Social media in recruitment, the way ahead?

At Nicholas Howard we are trying (again) to embrace new media, particularly social media.  Often we are criticised for not doing this enough, and deep down, we know we have to get better at it.  We are trying, and hopefully over the coming weeks and months, we will nail it, and finally get our social media presence to where it should be.

I have taken some time recently to try and get under the skin of why we haven’t got it off the ground, and I think I have some idea. 

What we do, what we are good at, isn’t best captured in 140 characters, or by broadcasting vanilla data, but by getting to know the intricate details of what clients want, and the minutiae of what makes a certain candidate stand out. 

Our real value comes from standing in a room with client or candidate, and really selling the suitability and excitement of a role, or the relevance or potential of candidates.  This is so much more powerful when done face to face, in situations where you really sponsor the opportunity or candidate personally, and are willing to state your reputation on them.

At Nicholas Howard we strive to make this possible, spending more time than we need to, searching and understanding, more time than we need to asking questions, and developing answers.  We spend more time than we have to, so that clients and candidates can spend less time than they have done with our recruitment partners, in order to make the processes we are involved in as efficient and value added as they can be.

We will make social media work, and I hope this blog is the start of adding value in that space as well, not just a space for generic information to float out into the ether.

Whether we are meeting people, using job boards, using new media, at conferences or utilising the next generation of social media to find candidates and opportunities, we will embrace and master them all – but not using the new products at the expense of the good old fashioned ways.

As I have said before, it isn’t where you look, but how you look that sets good recruiters apart, and I hope we can look everywhere, for everyone but with the ‘Nicholas Howard’ eye for detail that is so important.

All the best,

Nick