I recently read an article on the 5 Ways to Use Pinterest for Recruiting and I just sat there in awe thinking why? Why are recruiters wasting their life away pinning in hopes that job seekers will find their board and be so enamored by pictures that they would apply for a specific job? Two years ago when I was desperately searching for a job I would have never thought of searching a site like Pinterest to find my new exciting career.
Pinterest isn’t Proven
Pinterest is still relatively new and analytics aren’t fully functional when it comes to proving the correlation between direct hires and the use of the social network. In order for Pinterest to have a fighting chance, they will need to create sharp analytics to prove it’s a viable resource for sourcing and recruiting job candidates. I see Pinterest being more effective as an employer branding social networking aside from sourcing and recruiting. Even as a community there is a lack of being able to connect directly with the brand. You can pin, pin, and repin, but how do you connect aside from commenting how cute a pin is or how neat an inforgraphic looks?
I’m not sure if I really buy into the idea of using Pinterest to make a job listing more multi-dimensional. Sure, having a pretty picture or pictures of what “on-the-job” looks like is interesting, but would it convince me to pull the trigger and apply for a job? Probably not. The candidate experience extends beyond seeing pretty pictures. Working in marketing has taught me multiple lessons about how employers are able to show candidates one thing and then deliver another. I have interviewed for jobs in which they sold me 100% on the company and after working at said company for 6 months it was one big lie. To me, Pinterest is all pretty pictures and big dreams. Without analytics to support recruiting on Pinterest, it’s really hard to tell if the third largest social network is actually working for recruiters.
Use Pinterest for Employement Branding — ONLY!!
I think companies need to stick with using Pinterest as a tool for employment branding. Until direct statistics can be prove the benefit in the recruiting and sourcing world, employers are better off branding themselves in a more positive light. My advice to job seekers would be to completely stay off Pinterest when thinking about finding a job. Not only will job seekers spend numerous hours on Pinterest being sidetracked, but besides learning more about the company, what will they really learn about specific job opportunities?
When I was in need of a job, I didn’t spend numerous hours looking at how amazing the company I was applying for was, I was applying for hundreds of jobs. To me, recruiters are wasting their time on Pinterest. They can’t prove any correlation and encouraging job seekers to find jobs on Pinterest is a waste of their life. Stick with employer branding right now and maybe when the network gets out of its infancy, start trying to recruit, but for now, leave it alone. Am I wrong or is Pinterest just a new network so everyone is trying to run a little faster then it’s evolving? I would love to be proven wrong, but I have yet to see an article that conviences me that Pinterest is truly worth investing in as a recruitment strategy.
What’s your level of invovlement on Pinterest?
Do you use Pinterest for recruiting or sourcing? How do you prove its effectiveness? Prove me wrong!
6 Comments
Thank you, for the love of all that is good and deep fried, thank you.
I completely agree. I may use it for recruiting but when I say that I mean, employment branding, not sourcing. As a job seeker I might check out a company’s pinterest if I wanted to learn more about the company and what kind of voice they had. I wouldn’t actually look for a job there…not yet at least. My motto: the stronger the employment brand, the easier the recruiting. Hence, my continued use of pinterest as a recruiter.
As a job seeker, I’ve never considered the company’s Pinterest boards to get a feel for their culture. I do my research on more established online properties like their official page, LinkedIn page, Twitter accounts and any relevant news.
I think unless you are a consumer brand and I will be the community manager working on said consumer account, I wouldn’t really visit that page. It should be a continuation of your branding, so I shouldn’t expect to find something entirely different from your main site, right?
Findlay – My thoughts exactly!
Katie – Employment Branding works, recruiting doesn’t, imo. So you’re good ;).
Vassie – I think you’re completely right. I wish more people would see our viewpoint!
I chanced upon this post and wonder why you are bothered? Surely one value of the internet is the variety of options it offers and if it works for someone in a particular way, then why not? Why are you bothered if others waste their time.
For my part, I too have had period seriously looking for work and I have Linkedin, Twitter and Pinterest accounts, I blog and have a variety of “ianjsutherland” email addresses. In large part, as a candidate it is part of creating and protecting brand “me”.
I don’t see Pinterest as a prime job posting tool, but I can see it being part of a suite of research about a candidate.
For me, if I have the sites then no-one else can AND I can control to a larger extent what is found on searches. I don’t much care how anyone else uses it.
Interesting article. I’ve never imagined using Pinterest to really source for candidates within except for very niche skill sets or use it as an extension of your company branding but rather I use it to gather intelligence on the social recruiting landscape and it’s changes as we head into a more mobile environment. Thank you for the additional perspectives.
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