The UK is turning into a nation of ‘job flirts’ as a result of social networking, with 70 per cent of employees saying they use social networks to find out about potential opportunities and enhance their career prospects. This was revealed in the UK Social Talent Management Report 2012 carried out by the Taleo Corporation on 1000 UK office workers from a wide range of ages, job functions, company sizes and industry sectors.
The report said some 39 per cent of active job seekers said that they would use social networks to find new jobs, with 21 per cent stating they would use LinkedIn, 20 per cent planning to use Facebook and eight per cent planning to use Twitter.
Of particular interest to employers is that this study also shows that passive jobs seekers are keeping a constant eye out for any opportunities on recruitment websites and social media so that at any given time, two in 10 employees are actively looking for a new job, investigating details of other positions with an eye to moving on. This means that even those workers who at the moment seem satisfied at their place of work, and are not ‘openly’ looking to move on from their current situation, spend considerable time and energy on this kind of passive job search. What is more, a further five in 10 employees said that they are ‘keeping their eyes open’, using services such as LinkedIn to keep their names in front of recruiters and potential employers, and keep their skills on offer in the market.
Unfortunately, despite all this, the research has found that many employers out there are missing the opportunity to advertise internal job opportunities via social networking. In fact, while 66 per cent of office workers said that they see social networks as an efficient way to find out about job opportunities in other companies, just 45 per cent see this as an efficient way to find out about job opportunities within their existing organisation. Very often the organisations look at social networks as distractions that keep employees from using work time productively, when the real truth is that these social media tools can provide great opportunities for those organisations that want to gain a significant competitive edge.
Having said that, the study report advises all employers to start forming a sound social network strategy and connect this to a talent management strategy, putting it at the top of the business’s agenda in 2012. These strategies should be particularly aimed at limiting the flight of top performers. To start with, the report recommended businesses to first identify its top performers, assess their job fit, development opportunities and finally their career aspirations. Here the study report makes reference to a recent global employee engagement study conducted by Blessing White, a global consulting firm, which shows that workers in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and the US all listed “more opportunities to do what I do best” and “career development opportunities and training” as the two top issues driving employee engagement and job satisfaction.
Another recommendation put forward in the report is for organisations to look out for ways that tap into the knowledge and awareness of the employees’ peer groups. This is because respondents in this survey overwhelmingly felt that their colleagues knew more about their current skills, competencies and career aspirations than their respective line managers. As such, organisations should aim at tapping into the expertise of peer groups for succession nominations, lateral job mobility recommendations, and other “job fit” decisions through social features in their talent solutions. Putting a greater focus on internal talent systems that capture peer opinions and recommendations, as well as employees’ self-identified areas of expertise, could go a long way towards supporting a more comprehensive view of the employees.
In line with the above, talent leaders should also invest in solutions that help provide a more comprehensive view of existing talent data such as pre-hire information, job history, learning history, career plans and goals so that they know the “talent basics of their employees”. Likewise, talent solutions that assist managers look internally for talent by matching skills and competencies against employee talent profiles would provide a proactive way for the organisation to better exploit its talent potential and reduce dysfunctional turnover. A related strategy would be transparency regarding open positions through for instance internal job boards.
By focusing on these key issues such as “utilising an employee’s full potential”, “supporting long-term career aspirations”, “providing career and development opportunities” and “connecting internal experts” in employer branding strategies, a business can differentiate itself from other employers who are focusing on the job requirements rather than key cultural drivers.
Besides these defensive strategies, the report advises companies to also make use of offensive strategies which target the job flirts among their competitors. Having a strong and active social presence across the core networking sites would ensure that an organisation’s employer brand is at the forefront and centre when it comes to job searches and passive inquiries. What is more, direct engagement with employees to share their own company stories (positive ones) via their social networks is another way to tap into the passive job seeker. One should also consider tapping into employees’ networks. In this respect, the report advises employers to consider enlisting top performers in evangelising company success and company culture as a means to tap into passive candidates in their extended social networks. Given that the vast majority of employees use social networks in their personal life, a leading edge strategy is to use social media analytics tools to assess employee sentiment at key competitors. If sentiment is low in general, one might use this to his advantage in pursuing key talent within the business.
Of course, all this presents a number of challenges for organisations out there. Businesses need the tools and a strategy to engage with the features of social networks they can use, without being perceived as overstepping boundaries. On the other hand employees want to engage with their employers online, but do not want to feel that their personal space is being invaded, or that employers are looking for potentially compromising or protected information. Hence it becomes clear that organisations need policies and technology to use social networks to their best advantage. Simultaneously, businesses need to “socialize” their talent strategies to capture the expertise of peers and the collective wisdom on their workforce.
In a nutshell, new technologies demand a new mindset and a longer-term view of strategy. Talent management has already expanded far beyond recruitment and basic retention efforts into onboarding, succession planning, and overall corporate strategy. It must now move even further, engaging with current and potential employees both within the organisation’s systems and on external systems these people already use. Those capable of doing so will stand to gain a competitive advantage and reap considerable rewards.
2012 is the year of business networking. Businesses who position themselves at the intersection of employees’ personal and professional lives are placing themselves in the road for success. During uncertain and precarious economic times, maintaining and keeping the best talent has never been so important for organisations who want to keep ahead of competitors. As Dave Wilkins, VP of Taleo Research, commented in this study report: “Businesses who can successfully use social talent practices to harness the collective wisdom and expertise of their teams while also connecting with a broader pool of external talent will be poised for success.”
Ms Camilleri is a researcher at the Foundation for Human Resources Development