It seems like George Hook and Grafton Recruitment are out of the traps and leading the charge for Twitter in Ireland. George has recently been letting us all know what he has been eating in restaurants and his views on Munster and Ireland's magnanimous rugby campaigns. Grafton Recruitment on the other hand has been out there tweeting their jobs and trying to catch the attention of the passive candidates out there who are beginning to join the warble of the Twitter converts that are growing in their thousands each week on these shores. Here's what the Irish Independent had to say about it yesterday:
"Grafton Recruitment has become the first recruitment agency anywhere in Ireland to incorporate the revolutionary internet tool 'Twitter' as an integral part of their e-marketing strategy.
The company have used existing technology to ensure that every new job posted to their own website broadcasts as a 'Tweet' on Twitter which is then added to the TwitterJobSearch.com database opening up Grafton jobs to a potential worldwide audience.
As well as this facility Grafton Recruitment will also be 'tweeting' updates on news, industry statistics, market trends as well as exclusive jobs making it one of the must-read recruitment Micro-blogs online.Nico Fell, Grafton Recruitment e-Business Manager said:
"By allowing candidates to follow Grafton jobs on Twitter, we have created a channel of pull media which is perfect for those on the move or people who aren't based in front of a computer all day. With mobile access and the explosion of the iPhone and Blackberry into the online world, sites like Twitter and www.TwitterJobSearch.com are ideal for keeping up to date with the latest jobs. With this new tool commuters weary of their current job can keep up to date in the market for a more rewarding role on the way home from work."
Outlining Grafton's experience of how the job market has become increasingly global in recent years. Mr Fell said,
"Grafton Recruitment's own site attracts visitors from over 130 countries worldwide and will be complimented well by the global reach of Twitter's new job search service which is already serving over 80 countries. We see the competition for roles coming not only from local candidates but also those from overseas as the willingness to travel to find your ideal job increases."
This weeks' announcement comes on the back of Grafton Recruitment's recent shortlisting for 'The Recruiter Awards' for Best Recruitment Firm Website and Nico Fell said the Twitter service was just one of a number of recent innovations Grafton Recruitment had added to their online service as web-based traffic continued to grow."
www.twitter.com/graftonrec
So how does it work?
Most of us know by now but just in case you don't it's basically a status update search engine aggregation that allows you post a 140 characters at a time. Check out the video to see it in action.
Should I be using it to recruit?
It has its pro's and con's. On the plus side it's free, easy to use and quick. It could help you target passive candidates and now that www.TwitterJobSearch.com has hit the market, which is also free, it could be a new channel to get your message out in a new and novel way and help you reduce your recruitment budget along the way. On the con side, from a multi-national employer perspective, it seems to be dominated by recruitment agencies looking at new ways to cast their nets. Also, if could become a distraction if you start to get traffic coming your way, that doesn't match what you're looking for and are not teaching you anything. It could be deflecting your important time away from searching for a candidate using a different channel that may be more effective.
Howard Lee, CEO of Workdigital, the company who created www.TwitterJobSearch.com, believes that recruiting through Twitter does have its benefits, and points to firms such as Intel, who's IntelJobs account currently has over 600 followers. "The advantage of Twitter is that it taps into the passive jobseeker market," he suggests.
It's worth a try so give it a go and let me know how you get on?
I'll be at: http://twitter.com/irishrecruiters
Also, get ready for Twitter offering some added functionality and launching some pro accounts in the near future. Word on the street is they've hired a new product manager and will be launching soon! Also, there's plenty of Apps already out there for Twitter so check them out on your smart phone.
