logologo_light
SIGN-UP
  • HOW IT WORKS
    • SRA Home
    • SRA Learner & SRA Coach
    • Compare Subscriptions
    • SRA Course Content
    • SRA Chrome Extension
  • PRICING
    • SRA Pricing
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • BLOG
    • The Savage Truth Blog
  • PARTNERS
    • Savage Partners
  • BOOKS
    • Recruit The Savage Way
    • The Savage Truth Book
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • Free Video – Behaviour & Activity
    • Free Video – Selling Is Listening
    • E-Book – Kpis & Performance
    • E-Book – Fill More Roles
    • E-Book – Starting A Business
    • E-Book – Successful M&A
  • SIGN-IN
    • Sign-In – Existing
    • Sign-Up – New
  • HOW IT WORKS
    • SRA Home
    • SRA Learner & SRA Coach
    • Compare Subscriptions
    • SRA Course Content
    • SRA Chrome Extension
  • PRICING
    • SRA Pricing
    • Frequently Asked Questions
  • BLOG
    • The Savage Truth Blog
  • PARTNERS
    • Savage Partners
  • BOOKS
    • Recruit The Savage Way
    • The Savage Truth Book
  • FREE RESOURCES
    • Free Video – Behaviour & Activity
    • Free Video – Selling Is Listening
    • E-Book – Kpis & Performance
    • E-Book – Fill More Roles
    • E-Book – Starting A Business
    • E-Book – Successful M&A
  • SIGN-IN
    • Sign-In – Existing
    • Sign-Up – New

Forget the hype. Australian Recruiters do not use Twitter!

Last year I conducted an RCSA seminar for over 500 Australian Recruiters in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. The topic was “Riding the Recovery” and part of my session was on Social Media and how we need to build that technology into our talent sourcing strategies.

Well, I grabbed this opportunity to conduct a little mini-survey on the Twitter habits of attendees. It was totally unscientific and very impromptu, so take from this what you will, but I was somewhat surprised to find that only 5% of the attendees (by show of hands) in Sydney and Melbourne actually have a Twitter account at all. In Brisbane the percentage was also dismally low, but better than the rest at about 10%

I am not sure what I expected. The percentage is higher in my own company, but we still have many non Twitter users at Firebrand, so who am I to judge? But on the other hand, Australians are massive early-adopters of technology, and at the general level have swarmed into Social Media use. Why not recruiters?

I think this is going to have to change – and fast. We won’t be able to rely on job boards for candidates going forward. The cream of candidates, especially passive ones, will need to be sourced through an increasingly fragmented variety of channels. In my view Social Media will be one of those channels.

But for recruiters Twitter will be far more than a simple source of candidates to fill todays’ job order. More important than that is that smart use of Social Media is an opportunity to be perceived as an expert in your industry niche. Recruiters are going to need to use Twitter to foster relationships (and not to spam people by the way), build credibility, and actually interact with communities of people they might want to place in the future, or who are influencers in their area of interest. That will be increasingly powerful for those who get it right.

In my view it’s like this. Social media remains a TOOL – not a strategy – to reach people. There are still tons of people who will not be found on social networking sites. Recruiters don’t want to be seduced by Social Media and the hype surrounding it — but equally recruiters must acknowledge its’ role, and figure out how to work it into the talent acquisition mix

  • Posted by Greg Savage
  • On November 25, 2009
  • 7 Comments
Tags: Recruiter Training, Relationship building, Social Networking, talent management

