I recently came across a really interesting article on Recruiting Trends about Google’s social media effect on recruiting. The article discusses Google’s failed social media attempts before and discusses what is different in their strategy this time.

Google has an ambitious plan to extend social media across the entire Internet experience. You may have noticed the +1 sign that now accompanies a number of your favorite web pages, which is used to aid in future searches and the web experience as a whole.

This would be an incredibly ostentatious plan for anyone not named Google. It was only a matter of time before the most powerful brand on the Internet would break into the social media market. But what does this mean for recruiting? How could this affect companies like Linkedin?

In the article from Recruiting Trends, Vitaly Latush says, “If Google’s social overlay covers the entire Internet people may start choosing professional branding tools that better suit their professional/knowledge profile rather than accepting the one-size-fits-all options. ”

Google’s reach extends to nearly every corner of the Internet. Thus, building your recruiting brand through Google would be the most logical move should they develop the medium to deliver it. With Google+ they may have done just that. But only time will tell if Google+ can challenge and overtake Facebook and LinkedIn, or if it’ll wind up an afterthought like Google’s previous failed attempts.

Google Buzz anyone?

You can check out Latush’s article in its entirety by going here:

http://www.recruitingtrends.com/google-social-what-does-it-mean-for-recruiting

So you want to attract diverse candidates to your company. Great, you’ve made a step in the right direction towards enhancing your employer brand. However, you’re not getting the right diverse candidates to apply. What should you do?

Take a look at the message you’re sending to diverse job-seekers:

1. Look at your website. Does it send out a message of diversity? Does it show a diverse group of employees? If it doesn’t, minority job-seekers will feel it – and look elsewhere.
2. Fine-tune your message. It’s one thing for a company to have a theoretical commitment to diversity. But if recruiters are sending out a mixed message, it can alienate people. Even if it involves a new training process, make sure that recruiting is happening in a culturally sensitive manner.
3. Don’t get cute. Candidates will relate more enthusiastically to the concepts of job fulfillment and career growth than to blatant ethnic appeals. A message targeted to one particular ethnic group, if it seems condescending or pandering, it will backfire.

In a recent article from Recruiting Trends, Author Chad Storlie discusses how military experience can translate extremely well into the work place. The example Storlie uses is that of Operation Command Centers or OPCEN. Walt Disney World recently opened a brand new Operations Center, “to ensure that theme parks guests, employee, and services run smoothly, effectively, and on time.”

Globally, there are several  hundred military OPCENs running all day and under combat conditions. Certainly, that type of experience could prove invaluable to Walt Disney World when looking for candidates to run their brand new Operations Center.

Since Gulf War Veterans make up less than 1 percent of the U.S. population, Storlie listed some incredibly useful ways for recruiters to learn more about adding value to their company by utilizing military experience:

1. Leverage Their Military Experience to the Company & Job

2. Mentor an Individual or Group

3. Further Education One Class at a Time.

Storlie goes over each of these methods in great detail and the whole article is worth a look. You can see the article in its entirety here:

http://www.recruitingtrends.com/how-recruiters-can-leverage-military-experience

There are many things the come to mind when thinking about diversity: race, sex, religion, sexuality and age are some of the first we tend to think of.

However, there is another valuable group of people that are often overlooked when employers think about diversity in the workplace–the disabled.

There is a recent article from www.diversityinc.com that discusses disabilities in the workforce. John Kemp, executive director of the US Business Leadership Network (USBLN) discusses the stigma that surrounds disability, and how employees often hide their problem from coworkers.

John Kemp knows a thing or two about the disabled in the work place–he started his life with his disability, and has two prosthetic arms and legs. Now, he says, is the time for progress.

“In October, the percentage of people with disabilities in the labor force was about 21 percent,” Kemp said. “That percentage hasn’t changed since the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990”

It’s clear that the definition of diversity has changed over the years, and will continue to change and keep evolving.

So what is your company doing to address the topic of disabilities in the workforce?

You can access the article here: http://diversityinc.com/article/8127/The-Valued-Employees-Youre-Missing-People-With-Disabilities/