INTRODUCTION

Social Networking in Talent Management: An Update

Friday, July 11, 2008 Whew. As David Mallon just posted, earlier this year we embarked on a major research effort to understand the growing role of social networking in enterprise learning and talent management. The results are amazing. initial findings: 1. Organizations are working mightily to figure out how to leverage social networking (blogs, wikis, presence awareness, messaging, expert directories, communities of practice) in all forms of corporate training, customer education and support, and talent management. For example, 77% of all L&D organizations believe that younger workers (under 25) have significantly different learning styles than older workers, yet only 16% feel they have developed some level of expertise in the implementation of collaborative learning. In our most recent Learning On-Demand research, even the most advanced companies tell us that only 14% of companies are using blogs or wikis, and fewer than 4% feel highly successful with these solutions yet. One big surprise: 28% of our research respondents are not even using Instant Messaging yet, illustrating how long it takes for collaborative solutions to reach broad adoption (and support from IT). 2. Learning platforms are being "re-examined." Most of the companies we talk with are significantly rethinking their entire learning platform strategy (LMS) to understand how to evolve or add new systems which support collaboration. And today's LMS is not as successful as one would believe: across all the organizations we studied (approximately 900 different organizations), on average only 51% of employees use the learning platform at all. 3. Sophisticated, large, global companies are moving fast. Almost 1/4 (24%) of organizations now have some concept or strategy for "learning on-demand" (the term we have coined to describe the next era of corporate e-learning), and larger organizations (those with more than 10,000 employees) are twice as far along as small to mid-sized organizations. The reason, of course, is that large organizations have no choice - without collaborative solutions they can no longer scale their L&D programs. 4. Social networking software companies are sprouting up like weeds. We identified 90 such companies in our research, and more than 35 of them are somewhat focused on the corporate internal employee market. Our initial research clearly shows that these companies fall into four categories: (A) software providers focused on corporate learning, HR, and collaboration systems and solutions (e.g. IBM, Microsoft-Sharepoint, Jive, Mzinga, Awareness, Q2 Learning, and others), (B) providers focused on external customer and public-facing collaborative networks like a company external blog (e.g. Lithium, Ning, Communispace, Telligent) (C) providers focused on content management systems, who have added on systems for collaboration (EMC, OpenText, Ektron, Alfresco) and (D) true application software companies who are adding collaboration and social networking to their systems (SuccessFactors, Saba, CornerstoneOndemand). Let me give you a brief preview of some of our

5. I firmly believe that this new form of software-enabled collaboration is a revolution, not an evolution. Like many of the software innovations that I have personally witnessed over my career (e.g. the first color graphics PC, the CD-ROM, the web-browser, Flash, SaaS architectures, and others), social networking is really going to shake things up. The reason is that these systems are both complex, data-rich, and require a new type of software architecture. A system which supports 200,000 employees and customers with in-depth employee and customer profiles, active communication and blogging, tagging, content management, custom branding, and tracking each and every communication is quite a complex software solution. As we examine these vendors we are finding some very significant new areas of functionality which are going to change and upset the traditional HR software companies. 6. The jury is out on what our ultimate HR software architectures will look like. Small and mid-sized companies will likely adopt social networking through their SaaS application solutions. Enterprises are more likely to develop IT standards eventually. And many companies will implement departmental, divisional, and application-led solutions while the market evolves. While most enterprises would like to have a corporate "architecture" in this area, it will take time for this to occur and it often takes a few years for the "safe, corporate-approved" solutions to emerge. (None are there yet.) David Mallon, our newest analyst, is focusing heavily in this area. He is actively involved in identifying case studies and product solutions in "learning on-demand" and the applications of social networking to corporate talent management. The latter part of this past decade is proof of the unyielding power social media networks have on talent management. Since inception in a Harvard dorm room only 6 years ago, Facebook has grown to more than 400 million users worldwide. To put this figure in perspective, thats more than the population of the United States and Canada combined! Even more remarkable, the fastest growing age bracket of active Facebook users is 35 49 year olds, highly contributing members of the workforce1. Add Twitter, LinkedIn, Ning and the countless other social networks, and you have a powerful talent acquisition tool.

