving my ability to quickly and effectively identify strong candidates which I hope to share with you today Web 2.0 vs. Web 1.0 – I will be clarifying the differences between the standard web-based strategy and the new interactive one Developing a Strategy – For those who have yet to test the waters, this may seem like an overwhelming endeavor to undertake, but I will take you step by step through a process to make your entry into social media recruiting reasier Social Media Recruiting Challenges - We may be familiar with the military’s primary concern regarding social media –namely information security. But are we familiar enough with social media’s implications for meeting federal compliance when it comes to recruiting? Military Examples - I will highlight the phenomenal strides your counterparts in public affairs have made using social media tools, targeting components which apply to recruiting Your Social Media Recruiting Checklist – last but not least, I will provide you with a quick, actionable steps to get you on the path to using social media in your recruiting initiatives.
While I’m sure by now everyone in this room has heard of social media – perhaps through professional endeavors or through your children’s pleas to join one to talk to their friends there are several similar definitions including the one by researchers Dr. Mark Drapeau and Dr. Linton Wells at the National Defense University (NDU) who defined social media as “applications that inherently connect people and information in spontaneous, interactive ways.” The one on-screen is a definition by Geoff Jennings, the owner of an on-line recruiting newsletter, who is fairly well know in recruiting circles for his blog entries: “ Social media is a community of people with common interests who connect with one another to learn, play, work, organize and socialize. Communities can be large, small, local or global. They can be public or restricted to members” 1 However the Department of the Navy’ chief Information officer added an important component in their definition: Tools used to connect people who share the same interests and activities through the use of web-based services .
Voice Track: For those of you who may not be familiar with social networking trends you may be interested to know that integrating social media Promotes credibility Because 43% of online persons trust information posted by people they know over other sources 1 And because it puts a human face on “Government” and the “Armed Forces” and attract new audiences 2 Generates valuable feedback Because Social networks provide the opportunity to interact with talent, asking and answering questions in near-real time Demonstrates brand authenticity People demand responsiveness from any brand—including all government agencies Did you know that 77% of Fortune 500 use a social media tool 3 And 44% report social media as “very important” to business/marketing strategy 3
First, lets take a look at who is using social media…As you can see on the first chart the most popular users are those aged 15 to 24 the group known as the Millennials (you may also know them as NextGen, GenY, C Generation, M Generation, and Echo Boomers). They are also the second largest population after the “Baby boomers” and starting to enter the workforce. 75% of them are using social media and based on recent studies…they are using the internet 3 times more than they watch television, and approximately a whopping 10 time more than they listen to the radio or read a newspaper. The Milliennials use of social media is followed by those aged 25 – 34 and those aged 34 to 44 who comprise Gen X demographic groups. The graph on the right shows the number of users for four of the most popular social networking sites. Leading the group is Facebook with approximately 250 million users far outpacing users of MySpace at approximately 125 Million users, LinkedIn’s 40 million users and 20 million Twitter users. Show of hand regarding use of Facebook? LinkedIn? Twitter? Other social media? Which ones? These statistics explain why the various branches of the armed services have embraced social media. As I’ve always believed that The Military has always effectively promoted itself to its target audience.
Now let me turn your attention to the differences between traditional on-line media defined here at Web 1.0 and the social media also known as Web 2.0. on recruiting outreach communication and candidate engagement Employers who are solely using the traditional Web 1.0 on-line media format are simply pushing out information one-way in a static fashion. Candidates can only view career site updates, position descriptions and application instructions While Employers using social media can engage candidates via a more dynamic two-way communication format. This allows candidates to ask questions about various content provided, they can share information about position requirements and recruitment processes, not to mention receive near real-time reminders of recruiting events and activities.
