Use of Social Media for recruitment

I went to an event on Tuesday evening hosted by the Institute of Directors in conjunction with Coventry University London campus and a private organisation called 'We Connect Students', at Deloitte HQ called 'Recruitment and the City' with a major focus on the use of social media in recruitment.

The main points that came out were:

Steven Rolls, Head of HR for Deloitte said that they began using social media for recruitment as they realised that it was a medium that students use.

In terms of the type of people that they look for, Deloitte said they are looking for bright people who are enthusiastic and keen to work in their business.  He said that if someone is really keen to work at Deloitte then they would have 'liked' their facebook page and be following their twitter account.

Carole Still, Founder of Simply Business Skills made the comment that 7 out of 10 companies are using facebook as a means of actively rejecting students.

Oliver Dickenson, Founder of We Connect Students (currently a business student at Plymouth Uni himself) said that 32% of UK graduates from the Russell group of Universities are planning to look overseas for their first job and if employers in the UK want to hold on to them, they need to engage with them through social media.

All employers present emphasised the point that students need to use their network and if they feel they don't have one, then they need to start building one and actively make use of it!