Throughout the coming decade, social networks will continue to be the best way toform relationships with both passive and active candidates. Instead of the one-time static relationships candidates might have expected from recruiters, social networks will allow recruiters to have long term dynamic relationships with an extensive talent pipeline. With passive candidates making up more that 70% of the workforce, leveraging these relationships through social networks is more important than ever2. Social networks also directly affect your employment brand and a candidates perception of your job opportunities. By formally incorporating social networks into their talent management strategies, organizations can take ownership of how their employment brand is portrayed3. Furthermore, forward thinking organizations are now leveraging social media outlets to strengthen and promote their employee referral programs programs often cited as the most cost effective source of qualified talent. Long viewed as the most effective way to attract and identify top hires, social media programs that leverage employee referrals decrease turnover, reduce cost per hire and improve new hire time-to-productivity4. Contrary to original predictions, social media is not a fad. More and more organizations are discovering the remarkable value proposition social media holds. With Talent Management Solutions integrating with social networks, it is easier than ever to launch, measure and capture data from candidates and employees through social networks5. Search Engine Optimization While job boards will continue to play an important role in sourcing and identifying qualified talent in the coming decade, search engine optimization will also become a key component in strategic recruiting. Search engine optimized talent hubs will gain popularity, allowing candidates to filter jobs by class, location and company. Organic search engine optimization is now viewed as one of the most cost effective and under utilized ways to generate applicant traffic to a companys listed job openings. Every month, there are over 226,000,000 job related searches on Google. A rapidly increasing proportion of job seekers are now turning to a limited number of search engines to locate opportunities that were previously found through traditional jobsearch channels8. This means that in order for candidates to find job openings within your organization, your job descriptions must be optimized to rank well with search engine results. Search engine optimization (SEO) is defined as the process of developing and structuring Web content to be easily discovered by search engines and therefore by people. SEO has long been part of an organizations strategy to drive traffic to their individual corporate website. The concept is simple, the higher your website or job description appears on the list of search results for a given set of terms, the more web traffic your website and job description can expect to receive. Quality content that is search engine optimized will get picked up for a wider range of relevant searches, resulting in a higher number of quality candidates and essentially a more effective recruiting campaign. Your open jobs and employer brand are picked up hundreds of times a day and delivered to end users via search engine results. With SEO, content is king. When preparing job postings, make sure your job descriptions are extremely detailedfocusing on keywords and phrases that are likely to relate to your candidates. As you prepare to optimize your job descriptions, it is helpful to imagine yourself as the job seeker. What attributes, skills, job titles, locations, or other keywords would they enter into a search engine to find your job content? To rank highest with search engines, you want to make sure those terms are included towards the top of your job description page. The title of your individual job postings should also be the role, location and skills for that individual job and it is important to make sure that page titles are directly accessible (ie. no iframes).

5 (More) Must-Use Social Media Tools For HR & Recruiting Professionals In 2009
In a recent post, here on Fistful of Talent, I suggested 5 Must-Use Social Media Tools for HR & Recruiting Professionals in 2009. In that post, I also promised to provide you with you five more. We're going to get a little further out in the social media waters this time, but I encourage you to jump on in - the water's just fine! Use video in your recruiting and employment branding efforts- According to eMarketer, 80% of US Internet users view video on-line at least once per month.

You know what that means? It's past time to get creative and add video content to your company's website and a YouTube channel! Check out these YouTube Recruiting Tips on the Jobs in Pods Blog to get started and this article onERE.net that explains how Recruiting Videos Allow Candidates to Feel the Passion. Next, view these great examples from Microsoft andTiVo that show how having a sense of humor and highlighting what is unique about your company makes for compelling stuff. If you don't have a huge budget or lots of geeks on staff to help you create slick ones like those, then follow Deloitte's example and engage the talent around you. They created the Deloitte Film Festival and asked their employees to answer the question "What Is Your Deloitte?"on film. The result? Over 50% of their US employees participated, and Deloitte got some great videos out of the deal for very little investment. Join or start Ning Groups to build relationships and source talent - Ning provides anyone the opportunity to create their own on-line social network - for free. It's described as "the software equivalent of Home Depot"- meaning that you can build a network with as many features, bells and whistles as you have the time and desire to create. So, why is Ning an important tool for HR & Recruiting professionals? First, I've already mentioned joining groups for networking and learning from peers (i.e.RecruitingBlogs.com, The Fordyce Letter Network, HRM Today, etc.). Second, you can search for and join Ning groups dedicated to your industry or positions that you recruit for to build relationships with and recruit candidates. A quick search on "job seekers" nets results on the first page for groups related to job search in general, as well as tech jobs and "green" jobs enough to open your eyes to the possibilities. A third reason to check out Ning is to start a group of your own. Follow the example of savvy recruiters who started LinkedIn Groups as talent pools, and took those groups one step further into interactive talent communities.

