Emma on Social Networking for HR Summit

In my weekly catch up with Emma Mirrington (Talent Attraction at Sky) she was updating me on what she learnt at the Social Networking for HR Summit she attended last week.  The event was organised by Business Forums International Ltd.

The key themes were:
• Risks & benefits of corporate social networking for HR 
• Exploit Web 2.0 for graduate recruitment 
• What are the legal risks of monitoring & vetting your employees through social networks? 
• Prevent your staff destroying your online reputation 
• How can you utilise internal technologies to communicate with your employees? 
• Develop your employers brand online

Emma was very diplomatic about what she got out of the day and its value for money (she went as far as to say there was “nothing groundbreaking).  However, I personally believe that Emma and the talent attraction team at sky are fairly ahead of the game so she probably knew most of what was presenting.  However, perhaps it was more suited for more generalise HR practitioners. 

So the highlights…

Cadburys talked about how they are using blogs and forums (they’ve been using a graduate blog for over 18 months now).  One of the points Emma picked up on was that all the new graduates are keen to write when they first start with Cadburys - but after three months that enthusiasm has gone (I have noticed that the content is very sporadic). 

Gemma Parker of Taylor Wessing talked about “Monitoring Applicant and Employee Online Activity”. She talked about the Argos case (where an employee got sacked for critising his bosses on Facebook) and a recent case of a police officer being denied promotion about putting personal information on Facebook.  She suggested that ongoing monitoring to see what staff and potential employees are saying about your company/brand/recruitment process and staff is essential.  Her advice around pre-employment vetting was basically not to do it.  However, if you do you should be aware that you are actually viewing the details of the person you think you are, check the validity of the information, inform the candidates that you are screening them and allow “representation” from the candidate over any information you find that may be “unsavory”.  Emma tells me that they don’t pre-screen candidates on Facebook, etc at Sky (although they do use social networking tools – more of that at a later date).

The final presentation she commented on was “The Future of Web 2.0…” by Jonathan Hargreaves of Edelman mobile (check out their funky video currently on the home page of their website).  He talked about evolution of communication and drivers of trust.  Basically 59% of 25 to 34 year olds would most trust a person like themselves, they would trust a CEO 30% and a blogger 19% (in terms of buying into and believing what they are saying).  So from a recruitment point of view if you are recruiting grads you ought to using existing grads to “sell” your organisation.   

PS, I ought to mention that Sky entered the Times Top 100 Graduate Employers yesterday for the first time at number 76 (and they were the highest new entry too!)