My friend Aaron Strout over at Mzinga, has announced an interesting experiment. Instead of recruiting and hiring a social media marketing manager and a PR director through the traditional Stone Age process of Craig's List and resumes and interviews, he will try to hire a new social media manager and PR director entirely through the social media.
I like what Aaron is doing. Since Mzinga is the leading resource in hosting communities for large companies, it is fitting and proper that they take these innovative steps. But, to me, it's just one small step for hiring when we need a few giant leaps to modernize the recruiting-hiring process. I think Mzinga and other companies can go further-- a lot further, and will have to a few years from now, if they hope to attract the best and brightest of the emerging generation.
It seems to me that technology has transformed almost every business function to a far greater degree than it has recruiting and hiring. All that has universally happened there is that ads have migrated from the "Help wanted" section of the local paper to Craig's List. The actual recruiting-hiring process has remained pretty much the same, at least to the applicants and the people they will be most directly working with.
While that department is called "Human Resources," there seems to be room for a bit more humanity in the operational system. We apply with pieces of paper that use language we don't normally use, that reduces our lives to a few form-compliant paragraphs. We dress differently for an interview than we will if we get the job. The people we use for references are culled by title, not by closeness of relationship.
On the recruiting side of the table, people act as if this were the one company existing in harmonic bliss. There is no discussion of politics layoffs ridiculous customer or management demands. No one warns you that your co-worker has certain hygienic deficiencies The perspective employer is of one mind and voice and everyone working there seems delighted with the choreographed employee dance steps.
Both sides make decisions based on subtitles of what is not said in the recruitment ad or on the resume of what is not shown during the company tour.
Social media can change all this for the better. It can help both sides of the recruitment-hiring equation get a more complete understanding of what to expect.
Much has already happened in lots of places. Several recruiters are using blogs to help prospective applicants get a more complete sense of corporate culture. When Scoble was still at Microsoft, one of his most popular Channel 9 videos showed a typical day in the life of a recruit, including looks at the rooms where people get interviewed, the apparel that employees wear to work and even an interview with the campus bus driver. It added a very human perspective, I was told.
Stanford University is among a small handful of employers, who allow applicants to track the status of their application online, something greatly appreciated by applicants. I am particularly impressed with StandoutJobs, a Montreal-based startup that has created an online space for recruiters to try attracting the best applicants.
Social Media can put a whole lot more humanity into that which we call Human Resources. On both sides, people can use it to show who they are, which, in the end, may be more valuable than just show what they've done and what skills the job entails. Instead of filling slots, recruiters can start having conversations with team members. All sorts of relevent information can be shared. For example, video tours of neighborhoods where employee families live, including local parks, schools, summer arts festivals.
Ultimately, social media can not only restore the humanity to human resources. It can make the entire recruiting-hiring process a more accurate matchup at lower cost. Why would any company not move in this direction?
As for Mzinga, they have a couple of interesting jobs to fill. If you are interested, I suggest you make a cool video of yourself, post on YouTube and send the link to Aaron.
