#HRTechChat Episode Four: Coda

Are you one of the #HRTechChat sages? If you've ever tweeted something particularly apt, insightful or just plain mind-blowing, you might be. Actually, that sounds like just about every tweeter on #HRTechChat, and the competition is fierce to appear on the #HRTechChat Coda. That's where we feature the tweets that catch our eye, and we give shout-outs to the tweeters who tweeted them. Here's a coda for last time:

• Q1: Why, do you think, Facebook is where the best job seekers go?
  Already employed job seekers are among the most coveted, and the question stems from Jobvite's recent finding that currently employed people actively seeking work elsewhere avail themselves of Facebook far more than they do Twitter or LinkedIn. According to @TlntJeneration, who appeared to share the opinion with several fellow tweeters (e.g. @DavidSmooke and @workf4labs et al.), "Job-seekers aren't *going* to FB so much as they're already there anyhow." True, that.

• Q2: What cool things can recruiting technologies do to enhance social media recruiting?
  Some of you were clamoring to share ideas on what social media recruiting technologies need to do better, and we go to you later. Here, however, we were interested in tweeters' thoughts on what things social media recruiting technologies are already doing well, and #HRTechChat's own co-host, @KevinWGrossman, chimed in with the big picture: "Social recruiting is the precursor to going from talent pools to talent communities. Social tech, go there, please." Indeed, and as broadly applicable as Kevin's response was, @Scavado's was equally narrow in pinpointed accuracy: "Vendors are restricted by access to data, but automation is key: get social data into apps in a useful way that adds context."

• Q3: What are the areas in need of improvement when it comes to technologies for social media recruiting?
  "Many vendors are doing this, but the technology needs to be coupled with measurement. [There's] always room for improvement on metrics," tweeted @TMurrayOnline, who went straight to the metrics, always a good decision. Social media seems soft. The tendency is to forget the metrics and just marvel at the individual, real-time results. But when your recruiters are recruiting in social media, the action whizzes past them and you at a blinding pace. You may notice only the good stuff while a seemingly incalculable amount of data disappears into the ether. It seems incalculable, anyway. But those companies whose technologies strive to measure all the data will do their customers an incalculable service. Actually, the word is probably invaluable, because the service they'll do their customers is indeed calculable.

• Q4: How can applicant tracking systems adapt to better accommodate and take advantage of social media?
  Is social media replacing the ATS? That's a stretch. Hiring authorities and their recruiters must still track applicants. But those applicants are approaching employers via social media, and old-tech applicant tracking systems (ATS) add innumerable annoying, repetitive steps to the process; in many situations, they're highly redundant. The consensus is that one of social media's impacts on talent acquisition has been to exacerbate and underscore the outdated, slow, clumsy and frustrating nature of traditional ATS technology. Next-generation ATS technology must embrace and work in tandem and in parallel with social media. For instance, an "ATS smart be smart enough to allow the [job seeker] to use Facebook and LinkedIn, etc. to apply, but catch gaps," tweeted @JenniferBrogee. Yes, an ATS able to facilitate job seekers' ability to apply for openings directly via social media and then sort through and properly make sense of the resultant backend data disparities, will enjoy success among employers and job seekers alike—because being able to "log in via social media profile instead of having to create profile for each ATS under the sun," would be ideal, tweeted @NextJenHR. @OneWireTweets, @JRock96 and others agreed.

• Q5: How can social media technology help organizations to retain their best employees?
  The worry among employers is that social media will pull their best employees away to the competition. One school of thought says to embrace the openness. "If you love someone, set them free," Sting sang (but didn't tweet). Maybe he was right when it comes to human capital management, too. "SM great tool to share knowledge rapidly. Can support informal communities of interest & practice, feeding engagement," tweeted @JsarahwatsHR. Or maybe social media is simply the new parking lot conversation. "Organizations need connection centers, the digital version of the old water cooler. Or in our place, the Keurig," tweeted @DrJanice. Embracing the technology itself, for the purpose of making the internal organization enticing and sticky, is another school of thought. "Give employees social tools to strengthen professional networks INSIDE the enterprise; level the playing field w/Linkedin," tweeted @RobGarciaSJ, VP of product for UpMo, whose social media–based dog (i.e. technology) in the fight is robust.

• Q6: How is mobile technology affecting social media recruiting?
  "Candidates/recruiters can access tools/info on the go i.e. …networking events, out with friends," tweeted @hpropperusg, always a good bet to tweet something extra smart. Mobile technology will increasingly become social media's accelerant and catalyst, the stuff that will make social media actually work to its fullest promise as the new, mutual destination for job seekers and recruiters. Any technology that makes social media even "realer" real-time will enjoy widespread adoption.

The tweets keep coming. Stay tuned for #HRTechChat Episode Five, taking place this Friday, Feb. 3, at 2pm ET / 11am PT. Watch for the preview this week.