7 Comments

Thomas Shaw
  • Nov 25 2009
  • Reply
~ 186 Australian Recruiters I know that are on Twitter http://twitter.com/ThomasShaw/recruiters/members ~ 120 Australian Job Boards/Online Recruitment industry I know that are on Twitter http://twitter.com/ThomasShaw/jobboards-industry/members That's just the people I know.
Paul Johnson
  • Nov 25 2009
  • Reply
I totally agree with you rblog post. I am based in the UAE and am currently "dipping my toes" into the use of social media in our industry. I have engaged a social media consultant to help! He has said exactly what you have. Should have come to you and saved a fortune! Paul Johnson http://www.linkedin.com/in/pauljohnsonoutconsult
Graham Winder
  • Nov 25 2009
  • Reply
I see it used more from a Company level as opposed to a Recruiter level within recruiters. Web restrictions could be a contributory factor also? We however recently developed a piece of functionality for a Healthcare client that wanted to tweet available shifts to nurses. Very early days but the feedback will be interesting.
Gareth Jones
  • Nov 26 2009
  • Reply
Hi Greg. I think you hit the nail on the head for me when you say "Social Media is an opportunity to be perceived as an expert in your industry niche." That is so true. At the moment, the opportunity to have a dialogue, with a client especially, is quite limited to the times you are either on the phone discussing the candidates or the job brief or both or when you are at a client meeting for a pitch or a catch up. None of these scenarios affords much time for wider discussion or the ability to showcase wider knowledge or expertise. This changes dramatically in social media and especially in tools like Linked in. Before this dynamic my opportunity to have air time with, say, the Marketing Director of Sony or the HR Director of GSK was impossible, or limited, if i didn't know them. Now, they are members of our LinkedIn group - they joined through their own interest. And as a member of that group or 'community' im able to have a level of conversation through discussions or sharing of links that both, hopefully, help to demonstrate my wider credibility and potential value. The magic of this medium also seems to make it so much easier to create a connection with someone like this. Its so new that people are interested in connecting in a way that they would not have been before. For example i have managed to get email addresses and mobile phone numbers from people i have approached on Twitter. I could never have got that in the old world so easily. One issue though is that it does expose you so much more and im hopeful that some of the lousy recruiters out there will finally be exposed by their clumsy efforts on social media.
Roger Philby
  • Jul 9 2010
  • Reply
Hi Greg. The problem is you have to have faith and exhibit trust, two things missing in most recruitment agencies culture. It's not an instant revenue maker or maybe ever, it's faith that if you have something to say, it will be heard and if you have something intelligent/informative to say it will shape peoples perception of you or your business. My point is it's an investment and as we all know recruitment agencies don't do investment, not in people and definitely not in social media. Fools.
Nick Edwards
  • Jul 19 2010
  • Reply
That is what Twitter is all about, being perceived as an expert in your niche. As a recruiter I have now been using Twitter for over a year and find it a great way to not only keep abreast of what is happening in my industry sector but also to Tweet articles, news stories and blog posts that I feel my followers would find interesting and useful. As I am sure you all know, Social Media is great to use as long as you are useful
Susan P.
  • Jul 27 2010
  • Reply
There are, as others have indicated, many recruiters now on Twitter but I've seen a significant amount of poor practice including: not understanding the basic client creation tools, mixing up overly personal and businesses tweets, and insulting potential corporations and suppliers by personal comments. However, social media marketing positions being advertised by recruitment companies also sometimes display a complete lack of understanding of the medium and the roles required. Not ONE ad I have seen in six months shows understanding of a vital area of activity for example. This said, I believe many recruiters are wanting to be progressive and are listening more to industry consultants.

Leave Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

SUBSCRIBE TO THE SAVAGE TRUTH
SUBSCRIBE NOW
SEARCH
THE LATEST SAVAGE TRUTH
  • What are big recruitment companies doing?
  • Automation without accountability is a liability!
  • Global staffing market forecasts downgraded
  • Use ChatGPT like a recruiting champ
  • Recruiters, let’s go to McDonald’s!

Top 20 HR Blogs 2019

The Savage Truth – Categories
Greg Savage & The Savage Truth

Greg is the founder of leading recruitment companies Firebrand Talent Search, People2People and Recruitment Solutions, and a current shareholder and director of several others, including Consult Recruitment. He is a regular keynote speaker worldwide and provides specialised advice for Recruitment, Professional Services & Social Media companies.





When it comes to public speaking, preparation saves perspiration

Australian Recruiters: LinkedIn or Lucked out?

Scroll
LOVE THE WAY YOU LEARN

From on-demand video training, through to AI delivered advice direct to your desktop, our SRA learning platform now enables users to ‘Ask Greg’ questions and receive advice in real-time, without interrupting work-flow.

> SRA Learner & SRA Coach
> Subscription Pricing
> SRA Course Content
> Compare Subscriptions
> SRA Chrome Extension

RECENTLY ON THE SAVAGE TRUTH BLOG
  • What are big recruitment companies doing?
  • Automation without accountability is a liability!
  • Global staffing market forecasts downgraded
  • Use ChatGPT like a recruiting champ
  • Recruiters, let’s go to McDonald’s!
  • Recruitment. Australia up 🚀 UK down 🔻
  • Scale your recruitment business fast 🚀
  • What it really takes to be a leader 🥇
  • AI will replace these recruiters soon ☠️
  • 18 ways you screw up placements
The Savage Recruitment Academy
Copyright The Savage Recruitment Academy 2025 | Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Site By AMC Creative