Employer of Choice Conference: Social Sourcing – Tomorrow’s World or Another False Dawn?
Technology is changing the recruitment profession. Quick! Quick! Women and children first! Abandon ship!
We’ve done this a few times now of course. First job boards were going to destroy the recruitment profession, then it was social media, now LinkedIn will. New sourcing tech is rolling off the production line faster than Silicon Valley MBAs can say, while leaning back in their chairs with loafers on desk perhaps, “Seed Capital”. Currently another newbie, Glassdoor, is getting in on the act, offering the opportunity to slam your current employer and apply for a carefully targeted, directly-sourced role on the same screen. Honestly, recruiters, pack up. Tech guys have it in for you.
And yet, in every one of these examples, it’s been the way we do what we do, and not the core of what we do, that has altered. 90% of job board posts are placed by recruitment agencies. LinkedIn’s major revenue stream? Recruitment agencies. There seems to be no way to really replace the human element at the heart of this profession. Making processes efficient? Check. Yet this isn’t what we’re sold by the tech press and the early adopters. This was meant to be a revolution, baby, and it’s all a little bit the same.
There’s no doubt though, that lately Social Sourcing has become increasingly popular as a means of attracting the right talent for one’s organisation, ensuring you recruit the very best amongst your ranks through “the process of locating and engaging active and passive candidates through the use of social media, platforms, and networks” (Bersin, 2014). As more and more aspects of our life are being digitalised, so is the recruitment process as professionals claim “sourcing candidates over the web is critical to success today”(forbes, 2014).
It is for this reason that we have decided to focus one of our 3 main streams on the topic of ‘Social Sourcing’ at our Recruiting Excellence for Africa conference, taking place on 21 November 2014 in Johannesburg. We are looking to distil the imperative from the intriguing, the game-changing from the gratuitous, and to do it, we’re turning to Africa’s HR leaders. In the continent whose money was mobile 10 years before the US and UK were ‘pinging it’, surely here we will find the people and the processes that will make revolution where everyone else is stuck in evolution?
Let the debate begin: Can the example of the leading practitioners tell us whether Social Sourcing is today’s buzz, or tomorrow’s standard? Who are the employers and leaders embracing, excelling and exciting in this area?
With 100 of Africa’s top HR professionals in attendance and key speakers from some of the continent’s biggest brands, Recruiting Excellence for Africa is a must attend event shaping and investigating the recruitment process in top African businesses. Don’t miss out on this opportunity to participate in some of the most cutting edge discussions revolving around the HR industry. To find out more please visit our websiteon the Africa Employer of Choice Conference, London 2015