I heard recently about a company that didn’t want their corporate recruiters to have their Twitter profile connected to their Linkedin profile because they were concerned that the recruiters might say something on Twitter that would reflect badly on the company. Amazing. I wonder if they are going to ask them to stop sending email and using the phone too. An untrusting environment and a misguided approach to control will not breed productivity or loyalty.
In this great article by Stephanie Lloyd, Do you keep your employees in cages or are they allowed to interact with the public? . she states that "Social media is a dynamic communication and branding tool and companies should be proactive in coaching their employees as to how to use it. Managed well it can be a fantastic vehicle for promoting your company in positive and genuine way. Zappos has embraced social media in a bold way and incorporates Twitter into its corporate culture. Comcast is an excellent example of a company that is utilizing social media to deliver customer service in a whole new way and they are turning disgruntled customers in to raving fans."
There is a new article written almost daily telling job seekers how to use Twitter to connect with jobs and recruiters. Who better to be your employer brand advocate on the fastest growing social network, Twitter, than your recruiting team? The fact that people respond better to real people than to corporate brands is not debatable. So why ask your recruiters to disassociate their brand on Twitter from the company?
And now, with applications such as Jobvite, you can even utilize your own employees networks to auto-source candidates for your job openings. It’s a great concept. But is unlikely to work in a company that doesn’t trust their employees to be professional.
