Sital Ruparelia

There is a shift going on within the job market.

As recruitment budgets get squeezed and organisations focus more on the cost of recruitment rather than just filling roles, there is a marked shift in the way they are hiring at the moment.

Their increased emphasis on hiring through employee referral programmes and sourcing candidates via social media tools means that unless you adjust your job search strategy you could miss out on a number of opportunities.

Here are 3 reasons why networking should be a fundamental part of your job search:

1. Employee Referral Programmes

Most firms are cutting back on costs – so they spend less on job adverts, recruitment agencies and consultancies.

Instead, there is a huge push to hire through employee referral programmes where employees get paid handsomely for referring someone that the company hires.

The organisation makes a big saving and employees receive a referral bonus – it’s a win-win – plus of course the company has hired someone based on a recommendation from someone they trust, which is always good.

So it is vitally important that everyone in your network (and their network) knows that you are searching for work.  You could help them earn a nice little referral bonus.

2. The Rise of Social Media

More and more corporate recruitment functions are sourcing via social media tools such as Linked In and Facebook. Linked In particularly has become a huge resource in the last 6-12 months.

If you’re not on Linked In, I can tell you now that you are missing out on opportunities.

Virtually every recruiter and head hunter I know is utilising Linked In to find candidates – both active jobseekers and passive candidates.  Most in-house recruitment teams use it to source candidates and review their backgrounds.

3. Timing

For certain positions, employee referrals and searching via social media are the first actions organisations take in the current market, as it’s obviously much cheaper than traditional recruitment methods.

They will only advertise and use recruiters and head hunters if they cannot fill the job themselves.  So if people are only searching for jobs via job boards, newspaper ads and recruitment agencies – they are missing out on a load of opportunities.

None of this is rocket science – we all know that mantra of “network, network, network” – but many people default to the “easiest” way to search for work (firing off lots of CVs to recruiters and job sites), instead of doing what is most effective.

Don’t play the volume game with the rest of the market – focus on building genuine relationships and then leveraging them to get your next job.

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