Today’s post by Kevin Wheeler (who is a smart and good guy) fired me up this morning.  Yes there are a lot of things in social media (SM) for a recruiter to use.  The “how” isn’t difficult for recruiters.  Where they get SM wrong is on the “why”.  If only see yourself as a hammer, you’re going to try to nail everything.  This is looks silly when recruiters behave this way with SM and why Josh Letourneau’s post is rings uncomfortably true.

Here’s my response to Kevin’s post:

Kevin get’s it partial credit for a good post.  Yes these are great tools…

The problem is with what most assume the definition of “tool” is versus what many of these items are: social media.

Social media isn’t just about marketing (or sales).  If it was it would merely be a tool.  Traditional marketing (or sales) is approached by recruiters as a way of finding people and TELLING THEM WHAT YOU WANT THEM TO HEAR.  Blogs, who’s “comments” sections are sparse these days, and Linkedin are of this type (although there are some new offerings).

Social media is about a CONVERSATION between two parties.  Most recruiters aren’t intersted or know what they have to offer (besides an opportunity or their corporate brand).  You can’t effectively use Twitter, MySpace, Facebook, Plurk etc. if you just want to broadcast your message.  

Why use social media then?  Because you are committed to building a community (maybe it’s with recruiters or a particular industry or a specific skill set) and will CONTRIBUTE to the conversation, not just “hit it” and give nothing in return.

Don’t have to be just a recruiter or just hammer.  Nailing things get’s real old for you and everyone sees you as just a tool.  You can be better than that.  8~)   

Photo by Darren Hester