How to Hire A-Players: Finding the Top People for Your Team - Even If You Don't Have a Recruiting Department

Chapter 7. The Basics of Online Recruiting

I recently participated in a webinar that explained the business uses of social media tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. The firm that conducted the training, based in San Francisco, does nothing but consult on Internet-based marketing and sales. Though the two session leaders were social media "experts," both said that as of 18 months earlier, neither of them knew much about Twitter. A year and a half later, they were talking about it being the next great Internet marketing tool. If high-tech consultants who had barely heard of Twitter a year and a half ago are now the go-to experts, the rest of us can be excused for being slightly overwhelmed by the hype that surrounds these tools.

We live in a time of extraordinary and rapid technological change. As business leaders, we have to make adjustments to keep in step. I was listening to a radio station in my car the other day that was advertising its latest listener promotion—the kind that requires you to be listening at 2 a.m. and be the twenty-seventh caller to win an all-inclusive trip for two to the Caribbean. At the tail end of the advertisement came the usual legal disclaimer spoken in hushed tones and at extraordinary speed. The announcer spoke so quickly that I almost missed a piece of legalese I had never heard before. The deep radio voice said: "Only listeners in the terrestrial listening area of this station are eligible to win this promotion." I assume this means that ...