A2X Consulting

In today’s day and age, so often the complaint in Human Resources is that good help is hard to find.  Lackluster employees, lazy employees, inept employees, you name it, somewhere complaints like these are circulating at this very moment.  Employers do have a tough time keeping and finding the best fits, I won’t argue that.  However, I would argue with you that if you’re a smart business and actively involved in social media, right now can be one of the easiest times to find a fantastic, stellar, blow-your mind employee.  In fact, hopefully you can let them find you.

I recently came across a blog in which a human resources woman (we’ll call her Jane) described her latest hiring process, from whom she found her dream employee.  We hear all the typical stuff about social media, ie: check out your potential employees and screen for the partying, inappropriate, unprofessional types.  But, could it be possible that your employee is someone right in front of you already?  And could it be that social media is the means to find him/her?  Absolutely.

One of the resumes turned into Jane bore a very familiar name.  It was the name of an active member in their social media world.  She was a frequent commenter on their blogs and engaged actively in conversation with the blogger and the other commenters.  She was involved in their Twitter feeds and had relevant, intriguing tweets of her own.  She had a stand-out blog, to which she had already introduced them to in a comment.  The content on her blog proved not just her knowledge about the profession, but quite possibly more importantly: her dedication, commitment and passion.

So, not only did she have a stellar resume, cover letter and interview, she was already practically a friend of the company and had already established her name within that industry and that specific company.  And, wouldn’t you want to hire someone you knew when it comes down to 5 employees with equal resumes and interviews?  Jane was so impressed that even though it turned out that the candidate was not right for the particular job she was interviewing for, she found another job for the candidate to get her into the company.

So, where can you look?  Do you have avid, active participants within your social media campaigns?  Check your Twitter re-tweeters.  Check the people posting on your blog regularly.  See who checks in on Yelp and FourSquare.  Who knows, that name might come up on an interview, or even better, you can reach out to them.  You may make their day or even their year.

It’s worth a shot.  It’s easy, and it’s probably one of the best ways to get passionate workers in your office that care about you and your business, not just getting a job to pay the bills. 

By Tara Alley. Tara is a freelance writer who writes on a regular basis about the latest trends related to living more eco-friendly and sustainable lifestyles.  She is currently working alongside Air-n-Water, researching the green ways to use a portable air conditioner within office and home environments.