How do you think social and professional networking sites and virtual work are transforming the way organizations manage their talent?

Networking sites are changing the way that organizations manage their talent in several ways: Firstly, organizations today are able to reach out prospective employees and communicating to them better easier while building their employer branding; Secondly, they are also able to create a linkage with their own employees, both because employees can connect and talk to each other helping in creating a linkage with each other and also because employers can communicate to them using these forums. Thirdly, networking sites have become channels to observe and listen what others are saying about the organization; finally, is also helping organizations to manage their alumni networks more efficiently.

Will companies that are early adaptors of these new trends have an advantage over others in attracting and retaining talent? How?

It is still early days to know how these technologies are creating an advantage, some organizations are doing better than others in utilizing these new channels but we cannot tell as yet what will be the result of it. Most organizations are still figuring out how to use them. One thing that is interesting is that these sites are forcing organizations to be more transparent. What used to be classified as “gossip” before and have a potential reach of four people at a water cooler, can today reach 400 or 4000 people very easily. Employees and employers need to accept this new paradigm. Especially employers should focus on participating, joining the wave and taking advantage by using these channels instead of fighting against them.

Job portals like naukri.com brought about a revolution in the recruitment process. What is your view on how professional networking sites transforming the recruitment process?

The difference between a networking site and a job portal is fundamentally the following: Firstly, the intent for people to register to these sites is different from the intent to register in a job portal. A person that registers in a job portal is looking for a job versus a person that registers in a professional networking site might or might not be interested in changing jobs; secondly, because of policies of privacy and anti-spam the access to individual information is limited. Companies cannot access a mass audience in one go, limiting the scope of recruitment through professional networking sites.

Thirdly, the pricing to access to individual information is also very different. The consequences of these differences are that the recruiter using professional networking sites has no control over who would or would not be interested to hear about a job opening. Productivity and control of the process is lower and it is more expensive. In my opinion, job portals and networking sites will co-exist and the usage of those channels will be complementary. For mass hiring, job portals will keep providing the easy access to candidates actively looking for a job.