Jobs in Pods Blog

This is the first of several posts on recruiting with Facebook.

Create a group on Facebook. “Federated Media is Hiring” is the perfect example of what I mean. Post your apply info, list your latest jobs, build the group into a marketing tool.

As people join the group you can send broadcast messages to them alerting them to news and new jobs. It’s a chance for you to establish relationships with young candidates who are interested in what you have to say.

Think of a Facebook group as an extension of your company career site. Use the same kind of content and consider adding unique content for the Facebook audience (internship opportunities, video, etc.)

Today we are announcing a special addition to the Jobs in Pods distribution model. We are now on YouTube.

We’ve set up a Jobs in Pods Channel on the popular video sharing site on which our jobcasts have been transformed into a video. Using the audio from each podcast we add an informational image to the file that describes what you are listening to.

This is a great way to give more exposure to our podcasts. And its another way we’re adding value for our clients.

If you’re on Facebook you can now join our Facebook Group. Members can join and mingle with other jobcast fans and stay up to date on the latest news from the web’s first ever audio job board.

Dr. John Sullivan’s most recent article titled “Top 10 Indications You Are a Dinosaur Recruiter” references podcasts/jobcasts as a great way to recruit. He says:

“They don’t use podcasts or jobcasts. The majority of new-school recruiting prospects probably don’t even know what a Walkman is. Instead, they love MP3s or iPods (if you don’t know the difference is you’re probably old school). If you think they’re just for music, put yourself in the old-school category. Even Walgreens is utilizing podcasts as a recruiting tool. If you haven’t made a recruiting-oriented audio or video message available for download on these devices, you are missing a great opportunity to communicate.”

Thanks John, we certainly agree.

So you took the first step and did a podcast or shot a recruiting video. Good for you. Now its time to market that media. It goes without saying that the first place it should go is  your company career site. But how else can you promote it for more exposure? Here’s some of our ideas.

1. Add your video to YouTube. It’s free advertising. While your at it create a channel on YouTube which allows you to describe your video and link back to your career site.

2. Embed or Link to the file within your existing job descriptions. Think “Click here to hear an audio job description” or “Click to watch video“. Do it on every job board you use and even your internal job database.

3. Burn it to a CD and pass it out at job fairs. Students love to play them.

4. Tell your employees. Encourage them to forward it to friends and family.

5.  Email it. Have a job seeker database or newsletter? Blast it out to them and track the click throughs.

6. Embed links to the audio or video within your email signature. Have your employees do the same.

7. Use social networks. Upload it to your MySpace or Facebook profile. It just might catch on.

Last night 60 Minutes ran a story about millenials in the workplace. If you are an employer interested in recruiting AND retaining this next generation workforce, it’s a must see. Notice the iPods in the story? We did. What better way to builder your employment brand by podcasting what makes your firm unique. Consider doing some podcasts with Jobs in Pods.  All of our “jobcasts” get published to iTunes for easy consumption on the iPod.

With his first podcast in the books, I’d like to welcome Peter Clayton to our podcasting team. Peter will begin to conduct more interviews as things ramp up here. We have several new clients coming on board in the next few months, including a Fortune 100 Tech company which will be announced shortly.

If you don’t know Peter, he brings a great voice and years of broadcasting experience to the jobcasting industry. You can hear him on his own site at Total Picture Radio where he interviews top business leaders.

By the way we’re also looking for a part-time Female voice to join our team. If you know any women podcasters please contact us.

Our latest podcast with HEB on their accounting jobcast was a hit! Especially with Pamela O’Connor with whom we did the podcast with. She writes;

I just received an expected phone call from our Vice President / Controller.    She loves the pod cast and said that it is “outstanding”.   Thank you for making me “look”  (sound) so good!

Pamela

Employers should take note that Yahoo has just launched a social network for college students and recent alumni called Kickstart. I created an account today which you can see below.

I recommend corporate recruiters create their own accounts on the site so that users can “follow” your company and connect with your recruiting team. It’s free and it should prove to be useful in the coming years. Setting up an account is very user friendly.

Here’s an interesting story about Serena Software and an innovative way to use Facebook. Serena, based in San Mateo, CA is encouraging its employees to hold “Facebook Fridays“. It’s a chance for “employees to find fun and personal connections in the workplace. Each Friday, employees are granted one hour of personal time to spend on their Facebook profiles and connect with co-workers, customers, family and friends.” The company is rolling the initiative in all 18 of its global offices.

I absolutely love the idea. Many companies don’t realize that Facebook can be a free way to create an intranet for its employees. I think Serena’s idea will go a long way towards retaining its employees. The company’s press release says that their President is an avid user of the popular social networking site.

Serena President and CEO Jeremy Burton is an avid user of Facebook, using it to keep in touch with employees, friends, and business partners from wherever he is in the world—in Japan visiting customers or racing cars at Laguna Seca. He wants to bring the benefits he gains from using Facebook to his company, and allow employees to have more fun combining their personal and professional lives. He is doing this by making Facebook his company’s intranet—a place where employees can find everything from a list of company holidays to the CEO’s favorite movie. Burton believes that colleagues who get to know one another on a more personal level will work together better. The company already has more than 30% of its global workforce on Facebook prior to the launch of Facebook Fridays.

“As our business continues to grow, the workplace becomes more and more distributed, which can make us feel disconnected from one another,” said Burton. “Social networking tools like Facebook can bring us back together, help us get to know each other as people, help us understand our business and our products, and help us better serve our customers—on demand. A corporate culture that fosters a sense of community and fun will ultimately help us get more done. Companies that do not embrace social networking are making a huge mistake.”

I’m willing to bet more companies will follow this trend.