Key Territories - EMEA
Erik Qualman makes a pretty bold
statement suggesting that graduate recruiters don’t have a choice in whether
we engage in social media – rather the question is how well we do it.
Strategically Social
Technology is providing a paradigm shift in the graduate employment industry and nowhere is this more evident than in Africa. This digital revolution is seeing leading African companies increasingly prioritising social media as a platform to attract the best talent. Lyndsay Shaw, former Head of Graduate Recruitment for KPMG in Johannesburg, South Africa, and now an independent consultant specialising in social media for the graduate employment industry, takes a look at how the landscape is changing – and how employers worldwide can make the platform work for them.
the phenomenal growth of mobile phones. It is estimated that mobile penetration is approximately 70% among the African population, and this has been the platform on which innovations such as M-PESA, a mobile banking and payment solution, and Telemedicine have grown.
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Along with the remarkable growth in mobile use, the social media penetration in Africa is growing. Official stats indicate that social media penetration is only at 7% of the total population but this statistic understates the penetration within the youth market (16-24 years old). McKinsey
34 Graduate Recruiter |
www.agr.org.uk
digital revolution is taking place on the continent. The catalyst for this innovation has been
&Co research suggests that 67% of urban youths are online and this figure is growing rapidly.
Why social media? Social media guru and acclaimed author of Socialnomics, Erik Qualman, makes a pretty bold statement suggesting that graduate recruiters don’t have a choice in whether we engage in social media – rather the question is how well we do it. There are five clear reasons for this:
1. Preferred platform The graduate recruitment talent pool is tech savvy, and increasingly more connected with access to social media networks via smart phones. Importantly, the target audience is showing a preference to engaging
via social media platforms, over more traditional telecoms platforms. Email is considered passé, and many African universities have discontinued the use of university email accounts. Social media is in many ways, the preferred platform to engage with prospective candidates.
2. Reach Social media platforms have grown at an alarming rate and their reach is staggering. Consider this; if Facebook were a country it would be the third largest. Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber and Britney Spears (who appeal to the youth market) have more followers than the entire populations of Germany, South Africa and Australia. Shifting focus to the
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