My favourite sharing application at the moment is LinkedIn Jobs Insider. This is a simple to download toolbar that works not just with linked in, but also 7 other job boards including Dice and Monster. As well as a lot of great features for jobseekers…
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I’ve noticed a trend for sharing within career sites and job boards recently, which is really geared to referral recruiting. Some of the job boards in the UK have taken to offering financial rewards for referrals which are 
anything up to 50% of the equivalent perm fee charged by a recruiter. I’m not sure if this has improved either the quality or volume of referrals, but it is food for thought.
My favourite sharing application at the moment is LinkedIn Jobs Insider. This is a simple to download toolbar that works not just with linked in, but also 7 other job boards including Dice and Monster. As well as a lot of great features for jobseekers, (I review them in my blog SocialJobSearch: ), it also suggests other people you are connected to that fit the job spec that you might like to forward it to if you are not interested. The easier the sharing, the greater probability of the job getting passed around. I love the simple way this app works, and it is top of this week’s list.
Branch Out on Facebook also has the easy share function and allows you to see who you know that matches the job within FB. My only reservation on this app is that it allows you to post jobs on the wall of your friends. I have had this happen to me 3 or 4 times recently, and I have to confess that I was a little bit peeved that the originating recruiter hadn’t asked me first. I think this is an area Branch Out will need to consider, perhaps with a requested permission to post function, or they will run the risk of losing users as quickly as they gain them.
I’m currently test driving Jibe.Com. Jibe is an application that works within both Facebook and Linked In, in much the same way as Branch Out. Because this covers both channels in one you get a wider range of search results, with the same functionality. Jibe also looks to be a little bit friendlier in terms of Facebook user etiquette. In this channel in particular, I see this as being key to adoption and acceptance. Facebook users do not like direct approaches via their stream, or unsolicited personal messages, but they love applications and plug-in’s that enable them to opt in.
I’m also looking closely at how Bullhorn Reach pans out. I wrote a post recently on my other blog, The Recruiting Unblog that questioned how social an application really was that spidered the social-media channels and added social content without interaction. As a result of the post I was contacted via Linked In by Bullhorn creator Art Pappas and Pete Linas, the UK Director about how they were looking to increase the social element, as well as asking for ideas. (I love a company that reacts in this way, rather than getting all precious. Isn’t that real social?). Reach is being tested in beta at the moment, but the whole concept is to integrate sharing and posting from the ATS or database. I think this could really prove to be a great application, and if you can get your hands on a beta, do it!
Lastly, take a look at SmartRecruiters.Com. They come out of Mr.Ted post the stepstone takeover, and have a very cool offering that has been in beta for the last 2 years, with over 3000 users. The business model is very interesting in that it is free for ever, not just a trial period. The product is an ATS that has great social integration, as well as the facility to build your own career site with some very effective plug ins that means you end up with a very functional site that links in to the back end seamlessly, without needing any fancy programming skills. I’ve looked at a dozen client sites and they look fantastic, with video and everything you would expect from a modern, candidate friendly career site.
I thought this sounded too good to be true, given that it’s free, but they make their money by working with job boards, handling your multi-posting and taking a cut. Interesting and brave model for a comprehensive and very social product.
That’s all for this week, though I have plenty of other new products to write about over the coming weeks.
Enjoy, and give me honest feedback on anything I refer you to.
Bill