Now that I’ve demonstrated the power of social media, the next step is determining your social media recruiting strategy. I believe the best place to start is to first identify who are your stakeholders I’ve segmented these Stakeholders into four groups who will play key roles in your social media strategy: The first are Recruiting Commands who provide detailed information regarding the organization’s demand signal. From information on total number of recruits needed to providing information on the diversity of career fields which include Medical, Legal, Accounting, Technology and Engineering to name just a few Information Commands – they drive social media content – from a public relations perspective -- which plays a critical role building and maintaining the employment brand Another group of stakeholders are the Officers and Enlisted personnel who can complement on-line content with individual experiences with which candidates can relate the Fourth group are Influencers comprised of the candidate’s family and friends teachers/counselors whose opinions impact their career decisions. Example Navy’s award winning “Navy for Moms” social media site With stakeholders identified, the selection and training of a communication manager, an individual who is responsible for updating, monitoring and replying to inquiries via social media is necessary The concept of community managers is important enough for me to dive a little deeper into their roles as they will be at the center of success for any social recruiting strategy that aims to move beyond socializing job openings and focus more on building and engaging candidates communities,” Requirements of the role also address a new set of skills and competencies for successful recruiting strategies.
Liaison Functions: Structuring the communications manager’s to ensure that they interface with recruiters, Human Resources, marketing, internal communications, and in tune with mission objectives. Through regular updates with the talent function team leader the community manager will have insight into your organizations’ talent priorities and help them design a targeted strategy to attract and engage prospective talent which align to workforce planning activities. It is important to stress that the community manager not be focused to address needs across the entire organization. What characteristics should a community manager have? Communicator: The community manager builds relationships with multiple stakeholders to position themselves and the company for success—and communication skills are vital when interacting with internal and external stakeholders as well as candidates. For example, they have to be ready to relay real-life examples the portray the organization in a way that lives up to the organization’s brand as well as relate to the candidate. · Have to be candid when interacting with passive or active candidates It’s important that they are authentic , not providing a PR spin. Strong communication skills will be used beyond just responding to postings, they may be interested in writing blogs and generating e-mails to their social networks. Company acumen: The community manager is most effective when they have strong understanding of the organization’s brand and culture which will help them present compelling content that resonates with candidates. · it’s their organizational knowledge which will help them provide feedback to candidate regarding opportunities that may not be readily available from traditional career sites. Technically Adept: Additional characteristics may include interest or willingness to understand and use new technology–ex. I may be considered a late comer to to world of social recruiting because I’ve only used Linked-In and Facebook to date and haven’t used “Tweeted“ yet Training: Given that most community managers will be selected from individuals within the organization with established networks within the desired skill set. Training should focus on both what to say and how best to say it –(ensuring they are authentic) as well as what not to say to avoid security threats H Suggestion for community managers include Diversity leaders as well as Subject Matter Experts
The next step is to identify your target audience… I’ve provided this example of the age make up for those who enlisted the Active Army and Army Reserves – which I believe is similar across all of the Armed Forces. I would like to highlight that the ages indicated here place this group solidly among with in the Millennials we discussed earlier. However, given the current economy, there has been increased interest in military service by older individuals. Suggesting strategy modification to include recruitment of members of Gen X demographic group Age isn’t the only factor to be considered -- other demographic factors which need to be considered geographic and racial diversity of your desired target audience.
Where are young job seekers getting information about their next position? A 2008 report to congress “Attracting the Next Generation: A look at Federal Entry Level New Hires” by the Merit System Protection Board indentified the sources and not surprisingly, the number one source is a friend or relative, excluding USAJobs which is dedicated to civilian opportunities, the next source for learning about opportunity is a college/university job fair followed by School Placement offices. While this report targeted civilian agencies, these are the “influencers” instrumental to military recruitment activities as well.
