INTERNET - A Control Freak’s Guide to Social Media Influence

I came across this today and it talks about the notion of control when it comes to online branding and the stance of influence. It offers a nice view of what control is online and how to ease your company into social media. It also shows good reason to get your brand out there if it isn't already.
Thoughts? Questions? Concerns?
http://mashable.com/2009/03/24/brand-influence/

SOCIAL-NETWORKING - Twitter: The new way to find a job

It seems that more and more lately I have read about success stories of job seekers finding jobs through Twitter. I found this article while looking through tweets on Twitter from @jlipschultz and @fishdogs who we at @patriotJOBS follow. This is an awesome article about David Gallant, a soon to be college graduate just about to enter the work force using Twitter to his advantage. Full story: Twitter: The new way to find a job. After several attempts on a few job websites, he finally signed up for Twitter and began chatting with professionals in his field; which later landed him a career. Any thoughts or experiences on Twitter job hunting you want to share?

PRINT- Alternative Mensa Ad

... Recruitment... sort of... =)

SOCIAL NETWORKING - What's Hot

I found this article on ere.net talking about recruiting trends as they continue to change. Recently recruiters have found ways to use social networking to their advantage. Twitter is a good example that recruiters have put into power by announcing open positions and staying connected with the unemployed. With the increased unemployment rate, it is less necessary for employers to use talent strategists to conduct their employee search. Essentially each social network is an online resume that the employer can quickly tap into and interact with the candidate. In turn, the job seeker is able to connect with your company, getting a feel for it as well as the people behind it. Creating social networking for your company is a great way to build on your employment brand by engaging and interacting with job seekers, forming a bond. Employees tend to become more loyal to companies that are true and open to employee input. It seems that they are more likely to stay longer with the company and build a stronger team when provided with quick and easily accessible training outlets. An example of this can be online videos that are posted onto YouTube, or job specific discussion boards on Facebook where they can bounce ideas off other individuals within the company they work for. There are so many ways on the internet to connect and grow your company's profile. I wonder where this will take recruiting in the next year from the more traditional means of recruitment advertising? It's interesting to see how people view this rapidly changing industry. Check out the comments below the article in this link: ere.net-What's Hot What are your thoughts?

NON-TRADITIONAL - KFC finds random side job: fixing potholes

This had me laughing. I found this on AdFreak a minute ago. KFC steps up to help communities lacking dollars by repairing potholes, only the potholes credit KFC. Click to read more: AdFreak-KFC Other ideas that were mentioned in AdFreak's post were street lamps that beam a sponsors' message on the ground; new bridges that require drivers to watch a two-minute pre-roll ad instead of a toll. As budgets tighten, it's interesting to see how companies approach new advertising avenues.

GOVERNMENT - CIA Turns to Mainstream Media for Recruiting

Spotted something from the AdAge twitter feed about the CIA's recruitment methods.

Evidently they are working with radio right now, you might remember some of the ads that ran on the Discovery Channel, and it looks like their website now includes past print ads, a top 10 reasons to work for the CIA list, and many other items of interest.

With something like the CIA I would expect something a bit more involving and maybe something that makes the candidates take some action. What about working with geocaching groups? Grabbing people that seem to like exploring, adventuring and have some kind of know how when it comes to something a little nontraditional and working on problem solving. It would be great to see a campaign that would utilize either regular GPS units or even Google's new tool for GPS tracking. It could be a great fit with the college crowd and could probably generate a fair amount of buzz. Thoughts?

http://adage.com/article?article_id=135476

https://www.cia.gov/careers/index.html

http://www.geocaching.com/

INTERNET - Social Media: The New Cover Letter?

http://www.ere.net/2009/03/23/social-media-the-new-cover-letter/

This is a great discussion about the role of social media to candidates but in turn the same information can be applied to current HR recruitment. A corporate website and a piece of it being devoted to careers might be a great tool for traditional candidates and those that are actively searching but there is a growing segment that is thirsty for new information, more depth and more personality that many standard websites do not provide. It is by embellishing the extensions that a connection is made strong by displaying multiple sides of a company whether they be the technology, employees or leaders of a company. Not only are you showing other sides of a company but you are also reaching out to them on their ground.

What are your thoughts?