Is there such a thing as being too plugged into the world?
On a typical work day I receive about 90 e-mails. It’s my own fault because I have become addicted to signing up for breaking news alerts, RSS feeds, and—my particular weakness—LinkedIn user groups. I monitor every topic under the sun from recruiting to sales talent management to the business environment in China.
Based upon the multitude of e-newsletters and Linked-In discussions around Social Networking in HR, I suspect I am not alone. Witness this sampling of headlines from the past few weeks:
- “Social Networking: The Future of your Recruitment Strategy”
- “Tweeting Job Posts”
- “Using LinkedIn to Maximize Recruiting Efforts: A Step-by-Step Guide”
It doesn’t just stop with the media pushing us to catch up with the rest of the HR world. We do it to ourselves.
I can’t tell you the number of postings like this from recruiters in my LinkedIn Group discussion threads: “Hello, I’m an open networker with close to 10k first level connections and I am looking to expand my network. Please send me an invite and I will accept it!” Talk about using LinkedIn as your own personal Applicant Tracking System.
Am I the only one to read these postings and feel inadequate about only having 117 connections—even if those connections link me directly to over 1,960,400 professionals?
But is there any real value for recruiters to collect connections—other than bragging about the size of your network at parties?
Is social networking for recruiting working to your advantage? Read more on the topic and let me know what you think.
Bradford Thomas is a Manager at Development Dimensions International.
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