HR and Social Media Trends, Networking and Intergration - Workology

HR and Social Media Trends, Networking and Intergration How HR Views Personal Branding How HR Views Personal Branding The Human Resource industry has been slow to adapt and understand the new social media world. Since not all HR professionals are Recruiters and vice-versa, job seekers are at an advantage and a disadvantage at the same time. As someone who has worked as a Recruiter, I understand how important social media is in finding quality job search candidates.  Ive  used tools like chat rooms, online communities, blogs, Twitter,  Facebook, and even internet dating sites to source and place candidates.  As a blogger, I have used Blogging4Jobs, my blog to develop an online personal and business brand that has provided me with a solid reputation in my industry as well as landing a handful of clients who found me and reached out after reading my posts and content. Understanding HR and Their Use of Social Media Think of recruiters as salespeople who are in the business of finding people for companies they either work for as employees or as third party agencies who search and find candidates most often on behalf of companies they represent. Human Resource professionals are more analytical personalities who are focused on policy (policies), procedure, technologies like payroll and application systems, as well as legal concerns with protecting the company in mind such as mitigating the coproate risk of social media. Most HR professionals do not like recruiting, work in recruiting or if they do, are not passionate about the process. To them it’s a means to an end. I like to think that I am the exception to the rule and have worked in and understand both. Social Media Trends; HR Intergration of Social Media on the Rise The good news is that according to EMarketer, the tides are changing when it comes to HR and social media. A recent survey regarding HR Executives found thatHR Professionals spend an average of 3.77 hours per week for work purposes on social media About one half of respondents reported that a social media helped their brand and made them more valuable as a job candidate. This change in thought regarind the use of social media from HR Executives and business leaders makes personal branding even more important than it ever was before. As you continue to grow and build  both relationships and your personal brand, companies are becoming more aware of its value and seeking out influencers and thought leaders either internally within their own organizations or externally and often using social media networks and communities. This also makes managing your online and personal brands strategically and targeting your audience, content, and touches more critical in your future job and career success. **June 2011:  A new study was released about how HR uses Social Media.  Conducted by Toolbox.com, this study found that human resource professionals are now spending nearly 8 hours a week on social media for work purposes, information, and networking.  Those are promising statistics the support when this article was first published in early 2010.  With Facebook expected to reach 1 billion members by the end of 2011, social media is quickly becoming a necessary part of maintaining a personal and professional network, and finally HR is getting the memo.