Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

Job recruiting through social networks has a lot of pros and cons. Not only would your job be linked to you professionally but personally as well. Most job candidates may feel uneasy linking the two together because it may feel like an invasion of privacy. Linking a job with any social network platform such as Facebook has its advantages because of how often people are on the site or app. It can be convenient to the employer and the to the employee because of the consistent contact. "Indeed, Jeff Vijungco, vice president of worldwide talent acquisition for Adobe Systems Inc., said that in focus groups, prospective job candidates were sharply averse to being contacted through Facebook for jobs." (Light, Joe. "Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like."The Wall Street Journals. Dow Jones & Company, In.). Although LinkedIn specializes in job recruitment as a social network platform, it's nothing but business, unlike Facebook which is usually used personally with friends and family.  LinkedIn is used as a professional networking outlet to recruit knowledgeable candidates with executive experience. Another plus that linked offers that is effective when looking ton fill a position is an access to candidate resumes."Even though LinkedIn is the traditional route to recruiting employers are preferring the connection they have through facebook more."Facebook's use as a job-recruitment tool remains small, but its appeal may be growing. Some recruiters say they have all but eliminated their spending on job boards, which can charge a few hundred dollars per job posting, depending on volume. Others note that while LinkedIn  contains a more comprehensive résumé database, candidates tend to value referrals from their connections on Facebook more." (Light, Joe. "Recruiters Troll Facebook for Candidates They Like."The Wall Street Journals. Dow Jones & Company, In.).
As far as recruiting and employing candidates from social networking outlets companies such as Sony has used brand ambassadors to jump-start the launch of its new (at the time) GPS camera to candidates the personally liked as a company. They hired candidates who travelled frequently, blogged, and took great photographs while they travelled to various locations. Sony used the brand ambassadors to market the GPS camera that draws on satellite tracking technology to let you record the exact location of every picture you take and later map them out online using Google Maps. The wanted the brand ambassadors to show their friends and family, associates, and generally, anyone they could advertise the camera to. "Brand ambassadors programs leverage the power of peer-to-peer communication. Consumers heat about products and brand experiences from others just like themselves- people they trust- rather than from commercial marketing sources." (Armstrong, Gary, and Philip Kotler. Marketing: An Introduction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2000. Print.)