I've been sitting in a former company when there is a requirement to hire a certain skill and

1. There is already somebody with that skill in the company, so when somebody else is hired in, the person already in the company is seen as "passed over" and then they leave.

or

2. The people in the company know somebody that have the skills but .... the company has already spent money on Linkedin ads and or recruitment consultants.

So here's a thing!

With 1. you can resolve this with competency frameworks and succession planning processes.  But what about 2?

2. is actually very simple, you activate your employees on social media.  You get them to have personal brands (that will make them look exciting to new employees).  You get them to build, large and varied networks.  This will enable them to be connected to the talent you want.

If a role comes up, on Linkedin they will put the role on their Linkedin profile, which will give you access to talent you want.  For free.

On Facebook, they will actually "offer up" the roles directly to people.

Either way, you get access to the talent you want, faster than the competition.  At less cost.

If that was good, then if you activate your employees to write content, then they how great your company is will be seen not via their network, but through their network.

Increasing your talent pool reach!

If the average person has 500 connections on Linkedin, that will give you access to a talent pool of 250,000, if you have employees with networks of 2,000 or 5,000 people that will be talent pools of 4,000,000 and 25,000,000 respectively.

OK, there will be an employee network crossover, but that is one hell of  a talent pool and one that recruitment consultant and LinkedIn ads cannot get you.  Oh and it's "free" versus Linkedin ads and recruitment consultants which are expensive.

Of course, with this powerful network of activated employees, sharing in an authentic way how great your company is.  Actually what will happen is that you will become the employer of choice.  You will get talent coming to you, for free, and you will get the talent before the competition.  For free.

You might also help to retain talent.  But that is a story for another day!

Have you thought about the business case for Social HR?