Andy Headworth of Sirona Consulting urges UK recruiters to explore how social media can work for them (external website; please be warned that this post includes a potentially not safe for work (NSFW) image) . Headworth believes that the benefits will be immediate and obvious - not least in terms of candidates' perceptions of those undertaking recruitment activities. According to Headworth:

[S]ocial recruiting is no respecter of time. The companies and recruiters that have 'got it' are already reaping the benefits. They are accessing and engaging with candidates like they have never done before, and are finding it to be truly revolutionary for recruitment. [...] Candidate expectation of companies and recruiters using different social media channels to communicate and engage with them, rises every single day. [...] Candidates will be attracted to companies and recruiters that they can engage, communicate and build a relationship with via social media, not the ones don't even try!

Recruitment consultant Bill Boorman (organiser of the regular TRULondon (external website) 'recruiting unconference') argues that while many UK recruiters are behind the game when it comes to taking advantage of social media (citing evidence that only one in three UK recruiters currently uses LinkedIn), it is vital that they focus on getting the basics of recruitment right before diving into the world of social media (external website). This means engaging direclty with candidates via a much older medium: the telephone.

Boorman says:

I'm more concerned by the lack of phone time in many recruitment businesses, with limited time invested in building relationships or getting to know people. Despite all the tools available, for me, the phone is still the best one. Social recruiting will give those who use it well a real competitive advantage provided it is combined with good recruitment practice [...] I think more emphasis should be on encouraging those who are using social media as a recruiting tool to use it properly [...]. Once this is achieved, maybe then we should be encouraging others in to the arena and not before.

Boorman concludes with sage words of advice for all those involved in recruiting, no matter what their views on social recruiting might be:

Be ambassadors for good recruiting, whichever path you choose.

See also:

• Social media in recruitment: the end of executive recruitment as we know it?
• Social media in recruitment: are UK recruiters missing a trick?
• Social media in recruitment: the direct, zero-cost route to hiring?