High-tech networking not for everyone

• Jo-Anne Hui
• 3 November 2009
• Page 1 of 2 : single page

Photo credit: Christopher Nielsen

Once upon a time, when Joe Bloggs was on the hunt for a job, he would sit down at the kitchen table with a newspaper and attack the job ads with a red texta. Nowadays, jobseekers and employers are flocking to social networking sites like LinkedIn and getting busy establishing new contacts, widening their networks, updating their online resumes and making recommendations.

Linking into online networks

Rent a Recruiter founder Claire Monahan is a big believer of LinkedIn, which she claims to be the best site in Australia for jobseekers and employers. In fact, when Monahan is looking to hire, the first step she takes is to log onto the site and look for potential recruits. Monahan, who has worked in the recruitment industry for 12 years, claims there has been a significant shift in the marketplace: the days of advertising in the local newspaper and hoping for the best are long gone.

"Now we have to be a lot more proactive to look for talent, even with the increased candidate market because of the economic downturn," she says.

"It's still a battle for the best team members and, normally, they're still in employment, so you have to reach out and connect to them, rather than expect them to come to you. Technology has had an enormous impact, particularly in the last couple of years, in terms of sourcing the best talent for our clients."

For candidates, using a social network site to promote their interests and talents is less intimidating than the traditional methods of applying for a job, such as responding directly to an ad, adds Monahan. However, not all of them are so effective for professional purposes.

"To be honest, Twitter is still unproven in the Australian market at the moment. Certainly it's generating a lot of interest, but I'm not certain of it as a recruitment tool at this point in time," she says.

"Facebook works extremely well for certain sectors, like creative industries such as fashion and graphic design. It does tend to be very good for that, less so when you're looking for executives. It's a question of identifying which medium is most appropriate for your target market."

According to Monahan, what sets LinkedIn apart from other jobhunting sites is the ability to make recommendations for contacts, thus injecting more credibility into the site. Also, the site is more interactive and allows users to connect with other like-minded individuals, either by sending them invitations or finding them through networks.

The old-school approach works best

However, Business Networking International (BNI) executive director Robert Greenup is sceptical of the value of online networking, even though he admits sites such as LinkedIn have raised the awareness of networking and have a place in the professional landscape.

"I think more than ever, with the amount of internet marketing noise that is coming at individuals today, it makes it almost impossible to work out who's legitimate and who isn't," he says. "Getting to know people is almost a prerequisite for giving any recommendations or doing business for them. It's made it more difficult to filter out those who are substantial and legitimate."

BNI is the largest referral based business in the world with 120,000 members in 44 countries and 5300 operating chapters. The organisation has been running for 24 years. Greenup says traditional networking "has certainly not been compromised whatsoever by social networking sites".

"We haven't changed our methods in 20 years because they continue to work," he says.

“Bonney avoids organised networking events, as he believes they add little value to building relationships and are often staged with a ‘survival of the fittest’ approach”

"The method we use is word-of-mouth marketing, and that's been around for thousands of years. In the last five or 10 years of social networking ... it hasn't really done anything other than raise the awareness of the importance of networking.

"It hasn't detracted from what we're doing."

A middle ground

According to managing director Tony Bonney from communications marketing agency Podium, online networking and face-to-face events can work together successfully.

"Networking is a human, not a business activity," he says. "We all live in tribes and packs and so the experience of online things like LinkedIn is virtual in every sense.

"A relationship doesn't mean anything until you put people together, that's why live networking is important but it's got to be done in a mutually beneficial fashion.

"There's no point putting someone in a room who's being harassed by a million people. It's too confronting and too difficult. Online can help you define that, promote that and get the message right. They're intrinsically linked."

Common interest groups

Tim Parsons, co-founder of Mobile Monday Sydney, a community of professionals within the mobile industry, says LinkedIn is a valuable tool in establishing contact with others, particularly reactivating relationships that may have become dormant. However, Parsons is quick to note that there is no substitute for meeting would-be recruits, employers and business contacts in the flesh through networking events.

"Online, it's easy to indicate you're interested in something," he says. "In three seconds you can say, ‘I'm interested in X', but if you commit to turning up to an event, you're demonstrating you really, really care. So yes, physical events are as important as online events, if not more important."

He adds that online tools can help provide a foundation on which to create networks and expose opportunities.

Mobile Monday's networking events, Parsons says, help shed light on how different companies operate. In fact, he recommends candidates who have identified a prospective employer invite them to a networking event as a less formal interview point.

"There's a set of formal behaviours and practices around the whole recruitment/resume/interview exchange, which has limitations when it comes to really showing what a company might be like to
work for," says Parsons.

"Joining a company is like getting a new partner and you want a chance to see them in both formal and informal settings before you commit to that relationship. Events like MoMo can give you that insight."