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I’ve had a few run ins, albeit friendly exchanges of banter, of late with a few pro social recruiting types. Obviously it’s difficult to explain ones self fully in 140 characters or less so I thought I would take a bit longer to explain my stance.

 

I make no bones about it – I like social media. I said as much over 2 years ago in a blog that picked up on Ricky Gervais’s flounce (he’s since come back as we all know). Indeed I have gained business I would never have otherwise…

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Not a single day passes by of late without hearing the dreaded words 'global talent pool', but what does that phrase actually mean in practice, if anything at all?

Consider a typical recruiting scenario. You're looking for a mid-career engineer for a specific location. There is no relocation package on offer so straight away it would be fair to assume that 99 times out of a hundred your likely candidate is going to come from a 30 or 40 mile radius of wherever the business is situated.…

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I keep hearing so much hot air and bluster from social media 'experts' about how talent communities are the way to go. But what does it all mean?

My understanding is that the idea is that companies try and make their customers, or in this instance, potential candidates, talk to each other. Engage in a cosy little chat within an online community with the notion of sharing information,opinion, ideas etc. But why???

Overshadowed only by marriage and buying a home, an individual's…

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Microsoft. Apple. Google. Coca Cola. Virgin. The BBC. What do they have in common? Each of them could advertise on the back of a cigarette packet, put a card in a shop window or float a message in a bottle out to sea and they would still get a good response to their recruitment campaigns. Indeed all of them receive hundreds of unsolicited applications each and every year.

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...when you're in a pharmacy, do you have a sudden urge to purchase a shovel? No, of course you don't. But hang on a minute, there's a method to what seem a couple of mad and random questions, and it's this...



Everywhere you look these days there is always someone who is happy to preach about how social recruiting is where it's at. Encourage people to be fans on Facebook they say. Establish an online community for your company where everyone… Continue

Honestly, if I had a penny for every time I have read about how the job boards are dying I'd have ooh, let me see now, at least one of the Queen's English pounds sterling. And you know what? they are not dying of old age, they are being poisoned into oblivion by the very people who are meant to make them work - the recruiter.



Yes siree, it doesn't take much figuring out. Social media isn't the holy grail these gurus would have you believe it is. You post the same crap as you've been… Continue

There's no getting away from it, every day we're becoming more and more obsessed with technology. Whilst it is great and clearly the way to go for the modern day recruiter on the go, I am starting to think too much of it can, at the relatively harmless end (apart from the risk of an iphone becoming your best friend rather than your dog or partner) zombify people, and, at its worst, put you in danger.



At the harmless end of things, take my… Continue