Check out the information and inspiration available at Slideshare.net - For me, a visit to Slideshare is like a trip to a library or bookstore. I can spend a lot of time there, and it's a great way to learn from thought leaders, check out what's new, and research topics. A search for presentations tagged "recruiting" yields information on Sourcing, Employee Recruitment through Second Life, and this gem - 30 Recruiting Strategies in a Down Economy in 30 Minutes. Popular presentations tagged "HR" includeEssentials of HR Management, Strategic Human Resources, and Developing an HR Scorecard. Another way to find great presentations is to find your friends and social media mavens with profiles on Slideshare. There, you'll find their personal presentations, as well as any they have tagged as favorites. For example, check out the profile of Brendan Shields of ERE Media and you'll find 71 presentations from ERE Expos, webinars and seminars. (wow) Some of the brainiacs at FOT are there too - William Uranga and Paul Hebert have added some great stuff that can help you see some of the possibilities. Use a Social Bookmarking site to learn, share and save useful information- If you're not familiar with "social bookmarking", here's an easy to understand video that explains the concept and a recent list of top social bookmarking sites. I personally use deliciousto bookmark things on the web that I'm interested in or in areas where I consult with clients. My tags there allow me to refer back to items for developing presentations, recommendations, and answering questions. For example, see what I have found interesting in the areas of recruiting, coaching, human resources, employment branding and more by checking out those tags in my delicious bookmarks. You can also take a peek at what social media Rock Star Chris Brogan has added to delicious, or what Cheezhead, The Recruiter Guy or Punk Rock HR's Laurie Ruettimann are favoriting on another site called StumbleUpon. (Everything's public.) Think of how you can not only use sites like these to learn from others, but also to share information with others in your company or team! It's time to start blogging - Whether it's a personal/professional blog or a corporate blog (or both), it's time to join the conversation and get started if you haven't already! In my brief experience, blogging has been a great way to connect with others and has created opportunities for me personally and professionally. Need more solidreasons to blog? Here are a few: Why All HR Departments Need a Blog, Why Your Company Should Have a Blog, Save Your Career, Start a Blog and (pull up a chair/turn down the sound) Why I Blog, The Video (featuring responses from several prominent Recruiting/HR bloggers). Finally, two more great reasons because your voice needs to be heard and all of the cool kids are doing it.

I write this as I travel to Birmingham to participate in a panel discussion with Nick Shackleton-Jones and Robin Hoyle on the role of social media in learning. The discussion forms part of the agenda for the World of Learning Conference, an event that I have enjoyed participating in for something like ten years now. Anyway, this post provides me with an opportunity to clarify my thoughts in preparation for the discussion. There is no question whatsoever that social media is transforming our personal and business lives. I won't re-iterate the statistics because you know already what a fundamental difference it makes to be so connected so comprehensively and so continuously. Whether or not l&d professionals or senior managers embrace social media doesn't really matter in the long run, because there is no turning back, only futile resistance. The internet and mobile technologies are changing our lives as completely as the invention of writing, printing, the telephone and radio/TV have done in the past. Should senior managers and those in l&d want to try and direct the use of social media to ensure a positive impact on learning and business performance, then there are at least four areas in which they can look: Formal learning: There is considerable scope in longer, blended programmes, such as professional and postgraduate qualifications, and management development programmes to use social media as a vehicle for ongoing group collaboration: the use of forums to discuss issues and share ideas the use of blogs as learning journals the use of wikis for group collaborative projects sharing research using podcasts and videos The exciting aspect of these approaches is in the changing role of online content, less as a top-down input from tutors and more of an output from students to be shared with peers. I have been using these techniques for something like five years now and have never encountered any resistance. In some cases the results have been transformational. Non-formal learning: Social learning also has a place outside the scope of formal courses but still in the cause of ongoing personal development: the use of communities of practice to share new ideas and debate issues the use of micro-blogging to quickly update peers on new developments On-demand learning: A great deal of learning takes place on-demand, at the point of need. Organisations can do their best to satisfy the needs of employees for on-demand information but they will rarely be able to cover it all on a top-down basis. The gaps can be filled using social media: the use of social networks to find sources of expertise or offer your own expertise to others content sharing (text, screencasts, podcasts, etc.) in the familiar YouTube fashion Experiential learning: Learning at work is as much about 'learning from' as it is 'learning to'. We learn through our own experiences and the experiences of those around us, but only if we make a conscious effort to reflect. Here is where blogging can play a valuable role. I know this discipline will not be for everybody, but for those that really engage the opportunities for learning exceed all others. We have got by without all these techniques in the past and many organisations will make a determined effort to get by without them in the future. They may do this with the best of intentions, but they will be missing opportunities, opportunities that their competitors may well be exploiting.

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