Finding quality people is difficult. Even in this economic climate, where the advantage is certainly in the hands of those looking for talent, hiring managers still want to find the best fit.
Social media tools are being employed to find quality talent and the hiring managers who use them increasingly have an edge over those who don't.
I was asked to speak at HR Houston about social media strategy for the HR professional. I brought along my friend Natalie Gonzales from Clearpoint Creative, a talent agency that specializes in creative professionals.
Here were three touchpoints for HR professionals looking to break into social media.
1. NETWORK: for your own professional development and to find the right tools for the job. LinkedIn Answers is a good place to ask questions about tools and techniques. Twitter is a great place to build community. Steve Boech has put together a couple of lists of HR professionals on Twitter to get you started, and of course you should follow my co-presenter Natalie @natatclearpoint
2. SEARCH. You can search for keywords in LinkedIn, and you can also search LinkedIn from Google in the advanced search (one of the attendees uses this technique). Almost all of the professionals agreed that if you are a talent scout a $20/month paid account is essential.
3. BUILD. Look for where your potential hires generally hang out and start building your online presence there. For management professionals look to LinkedIn, marketing and PR like Twitter and women tend to hang out in Facebook in higher proportions than men.
There are a lot more tips and tactics in the Slideshare presentation.
If you are looking for a job check out Sarah Evan's Mashable post on Finding a Job in Twitter, one she wrote on MyFoxChicago about using social media to find a job, and also look at Twitter Job Search, a pretty cool tool for finding jobs posted on Twitter (recruiters can use this post jobs too).
