We’ll wrap up our discussion regarding social networking and recruiting today with some insight from Omowale Casselle, a contributor to the Electronic Recruiting Exchange’s blog network.

In the previous two posts on this topic (1,2), we learned about some of the major boundaries associated with social networking (i.e. what doesn’t work), and how “relational currency” is necessary to be a legitimate part of any social network.  This still doesn’t give us much direction regarding how we should conduct ourselves concerning the regular input we offer to our social networks—especially as it relates to recruiting.

Casselle suggests our interactions on social networks have the following characteristics:

1. Be Present.  This means establishing a presence on sites (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter & niche) that are important to your target audience.  For each site that you join, you are going to have to spend lots of time establishing your presence.  If you do your homework, you should be able to identify 3-5 sites that are most relevant to your target audience.
2. Be Knowledgeable.  Recruiting is largely driven by the exchange of relevant information.  Both employers and candidates are looking to learn more information about each other to establish fit.  Based on your target audience, you should be prepared to highlight the major benefits of your industry, organization, and specific openings as well as respond to likely areas of candidate concern.
3. Be Helpful.  As more and more people are connecting with one another on the social web, it is important to establish yourself as someone who can be helpful.  If candidates have a question, do you quickly respond to it or do you ignore it?  If a colleague is struggling with the implementation of some new technology that you have mastered, do you reach out and offer assistance, or do you let them struggle for the solution on their own?  With all the talk around interaction and engagement, one of the major ways to establish a great reputation is to help others without expectation of reciprocity.
4. Be Social.  When you see an interesting blog post, tweet, or status update – dive in.  Don’t let fear of what others might think about your thoughts inhibit you from socially engaging with others.  Expand your social network, reach out to people with peripheral but related interests.  In no time, you will start to see just how interconnected different ideas and concepts are.
5. Be Aware.  There are a variety of written and unwritten rules to social engagement.  WRITING IN ALL CAPS, only tweeting about job openings, or discussing your personal relationship status on Facebook are typically frowned upon.  However, there are also things that are not yet well-established that may be detrimental to your social recruiting efforts.  Are you always negative?  Do you only discuss or share content consistent with your point of view on a subject?  Before you engage with others using social media or social networks, take a moment to think about how your target audience will receive it.
6. Be Yourself.  Even though there might be a temptation to create an idealized image of yourself on the web (complete with amazing profile picture and embellished accomplishments), it isn’t going to work.  In fact, the more you try to become someone you aren’t, the more people you are looking to build relationships with will shy away.  By letting people know who you really are, you can start to truly build some real relationships.
7. Be Authentic.  No one wants to engage with someone who constantly argues point of views that they don’t agree with.  If you truly don’t agree with something, then by all means jump into the conversation and express your disagreement.  But, don’t pretend to be against technology based recruiting while constantly tweeting job openings at your company.  If you do, you will quickly lose all credibility.  The main reason is that lots of users have a variety of interests, and they will begin to track people of interest to see what they have to say on a variety of forums.

This is good advice, but you may also notice it’s a lot of work.  For some, this type of “work” is going to feel natural and enjoyable, but for others it will be a burden.  If you’re in the first group, social networking can and should have a significant impact on how you recruit. 

If you’re in the second group, you’ll find that you’ll only be able to “push this uphill” for a short while.  Your energy toward social netoworking will quickly diminish and you won’t be able to consistently make the contributions necessary to be successful.  Rather than beating yourself up, I would recommend finding other areas where you can make contributions that are more in line with your talents.