Nowadays, it’s hard to find a person who is not involved in any social network. Social networks have millions of users but only a few seriously consider the risks that these sites could pose. Although the impact of social networking on your personal brand hasn’t been scientifically measured yet, clearly, it contributes to as many spectacular successes as failures in job searches and professional careers. The question is- can social networking sites support you or be an obstacle to a job search?

It is inevitable that Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and other online social networks will increase the size of our social groups since it’s not time-consuming to cultivate these relationships. You are able to constantly monitor your friends’ lives through photos and regular “status updates”. But how big can our social network grow before we are no longer able to logically analyze the relationships within the net”friends”? How many contacts in the network can our brain grasp and  recognize?

In my recruiter’s job, searching Google and  social networking websites (eg. Linked.in) in pursuit of the suitable candidate has become my second nature.  Also, before inviting anyone for the interview I do the thorough research across all the networks to find extra information that is not visible on the applicant’s resume. As I mentioned in my previous post about how HR trends are changing along with the web trends, Web 2.0 significantly revolutionized the way we scrutinize the candidates. With this in mind, more and more professionals discover the importance of creating and maintaining personal brands in their job search and for the sake of their future career. Can we trust these brands?

The English language passed a million threshold in June 2009! The Global Language Monitor, declared “Web 2.0” as the millionth word in the English language although some linguists consider it as complete nonsense. The monitoring group, that used a special math algorithm for tracking the frequency of words in print and electronic media, announced that Web 2.0 appeared over 25,000 times in searches and was widely recognized, making it a real one millionth word.

Have you ever wondered what the recruitment will be like in 10 years’ time? With all the new HR 2.0 trends and social networks will it remain the same? Will the current economic crisis affect the employment conditions? How will the rapidly aging society cope on the labour market? Will CVs and cover letters survive? Who will have the actual power on the job market?

Regardless of age and professional experience, during every recruitment process we meet several applicants who haven’t got the faintest idea what the company deals with and what the vacancy involves.  Among many other questions that candidates have to face during the interview, there are two, seemingly harmless ones, that I consider to be  killer questions for many : “What do you know about GOYELLO?” and “Why do you want to work for us?”.

Undoubtedly, in today’s world of management the only constant thing is a change. In the HR area two things never change: Human capital remains the most strategic asset of the company and HR’s responsibility is to ensure that the organization is the Employer of Choice. However, with the emergence of all the interactive Web 2.0 tools the changes in HR are inevitable. Knowing that HR people are rather conservative towards new technologies the main question is HOW TO make use of all these new tools?

Each and every company has to admit that they picked the wrong person for the vacancy at least once in their lifetime. It’s difficult to confess that we made a bad decision hiring Mr. Average who later proved to be a total misfit in the company, hard to get along with and delivering work results that everybody would rather forget about. Who’s to blame?

Another business meeting, another company presentation?

You are going to attend another typical networking event during which the representatives from various companies will present their companies’ strengths and advantages of cooperating with them. You will join the ranks of the prominent speakers. Are you sure you want to be one of them and blend in with this crowd? What makes you think your presentation will stick in their minds or be at least remembered by the audience the following day? The answer is simple “ Astonish them”!

Based on hundreds of CVs I have scanned throughout my developer hiring career I fully agree that a good CV is a key to success! The purpose of a CV is to provide a recruiter with as much relevant information as necessary in the most approachable and cohesive manner. This is not always the case though. I have noticed a number of mistakes on CVs that in the case of some companies may spoil the chances of even the best man for the job. Here, at GOYELLO, we try not to be so strict and not jump at conclusions too hastily.