HR firms should use social networking

Social networking offers huge opportunities for HR firms - but few are realising it, according to an analysis firm.

Gartner has published a report which claimed that “relatively few” in the HR industry are using the technology to find recruits.

It advised that their recruitment strategies must evolve to fit in with social software, before adding that companies which do not look after their “employer brand” will struggle by 2011.

“Many HR leaders have instigated employer branding projects,” said Gartner research director Thomas Otter.

“This isn’t simply a fancy new name for recruitment advertising, but a broad strategy to leverage the intangible values of the organisation to improve retention, employee satisfaction and performance.”

He explained that the power of the online world has changed the relationship between employer and potential employee.

Social networks have been “stripping away the veneer of the recruitment brochure”, as people looking at a company can easily contact its current and past staff.