The amount of user-generated data on social media networks is astonishing, as is its rate of growth. Most of this data is unstructured, and without the proper tools, making sense of it all is nearly impossible. That’s where we come in!

The information contained on social media platforms is full of valuable insights, and harnessing those insights effectively requires the use of big data technology.

Big data offers tools that can be used across industries to gather, structure, and analyze the type of data generated on social media (as well as countless other types of data). Big data gives recruiters the ability to put powerful technology to work analyzing an exponentially larger pool of data than has ever been available before. 

And, combined with social media recruiting expertise, big data allows social recruiting specialists to make more accurate, evidence-based selections more quickly, and this can confer a very real competitive advantage for hiring companies, particularly as competition for top talent heats up.

In our last blog post, we mentioned that social media recruiting is increasingly making use of big data to help companies find talent and identify the best job candidates for open positions. Big data is the technology of the future of recruiting, but you also need people who know what to do with the insights big data produces.

So how does it work? 

The truth is that there is no one specific formula for combining big data and social media recruiting to magically produce highly qualified job candidates, but there are some commonalities. 

Data mining often starts with accessing information through social media sites, combing sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter for details that indicate possible job candidates. Big data processes information gained this way along with data gathered from applications, resumes, and even scanned business cards. 

Promising candidates may be asked to complete tests and games designed to assess relevant skills, and this information is also fed into algorithms that sort information, recognize patterns, and narrow the candidate pool.

Don’t forget, the human touch is still necessary and vital! The algorithms can’t do it alone. 

No matter how effectively masses of data are processed and analyzed, you still need actual people with experience in social media recruiting who know how to interpret the information algorithms to produce. Human expertise is the third necessary factor in addition to big data and social media platforms in successful social media recruiting.

Big data tools are phenomenally powerful, but they can only achieve their full potential when the information they disgorge is put to use by people with specific expertise, regardless of industry. 

The promise of big data can be wasted when people rely solely on the algorithms to lead them to job candidates, without putting in the human effort required to make the most of it. 

At Chameleon BI, we work with clients to help them understand their data. If you’re looking to create and understand your data repository, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected]. We’re happy to help you!