Grapevine Consulting

Ever been out of work and had the old stat 6 of 10 jobs are not advertised quoted at you? It used to not feel  true but social media is starting to show that stat in action.

Over the past few months I’ve seen:

• BIMA recruiting for a PR via Twitter
• ShinyRed recruited a grad placement via The Official Facebook Public Relations Group
• Jobs sent out via my contacts on LinkedIn
• PRBlogger advertising a digital AE via his blog

Those are just the ones I can think of right now. Ignoring the obvious “what if they see my drunken pics on Facebook/MySpace”  hype which hopefully everyone has a handle on now, I’m wondering if social media communities are going to replace the recruitment agency?

Social media just provides the tools to tap into your own or others’ networks which were harder to mass broadcast to before Web 2.0 technologies.

Working your community:

Is it really only relevant to those in the digital or markcomms industry? I mean only a tiny fraction of my real world community uses Twitter and Facebook interest is dwindling. But more and more sectors could be tapping into online media to find and share work opportunities. The key is the community element.

I was chatting to a contact at InStylewho said that through her Facebook fashion friends she finds out about events, such as up-and-coming designer shows, that previously it would’ve been harder to track down.

Looking at my old life as a nanny and early childhood teacher my first reaction was social media may not be a good fit, after all who wants someone who’s paid to look after their children sitting on a computer all day? (not in a dodgy way)

But then I thought about how something like Twitter for a nursery school/caregivers could be a lovely way for parents to get updates throughout the day e.g.  ”This afternoon we’re face painting” instead of the slightly disturbing live webcams which are emerging. I can imagine parents swapping tips (they’re word of mouth champions) and tapping into their communities for support e.g. “can anyone recommend a good babysitter for tomorrow night?”. Community sites like Mumsnet and Gurgle are great but not immediate enough for these types of everyday conversations.

When I was a student I paid my way via private nannying and babysitting gigs. It got to the point where word of mouth was keeping me in the style I wanted to become accustomed to. In fact, people called me first because of my community; when I wasn’t available, I knew a childcare professional who was.

Looking for a job in social media:

If you want to look for a new job through social media it’s probably slightly harder if your current friends and communities aren’t online, but there’s also an opportunity for you to find new contacts and also stand out for doing something innovative.

Happy job hunting!