Question and Retain, the online Pulse Check™ company, recently carried out two Pulse Check™s looking at the future of online search and selection.
The findings from the first pulse which asked – Do you believe LinkedIn is being superseded by next generation recruitment tools e.g. Entelo? – went out to 3000 + HR Directors and senior recruiters.
The results suggest there is an emerging trend in that although 37% believe LinkedIn to be the search tool of choice, 10% of respondents claim there are other great new tools out there waiting for exploitation. That said, 49% of those pulsed, appear unsure of what exists beyond LinkedIn with companies such as Entelo with one HR lead noting, “Never heard of Entelo and I can find out what I want on LinkedIn very easily.”
However, Adam Gordon, MD of Social Media Search warns, “Online search is moving very fast and it’s important for recruitment leaders to make sure they’re up to speed. Saying you can find everything you need on LinkedIn may be fair but there are a lot of recruitment leaders who simply aren’t aware of all the other sources of candidate information that are available right now.”
The second pulse – How much influence does the external profile of your management team have on potential candidates in the recruitment process? – yielded more insight in that 67% believe that the more compiling your online profile is, the better. A further 29% say it will have more influence on the recruitment process in the future with one respondent commenting, “As more organisations use social media to raise the external profile of their businesses and more candidates engage with online search facilities to do research prior to interviewing/joining an organisation, this area will become more prominent.”
Gordon added, “Many hiring managers lack the skills needed to ensure their online profiles are compelling. We work with a range of talent acquisition teams who are taking responsibility and helping line managers look both useful and relevant online. Most candidates will review them before an interview. It’s now a pre-requisite in the search and selection process to get this right.”
Annabel Dunstan, Chief Insight Officer and Co-Founder at Question & Retain, commented, “The findings of both pulses show how vibrant the online search market is. The opportunities to innovate are clear. The challenge is picking the right search tool to effect a step change in how candidates are discovered online and likewise, how their perceptions are changed by an impressive, interactive profile that seeks to engage with its audience rather than disengage.”