So Far HR Did Just Fine Without Social Media

by Etienne Besson on 2 February 2012

in #TruGeneva,My musings

Everybody and their grandmother is talking about social media. So far HR did just fine without it. So why fix it if it ain’t broken?

The Menu For Today’s Blog Post

First I’ll try to find reasons why HR can safely ignore social media. Then I’ll present examples of other technological advances that seemed quite unnecessary at the time.

But since I’m a big fan of social media, you can already guess the conclusion…

Why You Can Ignore Social Media

Here are a few common opinions (misconceptions?) about social media:

  • it takes a lot of time, but I’d rather take care of business instead
  • it’s fun, but that’s why I have a Facebook account for friends and family
  • where are the proven results? My boss wants to know about ROI

In The Past…

In the last 20 years we were confronted with many technological changes. Some of them seemed (over-)hyped at first, but radically changed our lives in the end.

Who Needs Job Boards?

10-15 years ago many HR professionals thought that job boards were just a fad. Why put job ads online if

  • job ads in newspapers worked just fine and
  • most potential candidates didn’t have access to the Internet anyway?

But the last time I checked many job boards in Switzerland had hundreds if not thousands of open positions while the weekly jobs section in newspapers is becoming alarmingly thin.

A Company Website: Seriously?

I remember when the World Wide Web was in its infancy and a few businesses even had their own website. Of course these were mostly tech companies. Because “programming” something in HTML was very expensive and there was no way they would ever make any money from it.

Today I admit that I don’t trust a company that doesn’t have its own website.

Email For All Employees

I remember working for a company that had one single email address. Nobody thought of giving an individual email address to each employee. Besides, most business transactions were (successfully) conducted via phone, snail mail and fax.

Back then nobody expected this to ever change. After all, it was working just fine.

So What?

  • Must every company use social media right now? No!
  • Must every HR professional become a social media expert? No!

But I strongly believe that social media has already changed our lives and that it’s here to stay.

So the question for HR professionals is:

  • Do we want to (once again) sit out new developments or are we ready to get involved early on, explore, experiment and take risks?
  • And also position ourselves in a way that we can influence not only the future of HR Management, but also contribute to the success of our businesses (which, I believe, is part of why we’re getting paid)?

Where Do We Go From Here?

Like I said I believe that social media is here to stay. If I’m right then these new communication channels will become an important part of our (business) lives.

So my suggestions are:

  • Learn what social media is really about
  • Keep an open mind
  • Build your own opinion

And if you want to talk about these things, then join us on the 4th of May 2012 for #TruGeneva ;-)

Tagged as: Social Media

Random Thoughts: This Week’s #HRtug

by Etienne Besson on 26 January 2012

in #TruGeneva,HR TweetUp Geneva,My musings,Unconference

Today I’d like to share a few thoughts after the latest #HRtug (HR TweetUp Geneva) from Tuesday, 24 January 2012.

First of all, I halfway expected to spend this #HRtug all alone. Many were busy, sick or I simply hadn’t heard from them in a while. I mentioned this on Twitter and David Goddin (@ChangeContinuum) suggested to have the TweetUp… on Twitter. I loved this idea because I simply hadn’t thought about it ;-)

 

So while waiting at the Grand Duke Pub I started tweeting a few thoughts on the night’s topic “Anti SocialMedia vs Antisocial Media”:

Luckily Marie-Marthe Joly (@MMJoly) showed up a bit later. On a sidenote:

  • When you organize an event with few participants, it might be a good idea to doodle your regulars first before setting the date.
  • I’m always saying that the number of participants is not important as long as we have interesting discussions. I changed my mind about the first part, but as always we had a great discussion ;-)

By the way, check out Emploi Booster, Marie-Marthe Joly’s new job search and career management coaching service (in French).

And now for the random thoughts:

Failing Employer-Employee Model

Our old Employer-Employee model is failing. It’s still based on the industrial revolution and factories, while more and more jobs need creativity and decision-making on a daily basis. Many managers still concentrate mostly on having their staff showing up on time and behaving.

But many current and future employees want to use their skills, learn new things and feel like they make a difference.

Don’t Underestimate The Swiss

Switzerland is always a bit behind, so it’s not surprising that only very few Swiss HR professionals actively use social media. We usually play it safe and wait until we’re certain that something will work.

But then we go for it and shine with Swiss thoroughness and quality. So all hope is not lost yet. On the contrary!

HR Topics For 2012

Many current HR topics are polluted by buzzwords, but this doesn’t make them less relevant. I expect to have many discussions in 2012 about

  • social recruiting
  • employer branding
  • company culture
  • candidate experience
  • broadcasting vs engagement
  • networking (on social networks, offline and on corporate Intranets)
  • etc.

And #TruGeneva on Friday, 4 May 2012 will be the ideal event in order to discuss and learn about these topics!

Internet Sourcing And The “Blue Belt In Internet Recruitment” Training

Sourcing on the Internet is also becoming a hot topic in Switzerland as many recruiters are looking for new ways to identify candidates. Everybody is posting job ads, so the ability to find “invisible” profiles via social networks and search engines (think “boolean” and “x-raying”) represents a very real competitive advantage.

My goal is to organize a “Blue Belt in Internet Recruitment” training with expert sourcers and #TruFriends Geoff Webb (@radicalrecruit) and Johnny Campbell (@recruiterblog) on Thursday, 3 May 2012 (the day before #TruGeneva). This will be the first time they share their extensive knowledge and experience in Switzerland!

Using Facebook Professionally: Next #HRtug Event

Finally, you may miss great opportunities if you use Facebook only privately with friends and family. Yet many people in Switzerland still feel uncomfortable about using this platform with more than 800 million active users professionally.

“Facebook is private and should be for personal use only!?!” is the topic of our next HR TweetUp Geneva on 28 February 2012. You don’t want to miss this one!

 In the meantime, please visit our #HRtug Facebook page and feel free to say hello!

Tagged as: Facebook, Social Media

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