Without a doubt, the sourcing process and social media have evolved. Interestingly, both have met in a crossroad, and today, one can find plenty of recruiters, either in-house or outsource, who make use of social media websites and its tools to find the right applicants.

The Story of EMC

Let’s recognize the power of social media tools and how a sourcing agent can maximize them with a story.

EMC is one of the biggest infrastructure information firms in the world. In fact, it belongs to the top 500 Fortune companies. However, before it reached such high status, it first had to struggle getting through the recession period during the early twenty-first century. They had to acquire several companies in a short amount of time, as well as pool of the best people in the field to work for their company.

It’s in the latter that social media networking played a huge role. The tools were common and used by millions of people, especially sourcing agents, all over the world. Nevertheless, their manner of using them spelled the difference.

To attract the ideal candidates, they needed to build a powerful brand. Through these social media tools, they were able to highlight the strengths and develop their own USP (unique selling proposition), so applicants could see and understand why EMC is the best place to render their services.

How You Can Do This Too?

The idea of transforming the company you’re working with into one of the Top 500 is definitely a long feat. Others may even call it wishful thinking. However, if one can simply stick to the techniques developed by EMC, as well as those of the others, it is certainly not an impossible dream.

You need to know how to use effectively every social media tool available. Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn — all these are efficient social networking websites. They follow almost the same principles. People from all corners of the globe can sign up for free and connect with one another, but each one of them actually specializes in something.

For instance, LinkedIn is highly recommended if you want to post jobs and search resumes in an instant. After all, it’s a network for professionals. On the other hand, Facebook Pages allows you to create your own brand and following, thus bringing your business a lot closer to your intended crowd. In Twitter, you can use hashtags to search for individuals who are currently looking for jobs.

The sourcing agent doesn’t have to do a handful of recruitment jobs alone. He or she can serve as the facilitator and encourage existing employees to promote the culture and the brand of the company to their peers and acquaintances. One can follow the model developed by Marcel Media, where employees were encouraged to make blog posts about the company in their respective websites.