Obama, The True Recruiting Maverick

What has been a long “conversation” with the American people is finally, mercifully over.  Policies will continue to be debated and budgets (earmarks and all) will be haggled over.  However, the big winner for Election 2008 was the recruiting game plan.  Voters responded to the one who best courted them consistently and continuously.  The scoreboards of the Electoral College (349 to 162) and popular vote (52% - 46%) clearly show this.  Obama was a recruiting maverick.  Let’s take one of the pages out of his play book group this week for a closer look: Don’t “use” social media, embrace it. 

Most recruiters view social media as a tool, much like a job board, business networking, contact management systems and applicant tracking systems.  This is probably because we miss what social media is truly about.  Let’s review basics and dynamics of social media:

--Definition - Wikipedia has a clinical description here. Isabel Hilborn has a great definition too.  My definition: Social media is the sharing, collaborating and publishing of content on the Internet. 

--Composition - It’s diverse , big  (caution, some profanity) and growing.  Pick what suits your style and where you want to cultivate your audience: blogging, microblogging, pictures, video, niche networks, social networks, etc.    

--Redefines “brand” - Because everyone is a brand manager.  You have an impact on your personal brand, your professional brand, and your corporate brand.  Are you helping or hurting them?   

--It is about people, not technology - Sure, it involves the Web, but that isn’t the focus.  Think of it as more social science where: a) authenticity must be shown, not told and b) the conversation can be influenced not controlled.

How you can embrace it?

--Listen – To the conversations that are going on in social media.  Quit trying to first get your message across.  Learn something about them first.  Also, be sure to study other social media practitioners that are not even in recruiting or your industry.  Give me a shout if you need some initial suggestions. 

--Determine your voice.  Who are you speaking for?  Yourself, personally?  Representing your profession or corporation?

--Engage – Ask questions.  Contacts, like candidates, want to talk about themselves, their experiences and views.     

--Give value – Maybe it’s a cause for them to join, make them feel better about themselves (sincerely done), or something that is remarkable.  As Seth Godin says, “No one talks about you because you want them too”.  They have to want to on their own accord.  What can you give that is worthy of them bringing your name into their conversation?  Your title or the name of your organization on its own is insufficient.  

--Cultivate – If your organization doesn’t use social media, help them set up one (before Legal does), build resources for and coach others in your company to be better involved in social media, remember they are brand managers, too.

When it came to recruiting the American electorate, John McCain wasn’t the maverick.  Obama proved himself to be by embracing social media as shown here.  Quit trying to “use” social media and end up being the laughing stock that Josh LeTourneau so aptly describes.  If you embrace social media, then you too will be a recruiting maverick.  8~)

Photo by Pixarman

Editor's Note - William Uranga is the Director of Talent Acquisition at TiVo, where his team is responsible for all staffing strategies and recruiting programs for the organization.  He also moonlights as an instructor, teaching in the Certificate Program in Human Resource Management of the University of California Extension in Silicon Valley, and helped co-found and lead the Bay Area-based Recruiting Leadership Forum, a network for those who are leading recruiting in a corporate function and are just trying to get better at it.  Check out his blog at Talent Alchemy and don't say "DVR" when you call him...

Comments

[William]

Dear Susan (who left a comment earlier)- Thanks for your interest in posting a comment. However, please do tie the comment in to the post. Otherwise when the point of your comment is to a link that doesn't clearly tie in to the original post, it can look like self-marketing. I'm sure that wasn't your original intent.

