Sourcing Talent & Building Pipelines with Geolocation

Geolocation systems seem to be on every social media expert’s mind these days.  Like any new technology, geolocation is an interesting and untested tool that I believe can be used as a way to further strengthen your company’s brand, drive consumers to your multiple locations, and as well as a great way to inexpensively market your business.  For the technology challenged, geolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected computer, mobile device, website visitor or other. IP address geolocation data can include information such as country, region, city, postal/zip code, latitude, longitude and timezone.

I, myself have been toying with iPhone mobile geolocation applications like Gowalla and Four Square, learning how to navigate the systems while finding ways to leverage them for talent and recruiting purposes.  These tools while still in their infancy have a lot of potential for a new way in which to engage a different candidate audience while being to text, email, or call a connection while learning about their current interests, hangouts, and activities that these users devote their time and attention to.

For a recruiter who uses these tools, geolocation mobile applications can do the following:

• Provide you with candidate information beyond the basic resume and online profile. Learn about a user’s circle of influence and travel throughout a city.  (Especially helpful if you are recruiting within a large metro area.)

• Both applications notify your approved friends within the network of your whereabouts as well as providing the option to automatically update on Twitter and Facebook.  This could be helpful in using google and bing to search these networks and targeting your geolocation search.

• Develop strategies as to target certain areas your target candidate pool frequents.  Maybe there is a particular coffee shop or networking group that Audio Visual Engineers frequently visit during lunch or after hours.

• A method in which to learn and possibly disqualify candidates.  Like any online profile candidates often post inappropriate and incriminating information.

• Alert candidates to job openings within certain locations in the metro by including your contact information embedded within the location.  New founders of a location that has not been discovered by users can be customized to promote a service, location, or products.

Some concerns that can and will hold recruiters back from using these new tools as a recruiting source:

• It’s messy, time consuming and hard to search.  Gowalla offers a more robust search option allowing you to view locations by city and zip code.  Four Square does not.

• Not everyone is embracing this new technology outside of tech nuts and social media enthusiasts.

Geolocation applications are a hot topic in 2010.  I’m excited to see how professionals both inside and outside of recruiting will begin to use them to generate and grow their business.  Early adapters who develop strategies to leverage these new tools will be the clear winners as the race for talent continues to heat up while money conscious businesses look for ways to lower overall recruiting and business costs.  Job seekers who use geolocation as part of their online branding strategy can also benefit as well.

Photo Credit Antikewl

Tagged as: candidate engagement, four square, foursquare recruiting, geolocation, gowalla, recruiter, recruiting, relationship recruiting, social recruiting, talent, talent pipelines, technology