IES Blog

Social media lets recruiters tap into specific skill sets

Posted on June 1st, 2011 Read time: 1 minutes

Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based strategic workforce solutions company SFN Group is one of many staffing firms that utilize social media outlets to find potential candidates.

"Tools such as LinkedIn allow us to find passive candidates and get employee referrals from people we know," said Roy Krause, SFN chief executive. It's a great place to social network with professionals."

Krause adds that since there are so many niche communities and industry groups on sites such as Facebook or LinkedIn, recruiters can tap into those networks to look for specific skill sets. In addition, staffing firms looking to outsource from other countries such as China can benefit from LinkedIn, since Chinese citizens' access to Twitter and Facebook are constantly in flux.

For many staffing companies, temporary workers continue to be widely used as employers remain concerned about taking on permanent employees. Krause points out that temp staffing accounted for 89 percent of SFN's revenue in 2010, and that temporary employment opportunities are shifting from industrial and clerical categories to technology and engineering. 

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