Students: Your Email Could Hold the Key to Your Future!

All the trends show that email usage among the younger cohorts of Internet users is declining.   
~Andrew Mason of Groupon

Photo by  by John-Morgan

As I walk around campus each day, it is clear that most students have a smart phone and are quite engaged in it.  Therefore, it is within this context that I say...

Students!  Check your email at least daily!

The Facts

According to AWeber Communications, students view email  as being for "businesses" and "grown-ups."  In fact, "students admitted to checking social networks several times a day while neglecting their email accounts for days or weeks unless they were expecting important messages from a teacher, college or employer." This is causing a struggle on most college campuses as administrators attempt to brew the secret sauce of reaching students with important messages.

The Chronicle of Higher Education posted an article on September 10th entitled "As Students Scatter Online, Colleges Try to Keep Up."  The article touched on the issues that colleges were having in reaching students because they have scattered their communication choices across various platforms - text, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, Foursquare...  In other words, email has become another just another communication choice - one students are increasingly loathe to make.  

Why recruiters may appear unresponsive

There's probably nothing more frustrating than to have a successful interview with a company and then experience delays in receiving feedback from the recruiter.  Sometime it just seems like the process is going nowhere fast.  Why does this happen?  Peter Weddle at CareerCenterToolbox.com illuminates the issue in his article How Recruiters Work and Why. 

The big take away from this is that the delays usually are not personal but have more to do with how the recruiting function works within companies.  So, don't allow yourself to become frustrated.  Simply understand that candidate follow-up is both needed and expected.

Social Media Predictions For Recruiting

Matt Kaiser writes the following predictions in his article SHRM 11 Spotlight: Reinventing Recruiting:

If you still think social media is a fad in recruitment, here are some predictions to ponder:

• Resumes will become obsolete. Your resume will be your “personal brand,” accessed online through sites like LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube (Video Resumes).
• Everyone around the globe will have a Facebook profile – and instead of Googling a good restaurant or hotel, you’ll just ask your Facebook network.
• Metrics will become obsolete – because you will source your own social networks for candidates.

I couldn't agree more.  Companies are getting into the same online space as job seekers.  Therefore, these predictions are simply common sense projections.  So, if you are hesitant about social media, it is time to get over your hesitations, build or clean up your online image, and get with the times before they leave you behind. 

Firms Turn to Online Games for Recruiting

Interesting concept that seems to be catching on... Video: Firms Turn to Online Games for Recruiting

How companies may be using Facebook for recruiting

Do companies really use Facebook to recruit?  Some do. Read how they might approach recruiting on Facebook.

Three ways to use Facebook Fan Pages for Social Recruiting (but do they work?)

Receiving Jobs Via Twitter

If you use Twitter and are job hunting, why not have jobs tweeted to you?

Listorious offers a list Twitter accounts of employers who are using Twitter to directly recruit employees. 

SHRM Research: Use of Social Networking Websites to Recruit Potential Job Candidates in 2011

SHRM research indicates that employers use social media to source candidates.   

Findings:

More than one-half (56%) of the organizations currently use social networking websites when recruiting potential job candidates.

The most utilized social networking website in 2011 was LinkedIn (95%). This was followed by Facebook (58%) and Twitter (42%).
  

Top Ten Reasons Recruiters Don't Respond

An Intuit recruiter explains why recruiters might not be respond to job seekers' inquiries in this slideshare and provides suggestions that might remedy the situation.