Recruitment via social media has the potential to be "the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs of the [executive] search industry". This is the scenario envisioned by HR and recruitment blogger Gareth Jones (external website), who is keen for UK HR practitioners to wake up to "the power of social media in the recruitment mix".
In Jones' view, executive search firms are failing to harness social media in their work. This is in part because they are in a highly secure position, and consequently see no need to change their methods. According to Jones:
[I]n recent discussions with senior HR folk, the general view was that Search will remain largely immune from the impact of social networking. After all, like many senior level decisions, sticking with industry standard is the safe option. [...] "The Board/CEO will always want to use them," they argue.
However, Jones argues that executive search firms should consider what will happen when the present generation of CEOs and board members has retired, to be replaced by generation Y CEOs.
Jones' reasoning here is very interesting, and therefore worth quoting at length:
Many of today's senior executives are baby boomers who, like me, left university with only a limited number of tools available to keep in touch - namely landline and snail mail! Consequently I lost touch with many people and it's only recently through the emergence of sites like Friendsreunited and Facebook that a larger part of that network is now available to me. So, it's reasonable to assume that a Search consultant's network will deliver a better crop of potential candidates than I could rustle up myself. But will that always be the case? Methinks not.
For many in Generation Y, social networking comes almost as naturally as breathing. This, in Jones' view, is why executive search firms need to start taking social media seriously as a recruitment tool, and to do so immediately. Looking ahead 15 years, by which time Generation Y workers will be a key part of the workforce, Jones notes:
They will be 'super connected' and, as such, are they likely to appoint a search firm if they need to hire a senior team?
Consequently, Jones concludes:
[W]hat a turn up for the books it would be if social media turned out to be the asteroid that wiped out the dinosaurs of the search industry.
If this scenario should transpire, rapid evolution now would appear to be the only option for these "dinosaurs" if they are to continue to survive and flourish by the time that generation Y CEOs start to emerge.
Many thanks to Gareth Jones for alerting me to his post, via a comment on one of my previous posts concerning social media and recruitment.
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