While sites like Twitter, Facebook. Myspace, Linked In, etc. can be extremely useful...they can also be your downfall for a variety of reasons! All I ever hear from fellow recruiters and canidates is how vital it is to use these sites as a means for branding and self promotion. For me personally, I can barely manage to get through returning everynes phone calls, let alone find time to post and update so many different sites. I just don't have time!
Of the many sites out there, I personally use Facebook (for personal) and Linked In (for profesional) the most, and it is often sporadic and infrequent that I even use them. I don't use these sites too frequently as far as using it to stay in touch with candidates/clients. My personal opinion is that it becomes way too time consuming (almost addictive in many cases), it can seem somewhat self serving in many ways to utilize these sites in that way and also because it is not private. I am however signed up for many, if not most of these sites. However, if you are looking to stay in touch with me..call me! Please don't rely on my twitter, facebook or linked in or blog updates. They are far too impersonal and time consuming for me to utilize too frequently.
On the flip side, how else do you reach out and stay in touch with so many people all at once? In that instance, I do see the value these sites hold, yet think they have gotten out of hand with so many people trying to "brand" themselves, while in the process have done nothing but oversaturate themselves in a big old sea of other recruiter or job seekers or industry experts. Take recruiters for instance...many recruiters use these sites to try and brand themselves, yet I think it potentially and often comes off as more self serving/self righteous and creates other problems as a result.
It is incredibly easy to get lost amidst the 100th recruiter that posted or retweeted something on twitter... Afterall, if a good, busy recruiter is really that busy, how can they possibly have time to update their facebook and twitter and other feeds so often?! That being said, I do and have gotten some very good recruiting tips and links from other postings, but get them more when on downtime and catching up with friends/family on Facebook updates - like at 2 in the morning when I can't sleep! : ) I am on facebook more for a personal aspect to put a face with a name for so many of you that I would otherwise not meet unless we happened to be at the same trade show or industry event. I use this Blog as a resource to share an occassional interesting article or announcement and can often go for months without posting anything at all. I use emails or email distribution lists to send news or job announcements ad netwoking As most of you know, I have a hard time keeping up with managing those results and phone calls as I am only one person! Send out an email to a few hundred people about an exciting job and chances are a good percentage of those people will call you back. That is probably my biggest struggle currently in trying to manage contact with everyone that calls me or returns my call. Most of you know, I have always had that problem though... : )
Many sites are becoming more and more popular as a means to stay in touch and also reconnect with former colleagues or to be found by prospective employers. However, in my opinion the best way (fo me anyway!) is good old fashioned telephone as the best means of not only staying in touch, but also keeping information private!
