The Times They Are A-Changin'

If you aren't using Twitter you may be dismayed by yet another article about social media. This week alone, Fox, CNN, NPR, The View, The Jon Stewart Show, and Doonesbury all discussed Twitter in some fashion. Well read on. The Times They Are A-Changin' and you might as well know some ways in which it will affect you and your candidates as you seek to fill key positions.

As a fairly new user of Twitter, I have come to enjoy reading and writing 140 character messages for many reasons. The most important: it's educational. Twitter is populated with a lot of smart people and many of them share their knowledge via blog posts, pod casts, books and articles. Others take the time to find interesting blog posts, pod casts, books and articles and share them with their followers. So, I have a lot of new reading material and I have "met" many new people with whom I can share information. I am definitely not an early adopter. In fact, I'm more of a resigned follower in this time of change, one who is working to understand where everything fits in my life and business.

Yesterday on Twitter, Stuart C. Foster posted a question asking why he simply couldn't use his Linked In page as his resume. Since reviewing resumes and evaluating candidates is a major part of my job, I have definite opinions on the subject and shared them with Stuart on Twitter in a number of Tweets. (Stay with me.) When the 140 character limit got to me, we had an excellent phone conversation.

Stuart is Maine born and educated. living in Boston -- looking for work and consulting in marketing. Today Stuart contacted me to get my permission to use my Tweets in an article on his blog, and he treated me very kindly in an excellent piece on his view of the issue.

So what's the message? First of all, social media is here to stay. Deal with it. Learn it. If you want to hire the best and the brightest and if you seek to hire new college grads, then know that they are Linked In, on Facebook, and Twitter. (This is all very different - and much better than - "Tune in, turn on and drop out".) As hiring managers and employers it makes sense to network on Linked In and check out candidates on all major social media sites. It also makes sense for us to get up to speed on the technology and the issues surrounding it in terms of resumes, references, and hiring. You may also want to have some rules and expectations around blogging and micro-blogging for the company and for personal use.

Secondly, while my answers to Stuart are right in most situations today, you can expect things to change down the road. It will take a few years at least and the changes won't come easily to most small companies, but these new forms of communication and networking will absolutely create new forms of resumes and applications, and will provide us with new choices in finding and identifying the best candidates.

Perhaps most important, remember that in the area of social media, those of us who were listening to Dylan 40 years ago can learn a lot from those who may be discovering his music now. If you don't think so, just check out the sophistication of Stuart's blog post compared to mine. I bet it didn't take him forever to get the links right, either.

Finally, if you can find some work for the sharp, witty, and engaging young grads out there -- do it. We are going to need them.

By the way, join me on Linked In; and follow me on Twitter, where I'm @barbatsea.