Social recruiting: are you using social media tools to find new talent?

• Author: M., Damien B.

Social media has seemingly taken over--or at the least. gently nudged itself into--all facets if one's personal and professional life. And while friending and tweeting may not be your thing, most of the new talent coming into the marketplace is quite comfortable with Facebook, Twitter and the like. Thai's lead to an increasing number of firms and companies using social media as a recruiting tool to find the next. best hire they've ever made.

Social media is not to be feared, or resisted. Social media is to be leveraged, as much--or as little--as you please.

So, why not jump in and see what you can do for your company or who you can find for your firm?

But there's no need to jump in blindly. To assist you. we asked a few CalCPA member firms about their level of social media engagement, and how it has affected their recrusting efforts so you can we what others are doing and where you may fit in.

Social players

We spoke to five firms regarding social media and recruiting. Here's the rundown of who they are and their level of social engagement:

* Gumbiner Savett Inc.: Uses Linkedln and RSS feeds/blogging capabilities through its website. As part of the firm's marketing and recruiting plans, it is looking to expand the use of social media over the next 12 months in particular the firm hopes to launch its Facebook site early in 2012.

* Frank, Rimerman + Co. LLP: Has its own Facebook page geared toward campus recruitment and for marketing general news announcements about the firm. The firm also has a LinkedIn page.

* Hemming Morse Inc.: The firm has minimal involvement on any social media sites, but several of the employees have LinkedIn profiles and are active in industry related groups.

* Armanino McKenna LLP: This firm is active on the three biggest social media sites, Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

* Burr Pilger Mayer, Inc: Also active on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, and plans to fold hlogging into their social media presence in the near future.

For comparison's sake, we should mention some things the Big 4 are doing, as reported by CAMICO in a recent IMPACT Newsletter.

* Deloitte Australia has leveraged its employees' Facebook networks with the firm's employee referral program to develop a JoinMe@Deloitte application. Since the application was launched, 1,286 employees have added it to their Facebook profiles, 2.793 users have viewed the application and 150 of them have requested referrals for hire.

* Ernst & Young found that more than 50 percent of its target recruitment audience would be interested in receiving more information about, potential employers on their mobile devices. Such demographics and preferences prompted E&Y to post a careers page on Facebook, attracting more than 50,000 fans. A mobile version of E&Y's careers site was also launched.

virtual recruiting

There's no doubt that social media and technology is changing how companies approach recruiting. In a recent article titled "Always Growing Means Always Recruiting," CFO.com reported on Career Builder's Talent Network: a piece of software that creates a portal on top of an organization's webpage and opens an online dialogue between the firm and potential candidates, allowing them to do things like post resumes and receive alerts when certain jobs become open.

While something this interactive and aggressive might not be for everyone, it speaks to the online world--including social media--changing the landscape of how companies recruit. You can either go out and find them or, now, have them come to you via an online presence. And don't forget the additional branding you can do for your firm via social media.

Here's how some CalCPA firms spoke to this idea of online social media changing the recruiting game.

"We recognize that social media is a great way to build a strong brand for our firm and our recruiting plans try to encompass as...