When looking at using social media in your recruitment - aka social recruiting - you need to understand that the whole concept of social media - engagement, communication, transparency, immediacy and brand are all incorporated within your thinking. For that reason it is always advisable to get the 'buy-in' or (at least) acceptance from colleagues and departments that may well be impacted by the sudden demands of going social.
There are a number of key departments that you should look at internally to help you make your social recruiting strategy a successful one. Obviously there are some obvious ones like Sales, Marketing and PR, as well as an obvious one (to me, but not many companies it seems) - and that is customer services. There are others you have to consider as well.
So just who should you be involving in your social recruiting program?
IT: They are responsible for the network (and turning on Facebook and LinkedIn availability!)
Customer Service: Crucial to involve them as they could be on the end of some very interesting response handling!
PR: Essential to get their experience to distribute the message accordingly, and promote your social media externally.
Marketing: A key part of the social space, and ones that will be responsible for the brand management.
Sales: Key to have their input, as the sales team (and therefore the company) will benefit from using the social tools.
Legal: I know I have given legal the joker card, but that is just to make some of them smile (they are a bit boring after all!). Seriously though, in the fast moving social world, good legal advice is critical.
So what about the leader of the pack?
Well to be honest, it doesn't really matter as long as they are passionate about the project (so that rules out IT then!) and they are able to manage the different parties and stakeholders accordingly.
Social media is about collaboration and communication - the only problem being that in some companies, the communication is actually the biggest obstacle!
