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2013: The Year Of Social HR
2012 was the year for workforce innovation, with more companies experimenting with using social media to brand and market their organizations. In 2013, companies will take social further: this will be the year of Social HR, with organizations integrating social technologies into the way they recruit, develop & engage employees.
According to a recent study called State of Social Technology and Talent Management, commissioned by SilkRoad, 75 percent of leaders in human resources and talent management believe their companies are behind the curve regarding both internal and external social networking technology.
Now comes the opportunity to turn this belief into action in 2013: Here are the top five social media trends impacting HR to watch in the coming year.
1. Gamification Becomes A Standard Practice
In 2013, gamification will continue making huge inroads in many business processes.
With more research, studies, and real-world examples proving the power of incorporating game mechanics into non-game activities like marketing, call center operations and learning and development, a greater number of enterprise processes will start to become “gamified.”
Deloitte is one company already using gamification, integrating levels, “badges” and top-scoring leader boards into its “Deloitte Leadership Academy,” which has trained over 20,000 executive users since its inception in 2008. As a result of this effort, Deloitte and its clients can boast rewards like engaged employees who are committed to improving at work.
Deloitte believes that letting employees share their badges – earned through completing various training modules – on Twitter, LinkedIn and in their company’s intranet is a huge motivator. People like having something to show for their achievements, especially as employees at all levels become ever more invested in maintaining a robust personal brand.
The technology research firm Gartner, Inc. predicts that 70 percent of Global 2000 businesses will be managing at least one “gamified” application or system by 2014. 2. The Death of the Resume
In 2013, the traditional resume will be replaced by the breadth and depth of your personal brand.
Before you’re interviewed by a potential employer, expect the recruiting manager or hiring manager to check out one or more of the following sources about you: 1) the top ten searches on your name on either Google or Bing, 2) the number of Twitter followers you have and last time you tweeted, 3) the size and quality of your LinkedIn community, 4) the number and quality of recommendations you have on LinkedIn and 5) your Klout score.
Sound Darwinian? It may be, but it’s already happening. As I noted in my recent blog post on Personal Branding, the software company Salesforce.com recently advertised a position that listed “a Klout score of 35 or over” as one of the key ‘desired skills’ for a community manager position.
And as candidates catch on to employers’ focus on their Internet presence, they will shift their methods accordingly. Taking the lead from innovative applicants like Shawn McTigue, who made this 2:50 video as part of his application to a Mastercard internship, more workers will take a creative approach to marketing their experience.
However we do it, we will all have to accept that a one-page summary of our professional histories, expertise, skills, and achievements – that which we think of as a “resume” – will no longer act as our differentiation in the job market.
3. Your Klout Score Will Become A Measurable Currency
In the next year, your Klout score will find a prominent place on your resume and LinkedIn profile, and may even help you get your next promotion.
Klout calls itself the SAT score for business professionals, measuring the online “influence” of each user. A Klout score is a statistical score from 1-100 which ranks you on variables such as: how many people you reach through social media; how much they trust you; and on what topics. In September of this year, Microsoft made a strategic investment in Klout and as part of that deal, Bing and Klout will partner to strengthen social online search.
As the biggest player in the growing world of “digital influence,” Klout is still setting the bar for what this means. Prepare to answer the Klout tag line, “what’s your influence?” in your next job interview.
“Influence has really become the currency of the social web, and Klout is the standard measurement for that,” said Klout CEO Joe Fernandez in a recent interview with Brian Solis. And he is right. While many of us don’t even remember our SAT scores, we may soon all have the Klout app on our mobile phone and tablet so we know instantly how our score rises and falls each week.
4. Personal Branding Will Be A Required Skill
I asked in my last blog post whether employers today are more inclined to hire an applicant with a high IQ or a high Klout score. The balance will continue to tip toward the latter in 2013, as employers, workers, and job applicants devote more time, resources and awareness to the development of personal brands.
Companies will follow the lead of PricewaterhouseCoopers, which holds an annual “Personal Branding Week,” wherein a series of training exercises helps train prospective new hires on building their personal brand and increasing their marketability. We will see more forward-looking companies catching onto this type of mutually beneficial training, and use this as a point of differentiation in recruiting top Millennial talent. Finally, expect to see this type of program part of the core curriculum at college campuses, as college advisors finally see job readiness as a serious part of their jobs.
We’re moving from a “knowledge economy” to a “social economy,” and as we do so, as a recent Fast Company article noted, “the line is quickly blurring between the value of what we know and who we know.” In 2013, prospective job applicants will be much more deliberate in creating their “elevator pitch” and posting this promotional blurb on Facebook, Linkedin and in their Twitter bios.
If personal branding seems shallow, think again. Putting value on candidates’ networks and spheres of influences makes perfect sense in an age where crowd sourcing the right solution to a problem is just as good as coming up with it yourself.
5. Recruiters Will Find You Before You Know You Are Looking For A Job
Not only applicants must know how to use social to their benefit; HR executives in charge of talent management also must know how to use social tools to their advantage.
Already, entire businesses are cropping up to streamline the process for them. Start-ups like Entelo and TalentBin help companies find eligible applicants by scanning social networks and spotlighting certain candidates. Their search tools consider the experience and history mentioned in users’ profiles, but also their use of the social network. These companies can pinpoint those who have updated their bios lately or often, to determine which candidates are getting ready to get back on the job market. Getting this head start on head hunting is crucial as top corporations’ search for top candidates becomes ever more competitive.
As you start 2013, which social media tools are already standard at your company, and which do you expect to adopt?