[JohnM]

Oh please. Let's get real. What a load of crap. Making a connection between good recruiting and the Obama win. What a stretch! In keeping with political correctness doctrine, no one these days can either see or speak the truth. Obama won simply because every non-white voter (95% of blacks and 75% of hispanics) and most younger GenX voters who have been sytematically indoctrinated that "diversity" is so good came out of the wordwork to vote for him. Attributing Obama's win to any kind of skill on his campaign's part is like saying Johnnny Cochran was responsible for getting OJ Simpson a not-guilty verdict when EVERYONE knows it was 100% "Jury Nullification" (i.e black jury members voting against the establishment) irrespective of the facts of the case. Anyone with any kind of knowledge of the legal system knows that when you try a case like this in the iiner city (where blacks will be on the jury)that any defendant, especially if they are black, will most likely be acquitted). And conversely, if the case is tried in the suburbs, they will be convicted, irrepective of the facts. The key mistake in this case (made by Christopehr Darden, remember him) was that instead of trying the case at the courthouse in the LA suburbs that it was scheduled for, he/they rushed ahead and had the case tried in the courthouse in downtown LA because the suburban courthouse was under construction. But the news media went ahead anyway and protratyed the win as attributable to cochran's skill when in fact a blind moneky could have won the case if it was being tried in the inner city.

[Chris - Manager's Sandbox]

@JohnM... OOORRRRRR we just thought he was the better candidate (speaking as a Gen Yer). And for the record, my background would certainly not be described as inner-city, and I'm not brainwashed.

McCain would have had my vote 8 years ago (maybe even 4). The McCain of this election was out-of-touch and focused on appealing to a base that barely loved him back. THAT's why he lost.

To get back to the content of this article, Obama did get love from his base, because he engaged them in conversation. But beyond Obama's strategy (which is a nice frame story for the article), you analysis on how to use social media is spot on.

It's more than just pumping out content - it's interacting and engaging, building a sense of community and so on. The best businesses don't just do that through social media, though. Such behaviors are an ingrained part of their culture, which is why they have such loyal, productive employees.

Great article!

- Chris

[William]

Wow, John. I think you missed the point, by reading politics a bit much into the post. I focused ONLY on how Obama's team ran embraced social media in the political. It was far superior to McCain. If your side loses, bro - live with it and learn from it. Trying to minimize the winning side only takes your side down further in the eyes of your peers.

As for comparing the legal process to the political process? Very flawed, Obama didn't win on a technicality. As a conservative who voted for McCain, even I can see that.

[marenhogan]

I can't say it better than Chris so I won't. There was lots of coverage on the Obama campaign. The mobilized volunteers, visited every active (traditionally Dem) and passive (traditionally Repub)candidate out there to find the ones that may not have come to the polls. Their strategies were classic (door to door) as well as new media (facebook, twitter et al). I know there is a lot of frustration that Obama won, but he plain outworked the other campaign and that is the truth.

[Peopleshark]

Excellent, excellent post. Why you'll always have my ultra liberal, left-leaning, jury-nullifying black female ear. Don't let JohnM's emotionally charge rant take away from the core of your post. Your ideas about embracing social media are dead on, as usual.

[Karen Swim]

Hi William, some will read this and completely miss the dead on advice about employing social media. This is an excellent post with timely, applicable points about how to engage your audience (and we all have an audience). If we're willing to put politics aside, the campaigns left us with a fertile ground of insight and lessons which we can utilize in business and marketing. Well done William.

[karenm]

Interesting Article. Definitely a perspective to review and consider.

Thanks

Karen M

[William]

Karen - You said it better than I, "how to engage your audience" IS the point of social media (be it recruiting or politics).

Peopleshark - "Jury-nullifying". Just don't... please don't, ask for a recount. Let me know when you're back in the Bay Area, I won't go shoe shopping with you, but perhaps we can grab coffee at one of the still-opened Starbucks near by. Or, if I'm feeling mean, maybe I'll insist on Peet's (and make you a heretic).

[Jessica Lee]

dear william -

i'm not sure if obama won simply because every non-white voter and most younger GenX voters got out there for him... some might argue that the timing economic crisis helped his cause, you know? but i digress and back to the point of your post...

you hit on something important... that social media is about people, that authenticity is king, and that the message can only be influenced but not controlled. as corporations become more interested in social media and using it for branding, messaging, marketing... this is probably the biggest struggle they face. it's a tough mind-shift to make.

thanks for the post... good stuff.