Blogosphere latest fad for headhunters

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KOLKATA: Blogs are the latest fad to catch the fancy of recruiters. Companies and headhunters have started spending hours on blogs to search potential candidates and seek out additional details about them.

Blogosphere helps them home in on quality talent, especially in highly specialised fields and also helps cut down on recruitment costs by at least 15 per cent.

What’s more, these firms have started hiring specialised bloggers to locate such candidates. Such people have the mandate to regularly scan blogs floated by students from reputed educational institutes, professionals, industry forums on specialised subject and even job blogs.

HR circles say blogs are a happy hunting ground to expand their talent pool across levels.

“Blog as a recruitment channel has gained credibility for technological talent. Several IT and BPO firms use it to their advantage. Even other sectors such as retail, banking, finance and insurance services (BFSI) are experimenting with it,” says Ma Foi Management Consultants CEO E Balaji, one of India’s largest HR consultancy firms.

Wipro BPO, for instance, taps campus and BPO blogs to search for people with 0-5 year’s experience. “The hit rate is much better in such places. Technical blogs which talk about specific skill sets is also a fertile ground. Number of employable candidates from there may be still small, but it will surely blossom,” Wipro BPO VP (people supply chain and employee branding).

Interestingly, blogosphere has its own code of ethics. Under its codes, a blogger has to be truthful and provide credible information on whatever subject he expresses an opinion. In such a case, recruiters often get valuable information about a candidate’s background, extra-curricular and even career goals. It then helps them in the selection process. The advantages are more than one for companies.

“Tapping unconventional talent source like blogs enable significant savings in recruitment costs by nearly 15-20 per cent,” says LG Electronics India director (HR) Y V Verma. It is precisely this that had led even old economy sectors like manufacturing to log onto blogs.

Even knowledge-based sectors like pharma are now tuning onto big opportunities. This is especially for talent starved profiles such as scientific talent for new drug development. Adds Piramal Healthcare president (HR) Sanjay Muthal: “There are blogs on drug discovery in Western countries which can emerge as a talent source. However, possibilities of blog replacing routine talent source is still limited.”

Interestingly, headhunters now-a-days even get resumes where job-seekers leave their blog addresses along with other details. “Candidates too scan blogs to understand the work culture in an organisation. It then helps them to make a much more informed choice,” adds Balaji.

The future of a blog is immense in the recruitment game. Companies in the West often use professional bloggers to poach talent from other firms. In the same logic, companies who have floated their own blogs may risk the chance of loosing talent as well, warn HR experts.

Source: http://infotech.indiatimes.com/Blogosph ... 968607.cms

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