Once the target audience and stakeholders have been identified, the next step is to determine which social media is the right vehicle for reaching your desired candidate. As you can see here, the number of social media has ballooned. Brian Solis, a thought leader in new media developed this wheel which depicts the variety of social media by purpose/function. While I will not attempt to describe them all…I want to highlight that the four most prominent reside in Social/Lifestreams (where we find Facebook listed) Micromedia where Twitter is listed and Niche networks where Linked In is listed. We’ve not mentioned YouTube previously, but it is definitely worth mentioning here as a recent research noted that nearly 70 million people viewed more than 2.5 billion videos on YouTube.com making it the most popular websites for viewing videos
The Merit Systems protection board report I mentioned earlier also survey participant regarding what they see as the benefits of federal employment. As expected, Job Security ranked number for all both age group—those under 30 as well as those over 30. Job security was followed by benefits. I want to note that although those under 30 ranked advancement as the 3 rd highest strength of federal employment, those over 30 ranked Challenging and Interesting work as well as making a difference as the third This information is important when developing a social media strategy—because is this form of media allows you to emphasis the associated strengths of joining the armed forces as well as an opportunity to dispel myths and or highlight strengths which are overlooked.
I’ve discussed the benefits of using social media for recruiting…now it’s time to turn our attention to some of the challenges associated with these tools. The three I will address today include the possibility of Security-related threats, targeting a limited candidate pool, and the fact that near-real time monitoring can be somewhat labor intensive. Security-related threats: The first is the lack of control of content which can occur when postings, discussions or blog content are provided by potential recruits, current employees as well as former employees, not just member of the Public Affairs office. Both the Federal Government as well as the Department of Defense have developed fairly robust policies and guidelines specific to social media usage. The Federal CIO council outlined several recommendations around Acceptable Use Policies for federal employees and the DoD’s policies offer content guidelines to protect against disclosure of information which would threaten military missions, their employees or their families. Targeting a limited candidate pool: While these policies may focus on addressing security related threats, a quick scan of current social media policy doesn’t include guidelines specific to military recruiting processes to ensure compliance to the federal regulations which guide military recruiting practices. Given that social networking websites can reveal a large amount of personal information via resumes, pictures and postings which provide information on race, gender, age—even sexual preferences, using Social Media for recruiting raises a variety of legal issues including: Having access to information that discloses an applicant’s protected group status and Creating the potential for disparate impact claims As I have shown in previous slide, the demographic make up of social media users tends to skew toward younger audiences. It is important when using this media that it is part of a fully integrated recruiting outreach strategy to minimize the risks associated with disparate impact – the application of a facially neutral employment practice that adversely affects members of a protected class. I emphasize this due to a recent survey conducted by CareerBuilder.com of 3,169 hiring managers which found that – 22% of them screened job seekers using social networking sites – 34% of the hiring managers used this information to decide NOT to hire someone – 24% used this information to confirm their decision to hire someone Enhancing security-related policies to include recruiting related guidelines could minimize risks. An example of a recommended social media recruiting related policy is the separation of sourcing and recruiting functions to ensure compliance to EEO hiring guidelines. Labor Intensive: The third challenge is associated with the near-real time monitoring and respondes associate with using social media effectively. According to a Training manual issued by the Navy regarding setting up a Facebook account the second question asked -- after whether public forum will help you accomplish your mission is --“Have you identified someone who can spend at least 1 hour a day to monitor, post and respond to comments to build an active and engaged community online?” While your PAO’s may have an individual assigned to monitor social media activities, you as HR leaders may want to develop your own “community managers” to ensure they are trained on not only what not to say, but have knowledge of what can be shared which aligns with your mission objectives! DoD http://socialmedia.defense.gov/ Pentagon Channel, Net Smart, Cyber Safe (see videos in bottom right hand corner of page—can embed, but not hyperlink), http://socialmedia.defense.gov/ http://www.chinfo.navy.mil/socialmedia.html CHINFO Social Media resources Pentagon Channel, For the New Guys www.pentagonchannel.mil/fng Social Media and Operational Security with Lt. Col. Kevin Arata, “Educate, not regulate” (video) http://www.netstrategies.com/blog/internet-marketing-tv/social-media-and-operational-security-for-u-s-army Balancing Your Right to Know against Operational Security with US Marine Corps Public Affairs Officer Major Danny Chung (podcast) http://www.ontherecordpodcast.com/pr/otro/us-marine-corps-public-affairs-officer-danny-chung.aspx DoD, The Basics: Appropriate Behavior on the Web: http://socialmedia.defense.gov/index.php/2009/11/16/the-basics-appropriate-behavior-on-the-web/ DoD, Holiday Safety: How to Avoid Internet Coal in Your Stocking, http://socialmedia.defense.gov/index.php/2009/11/10/holiday-safety-how-to-avoid-internet-coal-in-your-stocking/ Guidelines for protecting yourself online from Military Health Systems: http://www.health.mil/Pages/Page.aspx?ID=41 Operational Security Presentation from Health.mil, http://health.mil/Content/docs/opsec%20slides.pps Many government-wide examples of effective use of social media including Coast Guard Initiative, MilSpace, and DoD Techipedia are available through the National Academy of Public Administration: http://www.collaborationproject.org/display/case/Case+Studies Other http://lifehacker.com/ http://www.cnet.com/ http://mashable.com/ http://www.techcrunch.com/
I wanted to share with you the industry leading social media activities –in no particular order! Starting with screen shots from a couple of the Navy’s social media sites, I wanted to highlight the development of a social media directory. This directory provides information regarding different Navy commands social networking sites including Facebook, Twitter, Flicker and YouTube and Weblog. Also included here is a copy of their Facebook content and YouTube page.
Army social media screen shots illustrate their ability to effectively integrate new technologies in their social media initiatives. Next I wanted to highlight how technology is changing social media interaction –no longer do you have to be tied to a computer – the Army has created and iPhone application and which along with twitter candidates can receive updates via their cell phones and other mobile devices. I’ve also included screenshots of the Army’s Facebook, Twitter and NowPublic sites.
In this next slide featuring the Air Forces Facebook page, I wanted to highlight a recruiting related posting offering insight to a day-in-the-life activities which would appeal to job seekers. And
And finally, with these screenshots of the National Guard’s Facebook, Flickr and Website page demonstrating a how social media is a component of a larger on-line strategy.
I hope that if you are not already using social media that you are now at least seriously considering developing a social media strategy before the end of the Fiscal year! I wanted to provide you with a brief checklist which can assist with those initiatives First, assess your employment brand on-line. Surprisingly volume of fans or views are no longer the strongest measure of social media success….Two prominent measures of social media have been influence and engagement . An informal poll of recruiters asked: What is the most important metric to track in social media? The results were that "virality" and "sentiment" ranked as the number one and number two respectively as most important metrics to track among respondents Virality is defined as the reach of your brand and how much your message is spread), Sentiment defined as the positive, negative or indifferent consumer reaction), Your Information command may be able to provide you metrics. However, there are informal methods you can implement almost immediately. The first is to setting up Alert via Google and Yahoo so you start receiving any on-line mention of your organization. There are also several free social media monitoring sites including Compete.com, Howsociable.com, even Facebook offers some free social media metrics Develop social media engagement policy and guidelines – remember tell them what they can do as well as what they can’t Identify Community Managers – provide the necessary training to complement their skills to ensure they can effectively, authentically communicate with candidates Determine your social networking strategy – Identify your target audience, determine the nature of the message which will resonate with them, identify the social media tool or tools popular with the desired demographic groups , ensure that it is integrated with a broader recruiting outreach campaign Finally, don’t forget to measure your social media recruiting activities
In conclusion, the more military organizations embrace social media recruiting the more credible their other social media outreach initiatives become -- especially to target audiences BAH has hired 5000 and as percentage of workforce similar and we are practicing what we preach Army using gaming / advertising / traditional media Other military Examples APAN all partners access network DoD/NGO – more military embraces social media will continue to add credibility to recruiting initiatives Real Warriors.org or .net Military Health information Community.apan.org
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